m*n
1 楼
托这个版的服，几个月前买了kindle。用了一段时间之后，发现其好用程度超出预期。
我很满意。这与几年前刚用上iphone的感觉类似，觉得技术革新真是改变人类生活的
好东西。保护眼睛，不用常充电，小巧易携带，这些优点都逐渐体会到了。我一开始也
下载了不少中文书(www.shucang.com)和版权过期的经典外文书，小拼字游戏(amazon)
等等。弄了几十本以后，就觉得太值了。 但是, 拥有了书不等于就会去读---对我来说
，免费的陈列性新书不容易看进去；而以前看过的书，我感觉用kindle查找也不方便。
kindle翻页比较慢，这对我寻找需要的段落很不力： 我一般只是记得大致章节和内容
，用kindle没法快速翻阅到材料的位置。
我倒是一直有逛书店的习惯--或是连锁大店如B&N，或是小门面的专业及二手书店，这
些都是消磨个把小时的好地方。大店可以喝茶休息，翻翻新书；小店有不少寻觅偶遇的
乐趣。 另外，书店多半有点人世的嘈杂，时人当下的趣味。对我来说，它们是比令人
昏昏欲睡的图书馆更好的休闲去处。 有了kindle之后，去书店更有趣了。以前在新书
架前，经常有掉在书坑里呆呆趴好久，琢磨半天也不知道选哪本下手的感觉；现在好了
，一般看看介绍加里面几页，还行的就记下书的大概特征（曾经看到一个花甲老头，跟
我用同样的办法：只是他用电话拍照，我用记忆加电话笔记而已），回家上amazon下载
第一章免费sample, 有空就看了，特别喜欢的就买了，简单省事，好像又回到了夏日炎
炎正好读书闲的时代。
再有一个好玩儿的现象就是，我现在买实体书，不管是一手，还是二手，都比较挑剔了
。没有保留价值的，或是不值那个钱的，我就不买咯！
夏天来了，有意思的书也多了起来。最后写几本近期看到的有趣的书。
1. They Eat Puppies, Don't They?
Christopher Buckley的新作。这位是政治讽刺幽默作家，他爹是右派旗手William
Buckley Jr., 他自己29岁就当上了老布什的chief speech writer。我比较熟悉的是以
前搬上银幕的thank you for smoking。
小说讲的是华盛顿的武器lobbiest， 热衷于业余时间搞战争小说创作的"Bird"
McIntyre，想要向国会兜售预算30多亿的新武器计划"dumbo",结果他一开始就失败了。
怎么办？新保智库Institute for Continuing Conflict的美女Angel Templeton和他合
作搞出了一个妙招--造谣！这个谣言就是中国特工要谋杀达赖喇嘛。为嘛呢？因为美国
民众其实啥都不关心，独裁，腐败，污染，民工自杀，这些大家也就眨眨眼皮；但是一
说到喇嘛，民众就热乎了。这两个人开动热力宣传机器，大力造谣污蔑中国，动员国会
批准武器计划。 小说也描写了中国的高层斗争，出现的人物有温和的国家主席，中共
总书记Fa Mengyao, names too complicated to list的政治局成员，军中鹰派人物等
等。
为啥要推荐呢，因为这本书实在太搞笑了，作者深谙华府政治，人物情节夸张，语言幽
默， 弄的我老是笑个不停。来个书摘，你们军事政治迷可能会喜欢。
------------------------------------------------------------------
The senator from the great state of New York had been droning on for over
five minutes; droning about drones.
Bird McIntyre sat in the first row behind his boss, the recipient of the
senatorial cataract of words. He scribbled a note on a piece of paper and
passed it forward.
Chick Devlin glanced at the note. He let the senator continue for several
more mind-numbing minutes so as not to appear prompted by Bird's note.
Finally, seizing on an ellipsis, he leaned forward into the microphone
across the green-baize-covered table and said, "Senator, pardon my French,
but isn't the whole point to scare the shit out of them?"
The committee collectively stiffened. One senator laughed. Several smiled or
suppressed smiles; some pretended not to be amused; some were actually not
amused. Not that it mattered: This was a closed hearing, no cameras or media
in attendance.
"If I may, Senator," continued Devlin, chief executive officer of the
aerospace giant Groepping-Sprunt, "the idea that a predator drone should be
unobtrusive, some speck in the sky, so as not to alarm the general public...
" He smiled and shook his head. "Forgive my asking, but who the heck wrote
the specs for that paradigm? Look here, we're talking about a part of the
world where one third of the so-called general public is in their kitchen
making IEDs to kill American soldiers. Another third are on the Internet
recruiting suicide bombers. And the last third are on cell phones planning
the next 9/11. These are the people we don't want to alarm?" He sat back in
his chair, shaking his head in puzzlement. "Or am I missing something here?"
