In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood.
As I creep inexorably toward nearly 70 years of life experience - which was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries, I decided to put down some ongoing thoughts in a series I call "The View From the Outback." That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 11 years. Each Saturday (or so) I will attempt to post a new set of musings from the Outback.
The 8-Ball who tried to set off a bomb in his shoe on the American Airlines flight is using the name Richard C. Reid. That makes his initials the same as mine, RCR. Terrific. Dear NSA, CIA, and FBI: please delete all the e-mails from me that you have in your computers. I am not your guy. Two clues: I shaved this year and took a bath this month. You would think that in addition to the other "profiles" that this yokel violated (no bags, paid cash), there would be one for looking scraggy and not bathing - or so it would appear from his photos.
The senders of the Anthrax letters and the hoax perpetrators have had an effect far beyond any imagined consequence. I sent a letter to Mo Collins of MADtv, correctly addressed, with my real return address on it, in which I congratulated her on being perhaps the most talented comedic actor on TV. There was no tape on envelope, etc. The letter came back, unopened, with the MADtv address blacked out with a felt marker. They have been watching too much TV. The really sad thing is that somebody on MADtv thinks they are important enough that someone might want to send them Anthrax. And that they panicked by sending back a letter from Honey, Grove, Texas, (pop. 1700) the well-known capital of chemically-laced correspondence. Now, where I used to spend half my day writing to people in Congress, the major media, and in the entertainment industry, that delicious pleasure has been denied me. I want a piece of the Anthrax guy(s). Public floggings and hangings might make a comeback.
You may have a 42-volt battery in your car next year. It has all kinds of benefits. But what will we all do with the 12 Volt DC adapters for the cell phone, razor, portable CD player, GPS receiver, laptop computer, scanner, the 12 Volt DC/AC inverter for the portable TV, and the 12 volt searchlight? And what will I do with all the thousands of dollars of ham radio gear that runs on 12 volts DC? It is going to be a costly nightmare. Best bet. Buy a used car or truck.
Do you remember the media pundits and others who talked incessantly about how the rugged, unforgiving, frigid, forbidding, and brutal winter in Afghanistan would be more than our troops might be able to endure? Well, on Dec. 27, 2001, it was about 60 degrees F in Kandahar and the low was to be in the 30s. Dallas had the same kind of day. It may dip to the teens at night in the higher elevations in the Afghan mountains. Do you remember all the talk about how the cold and snow would immobilize troops? In the hundreds of filmed reports from all over Afghanistan, the only snow seen has been high up in the mountains. The rest of the landscape looks like the lunar landscape. One more reason to find something else to do when the "experts" come on TV to tell us how to fight a war. Perhaps they had Afghanistan confused with Buffalo. Or had too much Merlot.
I made the mistake of watching the movie "15 Minutes" on satellite pay-per-view. Later, I checked reviews on the Web. Nearly everyone said it was a horrible, tasteless movie, and I agree with that. But ... what really got me was the small part played by Bruce Cutler, who was mobster John Gotti's lawyer in real life. Bruce played a lawyer who was defending one of the villains, who had killed about three people over a few day period. It is bad enough that Bruce Cutler was buddy-buddy with Gotti, but he has insulted the legal profession even further by his portrayal in "15 Minutes." I know, everybody deserves a lawyer. But, Cutler over the years showed contempt for law enforcement and the courts with his flamboyant and arrogant representation of an "always guilty as charged" man. You may remember that I earlier had said that Steve Ballmer, the aggressive president of Microsoft, reminded me of John Gotti's lawyer. The physical similarities between the two are eerie. I leave to you any conclusion about the possible moral equivalencies.
In an earlier column, I commented on how I got a Priority Mail box that was crushed so badly that the foam paddings for components inside were crushed. And magazine covers got ripped, etc. Yet, I bought a bag of Nacho chips in a cellophane bag that had hardly a single broken chip. Think about that. They make the chips, bag them, box them, store them, ship them on trucks, stack them on store shelves and hardly a chip gets broken. The moral? Frito-Lay, Inc. should take over the Postal Service. Somebody. Anybody. Please.
