The Thursday Wall St Journal had a very good article about what went wrong. Looks like it really is BP's fault. The well was behind schedule and over budget. To save time and money the BP manager cut short the mud circulation procedure ("bottoms up" in oil field lingo). Best practice is to pump all the mud up from the bottom and inspect it for natural gas. If gas is detected in the mud, the well has a leak. BP only ran the bottoms up procedure for an hour, where as 12 to 24 hours is needed. Then BP skipped a leak test after cementing in the drill pipe, even though the cementing contractor Halliburton warned of trouble. The BP manager, an inexperienced man, had to overcome objections to his shortcuts by the other contractors on the rig.
The underground gas pressure is high, because of the 13000 feet of rock sitting on top of the oil/gas deposit. When BP pumped the drilling mud out of the well, the gas forced its way up the drillpipe onto the drilling platform and caught fire. To add insult to injury, the last ditch safety device, the blowout preventer failed to close off the well. So, we have two errors of judgment on BP's part, combined with a faulty blowout preventer and the result is horrendous.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wall St Banks cook the books
According to a front page story in the Wall St Journal, the big banks reduce their short term borrowing at the end of each quarter to make the end of quarter balance sheet look better. Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Citigroup are named. They call it "window dressing".
Why do we care? Simple, a bank's ratio of debt to capital in a good measure of the bank's soundness. Too much debt, too little capital, and any small setback, like a loan default can break the bank. Bank runs out of money and has to fold. Investors in the bank loose all their money and FDIC pays off the depositors.
According to the Journal article, the banks are engaging in deceptive practices to could suck in unwary investors.
We REALLY REALLY need to clean up the accounting business in this country so that published financial documents mean something. In this case, the rules ought to be changed to require the banks to publish their average debt, averaged over the entire quarter, not just their debt on one special day out of the quarter.
Why do we care? Simple, a bank's ratio of debt to capital in a good measure of the bank's soundness. Too much debt, too little capital, and any small setback, like a loan default can break the bank. Bank runs out of money and has to fold. Investors in the bank loose all their money and FDIC pays off the depositors.
According to the Journal article, the banks are engaging in deceptive practices to could suck in unwary investors.
We REALLY REALLY need to clean up the accounting business in this country so that published financial documents mean something. In this case, the rules ought to be changed to require the banks to publish their average debt, averaged over the entire quarter, not just their debt on one special day out of the quarter.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Russians make first test flight of their new Air Force 1
The Russians need a presidential aircraft to keep up with the Americans. They just test flew a Tupolev twin engine TU-214 destined for the Russian Air Force One role. Looks like an ordinary narrow body airliner, with winglets like a Boeing 737. No where near as cool and impressive as the Boeing 747 four engine jumbo jet flown by the Americans. But at least it is Russian built, the Russians would loose a lot of status points if they used a foreign built aircraft.
Of course Aeroflot is converting their entire fleet to western built airliners. Aeroflot brags that all their international flights use Boeing aircraft.
Western aircraft enjoy a safety record of 0.73 crashes per million flights. East bloc aircraft show 7.something crashes per million flights. You are ten times more likely to crash flying east bloc aircraft. I wish the Russians all possible luck with their new home built executive aircraft.
Of course Aeroflot is converting their entire fleet to western built airliners. Aeroflot brags that all their international flights use Boeing aircraft.
Western aircraft enjoy a safety record of 0.73 crashes per million flights. East bloc aircraft show 7.something crashes per million flights. You are ten times more likely to crash flying east bloc aircraft. I wish the Russians all possible luck with their new home built executive aircraft.
NASA man rates the Russian Soyuz capsule
Ever cautious NASA requires any space craft carrying live astronauts to be "man rated", by which they mean the maker has filled out pounds and pounds of NASA paperwork for every single piece that goes into the spacecraft. One of the reasons Shuttles cost so much and flew so little was the burden of doing the man rating paperwork on every single part.
NASA claimed that man rating was so important that they could not use the highly reliable Delta and Atlas rocket boosters used by United Launch Alliance to launch communications satellites. They claimed that Delta and Atlas were not man rated and hence far too dangerous to boost astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). This was the justification for starting a new development of Ares booster rockets.
In the long interval between the end of Shuttle flights and the first Ares flight, NASA planned buy tickets to the ISS from the Russians. Naturally the Russians don't do NASA paperwork for man rating their Soyuz system. But NASA, based on the Russian record of successful launches (better than the Shuttle) decided to man rate Soyus, just to keep the paper trail in order.
If NASA really cared they could man rate Delta and Atlas just as easily.
NASA claimed that man rating was so important that they could not use the highly reliable Delta and Atlas rocket boosters used by United Launch Alliance to launch communications satellites. They claimed that Delta and Atlas were not man rated and hence far too dangerous to boost astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). This was the justification for starting a new development of Ares booster rockets.
In the long interval between the end of Shuttle flights and the first Ares flight, NASA planned buy tickets to the ISS from the Russians. Naturally the Russians don't do NASA paperwork for man rating their Soyuz system. But NASA, based on the Russian record of successful launches (better than the Shuttle) decided to man rate Soyus, just to keep the paper trail in order.
If NASA really cared they could man rate Delta and Atlas just as easily.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Sunday Pundits
David Gregory's Meet the Press topic was "What can Washington do about the Gulf oil spill". Real answer. Nothing. The men and equipment to deal with the spill belong to the oil industry.
The New York Times man was very positive that Washington could do something, he didn't know what, but something. There goes a man of faith, faith in government. Too bad he is supposed to writing news stories.
The New York Times man was very positive that Washington could do something, he didn't know what, but something. There goes a man of faith, faith in government. Too bad he is supposed to writing news stories.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Don't Mess with Texas
The Texas Board of Education has been updating the curriculum requirements for the state. This update has attracted quite a bit of negative press comment. Liberals accuse the Texans of being too conservative. And, due to the large size of the Texas school book market, they fear that Texas standards will become defacto national standards as text book publishers revise their books to meet the Texas standards.
I've read the Texas curriculum. It's posted on line here.
I don't see anything wrong here. The curriculum is spelled out in plain English, rather than ed major jargon. It is concrete, listing persons, places, events, and concepts to be taught. The selection of material seems perfectly reasonable to me. They want students to know American history, some fundamental economics, and recent important events such as the end of the cold war, and 9/11. It is NOT watered down. The curriculum goes far beyond anything taught in my high school, and I went to a pretty good school.
In My Humble Opinion (IMHO) the Texas curriculum is perfectly reasonable and centrist. The critics are drawn from far out in left field.
I've read the Texas curriculum. It's posted on line here.
I don't see anything wrong here. The curriculum is spelled out in plain English, rather than ed major jargon. It is concrete, listing persons, places, events, and concepts to be taught. The selection of material seems perfectly reasonable to me. They want students to know American history, some fundamental economics, and recent important events such as the end of the cold war, and 9/11. It is NOT watered down. The curriculum goes far beyond anything taught in my high school, and I went to a pretty good school.
In My Humble Opinion (IMHO) the Texas curriculum is perfectly reasonable and centrist. The critics are drawn from far out in left field.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Regulation? or Welfare for Banks?
Up til now "derivatives", side bets placed between banks and investors, have been on a one to one basis. The two parties to the "derivative" reach a deal between themselves and that's that. Should one party to the deal go bankrupt (can you say AIG?) the other party doesn't get paid. Realization of this fact since 2008 has reduced the number of derivative deals.
The regulatory bill coming thru Congress includes a guarantee for derivatives. The bill requires derivatives to be traded on exchanges, similar to a stock exchange. The seller and the buyer do a deal with the exchange. BUT, the exchange will guarantee the deals against default. If you buy a derivative and the seller goes bust, the exchange will pay you off.
Just what we need, guarantees on gambling. The derivatives are essentially bets that stocks will rise or fall, or that a company or country (Greece for instance) will default on it's bonds. Banks are channeling lots of money into the game 'cause a winning bet pays off big. Money spent gambling on derivatives is money that should have gone into economic development. Derivatives do not finance new factories, new businesses, new construction, inventory, accounts receivable or sales. In short money that should have gone to creating new jobs is frittered away gambling.
We should not encourage the gamblers by offering a guarantee of payoff.
The regulatory bill coming thru Congress includes a guarantee for derivatives. The bill requires derivatives to be traded on exchanges, similar to a stock exchange. The seller and the buyer do a deal with the exchange. BUT, the exchange will guarantee the deals against default. If you buy a derivative and the seller goes bust, the exchange will pay you off.
