Why Peace is Hard to Come By in the Middle East

In exchange for peace with Egypt, Israel gave back the entire Sinai peninsula, including the only oil wells that Israel had. Israel wants peace more than just about anything and is willing to do just about anything in order to get it.

People seem to forget how the West Bank, Gaza, Sinai and Golan Heights happened to come into Israel's possession. Hint: several nations attacked Israel but lost the war with them. Oddly, although the Arab states had controlled those regions from 1948-1967, the PLO, formed in 1964 never attacked Jordan, Egypt or Syria; they only threatened Israel; and no one suggested, between 1948-1967, that Jordan, Egypt or Syria establish a Palestinian state, despite the fact that the original UN mandate that created Israel as a Jewish state also created a Palestinian Arab state that Jordan, Egypt and Syria merely annexed for themselves.

And yet Israel is commonly criticized as somehow being intransigent and the cause of all conflict. Of course, such critics of Israel seem unaware--and unwilling to become aware--of what the Palestinians believe and say. The Palestinians voted Hamas into power in Gaza. What does Hamas believe? What are their goals? What do they want?

Hamas has a charter. You can read it in translation.Here is an interesting passage from the Hamas charter:

Peaceful Solutions, Initiatives and International Conferences:

Article Thirteen:

Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. Abusing any part of Palestine is abuse directed against part of religion. Nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its religion. Its members have been fed on that. For the sake of hoisting the banner of Allah over their homeland they fight. "Allah will be prominent, but most people do not know."

Now and then the call goes out for the convening of an international conference to look for ways of solving the (Palestinian) question. Some accept, others reject the idea, for this or other reason, with one stipulation or more for consent to convening the conference and participating in it. Knowing the parties constituting the conference, their past and present attitudes towards Moslem problems, the Islamic Resistance Movement does not consider these conferences capable of realising the demands, restoring the rights or doing justice to the oppressed. These conferences are only ways of setting the infidels in the land of the Moslems as arbitraters. When did the infidels do justice to the believers?

"But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of Allah is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires, after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no patron or protector against Allah." (The Cow - verse 120).

There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors. The Palestinian people know better than to consent to having their future, rights and fate toyed with. As in said in the honourable Hadith:

"The people of Syria are Allah's lash in His land. He wreaks His vengeance through them against whomsoever He wishes among His slaves It is unthinkable that those who are double-faced among them should prosper over the faithful. They will certainly die out of grief and desperation."

So tell me again, who is it that's setting roadblocks in the way of peace? And how, realistically, do we fix this sort of problem? And some people wonder why Hamas is considered a terrorist organization.

Delusions of Grandeur

According to the American Heritage Dictionary:

Paranoia, noun, A psychotic disorder characterized by delusions of persecution with or without grandeur, often strenuously defended with apparent logic and reason.

The British newspaper The Telegraph reports (via New Scientist):

Forget about the threat that mankind poses to the Earth: our activities may be shortening the life of the universe too.

The startling claim is made by a pair of American cosmologists investigating the consequences for the cosmos of quantum theory, the most successful theory we have. Over the past few years, cosmologists have taken this powerful theory of what happens at the level of subatomic particles and tried to extend it to understand the universe, since it began in the subatomic realm during the Big Bang.

Cosmologists claim by observing dark energy the universe has been nudged closer to its death.

But there is an odd feature of the theory that philosophers and scientists still argue about. In a nutshell, the theory suggests that we change things simply by looking at them and theorists have puzzled over the implications for years.

They often illustrate their concerns about what the theory means with mind-boggling experiments, notably Schrodinger's cat in which, thanks to a fancy experimental set up, the moggy is both alive and dead until someone decides to look, when it either carries on living, or dies. That is, by one interpretation (by another, the universe splits into two, one with a live cat and one with a dead one.)

New Scientist reports a worrying new variant as the cosmologists claim that astronomers may have accidentally nudged the universe closer to its death by observing dark energy, a mysterious anti gravity force which is thought to be speeding up the expansion of the cosmos.

The damaging allegations are made by Profs Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and James Dent of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, who suggest that by making this observation in 1998 we may have caused the cosmos to revert to an earlier state when it was more likely to end. "Incredible as it seems, our detection of the dark energy may have reduced the life-expectancy of the universe," Prof Krauss tells New Scientist.

As if some people didn't already harbor exalted notions about the power of the human race to destroy its environment...

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

The sun was setting, throwing a fog-like dusk across the stream and trees, and there was a coolness in the air. It was time, I knew, to be getting back to camp. But I did not want to move. For I had the feeling that this was a place, once seen, that could not be seen again. If I left and then came back, it would not be the same; no matter how many times I might return to this particular spot the place and feeling would never be the same, something would be lost or something would be added, and there never would exist again, through all eternity, all the integrated factors that made it what it was in this magic moment.

Clifford D. Simak, Cemetary World

Future Space

Assuming NASA's budgets remain at current levels, this should happen.



If not, it will still happen in some fashion, since folks like Rutan, Bigelow, and Musk (among others) are on the task privately.

Future Space

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

The capacity of the human mind for swallowing nonsense and spewing it forth in violent and repressive action has never yet been plumbed.

Robert A. Heinlein, Revolt in 2100 (1953), postscript

Future Space

The Ares V, which should go into operation around 2015 (with the Ares I, which will launch the Orion) is a heavy lift vehicle with the same lift capacity as a Saturn V. It is designed primarily for the new Lunar program (and ultimately the Mars program). It will be possible to use it for other things too...

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

There was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves.

Ray Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

Writing is one of the few professions in which you can psychoanalyse yourself, get rid of hostilities and frustrations in public, and get paid for it.

