F-35 4; Su-35 0


A few weeks ago, a report circulated detailing one pilot's impression that the F-35 is a lousy close-in dog fighter. One of the websites that quoted from that report, War is Boring, just published a retraction "further thoughts" article.

Basically, the author uses a computer simulation to defeat four advanced Russian fighters at long range - which actually is what the F-35 is designed to do (as opposed to getting into a dogfight where cannons would be used).

Story is here. I'm not a big F-35 booster, but this is much more even-handed than much of the earlier reporting.

The F-35B, a Harrier replacement.

On Tennessee

With deep sorrow, my family and I join everyone in mourning the loss of the Marines in Tennessee.

We pray that the families and friends find comfort, and that justice is swift to anyone who assisted this cowardly act.

Our solution . . .

. . . to Iran's nukes.

(Because you just know they'll cheat.)

Iran deal

Here are the key timelines I'm interested in:

1) Finalization of an effective "Star Wars" anti-missile technology that will prevent Iran (and anyone else) from launching a ballistic missile nuclear attack and

2) Development of a workable plan (and deep-penetrating warheads) to render Iran's underground nuclear facilities unusable forever.

Once 1 & 2 are met, you can sign any deal you want.

A gift of time

Item:

Time will stand still for one second this evening (June 30) as a "leap second" is added to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the time standard by which most clocks are regulated. The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), which keeps track of time for the world, has decided that the extra second is needed to deal with Earth's irregular but gradually slowing rotation.

Article.

What will you do with your extra second?

Long live the A-10

Item:

The long-range plans of the Air Force and the Pentagon to retire the A-10 Thunderbolt took another hit Thursday from a non-partisan government report questioning Air Force projections on the savings from mothballing the fleet.

The Air Force estimate of $4.2 billion in savings over five years was unreliable and "may overstate or -understate the actual figure," the Government Accountability Office said in a preliminary report to Congress on the decision to retire the fleet.

Story.

(And a plug: Hogs website with links to the series.)

What to do about Iran

Item in today's NY Times:

Five former members of president Obama’s inner circle of Iran advisers have written an open letter expressing concern that a pending accord to stem Iran’s nuclear program may fall short of meeting the administration’s own standard of a ‘good’ agreement” and laying out a series of minimum requirements that Iran must agree to in coming days for them to support a final deal.

Story. Letter.

Gee, no kidding. Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb, and will build a nuclear bomb, no matter what. Any other conclusion is naive and ridiculous.

At this point, the best bad solution is to a) continue sanctions and b) destroy Iran's capability to deliver the weapons - in other words, destroy their missile projects, which is much easier than hitting the nuclear facilities, and their air force (ditto).

Make no mistake, the likely outcome of that is an accelerated program to develop the bomb. But that's going to happen anyway. And a ferocious enough attack might - emphasis on might - make Iran more willing to be serious in future negotiations.

Though I wouldn't bet on that.

An agreement that truly freezes the program would be better - you need time not so much for a regime change, but for improvements in anti-missile defenses - but that is not happening. And has never really been happening.

The next question will be what to do about Saudi Arabia's bomb, an even more difficult problem to address.

It jumps . . .



Slowly but surely (too slowly for many), the F-35 makes its way toward the front lines and full operational capability.

Less can be more

I spent last week with Ivan Castro, the Green Beret turned marathoner who, by the way, happens to be blind. In theory we were working on our new book - to be published next year by St. Martin's Press - but I think Ivan's real goal in having me come down was to kick my butt around the gym. He had me doing two-a-days, cardio and weights, and easily putting me to shame on both.

One thing I learned: If you ever get the opportunity to work on a Gravitron, remember that the weights are a counter-balance. In other words, twenty pounds is NOT the easy setting.

(It is a cool machine. Here's an instruction video here.)

E3 Afro trailer

Hopefully the demo will be ready for the floor . . .

