So sayeth the Wall St Journal. Sales of high margin SUV's and pickup trucks is way up. The article goes on to do some back patting, and noting GM's plan to buy into (buy up?) Lyft. And worries about Brexit messing up the European market more than it is. (GM's Euro operations have lost money for years and years).
No discussion of GM's bread and butter business, selling sedans in North America. Take a drive on Rte 128, half, maybe two thirds of the vehicles on the road are smallish four seat sedans. That's where the real volume is in the car business. Pickups and SUVs are a niche market, granted a large niche, but still a niche compared to small four passenger sedans, the family get-to-work and go-to-market car. GM is still a huge company, and it must compete in the big markets to survive. A behemoth needs a lot of feeding to stay alive. Pickups and SUVs don't have the volume to feed a GM. They must got for the big market, small sedans.
GM does have some product for this segment. First thing GM needs to do is find some better names for the vehicles. Low end ($14K) is called "Spark", a name that makes me think of blown fuses, electrical faults, crapped out VCR's. Not an auspicious name for a car. The next step up is called "Sonic". Everyone knows that Sonic is a computer game hedgehog. Both Spark and Sonic are very simular looking hatchbacks, with the road snuffling forward lean styling. Not very good looking.
Next step up is Cruze, a decent looking conventionally styled sedan for $16K. The name suggests only a certain sawed off movie actor.
GM needs a good car in the low end of the market. Say a MRSP of $10K, with distinctive styling so you can tell it's a Chevy when you see one on the road. Distinctive styling helps two ways. It attracts buyers, and it serves as a rolling advertisement for the car line if it looks like a Chevy rather than just another econobox. And find a decent name for it. Actually GM owns a bunch of decent car names that it doesn't use anymore. Corvair, Pontiac, GTO, Roadmaster, Oldsmobile, all come to mind. Surely GM can do better than "Spark".
Sunday, July 24, 2016
The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming
Bogger, this blog's host, supplies a "Stats" page showing the number of pages views, where the viewers come from, and hit counts on your most popular posts. Being a blogger of ordinary vanity, I check "Stats" every so often to see how popular my humble blog might be. For the last few years it's been jogging along at 50-100 pageviews a day. Yesterday, bingo, 350 pageviews. Today 800 page views. Wow, a ten X growth in viewership.
Where does all this traffic come from? Would you believe Russia? Today I have 528 page views from Russia, as opposed to only 39 from the United States. Either I have gone viral in Russia, or Blogger's Stats function has gone crazy. Hmm, I wonder. Actually, I think it's more likely that the Stats function has ceased to function properly, but who knows.
Where does all this traffic come from? Would you believe Russia? Today I have 528 page views from Russia, as opposed to only 39 from the United States. Either I have gone viral in Russia, or Blogger's Stats function has gone crazy. Hmm, I wonder. Actually, I think it's more likely that the Stats function has ceased to function properly, but who knows.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
HP Support Assistant.
It's one of those vaguely documented programs that comes on HP computers. Far as I can tell, it's the HP version of Windows Update. It keeps track of the versions of the HP code in your machine, device drivers mostly, and updates them when it feels like it. I don't believe the version on FlatBeast (which came from the store running Win 8.10 ever worked at all. I remember running it a few times and over the course of a year, I don't think it even did anything other than whine.
Win 10 took offense at HP Support Assistant and claimed it wouldn't work, it would give the computer rabies, and other offensive stuff. So after getting Win 10 squared away I googled on HP Support Assistant, just to see what others had to say about it. Best advice I found, was to just re install the damn thing from the HP website. The writer claimed this would fix all evils. And it did. 't
I ran it, and it wanted to replace seven or eight bits of software. So I let it have its head, and it took awhile, it wanted to reboot after three or four downloads, but it got to the end and it didn't break anything.
Suggestion to you HP owners out there. Should you find that HP Support Assistant ain't doing much, try downloading a fresh version from HP. This might get him going again.
Win 10 took offense at HP Support Assistant and claimed it wouldn't work, it would give the computer rabies, and other offensive stuff. So after getting Win 10 squared away I googled on HP Support Assistant, just to see what others had to say about it. Best advice I found, was to just re install the damn thing from the HP website. The writer claimed this would fix all evils. And it did. 't
I ran it, and it wanted to replace seven or eight bits of software. So I let it have its head, and it took awhile, it wanted to reboot after three or four downloads, but it got to the end and it didn't break anything.
Suggestion to you HP owners out there. Should you find that HP Support Assistant ain't doing much, try downloading a fresh version from HP. This might get him going again.
Rolling up the windows
My driveway lacks shade. On hot summer days the car heats up like a furnace. To combat this, I like to leave the windows down. We have maintained the social order up here and I don't have to worry about having the car stolen.
What I do worry about is the sudden rainstorm. Really messes up the upholstery when it gets rained on. Right now, should I hear a rumble of thunder, I must get up, go out to the car, with the key in hand, turn the ignition on, and hold the power window buttons down till all is rolled up.
I have a remote control for the car on my keychain. Wouldn't it be nice if said remote had a button to roll up all the windows. The remote already has a button to pop the trunk lid, and work the door locks. Surely one more button wouldn't be a cost breaker. The remote has enough range for me to pop the trunk lid sitting at my kitchen table, so I wouldn't even have to get out of my chair.
And while we are at it, how about a rain sensor that makes the windows roll up automatically at the first drop of rain?
What I do worry about is the sudden rainstorm. Really messes up the upholstery when it gets rained on. Right now, should I hear a rumble of thunder, I must get up, go out to the car, with the key in hand, turn the ignition on, and hold the power window buttons down till all is rolled up.
I have a remote control for the car on my keychain. Wouldn't it be nice if said remote had a button to roll up all the windows. The remote already has a button to pop the trunk lid, and work the door locks. Surely one more button wouldn't be a cost breaker. The remote has enough range for me to pop the trunk lid sitting at my kitchen table, so I wouldn't even have to get out of my chair.
And while we are at it, how about a rain sensor that makes the windows roll up automatically at the first drop of rain?
Friday, July 22, 2016
So I upgraded to Windows 10
And the laptop survived the experience. Like all things Micro$oft it's slow. Took 6 hours to install Win 10. Now that I am upgraded, the laptop seems a scosh more lively. My custom login screen survived. Word 2002 still works, Picassa still works. Haven't tried everything yet. Win 10 threw out CCleaner claiming incompatibility. It also raised a fuss about some nameless program, and and the HP auto update program. (It's an HP laptop).
I'd been holding off on Win 10, fearing it would be slower and fatter than Win 8.1. Experience tells me that each new Windows is fatter and slower than the old one. But, a couple of web searches failed to find anyone raving about Win 10 bugs, and Micro$oft started threatening to end the free updates next week. So I weakened and updated.
Lets hope I don't regret it.
I'd been holding off on Win 10, fearing it would be slower and fatter than Win 8.1. Experience tells me that each new Windows is fatter and slower than the old one. But, a couple of web searches failed to find anyone raving about Win 10 bugs, and Micro$oft started threatening to end the free updates next week. So I weakened and updated.
Lets hope I don't regret it.
Obama's "Justice" dept OK's giant beer merger
The US Justice dept signs off in a merger of Anheuser-Busch Inbev NV and SABMiller PLC. The merger is $108 billion and creates the larger beer company in the world. And it will pretty much eliminate competition in the US. After this merger, if you want to drink beer, you gotta buy it from the one beer company left. What ever they will call themselves. And they can charge anything they want, and we have to pay it, or do without beer.
A merger this big should never be approved. It is so big as to create a monopoly. And fleece consumers left and right. So much for Obama looking out for the people. He's looking out for crony capitalists.
A merger this big should never be approved. It is so big as to create a monopoly. And fleece consumers left and right. So much for Obama looking out for the people. He's looking out for crony capitalists.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Donald Trump's family do good things for him
The children all look really good on TV. Grownup, articulate, well spoken, properly dressed, well groomed, well educated, and solidly loyal to their father. Speaking as a veteran parent, a guy who can raise that many good children is a guy deserving of respect. And his wife Melania, showed great love and loyalty to Donald, in addition to being really hot. Donald must be a pretty decent husband to attract and keep a woman like that. Too bad they sabotaged her speech. Melania would make a helova lot better First Lady than snooty Michelle Obama.
Anyhow, family counts. Trump has some really good family.
Anyhow, family counts. Trump has some really good family.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
A place to prune the bureaucracy
A government-industry group is trying to reduce the accident rate in "general aviation" (Cessna, Pipers, Beechcraft and the like). General aviation is running at 1.5 fatal accidents per 100,000 flying hours, where as business aviation is running at 0.5 fatal accidents per 100,000 hours. So there is room for improvement.
There is general agreement that an angle-of-attack (AOA) indicator in the cockpit would do a lot of good. Angle of attack is basically how much the nose is pointed up. Point up too much and the wing stalls, airflow goes all squirrely, lift drops off drastically, the controls stop working, and the plane falls out of the sky like a stone. If this happens close to the ground, say while making an landing approach, the plane will hit the ground before the pilot can recover the aircraft.
