tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post3731297391845016298..comments2024-03-28T23:39:08.616-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Going Postal? And the 'TOC' you want... the book no one has read.David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73848782330662315092020-08-18T19:07:51.799-07:002020-08-18T19:07:51.799-07:00Ok, this is trivial, but I'm wondering why Del...Ok, this is trivial, but I'm wondering why Delaware passed on casting its votes if it was not going to break back in after New York in order to be the state to put their native son over the top? Was that a mistake, or am I missing some point of order?<br /><br />I know it hardly matters, but I'm curious.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72468388403402687972020-08-18T11:04:20.262-07:002020-08-18T11:04:20.262-07:00https://wgntv.com/news/couple-who-waved-guns-at-pr...https://wgntv.com/news/couple-who-waved-guns-at-protesters-will-appear-at-republican-national-convention/<br /><br />The headline says it all...<br /><i><br /><b>Couple who waved guns at protesters will appear at Republican National Convention</b><br /><br />...<br /></i>Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-64622151136111049612020-08-17T17:14:55.382-07:002020-08-17T17:14:55.382-07:00Slightly cut text of my letter to both NALC and AP...Slightly cut text of my letter to both NALC and APWU presidents:<br /><br />August 17, 2020 Fredric Rolando NALC and Mark Dimondstein APWU<br />Dear sir:<br /><br /> My name is TCB, I’m a city letter carrier for the United States Postal Service since 1989, and a member of NALC Branch 248 in Asheville, NC. I am writing to you with a suggestion for (partly) thwarting Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election by sabotaging the United States Postal Service’s ability to deliver ballots on time. Perhaps you have already thought of this, but just to be thorough, here it is.<br /><br /> As we know, Postmaster Louis DeJoy has slowed the mail by removing hundreds of sorting machines and cutting overtime. This affects ballots and ballot applications being sent out from county election board offices, since these election materials must pass through area sorting centers where those machines would be. For Asheville, such sorting takes place some 50 miles away at a facility in Greenville, SC. Certainly this applies to all absentee ballots returned from distant places in or out of the country.<br /><br /> This year, however, the vast majority of returning ballot requests and completed ballots need only go as far as the election board office in the nearest county seat, many in the same city. In the past we have often had designated buckets on the loading dock for ballots to go straight to that p.o. box or address, to be received the next day, or even been ordered to deviate and go straight there on the way back to our office. This is good, but I am not aware whether it is standard procedure everywhere; I can imagine the new Postmaster General discouraging it. We have the power to make sure ballots bound for the local election board need not take the long way through distant sorting facilities.<br /><br /> I have written this letter to both the presidents of the NALC and the APWU, asking that union leadership urge all their members in carrier, mail handling and clerk crafts to be vigilant for election board mail and expedite it however they can, whether management tells them to or not; to remind each other and their supervisors to do this; and to push back hard against anyone in management who orders otherwise. In this way, most ballots could get where they need to go a lot faster than the saboteurs had hoped.<br /><br />Yours in democracy, TCB<br /><br />P.S. I have posted a copy of this letter to Contrary Brin, the blog of David Brin, author of The Postman, honorary NALC member since 1986. He’s One Of Us (by which I mean APWU too!).TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66376577420944832532020-08-17T16:33:55.249-07:002020-08-17T16:33:55.249-07:00David Brin wrote: I heard from Admiral McR and am ...David Brin wrote: <i>I heard from Admiral McR and am sending him a book!</i><br /><br />Yay! Also send him a copy or six of <i>Polemical Judo</i> and see if you can't get him to forward a copy to any Congresscritters he knows!Ahcuahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06514651362748555460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8702907426840202382020-08-17T16:27:52.208-07:002020-08-17T16:27:52.208-07:00Don't send him "a book"