Between God & Bill O'Reilly

... on the Bookscan best-seller list:

Rank	LW Rank	Title	Author	Publisher	Price
1	1	THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TID	KONDO MARIE	RANDOM	16.99
2	2	THE WRIGHT BROTHERS	MCCULLOUGH DAVID	SIMON	30.00
3	3	BILL O'REILLY'S LEGENDS AND LI	O'REILLY BILL	MACMIL	32.00
4	4	AND THE GOOD NEWS IS...: LESSO	PERINO DANA	HACHET	26.00
5	6	AMERICAN WIFE: A MEMOIR OF LOV	KYLE TAYA	HARPER	27.99
6	8	THE ROAD TO CHARACTER	BROOKS DAVID	RANDOM	28.00
7	5	STRENGTHS FINDER 2.0: A NEW AN	RATH TOM	PGW	27.95
8	10	THE WHOLE30: THE 30-DAY GUIDE	HARTWIG DALLAS	HOUGHT	30.00
9		JJ VIRGIN'S SUGAR IMPACT DIET	VIRGIN J. J.	HACHET	28.00
10	7	JESUS CALLING: ENJOYING PEACE	YOUNG SARAH	HC CHR	15.99

There's a message in there somewhere.

Can't wait. Here's hoping it reaches the artistry and complex subtlety of Fallout 3,

(Not that the other installments were bad at all; just that for me that was the pinnacle . . . so far.)

Premiere is June 14.

World turned upside down

I don't think you could find a more powerful statement about decline than this:

After Russia annexed Crimea last year, Congress passed legislation that forced the Pentagon to stop buying Russian rocket engines that have been used since 2000 to help launch American military and intelligence satellites into space.
Now, that simple act of punishment is proving difficult to keep in place.

Only five months after the ban became law, the Pentagon is pressing Congress to ease it. It says that additional Russian engines will be needed for at least a few more years in order to assure access to space for the country’s most delicate defense and intelligence technology.

Story.

Or to put it another way, you get what you pay for, On the other hand, what did Khrushchev say about the rope they'd hang themselves with?

Millbrook Book Festival


Heading to beautiful Millbrook, NY today to take part in the Millbrook Literary Festival, where I'll sign books and talk about some of my recent efforts, including Taya Kyle's heroic story in American Wife as well as American Sniper and the latest Dreamland. But most of all I'll be there to support my favorite independent bookseller, Scott Myer, who has boosted my career and that of many, many authors, from day one.
More information on the day here.

The newest Dreamland...

... now available at your favorite bookstore.

Finally, the truth . . .

. . .  on ISIS and Iraq. Item:

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said Sunday that Iraqi forces had demonstrated “no will to fight” against the Islamic State, blaming them for a retreat that led to the terrorist group’s victory in capturing the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

Story.

When has the Iraqi army shown the will to fight? Not under Saddam in both Gulf Wars, not with a lot of American help during the occupation, and not now.

There have been and are exceptions, but for the most part, calling the army an army is like calling salamanders fearsome reptiles. (And yes, I know they're amphibians.)

So now that the truth is out - and recognized at the highest levels of American government - what happens next?

Pac nostalgia

It's funny the things that become cultural landmarks - Pac Man turns 35 today.

I still remember "discovering" the game at a dumpy diner near Newburgh, N.Y. a millennium ago. It was an absurdly effective if entertaining way to waste time.

More recently, I had the privilege of working with Namco-Bandai (currently Bandai Namco), Pac Man's parent. That work often took me to their Santa Clara studios, where between sessions on Ace Combat  we discovered a vintage Pac Man game tucked into a corner of the building. The machine became almost a member of the team; I wouldn't be surprised if it's included in the credits.

To this day, I have nightmares about being chased by angry blobs of eyeball-blinking mush men.

At least I think that's because of the game; it could be an old landlord my subconscious is fixated on.

Wired story:

Pac-Man, the biggest arcade game of all time, turns 35 today. Here’s a look back at the era when Pac-Manfever ruled the world.

Released by the Japanese company Namco on May 22, 1980, Pac-Man was like nothing else at the time. At a time when Space Invaders and Asteroids and other games with abstracted, monochrome graphics ruled the arcade, Pac-Man offered a colorful cartoonish design with an appealing central character. It revolved around eating, not shooting; and it was designed to appeal to young women and couples, not dudes in sketchy bowling-alley bars (although they all played it too).

Rest of the story here.

(Search Pac Man on Google for a playable version of the game.)

Reality follows fiction . . .

Item:

BEIJING — The Chinese navy repeatedly warned a U.S. surveillance plane to leave airspace around disputed islands in the South China Sea, a sign that Beijing may seek to create a military exclusion zone in a move that could heighten regional tensions.

The warnings, delivered eight times to a P-8A Poseidon over the Spratly Islands on Wednesday, were reported by a CNN team aboard the plane.