And, such AOA indicators do exist. And not too expensive. You can buy one for about $1500. But, only for "experimental" aircraft. "Experimental" means home built, flown only by the builder, not legal to carry passengers. For "certified" aircraft, factory built planes, legal for anyone to fly or fly in, the same AOA system might cost $10000 to $25000. Same AOA equipment, the outrageous price hike is the cost of doing FAA paperwork, required on certified aircraft.
A Trump administration could do something about this government sponsored rip off.
There is general agreement that an angle-of-attack (AOA) indicator in the cockpit would do a lot of good. Angle of attack is basically how much the nose is pointed up. Point up too much and the wing stalls, airflow goes all squirrely, lift drops off drastically, the controls stop working, and the plane falls out of the sky like a stone. If this happens close to the ground, say while making an landing approach, the plane will hit the ground before the pilot can recover the aircraft.
And, such AOA indicators do exist. And not too expensive. You can buy one for about $1500. But, only for "experimental" aircraft. "Experimental" means home built, flown only by the builder, not legal to carry passengers. For "certified" aircraft, factory built planes, legal for anyone to fly or fly in, the same AOA system might cost $10000 to $25000. Same AOA equipment, the outrageous price hike is the cost of doing FAA paperwork, required on certified aircraft.
A Trump administration could do something about this government sponsored rip off.
Words of the Weasel Part 35
Describing a 1989 British Land Rover in a Wall St Journal article. "We did hit some weather. There's a lot of water ingress with this truck, but that's part of its charisma."
Water ingress. Yeah right. Any real person would say "It leaks like a sieve." Part of its charisma??? Detroit figured out how to make a waterproof car back in the 1930's. I've owned and ridden in a lotta things over the years, Fords, Chevys, Dodges, Caddy's , Mercuries, They all had problems of one kind or another, but none of 'em leaked rainwater. For that level of build quality, you gotta go to England.
He also admits the Land Rover was only doing 11 mpg and burning oil at the same time. Another example of British engineering at it's best. A plain old V8 Chevy pickup will give you 16 mpg.
Water ingress. Yeah right. Any real person would say "It leaks like a sieve." Part of its charisma??? Detroit figured out how to make a waterproof car back in the 1930's. I've owned and ridden in a lotta things over the years, Fords, Chevys, Dodges, Caddy's , Mercuries, They all had problems of one kind or another, but none of 'em leaked rainwater. For that level of build quality, you gotta go to England.
He also admits the Land Rover was only doing 11 mpg and burning oil at the same time. Another example of British engineering at it's best. A plain old V8 Chevy pickup will give you 16 mpg.
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Magical thinking at the Wall St Journal
Granted, it was a letter the the editor, not an editorial or op-ed piece, but they published it, which means they think it has value. The subject was bank reserves, a traditional sticking point between regulators and bankers. Reserves are cash, or liquid assets owned by the bank, which they can use to keep going when their loans default. Regulators always want the bank to have more reserves, bankers always want less. If a bank cannot pay out cash to depositors making a withdrawal, the bank is in serious trouble. Word gets around, at the speed of light, and all the depositors hot foot it down to the bank to withdraw their funds while they still can. This is a run on the bank, every one wants all their money, right now, and no bank can do that, they don't have reserves that big, and all the money the depositors entrusted to the bank have been loaned out. Poof, one vaporized bank, FDIC has to pay off the depositors.
The WSJ letter write proposed that banks purchase "put options" on their own stock. A put option is short selling, a bet that the stock price will fall before the short seller has to deliver the stock. Anyhow, the writer feels that this dodge would create "regulatory capital" ( what ever that might be). This is pur magical thinking. When loans go bad, a bank needs cash, or really liquid investments, like US T-bills which can be turned into cash on short notice, to pay off depositors. Banks cannot give "regulatory capital" to a depositor at the teller's window, they need cash.
The WSJ letter write proposed that banks purchase "put options" on their own stock. A put option is short selling, a bet that the stock price will fall before the short seller has to deliver the stock. Anyhow, the writer feels that this dodge would create "regulatory capital" ( what ever that might be). This is pur magical thinking. When loans go bad, a bank needs cash, or really liquid investments, like US T-bills which can be turned into cash on short notice, to pay off depositors. Banks cannot give "regulatory capital" to a depositor at the teller's window, they need cash.
Monday, July 18, 2016
Baton Rouge is horrible, just like Dallas
My sincerest sympathies to the slain officers, to their families, and to the entire city. Their loss is too great to describe in words.
This is the third attack on police officers within a year. It's frightening. It shows a breakdown in the social order in the country. Laws are obeyed in America because the majority of the people think they ought to be obeyed. If opposing (shooting) the police becomes the dominant thinking, we are in deep trouble. It will get to the point that people are afraid to go to the store, for fear they will be robbed or killed, or both.
And I don't know how to fix it, other than getting rid of Obama who is egging it on. And getting our schools to pull up their socks, and teach the need for civic participation in government, and less glorification of violent troublemakers in history. Like Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Allende, and others.
This is the third attack on police officers within a year. It's frightening. It shows a breakdown in the social order in the country. Laws are obeyed in America because the majority of the people think they ought to be obeyed. If opposing (shooting) the police becomes the dominant thinking, we are in deep trouble. It will get to the point that people are afraid to go to the store, for fear they will be robbed or killed, or both.
And I don't know how to fix it, other than getting rid of Obama who is egging it on. And getting our schools to pull up their socks, and teach the need for civic participation in government, and less glorification of violent troublemakers in history. Like Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Allende, and others.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Season Five, Game of Thrones
I'm a year behind. I don't have HBO, and Netflix doesn't let the show out until a year has gone by. So I watched the first two discs of season five this week.
Metza Metza. They suffered badly from the curse of the cameraman. The cameraman is on a "turn the lights out" kick and the scenes are so dark you cannot even see the actors faces. It's really dark. I guess the cameraman thinks it's "arty" or something. I think it sucks. I think that turkey cannot read a light meter, and doesn't know how to set up the lights, you know a key light, a fill light, and avoid throwing double shadows.
I am loosing track of the plot. Arya is getting mixed up with a sorta religious group that lives in massive masonry buildings. Arya wants them to train her to fight. She certainly doesn't want to become a nun, that's not Arya. Why she thinks she needs more combat training is beyond me.
Anyhow, season five is not as good as previous seasons.
Metza Metza. They suffered badly from the curse of the cameraman. The cameraman is on a "turn the lights out" kick and the scenes are so dark you cannot even see the actors faces. It's really dark. I guess the cameraman thinks it's "arty" or something. I think it sucks. I think that turkey cannot read a light meter, and doesn't know how to set up the lights, you know a key light, a fill light, and avoid throwing double shadows.
I am loosing track of the plot. Arya is getting mixed up with a sorta religious group that lives in massive masonry buildings. Arya wants them to train her to fight. She certainly doesn't want to become a nun, that's not Arya. Why she thinks she needs more combat training is beyond me.
Anyhow, season five is not as good as previous seasons.
Saturday, July 16, 2016
PBVRC Spagetti Dinner
That's Pemi Baker Valley Republican Committee. PBVRC throws these dinners once a month. All you can eat. And they have speakers. Last night they had Kelly Ayotte, (Candidate for US Senate), and Chris Sununu, (Candidate for NH governor). Word had been circulated, and everyone came. The place, the Ashland VFW hall, was packed. Fortunately the air conditioning was working. Both candidates spoke well, with conviction, and to the approval of the audience. Audience was typical north country, I know many of them. The older set, lotta gray hair, a few canes. The few young folk were mostly campaign aides to the candidates. All in all, a good evening for the candidates, they pretty much picked up every vote in the place. And for us voters, the spaghetti was up to the usual standards, everyone had plenty to eat.
Friday, July 15, 2016
How to get rid of ISIS/IS/ISIL, Al Quada, and the rest of 'em.
Might be a little costly. No pol or presidential candidate is talking about it, but it is doable if we want to.
First, we invade the ISIS lands, occupy them. Set up a government of our liking. Do land reform. Hunt down and prosecute Islamic terrorists. Put 'em on trial rather than just shooting 'em down. Reform the education system. Make sure they are teaching the three R's (reading, riting, rithmetic) and some useful arts, and not preaching hatred and jihad. This whole program might take five years or more.
Pass some laws over here making membership in ISIS and the like a crime, also criminalize travel to ISIS lands and service in their military, and giving them money. Get US prosecutors out looking for examples and prosecuting them.
Keep on fracking. It blunts the "oil weapon". Keep the pressure on banks to deny them accounts, wire transfer services, money laundering, and anything else.
Make sure US TV coverage, especially news, in Arabic, gets into all ISIS lands. We have internet and satellites to broadcast from. Make some movies and TV shows that depict Islamic crazies as crazy and evil, and the true faith as virtuous. We defeated communism with blue jeans, rock and roll, and "1984", let's do the same to Islamic crazies.
Blow the Islamic crazies off the internet. Make their websites disappear, tap their email. Cancel their Facebook pages and memberships. Take down their snuff videos. Put software to work looking for Islamic propaganda.
Find some reasonable Imams and give them some support, TV contracts, book deals, air time. Use drones to take out the really crazy Imams.
First, we invade the ISIS lands, occupy them. Set up a government of our liking. Do land reform. Hunt down and prosecute Islamic terrorists. Put 'em on trial rather than just shooting 'em down. Reform the education system. Make sure they are teaching the three R's (reading, riting, rithmetic) and some useful arts, and not preaching hatred and jihad. This whole program might take five years or more.
