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Friday, December 26, 2003 |
 Jim Moore sounds like a commercial and not an academic.
9:59:08 PM 
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RSS Winterfest looks like a gathering of vendors. Boring... Last thing we need is another *yawn* vendor dominated conference (hype vehicle).
6:41:37 PM
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Hoofta! Reuters, "Bradley asked Jackson whether he thought that under the circumstances, it was still acceptable to sleep with children and Jackson answered, "Of course. Why not?.."
4:41:56 PM
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BBC. Mars probe silent. Was Beagle designed with simplicity and robustness in mind? It is hard to imagine it was.
4:36:24 PM
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CNN. Brainfart at the Whitehouse. The source said the report concludes there was no intention to deceive... A source says his Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board has concluded that inadequate fact-checking contributed to the 2003 State of the Union "goof."
4:31:38 PM
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Roland thinks that WiFi as a business or social movement is overhyped. He is right. However, did he hack his connection in Greece?
3:58:15 PM
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NOTE TO DEMOCRATS: The achilles heal of military action (as an easy adjunct to foreign policy) lies with including people in the equation. The people that fight the battles. See below for details. Want to win military votes? Want to put the President on the defensive? Even if it is, "I didn't serve, but I want to make sure that the people that do are taken care of."
3:33:49 PM
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Now imagine a Unisphere that rotated based on correlation to the sun. A sun "spot" could be place in the pavement in one location. Stand in that circle, and see what is lit up. What if a moon was added or fiber optics for terrestrial lighting of cities?
3:28:29 PM
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One good strategy to help make it difficult for the US to opt for wars that aren't clearly tied to national survival is to raise combat benefits to realistic levels (the safety valve may be tied to the draft, which would lower benefits to accomodate a dire situation). For example, if the US triggered a combat benefit package (sans conscription), it should include:
- One years tax exempt pay for a soldier killed in theater.
- Subsidized death or disability insurance equal to $1 m (this is less costly than it looks) with a strong COLA (cost of living increase). Options for more if paid for by soldier.
- Free health care (no obtuse charges -- like the one charged for food while hospitalized) for injuries suffered in theater (even if discharged).
- $1 k a month in combat pay.
- Tax exemption of pay (state and federal) for spousal income while deployed.
- Paid end-to-end travel to the home of record for soldiers on leave from a combat zone.
Any ideas for more (or ideas for what should be cut)? Should this be a central theme of Democrat candidates going after Bush? Yes. Put him on the spot.
3:18:29 PM
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BBC. Five soldiers died in Iraq today. My prayers are with the families of these brave soldiers. My estimates are at the current rate (this week) ~10% of all the trigger pullers (front line guys) in Iraq will die over the course of a year.
3:00:22 PM
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© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
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