You need to...Don't send him "a book"<br /><br />You need to sent at least TWO BOOKS!<br /><br />The Postman and your Judo Bookduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-36404289709877670322020-08-17T15:43:17.336-07:002020-08-17T15:43:17.336-07:00No more Particle Man stuff from me. I showed the f...<i>No more Particle Man stuff from me. I showed the first one to my wife and she just lifted her eyebrow with that expression that said "What the Hell is this?"</i><br /><br />Wives are notoriously immune to adolescent humor. Tell her you might get paid for it, and she'll take a closer look. :)<br /><br />Or, better yet, let her watch some of Randy Rainbow's videos, and inform her he was nominated for an Emmy last year. She'll realize there is actually a market for this stuff--after raising her eyebrow again. :)A.F. Reyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08102355714883828348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41705969149297891452020-08-17T15:13:07.557-07:002020-08-17T15:13:07.557-07:00I heard from Admiral McR and am sending him a book...I heard from Admiral McR and am sending him a book!<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-41109527934995063432020-08-17T14:57:11.728-07:002020-08-17T14:57:11.728-07:00Yeah. Disappointing a high and prominent Admiral c...<i>Yeah. Disappointing a high and prominent Admiral can't read.</i><br /><br />It's not that the Admiral can't read, but because you threw in that bit about enhanced soldiers, the military had to classify the novel beyond the Admiral's security clearance.<br /><br />Heck, they'd take it off the selves if that alone wouldn't spill the beans. :)<br /><br />(Naturally, you didn't hear this from me. ;) )A.F. Reyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08102355714883828348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-9910569373924300222020-08-17T13:36:29.546-07:002020-08-17T13:36:29.546-07:00Heh. I've watched Stonekettle on Twitter long ...Heh. I've watched Stonekettle on Twitter long enough to recognize the squirrel collecting karma nuts. I'm quite sure he enjoys it no matter how much he grumbles and groans. His 'airlock' has an 'easy' button designed specially for it. 8)<br /><br />The insult industry is just a niche, though. The real market is for tiny minority opinion holders finding each other for trade. The platforms are printing money from this because we've discovered most of us are in some tiny minority opinion holding group for at least one of our opinions. Who doesn't love pictures of cute kittens and playful puppies, right? Somewhere out there, though, is someone who thinks it's a good idea to feed them to the wild coyotes who live nearby. Why? Just ask them. They'll share their opinion about Man encroaching on Nature and how we owe Her for the damage done. So... let your cute pets out at night in suburbs adjacent to wild lands.<br /><br />The insult industry feeds on the energy created in the real market. What?! You Monster! Where do you work so I can warn your boss how bad you really are?!<br /><br />--------<br /><br />okay. No more Particle Man stuff from me. I showed the first one to my wife and she just lifted her eyebrow with that expression that said "What the Hell is this?"<br />I trust her. 8)Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-92065511170399022512020-08-17T13:15:47.172-07:002020-08-17T13:15:47.172-07:00Something that I found interesting:
https://freet... Something that I found interesting:<br /><br />https://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2020/08/16/the-extinct-liberal-republican/<br /><br />There's still a few of those around, they've mostly been pushed out by the descendants of turncoat Democrats that fell for the southern strategy, after they'd gimped The New Deal, and mostly killed Truman's Fair Deal, which potentially might've gotten a lot of difficulties out of the way, when they were more manageable. Go Biden-Harris, because better late than never!Tim H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12380916635831994159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-86027088126688648062020-08-17T10:36:25.698-07:002020-08-17T10:36:25.698-07:00Duexglass, on the cheeseburger challenge score i m...Duexglass, on the cheeseburger challenge score i might give you a run for your money but rather than overeat them as a challenge i might stop by Inn and Out on my grocery run and eat a double double toasting your good health or lack of it whichever you prefer.Phaedrusnailfilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09496149647457655733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6026240503231310532020-08-17T08:26:03.286-07:002020-08-17T08:26:03.286-07:00Phaedrusnailfile,
After I hit the send button I s...Phaedrusnailfile,<br /><br />After I hit the send button I suddenly realized that I had no knowledge of how to use a rapier and that you could possibly be an Olympic Rapier Gold Medallist. I should have challenged you to a cheeseburger-eating contest instead. Are you by chance an Olympic Cheeseburger-eating Gold Medallist? Deuxglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03488986307291616948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-26504513457327202742020-08-17T07:56:39.901-07:002020-08-17T07:56:39.901-07:00Jon S,