Just what we need, guarantees on gambling. The derivatives are essentially bets that stocks will rise or fall, or that a company or country (Greece for instance) will default on it's bonds. Banks are channeling lots of money into the game 'cause a winning bet pays off big. Money spent gambling on derivatives is money that should have gone into economic development. Derivatives do not finance new factories, new businesses, new construction, inventory, accounts receivable or sales. In short money that should have gone to creating new jobs is frittered away gambling.
We should not encourage the gamblers by offering a guarantee of payoff.
US to subsidize Brazilian cotton growers.
Talk about craziness. According to an editorial in yesterday's Wall St Journal, the US is subsidizing US cotton growers. 70% of the subsidy money goes to just 10 big cotton operations. Corporate welfare basically.
The international trade laws prohibit farm subsidies because they are a disguised tariff. Brazil sued the US for unfair trade practices and won. Unless the US drops this costly bit of corporate welfare, Brazil is legally entitled to retaliate with tariffs against American exports. The Brazilians have drawn up such a tariff and it has teeth and will hurt.
In last ditch negotiations the US has offered to pay Brazilian cotton growers the same subsidy that US cotton growers get.
This is totally crazy. In this time of federal deficit we should not be paying US farmers to grow stuff. And we should NEVER pay foreign farmers to grow stuff.
The international trade laws prohibit farm subsidies because they are a disguised tariff. Brazil sued the US for unfair trade practices and won. Unless the US drops this costly bit of corporate welfare, Brazil is legally entitled to retaliate with tariffs against American exports. The Brazilians have drawn up such a tariff and it has teeth and will hurt.
In last ditch negotiations the US has offered to pay Brazilian cotton growers the same subsidy that US cotton growers get.
This is totally crazy. In this time of federal deficit we should not be paying US farmers to grow stuff. And we should NEVER pay foreign farmers to grow stuff.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Quoting from today's Wall St Journal. "In its last annual inspection of the Deepwater Horizon (the BP chartered oil rig that exploded and sank) last July, the Coast Guard didn't ask crew members to lower lifeboats to the water due to concerns that the test was too dangerous, Lt Cmdr. Odom told a federal panel investigating the disaster last week."
Wow! What is going on here? Lifeboat drills should be held once a month and the boats lowered into the water, just to make sure the lowering gear hasn't rusted solid. And that the crew knows how to lower the lifeboats. Granted, they ought to do lifeboat drill in good weather, but still it ought to be done, just to make sure the crew knows what to do.
Quoting further. "The Coast Guard also only ran a limited fire drill on the rig's helipad, excusing some workers who were normally supposed to take part because they were busy exploring for oil on the rig, according to testimony."
Wow again. Fire drills are supposed to be for real, and should also be done once a month.
Elsewhere in the article it states that Deepwater Horizon was not a US flag rig, it was registered in the Marshall Islands. Coast Guard checks of foreign flag rigs are completed in hours whereas inspection of US flagged rigs can take days.
That ain't right either. Coast Guard inspections should be the same for every rig out there.
And finally the article stated that standards for fire protection equipment were "of a general nature". That's bad too. Regulations should spell out in some detail how many fire pumps and of what capacity must be installed, the areas to be protected by sprinkler systems, the number and capacity of fire hoses and extinguishers. Inspectors should have the power to insist that rigs be properly equipped. Otherwise cheat skate owners will save money by skimping on safety equipment.
I'd say some tightening up is in order. When Deepwater Horizon sank it twisted the mile of drill pipe running down to the well into pretzel shapes and opened leaks in the pipe out of which oil is flowing. If the rig had stayed afloat, stopping the oil leaks would be easier. The lack of firefighting ability on board let the fire get out of control and sink the rig.
Wow! What is going on here? Lifeboat drills should be held once a month and the boats lowered into the water, just to make sure the lowering gear hasn't rusted solid. And that the crew knows how to lower the lifeboats. Granted, they ought to do lifeboat drill in good weather, but still it ought to be done, just to make sure the crew knows what to do.
Quoting further. "The Coast Guard also only ran a limited fire drill on the rig's helipad, excusing some workers who were normally supposed to take part because they were busy exploring for oil on the rig, according to testimony."
Wow again. Fire drills are supposed to be for real, and should also be done once a month.
Elsewhere in the article it states that Deepwater Horizon was not a US flag rig, it was registered in the Marshall Islands. Coast Guard checks of foreign flag rigs are completed in hours whereas inspection of US flagged rigs can take days.
That ain't right either. Coast Guard inspections should be the same for every rig out there.
And finally the article stated that standards for fire protection equipment were "of a general nature". That's bad too. Regulations should spell out in some detail how many fire pumps and of what capacity must be installed, the areas to be protected by sprinkler systems, the number and capacity of fire hoses and extinguishers. Inspectors should have the power to insist that rigs be properly equipped. Otherwise cheat skate owners will save money by skimping on safety equipment.
I'd say some tightening up is in order. When Deepwater Horizon sank it twisted the mile of drill pipe running down to the well into pretzel shapes and opened leaks in the pipe out of which oil is flowing. If the rig had stayed afloat, stopping the oil leaks would be easier. The lack of firefighting ability on board let the fire get out of control and sink the rig.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Off-shore drilling safety improvements
Shell oil was explaining the things it would do to make drilling in the Arctic safer. There were some surprising omissions, in view of the BP gulf disaster. It is generally acknowledged that BP's blow out preventer failed to shut off the flow of oil up the drill pipe. The blowout preventer is a giant valve installed on the sea floor to shut off oil flow in an emergency. BP's blowout preventer didn't work when activated. Reports have been circulating for some years that standard blowout preventers are not strong enough to shut off the thicker tougher pipe used in off shore work.
First thing Shell ought to propose is to test each blowout preventer on the pipe they will be using to insure that it will squeeze shut or shear off the pipe. This test ought to be down above water, before the blowout preventer is sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Second thing is to insure the blowout preventers have redundancy so that a single failure won't mean catastrophe. The blowout preventer should be required to successfully shut off a real pipe after sustaining damage. For instance, the preventer should work properly with a single hydraulic line or wire bundle cut, a single battery, or single air tank, or single hydraulic accumulator discharged, or run down. In short the preventer ought to have a dual everything, so that it works if any single item fails.
Third thing is to beef up the fire fighting capabilities of the drilling platforms. Out at sea they have plenty of water to spray on a fire. With enough pumps, water piping, sprinkler heads and fire hoses, they ought to be able to put out the worst fire. BP's platform should have been able to put its fire out. Clearly more fire fighting capacity is required.
I'm surprised that Shell mentioned none of these things.
First thing Shell ought to propose is to test each blowout preventer on the pipe they will be using to insure that it will squeeze shut or shear off the pipe. This test ought to be down above water, before the blowout preventer is sunk to the bottom of the sea.
Second thing is to insure the blowout preventers have redundancy so that a single failure won't mean catastrophe. The blowout preventer should be required to successfully shut off a real pipe after sustaining damage. For instance, the preventer should work properly with a single hydraulic line or wire bundle cut, a single battery, or single air tank, or single hydraulic accumulator discharged, or run down. In short the preventer ought to have a dual everything, so that it works if any single item fails.
Third thing is to beef up the fire fighting capabilities of the drilling platforms. Out at sea they have plenty of water to spray on a fire. With enough pumps, water piping, sprinkler heads and fire hoses, they ought to be able to put out the worst fire. BP's platform should have been able to put its fire out. Clearly more fire fighting capacity is required.
I'm surprised that Shell mentioned none of these things.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Seven year old girl shot and killed in no-knock raid
Detroit police raided a two family home and a little girl was shot in the neck and pronounced dead at the hospital. The cops threw a flash bang grenade into the home and a scuffle occurred as they entered. A shot was fired with tragic consequences. This was filmed live by a TV crew from Arts & Entertainment network for "First 48", a reality TV show.
Cops should not be doing no knock raids, it's just too dangerous for all concerned. If the inhabitants have a gun, they always shoot, the cops shoot back and somebody gets killed. Occasionally the inhabitants kill an officer, and then face murder charges. There is just no reason to subject citizens and officers to OK corral style shootouts.
Radley Balko wrote that Army units in Iraq are subject to much more oversight on no-knock raids than civilian police in the US. In Iraq it requires a general officer to OK a no knock raid. As general practice in Iraq the house is surrounded and then surrender is demanded. Most of the time the Iraqis surrender and come out with their hands up.