"Mr. Devlin," said the senator, straining a bit obviously for the satanic
homonym, "we are talking about a predator drone the size of a commercial
airliner. Of a jumbo jet. A drone, by the way, that may or may not" — she
jabbed an accusatory finger in the direction of the neat, blue-uniformed air
force general sitting beside Devlin — "be nuclear-capable. I say 'may or
may not' because I can't seem to get a straight answer from the air force."
The general leaned into his microphone to protest but was waved away by the
senator before he could achieve takeoff.
"So I'm asking you, Mr. Devlin: What kind of signal does this send to the
world? That the United States would launch these huge, unpiloted — "
"Sentinels."
"Sentinels? Sentinels? Come on, Mr. Devlin, these are killing machines. Not
even H. G. Wells could have come up with something like this. Read your own
specs. No, on second thought allow me."
The senator put on her bifocals and read aloud: "'Hellfire missiles,
Beelzebub Gatling gun. Seven thousand rounds per second. Depleted-uranium
armor-piercing projectiles. CBUs.' CBUs — that would be cluster bombs — "
"Senator," Devlin cut in, "Groepping-Sprunt did not make the world we live
in. Groepping-Sprunt — if I may, ma'am — does not make U.S. foreign policy
. That we leave to such distinguished public servants as yourself. What we
do make are systems to help America cope with the challenges of the world we
inhabit."
"Please don't interrupt me, Mr. Devlin," the senator shot back, returning to
her reading material. "What about this so-called Adaptable Payload Package?
'Adaptable Payload Package.' There's an ambiguous term if ever I heard one.
No wonder it's got General Wheary there talking out of both sides of his
mouth."
"Senator, if I might — " General Wheary tried again.
"No, General. You had your chance. Now I'm asking Mr. Devlin — for the last
time — what kind of signal does it send to the world that we would deploy
such an awful symbol, such a device — a device by the way you have the gall
to designate 'Dumbo.' Dumbo!" she snorted. "Dumbo! This, sir, is a creature
from hell."
"Senator, with respect," Devlin said, "the platform is designated MQ-9B.
Dumbo is merely a..."
Bird McIntyre nodded thoughtfully, as if he were hearing the name Dumbo for
the first time. In fact, the name was his suggestion. If the idea is to
render a breathtakingly large and lethal killing machine (as the senator
would say) sound less lethal, what better name than the Disney's cuddly
pachyderm? Bird had considered "Cuddles," but that seemed a bit much.
"...a nickname," Devlin continued, "like, say, 'Dragon Lady' for the U-2 spy
plane or BUFF, 'Big Ugly Fat Fellow,' for the B-52 bomber. Military
vehicles all have nicknames. But as to your question — what kind of signal
does it send? I would say the answer is — a serious signal. A very serious
signal. If I for one were a member of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda or some other
sworn enemy of freedom and the American Way, and I looked up from the table
in my IED lab and saw Dumbo — if you prefer, the MQ-9B — blotting out the
sun and preparing to obliterate me and introduce me to Allah, I believe I
might just consider taking up another line of work."
A murmur went through the committee.
Bird nodded, well pleased by his ventriloquism. Devlin's speech was almost
word for word from Bird's briefing book — Tab "R."
Groepping-Sprunt was Bird McIntyre's largest account. And the Dumbo contract
was a biggie — $3.4 billion worth of appropriations. Bird had worked
furiously on the public-awareness campaign. For the past several weeks,
every TV watcher in the Greater Washington, D.C., Area, every newspaper or
magazine reader, bus-stop passerby, Internet browser, sports spectator, and
subway rider — all their eyeballs and ears had been assailed by messages
showing Dumbo — MQ-9B — aloft, soaring through serene blue air high above
the piney mountains of the California Sierra Nevada, looking for all the
world like a great big friendly flying toy that might have dropped out of
Santa's sleigh. Bird had proposed painting the fuselage in a soothing shade
of teal. Beneath the photo were these words:
DUMBO: CAN AMERICA AFFORD NOT TO DEPLOY HER?
The problem was money. The appropriations climate on Capitol Hill these days
was brutal. The Pentagon was drowning in health-care costs, administration
costs, war costs. Cutback time. They were even pensioning off admirals and
generals. Not since the end of the Cold War had so many military been given
the heave-ho: an aggregate of over three hundred stars so far.
Meanwhile defense lobbyists were scrambling. In happier times, getting
approval for a Dumbo-type program would have consisted of a couple of
meetings, a few pro forma committee hearings, handshakes all round, and off
to an early lunch. Now? Sisyphus had it easier.
