Author Archive: Charlie Martin

BELATED HOLIDAY WISHES: Happy Heinlein’s Birthday, everyone!

IRS RELENTS. GRUDGINGLY: BREAKING: IRS Drops Anti-Christian Witch Hunt, for Now….

“Dear Applicant,” the form letter reads. “We’re pleased to tell you we determined you’re exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501(c)(3).” The IRS sent the letter to the Texas-based group Christians Engaged along with its law firm, First Liberty Institute. First Liberty provided a copy of the letter to PJ Media.

The letter did not mention the previous denial and it did not offer an explanation or an apology.

READER BOOK PLUG: Savannah 1.0: The Quest for Love Just released today.

Dan Mitchel is a lonely guy, plagued with OCD and terminal social awkwardness, at times so severe he seems robotic. Raised by a cold, overbearing mother, he fails at every romantic relationship and resigned himself to growing old alone–until he buys Savannah, a sexbot, the first one able to pass as human. In many ways, his problems are finally over, but in others they are just beginning. Can a robot teach a man what it means to be human?

***

“I may be terminated over Monday’s incident.”

They had watched both Schwarzenegger movies, and he’d explained that a “terminator” was a killer robot. She had enjoyed both of them, but had cheered for the terminators, calling herself “Team Robot.” He’d found it funny, and cheered with her. But it was her only reference to the word, so she looked confused as she asked, “They’re going to kill you?”

READER BOOK PLUG: My friend and roommate Terry Lacy has a new book coming out, available for pre-order now. The book is Savannah 1.0:The Quest for Love.

Dan Mitchel is a lonely guy, plagued with OCD and terminal social awkwardness, at times so severe he seems robotic. Raised by a cold, overbearing mother, he fails at every romantic relationship and resigned himself to growing old alone–until he buys Savannah, a sexbot, the first one able to pass as human. In many ways, his problems are finally over, but in others they are just beginning. Can a robot teach a man what it means to be human?


“I may be terminated over Monday’s incident.”

They had watched both Schwarzenegger movies, and he’d explained that a “terminator” was a killer robot. She had enjoyed both of them, but had cheered for the terminators, calling herself “Team Robot.” He’d found it funny, and cheered with her. But it was her only reference to the word, so she looked confused as she asked, “They’re going to kill you?”

P.S. I read it and think it’s really good. Start of a series.

CLAUDIA ROSSETT ON THE TIANANMEN ANNIVERSARY: Xi Jinping’s Tiananmen Vision for Us All.

Beijing’s grotesque rewrite of history is part of a vast CCP campaign of propaganda and coercion dedicated to ensuring that the people of China do not attempt a replay of the 1989 democratic movement that was, in truth, the People’s Republic of China’s finest hour.

Just read the whole thing.

STANDARDIZED TESTS VS MINORITIES? Will Eliminating Standard Tests Really Reduce Racial Disparities In Education?.

Instead of addressing the failure to educate kids in these communities, the push is to get rid of the testing itself. The deficiencies will remain — but the ability to expose them will be gone.

Eliminating standardized scores will not erase true racial disparities in our educational system. Indeed, it may only exacerbate them.

One does have to wonder if “the ability to expose them will be gone” might not be the real motivation.

WHY SPACEX IS EATING NASA’S LUNCH: Building A Space-Based ISP.

“There are requirements that make software engineers sweat. Massive distribution to thousands of nodes. High reliability and availability. Multiple distinct platforms. Rapid network growth. his is the world SpaceX’s Starlink program, which has set a goal to provide high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable.”

DON’T PUSH THAT BUTTON: Exploring the software that flies SpaceX rockets and starships.

I promised this series was coming months ago. I guess now that they’ve gotten Elon’s SNL appearance out of the way, it’s finally ready to go.

For the tech crew, SpaceX/StarLink really is doing some amazing stuff.

YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH? HELL, YOU CAN’T EVEN UNDERSTAND THE TRUTH: Media Should Tell the Truth About Herd Immunity.

This is a VIP piece because frankly Facebook and Twitter are suppressing any real discussions of herd immunity. If you haven’t already. you can get a small discount with the promo code CHARLIE.

NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY TO OVERREACH: IMPEACHMENT FOLLIES.

If the Democrats do impeach Trump, the Republicans should return the favor when they re-take the House in 2022 (or whenever). They should retroactively impeach Barack Obama. Obama was far more guilty than Trump of inciting violence: “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” When did Trump ever say anything like that? He didn’t. And the violence that Obama helped to incite–the BLM/Antifa riots–have killed at least 30 people, dwarfing the total who died in last week’s Washington riot. So if the Democrats impeach Trump, the Republicans should respond by impeaching Obama.