Cops should not be doing no knock raids, it's just too dangerous for all concerned. If the inhabitants have a gun, they always shoot, the cops shoot back and somebody gets killed. Occasionally the inhabitants kill an officer, and then face murder charges. There is just no reason to subject citizens and officers to OK corral style shootouts.
Radley Balko wrote that Army units in Iraq are subject to much more oversight on no-knock raids than civilian police in the US. In Iraq it requires a general officer to OK a no knock raid. As general practice in Iraq the house is surrounded and then surrender is demanded. Most of the time the Iraqis surrender and come out with their hands up.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Facebook trashes profiles
The software wienies at Facebook have been messing with the code. Most of my profile information (favorite books, movies, music etc) just dropped out of sight, like gone for good. I spent a little time typing some of it in again, but I wonder why I bother.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Bye-bye TV
Over the air TV was converted to digital last year. That means plain old TV sets with rabbit ears do longer work. You have have cable, or a converter box ($50 now) or a nice new TV set.
Visited my daughter last weekend. As a modern art sculpture, they have three old no longer functional TV sets piled up artistically in the dining room. That house no longer does TV. They have broadband Internet but no cable TV.
I'll bet the TV networks didn't see that one coming when they were pushed on board the high def digital TV bandwagon a few years ago. In effect, the switch to high def digital has reduced the TV audience, partly from people not converting, and also because the new high def digital signal doesn't go very far. Where I am we used to get 8 over-the-air TV stations. Now that we went all digital, we only get one station over-the-air. That's seven TV stations with a smaller viewership.
Visited my daughter last weekend. As a modern art sculpture, they have three old no longer functional TV sets piled up artistically in the dining room. That house no longer does TV. They have broadband Internet but no cable TV.
I'll bet the TV networks didn't see that one coming when they were pushed on board the high def digital TV bandwagon a few years ago. In effect, the switch to high def digital has reduced the TV audience, partly from people not converting, and also because the new high def digital signal doesn't go very far. Where I am we used to get 8 over-the-air TV stations. Now that we went all digital, we only get one station over-the-air. That's seven TV stations with a smaller viewership.
Can we Revoke Faisal Shahzad's Citizenship?
So reads the headline on a Wall St Journal OpEd piece by Peter H. Shuck, professor at Yale Law School.
To which I say, why in the name of all that's holy would we want to? He attempted to commit an atrocious crime on American soil, was apprehended by American police on American soil, and will face American justice. Since he is a US citizen, our foreign enemies cannot bad mouth us for being mean to foreigners. If convicted, the usual punishment is jail time or execution. Revocation of citizenship is surely unusual, and possibly cruel as well. There is a clause about that in the Constitution.
My other question is, what is this clueless lawyer doing teaching law at Yale?
To which I say, why in the name of all that's holy would we want to? He attempted to commit an atrocious crime on American soil, was apprehended by American police on American soil, and will face American justice. Since he is a US citizen, our foreign enemies cannot bad mouth us for being mean to foreigners. If convicted, the usual punishment is jail time or execution. Revocation of citizenship is surely unusual, and possibly cruel as well. There is a clause about that in the Constitution.
My other question is, what is this clueless lawyer doing teaching law at Yale?
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Physician's Town Hall
We had one last night up here. It was kinda scary. The doctors, all respected local practitioners, known to and respected by the audience, tried to put a happy face on Obamacare. But as discussion went on it became clear that they see a grim future. Higher prices, less service. Rationing of care, extinction of new drug development, more and more paperwork. Mandatory electronic medical records that allow the government, the insurance companies, potential employers, and personal enemies to access your medical records. Bureaucratic OK's required before expensive treatment which are Sarah Palin's death panels under another name. The extinction of private medical practices, all doctors becoming mere employees of hospitals or health care organizations.
Follies of the Main Stream Media
So I'm getting a little breakfast in a greasy spoon on the way out of Washington DC. I skim a copy of the Washington Post that's lying on the counter. The editorial page is a classic. First article urged the administration to go postal on Egypt. Here is a friendly middle east power that has, and is still, doing good things. They called off the war with Israel 40 years ago and have kept their word. The outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood (root of Al Quada) in the 1920's, and imprisoned and executed Fawzi el Qutb (dangerous Islamic extremist) in the 1960's. Egypt has been a better friend and ally than even the Saudi's. Yet here is the Post calling for the administration to do regime change on them just cause Hosni Mubarak is a military strongman rather than a democratically elected politician. The world is not a perfect place, but but Mubarak is a better man than that nutcase with a funny name running Iran. If you want to pick on middle eastern governments why not pick on the really bad ones?
Next editorial down is praising the DC teachers union for finally coming to the contract table. Here we have the worse school system in the country, and the Post is siding with the teacher's union? As opposed to the parents and students? The DC system didn't fall to it's current nadir without a lot of help from the teachers.
No wonder the Post is loosing money, it isn't focusing on matters that readers care about.
Next editorial down is praising the DC teachers union for finally coming to the contract table. Here we have the worse school system in the country, and the Post is siding with the teacher's union? As opposed to the parents and students? The DC system didn't fall to it's current nadir without a lot of help from the teachers.
No wonder the Post is loosing money, it isn't focusing on matters that readers care about.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Hat is in the ring. I'm running for office
Had to happen sometime. The Grafton County Republicans have been looking for someone, anyone, to stand for election to District 2 Grafton county, (Bethlehem and Franconia). At the last Lincoln Reagan dinner, a bunch of senior county Republicans backed me into a corner and pressed me to run. So, I said yes.
The district is two small towns way up and north of Franconia Notch. Both towns together cast 1500 votes for state rep in the last two elections. Both towns are residential and tourist places, no industry or agriculture worth mentioning. It's a single rep district.
New Hampshire has an enormous (400+) lower house from a smallish state, so reps are pretty far down the food chain, compared to state senators, executive council members, newspaper and TV reporters, to say nothing of executive and judicial branch officials.
My campaign plan is simple. Walk around and knock on doors. The district is small enough that it is possible to meet a lot of voters face to face.
I can use all the help I can get.
The district is two small towns way up and north of Franconia Notch. Both towns together cast 1500 votes for state rep in the last two elections. Both towns are residential and tourist places, no industry or agriculture worth mentioning. It's a single rep district.
New Hampshire has an enormous (400+) lower house from a smallish state, so reps are pretty far down the food chain, compared to state senators, executive council members, newspaper and TV reporters, to say nothing of executive and judicial branch officials.
My campaign plan is simple. Walk around and knock on doors. The district is small enough that it is possible to meet a lot of voters face to face.
I can use all the help I can get.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
National Portrait Gallery
So I got to Washington DC. First time in years without young children, so instead of doing the fun childrens stuff like Air and Space, I did a grown up art museum. The portrait gallery was great. Best stuff is on the first floor, portraits of Americans that mostly I had at least heard off, and some about who I know quite a bit. Plus painters I had heard of. You can see the style changes over the years. Eighteenth century and earlier the men wear colorful three piece suits with coats down to their knees. After the revolution the bright colors go away and everyone dresses in black. Beards come back in for the civil war and last for 50 years.
All the faces show determined middle aged men, of the "don't mess with me" sort. Nearly all white, a number of Indians, and a very few blacks.
They have lots of room to expand. The upper floors are clearly waiting for some more stuff to show.
All the faces show determined middle aged men, of the "don't mess with me" sort. Nearly all white, a number of Indians, and a very few blacks.
They have lots of room to expand. The upper floors are clearly waiting for some more stuff to show.
Westtown Alma Mater
Time flies. I attended my 50th high school reunion Saturday. At first I thought about maybe not going and pretending that I ain't that old. But as emails and Facebook stuff piled up, the nostalgia began to build, and I went. Driving into the school is a big change. The road I used to bike into West Chester on is all different. 50 years ago the road was all cornfields and apple orchards and wood lots. Now it is solid housing developments. Nice looking houses, but the farmers are all gone. It isn't until you get on the school grounds that things look familiar. The old treasured Main Building is still there, all red brick and a zillion chimneys. Since I graduated the school has added a theatre building, a science building, a lower school building, a middle school building, a student hangout building, an 9th grade girls dorm, and two more gyms. Our class gift will fund a new building for the maintenance people. Dunno what they will put up after that.
Our efficient class officers had name tags made up with our old 1960 year book pictures on them. Good thing, I wouldn't have recognized a lotta class mates with out them. We did lots of catching up on old times, and a fair amount of time listening to school officials make pitches for money and student referrals. That sell seemed a little harder than in past years.
All an all an enjoyable day, doing very simple things.