Pass some laws over here making membership in ISIS and the like a crime, also criminalize travel to ISIS lands and service in their military, and giving them money. Get US prosecutors out looking for examples and prosecuting them.
Keep on fracking. It blunts the "oil weapon". Keep the pressure on banks to deny them accounts, wire transfer services, money laundering, and anything else.
Make sure US TV coverage, especially news, in Arabic, gets into all ISIS lands. We have internet and satellites to broadcast from. Make some movies and TV shows that depict Islamic crazies as crazy and evil, and the true faith as virtuous. We defeated communism with blue jeans, rock and roll, and "1984", let's do the same to Islamic crazies.
Blow the Islamic crazies off the internet. Make their websites disappear, tap their email. Cancel their Facebook pages and memberships. Take down their snuff videos. Put software to work looking for Islamic propaganda.
Find some reasonable Imams and give them some support, TV contracts, book deals, air time. Use drones to take out the really crazy Imams.
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Google Maps, software is too daring, you gotta watch it
Used to be, when you asked Google maps for directions from here to there, the program was pretty conservative, it would route you over Interstates only, even if it took you a long way out of your way. Well the software weenies got more daring, and they let the program route you down secondary and tertiary roads, looking for the shortest route. In a way this was good, but the program would route you down impassible or non existent roads. Last year it tried to run me over NH route 116 in mud season. The program didn't know, or didn't care, that 116 has bottomless potholes from side to side in mud season. I used my superior local knowledge to drive on US 302, which is an all weather road, unlike 116.
Then yesterday it generated a routing thru Maine for me. The Maine road the software picked, was just plain non existent. Just plain no such road, nowhere, no how. I did make it, but it took a lotta backtracking.
My advice, look at the Google proposed route. If the roads lack even a state route number, or the little towns along the route lack names, beware.
My other suggestion for the Google software weenies. Fix up your map coloring. Leave the background white, that saves me ink cartridges ($52 each) and improves the contrast with the roads. Then paint the roads with a solid stripe of a single color. Drop the white road with faint gray sidewalks look. Use a consistent color code to distinguish between interstates, primary roads, secondary roads, tertiary roads, and dirt roads. Your current color scheme is close to unreadable. You ought fire what ever weenie thought it up.
Then yesterday it generated a routing thru Maine for me. The Maine road the software picked, was just plain non existent. Just plain no such road, nowhere, no how. I did make it, but it took a lotta backtracking.
My advice, look at the Google proposed route. If the roads lack even a state route number, or the little towns along the route lack names, beware.
My other suggestion for the Google software weenies. Fix up your map coloring. Leave the background white, that saves me ink cartridges ($52 each) and improves the contrast with the roads. Then paint the roads with a solid stripe of a single color. Drop the white road with faint gray sidewalks look. Use a consistent color code to distinguish between interstates, primary roads, secondary roads, tertiary roads, and dirt roads. Your current color scheme is close to unreadable. You ought fire what ever weenie thought it up.
The Nostalgia is Overwhelming.
Way back when, back when I was 11 years old, I got to go to summer camp. It was a wonderful experience, so cool that I went back for two more summers. There was tripping, the strange cult of King Kababa, riflery, woodshop, sailboats, rowboats, and canoes, campfire, general swim, the war game, good friends, living in a tent, no electricity in the entire camp, really great counselors and trip leaders. Absolutely awesome.
So yesterday, I fired up the Buick and drove over to the old camp, just to see if it was still there. Well, Pine Island Camp is still there. It's still way out in the Maine countryside, it hasn't been swallowed up by urban sprawl the way my old prep school was. It's near Belgrade Maine, on an island (Pine Island) out in Great Pond. And it still looks pretty much the same, even after a serious fire in the 1990's burned down the messhall and Honk Hall. They rebuilt, and took some pains to keep it looking the same. The camp director was Ben Swan, son of Eugene Swan who was director way back when. It being mid week, half the kids were out of camp, tripping. So I had lunch in the dining hall, swapped some war stories from the old days, didn't take many pictures, looked around, and wallowed in nostalgia. If by some magic I could be 11 years old again, I'd go right back for the summer.
So yesterday, I fired up the Buick and drove over to the old camp, just to see if it was still there. Well, Pine Island Camp is still there. It's still way out in the Maine countryside, it hasn't been swallowed up by urban sprawl the way my old prep school was. It's near Belgrade Maine, on an island (Pine Island) out in Great Pond. And it still looks pretty much the same, even after a serious fire in the 1990's burned down the messhall and Honk Hall. They rebuilt, and took some pains to keep it looking the same. The camp director was Ben Swan, son of Eugene Swan who was director way back when. It being mid week, half the kids were out of camp, tripping. So I had lunch in the dining hall, swapped some war stories from the old days, didn't take many pictures, looked around, and wallowed in nostalgia. If by some magic I could be 11 years old again, I'd go right back for the summer.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
A really different Republican National Convention??
A Federal judge in Virginia has just ruled that VA delegates are free to vote any way they want at the Republican convention. He has dissolved the requirement under state law for delegates to vote the way the primary election turned out.
Wow. If this decision stands, the convention will be strange, very strange.
The convention delegates are all old Republican hands. Everyone wants to go to the convention, it's a blast. Hell, my mother got to be a delegate to the 1964 convention. Needless to say, the plum of going to the convention is handed out as a perk to solid Republicans by various strange party systems, a different system for each state. The lucky delegates were then informed that they had to vote this way or that way. And all the delegates are old Republican people. Some office holders, some party workers, some big donors, some activists, but all members of the Republican establishment.
And the Republican establishment doesn't like The Donald. If the delegates are told they can vote their consciences, a lot of em will vote against Trump. Nobody knows who they would vote for, but someone will turn up.
The Republican National Committee doesn't like this idea at all. They have rightly figured that the dyed in the wool Trump voters are absolutely necessary for winning. Without the Trump voters, Hillary wins. So opening the door to dumping Trump is opening the door to losing big. Nobody is sure that Trump can win, but they know that without Trump they loose. The RNC understands this. Not sure if the Republican establishment understands it.
The Wall Street Journal sees this as a big issue. They ran an editorial about it today. They were sorta whistling past the grave yard, opining that Trump would make it even if all the delegates are unbound. Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it. There is a lotta NeverTrump sentiment out there.
Wow. If this decision stands, the convention will be strange, very strange.
The convention delegates are all old Republican hands. Everyone wants to go to the convention, it's a blast. Hell, my mother got to be a delegate to the 1964 convention. Needless to say, the plum of going to the convention is handed out as a perk to solid Republicans by various strange party systems, a different system for each state. The lucky delegates were then informed that they had to vote this way or that way. And all the delegates are old Republican people. Some office holders, some party workers, some big donors, some activists, but all members of the Republican establishment.
And the Republican establishment doesn't like The Donald. If the delegates are told they can vote their consciences, a lot of em will vote against Trump. Nobody knows who they would vote for, but someone will turn up.
The Republican National Committee doesn't like this idea at all. They have rightly figured that the dyed in the wool Trump voters are absolutely necessary for winning. Without the Trump voters, Hillary wins. So opening the door to dumping Trump is opening the door to losing big. Nobody is sure that Trump can win, but they know that without Trump they loose. The RNC understands this. Not sure if the Republican establishment understands it.
The Wall Street Journal sees this as a big issue. They ran an editorial about it today. They were sorta whistling past the grave yard, opining that Trump would make it even if all the delegates are unbound. Maybe, but I wouldn't bet on it. There is a lotta NeverTrump sentiment out there.
Monday, July 11, 2016
US race relations not as bad as 1968
So says Obama on the tube this morning. Of course, as soon as he said it, I thought to myself, that actually things are as bad as 1968.
Obama has made things worse. Polls show things are a lot worse now than back in 2008 when Obama first took office. Every time an ugly incident happens, Obama jumps right into it, and takes sides. Guess which side he takes. Every time. After Obama jumps into it, the rest of the MSM get on the story and their reporting just pours gasoline on the fire.
Obama has made things worse. Polls show things are a lot worse now than back in 2008 when Obama first took office. Every time an ugly incident happens, Obama jumps right into it, and takes sides. Guess which side he takes. Every time. After Obama jumps into it, the rest of the MSM get on the story and their reporting just pours gasoline on the fire.
Sunday, July 10, 2016
You gotta get your story out, right away.
After any of these terrible confrontations between citizens and authorities (cops), there are always TWO stories. There is the victim's story, and there is the authorities story. There will always be some differences, which can cast the entire incident in one light or another. For example "Hands up don't shoot", which the Michael Brown supporters claim happened vs the cop's story that Michael Brown was trying to grab his gun when he was shot.
Moral of the story, the authorities must get their story out, right now. Even better if they have video to back up their story. They need to know that the other side will get their story out, and when there is only one story out there, that's what people believe. So the authorities must get their side of the story out, right away.
Lots of cops and prosecutors complain that releasing a story ahead of the trial does bad things for their case at trial. Piffle. The real trial, the one that counts, is the trial by public opinion. If the public thinks the authorities behaved badly, it doesn't matter what a judge declares, usually years later. The lawyers have so degraded the American justice system that it doesn't really matter any more. Today's courts take years and years to come to a decision, and they usually let the perp off. Better to win in the court of public opinion than wait for the wheels of justice to get turning.