Octavia Butler

Amazon's Kindle

Amazon has just released a new ebook reader which sounds really interesting to me:

Utilizing a new high-resolution display technology called electronic paper, Kindle provides a crisp black-and-white screen that resembles the appearance and readability of printed paper. The screen works using ink, just like books and newspapers, but displays the ink particles electronically. It reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no backlighting, eliminating the glare associated with other electronic displays. As a result, Kindle can be read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room.The screen never gets hot so you can comfortably read as long as you like.

We wanted Kindle to be completely mobile and simple to use for everyone, so we made it wireless. No PC and no syncing needed. Using the same 3G network as advanced cell phones, we deliver your content using our own wireless delivery system, Amazon Whispernet. Unlike WiFi, you’ll never need to locate a hotspot. There are no confusing service plans, yearly contracts, or monthly wireless bills—we take care of the hassles so you can just read....

With Whispernet, you can be anywhere, think of a book, and get it in one minute. Similarly, your content automatically comes to you, wherever you are. Newspaper subscriptions are delivered wirelessly each morning. Most magazines arrive before they hit newsstands. Haven’t read the book for tomorrow night’s book club? Get it in a minute. Finished your book in the airport? Download the sequel while you board the plane. Whether you’re in the mood for something serious or hilarious, lighthearted or studious, Kindle delivers your spontaneous reading choices on demand.

And because we know you can't judge a book by its cover, Kindle lets you download and read the beginning of books for free. This way, you can try it out—if you like it, simply buy and download with 1-Click, right from your Kindle, and continue reading. Want to try a newspaper as well? All newspaper subscriptions start with a risk-free two-week trial.

Kindle’s paperback size and expandable memory let you travel light with your library. With the freedom to download what you want, when you want, we hope you’ll never again find yourself stuck without a great read.

We're very proud to introduce Amazon Kindle and we hope you like it as much as we do.

Check the Amazon website, and watch the video demonstration and what several very well known authors have to say about it: Amazon Kindle

Now, if I can only come up with the money for it. I doubt I can sell my children. The Kindle reminds me of those pads they used for reading in Star Trek.

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

Welcome to the human race. Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to be controlled by good people, by people who love you.

Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game

According to Wikipedia, several schools around the world have adopted Ender's Game as required reading, some for its psychological aspects, others for its science fiction background, including the Marine Corps University at Quantico, where it is used as a textbook on the psychology of leadership. The book won both the Hugo and Nebula awards for best science fiction novel.

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

The void in his mind athrob for the soothing pressure of knowledge.

Jack Vance, The Dying Earth

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

The future is already here - it is just unevenly distributed.

William Gibson, author of Neuromancer. Wikipedia points out:

The word "cyberspace" (from cybernetics and space) was coined by science fiction novelist and seminal cyberpunk author William Gibson in his 1982 story "Burning Chrome" and popularized by his 1984 novel Neuromancer. The portion of Neuromancer cited in this respect is usually the following:

Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding...

Gibson later commented on the origin of the term in the 1996 documentary No Maps for These Territories:

All I knew about the word "cyberspace" when I coined it, was that it seemed like an effective buzzword. It seemed evocative and essentially meaningless. It was suggestive of something, but had no real semantic meaning, even for me, as I saw it emerge on the page.

Gibson also coined the phrase "meatspace" for the physical world contrasted with Cyberspace.

Private Space Flight

Armadillo Aerospace attempted to win the Northrop-Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge this year at the X-Prize Cup but was not successful.



According to Wikipedia:

Armadillo Aerospace is an aerospace startup company based in Mesquite, Texas. Its initial goal is to build a manned suborbital spacecraft capable of space tourism, but it has stated long-term ambitions of orbital spaceflight. The company was founded in the year 2000, and was incorporated on January 1, 2001....

Armadillo is headed and has been largely funded by John Carmack, a developer of computer games including the Doom and Quake series. All of its employees (including Carmack) have other, full-time jobs and contribute their efforts twice weekly to Armadillo on a voluntary basis. Armadillo has a relatively small budget and is not supported by aerospace companies or agencies like NASA, ESA, or Boeing. Armadillo Aerospace has publicly declared itself fully self-funded.

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

Memories and possibilities are ever more hideous than realities.

H.P. Lovecraft, "Herbert West: Re-Animator" in "Home Brew" Vol. 1, No. 1 (February 1922)

Life Aboard the International Space Station

The station has the interior volume of a three bedroom house. It is the largest spacecraft ever constructed--and it's still being built.

glumbert - Space Playground

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells, 'Can't you remember anything I told you?' and lets fly with a club.

John W. Campbell, Jr., late editor of Analog Science Fiction Magazine

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

The importance of information is directly proportional to its improbability.

Jerry Pournelle, Lucifer's Hammer, with Larry Niven

Private Space Flight

Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) reports that it has completed development of its Merlin 1C next generation liquid fueled rocket booster engine. It is among the highest performing gas generator cycle kerosene engines ever built, exceeding the performance of the Boeing Delta II main engine and the Lockheed Atlas II main engine. It's performance is about the same as that of the Saturn V F-1 engine.



The Merlin 1C in its Falcon 9 first stage configuration has a thrust at sea level of 95,000 pounds. The Merlin 1C will power SpaceX's next Falcon 1 mission, scheduled to lift off in early 2008 from the SpaceX launch complex in the Central Pacific atoll of Kwajalein. SpaceX's far larger Falcon 9 rocket, scheduled for its first launch in late 2008, will employ nine Merlin engines on its first stage, and one on the second stage. The Falcon 9 will produce over a million pounds of thrust: about four times the thrust of a Boeing 747. The Falcon 9, besides launching unmanned satellites, is designed to eventually loft the six passenger Dragon spaceship, currently being developed by SpaceX and planned for a test flight as early as late 2008.