我很满意。这与几年前刚用上iphone的感觉类似，觉得技术革新真是改变人类生活的
好东西。保护眼睛，不用常充电，小巧易携带，这些优点都逐渐体会到了。我一开始也
下载了不少中文书(www.shucang.com)和版权过期的经典外文书，小拼字游戏(amazon)
等等。弄了几十本以后，就觉得太值了。 但是, 拥有了书不等于就会去读---对我来说
，免费的陈列性新书不容易看进去；而以前看过的书，我感觉用kindle查找也不方便。
kindle翻页比较慢，这对我寻找需要的段落很不力： 我一般只是记得大致章节和内容
，用kindle没法快速翻阅到材料的位置。
我倒是一直有逛书店的习惯--或是连锁大店如B&N，或是小门面的专业及二手书店，这
些都是消磨个把小时的好地方。大店可以喝茶休息，翻翻新书；小店有不少寻觅偶遇的
乐趣。 另外，书店多半有点人世的嘈杂，时人当下的趣味。对我来说，它们是比令人
昏昏欲睡的图书馆更好的休闲去处。 有了kindle之后，去书店更有趣了。以前在新书
架前，经常有掉在书坑里呆呆趴好久，琢磨半天也不知道选哪本下手的感觉；现在好了
，一般看看介绍加里面几页，还行的就记下书的大概特征（曾经看到一个花甲老头，跟
我用同样的办法：只是他用电话拍照，我用记忆加电话笔记而已），回家上amazon下载
第一章免费sample, 有空就看了，特别喜欢的就买了，简单省事，好像又回到了夏日炎
炎正好读书闲的时代。
再有一个好玩儿的现象就是，我现在买实体书，不管是一手，还是二手，都比较挑剔了
。没有保留价值的，或是不值那个钱的，我就不买咯！
夏天来了，有意思的书也多了起来。最后写几本近期看到的有趣的书。
1. They Eat Puppies, Don't They?
Christopher Buckley的新作。这位是政治讽刺幽默作家，他爹是右派旗手William
Buckley Jr., 他自己29岁就当上了老布什的chief speech writer。我比较熟悉的是以
前搬上银幕的thank you for smoking。
小说讲的是华盛顿的武器lobbiest， 热衷于业余时间搞战争小说创作的"Bird"
McIntyre，想要向国会兜售预算30多亿的新武器计划"dumbo",结果他一开始就失败了。
怎么办？新保智库Institute for Continuing Conflict的美女Angel Templeton和他合
作搞出了一个妙招--造谣！这个谣言就是中国特工要谋杀达赖喇嘛。为嘛呢？因为美国
民众其实啥都不关心，独裁，腐败，污染，民工自杀，这些大家也就眨眨眼皮；但是一
说到喇嘛，民众就热乎了。这两个人开动热力宣传机器，大力造谣污蔑中国，动员国会
批准武器计划。 小说也描写了中国的高层斗争，出现的人物有温和的国家主席，中共
总书记Fa Mengyao, names too complicated to list的政治局成员，军中鹰派人物等
等。
为啥要推荐呢，因为这本书实在太搞笑了，作者深谙华府政治，人物情节夸张，语言幽
默， 弄的我老是笑个不停。来个书摘，你们军事政治迷可能会喜欢。
------------------------------------------------------------------
The senator from the great state of New York had been droning on for over
five minutes; droning about drones.
Bird McIntyre sat in the first row behind his boss, the recipient of the
senatorial cataract of words. He scribbled a note on a piece of paper and
passed it forward.
Chick Devlin glanced at the note. He let the senator continue for several
more mind-numbing minutes so as not to appear prompted by Bird's note.
Finally, seizing on an ellipsis, he leaned forward into the microphone
across the green-baize-covered table and said, "Senator, pardon my French,
but isn't the whole point to scare the shit out of them?"
The committee collectively stiffened. One senator laughed. Several smiled or
suppressed smiles; some pretended not to be amused; some were actually not
amused. Not that it mattered: This was a closed hearing, no cameras or media
in attendance.
"If I may, Senator," continued Devlin, chief executive officer of the
aerospace giant Groepping-Sprunt, "the idea that a predator drone should be
unobtrusive, some speck in the sky, so as not to alarm the general public...
" He smiled and shook his head. "Forgive my asking, but who the heck wrote
the specs for that paradigm? Look here, we're talking about a part of the
world where one third of the so-called general public is in their kitchen
making IEDs to kill American soldiers. Another third are on the Internet
recruiting suicide bombers. And the last third are on cell phones planning
the next 9/11. These are the people we don't want to alarm?" He sat back in
his chair, shaking his head in puzzlement. "Or am I missing something here?"