Historical example. Right after the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Americans wrote up their story, emphasizing patriot heroism and really stunning Redcoat casualties. The rebels got their story onto a fast Yankee schooner and it was in London within three weeks. General Gage on the other hand, sent his dispatches back on a slow Royal Army merchantman which took three months to get to London. Result, the American version of the battle, with it's story of Patriot bravery, went the length and breadth of England for two and a half months before the British side of the story got out. Needless to say, the American version, so favorable to the Patriot cause, is the one every Englishman heard.
Moral of the story, the authorities must get their story out, right now. Even better if they have video to back up their story. They need to know that the other side will get their story out, and when there is only one story out there, that's what people believe. So the authorities must get their side of the story out, right away.
Lots of cops and prosecutors complain that releasing a story ahead of the trial does bad things for their case at trial. Piffle. The real trial, the one that counts, is the trial by public opinion. If the public thinks the authorities behaved badly, it doesn't matter what a judge declares, usually years later. The lawyers have so degraded the American justice system that it doesn't really matter any more. Today's courts take years and years to come to a decision, and they usually let the perp off. Better to win in the court of public opinion than wait for the wheels of justice to get turning.
Historical example. Right after the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Americans wrote up their story, emphasizing patriot heroism and really stunning Redcoat casualties. The rebels got their story onto a fast Yankee schooner and it was in London within three weeks. General Gage on the other hand, sent his dispatches back on a slow Royal Army merchantman which took three months to get to London. Result, the American version of the battle, with it's story of Patriot bravery, went the length and breadth of England for two and a half months before the British side of the story got out. Needless to say, the American version, so favorable to the Patriot cause, is the one every Englishman heard.
Saturday, July 9, 2016
Dallas was horrible.
Five dead police officers, seven or eight more wounded. In a totally unprovoked ambush. My sincerest sympathy to the victims and their families. According to the TV newsies, the shooter, a US Army veteran who served in Iraq, had no indications of craziness before opening fire Thursday night. That's scary. It shows the bonds that hold our society together are failing.
The bonds go way back, to childhood. Sunday school teaches the Ten Commandments, and "Thou shalt not kill." is easily understood even by five year olds. Movies and TV shows depict police as good guys, and those that shoot at them as bad guys. Nobody wants to think of himself as a bad guy. Parents and teachers constantly keep on kids about fighting, with siblings and classmates. This training was so effective that in WWII, General SLA Marshall noted that a large number of American soldiers were reluctant/unable to shoot the enemy. Apparently this shooter was not so inhibited. How many more like him have we raised up?
The bonds go way back, to childhood. Sunday school teaches the Ten Commandments, and "Thou shalt not kill." is easily understood even by five year olds. Movies and TV shows depict police as good guys, and those that shoot at them as bad guys. Nobody wants to think of himself as a bad guy. Parents and teachers constantly keep on kids about fighting, with siblings and classmates. This training was so effective that in WWII, General SLA Marshall noted that a large number of American soldiers were reluctant/unable to shoot the enemy. Apparently this shooter was not so inhibited. How many more like him have we raised up?
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Congress grills FBI director Comey
They got on his case this morning around 11, and they are still whacking at him now at 2 PM. Comey is standing up and hasn't really put his foot in his mouth, yet. They are working on that as I write this. The Democrats on the committee have been throwing themselves on the tracks in Comey' defense. The main point of contention is the matter of guilty intent. According to Comey, the ordinary law of the US requires guilty intent in order to prosecute. Apparently a US law passed back in WWI times makes divulging classified a crime no matter why the perps state of mind is. Comey doesn't like that law and he claims that only once in the 99 years of the law's existence has anyone been prosecuted under it. A lotta Congresscritters don't agree, they think leaking classified should be prosecuted no matter what.
Nobody is talking about the basic insecurity of email, be it government or private or just plain old Gmail. To my way of thinking, you should never put classified on email. Back when I was in the service, and handled classified, email hadn't been invented, so the matter never came up. But now, we should not allow classified to go by email. Government email is same same, it's vulnerable. Plus all the secretary of state's communication ought to treated as classified. I sure don't want the Russians, the Chinese, or ISIS reading US cabinet officer's email. I don't think cabinet officers should use email at all. Nobody is talking about that at all.
Nobody is talking about the basic insecurity of email, be it government or private or just plain old Gmail. To my way of thinking, you should never put classified on email. Back when I was in the service, and handled classified, email hadn't been invented, so the matter never came up. But now, we should not allow classified to go by email. Government email is same same, it's vulnerable. Plus all the secretary of state's communication ought to treated as classified. I sure don't want the Russians, the Chinese, or ISIS reading US cabinet officer's email. I don't think cabinet officers should use email at all. Nobody is talking about that at all.
The lights are going out, all over New Hampshire
The greenies, working thru the public utility commission, have bulldozed the local power company into closing their three remaining coal fired power plants. One of them, was forced to install a $450 million scrubber back in 2009. Part of the deal is that the power company can bill rate payers for the $450 million outstanding debt. For the next ten years. On top of the "Stranded Cost Recovery" charge they put on the bill for the Seabrook nuclear plant.
The power company is hoping to replace the lost generation capacity with hydro power from Quebec, to come over the yet to be built Northern Pass power line. Which the greenies are fighting to stop.
The greenies managed to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant last year.
I ought to go out and buy a Honda generator set to get thru this next winter.
The power company is hoping to replace the lost generation capacity with hydro power from Quebec, to come over the yet to be built Northern Pass power line. Which the greenies are fighting to stop.
The greenies managed to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant last year.
I ought to go out and buy a Honda generator set to get thru this next winter.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Juan Williams on Johnny Can't Read.
Juan had a handsome op ed in the Wall St Journal yesterday entitled "The Scandal of K-12 Education". He cited some really awful statistics on the terrible performance of black and Hispanic kids in the public schools. Without getting into the numbers, they are really really bad. And Juan cries out to do something about it.
Thinking back on my experiences learning to read, I don't really remember the school doing all that much for me. I can still remember the night it all came together and for the first time I could actually read a real book, not a picture book. It was "The Land of Oz", (L. Frank Baum). Granted the schools did some ground work, we all learned the alphabet song, we learned phonics, and we started with "Fun with Dick and Jane" a worthy but boring beginning reader.
But, I learned to read because I wanted to read. Reading was fun, an enjoyable pastime, as good as watching TV, especially TV way back then. There was so much good stuff to read. The Saxonville library was open every day and it was on my way home from school. I stopped in every day or so to get new books. And they had a bunch of really cool ones. There was a series, bound in orange, of biographies of famous Americans. I read them all. There was the "Landmark" series with books about the Battle of Britain, the Tokyo raiders, the Royal Navy in WWII, and other things to catch the interest of an grade school boy. And really good science fiction by Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov. And the Tarzan books, the Tom Swift books (the old series), the Oz books, the John Carter books, Tolkien, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, James Fenimore Cooper, Walter Scott,. And comics. If there was ever something printed that just cried out to be read, it was a comic book. Scrooge McDuck, Blackhawk, Tarzan, Batman, Captain Marvel, Plastic Man, Superman, and more. Parents and teachers disapproved of comic books back then, but they were a tremendous incitement to learn to read, certainly more stimulating than playing computer games. We would spend our own money to buy them. Ten cents an issue, they are more like four dollars now. Every kid had a stash and every kid read them.
The other incentive to read was that my parents did it. Dad read the paper every day and he read bed time stories to us every night. If Dad did it, I wanted to learn it too, just to get with it.
Bottom line, learning to read is a self motivated thing, schools can help, parents can help, but the kid has to want to do it himself.
Thinking back on my experiences learning to read, I don't really remember the school doing all that much for me. I can still remember the night it all came together and for the first time I could actually read a real book, not a picture book. It was "The Land of Oz", (L. Frank Baum). Granted the schools did some ground work, we all learned the alphabet song, we learned phonics, and we started with "Fun with Dick and Jane" a worthy but boring beginning reader.
But, I learned to read because I wanted to read. Reading was fun, an enjoyable pastime, as good as watching TV, especially TV way back then. There was so much good stuff to read. The Saxonville library was open every day and it was on my way home from school. I stopped in every day or so to get new books. And they had a bunch of really cool ones. There was a series, bound in orange, of biographies of famous Americans. I read them all. There was the "Landmark" series with books about the Battle of Britain, the Tokyo raiders, the Royal Navy in WWII, and other things to catch the interest of an grade school boy. And really good science fiction by Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov. And the Tarzan books, the Tom Swift books (the old series), the Oz books, the John Carter books, Tolkien, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, James Fenimore Cooper, Walter Scott,. And comics. If there was ever something printed that just cried out to be read, it was a comic book. Scrooge McDuck, Blackhawk, Tarzan, Batman, Captain Marvel, Plastic Man, Superman, and more. Parents and teachers disapproved of comic books back then, but they were a tremendous incitement to learn to read, certainly more stimulating than playing computer games. We would spend our own money to buy them. Ten cents an issue, they are more like four dollars now. Every kid had a stash and every kid read them.
The other incentive to read was that my parents did it. Dad read the paper every day and he read bed time stories to us every night. If Dad did it, I wanted to learn it too, just to get with it.