The Merlin engine is the first new American booster engine developed in the last ten years. In 2008, SpaceX expects to manufacture about 50 Merlin 1C engines, a number that exceeds the booster engine output of any country except Russia.

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

Philip K. Dick

Delta IV First Launch (2004)

Saturday night's first operational launch of the Delta IV Heavy was in the dark. Here's the first ever launch of the vehicle, but during daylight.

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

The best time to write a story is yesterday. The next best time is today.

R. A. Lafferty, It's Down the Slippery Cellar Stairs

First Operational Launch of the Delta IV Heavy

United Launch Alliance successfully launched the first operational Delta IV Heavy expendable launch vehicle for the U.S. Air Force on Saturday, November 10, at 8;50 PM EST from Space Launch Complex-37. It was carrying the service's Defense Support Program-23 satellite.

The Delta IV Heavy (Delta 9250H) uses two strap-on boosters which are separated earlier in the flight than the center booster. The capacity (separated spacecraft mass) of the Delta IV Heavy:

geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) 13,130 kg (28,950 lb), more than any other currently available launch vehicle

geosynchronous orbit (GEO) 6,275 kg

escape orbit 9,306 kg

It stands 253.2 feet tall at launch, compared to a Space Shuttle which stands 149.6 feet tall at launch, or compared to the Saturn V that stood 363 feet tall. The Delta IV Heavy's total mass at launch is approximately 733,000 kg, much less than that of the Space Shuttle (2,040,000 kg).

Kaguya in Orbit Around the Moon

The Japanese satellite Kaguya is now in orbit around the moon. It recently sent back the first High Definition TV views of the lunar surface from about 100 kilometers up.

The YouTube video version is obviously not high definition quality, but it is still interesting.

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

Attributed to David Brin, author of The Uplift War, which won the 1988 Hugo Award.

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

I repeat Sturgeon's Revelation, which was wrung out of me after twenty years of wearying defense of science fiction against attacks of people who used the worst examples of the field for ammunition, and whose conclusion was that ninety percent of it is crud.

The Revelation: Ninety percent of everything is crud.

Corollary 1: The existence of immense quantities of trash in science fiction is admitted and it is regrettable; but it is no more unnatural than the existence of trash anywhere.

Corollary 2: The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field.

Theodore Sturgeon

Private Space Flight

Memories of SpaceShipOne:



SpaceShipTwo is coming...

Strange Indie Band for a Friday Night

If you're bothered by bad language don't watch this video, We Are All Going to Hell:

On the other hand, it's funny.

I don't know anything about the Bastard Fairies, but their songs made me laugh. If you enjoyed We Are All Going to Hell, be sure to check Whatever:

Also funny. I think. But then I am sort of warped.

Unusual Book Title of the Day

Eleven years a drunkard, or, The life of Thomas Doner: Having lost both arms through intemperance, he wrote his book with his teeth as a warning to others, by Thomas Doner. Forty-two pages long, it was published in 1880. Amazon lists it as "currently unavailable."

Friday Morning Zombie Attack

Archeology.org has an interesting (and amusing) article entitled Zombie Attack at Hierakonpolis, by Renée Friedman:

On the other hand, in support of the earlier date, some have claimed that the famous Palette of Narmer (ca. 3000 B.C.), also from Hierakonpolis, far from recording a victory in the war of unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, is instead a celebration of the successful repulse of a zombie attack. Although we tend to focus on the verso where the king is shown smiting a kneeling enemy, it is the other side that is actually the front. It is the side with the depression for mixing the cosmetics for adorning the cult statue, and so it would seem that the scene of the king marching in procession to view a pile of decapitated bodies is the really important message. Nevertheless, while this scene may be evidence for zombie activity, reliance solely on pictorial records for such claims is scientifically questionable at best. There may be more to this in that Narmer's name means catfish-chisel, which sounds strange, and a catfish and chisel appear on the palette. But this could make sense if the palette refers to a victory over zombie forces. Perhaps Narmer wielded a large Nile catfish, Clarias?, grasping the tail and using it as a sort of black jack to stun the zombies, then removed their heads with a chisel. While it is an attractive idea, no serious archaeologist would hang their fedora on it without further evidence.

Read the whole thing.

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

For it is a mad world and it will get madder if we allow the minorities, be they dwarf or giant, orangutan or dolphin, nuclear-head or water-conversationalist, pro-computerologist or Neo-Luddite, simpleton or sage, to interfere with aesthetics. The real world is the playing ground for each and every group, to make or unmake laws. But the tip of the nose of my book or stories or poems is where their rights and my territorial imperatives begin, run and rule. If Mormons do not like my plays, let them write their own. If the Irish hate my Dublin stories, let them rent typewriters. If teachers and grammar school editors find my jawbreaker sentences shatter their mushmilk teeth, let them eat stale cake dunked in weak tea of their own ungodly manufacture.

Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, Coda 1979

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

People who put principles before people are people who hate people. They don’t much care about how well it works, just about how right it is . . . they may even like it better if it inflicts enough pain.

John Barnes, A Million Open Doors

Space Highlights

The Space Shuttle Discovery landed on time Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Space Shuttle Atlantis moves toward the launchpad for a December 6 launch which will place the European laboratory module, Columbus, in orbit. Columbus is the next major piece of the space station.

Meanwhile, the crew of the space station will conduct three space walks this month to get ready for Columbus. The biggest job will be moving the Harmony node from the spot where Discovery just put it, to the place where it needs to be for Columbus.