Story.

Sounds a lot like the plot of Red Dragon Rising, though I have to admit I hadn't thought of filling in atolls with concrete to create islands . . . maybe if we do more.

Thank you!

We are truly humbled and grateful for the overwhelming response to American Wife.

Thank you everyone. Thank you.

Ramadi

The capture of Ramadi in Iraq by ISIS not only demonstrated the utter incompetence of the Iraqi government and its laughable army, but is a sad and tragic footnote to the story promulgated during the American occupation about the great peaceful awakening of the local Iraqi tribes.

The story, featured in books and new articles, claimed that peace had come to Ramadi mostly because of the cooperation of local tribes, who got together and kicked the bad guys out of town. Nearly all of those stories emphasized the supposed actions of local Iraqis, seeing their “cooperation” as signs of a new way for Iraq.

That was bullshit. Most of them were as inept then as they are now.

Peace came to the city because U.S. forces killed so many of the insurgents that they were too decimated to mount effective attacks; that was far, far more important than anything the local tribal leaders did. The corruption and general ineptness that had existed before America’s actions in Ramadi remained, just as they remain to this day.

When the war started, many people suggested that Iraq would be best off as three separate countries, one dominated by Shia in the south and east, one by Sunni in the west, and one by Kurds in the north. The U.S. insisted on keeping the country together as one. That hasn’t worked, and we now have the worst version of the separation: an Iranian-dominated Shia province, a terrorist-dominated Sunni west, and an uneasy and besieged Kurdish north.

The ineptness of the Iraqi government and its so-called Army make ISIS look as if it’s a powerhouse. It’s not. But in the calculus of Iraq – and the Middle East – brute force and violence is a lot more important than sharing tea around a campfire. Not admitting that makes you cannon fodder, and worse.

RIP

Taya on American Wife



More info here.

The nuclear Middle East

Saudi Arabia today declared that they will match Iran's nuclear capability - whatever that may be.

It's not exactly a surprise, especially in the context of both Iran's clear intentions to dominate the region and what amounts to an ongoing civil war between the major branches of Islam.

(A NY Times story on the latest developments here.)

The immediate practical effects of the declaration are highly debatable, given the difficulties involved in ramping up a program and the fact that Saudi Arabia is widely believed to already have a deal with Pakistan to "borrow" some of its nukes in the time of a crisis. But it's not a good day for anyone who opposes nuclear proliferation.

Logically, the possibility of a nuclear-armed Saudi Arabia might be the best incentive Iran would have to forgo its own weapons development. But logic rarely seems to prevail in the world, least of all in the Middle East.

You snooze, you lose . . .

. . . your life, in North Korea.

Item:

TOKYO — North Korea’s equivalent of a defense minister has been executed by antiaircraft gun for insubordination and treason — including for sleeping during a meeting in which Kim Jong Un was speaking, South Korea’s intelligence agency said Wednesday.

Story.

Admit it, though - how many times have you wished you could do this yourself? Especially when it was the person who called the meeting who's snoring?

Dentistry

Me: I need an appointment. I chipped a tooth. [Two, actually.]
Receptionist: Does it just need to be filed down, or filled?
Me: If I knew that, I could probably do it myself, no?
Receptionist: Well . . .
Me: I do have some sandpaper here. Which grit should I use?
Receptionist: Let me get you an appointment.

A great launch

The response to American Wife, which "launched" last week, has been overwhelming. It's an emotional story, one of tragedy but also hope. It's amazing how many people are connecting with the book, and with Taya.

For me, the most telling moment came last Monday while I was backstage at the View, standing with Whoopie Goldberg as Taya was interviewed on camera. Tears were streaming from Ms. Goldberg's eyes. You can't get a better endorsement than that.

RIP, Chris Farlekas


I’ve struggled all day to come up with the right words to sum up the life of our friend, Chris Farlekas, who passed away this morning at the age of 86.

I can’t.

I met Chris when he was a reporter on the local newspaper. This was many years ago, but he was already a legend. He seemed to know just about everyone in the three counties the newspaper covered. More importantly, he knew every organization and every event that was being held to raise money or help someone, be it a veteran or a kid in need of a scholarship to attend college. He wrote about them all, always in the most positive way. To say that Chris was deeply involved in the community is like saying the heart pumps blood. Literally thousands of people had their lives enriched by him. People were important to him, and he made sure they knew it.