If you live in Texas, just after you kiss your wife, or your neighbor's wife - or whomever - at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2001, log on to www.texasnocall.com and put your phone number on a "no-call list" for telemarketers, It costs a couple of bucks for three years. Now, if the cowardly Congress will stand up to the telephone-marketing lobby and pass the bill mandating that telemarketers always transmit their caller-ID, we will have it made in the shade. We can once again eat dinner in peace.
There is now a generic equivalent to Merck's cholesterol-lowering drug Mevacor - in 10 mg, 20 mg, and 40 mg tablets. If you are paying top dollar for Mevacor, talk to your doctor about switching to the generic. Or, if you are taking one of the other statins that is still on-patent, ask your doctor about the advisability of switching to the Mevacor generic. The generics must meet the same FDA standards as the patented drug.
There was joy in the hearts of many who read about or saw portions of the speech by Sacramento Bee publisher, Janis Besler Heapy. She got on the kick about how the governments actions in fighting terrorism might lead to an erosion of civil rights. "Specifically," she said, "to what degree are we willing to compromise our civil liberties in the name of security?" And so on. A large contingent in the crowd of around 17,000 began booing and stamping their feet. Mz. Heapy was forced to drag her bleeding heart from the stage - not able to finish her speech. In California? Will miracles never cease? As someone wise recently wrote, "Speech is free, but that does not mean that we do not have to suffer the consequences of that speech."
Reflections on the Year 2001
On second thought, I think I will pass on that.
John Magaw is Transportation Security Director (TSA)
This country has been blessed in its time of need with an outstanding group of professionals in the top positions at the Pentagon, at the Justice Department, and at the State Department. Now, the president has appointed John Magaw to oversee security for the U.S. Department of Transportation. His main job will be to ensure the safety of air travel - in addition to roads, highways, waterways, and ports. In an earlier column, I mentioned that the FAA ought to be out of the security business and stick to making sure parts don't fall off of planes. This new Under Secretary for Transportation Security position puts the job in the right place and in the good hands of John Magaw. He is a straight shooter - in more ways than one.
John Magaw was the former head of the Secret Service, and he took over as head of BATF after the Waco disaster. He is a tough, smart, focused, and a no-nonsense guy. And in my view, a perfect choice for the job given him. I was such an admirer of his work in the Secret Service, that when he took over at BATF I wrote him a letter (as an ex-BATF agent) in which I basically said, "What is a nice guy like you doing in a place like this?" The president had asked him. So, you do what you have to do to serve your country.
If you like Don Rumsfeld's style of action and straight talk, you will also like John Magaw. What this country has needed in recent years were people in high places who were not afraid to say "shit" when they had a mouthful. Finally, we are getting such people. So, to the soup of FBI, CIA, NSA, DOD, et al., add TSA. You will be hearing a good deal about TSA (Transportation Security Administration) in the future.
Buckley & Moynihan - Obfuscating the Obvious
On C-SPAN the other night, a spectacle took place that further solidified my concern about the influence in this country from the Eastern Elite, especially those in academia in the Ivy-league, in publishing, and in politics. We can excuse Yale grad President Bush, since by his own admission he was not too heavy into the books back then. And West Texas will "de-program" anybody from the Ivy-league who might have had his or her head filled with "funny notions" or big words.
William F. Buckley, Jr. and former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan were guests at the Yale club to discuss the Cold War. It was an amazing display of flowery sentences and stumbling, bumbling, delivery by both men - with hardly a single point coming across clearly. Both men are revered as "intellectuals and writers." But neither can put two sentences together that make sense to the average person. At least not without considerable pauses and effort. The crowd of Yalees seemed restless, but too polite to walk out from the most boring exhibition of "public debate" I can remember being witness to. I "walked out" after about 20 minutes. It was too embarrassing to watch.
This is not all sour grapes. I admire William F. Buckely, Jr., but will not comment on the other fellow. In the early days of personal computers, Mr. Buckley wrote a syndicated column in which he dismissed the PC as a toy and not very useful. I fired off a letter to Mr. Buckley in which I listed all the ways people who were paying attention were already using their computers (writing, databases, financial management, etc.). I said that I was surprised that a man of his "pervasive intellect" did not comprehend the coming PC revolution.
