Be it known that this writer was never a math wizard. He made the mistake during his schooling years of concentrating on English and literature instead of math or physics. And once he got into the machine shop he discovered that various forms of math were more useful for making a bit of the long green than parsing sentences or explicating A Farewell to Arms.
During the days of your faithful correspondent's apprenticeship the slide rule was the main instrument for the calculation of multiplication, division and percentage. It was quick and accurate. Then the electronic calculator came to for and that all passed and the result was that more time was spent punching digits into a Hewlett-Packard than was spent sliding a K&E or or Pickett. And it finally descended to the point where the mechanics and machinist would use an electronic calculator instead of doing the calculations on paper.
It was then that this writer knew that the end of the world was coming. In less than ten years an instrument that had sent man to the moon was replaced by an instrument that results in more than ten years to build and fly a fighter jet.
Here are a couple of appreciations of the slide rule:
Joe Moran's blog: Slide rules rule OK
Why a slide rule is better than a computer
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
A Thought (Gasp!) and Entertainment
Some members of the Secret Service of the United States recently got caught up in a scandal involving an escapade with prostitutes in Columbia while acting as scouts for a visit by The One to that nation. The woman who dropped the dime on these idiots claims that she is not a "prostitute". She claims to be an "escort" because she charges about $800 per night instead of $100. Either way, she's a whore. But one cannot blame her for that. One does what one has to do to get by.
The problem is with the members of the Secret Service and, on a larger scale, the problem with much of law enforcement that is under the impression that the members of various law enforcement organizations do not have to follow the rules that the American populace is expected to follow, whether those laws be state mandated laws or moral laws. This trend, which has been prevalent for some thirty years in the Los Angeles area, is troubling. There is a certain segment of law enforcement that seems to feel that since they are the Blue Centurions they are allowed bad behaviour that they or the state or the polis would not suffer gladly. In effect it's like an extension of the old high school clique bit. Cops are the jocks and the rest of us are the losers living under the sufferance of the jocks. By law the populace is really allowed to enforce the law. We are required to call a "disinterested" man or woman in blue or green or khaki. And thus we have come to rely on said men or women to do the things that in the past the citizen was expected to do. In old England there were no police. The citizen was expected to enforce the law by "hue and cry." Those days are long gone. We have, as a society, handed our responsibility over to professionals who are really nothing more than state approved security guards who assume privileges that are denied the citizen. Or to put it another way, we have, through our tax money, hired a gang that acts in our interest against gangs of an unlawful interest.
Is it any surprise when law enforcement officers, whether local or federal, behave like gangsters? They give lip service to law and morality, but they are not slow in behaving like gangsters when it is to their benefit.
So when a cop acts like a thug or a man of low morals, don't be surprised. Most cops are decent people, but they are not saints in blue. They are as bad as you and me.
On a lighter note, how about a little shamisen?
DEATH BY SHAMISEN - YouTube
The problem is with the members of the Secret Service and, on a larger scale, the problem with much of law enforcement that is under the impression that the members of various law enforcement organizations do not have to follow the rules that the American populace is expected to follow, whether those laws be state mandated laws or moral laws. This trend, which has been prevalent for some thirty years in the Los Angeles area, is troubling. There is a certain segment of law enforcement that seems to feel that since they are the Blue Centurions they are allowed bad behaviour that they or the state or the polis would not suffer gladly. In effect it's like an extension of the old high school clique bit. Cops are the jocks and the rest of us are the losers living under the sufferance of the jocks. By law the populace is really allowed to enforce the law. We are required to call a "disinterested" man or woman in blue or green or khaki. And thus we have come to rely on said men or women to do the things that in the past the citizen was expected to do. In old England there were no police. The citizen was expected to enforce the law by "hue and cry." Those days are long gone. We have, as a society, handed our responsibility over to professionals who are really nothing more than state approved security guards who assume privileges that are denied the citizen. Or to put it another way, we have, through our tax money, hired a gang that acts in our interest against gangs of an unlawful interest.
Is it any surprise when law enforcement officers, whether local or federal, behave like gangsters? They give lip service to law and morality, but they are not slow in behaving like gangsters when it is to their benefit.
So when a cop acts like a thug or a man of low morals, don't be surprised. Most cops are decent people, but they are not saints in blue. They are as bad as you and me.
On a lighter note, how about a little shamisen?
DEATH BY SHAMISEN - YouTube
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Movies Are Just Movies. They Aren't Real.
This week has been a case of Titanic-mania in the media because the 100th anniversary of the disaster was on the 14th. And, as usual, the Hollywood movie industry decided to make a bit of coin by retailing a disaster as a form of entertainment. In this case it, was a release of James Cameron's Titanic in 3-D some odd teen years after it was originally released.
