Missive #106 Published 8 August 2023
This book is Deneen's published 1995 PhD Thesis. Therefore, if you decide to read it be prepared to wade through the academic morass. The first and last chapters are not so bad but the middle chapters were way above my pay grade.
Missive #105 Published 6 August 2023
Created by the bestselling SF novelist Jerry Pournelle, There Will Be War is a landmark science fiction anthology series that combines top-notch military science fiction with factual essays by various generals and military experts on everything from High Frontier and the Strategic Defense Initiative to the aftermath of the Vietnam War. It features some of the greatest military science fiction ever published; many science fiction greats were featured in the original nine-volume series. There Will Be War Volume I is edited by Jerry Pournelle and John F. Carr, and features 23 stories, articles, and poems.
Missive #104 Published 4 August 2023
I never watched Tucker on TV because I don't do TV. However, I have read enough about him that what he says in this book came as no surprise and certainly explains why he is no longer at Fox. he attacks the 'elites' in this country and TV provided him with far too much exposure to the 'deplorables'; he had to go.
Missive #103 Published 3 August 2023
“Is Google making us stupid?” When Nicholas Carr posed that question, in a celebrated Atlantic Monthly cover story, he tapped into a well of anxiety about how the Internet is changing us. He also crystallized one of the most important debates of our time: As we enjoy the Net’s bounties, are we sacrificing our ability to read and think deeply?
Missive #102 Published 30 July 2023
The Innocents Abroad, or The New Pilgrims' Progress is a travel book by American author Mark Twain published in 1869 which humorously chronicles what Twain called his "Great Pleasure Excursion" on board the chartered vessel Quaker City (formerly USS Quaker City) through Europe and the Holy Land with a group of American travelers in 1867. It was the best-selling of Twain's works during his lifetime, as well as one of the best-selling travel books of all time.
Missive #101 Published 28 July 2023
This is an interesting book if for no other reason it introduced me to the new word — precariat. I thought what I did back in 1990 when I quit working for a bank was "Going Galt" but now see that I was joining the precariat class. There are many subdivisions within that class however so it is not as uniform as the working class, the working poor or the unemployed. I think the author is right that it is a dangerous class IF it becomes unified with a leader.
Missive #100 Published 23 July 2023
In the nineteenth century, a small group of American idealists managed to actually build Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine and use it to develop Cliology, mathematical models that could chart the likely course of the future. Soon they were working to alter history’s course as they thought best. By our own time, the Society has become the secret master of the world. But no secret can be kept forever, at least not without drastic measures. When her plans for some historic real estate lead developer and ex-reporter Sarah Beaumont to stumble across the Society’s existence, it’s just the first step into a baffling and deadly maze of conspiracies.
Missive #99 Published 21 July 2023
The only news I have is that it is HOT. We have been over 100°F every day since 15 July which was the hottest one at 106.5 and it has been over 100 15 days out of the 21 in July. This is not right; I came to this higher elevation for a cooler summer than last year. I was in Fredonia, AZ last summer, at 4,671 feet, and thought it was hot there so moved up to 6,360 feet. Alas, Fredonia has been over 100 only 10 days this July although their highest temperature was 110.3°F on 16 July.
Missive #98 Published 18 July 2023
Everyone wants to know where the society in which they live is going, but answers are elusive. Turchin, an academic working in the emerging field of complexity science, believes he has found a path forward with a discipline called cliodynamics, which melds statistical analysis, social trend data, and historical comparisons to create a sophisticated model. He has written several books using cliodynamics, including Ultrasociety and Ages of Discord, and here, he aims to understand the current situation in the U.S, which he sees as sliding toward social and political disintegration.
Missive #97 Published 16 July 2023
I saw my first bull elk yesterday morning. There may have been another one in all the herds that I have seen but I didn't see any with antlers until the one yesterday. He looked to be a young bull and had a couple of cows with him; perhaps the start of his harem. He will have to fight to keep them and from his size I don't give him much chance against a fully mature bull.