Red Shoes
In the department of really, really bad ideas, there is this one: to force young men who are training to become leaders to wear high heels for a mile-long walk. I'm sorry, but this has nothing at all to do with 'walking in women's shoes' because a sensible woman isn't going to walk for a mile in heels to begin with. This woman, when in the Civil Air Patrol, recalls that USAF uniform regulations prohibited a heel over 2" tall, and that wearing them with uniform other than dress blues would have gotten her in trouble. I tend to agree with Col Kratman's (ret) assessment that there is a woman involved in this, all right. One that is petty beyond belief and who gets off on humiliating those she is in power over. There's a word for that... several, in fact.
But you can’t make this shit up, you just can’t. You see, fiction has to make sense. This next comment, passed to me, was not fiction, but came from a friend of mine, a retired British Army WO2:
“…a no doubt well-intentioned, but naïve, foolish, and pointless gesture which can only have a negative impact on morale, reputation, and discipline.”
Read more: http://www.everyjoe.com/2015/04/27/politics/army-cadets-red-high-heels-walk-of-shame/#ixzz3YbavJidY
Red Tape
There are many reasons I'm going back to school. One of them is that being self-employed terrifies me. One wrong step and I'm suddenly afoul of the laws.... And I'd likely never know I'd done anything wrong until it was too late. There are simply so many rules and regulations it's impossible to know all of them, and they are added to with the speed of Kudzu growing. Of course, they affect businesses about the way kudzu affects the landscape, too...
One of the disturbing findings from CFIB’s recent report is that one in four of today’s business owners would not advise their kids to go into business given the current burden of complying with government rules. But discouraging businesses from starting is just the beginning of red tape’s negative impacts. Red tape wastes valuable time that could be spent doing any number of other things like serving customers, learning new skills, or enjoying family. For consumers, it increases prices and reduces choices.
Red tape’s most destructive impact is that it undermines the relationship between government and its citizens. Struggling with confusing language, getting put on hold for excessive periods of time, getting bad compliance advice from government agents or running up against a dumb, costly rule shakes one’s faith that the taxes we pay are working for us not against us.
There's more at the link. I'd love to see such a law passed in the USA as well - but going further than the Canadian one. I'd like the US law to mandate that two older regulations should be abolished for every new one introduced. We need to do more than merely maintain regulations at their present level; we need to begin reducing their burden on our society.
Read the rest of Peter's thoughts at Bayou Renaissance Man...
Night of the Fireflies
Free fiction! This is a terrific story written by a good friend and a talented new writer. Can you believe this is his first sale? Enjoy!
There will be War
Not so free fiction - at a very good price. Jerry Pournelle, in conjunction with Castalia House and a host of other authors, is seeing some classic work being reissued. Worth picking up, in my opinion.
These are thirty year old anthologies, but the stories hold up very well, and surprisingly so do the essays. We will gradually bring out all nine volumes of this classic series. Classic doesn’t mean dull. The first Amazon reviews seem very good; I do not know the reviewers. But I think the stories and essays are still relevant. The principles of war do not change as much as you might think given the advances in weapons.
Side note - if you have an adblocker extension, I do run amazon links that will wind up blocked, so if there's no obvious click-to-follow option for something like this book, that's what is happening.