Science Fiction Author Quote of the Day

Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had. Let's be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus. Consensus is the business of politics. Science, on the contrary, requires only one investigator who happens to be right, which means that he or she has results that are verifiable by reference to the real world. In science consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus. There is no such thing as consensus science. If it's consensus, it isn't science. If it's science, it isn't consensus. Period.

"Aliens Cause Global Warming" - A lecture at the California Institute of Technology (17 January 2003)

The Bots are Back

Mystery Science Theater 3000 has launched a new website; it includes new animated content as well as clips from the old TV show. Check it out if you enjoyed MST3K.

Science Fiction Quote of the Day

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.

Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough For Love

Private Space Flight

SpaceX is another privately funded space company. Their goal is to develope orbital launch vehicles, including sending human crewed vehicles to the International Space Station. They have attempted twice to launch the Falcon 1; the first attempt failed shortly after launch. The second attempt, last March nearly made it to orbit:

Additional details can be found on their website, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. The company is profitable, just broke ground on a new launch pad at Cape Canaveral, and intends to launch their first heavy lift vehicle, Falcon 9, in the fourth quarter of 2008. Their third attempt to send a Falcon 1 into orbit is scheduled for the first quarter of 2008.

Science Fiction Quote of the Day

I don't know how you perceive my mission as a writer, but for me it is not a responsibility to reaffirm your concretized myths and provincial prejudices. It is not my job to lull you with a false sense of the rightness of the universe. This wonderful and terrible occupation of recreating the world in a different way, each time fresh and strange, is an act of revolutionary guerrilla warfare. I stir the soup. I inconvenience you. I make your nose run and your eyeballs water.

Harlan Ellison

Private Space Flight

Bigelow Aerospace, headquartered in Las Vegas, has placed two inflatable space station prototypes in orbit, Genesis I and II. They are both functioning normally. Their first human rated station is scheduled for launch by 2010. Images from Genesis II:



For more information, visit Bigelow Aerospace.

Science Fiction Quote of the Day

You are disoriented. Blackness swims toward you like a school of eels who have just seen something that eels like a lot.

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy text adventure, published by Infocom.

Science Fiction Quote of the Day

When a wise man does not understand, he says: "I do not understand." The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom.

Frank Herbert, The Godmakers

Private Space Flight

Scaled Composites is not the only private space program. The owner of Amazon.com has put a lot of time, money and effort into a vertical take off and landing vehicle.

About Books Today

As an undergraduate, I majored in history. I'm also a big fan of the science fiction subgenre, "alternate history." Therefore, I very much enjoyed the book What If and its sequel What If? 2, both filled with essays written by historians who ask that question about several pivotal points in history. What if things had gone the other way, what if the losers had somehow won? How would history of gone then?

CNN has a review of the first book, "Book asks what might have been"

Science Fiction Quote of the Day

The plans and schemes of tyrants are broken by many things. They shatter against cliffs of heroic struggle. They rupture on reefs of open resistance. And they are slowly eroded, bit by little bit, on the very beaches where they measure triumph, by countless grains of sand. By the stubborn little decencies of humble little men.

In the Heart of Darkness, by Eric Flint and David Drake

The Bible's Most Fascinating People

I got a nice email from my editor today; the dust jacket received final approval last week and so it is being "finished off" now. The books should be shipped from the printer around the middle of this month. I had wondered why the cover image hadn't shown up on any of the online bookseller sites yet. Now I know.

And remember, the book is already available for pre-order from all the online sites. The list price for the book is $24.95. So far, Amazon has the best deal that I've seen: $16.47, plus another five percent off if you pre-order now.

About Books Today

An interesting review of the new book The Year of Living Biblically in Books and Culture, It Is Written: Literalism ad absurdum, by Jana Riess:

We've all seen the email: a letter to a fundamentalist pastor thanking him for his helpful insights on how vital it is to live all the laws of the Bible. But, the letter-writer continues, this uncompromising stance does raise some sticky questions. How and when should you stone adulterers and Sabbath-breakers? What is the best way to inform your first wife that you'll be adding to the family by taking a second and third? How many human slaves should you strive to own, and where can they be purchased nowadays?

The point of the email, of course, is to sardonically highlight just how far we have come from the culture of biblical times, and how impossible it is to speak of living the Bible literally when our own world is so different. And yet many of us try, out of devotion, to arrive at an unspoiled, untainted biblical meaning—discovering how ancient ways of pleasing God might be relevant for our times.

Such is the agenda of A. J. Jacobs' achingly funny memoir The Year of Living Biblically. Jacobs, the author of The Know-It All, begins by describing himself as a secular Jew. ("I'm Jewish in the same way the Olive Garden is an Italian restaurant. Which is to say: Not very.") In spite of his own detachment from religion, he is increasingly curious about the ways it influences 21st-century American life. Rather than standing on the sidelines or casting himself as an aloof pundit, he dives in head first and decides to spend a year living all the commandments of the Bible—that's right, all of them.

Read it all.

Science Fiction Quote of the Day

From Robert A. Heinlein:

Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

Stranger in a Strange Land

Darth Vader

When the King of Saudi Arabia, the ruler of a brutal totalitarian dictatorship, visited England this week, he was greeted with an interesting choice in music by the British.



The news and discussion forum following that is interesting to watch, as well.

Immortality Research

An interesting article in the Washington Post on speculations about ending the aging process.

Halloween quote of the day from Stephen King:

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.

On Writing

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of a church in Wittenberg. He hadn't intended to start a revolution. He thought he was just going to argue a bit of theology with some academics. His list was written in Latin, after all.