What made him that way? His small-town roots? His service in the Army? His time as a combat medic? His reporting in Vietnam? His years as a journalist, first in hard news and then, much longer, as a feature reporter?

I’m sure it was all of those, and much more. I do believe that he was born with a great heart, and went on from there.

There won’t be a monument to him, or a movie, and while I wouldn’t be surprised if his name is memorialized in a field or a hospital wing somewhere, it will never really be familiar to the masses. But it will live on in every life he touched. He was not a wealthy man by any means, but he lived such a rich life that it’s impossible to be sad when I think about him. I can only smile, even as it hurts to think of him gone.

(Here is a link to a story on him, in the paper he worked at for over forty years.)

Jersey boy . . .

Visiting Ridgewood in New Jersey with Taya Kyle Monday. We'll be at the Y in Ridgewood at 7 p.m. -  more info here. (You almost certainly will need advance tickets; the number to call is 201-445-0726.)

American Wife


Publishers Weekly had some questions:

Did you learn anything in cowriting this new book that shed light on American Sniper?Taya had been such an integral part of American Sniper that this book really just felt like an extension of that. Of course, I was there for some of what we write about. But what has always amazed me was the depth of love that Chris and Taya felt toward each other, and how they both fought so hard to keep that love alive. I still remember the first time they talked with me about their marriage, tears rolling down their eyes. And I remember watching them walk out of the airport the first time they landed in New York, before they spotted me – you could see the unconscious understanding between them, comfort and assurance in each stride.

Interview.

Not for Russia . . .


. . . but how about Japan?

France is set to pay Russia $1.2 billion to settle the lingering dispute over two amphibious warships in a deal that went sour over the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine, according to French and Russian media reports.

Story.

More robots . . .

Fiction or prediction?

Item:

Italian security forces were rounding up 18 Islamic extremists Friday who prosecutors said were behind a failed 2010 plot to attack the Vatican as well as a bombing at a Pakistan market that killed more than 100 a year earlier.

Story.


Shades of:

Actually, our plot was better thought-out . . .

Game math

Nine hundred lines of dialogue or voiceover (aka "stabs") . . .

Half-hour to rig each line in the game . . .

One engineer . . .

Seven days until deadline.

I'm not sure there's enough coffee in the world for that to come out all right, but then I was never very good at differential math.

Filed under "B" . . .

. . . in the Twilight Zone.





Baseball and robots have been on my mind. (Thanks, Fred.)

(As to why - you'll have to wait for the debut of Puppetmasters in 2016.)

Flying hazards


Item:

WARSAW — the nearly disastrous plunge of the Serbian president’s plane Friday was the fault of the co-pilot, who spilled coffee in the cockpit and accidentally activated an emergency switch, the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate said in a report published Tuesday.
Initially, Serbian officials said that the aircraft, carrying President Tomislave Nikolic and nine others to a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, had been sent into a plunge over the Adriatic Sea after one of its three engines failed at an altitude of about 33,000 feet.
But an investigation by the Civil Aviation Directorate found that the dive occurred after the co-pilot, Bojan Zoric, “spilled coffee on the instrument panel” and “accidentally activated the emergency slot extension” as he was trying to clean it up.

Story.

I can totally symapthize. I've wrestled with many a killer cup of caffeine myself.

The Bulge

Had a great time yesterday with veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, who treated me to lunch. They thought I was coming to talk to them, but the reality was that I was there to hear them.

Among the many things I learned: Never volunteer to ride a motorcycle off a landing craft.

Quite a few Omar Bradley fans in the group, which was heartening. I remain in awe of their courage and humility.

Helping literacy


What I'm doing today:

The Post and Courier Book & Author Luncheon is the largest and most prominent Book & Author event in the Southeastern United States, providing literary entertainment. Each year the luncheons are highly anticipated and guaranteed sell-outs. Join us for lunch, inspiration and literary delight at the 2015 Spring Book & Author luncheon.

More information here: http://eveningpostevents.com/book-and-author/

(The paper did a generous piece on me a few days ago.)

The real solution to Iran's nukes

We laid it all out here last year. (More info and reviews here.)

Chinese sand castles . . .

. . . islands, actually - China's latest strategy in the South China Sea involves creating islands where once there were reefs, then claiming them as her own.

Those aren't blurs in the photo on the right; it's what a reef looks like from outer space when it's being filled in.

