Opportunity allowing, I’ll read more Hillerman. There’s a sample about a curator at a museum who champions a court battle over returning aboriginal skeletal remains. One day she receives a package containing more dug up bones. Of her grandparents. It shows the author is thinking as opposed to cranking out formulaics.The club meeting at Barnes & Noble could be the ultimate event of the year, even though Agt. M didn’t make it. I’ll provide a bare synopsis since the meeting was mostly conversation and establishing direction. Most important it the camera problem is potentially solved which also saves a couple hundred dollars. It turns out my cell phone, although not activated for transmitting pictures, has a huge memory capacity. It will be necessary was to configure the power supply port for USB transfer. Neither the instructions nor anybody at Radio Shack knew of this feature, and that is why we have a club.
Next, the booklet. The new guy, no nickname yet, has a server and “experience daily” encoding pdf (portable document format, or Adobe) files. He will teach us the technology and get my booklet to market within hours after the new pictures are embedded. Although he is classically trained, by which I mean he doesn’t readily take to my different teaching methods, he sees the instant appeal for newcomers whose intention is to merely become versed but without getting down to molecular physics. That, world, is my target market.
He also saw some of the demo circuits I’ve created with my theory of modularizing components by function rather than relationship. With him was a young med student who I’m glad he brought along. She was able to work and understand the circuits within moments, a matter which normally takes a month of study. With emphasis on naturally, I take this to mean my teaching method is better if not downright superior.
There’s more. The fact she even asked about it without coaching is significant. Why? Because people uninterested in electronics often don’t ask for fear of getting an over-complicated answer. Imagine my double delight when she picked it up on the spot and within moments was asking what comes next. I believe that reaction alone justifies publishing this booklet. When is the last time a dry textbook inspired you?
Next, Maker Faire has a magazine I’ve not seen before, called “Robot” and I purchased a copy to review. The first noticeable theme is the pressure to build fighting robots. Which schoolyard have we seen this in before? The my-robot’s-bigger-than-yours gang. Give me a chance to chew on the articles a little longer.
The second powerball winner came forward, a guy in his 30s from Arizona. Why do I get the feeling there is an unusual reason for the delay? I hope it is because he got himself a good lawyer and is approaching the matter very carefully. That’s the way I’d do it, I’ve always warned working class people that after around $100,000, money takes on a different character completely. And at $1,000,000 it changes out of all recognition. By now most of us know what a Rube Goldburg machine is, but this one defies gravity. I caught on right away (as soon as the ball rolled uphill) but it seems others take longer, so see if you can figure this one out before the end of the video.
How about, “People of Darkness”. Hillerman feeds the clues enough to keep me on edge, thus a great little novel. One improvement would be if the hero actually made a mistake once in a while so we’d know he’s from this planet or thereabouts. By chapter two we were already convinced Navajo superstition beats white man logic, so he could ease off on the slather.
ADDENDUM
I watched some rocketry in the Gaza news and so you know, I do not support the Israeli military—but I do not support the Palestinians either. I know the war will not stop until the Palestinians unilaterally put down their arms and I do not think the US should be subsidizing Israel.
As you know, I recognize the Balfour Declaration was the go ahead for the British to allow Jewish immigration to which the native Arabs were opposed. But the Zionists did legally purchase the land from the Arab owners and that must stand. The tenants were then evicted by the new owners. I cannot side with the tenants claiming it was their property when, in fact, it never belonged to them.
On the other hand, anybody who has looked at the map or read a book knows the Zionists cashed in the Holocaust to swing the UN pity vote in 1947 and that the bulge around Jew-rusalem had to go. (The Zionists promised (what would become) Jordan they would not attack in 1949 which led to a stalemate on that front until years later when Israel took it by force anyway.)
The Israelis also play the underdog to a fine pitch. When the Arabs attacked in 1949, the Israelis outnumbered the Arab armed forces almost 2:1 making the news version nothing but propaganda. It is additionally evident that the Jews could not have expanded their territory as they did by completely legitimate means. But the original mass exodus of the Palestinians was provoked by Arab threats, not the Israelis. The Arabs broadcast that anyone who stayed in the area would be killed along with the Jews.
It is well-recognized that the Israelis often baited the surrounding Arab countries into firing first. Thanks to America, or intermittent American support of European arms exporting countries, the Israelis are vastly better equipped despite now smaller numbers. But the Palestinian population has exploded (there isn’t much else to do in the camps except, well, explode) and the Israelis can no longer repatriate them without becoming a minority.
Until Israel stops receiving American money, why should they negotiate? They’ve successfully transplanted the European concept of nation-state into an Asian land that was completely unprepared to defend themselves against it—until they go nuclear about this time next year.