After I got done teaching my theology class tonight, I took a look at Comet Holmes; it was very easy to find. It looks like a small dandilion puff, especially through a telescope (I took a look through a small three and a half inch Meade Maksutov-Cassegrain when I got home, using a 26 mm Ploessl eyepiece). My wife Ruth enjoyed looking at it too.

Sky and Telsecope magazine has sky charts that help locate it. It is easy to see all night long.

Comet Holmes is now a naked eye object, about magnitude 2 or 3. For details, see the article on Space.com.

Science Fiction quote of the day:

That's the thing about people who think they hate computers... What they really hate are lousy programmers.

Oath of Fealty , Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Ray Bradbury, Science Fiction quote of the day:

There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it Baptist/Unitarian, Irish/Italian/Octogenarian/Zen Buddhist, Zionist/Seventh-day Adventist, Women's Lib/Republican, Mattachine/FourSquareGospel feels it has the will, the right, the duty to douse the kerosene, light the fuse. Every dimwit editor who sees himself as the source of all dreary blanc-mange plain porridge unleavened literature, licks his guillotine and eyes the neck of any author who dares to speak above a whisper or write above a nursery rhyme.

Fahrenheit 451, Coda 1979

Science Fiction quote for the day from Robert A. Heinlein:

The whole principle is wrong. It's like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can't have steak.

On censorship, in The Man Who Sold the Moon (1949)

Science Fiction quote of the day from Isaac Asimov:

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!', but 'That's funny ...'

The same thing works in theology. I know from my own experience that the parts of the Bible or life that are hardest to understand, or those things that don't seem to quite fit, or that really bother me, will often lead me to the most exciting ideas.

Science Fiction quote of the day from Ray Bradbury:

Science fiction is the most important literature in the history of the world, because it's the history of ideas, the history of our civilization birthing itself. ...Science fiction is central to everything we've ever done, and people who make fun of science fiction writers don't know what they're talking about.

Today's Science Fiction quote is from Stephen R. Donaldson:

This you have to understand. There's only one way to hurt a man who's lost everything. Give him back something broken.

The Wounded Land (1980)

The Space Shuttle Discovery launched on time and is now safely in orbit. It should dock with the International Space Station on Thursday. Discovery is scheduled to return to Earth in two weeks.

Science Fiction quote of the day from Joe Haldeman:

"Bad books on writing and thoughtless English professors solemnly tell beginners to 'Write What You Know', which explains why so many mediocre novels are about English professors contemplating adultery."

And then the opening lines from his best known book, The Forever War:

"Tonight we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man." The guy who said that was a sergeant who didn't look five years older than me. So if he'd ever killed a man in combat, silently or otherwise, he'd done it as an infant.

I already knew eighty ways to kill people, but most of them were pretty noisy. I sat up straight in my chair and assumed a look of polite attention and fell asleep with my eyes open.

Assuming the weather cooperates, the Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch at 8:38 AM on Tuesday morning. Its goal is to deliver another piece to the International Space Station, specifically the Harmony module, which is one of the two connecting nodes. This one will allow the delivery of the Columbus Laboratory, built by the European Space Agency come December.

This mission will also be rearanging the solar arrays. There will be 5 space walks, the most ever on a shuttle mission to the space station.

Science Fiction quote of the day from Robert Heinlein:

One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.

"Doctor Pinero" in Life Line (1939)

On Saturday mornings here in the Antelope Valley, a free newspaper appears on our driveways called the Antelope Valley Press Express; it's mostly advertising, but there are a few articles. I noticed one by Don Mayhew entitled "Making e-mends: Fixing a faux pas when communicating via e-mail." It began with the following story:

Author Bonnie Hearn Hill was exchanging ideas via e-mail this summer with a friend writing a psychological thriller. The story involved a character’s murder.

“I think you need to kill him sooner, right off the bat,” Hill, of Fresno, Calif., wrote. The friend didn’t reply.

She wrote again, supplying details about where and when the murder might take place. No response.

She tried again: “Let’s discuss this murder of yours over coffee.” Still nothing.

Finally, Hill called her friend, who said he hadn’t received any of her e-mails—and by the way, uses his middle initial in his e-mail address. She’d been sending her homicidal messages to a stranger with a similar name.

One of those little occupational hazards that writers need to be careful about.

Science fiction quote of the day from H.G. Wells:

While there is a chance of the world getting through its troubles, I hold that a reasonable man has to behave as though he were sure of it. If at the end your cheerfulness is not justified, at any rate you will have been cheerful.

Attributed

Science Fictiona author quote of the day from Neal Stephenson (author of Cryptonomicon, among other works):

For a Westerner to trash Western culture is like criticizing our nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere on the grounds that it sometimes gets windy, and besides, Jupiter's is much prettier. You may not realize its advantages until you're trying to breathe liquid methane.

Wired 2.02: In the Kindom of Mao Bell

The transcript of a lecture on the origins of anti-Semitism by the German academic, Dr. Matthias Kuentzel at Leeds University:

Despite common misconceptions, Islamism was born not during the 1960s but during the 1930s. Its rise was inspired not by the failure of Nasserism but by the rise of Fascism and of Nazism.

It was the Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in 1928 in Egypt, that established Islamism as a mass movement. The significance of the Brotherhood to Islamism is comparable to that of the Bolshevik party to communism: It was and remains to this day the ideological reference point and organizational core for all later Islamist groups, including al-Qaeda and Hamas or the group around Sidique Khan.

It is true that British colonial policy produced Islamism, insofar as Islamism viewed itself as a resistance movement against "cultural modernity." Their “liberation struggle”, however, had more in common with the “liberation struggle” of the Nazis than with any kind of progressive movement.
Thus, the Brotherhood advocated the replacement of Parliamentarianism by an “organic” state order based on the Caliphate. It demanded the abolition of interest and profit in favour of a forcibly imposed community of interests between capital and labour.