NY Times story.

Ignorance is glib

Ever since American Sniper was first published, people have come out of the woodwork to use it to push their own agendas and garner their own fifteen seconds of fame. The latest are a tiny group of University of Michigan students who protested the movie's showing on campus, claiming all manner of things that don't happen in the movie. (One story on the controversy is here.)

But why should we expect college students to act any differently than others out to promote themselves rather than truly understand the world?

It's more productive to reason with a two-year-old throwing a tantrum in the supermarket candy aisle than reason with most of the people who see Sniper as their ticket to imagined power or at least publicity. I would, however, suggest that people who want to protest war actually take the time to study what they are protesting. If they want to change minds, they have to make arguments that cannot be easily dismissed or scoffed at.

But then again, that assumes they are genuinely interested in the issue, as opposed to their own self-aggrandizement.

Next to read

Just got my hands on Larry's new one - due out May 5.

Yankee fans . . .

. . . are all over the map. Literally, as illustrated by Facebook's annual portrait of who roots where.






All you really need to know:

- [the] Yankees are the most-liked team by county overall, and have a plurality of fans in at least one county in 24 states.

Facebook article and map.

Still a beast

The word is murder . . .

. . . not suicide.

Item:

A woman identifying herself as the ex-girlfriend of the man accused of crashing Germanwings Flight 9525 into the French Alps told Germany's leading tabloid that he said one day he would "do something" and then "everyone will know my name."

Story.

The spin toward sympathy is astounding. Face it, the guy was a mass murderer. Evil is the only word that truly describes him.

Man the shields, Scotty


Here's a story that's getting a lot of play in certain quarters - and generating the requisite Star Wars headlines:

Boeing just patented a force field. Technically, the patent is for a “method and system for shockwave attenuation via electromagnetic arc,” but that’s just a long way of writing out something unbelievably futuristic: protective force fields . . . The device as patented only protects against the shockwave of an explosion, but most of the vehicles it’d be mounted on are already armored enough to protect people inside from the shrapnel that comes with a bomb blast.

The concept uses a sensor to detect an explosion in water or air--say, an IED on the side of the road--then estimates the time and location of the explosion. Next, the signal from the sensor triggers a laser (or a blast of electricity or microwave energy) that heats up a section of air or water, creating a plasma shield in between the explosion and the vehicle. The plasma's temperature and density help deflect and absorb the shockwaves from the explosion.

Story.

Force fields, lasers, rail guns . . . it gets harder and harder to make this stuff up.

Unsung heroes

I had the honor last week of addressing a group of professionals who work for the American intelligence community at an awards ceremony. Over a dozen agencies were represented, including a few even I'd never heard of.

It was an interesting experience – their work is so secret I had to leave before the awards were given out, and my tour of the “not quite so secret” areas of the facility consisted of a walk down two hallways.

They were fascinating hallways.

Too often these days, government employees are mindlessly criticized for any number of bogus issues. I was glad to have even a tiny role in thanking them for the job they do for all of us, especially in this case, as their work helps keep me and my family safe.

And yours as well.

Fact follows fiction . . .

. . . and vice versa.

From the NY Times:

MINNEAPOLIS — Reading back over Abdi Nur’s Twitter feed, his chilling progression from the basketball courts of South Minneapolis to the battlefields of Syria is clear.

Early last year, he began posting stern religious pronouncements and snippets of scripture. By April 2, a day after turning 20, he hailed Islamic fighters: “If the sky would be proud of the existence of the stars, the land should be proud of the existence of the Mujahideen.”

Story.

The true story is chilling . . . and not a little reminiscent of the story I wrote in Deep Black: Jihad several years ago.

Scary.

Programming problems . . .

. . . become narrative solutions. AKA, video games are a collaborative art.

Here’s a story-telling problem you only encounter in games –

Producer: We need to move this episode earlier.

Me: Why?

Producer: We need three and a half minutes to load [the next level segment] and this shuffle is the only way to do it.

Me: Sounds like a programming problem.

Producer: Not any more.

Understanding PTS


Item:

"By comparing US Marines who develop PTSD symptoms to those who do not, we can measure differences in genes, but also take into consideration the dynamic relationships between and among them, their connectivity," said senior author Michael S. Breen, of the University of Southampton in the UK.