Our efficient class officers had name tags made up with our old 1960 year book pictures on them. Good thing, I wouldn't have recognized a lotta class mates with out them. We did lots of catching up on old times, and a fair amount of time listening to school officials make pitches for money and student referrals. That sell seemed a little harder than in past years.
All an all an enjoyable day, doing very simple things.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Posting will be light to non existant next week
I'm taking a road trip to Washington DC and don't plan to be back until next Thursday. If I luck out and have time and internet access I will post. Otherwise I'll resume when I get back.
Britt Hulme gets it right
Britt was on Fox last night. Talked about the Gulf oil spill. Said the overall safety record is pretty good, tens of thousands of offshore wells drilled with just this one really bad spill. Then he mentioned that the bulk of oil spills are tanker accidents (can you say Exxon Valdez?). He pointed out that if we don't drill for it here, we bring it in by tanker. Stop drilling and we get more tanker traffic. He reckoned that we do better, spill wise, drilling for it here than we do running tankers from the mid east.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Farewell old Paint
At 125K miles, trusty Cadillac is toast. Between the NH champion potholes and road salt, the bolts that hold the rear axle on the poor car have loosened from the body and the axle is close to coming off the car. Caddy, like all cars since the 1960's, is a unibody car. No frame, the body sheet metal carries all the structural loads. This design is highly admired by the auto racing fans, who call it "monocoque". It saves weight. Drawback to the design is there are no hardpoints to bolt heavy stuff like the engine and wheels. The car winds up with the heavy stuff bolted onto plain light sheet metal.
When the sheet metal fails, there is no reasonable fix, short of replacing the entire body of the car.
Too bad. Caddy has been a wonderful car for the last 75K miles and five years. It was cheap to buy, fast, powerful, quiet, and comfortable. Thrifty too, 27 mpg highway.
When the sheet metal fails, there is no reasonable fix, short of replacing the entire body of the car.
Too bad. Caddy has been a wonderful car for the last 75K miles and five years. It was cheap to buy, fast, powerful, quiet, and comfortable. Thrifty too, 27 mpg highway.
Signs of Spring
Yesterday it became warm enough to brush Cat on the porch. In winter Cat wisely refuses to get anywhere near the door. Yesterday Cat stood calmly on the porch railing while I brushed her out with an ordinary people type hair brush. Huge clumps of shed cat fur drifted away on the slight breeze. It's a pleasure to do this outside. When brushed inside the huge clumps drift away to the furniture and it makes me wonder why I bother. The idea behind brushing Cat is to reduce the amount of fur shed indoors.
Second clue. I had to get the mower out and cut the grass. The last snow storm only melted out the day before and here I am with the mower. Grass grows quick up here in the mountains.
Second clue. I had to get the mower out and cut the grass. The last snow storm only melted out the day before and here I am with the mower. Grass grows quick up here in the mountains.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Spectacular Pictures of drill rig burning and sinking
Watt's Up With That has a great set of pictures posted here:
The existential beauty of off shore wind farms.
This morning's NH public radio had a lady advocate waxing eloquent about the beauties of the Narragansett bay wind farm. "If only BP had been putting in wind rather than drilling for oil." Now that Teddy Kennedy is gone from the scene, some federal department OK'd the Cape Wind project, which had been held up for years by a Kennedy led group objecting to the unsightliness of it all.
The advocate failed to mention to cost per kilowatt hour for wind generated electricity, and the 2.3 cent a kilowatt hour subsidy for wind plants. The Cape Wind project will be 500 kilowatts, about one half the output of a real power plant, and only when the wind is blowing hard.
Not did she discuss what happens when the wind stops blowing, which it does frequently. I have sailed Narragansett bay and can attest to weary hours spent waiting for a wind.
In actual fact, the power companies have to build a real power plant to back up every wind plant to keep the customer's lights on during a calm. That's expensive.
So expensive that us rate payers expect another rate increase when and if Cape Wind ever goes on line.
The advocate failed to mention to cost per kilowatt hour for wind generated electricity, and the 2.3 cent a kilowatt hour subsidy for wind plants. The Cape Wind project will be 500 kilowatts, about one half the output of a real power plant, and only when the wind is blowing hard.
Not did she discuss what happens when the wind stops blowing, which it does frequently. I have sailed Narragansett bay and can attest to weary hours spent waiting for a wind.
In actual fact, the power companies have to build a real power plant to back up every wind plant to keep the customer's lights on during a calm. That's expensive.
So expensive that us rate payers expect another rate increase when and if Cape Wind ever goes on line.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Blow out Preventers and the BP spill
There is not much published on the web about these gadgets. They were invented in the 1920's and they ended the "gusher". You must have seen a picture of black oil spurting up higher than the top of the drill rig. The movie "Giant" with Jimmy Dean as oil wildcatter Jett Rink had a great gusher scene, black goop falling like rain.
The blowout preventer is a VERY strong valve that sits on the top of the well and shuts off the oil flow. Just how they work, above ground or underwater, was not made clear. It is implied, (but not outright stated) that they work by squeezing the steel drill pipe shut. Presumably this requires a power source (hydraulic? electric? compressed air? explosives? ) to work the pipe crushing ram. Also presumably activating the blow out preventer is an emergency measure since it damages the drill pipe, requiring replacement of the section of pipe the preventer squeezed flat. Also, presumably, the blow out preventer only succeeds in shutting off the oil flow when the drill pipe remains more or less intact.
Questions for BP. How was the blow out preventer powered one mile under water? Did the power come down from the floating platform that exploded and sank? How was the signal to actuate the preventer carried down under water? Was there any redundancy in case water got into the wiring or a pipe sprang a leak? Was the actuation automatic, like a fire alarm? Or was it the duty of the watch officer to flip a switch in the control room? What sort of protections against accidental actuation of the blow out preventer were there? What was the name of the watch officer responsible? Did this individual survive the fire and explosion that sank the platform?
More questions. Can the preventer be actuated by a submarine? What equipment does the sub need to carry? If the power supply is sunk, or run down (batteries, or compressed air tanks) can the sub recharge it? Is there a backup actuater such as a big hand crank? If so, can a sub work it?
And more questions. Who sold the blow out preventer? Was it new or used? Is that model rated strong enough to handle a well that deep? Who inspected the blowout preventer before it was installed one mile under water? What are the inspection requirements? Cracks? Leaks? Fully charged batteries or air tanks? functional control circuits? Are there any inspection requirements once the blow out preventer is under water? If so, did BP carry them out?
These are all questions that educated and experienced news men would ask. Unfortunately newsies these days are neither educated nor experienced.
The blowout preventer is a VERY strong valve that sits on the top of the well and shuts off the oil flow. Just how they work, above ground or underwater, was not made clear. It is implied, (but not outright stated) that they work by squeezing the steel drill pipe shut. Presumably this requires a power source (hydraulic? electric? compressed air? explosives? ) to work the pipe crushing ram. Also presumably activating the blow out preventer is an emergency measure since it damages the drill pipe, requiring replacement of the section of pipe the preventer squeezed flat. Also, presumably, the blow out preventer only succeeds in shutting off the oil flow when the drill pipe remains more or less intact.
Questions for BP. How was the blow out preventer powered one mile under water? Did the power come down from the floating platform that exploded and sank? How was the signal to actuate the preventer carried down under water? Was there any redundancy in case water got into the wiring or a pipe sprang a leak? Was the actuation automatic, like a fire alarm? Or was it the duty of the watch officer to flip a switch in the control room? What sort of protections against accidental actuation of the blow out preventer were there? What was the name of the watch officer responsible? Did this individual survive the fire and explosion that sank the platform?
More questions. Can the preventer be actuated by a submarine? What equipment does the sub need to carry? If the power supply is sunk, or run down (batteries, or compressed air tanks) can the sub recharge it? Is there a backup actuater such as a big hand crank? If so, can a sub work it?
And more questions. Who sold the blow out preventer? Was it new or used? Is that model rated strong enough to handle a well that deep? Who inspected the blowout preventer before it was installed one mile under water? What are the inspection requirements? Cracks? Leaks? Fully charged batteries or air tanks? functional control circuits? Are there any inspection requirements once the blow out preventer is under water? If so, did BP carry them out?
These are all questions that educated and experienced news men would ask. Unfortunately newsies these days are neither educated nor experienced.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Bad month for the energy industry
Between the coal mine explosion in West VA and the oil rig fire and explosion in the Gulf, the TV newsies had had non stop disaster coverage. Unfortunately the press coverage has skipped over the little matter of what went wrong, and pressed on to the usual "isn't this terrible" voice over on video of the disaster scenes.