To my surprise, Bill, as his buds call him, answered me and said that he would indeed take a closer look at personal computers. Before long, we were exchanging notes about tips in WordStar and so on. Gradually, that line of discourse ran its course. I did mention to him in one letter that I was forced to read his column with an open dictionary by my side, and I felt that I was already in the 97th percentile in vocabulary in the country. In other words, lighten up!
When my first novel was published, I sent him an inscribed and autographed copy. That was way back in the early 1980's. A while back, while searching the Web, I came across a used book seller who was offering a copy of "Serpent on the Hill" (that was my book) personally inscribed to William F. Buckley, Jr. - and the site quoted my exact inscription to Bill. Well, I was pissed. In the first place, Mr. Buckley talks about his CIA work, but as far as I can tell he never was actually employed as a staff employee. But, that did not keep him from trading on that ethereal CIA "connection" to promote a couple of spy novels he wrote. And he had apparently given away my inscribed and autographed novel, one of the most authentic books of its kind ever written (read the dust jacket quotes on my Web page). Some nerve.
I can now tell you of my revenge. At a gathering of fat cats in Dallas one night, I was hanging out with a famous journalist, and my book was propped up on the head table. Assuming (wrongly) that I must be somebody important, the president of the Young Republicans of Dallas approached me and asked if I would give a talk to his group. I asked who were some of the past speakers. Among the litany was "William F. Buckley, Jr." "Sure," I said, chuckling to myself. "Tell me when."
A full house of Young Republicans greeted me the night of the talk. I ranged from discussing the CIA, the FBI, the Cold War, the U.N. - and on and on. I was hot. I was passionate. I was informed. I was animated. I was leaving it all on the table. It was probably my best public speech ever. When I finished, I got a rousing standing ovation. My companion, Ms. Smith, said, "You could have run for anything tonight and won." How sweet of her to say.
The president of the Young Republicans of Dallas handed me my plaque of appreciation and leaned over as the crowd was still applauding. "You got a better ovation than William F. Buckley, Jr.," he said. Say what? It did not sink in until about a day later. So, Mr. Buckley, you can get on TV and stammer and hum and wander about with your grandiloquent phrases and tortuous circumlocutions. But, we both now know who is the better public speaker. I knew all along. Now, you know - since I have never printed this before. You shoulda kept my book. I woulda kept my mouth shut.
Build Your Own Computer? Are You Crazy?
If you have no interest in the latest computer technology or what is inside a computer, skip this section and accept my apologies. I just had to get this off my chest.
With computer prices at an all-time low, why would anyone want to build their own computer? Because it keeps you out of the bars? Because you can't find any commercial computer that has exactly the components in it that you want? If you are bored, it gives you something to do for six months - researching, reading, planning, ordering, and the inevitable "swearing-in ceremonies" that can last up to a week or more.
You guessed it. I am now the proud owner of a Pentium 4 computer with 512MB of DDR RAM, a CD-RW drive, a CD-ROM/DVD drive, an LS-120 floppy drive, a regular floppy drive, two ATA-133 40 GB hard drives, a 19 inch CRT monitor and a 15" LCD flat panel monitor (run at the same time from one video card), and an audio card that has inputs for both an analog-audio CD-ROM drive (the CD-RW) and a digital-audio CD-ROM/DVD player. You say you have not seen any computers in the ads with P4 chips and DDR memory. You say you have never heard of ATA-133 hard drives. Well, you have to be a geek, or a slightly senile senior citizen who lives on the edge to know much about this stuff.
I certainly did not save any money. For example, you can buy a complete case and power supply for $50. I spent $170 on the power supply alone (PC Power and Cooling, of course). But the diagnostic program shows the voltages as straight lines across the graphs. You pay for quality.
Without making this a long story, because few probably care, you can get most of the drift by checking, for example, the MSI 645 Ultra Motherboard, which supports the new P4 chips with DDR memory, or the ASUS P4S333 or ASUS P4B266. I actually wanted the ASUS P4S333, but could not find one in the U.S. and ASUS did not respond to my two e-mails to Taiwan. So, I bought the MSI 645 Ultra. One week after I installed the MSI motherboard, the ASUS P4S333 was available on the American market. If the MSI coughs twice, it will be replaced by an ASUS. I have an ASUS in my P III 800 and it has been very stable.