You called me Deux! That means we are on ...<br />Jon S, <br /><br />You called me Deux! That means we are on a first name basis and implies intimacy in our budding friendship that could perhaps someday lead to something more. <br /><br />Jim "Stonekettle" Wright could be statistically on that tail of the bell curve of people who accumulate bad experiences one after the other. That could occur just by chance or perhaps it could be that he is an unlikeable person and consequently gathers negative karma like a squirrel gathers nuts. He could also have been cursed by a Wiccan sorceress working as a waitress for giving a lousy tip. There a many of them there so be sure to leave good tips if you go to the Panhandle.<br /><br />Trashing different sections of the country and the people therein is a cottage industry that employs many people and can be done a home. It started out as a niche mainly catering to disgruntled scientists and engineers then the industry went to rapid growth starting in 2000. Unfortunately the US market is now saturated but future growth is coming from trashing other countries. Initially the market was limited to 330 million consumers but the worldwide potential is upwards of 7.5 billion. The stocks that benefit from this growth industry are Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler and Instagram. Industry leaders are starting to diversify into textiles with expressions insulting people, states, countries, religions and social classes written on them in several different languages. A Goldman Sachs report estimates that the Insult Industry now accounts for 5% of global GDP and is expected to increase to 15% by the year 2030. Goldman does caution that so much insulting could end up generating civil and global war but they expect to have taken their profit before that happens.Deuxglasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03488986307291616948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39107254865568576212020-08-17T07:49:34.039-07:002020-08-17T07:49:34.039-07:00Bernie Sanders leaves no doubt that even centrist ...Bernie Sanders leaves no doubt that even centrist Biden is preferable to Four More Years...<br /><br />https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/opinion/bernie-sanders-joe-biden.html<br /><i><br />...<br />The first prong, Mr. Sanders explained, is to focus on electing Mr. Biden — because the alternative is Mr. Trump, whose regime could, in Mr. Sanders’ view, endanger the progressive cause in ways far more damaging than one led by moderate Democrats. “This is a guy who believes in voter suppression,” he said of Mr. Trump. “We are fighting for American democracy — for whether we have free elections in this country, or whether you will have an antidemocratic pathological liar running this country. On this issue, there can be not one doubt.”<br /><br />Mr. Sanders’ movement relies on the idea that transformative change is possible using the normal levers of American governance — which is a point of contention among leftists. But it would be impossible to accomplish without a functional democracy. Whatever Mr. Biden may be up to, in Mr. Sanders’s view, he’s at least in favor of that much.<br /><br />Which isn’t to say he’s content with the moderate, business-friendly politics Mr. Biden favors. And that’s where the second prong comes in.<br /><br />“Now, the day after Biden is elected, we have got to mobilize and organize all over this country to make sure that Biden becomes as progressive a president as is possible, that Democrats control the Senate and the House, and that we can put sufficient pressure on Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to carry out a progressive agenda.”<br />...<br /></i>Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-32322166772967544922020-08-17T06:44:37.459-07:002020-08-17T06:44:37.459-07:00Deuxglass,whew my rapier skills have been seriousl...Deuxglass,whew my rapier skills have been seriously neglected and i am glad my apology was accepted, being skewered doesn't appeal. All others doing particle man homages; at first it was great but now every time i read this blog i start hearing the accordian and doing the chicken dance.Phaedrusnailfilehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09496149647457655733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68326952629454550802020-08-17T04:53:00.203-07:002020-08-17T04:53:00.203-07:00A concept worth extrapolating:
https://www.bbc.co... A concept worth extrapolating:<br /><br />https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200803-the-solar-canals-revolutionising-indias-renewable-energy<br /><br />I'm picturing sun belt freeways shaded by solar panels.Tim H.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12380916635831994159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15182190352835922622020-08-16T22:43:55.660-07:002020-08-16T22:43:55.660-07:00Hi Dr Brin
