Pererro (Free subscription) | 5 hours ago
I remember hearing Jerry Pournelle say that they once invented a sentry system that could (permanently) blind any intruders entering a perimeter. He said there was a big human rights outcry about it so they changed it... so it would shoot bullets instead. People were happy with that. Anyway, random aside aside, sonic weapons !
VDARE.com: Blog Articles (Free subscription) | 10/04/2008
From This American Life (thanks to Jerry Pournelle), comes a tale of a society with a distinct aversion to reality checks. Alex Blumberg: For example, a guy I met named Clarence Nathan. He worked 3 part time, not very steady jobs, and made a total of roughly 45 thousand dollars a year roughly. He got himself [...]
Blog O'Stuff (Free subscription) | 10/03/2008
So far I haven't commented on the bailout proposed by Bush and is working its way through Congress. Two people who's opinions I respect, Jerry Pournelle and Robert Bruce Thompson, have differing opinions (both are linked in my blogroll if you want to see what they have to say). Jerry supports a bailout and Robert opposes it. In the end, I have to come down on Robert's side in this debate and oppose...
Awed Manor (Free subscription) | 10/01/2008
I read Jerry Pournelle’s blog (he calls it a daybook). I like his thinking, and I like his writing. Today I came across a broken link in something he had posted. I emailed him about it, and a dozen minutes later he had corrected it and thanked me. I’m famous!
Say Anything (Free subscription) | 09/30/2008
Sounds about right. According to Pelosi the entire crisis is due to the Bush administration, and by voting for the bill the Republicans would agree to that. Nothing about CRA and affordable housing. Nothing about the war which Congress approved. It’s all the fault of the free market. I am torn between thinking this is childish, and fury at this narrowminded action. The problem is simple: no one is...
The West Virginia Rebel's Blog (Free subscription) | 09/24/2008
Jerry Pournelle sums things up. What will be done must be decided by the most unpopular Administration in nearly a century in connection with the most unpopular Congress in history; and everyone involved in finding a remedy was in one way or another a part of creating the mess. . . . One thing is certain: the people who must pay for this debacle will largely be those who took out sensible loans and...
And Still I Persist (Free subscription) | 09/23/2008
Jerry Pournelle over at his blog has linked to the Rudyard Kipling classic. Written nearly 90 years ago, it is remarkably apt right now, as our financial system threatens to melt down over human greed and stupidity: As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race, I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of [...]
A Place to Stand (Free subscription) | 08/27/2008
Jerry Pournelle put up this comment I sent as a response in a discussion on how wealthy politicians get nowadays, all legally. We are getting the same problem here - Harold Wilson did not get particularly rich & his son is now a train driver, but Bliar is making vast amounts on the lecture circuit & as a director in friends' companies. Jerry's has a good response in italics about how the growth in...
A Place to Stand (Free subscription) | 08/22/2008
An email from me, in response to his reduction of the size of prize needed, which Jerry Pournelle put in his blog: If we can have orbit for $1 billion-$750 million then there are folk other than the US government able to put that up. Assuming a target range of about 4 years that means setting aside $200 million a year. which compares pretty favourably with an awful lot of public projects. It would...
A Place to Stand (Free subscription) | 08/21/2008
Jerry Pournelle has said that we can have regular orbital flights for the cost of flying to Australia for an X-Prize of no more than $1 billion (£570 million) I am rapidly reaching a conclusion, confirmed by a number of those in the rocket entrepreneurial community, and also several Pentagon people: if we stay outside NASA, the technology exists to build a reusable orbiter for under a billion dollars;...
Contract Worker (Free subscription) | 08/16/2008
A bit old, but last July, Evan highlighted an interesting point made by sci-fi writer Jerry Pournelle, on episode 149 of TWiT: The people who are going to make money are the ones who are going to figure out how a guy who knows how to do something useful and doesn’t care about computer science can [...]
Physics Geek (Free subscription) | 08/08/2008
The Paris Hilton spoofing of McCain ended up highlighting the deficiencies of Obama's plan. Someone emailed to Jerry Pournelle what I think would be a great followup: McCain moving to the realm of "Cool" If Paris Hilton can mock McCain...
Little Green Footballs (Free subscription) | 07/24/2008
Jerry Pournelle has some interesting (if not very reassuring) comments on the dangerous situation in Turkey . (Hat tip: Insta P .)
A Place to Stand (Free subscription) | 07/24/2008
Jerry Pournelle had been having a discussion on numbers of people killed by religion Vs those killed by atheists. He listed Hitler Stalin, Mao & Pol Pot as atheist mass murderers & that the number killed by the latter exceeds all of those killed in the name of religion. This created some discussion over whether Hitler was an atheist or a Christian. Surfing I found this quote Goebbels, Nazi Minister...
Going to the Mat (Free subscription) | 07/21/2008
Jerry Pournelle : Whether his conclusion, that we ought to convert to wind power, is correct is another matter. It doesn't look as useful as nuclear, but there are fewer envir0nmental fanatics opposed to wind. I suspect that energy economics is more determined by law suits than by engineering. When it comes to a lot of policy making, it is driven more by lawsuits than anything else, just to name a...