Bottom line, learning to read is a self motivated thing, schools can help, parents can help, but the kid has to want to do it himself.
Tuesday, July 5, 2016
GKN Technology meets Brexit
GKN Technology is a British company that makes the wings for Airbus. The UK government pulled out of the Airbus consortium some years ago, but GKN Technology retained their Airbus business somehow. The Airbuses are assembled in Europe (Germany or France, cannot remember which). Which means those British built wings get shipped across the Channel. When Britain does the paperwork to pull out of the EU, presumably those wings have to pay the EU tariff when they land on the continent.
And it's not like GKN Technology can find another customer for its wings. Those wings are Airbus wings, and won't fit another airplane. If Brexit means Airbus has to pay a serious tariff on the wings, they will surely investigate alternate suppliers located on the continent. And with EU unemployment running at 10%, any EU supplier will have no trouble staffing up to handle the extra business.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
And it's not like GKN Technology can find another customer for its wings. Those wings are Airbus wings, and won't fit another airplane. If Brexit means Airbus has to pay a serious tariff on the wings, they will surely investigate alternate suppliers located on the continent. And with EU unemployment running at 10%, any EU supplier will have no trouble staffing up to handle the extra business.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
FBI lets Hillary off the hook.
The FBI director held a news conference, live on TV, just a few minutes ago. Bottom line, the FBI doesn't think they have enough to prosecute with. They read a ton of emails. In fact you gotta wonder how Hillary had the time to crank out nearly 100K emails. She was only secretary of state for four years, call it 1000 days, so that's 100 emails a DAY. How did she manage to eat lunch and go the can, and do 100 emails a day??
The FBI claimed to have really scrubbed Hillary's server, recovering a lot of email from caches and deleted-but-not-scrubbed disk space. They also said that Hillary's lawyers had wiped a lot of email as "personal" and the lawyers did a better job than Hillary, they scrubbed the disk files (over wrote them with random ones and zeros) and deleted them (erased the file names from the disc directory). Which makes the emails unrecoverable, like they had been shredded.
The FBI did a lot of talking about how classified and how many were classified. Groovy but any secret service in the world would love to read the American secretary of state's email no matter what it's classification.
In short, the FBI trashed Hillary and her state department for sloppy handling of classified, but they don't think it was deliberate, and you gotta show intent to prosecute. The FBI didn't find intent, and so Hillary gets off, not scot free, some of the mud sticks, but they ain't gonna prosecute, so she can go on running for president. Another tight squeeze for a Clinton, like Whitewater, like Vince Foster, like Monica, like a bunch of other stuff.
The FBI claimed to have really scrubbed Hillary's server, recovering a lot of email from caches and deleted-but-not-scrubbed disk space. They also said that Hillary's lawyers had wiped a lot of email as "personal" and the lawyers did a better job than Hillary, they scrubbed the disk files (over wrote them with random ones and zeros) and deleted them (erased the file names from the disc directory). Which makes the emails unrecoverable, like they had been shredded.
The FBI did a lot of talking about how classified and how many were classified. Groovy but any secret service in the world would love to read the American secretary of state's email no matter what it's classification.
In short, the FBI trashed Hillary and her state department for sloppy handling of classified, but they don't think it was deliberate, and you gotta show intent to prosecute. The FBI didn't find intent, and so Hillary gets off, not scot free, some of the mud sticks, but they ain't gonna prosecute, so she can go on running for president. Another tight squeeze for a Clinton, like Whitewater, like Vince Foster, like Monica, like a bunch of other stuff.
Sunday, July 3, 2016
The Supremes pretend to practice law.
Actually they are mere indulging in their private political prejudices. Law is a body of rules, written down. Moses showed the way. Just ten commandments, chiseled into stone tablets by the hand of God. And law is limited. Ten was the starting number. We have a lot more now. but if it isn't written down, it isn't law.
Judges are supposed to know the law, and apply it to the specific case before them. And there is always room for interpretation. Even "Thou shalt not kill" (from KJV) has been interpreted to read "Thou shalt not commit murder." a much narrower reading. It's up to judges to look at the law, look at the facts of the case, and render a judgement, using pure reasoning.
When this is happening, a majority of judges (or for that matter a majority of reasonable men) will come to the same judgement in the same case. That is, if they are looking at the law, and reasoning from the facts of the case. If they are judging from personal prejudices, anything can happen.
Since the unfortunate death of Justice Scalia, it has become clear that he eight survivors on the court are judging from personal prejudice rather than from the law. Hence the number of four to four ties. How the eight top lawyers in America can fail to come to a majority opinion is a scandal. These clowns aren't practicing law, they are setting themselves up as kings.
Judges are supposed to know the law, and apply it to the specific case before them. And there is always room for interpretation. Even "Thou shalt not kill" (from KJV) has been interpreted to read "Thou shalt not commit murder." a much narrower reading. It's up to judges to look at the law, look at the facts of the case, and render a judgement, using pure reasoning.
When this is happening, a majority of judges (or for that matter a majority of reasonable men) will come to the same judgement in the same case. That is, if they are looking at the law, and reasoning from the facts of the case. If they are judging from personal prejudices, anything can happen.
Since the unfortunate death of Justice Scalia, it has become clear that he eight survivors on the court are judging from personal prejudice rather than from the law. Hence the number of four to four ties. How the eight top lawyers in America can fail to come to a majority opinion is a scandal. These clowns aren't practicing law, they are setting themselves up as kings.
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Franconia Old Home Day Parade.
By the way, the Blogger people have been messing with the photo uploader again. At least it still uploads although I had to do it twice before it worked.
Friday, July 1, 2016
DEC makes the market, adapts to a changing market, finally fails and dies
Digital Equipment Company moved into the big time when it invented the minicomputer, back in the early 1960's. The legendary PDP 8 wasn't much of a computer, only 12 bits wide, the largest number it could handle was only 4096, not much. And it could only address 4096b words of magnetic core memory, RAM had not been invented yet. But it was a computer, it was small compared to the only other computers available that year, namely mainframes costing in the millions and filling an entire room.
The PDP8 only cost $8000 (1960 dollars) and was smart enough to do a fair number of things. A whole bunch of automatic test sets were built, with a PDP8 built in and running the show. So many were sold that DEC became rich and famous. All looked well until the micro processor came on the scene in the early 1970's. One of my first projects coming out of engineering school was to design a microprocessor board to run a test set. My board had plenty of punch and only cost $200, parts. That pretty much killed the $8000 PDP8 for that role.
DEC recovered, they juiced up their minicomputer and sold it for timesharing. A PDP11-35 could support a couple of dozen timesharing terminals, enough to run a small company. The later PDP11-70 and the VAX were even stronger. And the timesharing rig, with disk drives and mag tapes might cost $100,000. Still cheap compared to a mainframe. This kept DEC going thru the 1980's.
Then the desktop computers appeared. The IBM PCs, and the Compaqs. These sold for $3000 or so, and were every bit as good as the the DEC minicomputers, and they were cheap enough for every engineer to have one for his very own.
And that was the end of DEC. Compaq bought them up, and then HP bought Compaq, and now there is hardly a trace of DEC left.
The PDP8 only cost $8000 (1960 dollars) and was smart enough to do a fair number of things. A whole bunch of automatic test sets were built, with a PDP8 built in and running the show. So many were sold that DEC became rich and famous. All looked well until the micro processor came on the scene in the early 1970's. One of my first projects coming out of engineering school was to design a microprocessor board to run a test set. My board had plenty of punch and only cost $200, parts. That pretty much killed the $8000 PDP8 for that role.
DEC recovered, they juiced up their minicomputer and sold it for timesharing. A PDP11-35 could support a couple of dozen timesharing terminals, enough to run a small company. The later PDP11-70 and the VAX were even stronger. And the timesharing rig, with disk drives and mag tapes might cost $100,000. Still cheap compared to a mainframe. This kept DEC going thru the 1980's.
Then the desktop computers appeared. The IBM PCs, and the Compaqs. These sold for $3000 or so, and were every bit as good as the the DEC minicomputers, and they were cheap enough for every engineer to have one for his very own.
And that was the end of DEC. Compaq bought them up, and then HP bought Compaq, and now there is hardly a trace of DEC left.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Wall Street Futures Contracts
Gambling? Or shrewd investment? The Wall St futures market is big enough for NPR to report on it. Like Friday, when the Brexit vote was counted and announced, NPR said that Wall St futures had dropped a lot before the market opened. At any rate, a good deal of money is invested in "futures". Does this money do anything to encourage economic growth, employment, new product development, in short, good things for America as a whole, or just some profits to lucky gamblers?
I have never dealt in futures, and a quick Google didn't say just how stock market futures work. Let's assume they work like commodity futures. Two parties reach a deal, sign a contract, to deliver so much of something, or buy so much of something, for such and such a price, on a date in the future. If the market price of what-ever-it-is changes before the due date, one party makes money, and the other party does not.
Does this kind of deal make sense for the larger economy? Hard to tell. Certainly the money spent on futures contracts does not go to a company in return for stock. Companies print and sell their stock, for cash, to obtain money to run the company, grow the company, pay the workers, lots of things that create jobs. And the stock market makes people willing to buy stock. With an organized stock market, open for business five days a week, a stock holder knows he can sell his stock holdings when he needs some cash. And the trade will go thru, and he gets a check, within a day or two. This is a goodness, it gives companies a fine way to raise money.