There are two troubling things with the motion picture. The first is that many young people are so unschooled in history that they think that the whole Titanic story is a fiction created by Cameron. That, if nothing else, is a slam at the educational system in the United States and at the media in general. The second is that Cameron demonizes people ion the film who were not evil or bad willed. In particular, he makes a ship's officer a selfish and self-preserving lout when, in fact, the man went down with the ship. But, of course, in Hollywood the only good officer is the maverick officer while those who do their duty are either dupes or tools:
Remembering James Cameron's Titanic Inaccuracy
During the 1990s Whit Stillman made a trilogy of movies that we here at the Bloody Nib Mano enjoyed. All the films were based on the lives of the East Coast bourgeoisie, people with whom neither the lovely Lady Nib nor this writer have had anything to do with. But we have been able to appreciate a certain universality of the stories he told. In particular, Metropolitan, which is a retelling of Mansfield Park. We here at the Manor are of the working middle class and the world of debutante balls is very foreign to us. But Stillman tells universal stories with a Yuppie gloss. And he likes his Yuppies. Hollywoood doesn't. Stillman has a new movie that has been recently released called Damsels in Distress which we hope to see soon. And because of the movie the popular press has taken an interest in him and finds him odd:
Whit Stillman breaks Hollywood taboo, says he was 'blacklisted' from directing TV - Washington Times
There are two troubling things with the motion picture. The first is that many young people are so unschooled in history that they think that the whole Titanic story is a fiction created by Cameron. That, if nothing else, is a slam at the educational system in the United States and at the media in general. The second is that Cameron demonizes people ion the film who were not evil or bad willed. In particular, he makes a ship's officer a selfish and self-preserving lout when, in fact, the man went down with the ship. But, of course, in Hollywood the only good officer is the maverick officer while those who do their duty are either dupes or tools:
Remembering James Cameron's Titanic Inaccuracy
During the 1990s Whit Stillman made a trilogy of movies that we here at the Bloody Nib Mano enjoyed. All the films were based on the lives of the East Coast bourgeoisie, people with whom neither the lovely Lady Nib nor this writer have had anything to do with. But we have been able to appreciate a certain universality of the stories he told. In particular, Metropolitan, which is a retelling of Mansfield Park. We here at the Manor are of the working middle class and the world of debutante balls is very foreign to us. But Stillman tells universal stories with a Yuppie gloss. And he likes his Yuppies. Hollywoood doesn't. Stillman has a new movie that has been recently released called Damsels in Distress which we hope to see soon. And because of the movie the popular press has taken an interest in him and finds him odd:
Whit Stillman breaks Hollywood taboo, says he was 'blacklisted' from directing TV - Washington Times
Sunday, April 01, 2012
The Religion of Peace
Those who have memories longer than those of a flea will remember when the people, or at least rebels, who desired liberation from the North African version of Michael Jackson, Mohmmar Quadaffi, will recall that during the strife the rebels begged NATO and the Western nations to help them overthrow the dictator so that they could enjoy freedom and democracy. The result has been an infestation of the Libyan leadership by Islamists and Al-Quada freaks. In other, instead of Libya becoming a Western style democratic nation it has deigned to make a move towards Ottoman style Islamic idiocy. And the people have taken the aid of the Western nations, especially Great Britain and have shoved it back into the West's face:
Benghazi: Shocking video of Churchill's Desert Rats' graves being smashed to rubble by Libyan rebels | Mail Online
Canada is finally waking up to the threat from Islamists. Or at least one news organ has done so. Meanwhile, the mainstream news media in the U.S. is bound and determined to embrace the very thing that will kill it:
Gates of Vienna: More on the Toronto Jihad Bookstore
President Sarkozy seems to have had enough of militant Islam after the French/Algerian nutcase decided to shoot up innocent Jews and French paratroopers. Note that the news man attributes part of Sarkozy's decision to the upcoming election instead of a concern for the safety of France and French culture:
France bars Muslim clerics from entering France - Yahoo! News
Benghazi: Shocking video of Churchill's Desert Rats' graves being smashed to rubble by Libyan rebels | Mail Online
Canada is finally waking up to the threat from Islamists. Or at least one news organ has done so. Meanwhile, the mainstream news media in the U.S. is bound and determined to embrace the very thing that will kill it:
Gates of Vienna: More on the Toronto Jihad Bookstore
President Sarkozy seems to have had enough of militant Islam after the French/Algerian nutcase decided to shoot up innocent Jews and French paratroopers. Note that the news man attributes part of Sarkozy's decision to the upcoming election instead of a concern for the safety of France and French culture:
France bars Muslim clerics from entering France - Yahoo! News
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)