"Mr. Devlin," said the senator, straining a bit obviously for the satanic
homonym, "we are talking about a predator drone the size of a commercial
airliner. Of a jumbo jet. A drone, by the way, that may or may not" — she
jabbed an accusatory finger in the direction of the neat, blue-uniformed air
force general sitting beside Devlin — "be nuclear-capable. I say 'may or
may not' because I can't seem to get a straight answer from the air force."
The general leaned into his microphone to protest but was waved away by the
senator before he could achieve takeoff.
"So I'm asking you, Mr. Devlin: What kind of signal does this send to the
world? That the United States would launch these huge, unpiloted — "
"Sentinels."
"Sentinels? Sentinels? Come on, Mr. Devlin, these are killing machines. Not
even H. G. Wells could have come up with something like this. Read your own
specs. No, on second thought allow me."
The senator put on her bifocals and read aloud: "'Hellfire missiles,
Beelzebub Gatling gun. Seven thousand rounds per second. Depleted-uranium
armor-piercing projectiles. CBUs.' CBUs — that would be cluster bombs — "
"Senator," Devlin cut in, "Groepping-Sprunt did not make the world we live
in. Groepping-Sprunt — if I may, ma'am — does not make U.S. foreign policy
. That we leave to such distinguished public servants as yourself. What we
do make are systems to help America cope with the challenges of the world we
inhabit."
"Please don't interrupt me, Mr. Devlin," the senator shot back, returning to
her reading material. "What about this so-called Adaptable Payload Package?
'Adaptable Payload Package.' There's an ambiguous term if ever I heard one.
No wonder it's got General Wheary there talking out of both sides of his
mouth."
"Senator, if I might — " General Wheary tried again.
"No, General. You had your chance. Now I'm asking Mr. Devlin — for the last
time — what kind of signal does it send to the world that we would deploy
such an awful symbol, such a device — a device by the way you have the gall
to designate 'Dumbo.' Dumbo!" she snorted. "Dumbo! This, sir, is a creature
from hell."
"Senator, with respect," Devlin said, "the platform is designated MQ-9B.
Dumbo is merely a..."
Bird McIntyre nodded thoughtfully, as if he were hearing the name Dumbo for
the first time. In fact, the name was his suggestion. If the idea is to
render a breathtakingly large and lethal killing machine (as the senator
would say) sound less lethal, what better name than the Disney's cuddly
pachyderm? Bird had considered "Cuddles," but that seemed a bit much.
"...a nickname," Devlin continued, "like, say, 'Dragon Lady' for the U-2 spy
plane or BUFF, 'Big Ugly Fat Fellow,' for the B-52 bomber. Military
vehicles all have nicknames. But as to your question — what kind of signal
does it send? I would say the answer is — a serious signal. A very serious
signal. If I for one were a member of the Taliban or Al-Qaeda or some other
sworn enemy of freedom and the American Way, and I looked up from the table
in my IED lab and saw Dumbo — if you prefer, the MQ-9B — blotting out the
sun and preparing to obliterate me and introduce me to Allah, I believe I
might just consider taking up another line of work."
A murmur went through the committee.
Bird nodded, well pleased by his ventriloquism. Devlin's speech was almost
word for word from Bird's briefing book — Tab "R."
Groepping-Sprunt was Bird McIntyre's largest account. And the Dumbo contract
was a biggie — $3.4 billion worth of appropriations. Bird had worked
furiously on the public-awareness campaign. For the past several weeks,
every TV watcher in the Greater Washington, D.C., Area, every newspaper or
magazine reader, bus-stop passerby, Internet browser, sports spectator, and
subway rider — all their eyeballs and ears had been assailed by messages
showing Dumbo — MQ-9B — aloft, soaring through serene blue air high above
the piney mountains of the California Sierra Nevada, looking for all the
world like a great big friendly flying toy that might have dropped out of
Santa's sleigh. Bird had proposed painting the fuselage in a soothing shade
of teal. Beneath the photo were these words:
DUMBO: CAN AMERICA AFFORD NOT TO DEPLOY HER?
The problem was money. The appropriations climate on Capitol Hill these days
was brutal. The Pentagon was drowning in health-care costs, administration
costs, war costs. Cutback time. They were even pensioning off admirals and
generals. Not since the end of the Cold War had so many military been given
the heave-ho: an aggregate of over three hundred stars so far.
Meanwhile defense lobbyists were scrambling. In happier times, getting
approval for a Dumbo-type program would have consisted of a couple of
meetings, a few pro forma committee hearings, handshakes all round, and off
to an early lunch. Now? Sisyphus had it easier.
