karl@sugar.UUCP (Karl Lehenbauer) (06/01/88)
[Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed, flame level on maximum]
It used to be Jerry Pournelle would say a bunch of stupid crap and his "mad
friend MacLean" would tell him so and he'd print that, too, so we'd say
"He's full of crap but at least his mad friend MacLean got it right." Then
his mad friend died. Now we just say "He's full of crap." There are no
self-correcting mechanisms to be found, within Pournelle or apparently the
editorial staff of Byte magazine. To appropriate from Mencken, Pournelle is
a tinpot pope in the Coca-Cola belt and a brother to the forlorn pastors who
belabor halfwits in galvanized iron tabernacles behind the railroad yards, or,
more succint if less eloquent, he doesn't know what the heck he's talking
about and slams anyone who says so. (For example lunacy, the "one processor
for every application" business of a few months ago and calling Wirth a "high
priest" opposed to user-friendliness a few years ago.) To quote sugar!peter
from around 1982, J.P. needs a new mad friend.
--
..!{bellcore!tness1,uunet!nuchat}!sugar!karl, Unix BBS (713) 438-5018grr@cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) (06/02/88)
In article <2068@sugar.UUCP> karl@sugar.UUCP (Karl Lehenbauer) writes: > [Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed, flame level on maximum] > > It used to be Jerry Pournelle would say a bunch of stupid crap and his "mad > friend MacLean" would tell him so and he'd print that, too, so we'd say > "He's full of crap but at least his mad friend MacLean got it right." Then > his mad friend died. Now we just say "He's full of crap." There are no > self-correcting mechanisms to be found, within Pournelle or apparently the > editorial staff of Byte magazine. Anybody who wants to take on Jerry and "correct" him need only whip out a credit card and join the "tojerry" conferences on BIX. He is fairly open to correction on factual errors, except when his "facts" come from one of his trusted sources or when he doesn't understand the distinction you're trying to make. On matters of opinion, he's a bit more hard headed, representing that his opinions are based on simply using the stuff he comments on. Of course things are not really quite that simple, since by virtue of being a major columnist, he gets just a bit more attention from the vendors than Joe Average and doesn't feel the pain/pride/expectations that come from actually having to spend precious cash to buy the stuff. BTW, his column is posted on BIX, however only after it's too late to get any corrections into the printed copy. -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|ihnp4|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing arpa: cbmvax!grr@uunet.uu.net Commodore, Engineering Department fone: 215-431-9255 (only by moonlite)