The story of the Star Spangled Banner.
Have a good one, and don’t forget your history.
New post at the Howling Puffin
New post up over at the Howling Puffin. The intersection of mass movements, politics, corporate policy, and education.
Earliest 3D printer
Va an email from Paul, from a forwarded email (I’m not certain of the whole email chain or original source, but it’s interesting. UPDATE: The note was written by Stan Sieler, and posted on a mailing list called “classic computers”, a list for hobbyists interested in old computer technology and/or the restoration and operation of old computers. Old, as in anywhere from 20 to 50 or more years old.):
Start quote:
Hi,
Back in 2017, I posted something about seeing a possible first-ever
reference to the idea of 3-D printing in a 1951 issue of Galaxy Science
Fiction magazine.
I stumbled over an even earlier one tonight…
The September, 1941, issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine has a
story called “Elsewhere” by Caleb Saunders (a pseudonym of Robert A.
Heinlein). On page 118 we see:
[They used] a single general type of machine to manufacture almost
anything. They fed into it a plan which Igor called, for want of a better
term, the blueprints. It was, in fact, a careful scale model of the device
to be manufactured; the machine retooled itself and produced the artifact.
A three-dimensional pantograph, Igor called the machine, vaguely and
inaccurately. One of them was, at that moment, molding the bodies of
fighting planes out. of plastic, all in one piece and in one operation.
End Quote
A note to my reps
I wrote the following note to my state Representatives and Senator, and requested a reply. When I get a reply I’ll post that as a follow-up.
If you are a WA state resident, and want to send your rep/sen a note, click here.
=-=-=-=-=-=
Why are you letting a convicted felon run guns in the CHAZ / CHOP?
If you are silent on such an obvious violation of recently passed state law, and such events do not evoke suspicion in you, then you are tacitly condoning such illegal activity as long as it effectively targets your opposition, much like the Nazis, the Russian NKVD, and Mao’s hit squads, allowed some political violence but not others, and arbitrary enforcement of the law (with is the same as supporting lawlessness). Interesting ideological company you keep.
That way lies civil war and death. (I say this as a student of military history).
Care to comment?
A legal question of orthodoxy
Within the case West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, there is the following passage:
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.
If I’m reading this correctly, that means that any school district or other government institution that requires you to sign or write a commitment to “diversity” is violating the law. Any legal-beagles out there who can confirm or reject my understanding? It would seem that so many school districts say this, and they to do otherwise would be “against their values,” but then they turn around and say preaching values would be unconstitutional, so you can’t push your biblical interpretation of anything. So… if the WVBoE case is right, then…. they can’t discriminate against you if you think one of their “values” is bull. could that make the basis of a class action lawsuit?
Indulgence
The latest cringe-worthy celebrity PSA is so awesome comments on youtube for it are closed. It is called “I take responsibility.” The write-up at the link is pretty good, so I’d encourage you to hit it. What occurred to me is that their encourage / extorting you to “give to BLM [or other racists / leftwing cause]” to prove your contrition has an exact parallel.
Exact.
The medieval practice of buying an indulgence from the Catholic church to have your sins forgiven. They are morally preening, virtue-signaling without any actual meaning, demanding that YOU must give money to approved donation-plates to be forgiven of your racism and bigotry. Considering how messed up most of them are, the irony is so thick you could cast battleship armor from it.
Schools are failing boys
I’ve had several rather unsatisfactory interactions with one of my son’s teachers, and the principal of the school he attends. I’ve even gone as high as the head of curriculum and learning, trying to see if factual accuracy where possible was an actual expectation.
Below is a (nearly) final draft of a note I’m considering sending to the Language Arts / Social Studies teacher, the principal, and the curriculum director (all are female). Other than being too long, any thoughts? Continue reading Schools are failing boys
Vote Fraud
It’s common in election years to have accusations of vote fraud thrown around. There is no question that it happens, some where, to some degree. The real question in the debates I have is how much is there, who is doing it, how organized is it, and does it actually have any significant effect on election outcomes? I’m talking the basic ballot-box stuffing, counting fraud, etc., not the back-room deals and pressure WRT who runs or not, and a partisan media giving free positive coverage to one side and negative coverage the other way. Just the actual vote casting and counting “irregularities.” So I put up a page, listed under “plague” on the menu (where I’ll put all “off-topic from writing” pages, I think), and just keep adding things there as I see the stories.
I believe it’s reasonable to assume that people who are partisan Dems in their other activities will commit fraud in favor of Dem candidates and causes, and in Dem strongholds pro-Dem fraud is much more likely to occur; similarly, long-time partisan Republicans will commit pro-R fraud.
Plague notes
As I come across interesting things about the Wuhan Flu, rather than adding new posts, I’ll just keep adding things to a coronavirus Plague page. New things on top.
How is this not fraud?
I built a new computer because my old one was ~10 years old, getting flaky, and slow. After a few hiccups it works fine, as near as I can tell. I have both Windows 10 (because they don’t sell Win7 any more, and I got a good deal on it) as well as dual-booting with Linux. In the interests of maintaining current on popular technology, and because I could not find my MS Office 2007 disks which I had installed on my old machine, I bought a license (again, a very good deal) for Office 2019. Continue reading How is this not fraud?