Francis W. Porretto
Mount Sinai, NY USA
Author's posts
Jul 29 2023
Sallies And Salients
Yes, Gentle Reader, I’m back on that topic this morning. It’s no longer a matter of isolated skirmishes. There’s no longer an identifiable “front” as such. Situational awareness has become mandatory. Learn to recognize places and times of hazard, how to avoid them, and what to do about them when avoiding them is inadvisable …
Jul 28 2023
Ask Not…
…why there is poverty, saith John Wilder: I find it sort of hilarious that economists spend a lot of time fretting about what causes poverty. I love economics, but often think that they create pocket universes to study that have no real connection to the here and now. I think that’s called sniffing …
Jul 28 2023
I Don’t Think I Can Go On…
…after this: The folks in the Mountain Dew R&D department didn’t overthink this one at all. It feels like someone said, “What if we packaged hot dogs in Mountain Dew? Like we just dump Mountain Dew in the bag and slap a label on them. At the very least, stoners would probably …
Jul 27 2023
Music For A Windy Afternoon
We’re getting gusts of thirty to forty knots out of the northwest, and Weather.Com is predicting thunderstorms, so let’s have some thematic music. This is Glass Hammer’s cover of the Yes classic South Side of the Sky, featuring Jon Anderson and Susie Bogdanowicz on lead vocals: A river a mountain to be crossed The …
Jul 27 2023
Decline And Fall, Informational Edition
Every institution arises to serve a purpose. If the purpose is accorded good and worthy, and if the institution serves it well, it will flourish. But that’s not a permanent state of grace. An institution that ceases to serve its intended purpose, no matter how well it may have done so in the past, …
Jul 26 2023
Wandering Through Wednesday
After the Jeremiads of the last few days, I think it’s time to “kick back” with an “assorted” piece. *** Recently, an observation from Herbert Spencer has been much on my mind: In the very nature of things an agency employed for two purposes must fulfil both imperfectly; partly because while fulfilling …
Jul 25 2023
Among Friends
Today, there are things one cannot say: Out loud; In public; Without unpleasant consequences. That’s indisputable. The reason is the militancy of those who differ with you: i.e., the contemporary Left. They’ve learned that militancy is the trump suit: that militant tactics – from slander to outright violence – won’t be effectively opposed. …
Jul 24 2023
Domains
I recall being introduced to the concept of a domain in a mathematical context. A function, our algebra teacher told us, has a domain of values for its independent or X variable, and a range of dependent or Y values it produces from that domain. In that formulation, a function is a sort of …
Jul 23 2023
Mysteries
As an adherent to a “mystery religion,” I am frequently challenged – sometimes by others; sometimes by my own restless intellect – to explain particular assertions of my faith, to make them comprehensible. There’s an obvious contradiction in this, which I’m sure any Gentle Reader will see at once. Religious mysteries aren’t on the …
Jul 22 2023
Things Predators Like
Predators of all sorts will concentrate where the prey is fattest. — Arne Stromberg, Gallatin University Robert A. Heinlein promoted this concept of a human trichotomy: …and no third category. What follows from that partition is an even simpler dichotomy: You’re either a Maker or a Predator. Anyone who doesn’t get …
Jul 21 2023
Tapped Out
That’s me. Pounding these keys has used me up, at least for the moment. (Memo to me: Remember to unclench your fists next time.) I’m going to use the day for things that won’t involve me with computers. However, I dislike to leave my Gentle Readers with nothing, so have an old short story …
Jul 20 2023
Love, Possibility, And The Fatal Hesitation
Writers are constantly on the alert for other writers who can teach them something. I’m no exception. I know my descriptive skills to be sub-par, so when reading I’m especially alert for a display of exceptional power in that aspect of the fiction writer’s trade. And today, I encountered one in the work …
Jul 20 2023
Mary Celeste, Where Are You?
This incident is enough to make anyone wonder: LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — A man in Virginia had a not-so-average trip to Waffle House recently. He went there to grab a bite to eat, but when he went inside there was no one to be found. William Davis woke up hungry and drove …
Jul 20 2023
Boiling Over
Links? Who needs links? Not me, not today. You’ve probably already read about all this stuff, anyway. *** Yes, the Left is filled with liars, hypocrites, and criminals of several kinds. Remember that conviction of intellectual and moral superiority? It’s their “Get Away With Anything” card, and they use it freely. Most commentators …
Jul 19 2023
It’s Time For Music
…here at the Fortress – but nothing too upbeat today: It was a night meeting Somewhere in a troubled land They came with no greeting Left without a shaken hand. Nearby the town sleeping Was unaware of what was done No need for watchkeeping They’ll be gone before the sun. You may not see …
Jul 19 2023
Addictions
First, courtesy of Mike Miles, a prediction from a visionary of a century ago: Brave New World predicted several things: genetic engineering, the end of human parturition, a habit-forming pleasure drug, the virtual abolition of emotion, a rigidly stratified world society, a world government, and more. Huxley’s vision was dystopic: that of a …
Jul 18 2023
So You Think The Republicans Represent You?
You think the GOP is the party of “limited government?” That it’s the one and only counterforce to the Left’s determination to make the Omnipotent State supreme over everything? That unless we elect Republican majorities, the Left will steamroll us into a new Soviet Union? Think again: For those of us who …
Jul 18 2023
I Want A New Lens
I want – possibly need – a lens designed and constructed for analysts to use in looking at the news. It would be utterly distinct from conventional lenses, for it would invert the usual idea of “focus.” It would blur nearby objects and events while it clarifies objects and events in the distance. That …
Jul 17 2023
A “Commercial” You Won’t Believe
I don’t know who. I don’t quite know how. I’m told “artificial intelligence” was involved. If so, I don’t think the copywriters and creative directors on Madison Avenue have anything to worry about, at least for now. What’s embedded below is supposed to be a beer commercial: Was it intended to be …
Jul 17 2023
“Excuse Me, Sir, Are You A Member?”
We don’t have a science of sociodynamics. We have theories, models, and assorted conjectures, but at this time sociologists can’t claim the degree of predictive accuracy that would qualify sociodynamics as a science. Sociodynamics’ most important shortcoming, as is the case with economics and psychology, is the inability to say when the developments it …
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