But I don't see how a stock futures contract does anything good for the economy. It surely doesn't funnel money to companies. I don't see it increasing market liquidity. I think it's just plain gambling, of no benefit to anyone except lucky winners.
I'm not an economist, I'm just a plain engineer. I've never read anything about the economic effect of futures trading. I wonder what the economics community thinks about them.
I have never dealt in futures, and a quick Google didn't say just how stock market futures work. Let's assume they work like commodity futures. Two parties reach a deal, sign a contract, to deliver so much of something, or buy so much of something, for such and such a price, on a date in the future. If the market price of what-ever-it-is changes before the due date, one party makes money, and the other party does not.
Does this kind of deal make sense for the larger economy? Hard to tell. Certainly the money spent on futures contracts does not go to a company in return for stock. Companies print and sell their stock, for cash, to obtain money to run the company, grow the company, pay the workers, lots of things that create jobs. And the stock market makes people willing to buy stock. With an organized stock market, open for business five days a week, a stock holder knows he can sell his stock holdings when he needs some cash. And the trade will go thru, and he gets a check, within a day or two. This is a goodness, it gives companies a fine way to raise money.
But I don't see how a stock futures contract does anything good for the economy. It surely doesn't funnel money to companies. I don't see it increasing market liquidity. I think it's just plain gambling, of no benefit to anyone except lucky winners.
I'm not an economist, I'm just a plain engineer. I've never read anything about the economic effect of futures trading. I wonder what the economics community thinks about them.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
NAFTA, pro and con
According to Wikipedia (a reasonably impartial source) NAFTA dropped tariffs between the three countries to zip in nearly all cases by now. It took President Bill Clinton's best efforts to get NAFTA ratified over the dead bodies of US unions. NAFTA did increase trade between Mexico, Canada and the US by a lot, perhaps 50% over the years since 1993 when NAFTA was ratified. It also did contribute to US job losses of maybe 500,000 jobs. These numbers can be controversial, but Wikipedia is the most balanced source I am aware of.
We had The Donald on TV yesterday trashing NAFTA up one side and down the other. He promises to "renegotiate" the NAFTA treaty. He claimed that NAFTA is a US job killer. In this, he has, or ought to have, the warm support of US unions who have been anti NAFTA since the beginning.
We had the "three amigos) (Obama, Trudeau, and I can't remember the name of the Mexican president) on TV today. All saying nice things about NAFTA, and the need to keep it going.
Nobody said anything about admitting the UK to NAFTA.
We had The Donald on TV yesterday trashing NAFTA up one side and down the other. He promises to "renegotiate" the NAFTA treaty. He claimed that NAFTA is a US job killer. In this, he has, or ought to have, the warm support of US unions who have been anti NAFTA since the beginning.
We had the "three amigos) (Obama, Trudeau, and I can't remember the name of the Mexican president) on TV today. All saying nice things about NAFTA, and the need to keep it going.
Nobody said anything about admitting the UK to NAFTA.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Why we need President Trump
Best reason. If elected, The Donald might actually do something in office rather than just going with the flow. The polls have 70% of the population saying America is on the wrong track. Trump might get us back on the right track. Hillary won't. She is totally owned by Wall St and special interests (who paid $40 odd million for her). She thinks things are just fine, and is promising not to change anything.
Of course, it would be nice to know just what Trump might do in office. So far his campaign promises have been either vague, or improbable. He needs to work on that. At least he isn't owned by any one.
Trump is loyal to the United States and to its people. Hillary is only loyal to Hillary. I really do think The Donald will act in the best interests of the country. He may not always get it right, but he will try. Hillary is more interested in lining her own pockets.
Trump does know something about business in the real world. He has survived, and even prospered in the New York real estate business, a very tough business. He knows how to read a balance sheet, he knows the difference between income and expenses, he knows what it means to meet payroll. I doubt that Hillary even knows how to balance her checkbook.
Trump might even fix the federal income tax. Close every loophole, lower every rate. Hillary won't do that.
Trump won't try and take everyone's guns away. Hillary will.
Trump will sign an Obama care repeal. Hillary won't. Obamacare is such a drag on business that it has sucked our GNP growth down to less than 1%.
Trump will nominate decent Supreme Court justices. Hillary will pack the court with lefties.
Of course, it would be nice to know just what Trump might do in office. So far his campaign promises have been either vague, or improbable. He needs to work on that. At least he isn't owned by any one.
Trump is loyal to the United States and to its people. Hillary is only loyal to Hillary. I really do think The Donald will act in the best interests of the country. He may not always get it right, but he will try. Hillary is more interested in lining her own pockets.
Trump does know something about business in the real world. He has survived, and even prospered in the New York real estate business, a very tough business. He knows how to read a balance sheet, he knows the difference between income and expenses, he knows what it means to meet payroll. I doubt that Hillary even knows how to balance her checkbook.
Trump might even fix the federal income tax. Close every loophole, lower every rate. Hillary won't do that.
Trump won't try and take everyone's guns away. Hillary will.
Trump will sign an Obama care repeal. Hillary won't. Obamacare is such a drag on business that it has sucked our GNP growth down to less than 1%.
Trump will nominate decent Supreme Court justices. Hillary will pack the court with lefties.
Benghazi, more stuff they won't talk about.
I posted about the firing of US general officers shortly after Benghazi. Right here.
Benghazi, what they don't talk about
We have Trey Gowdy on TV right now, and as you might imagine, what he is saying isn't very complementary to Hillary. He is urging everyone to read his 800 page report. Whew.
Trey never talked about air support, or the lack of air support. We should have had fighters over Benghasi within two hours. We have plenty of fighter bases and aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. They should have had alert birds standing 5 minute alert. That's what my old USAF fighter squadron did 50 years ago. We kept two birds, fully armed and fueled, on five minute alert 24/7. Pilots sitting in the ready room. Occasional scrambles, just to make sure everything works.
I will grant that supersonic fighters are not my first choice for defending a consulate on the ground. But having fighters overhead would be a tremendous morale boost for the defenders on the ground. A low level pass, supersonic, is very discouraging to attackers. Even more discouraging when you do a little strafing on the way. And the fighters can get there faster than anything else.
Along with the fighters, we should have dispatched armed troops by air. Helicopters if they are close enough, fixed wing if not. For fixed wing, the troops parachute in, or the aircraft lands on the closest airport. Surely Benghasi has a city airport. C-130's have been landed on aircraft carriers, which means they can get into any imaginable airfield, no matter how puny.
Finally, Trey Gowdy did not talk about the two US general officers who were relieved of duty that very night. These two officers were canned for preparing to send relief forces to Benghazi.
Trey never talked about air support, or the lack of air support. We should have had fighters over Benghasi within two hours. We have plenty of fighter bases and aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. They should have had alert birds standing 5 minute alert. That's what my old USAF fighter squadron did 50 years ago. We kept two birds, fully armed and fueled, on five minute alert 24/7. Pilots sitting in the ready room. Occasional scrambles, just to make sure everything works.
I will grant that supersonic fighters are not my first choice for defending a consulate on the ground. But having fighters overhead would be a tremendous morale boost for the defenders on the ground. A low level pass, supersonic, is very discouraging to attackers. Even more discouraging when you do a little strafing on the way. And the fighters can get there faster than anything else.
Along with the fighters, we should have dispatched armed troops by air. Helicopters if they are close enough, fixed wing if not. For fixed wing, the troops parachute in, or the aircraft lands on the closest airport. Surely Benghasi has a city airport. C-130's have been landed on aircraft carriers, which means they can get into any imaginable airfield, no matter how puny.
Finally, Trey Gowdy did not talk about the two US general officers who were relieved of duty that very night. These two officers were canned for preparing to send relief forces to Benghazi.
Monday, June 27, 2016
What's the difference between Brits and Scots?
An election map of the Brexit referendum shows everywhere in England except London, voting Leave, whereas every place in Scotland voted Remain. The dividing line between Scottish Remain and British Leave is very sharp and follows the old border between England and Scotland.
The TV newsies have been yacking about how the Leave voters were all working class blue collar people and the Remain voters were all London financial system operators. Maybe. But why does all of Scotland want to remain, whereas most of England wants to leave? I haven't heard any TV newsies pontificating about that.
The TV newsies have been yacking about how the Leave voters were all working class blue collar people and the Remain voters were all London financial system operators. Maybe. But why does all of Scotland want to remain, whereas most of England wants to leave? I haven't heard any TV newsies pontificating about that.
Sunday, June 26, 2016
The McLaughlin Shouting Hour
There were on for their usual half hour this morning. And not a word was said about Brexit. I guess the show was taped sometime before Friday, when the British referendum results came out. They did talk quite a bit about Venezuela's collapse. The liberal members of the show (most of 'em) tried to explain the Venezuela problem as anything but socialism. Yeah right.
The also talked about NATO's plan to station ONE battalion (1000 men) in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland. Total 4000 troops. This is nothingness. Four divisions, 40,000 men would be more like it. Hitler launched a hundred divisions in 1941. Then there was some yellow belly talk about how the Baltic states don't really matter and we should not be risking war with Russia over them . I'll admit that war with Russia is a real downer, but letting the Russians take over free and independent countries sticks in my craw.
