Some books on Amazon and the smell test

So, you see this widget on the left hand side of the page? I'm trying to build what is called an Amazon aStore. You take and create your own take on an online bookstore using Amazon's inventory and order fulfillment. I thought this would be a way to create my own take on a "small" online bookstore with a fannish view of things. One thing I'm doing is providing links and (in the near future) some information on classic science fiction and providing categories for their books currently in print. In the process of doing this I've found some rather interesting things.

Be careful what you buy. I'm not providing names or links because I just don't want to provide even negative publicity for these "publishers". The other night while adding the available books by Robert Silverberg I stumbled across one that made me think "Is this legit?". Scrolling down a bit I saw a post by Silverberg blasting these folks for publishing something that he had let slip into the public domain since he considered it superseded by another book. Tonight I stumbled across a questionable publication of a Theodore Sturgeon book. From what I've been able to tell, it's more than a little likely that while some of this kind of publishing is actually in the public domain, I for one am not interested in supporting someone who is overcharging for someone else's work when I can be pretty sure that the writer's estate isn't seeing a penny.

The Quasi-Official Robert Silverberg Web Site

We do learn more and more. It's called science.

In the realm of very vaguely related news stories, 8 days before we are due for a cosmic close shave so close that it could whack an orbiting satellite or two, we read that there is even more evidence that the massive impact that produced the Chicxulub crater was in fact if not the sole cause almost certainly a contributor to the massive extinction event whose most famous victims were the dinosaurs. Gotta love it. This is the way science works when dealing with questions about real world events that can't be answered in repeatable laboratory experiments though some don't seem to appreciate it. Scientists have to not only ask not only the questions concerning the event they are researching but what kind of traces are there to help them find those answers. This is what climatologists do in order to try and find the answers concerning climate change. In spite of what some whose fashion sense should include tinfoil hats claim, they are not involved in a massive hoax or conspiracy. They ask questions and go where the evidence takes them. As they should.

Hello world!

When I installed WordPress it created an initial post called "Hello world!" that I imagine most people would just delete and create their own introductory post for their brand new blog. But given that "Hello world!" seems to be the first little computer program that you learn in almost every programming language I just thought I'd leave the title while putting some actual text in here instead of the boilerplate that the WordPress folks created.

Yes, this blog will have geeky stuff about science fiction, computers, fantasy and pretty much all of the stuff that one would expect with that title. But I doubt I'll be able to stay away from politics, economics, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Kansas City Royals and anything else that happens to catch my attention.

The Book Sale

I am selling a number of my books and this is just the first part of what I'm doing. Some information about the first batch for sale is below.

Title	Author	Condition	Signed	Edition	Price
All the Lies That Are My Life	Harlan Ellison	Fine/Like New	NO	First Edition, Second Printing	$50.00
Armageddon Rag, The	George R.R. Martin	Fine	YES	First	$300.00
Assignment in Eternity	Robert Heinlein	Near Fine	YES	First	$400.00
Deathbird Stories	Harlan Ellison	Near Fine	YES	First	$125.00
Eros Ascending	Mike Resnick	Fine/Like New	YES	First	$50.00
Eros at Zenith	Mike Resnick	Fine/Like New	YES	First	$50.00
Essential Ellison, The	Harlan Ellison	Fine	YES	First	$150.00
Green Hills of Earth, The	Robert Heinlein	Near Fine	NO	First	$300.00
Leiber Chronicles, The	Fritz Leiber	Near Fine	NO	First	$40.00
Mefisto in Onyx	Harlan Ellison	Fine/Like New	YES	Hardback in slipcase	$300.00
Methuselah's Children	Robert Heinlein	Very Good -Ex Libris label on inside front cover	NO	First	$100.00
No Doors, No Windows	Harlan Ellison	Fine/Like New	YES	First	$60.00
Pornucopia	Piers Anthony	Fine	NO	First	$100.00
Robots of Dawn, The	Isaac Asimov	Fine/Like New	YES	First	$275.00
Rocketship Galileo	Robert Heinlein	Very Good	NO	First	pending
Ship of Shadows	Fritz Leiber	Fine	YES	First	$65.00
Stranger in a Strange Land	Robert Heinlein	Near Fine	YES	First Edition, Fifth Impression	$750.00
Tramp Royale	Robert Heinlein	Very Good	NO	Uncorrected Proof	$20.00
Unpleasant Profession of Jonathon Hoag, The	Robert Heinlein	Good - DJ has some wear and tear on spine	YES	First	$425.00
Vault of the Ages	Poul Anderson	Very Good -some wear on DJ edges	NO	First	$75.00
Watching	Harlan Ellison	Fine/Like New	NO	First	$30.00

Cogitamus: The Liberal Canon

This is a great post by Sir Charles at Cogitamus. Cogitamus: The Liberal Canon

Is Charles Murray trying to prove his ignorance?

