Well, I want it back, anyway. As part of Going Back To The World (as John Galt would have it) I have finally gone to the Dark Side and not only purchased a television but installed a satellite receiver.

Holy crap, Batman!

Well, it takes some getting used to. Being single again, that is. I’ve been meaning to write about this whole experience for a while, but it always comes out either too bitter, too sweet or just too much.

I’ve been accused of being 21st Century Amish and not liking technology unless if benefits me directly, which is only the truth. And what’s wrong with that I ask? Take the latest electronic excess: LED and HID lights for cars.

Well, a bunch of you knew this one was coming …Packet radio was never intended to be the plague that it’s turned into. Who’d have guessed? Now, I like my cell phone. When I need to call someone, I turn it on, make a call and turn it off. Works great. It’s like having a fold-up portable phone booth I can stick in my pocket. Of course I won’t turn it on in:

I’m having a hard time reconciling what I know of Iraq with what I see on Fox News. Probably comes from being an overeducated sort, but when I think of Iraq what comes to mind is Babylon, the great Islamic scholars who preserved the treasure of Greek thought during the Dark Ages of Europe, and of course all the stars that begin with Al-something-or-other.

Coming through Hartsfield in Atlanta is more a rite of passage than a point of embarkation. America West 702 out of Atlanta was to deliver Jerry and I to Phoenix, thence to LA to begin the drive out to Mojave.

You know, I’m undecided on this one. Should we be in the business of policing the world? Probably not. But if so, how do we pick the places to go? We didn’t intervene last year in Rwanda, and many more people were subsequently killed.We didn’t jump into Angola, either. Kuwait produced naturally occurring hydrocarbon compounds and makes for a simple economic justification. But why Kosovo?

It’s not often I get email from lawyers I don’t know. Ignoring the proverb to keep friends close but enemies closer, the engineer in me finds it more reasonable to keep enemies at a reasonable distance — say 500 yards with a scope and no wind.

I remember something about the Constitution and not being tried twice for the same crime. But, since The Law is something of a mixed bag these days, and since Amazon doesn’t carry La Cosa Nostra for Dummies, I’m pretty much lost. Here’s the story:

I’ve got an old album, by Jean -Luc Ponty on both vinyl and CD.