The also talked about NATO's plan to station ONE battalion (1000 men) in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland. Total 4000 troops. This is nothingness. Four divisions, 40,000 men would be more like it. Hitler launched a hundred divisions in 1941. Then there was some yellow belly talk about how the Baltic states don't really matter and we should not be risking war with Russia over them . I'll admit that war with Russia is a real downer, but letting the Russians take over free and independent countries sticks in my craw.
Who is Tim Kaine?
I never heard of him. Beat the Press was pushing him as Hillary's VP this morning. They had him on the show. He sounded like a perfectly ordinary middle aged pol from Virginia, nothing outstanding. But he surely has a name recognition problem. I'm a political junkie, and I never heard of him before.
Good luck Tim. You will need more support than just NBC to make it.
Good luck Tim. You will need more support than just NBC to make it.
Saturday, June 25, 2016
Let's Drive ISIS/ISIL/IS off the internet
Radical Islamic Terrorists use the internet for propaganda, radicalizing, recruitment, fund raising, and communication. ISIS/ISIL/IS is the worst of 'em right now, but there are plenty of others. Al Quada, Boko Haram, the Wahabis, and more.
We (the US and it's allies) ought to make a serious effort to drive them off the Internet. Their web sites ought to just disappear, their email should be intercepted, read, and discarded. Like wise their text messages. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogspot pages ought to self destruct. Plus anything else we can detect.
This is censorship, but I submit that censoring murderous terrorists is better than getting shot by them. And more effective than trying to take guns away from law abiding citizens.
We (the US and it's allies) ought to make a serious effort to drive them off the Internet. Their web sites ought to just disappear, their email should be intercepted, read, and discarded. Like wise their text messages. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Blogspot pages ought to self destruct. Plus anything else we can detect.
This is censorship, but I submit that censoring murderous terrorists is better than getting shot by them. And more effective than trying to take guns away from law abiding citizens.
Friday, June 24, 2016
The Brits did it.
The polls had it close, and it was. The London bookies were wrong, they were quoting 84% to remain. American investors didn't think Brexit would happen, and yesterday they were happily buying stocks on the assumption that Brexit would not happen. Today, with the US market opening in a few minutes, I, and the TV newsies, expect a wave of selling. European markets, already open, have taken a nosedive.
The interesting question, after the first ripples settle out, it what happens to Britain in the long term. Something like 50% to 60% of Britain's exports go to the EU. Right now, or at least yesterday, those exports go duty free. The EU may decide to force Britain to pay full EU tariffs, which will hurt a lot. They may decide other things. There are a couple of countries like Norway and Switzerland that are not EU members, but enjoy tariff free entry to the EU market. I don't see why the EU would cut Britain any favors, but what do I know? The Brits may seek entry to NAFTA, and I have no idea how that would work out.
The EU has it's own troubles, the Euro is shaky, they are still paying off the Greeks, and they have the humongous refugee problem. Britain was the second strongest member (after Germany) and a lot of Europeans will miss the Brits. They served as a counterweight to the Germans, who are the biggest and richest country. With the Brits out, Germany will pretty much run the EU.
Brexit surely hands the whole European unity project a big setback European unity got started right after WWII, with the object of welding Europe together into a single country to prevent another World War from breaking out. It's been on a roll ever since. All of Western Europe joined up, they started up the Euro, and all the Russian satellite countries joined right up as soon as the Russian's iron grip slacked off. What happens next is hard to predict.
What the EU ought to do is tighten up their financial system, tell the dead beat countries like Greece no more handouts. Create bank deposit insurance, and come up with a uniform set of banking regulations to prevent setting up banks in places with no regulations, that proceed to do all sorts of shady deals. And loosen up labor laws, permitting lay offs when business drops off, fewer holidays, less vacation, and a 40 hour work week.
Whether the EU will do this is anybody's guess.
The interesting question, after the first ripples settle out, it what happens to Britain in the long term. Something like 50% to 60% of Britain's exports go to the EU. Right now, or at least yesterday, those exports go duty free. The EU may decide to force Britain to pay full EU tariffs, which will hurt a lot. They may decide other things. There are a couple of countries like Norway and Switzerland that are not EU members, but enjoy tariff free entry to the EU market. I don't see why the EU would cut Britain any favors, but what do I know? The Brits may seek entry to NAFTA, and I have no idea how that would work out.
The EU has it's own troubles, the Euro is shaky, they are still paying off the Greeks, and they have the humongous refugee problem. Britain was the second strongest member (after Germany) and a lot of Europeans will miss the Brits. They served as a counterweight to the Germans, who are the biggest and richest country. With the Brits out, Germany will pretty much run the EU.
Brexit surely hands the whole European unity project a big setback European unity got started right after WWII, with the object of welding Europe together into a single country to prevent another World War from breaking out. It's been on a roll ever since. All of Western Europe joined up, they started up the Euro, and all the Russian satellite countries joined right up as soon as the Russian's iron grip slacked off. What happens next is hard to predict.
What the EU ought to do is tighten up their financial system, tell the dead beat countries like Greece no more handouts. Create bank deposit insurance, and come up with a uniform set of banking regulations to prevent setting up banks in places with no regulations, that proceed to do all sorts of shady deals. And loosen up labor laws, permitting lay offs when business drops off, fewer holidays, less vacation, and a 40 hour work week.
Whether the EU will do this is anybody's guess.
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Words of the Weasel Part 31
"Sexual Assault". The proper, long established word is rape. That's a felony in every state that I am aware of. Rape is forced sexual intercourse. And, it has been a felony for a couple of thousand years. Law enforcement should be called in the event of rape. There are standards of evidence that must be met to secure a rape conviction.
"Sexual Assault" is a new phrase which can mean anything from unwanted touching, to stealing a kiss, up thru rape. College administrators are judging cases of "sexual assault" and universally finding the man guilty, and expelling him from the college, in kangaroo courts, where the accuser is not required to be present, and where the accused is denied a lawyer, and denied a chance to confront his accuser.
By my lights, the entire concept of "sexual assault" should be discarded. In cases of rape, the accuser should go to law enforcement. The college should offer transportation to and from the police station. College administrators are incompetent to deal with rape, and mostly too biased to give a fair hearing, even if they were competent. Rape should always be handled by law enforcement.
"Sexual Assault" is a new phrase which can mean anything from unwanted touching, to stealing a kiss, up thru rape. College administrators are judging cases of "sexual assault" and universally finding the man guilty, and expelling him from the college, in kangaroo courts, where the accuser is not required to be present, and where the accused is denied a lawyer, and denied a chance to confront his accuser.
By my lights, the entire concept of "sexual assault" should be discarded. In cases of rape, the accuser should go to law enforcement. The college should offer transportation to and from the police station. College administrators are incompetent to deal with rape, and mostly too biased to give a fair hearing, even if they were competent. Rape should always be handled by law enforcement.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Selling cars with pussy cats
Land Rover is running a TV ad for their Range Rover. Said ad features a large white pussy cat as a sort of mascot/symbol/hood ornament/whatever. Used to be, back in the day, cars that couldn't run strong, were called pussy cats. Guess the Range Rover ad team didn't know this.
Words of the Weasel Part 30
"investigation" or "under investigation" What cops say when they don't want to answer a reporter's questions. Work too. The reporters always back off and drop the subject.
"Investment" Hillary speak meaning "spending".
"Investment" Hillary speak meaning "spending".
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Is it a two man (two person?) race now?
Not really for The Donald. He has Hillary to trash, Sanders voters to woo, women voters to pacify, his base wanting more red meat speeches, some backstabbing inside his own campaign (Cory Lewandoski and the Republican establishment), and a number of way out campaign promises (get Mexico to pay for the wall, ban Muslim immigration, and others) that will be very hard to make good on. That seems like a pretty full house of troubles needing dealing with.
For real amazement, the newsies are reporting that Hillary has been spending millions on TV ads. The Donald is spending zip on TV. The last poll they showed on TV had The Donald pretty much even with Hillary despite the wide difference in TV ad spending.
Can The Donald pull it off? Or are we doomed to a Hillary presidency?
For real amazement, the newsies are reporting that Hillary has been spending millions on TV ads. The Donald is spending zip on TV. The last poll they showed on TV had The Donald pretty much even with Hillary despite the wide difference in TV ad spending.
Can The Donald pull it off? Or are we doomed to a Hillary presidency?
Monday, June 20, 2016
Do you believe in Evil?
I do. I believe there is evil in the world, and evil people out there doing evil. Many people do not believe in the existence of evil.. Scratch a multi cultural liberal, and you will find someone who believes that all people are good, and evil doers are simply misinformed. Or misunderstood.
Me, I believe that evil exists, and that it is good to oppose evil. The most effective opposition comes from the use of firearms. Certainly in the United States, the availability of firearms deters a lot of crime. The would be robber has to worry about the storekeeper with a handgun in the cash drawer. The would be house breaker has to worry about the homeowner with a shotgun. The would be carjacker has to worry about a piece in the glove compartment. And even the American police are usually quite polite, partly because they know the citizen they offend might be armed, and might do something about it.