"Because PTSD is thought to be such a complex disorder," he added, "measuring these dynamic relationships is crucial to better understanding the PTSD pathology."

In their analysis, researchers identified both innate immune system and interferon signaling gene groups before and following the development of PTSD in the participants, causing them to question what triggers interferon signaling prior to PTSD.

"The answer could be any number of factors," said principal investigator Dr. Dewleen G. Baker, of the Veteran Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and the University of California-San Diego, "ranging from a simple explanation of increased anticipatory stress prior to deployment or more complex scenarios where individuals may have a higher viral load. It's a question for future studies."

A physical link to PTS would be an immense breakthrough, though not a guarantee of a cure. Story.

And now for something . . .

. . . completely different.

Heading to Boston this weekend to visit and talk about Redacted Studios and one of our upcoming games, Afro Samurai II. Hope to see you there.

As Russia devolves . . .


Item:

An outspoken rival of Vladimir Putin was assassinated in the heart of Moscow on Friday evening — just two days before he was scheduled to lead a massive protest against the Russian president.

Story.

And from the Dark and Perverse Humor Dept.: Putin says he'll head the investigation into Nemtsov's death.

Justice done


Justice was done in Texas Tuesday night, as Chad Littlefield and Chris Kyle's murderer was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

I am glad that justice was done,

But the verdict offers no real solace. The vast void left by their deaths remains. The verdict does not fill it. There is no way to make up for the loss of those two men - not for the families, not for their friends, not for the many people they would have helped had they lived.

It is up to those of us who remain to fill that void by following the examples set by Chad and Chris: helping our friends, reaching out to strangers. They will endure in our actions; if there is solace, it will be had in the lives we enrich in their names.

Parlez-vous American Sniper?


American Sniper is a worldwide phenomenon. To see what they think in French, check out this link:

Le film a visé juste

(We did the interview English; I can barely find my way around the Paris Metro in French.)

On PTS and Chris Kyle's murderer

With the trial of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield’s killer now winding down, it should be amply clear to all that Post Traumatic Stress was NOT a factor in the murder.

I wonder if everyone who reported that it was will issue an apology to sufferers of PTS.

I won’t hold my breath for that.

PTS is a serious ailment that affects many who have suffered trauma. We know many things about it, but not everything. Like much of medicine, doctors have made major advances in treatment recently thanks to our experiences with war, but PTS is not a condition that comes solely from combat. Its mechanisms have still to be fully understood.

One thing we do know: PTS does NOT turn people into killers. Nor does it relieve them from personal responsibility. If sufferers of PTS are a danger to anyone, it is to themselves – PTS is suspected of being a factor in many suicides.

One of the greatest barriers to its treatment is the stigma still attached to what are commonly believed to be mental conditions. The pre-trial publicity here unfortunately reinforced that stigma; hopefully that will be corrected in its wake.

Now that the case is almost concluded, I also wonder if Chris and his family will receive an apology from those who wrote the ridiculous stories that made far too much of the random parallels between his life and that of the murderer. I can’t conceive of two more different men.

Earlier this week, the Navy released part of Chris’s military record. Anyone who has any doubt about what he accomplished on the battlefield and does not want to take his book as proof, can read it here.

If he were alive, Chris would be angry that I supplied that link; he was a humble man. But he can chew me out when – if – I get to heaven, where I know he surely is. In the meantime, it would be a good idea for people to actually consider the facts before they make facile assessments.

On commas


From the New Yorker:-

The comma as we know it was invented by Aldo Manuzio, a printer working in Venice, circa 1500. It was intended to prevent confusion by separating things. In the Greek, komma means “something cut off,” a segment. (Aldo was printing Greek classics during the High Renaissance. The comma was a Renaissance invention.) As the comma proliferated, it started generating confusion. Basically, there are two schools of thought: One plays by ear, using the comma to mark a pause, like dynamics in music; if you were reading aloud, the comma would suggest when to take a breath. The other uses punctuation to clarify the meaning of a sentence by illuminating its underlying structure. Each school believes that the other gets carried away. It can be tense and kind of silly, like the argument among theologians about how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. How many commas can fit into a sentence by Herman Melville? Or, closer to home, into a sentence from The New Yorker?

I'm a 'by-the-ear' guy myself. I've yet to meet a copy editor who isn't a structuralist, which has led to many a battle of STETs.