Maxtor now ships a hard drive with a faster interface, called ATA-133. Even the latest MSI board still supports only ATA-100 hard drives. But, Maxtor (and Promise) makes a PCI board that adds four EIDE ATA-133 channels to your computer. Thus, you can hang the new fast drives on the PCI board, and use the old ATA-100 EIDE sockets for the CD drives and the LS-120 (1.2MB) floppy drive. That gives you a total of eight EIDE channels. I am already using five. And I have one PCI slot left, for my combo USB 2.0/Firewire board, which will be coming onboard in a few months.
I learned the hard way that you do not want to have the normal CD-RW (with its relatively low transfer speeds) on the same IDE channel as a ATA-100 or ATA-133 hard drive, as the slow one will drag the other one down to its level. And I had an ATA-100 drive and an LS-120 superdisk (which is much slower than the ATA-100 spec) on the primary EIDE channel as master/slave in the old computer. Not too bright, but it never dawned on me until now. In the new P4, the LS- 120 (which is an EIDE device) has its own ATA-100 channel on the motherboard, because of the add-on ATA-133 board being used for the hard drives. The antique 1.44 MB floppy disk has its own cable and socket on the motherboard, as always. The LS-120 will read and write 1.44 MB floppies, but I like having a dedicated 1.44 MB drive, and at under $20, it is a no-brainer to buy and install.
There are other video boards that support running two monitors at once, but the Matrox G550 has an analog output (for the old CRT monitors and some LCD flat panels) and a digital output for a digital flat panel. Or, you can run two analog monitors, as I do. The thing works flawlessly. It is not for "Gamers," but that is not my bag. Both of my monitors are from Samsung - one a CRT and one an LCD flat panel.
You will get all kinds of arguments about CD-RW and DVD drives, but I bought my second Plextor (a 16x10x40) CD-RW and a Lite-on LTD-163 CD-ROM/DVD player (16X DVD play - 48X CD-ROM play). In my research on a support site, I noticed that Dell was putting Lite-on CD-ROM/DVD drives in some of their computers. The faceplate says only "DVD Rom," so that is a clue that it is probably a common OEM drive. My first software purchase for DVD will be the entire Encyclopedia Britannica on one DVD disk. If that works, it will have been worth the effort. I can play DVD movies on my home theater system, so I will not be bothering with that on my PC.
I made a copy of a music CD (from one drive to the other) for the truck, ripped a CD to MP3 minutes after the drives were installed, and then backed up 650MB of data to a CD-RW - without a hitch. Of course, I use CD Creator 5.0 Platinum. The audio card is the new Creative Audigy MP3+ (which actually has a bad rear-channel output). I will use the front-channel speaker jack until I can get the card replaced - as I am not using a 5-speaker surround-sound setup like the card is capable of when all is working right.
After much consternation and reading many bad vibes about Windows XP, I installed Windows ME from scratch. It was a perfect install and there have been no problems of consequence so far. In a few months, I will install Windows XP on the second hard drive and be able to fiddle with it and my various programs until I finally feel comfortable with switching solely to XP. Yes, I will use Partition Magic 7.0 to do the partitioning and the dual boot setup.
I tried a Zoom V.92 modem, as it was the only internal V.92 I could find. It simply would not work with my ISP, who is still using V.90. The modem is supposed to be backward compatible with V.90, but they will have to prove it to me. It sits in the closet until my ISP upgrades to the V.92 standard. So, I put in a $39 U.S. Robotics 56K Winmodem and log in at 37,333, which is the highest I have ever seen out here in the country. And I got new software for my DirecPC satellite Internet setup and it works great - with very fast downloads (no satellite uplink on this model).
A week ago, I was near exhaustion, and swore I would never do this again. The whole project took hundreds of hours of planning and implementation. Because for months I was reading and researching what was coming down the pike, e.g., P4 boards with DDR memory, ATA-133 hard drives, etc. But, in a couple of years, if I am still around, the lure of being on the bleeding edge will cast its siren call in my direction.
