foray to Moscow showing attrition rates - said to be a near perfect illustration of the power of graphical display - this one is surely its incarnation in the IT Wars du jour.

I always imagine this map on a say, 3x3 m OK 10x10' board, with colors helping separate brief verbal desc. w/ dates & players: showing a bit of the battle details. We can bet there is an equivalent on one of Billy/Bally's holo-deck worlds-most-expensive walls. Why should the Allies settle for less, against Axis-Goebbels reincarnated?

And given '3D' video screen resolution problems: overlays on this physical map of transparencies.. could provide valuable associations re strategies - esp. where many would be simultaneously updating and coordinating efforts. Which all reminds me again:

Have the Allies elected a General Staff yet? and if not: what are they waiting for? Do Open Source folks & Allies imagine that, merely being on the er ethical side - is Enough? Against a Goebbels- surrogate Axis with this much $power$ ?

All I ever see is WORDS. And mostly to the converted. As here. And just a few other places, not noted for $B bank accounts. McNealy et al appear happy flyin around in their Gulfstreams, bitchin about Silly Valley landing rights at 10 pm and such. And spending Their lesser extorted gains on precious-junk stuff.. yada yada. Don't see no &$*&%# Generalship nowhere.

Am I missing a seecrut cabal working effectively Right Now?
Ah well - it isn't even my 'field' but I sure see the stakes for us all. But maybe it doesn't matter.

E Pluribus Unum y'all: ya can all hang together (as the general? said) or you will most assuredly hang separately. And if ya can't even morph Some sort of Org out of the Union idea - 'cause yer all such &^$&$&* In-duh-Vidualists: well I got a bunch of scopes here what need fixin, when a new trade seems less ulcer-provokin than a learnin ol' XP and Hailstorm and Passport. 10-15/hr. while yer learnin Ohm's law.

I hear that the new SDKs fer those NewThings - require ya put in a Kruggerand every half hour on yer M$-protected-HD - like those gas heaters in London I recall: drop in a Shilling or 6-p when you wanted to crack the ice on the covers before rising, on an April morning... Oh - fingerprint ID on the quarter-hour.. don't want no Piracy except in Corp HQ. KnowhatImean?

'Course. WTF do I know? Since I don't do Visual-Pellagra V.1a, how could I possibly appreciate the problems o' organizin' *Perfessionals n' stuff so.. never mind.



Ashton


*But speakin o' Perfessional orgs n' such: You should review the history of the Murican AMA early last century - as they picked off homeopaths, osteopaths, naturopaths, herbalists ... et al. One at a time so's not to rouse Too many satisfied customers of the aforementioned.

Yep - got 'em all legally-certified (!) as quacks - as the nascent pharm-chem industry decided that 'allopathy' - the treating of symptoms chemically: beat all hollow - those crazy ideas of helping the body to use its own immune system yada yada. Silly idea, that last..

Sure Did beat 'em all hollow too! not so much in health results as - something ~like Passport: a little swag-dividing on all those millions o' pills (better make that about a quadrillion by now). Anyway: it's a fun read while yer a studyin the menus fer XP-2004 and gettin yer CD-changer ready to load the base OS with 5 or 10 of the suckers.

(Oh - you may need a Passport OK - to release the lock on cubicle for the 15 minute lunch break, well.. some may.) OK I exaggerate: but how much, do you think?

A. Curmudgeon