The whole thing is worth reading.

Having had several letters to the editor published in the Los Angeles Times, and generally getting most of the letters I write them published, I thought I would share what I think makes for a letter that the L.A Times will publish. This may or may not work for other newspapers.

1. Get angry.

The only time I write letters to the editor is when I'm really mad. Therefore, I don't write letters very often. If you're not mad, why bother?

2. Keep to a single point.

Don't ramble. Figure out what you want to say and then say it clearly and simply. Logic helps.

3. Keep it short.

They will probably cut your letter even if you keep it short; so the less work they have to do, the better your odds.

4. Be inflamatory and colorful.

You're expressing your opinion, so be opinionated. Embrace your angry inner child. Saracasm seems to be something they go for.

5. If you're responding to a front page article, your odds improve.

If a single paragraph article on page D-12 has pissed you off, go ahead and write the letter--it will make you feel better--but your odds of seeing it in print match the original prominence of the piece.

Two reletively recent letters of mine they published, just to give you examples of what has worked:

Published October 13, 2007 in response to a puff piece on Che Guevara on the front page

It shouldn't surprise me, but it always does. Why do you write glowing articles about communist thugs guilty of mass murder? I doubt you'd write nice things about the German doctors and teachers who fanned out from Hitler's Germany to "help" in neighboring countries. I really find it difficult to comprehend why you can't understand that all totalitarianism, whether left or right, is equally evil.

Published March 13, 2005 in response to a front page article on Communists in a retirement community

Such a sweet story about old Communists in a retirement home. What's next, a puff piece on a Nazi country club in Idaho? No? Why haven't the millions of victims of the communist ideology not been enough for you to denounce it as fiercely as you rightfully denounce Nazism? Communism and those who sympathize with it deserve no more respect or sympathy than we offer for any who sympathized with such jack-booted thugs. Care you not for the blood of its millions slaughtered or oppressed in the name of that vile cause?

Obviously I'm not fond of Communism or Nazism or any form of totalitarianism.

Another Douglas Adams Science Fiction quote of the day:

"What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your present circumstances seems more likely, consider yourself lucky that it won't be troubling you much longer."

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Today's science fiction quote of the day is from Philip K. Dick:

I, for one, bet on science as helping us. I have yet to see how it fundamentally endangers us, even with the H-bomb lurking about. Science has given us more lives than it has taken; we must remember that.

"Self Portrait" (1968)

Interesting article in this morning's Los Angeles Times about Doris Lessing, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature last week: Doris Lessing's Nobel: A victory for science fiction. Science Fiction has often been dismissed as of no importance by mainstream literary critics. That odd attitude will now be harder to justify.

Science Fiction author quote of the day, from Douglas Adams:

All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.

The Salmon of Doubt, 2002

The Los Angeles Times made it to my house today and they delivered Saturday's paper along with today's paper, so I was able to read my letter to the editor. One can also view it online.

Science Fiction quote of the day from Brian W. Aldiss:

I was hardly fit for human society. Thus destiny shaped me to be a science fiction writer.

The Twinkling of an Eye: My Life as an Englishman (1998)

There was a horrible accident on the freeway that leads to the Antelope Valley. As a consequence, the Los Angeles Times was not delivered, so I didn't get to see my letter to the editor. The Times indicated that they might deliver Saturday's paper with Sunday's tomorrow, assuming they are able to get the paper up here even then.

Harlen Ellison, the science fiction quote of the day:

That's [a] good question. More than likely it will never be answered to your complete satisfaction. But then, how many questions ever are?

"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman (1965)

I wrote an email to the L.A. Times earlier this week. I rarely write letters to the editor; I have to get really angry in order to do so. The Times had done a front page puff piece on Che Guevara, the Communist who was a murdering thug. I pointed out that they probably wouldn't have done such a piece on a Fascist who was a murdering thug. I got a call this afternoon from someone at the L.A. Times. My letter will be in tomorrow's paper.

I received the colorproofs of my book, The Bible's Most Fascinating People, by "courier" as my editor would say; that is, it came by DHL this morning. It included the cover of the book as well:



The colorproofs of the interior of the book are the actual pages of the book, printed on one side. The paper is thick and glossy. I think the book is gorgeous. I'm very pleased.

And on the teleportation front....

"Quantum entanglement is valuable in transmitting particles such as atoms and photons where the most delicate properties are significant and where simple approximation is not enough," he explains.

"Teleporting a person, on the other hand, would not require reproducing the quantum state anything like as exactly.

"Everything we know about biology and how molecules fit together to produce a living being, including the brain, indicates that creating some level of approximation would give you a real person who was a serviceable replica of the original in terms of looking the same and thinking the same thoughts, without necessarily being a perfect quantum replica.

"The teleported person would end up slightly different, but not in a biologically important way."

The implication of this is that you could scan a person using some advanced form of the technology used to perform MRI scans, and transmit that scanned information somewhere else -- using normal electrical or sound signals -- where it would then be reassembled into an approximation of the original.

"It's the same principle as a fax machine," says Bennett. "When you fax something what comes out the other end obviously looks like the original and contains the same information. It's not the same paper, however, or the same type of ink.

"It's the same, but not the same.

"We already have three-dimensional fax machines, so the basic theory is there."

From CNN.com "Beam me up: Just how close are we to teleportation?"

