Administrative

Office Problem

Microsoft, that is.

I haven’t been posting much because, even though I’m back home in Florida, we still have a lot of deliverables to complete this week. I’m working on a Word document, and when I try to save, I get a message that it can’t because I either have too many files open, or there’s no space on the disk. I only have one file open, and there’s lots of space on the disk (I can download things to it, and save to it from other applications, and the problem appears on whatever drive I attempt to save to, including network drives).

For some reason, Word thinks that it has a problem that it doesn’t. Has anyone ever seen this behavior? By the way, it’s Word 97…

I’d work in Open Office, but I can’t be sure that it will generate clean compatible files with tracked changes for the Word people to use when they integrate the book.

[Update about 6:30 Eastern]

It seems to be a problem with this particular file. I tried it on Patricia’s machine and had the same problem. I can save smaller files, so I’ll just have to cut’n’paste the sections I’m working on individually, and let them reintegrate it. But it doesn’t look like a reinstall of Word or Office would fix it.

Media Criticism

Just On The Other Side

1 Comment

Reuters has been caught doctoring photos to make Israel look bad? Shocking, just shocking! Errr…that they were finally caught, that is.

I hope that this photographer never gets another gig, but I’m sure that he’ll probably get a plenty of offers from Middle Eastern media.

[Update a few minutes later]

I should add that Reuters gets a little credit (but not that much) for admitting it quickly (unlike CBS did). Of course, they had little choice, since the fakery was so blatantly obvious (though not much more so than the Rather memos).

Space

Conflict Of Interest?

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Clark Lindsey has some thoughts on John Kavanagh’s thoughts about NASA’s potential conflict of interest in COTS/Constellation (at least as currently formulated). I might have some thoughts, too, but not today. Perhaps this weekend or next week, after I get home to Florida (where it now looks unlikely that we’ll get any severe weather soon).

Political Commentary

Big Mac Versus Creamery

Jonah Goldberg has an interesting political theory about dairy states.

Two possible partial historic explanations (i.e. guesses) come to mind. First, the sorts of people who historically went into dairy production were Scandinavian socialist types while the people who went into meat production were Scotch-Irish cowboy types.

Two: Perhaps dairy regulation occurred a lot earlier than meat regulation. This generated a culture of state-intervention and therefore a politics to match (or vice versa). Dairy also seems to be more about small-farmers and lots of labor, making it more prone to Populist appeals, while meat is run by wealthy ranchers and rugged cowboy types who have a more leave-me-alone ideology.

There’s also a more metaphorical – i.e. b.s. – theory: dairy is nurturing. It’s about sustainability. Dairy farmers can afford to fall in love with their cows. Making cows into steak, handburger and wallets requires more tough-mindedness. Dairy is soft America. Meat is hard America. Or Something Like That.

Popular Culture

Finally, Gender Equality

DeBeers won’t be happy to hear about this:

Diamonds are no longer a girl’s best friend, according to a new U.S. study that found three of four women would prefer a new plasma TV to a diamond necklace.

Works for me–I think that diamonds have been one of the biggest scams ever foisted on mankind. But how about an LCD?

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!