The Christmas Letter

 Every year there are folks who send out the Christmas Letter. It extols their success and that of each member of their family and how well they are doing. 

I often have wondered why this is done. As we age the burdens of age pile up and some of us, if we were to be true writers of the year past, would list a set of trials and tribulations, age does that to us. And our children and grandchildren may also have faced challenges and may not be a world class oboe player or mountain climbing expert. 

Many people keep their challenges to themselves and unlike the may today who proclaim ever hung toe nail problem just take life a day at a time. 

This past year I have seen friends and colleagues deal with many challenges from children with cancer to the death of long time colleagues. I get no Christmas Letter from those whose life is a struggle. 

Then again I wonder if these letters are really what has happened. Or are they just made up stories to show how wonderful the life of these folks is. 

Perhaps we should just band these letters. We all have ups and downs, and our grandchildren are doing well or possibly struggling.

Penmanship?

 Back in the mid 50s and before then students were taught penmanship. Namely how to hold a writing instrument and how to write cursive. One was graded on one's proficiency and neatness. There was a standard way to hold a pencil or pen in one's hand. That technique using the opposing thumb distinguished humans from the lower casts of animals. 

Students used pencils until the third grade at which point they received their first ink pen, usually a Waterman pen, and blue ink. Blue-black, black and even turquoise inks were available but delayed until high school. Paper sizing assured the ink would not mess up the page. One could judge the future success of a person by how they wrote with a pen and moreover how neat they were in doing so. 

Now if one looks at students they write using instruments that barely provide for any useful purpose and the grip the student has on the instrument looks more primitive than a rat's holding a rancid piece of pizza on the New York subway. The scratching is incomprehensible and the spelling never accurate not to mention the syntax. 

The educational establishment has adopted computers which serve the purpose of entering answered to multiple choice questions and eliminate the need for a teacher to understand any one of their students needs.

Penmanship was a window to a students mind and character. It is a loss to no longer have that insight. When I graded exams and Problem Sets I could see what the student missed and what my faults as an instructor were. That is now lost. There is no pride in writing, and worse yet we have social media that destroys both writing and civility.

Just a thought for the day. Yes, I still have my Shaffer pen, blue black ink, ans a notebook with sizing. Rare as it may be. I also write and send letters. In ink!

Apps Store vs Hush a Phone

 In the past century there was a case that ATT filed against a company that mad a mechanical device to make calls more discreet. It was a covering over the mouth piece and speaker to eliminate third parties from hearing the conversation. ATT alleged that this was their network and they had control over every element in the network. The Courts eventually disagreed. That was the beginning of the 1980 divestiture.

Now along comes certain phone makers who only permit uses via their App Store. In many ways the Hush a Phone decision mirrors the same issues. In fact in my opinion it is worse. For at the time ATT sought the remedy it was a Federally supported monopoly. The vendors in this case are not. Thus antitrust laws also apply.

Perhaps a time to sell short.

Masks Redux

 NEJM has a pro-mask piece which unfortunately is clearly politicized. It is clear that even today we do not know two facts:

1. How is COVID spread? Aerosols and if so how far and haw how a count?

2. What is a mask blocking if it is to prevent infection. The corollary is what does a mask have to do to prevent spread?

The NEJM piece states:

These tensions were exacerbated by ongoing scientific debates about exactly what masks accomplished (did they protect people who wore them from others, or did they protect others from those who wore them?). Playing out during a heated presidential campaign, the mask debates were quickly politicized. And as had happened in 1918, mask confrontations could turn violent.

 The article then states:

 A definitive count will probably never be possible, but it is certainly plausible that many deaths occurred because of people's reluctance to use masks, and other basic preventive techniques, to their fullest potential. These deaths should not be forgotten. The public health field may have the tools it needs to prevent another pandemic, but it will succeed only if it receives adequate investment and public support.

In my opinion and in my experience the problem was the Government, both Administrations. Thankfully we have vaccines, a patina of protection. The mask issue however is problematic. On march 9, 2020 I sat waiting for a meeting in the Weill Cornell hospital downtown in a stuffed waiting room. I sat by the door with alcohol for my hands and fresh air to avoid transmissions and gloves to take the subway. This of course when the risk on the subway was greater from a virus than the miscreants attacking the riders. But alas, I saw the lights of the train coming down the COVID tunnel, we already had two months warning.

The real problem is that science is often more adversarial than our legal profession. "Facts" change as we learn more yet two problems exacerbate the issue. First almost all people assume science is somehow settled. Second we have seen a massive explosion of ego driven "scientists", especially related to the Government, who are more often the Ex Cathedra variant than the true scientific mode.

The second statement above will never be achieved as long as he above problems persist, especially the latter. Egos can kill more people than the virus. 

MIT, Return of the Kluge Lady?

 As one may recall, the MIT Provost single handedly closed MIT to its alumni. The COVID virus was one of many reasons but it has become the raison d'etre for all proto-Marxist attacks on freedom and individuality. Not that I am in any way opposed to Public Health, in fact I believe it is essential, but regrettably it has become a political tool.

Thus I guess the backlash to closing MIT to only the select few to adhere to its new policies got the Provost to slightly back off. But the back off allows entry to lobbies and still has significant delimitation. Thus if an alum desires to contribute to a research effort they must be escorted by an appropriate Commissar to that area. 

I recall Moscow in the 70S! I recall the Kluge Lady, the KGB plant that kept your key to your Intourist Hotel room, and controlled your entry and departure. I guess MIT had its own version of a Kluge Lady controlling the entry to only politically approved Party Members!

Malevolent Microsoft

 Here is the latest. W11 Cumulative Update KB5020044 performs the following truly evil deeds.

1. It takes 6 hours to install. You are thus non-productive for that time.

2. I crashes the system thus taking another 2 hours to reboot. This usually occurs at a peak time.

3. I use Task Manager, a small and old tool that allows one to see what MS SW is messing up the system by using memory, disk space, CPU time etc. Now the evil doers at MS have decided to up date this with a "black screen" Nice but the text is also black. Get it, black on black. Try and read it! NOT

4. Thus for the past 24 hours I have messed up a few of our systems with this useless change. BTW we just has one on 11/8/22. So why do we need another mess 22 days later! These true evil doers cannot seem to get anything stable. Just when you get settled they come up with some other moronic act.

BTW, MS has the standard ploy of making their customers debug their products! There should be a basic product that is safe and not changed. Let the changes be an upgrade for those who want the special effects. I don't.