The excerpt is from an article about the life of a copy editor, or as she puts it, "Confessions of a Comma Queen." It's always interesting to see how the other half lives.

Cimino on Deer Hunter . . .

. . . and American Sniper, from the Hollywood Reporter:

What did you think of American Sniper?It's Clint's best work as a director. By far. For all the reasons that people like it. I don't think other directors, including myself, could have gotten the same result given the same resources. Clint got an extraordinary result because he is an extraordinary man. There's no pretension about him. He could be Bradley Cooper, he could be the character. Clint inspired Bradley by virtue of who he is, a principled guy. Clint has remained my friend for over 40 years.
How does Sniper compare with The Deer Hunter?It's not, in my view, much like Deer Hunter. Though it was characterized [as such], Sniper's not a political movie. It's not about the rightness or wrongness of the war. It deals with the impact of trauma on people who go to war and people who stay behind.

More of the interview here.

Remember Chad


While most of the attention in the trial of Chris Kyle's alleged murderer has been on Chris, we should take a moment to remember the second victim, Chad Littlefield.

Chad was a family man and an exemplary friend, the kind of guy you could always count on no matter whether you were working out, straightening your garage, or just hanging out. It was typical of his unselfish ways that he helped Chris that day. His was the ultimate sacrifice and testament to friendship.

Here's a link to a longer tribute.

Thank you!

Post-Traumatic Stress


With the trial of Chris Kyle's alleged killer beginning today, I'm sure there will be a lot of stories about post-traumatic stress and its alleged connection to this case.

PTS (or PTSD) is a serious mental ailment that afflicts a significant number of people; it's not just a combat-related problem, though lately it's been associated with the stresses of war. Whether it is an appropriate diagnosis in this case and what relevance, if any, it has, remains to be proven.

We don't know enough about mental ailments in general, let alone how to treat them. Because of that, there is still a heavy stigma associated with PTS. It would be unfortunate if that stigma were to be magnified because of the trial.

PTS does NOT turn people into killers. From what I understand, if people suffering from PTS are harmful to anyone, it is to themselves. I don't know what the outcome of this trial will be, but I do know that Chris felt strongly that people in need of assistance - be it medical, job-related, or whatever - deserved respect and a hand up.

A hand-up, not a hand-out; respect, not excuses. We are all responsible for our actions.

I trust that the jury in Texas will be able to deal with the evidence and the complications of law, and determine the truth in this case.

How I spent Sunday

KMSP-TV

Thank you, Rabbi Ovi and Temple Beth El - you were wonderful hosts.

And the weather was warmer there than in NYC.

American Wife

Coming this Mother's Day.

Announcement in USA Today.

Savages

Item: ISIS burns to death captive

From the NY Times:

In a new show of brutality for a group already known for displays of violence, the Islamic State released a video on Tuesday purporting to show the execution of a captive Jordanian pilot by burning him alive.

Story.

Tell me again what word you would use to describe these people.

On the radio

I'm doing another radio blitz Tuesday, this time to talk about Code Name: Johnny Walker as well as American Sniper. Here’s the lineup so far:

(All times are Eastern, so you’ll have to adjust to hear him):

9 a.m. WJR Detroit with Paul Smith

9:10 a.m. WTPT-FM – Greenville SC, The Rise Guys

9:20 a.m. KWQW – Des Moines, Morning Drive w/ Robert Rees

9:30 a.m. – WOCM-FM The Morning Show w/Bulldog

9:40 a.m. – WWWV – Charlottesville & Richmond, VA – the Big Greasy Breakfast

10 a.m. WBGG, WZZR, WXZR, WAIL – the Paul & Young Ron Show

10:10 a.m. – WJQM – Madison, Wisconsin – Fish in the morning

10:20 a.m. – KEVT, Tucson, AZ, with Jim Parisi

10:30 a.m. – WKSZ FM Green Bay with Doug and Mary

10:40 – KTRS-FM, St. Louis

Hopefully there’s a bathroom break in there . . .

The First Lady likes it


Michelle Obama on American Sniper:

"More often than not, this film touches on many of the emotions and experiences I have heard first-hand from military families over these past few years," she told the crowd. 

"This movie reflects those wrenching stories I've heard, the complex journeys that our men and women in uniform endure, the complicated world, the decisions they are tasked with every day, the stresses of balancing love of family with love of country, and the challenges of transitioning back home." 

Full story here, and here, and here . . .you get the idea.