So far the newsies have not discovered any real evidence of wrong doing at the coal mine. No public disclosure of failure to make required inspections, install the required safety gear, or ignoring alarms. Not that any of this might not have happened, it just that the TV news hasn't reported it.
The oil rig disaster happened under charter to BP, an accident prone operation. BP is so Beyond Petroleum that they let the Alaska pipeline rust out and spring a leak, allowed a major explosion and fire at a Texas refinery, and now it looks like they bear some responsibility for a blowout as bad as Santa Barbara. Santa Barabara happened back in the 1960's and was so bad that California has banned off shore drilling ever since.
For those that remember Santa Barbara, may remember a lot of talk about "blowout preventers", and lack of same on the Santa Barbara well. According to TV news, the gulf well has a 450 ton blowout preventer installed on the sea floor. It isn't working, the oil is pouring out of the damaged well. There has been no coverage of why, of how blowout preventers work, of the possibility of shutting off the oil flow by remote control from the surface or by submarine. This reflects the basic ignorance of newsies. They don't know nothing.
So far the newsies have not discovered any real evidence of wrong doing at the coal mine. No public disclosure of failure to make required inspections, install the required safety gear, or ignoring alarms. Not that any of this might not have happened, it just that the TV news hasn't reported it.
The oil rig disaster happened under charter to BP, an accident prone operation. BP is so Beyond Petroleum that they let the Alaska pipeline rust out and spring a leak, allowed a major explosion and fire at a Texas refinery, and now it looks like they bear some responsibility for a blowout as bad as Santa Barbara. Santa Barabara happened back in the 1960's and was so bad that California has banned off shore drilling ever since.
For those that remember Santa Barbara, may remember a lot of talk about "blowout preventers", and lack of same on the Santa Barbara well. According to TV news, the gulf well has a 450 ton blowout preventer installed on the sea floor. It isn't working, the oil is pouring out of the damaged well. There has been no coverage of why, of how blowout preventers work, of the possibility of shutting off the oil flow by remote control from the surface or by submarine. This reflects the basic ignorance of newsies. They don't know nothing.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
So what did Arizona pass?
Some TV people claim the new Arizona law allows the cops to question anyone about their citizen ship. Other TV people claim the law only allows the cops to ask about citizen ship AFTER they make an arrest for other reasons. They can't both be right, some of them are are misleading the public. I wonder which one it is.
Confused Vegetation
Right after Leaf Day, we get a winter storm warning this morning. Snow started in earnest a couple of hours ago. We have two inches down and it's still coming down heavily. Dunno what the trees think of this.
Follow up. We have thirteen inches down as of 7:15 this morning and it's still snowing. This is as heavy a snowfall as we have had all winter. Winter storm warning is in effect until 4 PM
Follow up. We have thirteen inches down as of 7:15 this morning and it's still snowing. This is as heavy a snowfall as we have had all winter. Winter storm warning is in effect until 4 PM
Big Pharma Roast
CSpan had some government bureaucrats patting them selves on the back for fining drug maker Astro-Zenica billions of dollars. Astro-Zenica's crime? Marketing drugs for "off label" uses. Terrible crime that. Normally I'm as ready as the next guy to roast a drug company. They charge ridiculous prices, waste enormous sums on marketing, and haven't developed much in the way of new pills lately.
But marketing drugs "off label" is pretty harmless. A new drug (call it Wondermycin) is taken to the FDA and after much time, mountains of paperwork, and probably some under the table payoffs, the drug is approved for sale. The approval reads something like this. "Drug Wondermycin is approved for treatment of this, that and the other disease". Those are the "on-label" uses.
Later on it is discovered that Wondermycin is also good against a couple of other diseases. (Off-label uses) Word gets out to the medical community and doctors begin the prescribe Wondermycin for those other diseases. "Word gets out" means the Wondermycin salesmen tell the doctors about the "off label" uses.
This infuriates the FDA. FDA feels that the drug makers should submit more mountains of paperwork, run more expensive clinical trials, and grovel before the desks of FDA bureaucrats in order to obtain a new approval listing the additional uses. Naturally, the drug companies, after the terrible beating they took getting Wondermycin approved in the first place, are unenthusiastic about going back to get beaten up a second time.
In actual fact, off label uses are carefully controlled. The doctors, for ever looking over their shoulders for a malpractice lawyer hiding in the hallway trash can, are not about to write a prescription for off label use unless said off label use is super safe. No doctor with two brain cells firing is going to risk a malpractice suit by causing harm to a patient. The doctors all know that should a patient suffer so much as a hangnail after taking a drug for an off label use, they will get sued down to their socks.
So, FDA and the bureaucrats are fining Astro-Zenica for promoting off label use, even though off label use isn't going to hurt anyone. This is bending the cost curve UP, and doing it just to make the FDA bureaucrats feel all warm and fuzzy.
But marketing drugs "off label" is pretty harmless. A new drug (call it Wondermycin) is taken to the FDA and after much time, mountains of paperwork, and probably some under the table payoffs, the drug is approved for sale. The approval reads something like this. "Drug Wondermycin is approved for treatment of this, that and the other disease". Those are the "on-label" uses.
Later on it is discovered that Wondermycin is also good against a couple of other diseases. (Off-label uses) Word gets out to the medical community and doctors begin the prescribe Wondermycin for those other diseases. "Word gets out" means the Wondermycin salesmen tell the doctors about the "off label" uses.
This infuriates the FDA. FDA feels that the drug makers should submit more mountains of paperwork, run more expensive clinical trials, and grovel before the desks of FDA bureaucrats in order to obtain a new approval listing the additional uses. Naturally, the drug companies, after the terrible beating they took getting Wondermycin approved in the first place, are unenthusiastic about going back to get beaten up a second time.
In actual fact, off label uses are carefully controlled. The doctors, for ever looking over their shoulders for a malpractice lawyer hiding in the hallway trash can, are not about to write a prescription for off label use unless said off label use is super safe. No doctor with two brain cells firing is going to risk a malpractice suit by causing harm to a patient. The doctors all know that should a patient suffer so much as a hangnail after taking a drug for an off label use, they will get sued down to their socks.
So, FDA and the bureaucrats are fining Astro-Zenica for promoting off label use, even though off label use isn't going to hurt anyone. This is bending the cost curve UP, and doing it just to make the FDA bureaucrats feel all warm and fuzzy.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Republicans oppose $50 billion bailout fund
The financial reform bill has a provision for a $50 billion fund to "clean up" failed banks. Republicans are opposing this and the democrats are in favor? Far as I am concerned, it's a $50 billion bailout fund. It means that deals with failed banks are covered, at least the first $50 billion. That's bad. Wheelers and dealers should have to worry that they won't get paid if they deal with banks that go bankrupt. They might not do quite so many risky deals if the risks were higher.
This bill also might limit credit default swaps and require banks to "spin off" their credit default swap units. That's a good idea. Credit default swaps are high stakes gambling that put Lehman, AIG, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and some other fools out of business in 2008. FDIC insured banks shouldn't be gambling in this casino with taxpayer insured money.
If the democrats could give up their bailout fund, Republicans might vote for the bill. Why do the democrats want to bail out Wall St again?
This bill also might limit credit default swaps and require banks to "spin off" their credit default swap units. That's a good idea. Credit default swaps are high stakes gambling that put Lehman, AIG, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and some other fools out of business in 2008. FDIC insured banks shouldn't be gambling in this casino with taxpayer insured money.
If the democrats could give up their bailout fund, Republicans might vote for the bill. Why do the democrats want to bail out Wall St again?
Leaf Day comes to Franconia Notch
It's here. I have green leaf buds showing on all the trees. About time too.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Arguments we don't need to have
Cover story on Commentary "What kind of socialist is Barack Obama". I don't know, and the answer really depends upon what your definition of socialist is. Change your definition of socialism and you change the answer to the question. I don't care if you call Barack Obama is a Fabian socialist, a rightist Burkharin deviationist, a pure Marxist, or a democratic socialist. They are just labels.
Let's talk substantive issues, such as Can the US economy survive the costs of Obamacare, or Did the Porkulus do anything good for the economy, or Should the Obama Administration allow Iran to build nukes and if not what should be done about it. But arguing over the label to apply to Obama's policies is a waste of time in my humble opinion (IMHO).
