After Pournelle finished the first set of "There Will be War" anthologies, he started a series that ran for two books called "Imperial Stars" (because, he joked, "There Will be Government" was an awful title). Much like TWbW before it, it was a series of essays and fiction centered around how people would end up governing each other - which overlaps heavily with war. One essay that stuck out had as its premise that to the ideal tribesman, rooted in order and tradition and set place, the barbar…
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This one had been bouncing around a while, but the following article [http://archive.is/0QPmP] caused me to finally say something about it: > The term “at-risk youth” was commonly used in both penal and education codes in California – until now. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that went into effect on Jan. 1 that officially wiped the phrase from the state’s language. The phrase will now be replaced by “at-promise youth.” Assemblymember Byron Jones-Sawyer (D-South Los Angeles), who penned t…
Adam Piggot wrote an excellent writeup on why Duterte is so popular [https://pushingrubberdownhill.com/2020/02/08/all-hail-duterte/] in the Phillipenes. Peter Grant added some excellent commentary [https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2020/02/when-civilized-methods-fail-law-of.html] . From Adam: > I was speaking to one of the Filipinos in a private conversation when he brought up the subject of his president. He was most fulsome in his praise. Under Duterte the streets are now safe. His k…
One expression I have come to loathe is "building your brand", and variants thereof, such as "personal brand." Fuck you. The term you are looking for is reputation. Even in its original context, a brand is [https://infogalactic.com/info/Brand]: > A brand (or marque for car model) is a name, term, design, symbol or other feature that distinguishes one seller's product from those of others.[4] [https://infogalactic.com/info/Brand#cite_note-4] Brands are used in business [https://infogalactic.c…
Driving in Germany was somewhat surreal. The good news for us American types was that we were on the correct side of the road. You know, the right one. The bad news was that at some point we must have been caught by a speedtrap camera going just a few kph over, and were mailed a ticket. Yes, Germany still has stretches of autobahn that are unlimited, at least some of the time, but the surface roads and most of the highways are regulated. Juvenile jokes about how the vehicle exits are all la…