I put the covers on today for the first time, after weeks of slowly adding the parts as they came in. It's was an enormous rush. But, sitting across the room is my old PIII 800 (one I built), which will stay around for a long time. I have no faith in computers - or in my work. I am just a guy who loves computers and thinks he understands basically how they work. How often I get disabused of that notion.
If you lose your mind, and want to try this, here are some useful web sites:
Msicomputer.com MSI motherboards
Asus.com ASUS motherboards
Liteonit.com Lite-On CD-ROM/DVD and CD-RW drives
Plextor.com CD-RW drives
Creative.com Sound Blaster & Audigy sound boards - CD-ROM drives
Pcpowercooling.com Excellent power supplies
Matrox.com Dual-head (2-monitor) video cards
Maxtor.com ATA-133 hard drives and ATA-133 add-on board
Parts and software vendors:
Pcmall.com
Pcconnection.com
Computers4sure.com
Knowledgemicro.com
Computergate.com
Newegg.com (I have not bought anything from them)
Crucial.com Factory-direct, first-class memory chips
Amazon.com (They sell a lot of computer stuff, often at very good prices)
Upgradesource.com
v92.com All about the new modem standard
Direcpc.com Satellite Internet
(Update: Jan. 2, 2002. In the few weeks since I bought my MSI motherboard, there are now several new motherboards that support P4 CPUs and DDR RAM, and a couple with ATA-133 interfaces for EIDE, and at least one with USB 2.0 support. It all happens so fast, it is like a blur. Never has an industry moved so fast to adopt new technologies.)
Suggested Reading From Past Columns
(Right-click on an underlined link and select: "Open in New Window" to leave this window in place)
Terrorism
"Are We Shredding the Constitution?" (Must Read!) Sunday, Dec. 16, 2001
"Enviro-Terrorists Operate With Near Impunity - But Not for Long?" Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001
"Hackers Are Terrorists, Too" Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001
"U.S. Government in a Frantic Scramble to Catch Up" Sunday, Nov. 4, 2001
"Americans Succumbing to a Climate of Fear" Sunday, October 28, 2001
"Secure ID Cards and Visas" Sunday, October 28, 2001
"Anti-Terrorism Bill Sniping Begins" Sunday, October 28, 2001
"Various reflections on the events of Sept. 11, 2001 Thursday, Sept 20. Must read Outback re Sept 11 Events
"The World Trade Center & Pentagon Attacks!" Update on Sept. 11 to Outback for September 8, 2001
Global warming and environmental debate:
"Rush to Glacier National Park Before All the Glaciers are Gone" September 8, 2001
"Chipping Away at the Global Warming and Environmental Alarmists," September 1, 2001
"John Stossel And ABC's 'Tampering With Nature,'" June 29, 2001
"The Kyoto Protocol & Global Warming - A Monumental Scam?" June 16, 2001
"Public Interest Groups With Sometimes Very Little Public Interest," May 12, 2001
"Environmentalism For Dummies - Part II," April 21, 2001
"Environmentalism For Dummies," April 7, 2001
"Environmental and Animal-Rights Terrorists," March 24, 2001
Politics:
"My Friend Senator Jesse Helms," September 8, 2001
"Forget Liar & Adulterer - Cong. Gary Condit is Simply Stupid," September 1, 2001
"Government Waste and Fraud," August 18, 2001
"President Bush's Excellent Adventure," June 29, 2001
"The Bush Budget - Fighting Over 4% Growth Versus 8% Growth Is Nonsense," April 21, 2001
"The Chinese Demand for an Apology Regarding the Aircraft Accident is Preposterous," April 7, 2001
"Campaign Finance Reform - A Senatorial Catharsis - And National Snow Job," March 31, 2001
"Florida Secretary Of State Literally Begged Networks Not To Call Election Early," March 24, 2001
"Charlton Heston Speech at Harvard," March 10, 2001 (about free speech, PC, et al.)