Let's talk substantive issues, such as Can the US economy survive the costs of Obamacare, or Did the Porkulus do anything good for the economy, or Should the Obama Administration allow Iran to build nukes and if not what should be done about it. But arguing over the label to apply to Obama's policies is a waste of time in my humble opinion (IMHO).
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Used cars cost more after Cash for Clunkers
I'm so glad to contribute my tax dollars to the destruction of perfectly good used cars. Prices for used cars have skyrocketed. I'm in the market for another car, trusty Caddy has the rear axle just about rusted off. Combination of New Hampshire potholes and road salt has eaten up the sheet metal of the unibody where the rear axles attached. Does not look repairable.
So, much cruising of internet car sites. We have acres of boring econoboxes. Slathers of pickup trucks and SUV's which I don't need. There are a few full sized sedans left, Ford Crown Vic, (and Mercury and Lincoln which are the same car with different grills) and Cadillac. And Buick. Nothing else. For used, pricing on Caddy is about the same as Ford and Buick, and Caddy has a better engine.
Drove down to Manchester to look at a 99 Caddy with only 38K miles on it. It was good looking, but the 38K miles was suspicious. For a one owner 11 year old car, that means the previous owner only put 3500 miles a year on it. That's low. Or someone has figured out how to roll back the electronic odometer. Wear on brake pedal and plastic headlight lenses was heavier than my current 125K mile Caddy.
So, I will keep looking for new wheels.
So, much cruising of internet car sites. We have acres of boring econoboxes. Slathers of pickup trucks and SUV's which I don't need. There are a few full sized sedans left, Ford Crown Vic, (and Mercury and Lincoln which are the same car with different grills) and Cadillac. And Buick. Nothing else. For used, pricing on Caddy is about the same as Ford and Buick, and Caddy has a better engine.
Drove down to Manchester to look at a 99 Caddy with only 38K miles on it. It was good looking, but the 38K miles was suspicious. For a one owner 11 year old car, that means the previous owner only put 3500 miles a year on it. That's low. Or someone has figured out how to roll back the electronic odometer. Wear on brake pedal and plastic headlight lenses was heavier than my current 125K mile Caddy.
So, I will keep looking for new wheels.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Supression of religion, Judge made law style
The first amendment reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion o prohibiting the free exercise thereof"
Modern judges interpret this as preventing bible reading in school, prayer at school assemblies, creches on town property, ten commandment monuments in courthouses and other rulings that have given offense to many good citizens.
In actual fact, the establishment clause says no such thing. Establishment of religion means the sort of deal King Henry VIII gave the English church, namely, you churchmen all work for me, the king, and you no longer work for the pope. After a controversial attempt to return England to Catholicism, it was required that all English kings and high officials be members of the Church of England. Catholics, Quakers, Puritans and Presbyterians need not apply. The Church of England was "established", the dissenters were out in the cold. In fact, belonging to these unestablished dissenting churches was a reputation destroyer, as bad as belonging to the communist party in current day America.
Dissenters set up colonies in North America, Puritans in Massachusetts, Quakers in Pennsylvania, Catholics in Maryland. Lots of Presbyterians came over too but didn't set up a special colony for themselves.
Naturally when the Constitution was written, each American church feared that one of their competitors might become "established" with all the benefits and perks that the Church of England enjoyed back in England. And so, a compromise was placed into the Constitution, namely that no church could be established.
This compromise worked very well up until the 1960's when judges highly trained in nit picking and ignorant of American history decided that "establishment of religion" meant any religious expression.
Today the TV is alive with stories of a federal judge ruling that a national day of prayer (how harmless can that be?) is unconstitutional.
The country would be better off if law school required two credits of American history for graduation. Morison and Commager would be a good text.
Modern judges interpret this as preventing bible reading in school, prayer at school assemblies, creches on town property, ten commandment monuments in courthouses and other rulings that have given offense to many good citizens.
In actual fact, the establishment clause says no such thing. Establishment of religion means the sort of deal King Henry VIII gave the English church, namely, you churchmen all work for me, the king, and you no longer work for the pope. After a controversial attempt to return England to Catholicism, it was required that all English kings and high officials be members of the Church of England. Catholics, Quakers, Puritans and Presbyterians need not apply. The Church of England was "established", the dissenters were out in the cold. In fact, belonging to these unestablished dissenting churches was a reputation destroyer, as bad as belonging to the communist party in current day America.
Dissenters set up colonies in North America, Puritans in Massachusetts, Quakers in Pennsylvania, Catholics in Maryland. Lots of Presbyterians came over too but didn't set up a special colony for themselves.
Naturally when the Constitution was written, each American church feared that one of their competitors might become "established" with all the benefits and perks that the Church of England enjoyed back in England. And so, a compromise was placed into the Constitution, namely that no church could be established.
This compromise worked very well up until the 1960's when judges highly trained in nit picking and ignorant of American history decided that "establishment of religion" meant any religious expression.
Today the TV is alive with stories of a federal judge ruling that a national day of prayer (how harmless can that be?) is unconstitutional.
The country would be better off if law school required two credits of American history for graduation. Morison and Commager would be a good text.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Financial regulation, need therefore Part III
Tim Geithner was on Meet the Press this morning talking up the financial reform bill. Geither kept talking and talking about regulation, without ever saying what the regulations might be. Presumably guv'mint bureaucrats will be given authority to give orders to the banks. That's a lot of power for a bureaucrat.
Geithner did say he favored an exchange for "derivatives" by which he meant credit default swaps.
I suppose an exchange would keep records, from which regulators could figure out how much money the banks had wagered on the swaps. Me, I think financial regulations should outlaw swaps completely. Credit default swaps don't grow the economy, instead they divert money from useful investments into high stakes gambling. Credit default swaps killed AIG , Lehman, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns. These are clearly dangerous gambling games with the power to crush mighty brokerages with a single email.
Geithner stressed that "his" regulations would protect taxpayers from future Wall St bailouts. He didn't say how. The bill has a $50 billion bailout fund built into it, but that's chicken feed. TARP was $750 billion, 15 times as much, and it wasn't enough.
We need to put the fear into Wall St. Every trader making risky bets should fear losing his job, loosing his house, loosing his life savings, loosing his reputation, and going to jail if the bet doesn't pay off.
Geithner did say he favored an exchange for "derivatives" by which he meant credit default swaps.
I suppose an exchange would keep records, from which regulators could figure out how much money the banks had wagered on the swaps. Me, I think financial regulations should outlaw swaps completely. Credit default swaps don't grow the economy, instead they divert money from useful investments into high stakes gambling. Credit default swaps killed AIG , Lehman, Merrill Lynch, and Bear Stearns. These are clearly dangerous gambling games with the power to crush mighty brokerages with a single email.
Geithner stressed that "his" regulations would protect taxpayers from future Wall St bailouts. He didn't say how. The bill has a $50 billion bailout fund built into it, but that's chicken feed. TARP was $750 billion, 15 times as much, and it wasn't enough.
We need to put the fear into Wall St. Every trader making risky bets should fear losing his job, loosing his house, loosing his life savings, loosing his reputation, and going to jail if the bet doesn't pay off.
Is the Tea Party full of wierdoes?
A TV newsie reported that 58% of tea party members have guns in their homes and that 60+% of them watch Fox News. Obviously a sign of dangerous radicals.
Most Americans do have firearms somewhere, and most of them do watch Fox News. That makes the Tea Party people main stream Americans.
Most Americans do have firearms somewhere, and most of them do watch Fox News. That makes the Tea Party people main stream Americans.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
John Yoo on Justice Stevens
Interesting op ed piece in the Wall St Journal today. John Yoo, the author, is the Justice department lawyer from the Bush administration who dared to give written guidance to CIA about the difference between legitimate interrogation and torture. Yoo provided useful and clear cut guide lines as to what was legal and what was not. For this service Yoo has been vilified by democrats and his guide lines denounced as torture memos.
Yoo tells the story of way back during WWII, John Paul Stevens was a Navy intelligence officer who was in on the Yamamoto operation. American code breakers intercepted and decyphered Japanese Admiral Yamamoto's travel schedule. A squadron of P-38 fighters was dispatched to intercept Yamamoto's plane. The mission was successful, the Betty bomber carrying Yamamoto was shot down into the jungle. Yamamoto was killed in action by P-38 machine gun fire.
Sixty years later, the now Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens opined that "The targeting of a particular individual with the intent to kill him was a lot different than killing a soldier in battle and dealing with a statistic".
Wow. Stevens believes knowing the enemy's name makes some kind of difference in the morality of killing him. There is some difference between the hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers killed by Marines who didn't know their names, and a high ranking navy officer killed by Air Force pilots who did know who they were gunning for?