Charles Murray: Why Capitalism Has an Image Problem - WSJ.com

Not only does this column not reflect well on the WSJ op-ed pages, which of course bothers them not in the least, but it should make one wonder if Murray is in some kind of contest to show how little he understands of modern America and what its people think. First, he constantly refers to capitalism as some kind of monolithic system, which it is not, and praises it as an unmixed blessing. Wherever people critique it, it's because they don't understand it. No mention of shadow economies of unregulated derivative systems that dwarf many country's budgets. The crash caused by many bad practices in the financial sector apparently doesn't exist in his mind. There is not one mention of the corruption represented by Enron, Dennis Kozlowski, Bernie Ebbers or Bernie Madoff, among others. What blame he does recognize as "legitimate" lies with the government. Oh, and of course he never mentions the fact that modern businesses work as hard as they can to eliminate every job possible. There is no such thing as offshoring jobs to cheap labor markets. And no, I freely admit that I don't buy into the arguments that offshoring is another unmixed blessing of capitalism, which is not uncommon among economists, especially those of the right wing.

No, A Former Publisher Doesn't Know More About the Internet Than Techies

Vint Cerf is a well known name in computer geek circles for very good reasons. If anyone knows the events that led to the internet as we know it, he does. Yet a former publisher of the Wall Street Journal decided to revise history a bit in a column for the WSJ that once again shows why those pages have so little to do with facts, even when compared to other op-ed sections. In it he tries to claim that the role of the government was limited to a modest contribution backed by ARPA. He admits that Vint Cerf developed the TCP/IP protocols but claims that "the Ethernet", developed at Xerox PARC, was in fact the invention that first connected different computer networks and served as the basis for the internet. He bases his claims, which contradict everything I ever read about the history of the internet, on a book by Michael Hiltzik, who was at Xerox PARC back then and a quote from a former top official of ARPA that he doesn't understand.

He made a very foolish mistake, though, by getting his "facts" flagrantly wrong while some of the people involved are still alive. And they're not very happy with Mr. Crovitz for hosing history. Vint Cerf refutes Crovitz's column in an interview with CNet. Michael Hiltzik corrects Mr Crovitz in a column in the L.A. times. In fact, Cerf points out that not only was ARPA involved in the development of the Internet but so were the NSF, NASA, DOE and other government agencies as well. Hiltzik points out how Crovitz misinterpreted the quote from his friend, Robert Taylor.

I think that Crovitz, like far too many who drift too deeply into an ideology, interpreted things he found to support what he wants to believe and ignored the larger body of evidence that contradicted him. Think of him and others trying to revise the history of technology to minimize government involvement for ideological reasons as the David Bartons of tech history.

The Oil Drum | Ruthless Extrapolation

This site is about energy and our future, as per the subtitle. I really enjoyed this article and the physics discussion the comments thread turned into.

The Oil Drum | Ruthless Extrapolation

Fortune, that liberal rag, investigates Fast and Furious

The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal - Fortune Features

The long and short of it is that most of what's being said, especially on conservative blogs, newspapers, radio and TV is flat-out wrong. If you're interested you really need to read the whole article.

Is the rest of the GOP as reactionary as Texas?

I saw some posts on Twitter about how reactionary the Texas GOP Party Platform was and thought they had to be exaggerating. They weren't. You can find the platform here. The emphasis below is mine.

Consider where they get their ideas on strengthening the economy.

