Wil McCarthy's Blog, page 5
July 17, 2009
Fun travel
In a break from my usual routine, I've gotten to visit several fun
places recently. Most notable were a tour of Johnson Space Center in
connection with Apollocon, and a week on Oahu for my fifteenth
anniversary. Both extremely memorable.
--
Wil McCarthy < http://www.wilmccarthy.com >
Engineer, Columnist, Author, etc.
"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" -- Francis Bacon
places recently. Most notable were a tour of Johnson Space Center in
connection with Apollocon, and a week on Oahu for my fifteenth
anniversary. Both extremely memorable.
--
Wil McCarthy < http://www.wilmccarthy.com >
Engineer, Columnist, Author, etc.
"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" -- Francis Bacon
May 19, 2009
Language Inversion
Now that Nancy Pelosi is on the hot seat, I see the rhetoric has
inverted completely. Republicans are calling the alleged scandal
"torturegate" (invoking the word they've assiduously avoided till now),
and Democrats are saying that the thing Pelosi might or might not have
been briefed on is "harsh interrogation" -- a term they've previously
dismissed as weasel wording.
Orwell really nailed it; politicians can't control reality, but through
the abuse of language they ca...
inverted completely. Republicans are calling the alleged scandal
"torturegate" (invoking the word they've assiduously avoided till now),
and Democrats are saying that the thing Pelosi might or might not have
been briefed on is "harsh interrogation" -- a term they've previously
dismissed as weasel wording.
Orwell really nailed it; politicians can't control reality, but through
the abuse of language they ca...
May 15, 2009
Novelty
We did two things last weekend that we've never done before: take a
19-th century lantern tour of an undeveloped cave, and eat yucca roots.
The latter is significant because our property is covered in yucca,
and it's nice to know it's not only edible, but actually pretty yummy.
Tastes a lot like a potato.
--
Wil McCarthy < http://www.wilmccarthy.com >
Engineer, Columnist, Author, etc.
"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" -- Francis Bacon
19-th century lantern tour of an undeveloped cave, and eat yucca roots.
The latter is significant because our property is covered in yucca,
and it's nice to know it's not only edible, but actually pretty yummy.
Tastes a lot like a potato.
--
Wil McCarthy < http://www.wilmccarthy.com >
Engineer, Columnist, Author, etc.
"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" -- Francis Bacon
May 6, 2009
Latest vice
Turns out Gutenberg.org has a sizeable collection of free, human-read
audio books. For the past couple of weeks I've been downloading them to
my iPod and listening to them in the car. From the looks of things, I
could go a year or more without running out of material. The collection
of machine-read audio books is even larger.
--
Wil McCarthy < http://www.wilmccarthy.com >
Engineer, Columnist, Author, etc.
"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" -- Francis Bacon...
audio books. For the past couple of weeks I've been downloading them to
my iPod and listening to them in the car. From the looks of things, I
could go a year or more without running out of material. The collection
of machine-read audio books is even larger.
--
Wil McCarthy < http://www.wilmccarthy.com >
Engineer, Columnist, Author, etc.
"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed" -- Francis Bacon...
May 4, 2009
Weekend TV
I watched two TV shows this weekend, both interesting for very different
reasons. The first was HUMAN FOOTPRINT, on National Geographic, which
tried to show visually, with piles of stuff, how much material an
American consumes over a 75-year lifespan. I suppose the goal was to
make us feel guilty, but the effect was uneven to say the least, with
surprisingly small piles of some things and surprisingly huge piles of
others. 40,000 cans of soda? Yeesh. But over an entire lif
reasons. The first was HUMAN FOOTPRINT, on National Geographic, which
tried to show visually, with piles of stuff, how much material an
American consumes over a 75-year lifespan. I suppose the goal was to
make us feel guilty, but the effect was uneven to say the least, with
surprisingly small piles of some things and surprisingly huge piles of
others. 40,000 cans of soda? Yeesh. But over an entire lif
May 3, 2009
More manufactured truth
The swine flu hysteria also has me very irritated. If you bother to
check the numbers, we're talking about a few hundred cases, worldwide,
of a flu whose mortality rate is well within the norm. I'm not saying
it isn't a problem; for the 1% who die from it, and their families, it
certainly is. And yes, there could well be a million cases -- and
10,000 deaths -- before the virus runs its course.
But the same thing happens every year, so why has the press decided to
whip u
check the numbers, we're talking about a few hundred cases, worldwide,
of a flu whose mortality rate is well within the norm. I'm not saying
it isn't a problem; for the 1% who die from it, and their families, it
certainly is. And yes, there could well be a million cases -- and
10,000 deaths -- before the virus runs its course.
But the same thing happens every year, so why has the press decided to
whip u
April 27, 2009
Tranqualizer Darts
Where would you get the idea tranquilizer darts don't work on humans? If they
didn't work on humans, they wouldn't work on other mammals either. But they
do.
didn't work on humans, they wouldn't work on other mammals either. But they
do.
April 26, 2009
Firearms training
Our company team building exercise for this quarter was a six-hour
tactical firearms training class. Very interesting. There were no
pop-up targets or anything fancy like that, but we did have to draw and
fire rapidly, over and over again under various distance and lighting
conditions. Very far from actual combat, yeah, but I was surprised what
an adrenaline rush it was -- much more intense than paintball or Lazer
Tag or ordinary target shooting.
I used a Grendel P-12,
tactical firearms training class. Very interesting. There were no
pop-up targets or anything fancy like that, but we did have to draw and
fire rapidly, over and over again under various distance and lighting
conditions. Very far from actual combat, yeah, but I was surprised what
an adrenaline rush it was -- much more intense than paintball or Lazer
Tag or ordinary target shooting.
I used a Grendel P-12,
April 24, 2009
Devaluing of words
The kerfuffle over the Bush "torture memos" has me annoyed. I'm not a
big fan of enhanced interrogation, and I agree that it's contrary to the
image America has tried to project in the past. We're definitely better
off without it.
Still, some of these practices are more like fraternity hazing than
anything else, and to use a word like "torture" to describe them is not
only a vocabulary stretch, but an insult to people who've been beaten,
burned, electrocuted, whipped and
big fan of enhanced interrogation, and I agree that it's contrary to the
image America has tried to project in the past. We're definitely better
off without it.
Still, some of these practices are more like fraternity hazing than
anything else, and to use a word like "torture" to describe them is not
only a vocabulary stretch, but an insult to people who've been beaten,
burned, electrocuted, whipped and
April 20, 2009
Roman publishing
Harking back to a discussion we had a while ago, there's an essay on the back
page of this sunday's NYT Book review, "Scrolling Down the Ages," by Mary Beard,
discussing some features of publishing in Antiquity. The page callout is, "There's
a lot in the Roman literary world that seems familiar: money-making booksellers,
exploited authors." It begins with a humorous quote from poet Martial: "My book
is thumbed by our soldiers posted overseas, and even in Britain, people quote
my wor
page of this sunday's NYT Book review, "Scrolling Down the Ages," by Mary Beard,
discussing some features of publishing in Antiquity. The page callout is, "There's
a lot in the Roman literary world that seems familiar: money-making booksellers,
exploited authors." It begins with a humorous quote from poet Martial: "My book
is thumbed by our soldiers posted overseas, and even in Britain, people quote
my wor
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