A quote from S.M. Stirling, science fiction author of Island in the Sea of Time, among other works:

There is a technical term for someone who confuses the opinions of a character in a book with those of the author. That term is idiot.

from Conquistador

The Allen Telescope Array begins operation today. Paul Allen, who also helped bankroll SpaceShipOne, donated large sums to a radio telescope project designed to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Currently made up of 42 6 meter dishes, it will eventually have 350. For details, there's a good article at Space.com.

Science Fiction Quote of the Day:

To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.

Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

The Russian Soyuz rocket launched on time this morning at 6:22 AM PDT, carrying the new Expedition 16 crew toward the International Space Station. Now in orbit aboard the Soyuz TMA-11 spacecraft are Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson, flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko and Malaysian astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. They'll dock with the space station on Friday.

The International Space Station has been continuously inhabited since November 2, 2000 when the first group of three astronauts, William Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev became the station’s first inhabitants.

The current inhabitants of the space station, the Expedition 15 crew has been busy readying the station as they prepare to greet their replacements and Malaysian guest. Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Oleg Kotov set up a work space in the Zvezda service module that will allow the visiting Shukor to perform several experiments over nine days. Flight Engineer Clay Anderson also resized U.S. spacesuits for Whitson and Malenchenko for an upcoming spacewalk.

Yurchikhin and Kotov are scheduled to leave the station on Oct. 21, officially ending the Expedition 15 mission. The Malaysian astronaut Shukor will go home with the two cosmonauts. Anderson will remain onboard with Expedition 16 and return to Earth aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on its STS-120 mission which is scheduled to launch on October 23.

Today's quote from a science fiction author. Jerry Pournelle:

Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.

From Chaos Manor View 408, April 3-9, 2006

Today's science fiction quote, from Isaac Asimov. This is what being a writer is like:

If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn’t brood. I’d type a little faster.
LIFE magazine (January 1984)

Barry Gehm's Corollary to Clarke's Third Law, "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced." (From Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Magazine, 1991)

Today's quotes from a science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke:

Clarke's Three Laws

Clarke's First Law: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

"Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination" in Profiles of the Future (1962)

Clarke's Second Law: The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

"Hazards of Prophecy: The Failure of Imagination" in Profiles of the Future (1962)

Clarke's Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Profiles of the Future (revised edition, 1973)

Interesting news:

JERUSALEM (AP) - A confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that his government would support a division of Jerusalem, which is reportedly a key component of an Israeli-Palestinian declaration to be made at a U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference next month.

As part of recent negotiations between the sides, Deputy Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon has proposed turning over many of the Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem to the Palestinians. Ramon said the Palestinians could establish the capital of a future state in the sector of the city, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.

In return, Israel would receive the recognition of the international community, including Arab states, of its sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods and the existence of its capital there, Ramon said.

On Monday Ramon said even hawkish elements of Olmert's coalition, like Cabinet Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu Party, would back such an Israeli concession. The centrist Labor Party would also support the proposal, Ramon said.

"There are two central parties that agree to this," Ramon told Army Radio. "The most important thing is to preserve the state of Israel Jewish and democratic."

Under his proposal, neighborhoods in east Jerusalem where about 170,000 Palestinians live would be transferred to Palestinian sovereignty, Ramon said.

Prediction: the Palestinians and Arabs will respond to this proposal by lobbing more mortars at Israelis, together with stepped up attempts at suicide bombing. They are unlikely to accept the proposal. Instead, they will complain about what Israel isn't offering them, accuse them of playing games and not being serious, along with offering lists of the other faults of the Israeli government and how that once again Israel is guilty of not being serious about peace.

If they do accept it, the Palestinians will simply move in mortars and other weapons and use the newly acquired territory for more attacks against the Jews. Any Israeli response will be greeted by more accusations of their warmongering and oppression.

Science fiction/fantasy author quote of the day, from Neil Gaiman, author of Neverwhere and American Gods:

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it.

from an essay at neilgaiman.com.

The daily mortar attacks from Gaza into Israel rarely make the news. You might not have heard about today's attack:

Two Palestinian armed groups said Sunday they launched four homemade rockets from northern Gaza Strip at the southern Israeli town of Sderout early in the day.

The armed wings of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Fatah movement led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas claimed their responsibility for the attack in leaflets.

The two groups also told media that they attacked the Israeli- Egyptian crossing by eight mortar shells.

Oddly enough, besides being reported in the Jerusalem Post, as one might expect, the above quote came from People's Daily, which comes out of China.

I am still trying to figure out why Israel is always painted as a bad guy. But of course criticism of Israeli policies could never, ever be a consequence of anti-Semitism. Surely the constant drumbeat of negative statements against Israel by those on the far left and far right, in the universities and elsewhere is nothing but legitimate criticism of the Israeli government's current policies. Odd, how both Hamas and Fatah, despite their differences, seem united in their commitment to attacking Israel.

I'm just curious as to what the Palestinians have ever done to promote peace. Perhaps their constant preaching in mosques, newspapers, school text books, magazines, radio shows, and television shows of Nazi-style anti-Semitism are designed to encourage peace with Israel?

Of course if the Israelis respond to this attack in any way, the critics of Israel will be quick to argue that it is Israel, and Israel alone, that is guilty of putting roadblocks in the way to peace. After all, if it weren't for how awful Israel is to the Palestinians, none of this would be happening (which reminds me of what neanderthals have to say about rape victims, but I'm sure I'm just being viscious). I'm sure it would be rude on my part to suggest that those critics of Israeli policy who seem always silent about daily mortar attacks and anti-Semitic preaching might be oh, just a wee bit anti-Semitic themselves in their one sided condemnations of the only liberal democratic nation in the Middle East.

An etymology lesson from a philologist:



I don't recall my English professors ever looking like this. My wife discovered Marina's video lessons and made me watch some of them. If all English teachers looked like this, there would be no child left behind--at least if that child was male. Just visit YouTube and do a search under "hotforwords."