Far as I am concerned, killing uniformed enemy in war time, although distasteful, is necessary, legal, and moral. Certainly more moral than nuking enemy cities. That a US Supreme Court justice fails to understand this is appalling.
Could Obama nominate a replacement with better sense?
Yoo tells the story of way back during WWII, John Paul Stevens was a Navy intelligence officer who was in on the Yamamoto operation. American code breakers intercepted and decyphered Japanese Admiral Yamamoto's travel schedule. A squadron of P-38 fighters was dispatched to intercept Yamamoto's plane. The mission was successful, the Betty bomber carrying Yamamoto was shot down into the jungle. Yamamoto was killed in action by P-38 machine gun fire.
Sixty years later, the now Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens opined that "The targeting of a particular individual with the intent to kill him was a lot different than killing a soldier in battle and dealing with a statistic".
Wow. Stevens believes knowing the enemy's name makes some kind of difference in the morality of killing him. There is some difference between the hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers killed by Marines who didn't know their names, and a high ranking navy officer killed by Air Force pilots who did know who they were gunning for?
Far as I am concerned, killing uniformed enemy in war time, although distasteful, is necessary, legal, and moral. Certainly more moral than nuking enemy cities. That a US Supreme Court justice fails to understand this is appalling.
Could Obama nominate a replacement with better sense?
Friday, April 16, 2010
Tea Party Manchester NH April 15 2010
I went. Large enthusiastic crowd. We filled up Victory Square in downtown Manchester.
That's a whole city block covered with people. Everybody was polite, the crowd listened to the speakers and applauded the applause lines. There were no hecklers. Lots of speakers, Congressmen, former Congressmen, and New Hampshire activists. A common thread among speakers, the country is going down the tubes and the only chance of salvation is get to the polls in November and vote the rascals OUT.
All the Republican candidates were there, I saw Kelly Ayotte, Karen Testerman, and Bill Binder.
I'm told Bill Binnie and Jennifer Horne were present. The place was wall to wall campaign yard signs. No Democrats attended. The organizers mentioned they had invited democrats but none accepted.
Some more pictures are here
Skip Murphy of GraniteGrok, a leading NH blog, set up a "Meet New Hampshire Bloggers thing" with tables, chairs, WiFi, and electric power. Some 5 or 6 of us brought laptops and live blogged the affair. Aside from difficulty reading LCD screens in daylight, and typing fingers stiffened by the cold, it worked out well. Thanks Skip for doing that. We bloggers are covering the event. I didn't see anyone from TV stations or newspapers. So this, and other humble blogs, may be the only public record of the event.
Keep this up and we can have a Republican landslide in November.
--
David J. Starr
That's a whole city block covered with people. Everybody was polite, the crowd listened to the speakers and applauded the applause lines. There were no hecklers. Lots of speakers, Congressmen, former Congressmen, and New Hampshire activists. A common thread among speakers, the country is going down the tubes and the only chance of salvation is get to the polls in November and vote the rascals OUT.
All the Republican candidates were there, I saw Kelly Ayotte, Karen Testerman, and Bill Binder.
I'm told Bill Binnie and Jennifer Horne were present. The place was wall to wall campaign yard signs. No Democrats attended. The organizers mentioned they had invited democrats but none accepted.
Some more pictures are here
Skip Murphy of GraniteGrok, a leading NH blog, set up a "Meet New Hampshire Bloggers thing" with tables, chairs, WiFi, and electric power. Some 5 or 6 of us brought laptops and live blogged the affair. Aside from difficulty reading LCD screens in daylight, and typing fingers stiffened by the cold, it worked out well. Thanks Skip for doing that. We bloggers are covering the event. I didn't see anyone from TV stations or newspapers. So this, and other humble blogs, may be the only public record of the event.
Keep this up and we can have a Republican landslide in November.
--
David J. Starr
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Obama blames Big Branch Mine Disaster on Management
Obama just got off national TV. He is blaming management for the accident. He gave no facts, just his conclusion "Management did it". Union people are always happy to hear that.
The real cause of the explosion was methane gas, which escapes from the coal. There are published standards for this, how much methane is allowable, periodic tests that must be run, and a requirement for ventilation. Obama did not discuss these issues at all. He did not show that mine management allowed methane to exceed published limits, failed to run required tests, or failed to ventilate the mine.
Management is strongly motivated to prevent their multi billion dollar mine from blowing itself to kingdom come. There is no return on investment after the investment blows itself away. If management was venal or incompetent Obama gave no evidence to support that view.
Citing a number of safety writeups from government inspectors is unconvincing. I used to be in that business. When I was inspecting, I could always find things to write up. Longer I looked, the more I could find. Unless it can be shown that methane was allowed to accumulate before the accident, it ain't management's fault.
The real cause of the explosion was methane gas, which escapes from the coal. There are published standards for this, how much methane is allowable, periodic tests that must be run, and a requirement for ventilation. Obama did not discuss these issues at all. He did not show that mine management allowed methane to exceed published limits, failed to run required tests, or failed to ventilate the mine.
Management is strongly motivated to prevent their multi billion dollar mine from blowing itself to kingdom come. There is no return on investment after the investment blows itself away. If management was venal or incompetent Obama gave no evidence to support that view.
Citing a number of safety writeups from government inspectors is unconvincing. I used to be in that business. When I was inspecting, I could always find things to write up. Longer I looked, the more I could find. Unless it can be shown that methane was allowed to accumulate before the accident, it ain't management's fault.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Z1485 Point&Shoot as a video camera
I'm going to a tea party tomorrow. The net is warning us all to bring video cameras to record any SIEU thuggery or liberal attempts to discredit the tea party. So I got out my trusty Kodak Z1485 point-n-shoot. This little wonder has a video mode. To give the camera some breathing room, I transferred all my still photos to computers and zapped the camera memory card clean.
Taking videos is simplicity squared. Just turn the knob to video (icon of a movie camera) and press the button. It even records sound. It consumes about 2 megabytes of memory per second. With the smallest 2 Gigabyte memory card it will record 1000 seconds (15 minutes) of very decent looking video.
Playback on the camera is done the same way you review still photos. You can move the video off the camera and onto your computer with nothing more than Windows Explorer. Just plug in the camera's USB cable, and Explorer will "see" the camera as if it were a CD or floppy disc. The video is stored in files named xxxxxx.mov where xxxxxx is a arbitrary number. Just drag the .mov file onto hard drive. From hard drive it will play back with QuickTime or my son's media play program "VLC".
Should I capture anything worthy tomorrow I will figure out how to upload it to U-Tube. Presumably that isn't too hard since zillions of people are doing it.
Taking videos is simplicity squared. Just turn the knob to video (icon of a movie camera) and press the button. It even records sound. It consumes about 2 megabytes of memory per second. With the smallest 2 Gigabyte memory card it will record 1000 seconds (15 minutes) of very decent looking video.
Playback on the camera is done the same way you review still photos. You can move the video off the camera and onto your computer with nothing more than Windows Explorer. Just plug in the camera's USB cable, and Explorer will "see" the camera as if it were a CD or floppy disc. The video is stored in files named xxxxxx.mov where xxxxxx is a arbitrary number. Just drag the .mov file onto hard drive. From hard drive it will play back with QuickTime or my son's media play program "VLC".
Should I capture anything worthy tomorrow I will figure out how to upload it to U-Tube. Presumably that isn't too hard since zillions of people are doing it.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
There's one born every minute
Verizon has found another one. They are trying to sell phone lines in 14 states to Frontier Communications. Frontier is OK with paying $8.6 billion for 4.6 million land lines ($1797 per line). It would take 10 years for my phone bill to pay off $1797. According to the Wall St Journal, the deal is opposed only by the Communications Workers of America and only in the state of West Virginia.
Frontier ought to know that if these land lines were worth anything, Verizon wouldn't be selling them.
Verizon's telephone line spin off in Hawaii caused the Hawaiian buyer to go bankrupt in 2008. Verizon's sell off of rural New England telephone lines to Fairpoint Communications caused Fairpoint to go bankrupt in 2009. Verizon spun off Yellow Pages and they went bankrupt too.
Verizon sees it's future in cell phones and internet. It's dumping the rural phone business. The suckers who buy rural phone lines are doomed. Verizon wasn't making money on rural phone service with all the poles and wires paid for, long ago. The suckers think they can make money on the same business when saddled with a heavy debt they used to buy the business from Verizon. Ain't gonna happen.