We support the principles regarding the public economy as stated in the Republican Party Platform of 1932 to wit: 

Resolution Regarding the Public Economy  

Whereas, constructive plans for financial stabilization cannot be completely organized until our national, State and municipal governments not only balance their budgets but curtail their current expenses as well to a level which can be steadily and economically maintained for some years to come.We urge prompt and drastic reduction of public expenditure and resistance to every appropriation not demonstrably necessary to the performance of government, national or local.The Republican Party established and will continue to uphold the gold standard and will oppose any measure which will undermine the government’s credit or impair the integrity of our national currency. Relief by currency inflation is unsound in principle and dishonest in results. The dollar is impregnable in the marts of the world today and must remain so. An ailing body cannot be cured by quack remedies. This is no time to experiment upon the body politic or financial. 

Source: Republican Party Platform of 1932

Then there's their ideas on teaching critical thinking skills.

We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.

Under the heading "PROMOTING INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND PERSONAL SAFETY" you'll find gems like this.

We oppose the monitoring of gun ownership, and the taxation and regulation of guns and ammunition.  We collectively urge the legislature to pass “constitutional carry” legislation whereby law-abiding citizens that possess firearms can legally exercise their God-given right to carry that firearm as well.  Until such time we urge the state to re-introduce and pass legislation easing current restrictions on firearms such as open carry and campus carry. 

State Militia – We support the establishment and maintenance of a volunteer Constitutional State Militia with assistance from County Sheriffs.
Militia versus Paid Army – We recognize that the original meaning of the word “militia” in the Constitution refers to an armed citizenry, not the formal paid professional military.
Freedom of Access Act – We urge repeal of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Law. Those who assault peaceful protesters acting under the Constitution should be vigorously prosecuted. Picketing and literature distribution do not fall under the RICO Act.
Judeo-Christian Nation – As America is a nation under God founded on Judeo-Christian principles, we affirm the constitutional right of all individuals to worship in the religion of their choice.
Safeguarding Our Religious Liberties – We affirm that the public acknowledgement of God is undeniable in our history and is vital to our freedom, prosperity and strength. We pledge our influence toward a return to the original intent of the First Amendment and toward dispelling the myth of separation of church and state. We urge the Legislature to increase the ability of faith-based institutions and other organizations to assist the needy and to reduce regulation of such organizations. 

That isn't all, of course. But how typical is this extremely reactionary belief system in the GOP? How many state parties would agree with these desires to roll back the clock? 

R.I.P., Ray Bradbury

One of the great things about being an "active" science fiction fan is that you get to meet the writers whose works you read. I did get to meet Ray Bradbury at an Archon one year and he was one of the really big names in the field that most would be at least a bit intimidated by the idea of getting to meet. But if that did happen to you, he would be pretty effective at taking care of that. He was a great writer and a good man. He was blessed by an amazing talent and the strong drive to write that enabled him to do what he loved for almost his entire life.    Good for him. Rest in peace, Mr. Bradbury.

EconoSpeak: The Long-Term Budget Outlook - It's not what the GOP claims.

EconoSpeak: The Long-Term Budget Outlook

The actual long term outlook assuming current law stands, including the expiration of the Bush era tax cuts and the Affordable Care Act isn't overturned by the Supreme Court or repealed by a President Romney and his fellow Republicans has been improving lately. That having been said, there are way too many factors that can't be foreseen for it to hold up. It's still interesting given the opposing claims being made.

Austerity Uber Alles

According to the German government, the IMF and the European Central Bank there is one and only one solution to every economic problem in Europe today. Austerity. Cut back. Cut drastically. Throw thousands of government workers out of jobs and any private sector folks who depend on their spending. Don't worry, it'll all work out in the long run.

So picture an editorial cartoon with an American sensibility about the current European debt crisis. Take Angela Merkel and put her in a white cowboy hat and domino mask. Give her a gun in one hand. A really big gun. A bad video game sized BFG. In the other hand she holds proudly an outsized bullet to fit such an outrageous weapon. Silver, of course. Label the bullet "Austerity". Before her stands the villain of the piece, hard-bitten, looking mean and wearing a dirty black outfit. Label him "Depression". Next to him is a prime example of the innocent townfolk of this Western frontier scenario. A middle-aged woman wearing homespun gingham who looks at the villain with terror on her face as her children grip her skirts. Label her "Economies", with a design in her dress of the names of European nations. Label her children as "Jobs" and "Standard of Living". Next frame, Angela's done her best, smoke is rising from the barrel of her gun and the children are staring in horror at the body of their mother lying on the ground. Oops.