From an interview with newspaper editor Flemming Rose, Revisiting the Danish Cartoon Crisis

But what really bothers me today—and this hasn't been reported very widely—is that right after the cartoon crisis, the Organization of the Islamic Conference at the United Nations sponsored a resolution condemning the "ridiculing of religion." It didn't pass, but in March of this year the United Nations Human Rights Consul, which is the highest international body in the world for the protection of human rights, passed a resolution condoning state punishment of people criticizing religion. I think this is a big scandal. This was a direct result of the "cartoon crisis." Fortunately the European Union voted against it. But countries like Russia, Mexico and China supported the resolution. And in this resolution, they call on governments to pass laws or write provisions into their constitutions forbidding criticism of religion. This would give a free hand to authoritarian regimes around the world to clamp down on dissidents.

The whole interview is worth reading.

Science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein quotes for the day:

Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.

and

Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.

This is known as "bad luck."

Both of these are from his 1973 novel, Time Enough for Love. One can read a bunch more of his quotes at Wikiquote.

Japan orbited the moon today:

Japan's Kaguya probe slid into lunar orbit late Wednesday after a circuitous 20-day trek from Earth to begin more than a dozen science investigations designed to gain insights about the moon's history.

Email today from Barnes and Noble letting me know they have corrected the spelling of my name on their website for my book, The Bible's Most Fascinating People. I checked, and the spelling correction has already appeared, though they still show Penguin Group, USA as the publisher rather than Reader's Digest.

Happy birthday to the Space Age. 50 years ago today Sputnik became the first artificial satellite.

Christian Book Distributors has let me know that they're fixing my name on their website for my book. Amazon fixed the problem on their site yesterday. So I'm only waiting on Barnes and Noble now.

Interesting article from the British center-left magazine, Prospect:

The question of what to do in Iraq today must be separated from the decision to topple Saddam Hussein four and a half years ago. That decision is a matter for historians. By any normal ethical standard, the coalition's current project in Iraq is a just one. Britain, America and Iraq's other allies are there as the guests of an elected government given a huge mandate by Iraqi voters under a legitimate constitution. The UN approved the coalition's role in May 2003, and the mandate has been renewed annually since then, most recently this August. Meanwhile, the other side in this war are among the worst people in global politics: Baathists, the Nazis of the middle east; Sunni fundamentalists, the chief opponents of progress in Islam's struggle with modernity; and the government of Iran. Ethically, causes do not come much clearer than this one.

Some just wars, however, are not worth fighting. There are countries that do not matter very much to the rest of the world. Rwanda is one tragic example; and its case illustrates the immorality of a completely pragmatic foreign policy. But Iraq, the world's axial country since the beginning of history and all the more important in the current era for probably possessing the world's largest reserves of oil, is no Rwanda. Nor do two or three improvised explosive devices a day, for all the personal tragedy involved in each casualty, make a Vietnam.

The great question in deciding whether to keep fighting in Iraq is not about the morality and self-interest of supporting a struggling democracy that is also one of the most important countries in the world. The question is whether the war is winnable and whether we can help the winning of it. The answer is made much easier by the fact that three and a half years after the start of the insurgency, most of the big questions in Iraq have been resolved. Moreover, they have been resolved in ways that are mostly towards the positive end of the range of outcomes imagined at the start of the project. The country is whole. It has embraced the ballot box. It has created a fair and popular constitution. It has avoided all-out civil war. It has not been taken over by Iran. It has put an end to Kurdish and marsh Arab genocide, and anti-Shia apartheid. It has rejected mass revenge against the Sunnis. As shown in the great national votes of 2005 and the noisy celebrations of the Iraq football team's success in July, Iraq survived the Saddam Hussein era with a sense of national unity; even the Kurds—whose reluctant commitment to autonomy rather than full independence is in no danger of changing—celebrated. Iraq's condition has not caused a sectarian apocalypse across the region. The country has ceased to be a threat to the world or its region. The only neighbours threatened by its status today are the leaders in Damascus, Riyadh and Tehran.

The whole article is worth reading.

Amazon has updated my name to "R.P. Nettelhorst" on my new book's listing on their website. So when you click on my name on my book's page, it now gives you a list of my other books. Potentially, that could increase sales of those books--assuming of course, that people like The Bible's Most Fascinating People.

Speaking of liking: for a couple days I noticed that it was a best seller in a narrow category of "stories" from the Bible--it got at least as high as 29 out of 100, but it has since dropped off that list and the page no longer references that list. Apparently someone had recently pre-ordered the book again and that boosted my sales figures, briefly. The Amazon sales rank is incredibly volitile. A single sale can move you way up on the list, for a little while. But as the days pass with no more sales, the number quickly declines....

I got a nice email from Amazon.com today letting me know that they will fix my name on their website within "two or three" days. So my book The Bible's Most Fascinating People will now be listed as by "R.P. Nettelhorst" instead of by "Robin Paul Nettelhorst." The nice thing about the change, besides it being my preferred byline, is that it will link my new book with my other books--which may help sales of the older books. At least I like to think it will.

As to why I prefer my byline to be "R.P. Nettelhorst," it is related to the fact that 87 per cent of the people in the United States who are named "Robin" are female. I didn't recognized this could be a problem until I started getting junk mail addressed to "Miss," including tampon samples. The first two days in a row in a new High School my Senior year, one of my teachers called out "Miss Nettelhorst" as he was doing roll call. That's when I realized I had to take action. Ever after, if my name is going to be seen by people who don't know me, I use my initials. That way they won't automatically assume I'm female.