In the Fairpoint catastrophe, the stockholders and banks got wiped out, the workers are facing layoffs, and service has deteriorated so badly that everyone is switching to a cell phone.
Wanna bet the same thing happens to Frontier? Dunno why the Frontier suits are falling for this scam, but they are. And the Public Utility Commissions in 14 states are not saying "boo".
Frontier ought to know that if these land lines were worth anything, Verizon wouldn't be selling them.
Verizon's telephone line spin off in Hawaii caused the Hawaiian buyer to go bankrupt in 2008. Verizon's sell off of rural New England telephone lines to Fairpoint Communications caused Fairpoint to go bankrupt in 2009. Verizon spun off Yellow Pages and they went bankrupt too.
Verizon sees it's future in cell phones and internet. It's dumping the rural phone business. The suckers who buy rural phone lines are doomed. Verizon wasn't making money on rural phone service with all the poles and wires paid for, long ago. The suckers think they can make money on the same business when saddled with a heavy debt they used to buy the business from Verizon. Ain't gonna happen.
In the Fairpoint catastrophe, the stockholders and banks got wiped out, the workers are facing layoffs, and service has deteriorated so badly that everyone is switching to a cell phone.
Wanna bet the same thing happens to Frontier? Dunno why the Frontier suits are falling for this scam, but they are. And the Public Utility Commissions in 14 states are not saying "boo".
Monday, April 12, 2010
Ron Hunt died last Sunday
Ron Hunt was a long time Franconia resident. Cancer finally got him last weekend. Ron was a member of the Franconia Fire Dept, a selectman, ran the auto salvage yard, and just about everyone in town knew him or knew who he was. He got a decent sendoff, 300 people attended services, held out of doors in the center of town. This in a town of only 900 registered voters. Fireman in full dress uniform, the Franconia antique engine, Ron's pulling tractor, and a great big tent. A dozen of Ron's friends and relatives spoke movingly.
A pillar of the community and we will miss him.
A pillar of the community and we will miss him.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
What happened to Protestants on the Supreme Court?
News reports tell me that retiring Supreme Court justice Stevens is the last Protestant on the high court. Everyone left is Catholic or Jewish. This ought to say something about the miserable state of the Protestant church in America. Jews and Catholics have a solid tradition of absolute right and wrong that goes back to the time of Jesus and before. Modern Protestants have bought into a relative morality that can permit a lot of dreadful things. Seems like when selecting honorable men to serve on the high court the body politic looks for men who believe in absolute right and wrong, rather than a slippery relative right and wrong.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Who wants a nuclear free world?
Not me. Nuclear weapons have kept the peace since 1945. There has been some bloodletting but never World War III. Even the Soviets were unwilling to come close to using nukes. Witness the Cuban missile crisis where the Soviets backed down rather than risk pushing the United States too hard. What's not to like?
Obama is talking up a nuclear free world. Dunno why, unless he really fails to understand world history since 1945. This deal he is pushing with the Soviets has some positive angles, both sides can reduce their arsenals and still retain enough power to turn the world into a parking lot. But promising not to use nukes defeats the primary reason for having them.
We have nukes for deterrence, in simple words to scare the bejesus out of our enemies. Promising not to use them, or not to build new models reduces the scare. Why do that? Better to have our enemies fear us than to have them love us.
Obama is talking up a nuclear free world. Dunno why, unless he really fails to understand world history since 1945. This deal he is pushing with the Soviets has some positive angles, both sides can reduce their arsenals and still retain enough power to turn the world into a parking lot. But promising not to use nukes defeats the primary reason for having them.
We have nukes for deterrence, in simple words to scare the bejesus out of our enemies. Promising not to use them, or not to build new models reduces the scare. Why do that? Better to have our enemies fear us than to have them love us.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The Curse of Home ownership
Good old NHPR was on this morning, like every morning. The terrible burden of home ownership was the topic. The new roof required shortly after the closing, the hot water heater that failed, Dad coming home and picking up his tool box to work on the house instead of playing with the children.
Man, I don't know how I survived 40 years of home ownership. I did a roof, all it takes is a little money. I changed out four hot water heaters over the years. Got so good I could get to Sears, get the heater home on top of the car, installed, water back on, and still get to work by 11 AM. Done my share of home remodeling projects, two kitchens, two bathrooms, wall paper, book cases, porch railings, dishwasher replacements, disposal replacements and paint. The children loved every one of these and begged to stay up late and help Dad. Home projects were always cooler than yard work.
Could I be listening to "can't change a lightbulb" journalists whining on the air?
Man, I don't know how I survived 40 years of home ownership. I did a roof, all it takes is a little money. I changed out four hot water heaters over the years. Got so good I could get to Sears, get the heater home on top of the car, installed, water back on, and still get to work by 11 AM. Done my share of home remodeling projects, two kitchens, two bathrooms, wall paper, book cases, porch railings, dishwasher replacements, disposal replacements and paint. The children loved every one of these and begged to stay up late and help Dad. Home projects were always cooler than yard work.
Could I be listening to "can't change a lightbulb" journalists whining on the air?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
UNH joins the global warming bandwagon
NHPR did a global warming piece this morning. They interviewed a young associate professor from UNH. During a lengthy talk this professor managed to completely avoid the use of numbers. Things are bad and getting badder he said but never a number to say how bad. Then he proclamed that this winter's DC snowstorms were actually caused by global warming. Global warming puts more moisture in the air so we get more precip.
He's wrong on that, the DC snowstorms were perfectly ordinary snowstorms that happened to track a little bit more southerly than usual. Had they gone thru New York state and New England they would have been un remarkable. The distance from the usual storm track and DC is only about 100 miles.
UNH will probably give this guy tenure next week...
He's wrong on that, the DC snowstorms were perfectly ordinary snowstorms that happened to track a little bit more southerly than usual. Had they gone thru New York state and New England they would have been un remarkable. The distance from the usual storm track and DC is only about 100 miles.
UNH will probably give this guy tenure next week...
Monday, April 5, 2010
Financial regulation, need therefore Part II
The usual suspects, Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, are talking up financial reform, now that Obamacare has been rammed thru.
Not that we don't need something to prevent Wall St from driving the economy over a cliff again.
Too bad the Dodd and Frank bill is welfare for Wall St. The bill contains an elaborate and expensive plan for taxpayers to bail out Wall St the next time they wreck the economy. And as a sweetener for taxpayers, there will be a new "consumer protection agency" to limit some of the customer fleecing going on. With lots of well paying jobs for bureaucrats.
We really need rules to prevent the gambling and speculation that put us into Great Depression 2.0. The purpose of Wall St is to finance economic growth, new factories, new products, construction, inventory, and sales. It is not doing credit default swaps, reselling mortgages, or executing stock trades in milliseconds. We need regulations to crack down on the gambling and speculation that crashed the economy, not plans to bail out the gamblers.
Not that we don't need something to prevent Wall St from driving the economy over a cliff again.
Too bad the Dodd and Frank bill is welfare for Wall St. The bill contains an elaborate and expensive plan for taxpayers to bail out Wall St the next time they wreck the economy. And as a sweetener for taxpayers, there will be a new "consumer protection agency" to limit some of the customer fleecing going on. With lots of well paying jobs for bureaucrats.
We really need rules to prevent the gambling and speculation that put us into Great Depression 2.0. The purpose of Wall St is to finance economic growth, new factories, new products, construction, inventory, and sales. It is not doing credit default swaps, reselling mortgages, or executing stock trades in milliseconds. We need regulations to crack down on the gambling and speculation that crashed the economy, not plans to bail out the gamblers.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Hurrah for Dollar Stores
They may not have everything, but what they do have for $1 costs about $3 at the local food store (Mac's Market). They have crackers, cookies, condiments, shampoo, chocolate bars, dishwash, salami, frozen foods, disposable paint brushes, and tie wraps.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Buzz. Free Media for Ipad
Fox and Friends this morning is so charmed by the new Ipad. The had one on the show, raved about it, showed good video of the screen, showed the thing responding to finger touches. Ran for minutes.
Gotta hand it to Apple. A product so cool that a leading cable news channel gives them a free commercial. Not just a passing mention, but a close up and detailed look at the thing.
Steve Jobs is doing his best to get us out of Great Depression 2.0. The country needs more guys like Jobs.
Gotta hand it to Apple. A product so cool that a leading cable news channel gives them a free commercial. Not just a passing mention, but a close up and detailed look at the thing.
Steve Jobs is doing his best to get us out of Great Depression 2.0. The country needs more guys like Jobs.
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