"The Ever-Expanding First Amendment," January 26, 2001
"Bush Administration Needs To Review The Mission Of Federal Law Enforcement," January 26, 2001
"New York, What Were You Thinking?" November 13, 2000 (Re: Hillary Clinton)
"Lessons Learned In Election 2000?" November 13, 2000
"How the Federal Government Corrupts the Constitution to Intrude Into Your Life," October 30, 2000
"Let's All Make Fun of the Dumb Guy From Texas," December 15, 2000 (Pres. Bush)
The Media
" 'BIAS' by Bernard Goldberg" Sunday Dec. 16, 2001
"How the Media Should Cover a Covert War" Sunday, November 4, 2001
Prescription drugs - advertised on TV - abuses in the pharmaceutical industry - supplements:
"Prescription Drug Plans," September 8, 2001
"Baycol Cholesterol Drug Withdrawn From the Market," August 18, 2001
"Prozac Gets New Life!" July 28,2001
"The New Cholesterol Guidelines - Everybody Gets A Pill," July 7, 2001
"Bitter Pills To Swallow," June 2, 2001
"The Drug Companies Continue Their Assault On Your Pocketbook," May 19, 2001
"FDA Questions Practice of TV Ads for Prescription Drugs," March 31, 2001
"Prescription for Disaster," September 11, 2000
Health - General:
"Trans Fatty Acids - The Hidden Fat," August 4, 2001
"Your Body Clock," August 4, 2001
"My Medical Writing Credentials - Such As They Are," July 7, 2001
"The 'Eggs Are Bad For You' Alarmists Strike Again," May 12, 2001
"Herbal Remedies, Supplements, And Alternative Therapies," September 18, 2000
Computers and Technology:
"The Microsoft Settlement" Sunday Dec. 16, 2001
"Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)" Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001
"LCD Flat Panel Displays & Dual Monitor Video Boards," August 18, 2001
"DishNetwork's Personal Video Recorder Dish Pro 501," July 28, 2001
"Internet Via Satellite," June 16, 2001
"The Internet in China," April 21, 2001
"Mark Cuban is the Posterboy for Dotcom Mania," April 21, 2001
Interesting Books to Read:
" 'BIAS' by Bernard Goldberg" Sunday Dec. 16, 2001
"Your Body Clock," August 4, 2001
"Body of Secrets," by James Bamford, July 28, 2001 (About NSA)
A case history of horrendous abuse by Federal law enforcement:
"FBI Sniper At Ruby Ridge My Be Tried For Manslaughter," June 9, 2001.
Crime, guns, gun-control:
"Real Anxiety - Texas Jail Inmates Break Out Weekly" Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001
"Eyewitness Testimony is Suspect," August 18, 2001
"The AMA Is Losing Its Way," June 29 2001
"Doctors Have Written the Wrong Prescription for Guns," April 14, 2001
"The FBI and the Hanssen Case," March 10, 2001
"FBI Director Freeh Stays On," January 26, 2001 (Some clues to recent FBI failures)
"Aircraft Cockpit Security," December 29, 2000
Late Night TV Cruel Humor, et al.:
(I quit watching late night in disgust, so there are no new articles on the subject.)
"David Letterman Grovels For The Colombians," May 19, 2001
"Are Leno And Letterman Using The Same CD-ROM For Constructing Jokes?" May 12, 2001
"Late Night Comedians Struggle To Lampoon Bush," May 5, 2001
"Late-Night TV Sick Humor," August 28, 2000
"Late-Night TV Political Comedy," August 14, 2000
Hollywood, Entertainers, Celebrities:
"Celebrities Rush to Move Overseas in Protest of Bush Victory," January 5, 2001
"The Mother of all Hollywood Activists," December 22, 2000 (Jane Fonda)
"Elton John, Political Pundit - Druggie - Drunk - Compulsive Spender," Dec. 15, 2000
Telemarketing:
"Telemarketers, Caller-ID, et al.," August 4, 2001
"Rid Yourself of Telemarketers," October 23, 2000
Miscellaneous:
"TV 'Crawls' - Annoying and Distracting"Sunday, October 28, 2001
"The Decline in the American Work Ethic," May 12, 2001
"Made in USA," January 5, 20001
"How Many Gigabytes in Your Brain?," December 15, 2000
COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
You are welcome to quote sections from this page - or the whole page, as long as the source URL is included. Of course, I would be flattered if anyone linked to this page. It is very hard to be the writer, editor, fact checker, copy editor, and publisher of anything. So, I welcome corrections of fact, notes of misspelled words, and so on.
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Richard C. Rhodes
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