It's probably not so much that he ...Hi Dr Brin<br /><br />It's probably not so much that he can't read as that he thinks Costner's name is "heavier" than yours<br />And unfortunately he is probably correctduncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-290950119852199792020-08-16T22:36:38.633-07:002020-08-16T22:36:38.633-07:00Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ...Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding the research on Quantized Inertia (QI) Theory postulated by Mike McCulloch, chasing the possibility of building a Horizon Drive, the engineered version of the EM Drive. <br /><br />Well, it turns out that, according to QI, in a small enough cavity (about 129 nm) the zero point field itself is made inhomogeneous by the cavity's asymmetry, and is stronger than the tiny weight of the metal cavity. Build an array of these nano-cavities and it should push itself in the same way a boulder will roll down a hill. The hill in this case is the quantum vacuum, so the boulder may in fact be able to roll up a physical hill by 'rolling down' the steeper one in the quantum vacuum.<br /><br />The applications could be new launch systems and a way to get to the nearest stars in a human lifetime.Sleeples Lurkernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24284764984878362112020-08-16T21:04:43.295-07:002020-08-16T21:04:43.295-07:00Yeah. disappointing a high and prominent Admiral c...Yeah. disappointing a high and prominent Admiral can't read.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8676534603245589272020-08-16T20:36:53.325-07:002020-08-16T20:36:53.325-07:00Well...this WaPo opinion piece credits The Postman...Well...this WaPo opinion piece credits The Postman movie but never mentions David Brin's name. Kevin Costner is the name associated with it.<br /><br />The author argues for the Postal Service to get the resources it needs and against Trump in this article. "And if Americans stop believing in the system of institutions, then what is left but chaos and who can bring order out of chaos: only Trump. It is the theme of every autocrat who ever seized power or tried to hold onto it." He's a former Admiral BTW. "William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, was commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014."AVRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04833332723131471701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-26487696061889141912020-08-16T14:47:55.468-07:002020-08-16T14:47:55.468-07:00David,
I found myself reading that W.Post article ...David,<br />I found myself reading that W.Post article without a subscription when I loaded the page halfway, then stopped downloading before the bytes requiring subscription came in.<br /><br />The short article discusses the relevance of The Postman to today's world. They don't say anything you haven't said either in the book or on the blog, but they do credit you for good predictive capability. Duncan Ocelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12793350396157268839noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6618659873336812232020-08-16T14:32:56.101-07:002020-08-16T14:32:56.101-07:00Yipe! Simulation of a Three Gorges Dam collapse.
h...Yipe! Simulation of a Three Gorges Dam collapse.<br />http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=44263<br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72310363864631892892020-08-16T14:24:43.309-07:002020-08-16T14:24:43.309-07:00Not a subscriber so I'm blocked from this one....Not a subscriber so I'm blocked from this one. Is it true that it is pertinent to me?<br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-countrys-future-could-hinge-on-postal-workers/2020/08/16/c0f7b97e-dfca-11ea-8dd2-d07812bf00f7_story.html?<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21884740064153429192020-08-16T14:12:47.429-07:002020-08-16T14:12:47.429-07:00Deux, perhaps you should speak with Jim "Ston...Deux, perhaps you should speak with Jim "Stonekettle" Wright. He lives in the Panhandle. He, ah, does not share your glowing assessment of his fellow Floridians.Jon S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13585842845661267920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73278854845147039152020-08-16T13:39:00.151-07:002020-08-16T13:39:00.151-07:00Move On has announced a national day of protest, A...Move On has announced a national day of protest, August 22nd, *at your local post office*. 11 am (local time). <br /><br />Sign up at savethepostoffice.net<br /><br />***<br /><br />2020, y'all. Time to protest to protect our post office. And the ability to vote-by-mail, which means paper ballots which can be audited. <br /><br /><br />matthewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17757867868731829206noreply@blogger.com