And so, I believe in the private ownership of firearms. And I want my firearms to be as deadly as possible, within certain limits. Once firearms are displayed, I want to win the ensuing gunfight. The biggest limit is the prohibition on private ownership of machine guns. This was made law back in Al Capone's time. It seems reasonable, and the law is still on the books and still enforced.
The AR-15 (and lookalikes from SIG Saur and others) has been Army issue since the Viet Nam war. Most guys were trained on this rifle in the service. After they leave the service and go out to buy a deer rifle, they often choose the AR-15 'cause they are familiar with it. It's enough gun for deer, it doesn't kick much. Ammunition is cheap and widely available. There are a LOT of them out there, and taking them away from that many owners would be VERY difficult indeed.
The current Democratic push for more gun control (more ways to take citizen's guns away) leaves me cold. Ordinary citizens ought to have a gun around the house, just in case ISIS come calling, or the house breakers turn up.
Me, I believe that evil exists, and that it is good to oppose evil. The most effective opposition comes from the use of firearms. Certainly in the United States, the availability of firearms deters a lot of crime. The would be robber has to worry about the storekeeper with a handgun in the cash drawer. The would be house breaker has to worry about the homeowner with a shotgun. The would be carjacker has to worry about a piece in the glove compartment. And even the American police are usually quite polite, partly because they know the citizen they offend might be armed, and might do something about it.
And so, I believe in the private ownership of firearms. And I want my firearms to be as deadly as possible, within certain limits. Once firearms are displayed, I want to win the ensuing gunfight. The biggest limit is the prohibition on private ownership of machine guns. This was made law back in Al Capone's time. It seems reasonable, and the law is still on the books and still enforced.
The AR-15 (and lookalikes from SIG Saur and others) has been Army issue since the Viet Nam war. Most guys were trained on this rifle in the service. After they leave the service and go out to buy a deer rifle, they often choose the AR-15 'cause they are familiar with it. It's enough gun for deer, it doesn't kick much. Ammunition is cheap and widely available. There are a LOT of them out there, and taking them away from that many owners would be VERY difficult indeed.
The current Democratic push for more gun control (more ways to take citizen's guns away) leaves me cold. Ordinary citizens ought to have a gun around the house, just in case ISIS come calling, or the house breakers turn up.
Friday, June 17, 2016
What did the founding fathers mean by the word "militia"?
Something different from what we moderns think it means. In the eighteenth century there were two kinds of armed force. Regulars, well drilled, uniformed, paid, and used by the king to suppress his political enemies. And militia, amateur, not uniformed, little training. In a standup fight, regulars could beat militia every single time. But, in colonial America, it was the militia that stood to arms in the event of Indian raids, pirate attacks, French attacks, Spanish attacks, and plain old banditry and cattle rustling. The militia may not have been as effective as regulars, but in roadless heavily wooded America, the militia were there when they were needed. Where as it might take a month for a regular force to march up from barracks and engage the enemy. And, the militia were politically reliable. You didn't have militia out enforcing the king's taxes, the king's press gangs, arresting smugglers and political enemies. Being members of the community, the militia wasn't going to oppress their own community like the way regulars were happy to do.
And so, the founding fathers, setting up a democratic government over a vast territory, decided the militia were the obvious solution to the defense problem. Militia would not become a Praetorian Guard, making and unmaking presidents and Congresses. Militia didn't get paid, a great savings on the public purse. And you could have a really big militia, essentially every able bodied man in the country. Hence the second amendment, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state...."
The militia principle was effective as late as 1940 when Japanese admiral Yamamoto said " To invade the United States is impossible. There would be a rifleman behind every blade of grass."
And so, the founding fathers, setting up a democratic government over a vast territory, decided the militia were the obvious solution to the defense problem. Militia would not become a Praetorian Guard, making and unmaking presidents and Congresses. Militia didn't get paid, a great savings on the public purse. And you could have a really big militia, essentially every able bodied man in the country. Hence the second amendment, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state...."
The militia principle was effective as late as 1940 when Japanese admiral Yamamoto said " To invade the United States is impossible. There would be a rifleman behind every blade of grass."
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Finding Neverland 2004
It has a great cast, Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Dustin Hoffman. It's set in Edwardian London, sets and costumes are superb. Charming London horse drawn cabs, equally charming turn of the century automobiles. The story is that of J.M. Barrie creating Peter Pan as a stage play on the London stage. Barrie is married, but for the duration of the movie, he neglects his wife, and hangs out with a charming widow and her four boys. All that said, the movie doesn't click.
First off, it suffers from the curse of the soundman, probably as bad as it gets. I could not hear the dialog. The actors whispered, spoke in thick dialect, and mumbled. No names were ever mentioned. I had to check IMDB this morning to learn the widow's stage name.
And it is slow moving. Takes forever to get to the point. Plot is weak. For instance, we never see how Barrie manages to bring such an unconventional play as Peter Pan to the stage. Is he independently wealthy and financed it himself? Is Barrie enormously effective in selling the concept to dubious theater owners and backers, kind of like Peter Jackson in our own time? something else? We never know. The nameless widow, comes down with something, and dies in the last reel. For no good reason I could see.
Too bad. It could have been cool.
First off, it suffers from the curse of the soundman, probably as bad as it gets. I could not hear the dialog. The actors whispered, spoke in thick dialect, and mumbled. No names were ever mentioned. I had to check IMDB this morning to learn the widow's stage name.
And it is slow moving. Takes forever to get to the point. Plot is weak. For instance, we never see how Barrie manages to bring such an unconventional play as Peter Pan to the stage. Is he independently wealthy and financed it himself? Is Barrie enormously effective in selling the concept to dubious theater owners and backers, kind of like Peter Jackson in our own time? something else? We never know. The nameless widow, comes down with something, and dies in the last reel. For no good reason I could see.
Too bad. It could have been cool.
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Do you want to let the FBI cancel your 2nd Amendment rights?
The Democrats are pushing for it. They are making a fuss in the Senate right now about a bill to prevent gun sales to anyone on the FBI's no-fly list. Scary. The FBI runs the no-fly list. They can put anyone on it, no evidence required. There is no way to get off it. Once on, you are stuck on.
Right now, only conviction by a judge in a real court, with a jury, a defense lawyer, and an appeal process gets you on the cannot-buy-firearms list. The Democrats want to hand that authority down to rank and file FBI agents. I think that's a bad idea. We ought to leave citizen's rights with the courts, not the cops.
Democrats love the idea.
Right now, only conviction by a judge in a real court, with a jury, a defense lawyer, and an appeal process gets you on the cannot-buy-firearms list. The Democrats want to hand that authority down to rank and file FBI agents. I think that's a bad idea. We ought to leave citizen's rights with the courts, not the cops.
Democrats love the idea.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
More thoughts about Orlando
This horrible event has completely dominated the TV news since Sunday. They don't talk about anything else. Here are some things that are true but the TV newsies don't talk about it much.
1. Two senior American Muslim clerics denounced the killings, in strong terms. That's the first time I have ever heard of that. It is a good thing.
2. The dead all bear Hispanic names, yet the newsies talk about the killer bearing a grudge against gays. From the evidence, the killer might as well have born a grudge against Hispanics.
3. There are no objective differences between "assault rifles" and deer rifles. Objective differences are things you can measure with a ruler. The anti gun people are calling for an "assault rife" ban hoping that all rifles will be declared to be "assault rifles" and thus banned.
4. The FBI interviewed the shooter TWICE and decided that they didn't have enough evidence to charge him with a crime. What should have happened, and did not. The FBI agents should have evaluated the shooter as a violent nutcase, a homicidal maniac. They should have been able to initiate proceedings to confine the shooter to a mental hospital, before he flipped completely out and killed 50 people.
5. The United States has 5000 miles of land border, much of it running thru roadless wildness. Anyone with a pair of decent hiking boots can just walk across the border. Plus we have 4000 miles of seacoast, studded with marinas, boat launches, yacht clubs and docks. Any small boat coming in from the sea is just another yachting or fishing party coming back to port at the end of the day. You can't keep 'em out, you have to find 'em and catch 'em after they get here.
1. Two senior American Muslim clerics denounced the killings, in strong terms. That's the first time I have ever heard of that. It is a good thing.
2. The dead all bear Hispanic names, yet the newsies talk about the killer bearing a grudge against gays. From the evidence, the killer might as well have born a grudge against Hispanics.
3. There are no objective differences between "assault rifles" and deer rifles. Objective differences are things you can measure with a ruler. The anti gun people are calling for an "assault rife" ban hoping that all rifles will be declared to be "assault rifles" and thus banned.
4. The FBI interviewed the shooter TWICE and decided that they didn't have enough evidence to charge him with a crime. What should have happened, and did not. The FBI agents should have evaluated the shooter as a violent nutcase, a homicidal maniac. They should have been able to initiate proceedings to confine the shooter to a mental hospital, before he flipped completely out and killed 50 people.
5. The United States has 5000 miles of land border, much of it running thru roadless wildness. Anyone with a pair of decent hiking boots can just walk across the border. Plus we have 4000 miles of seacoast, studded with marinas, boat launches, yacht clubs and docks. Any small boat coming in from the sea is just another yachting or fishing party coming back to port at the end of the day. You can't keep 'em out, you have to find 'em and catch 'em after they get here.
Sunday, June 12, 2016
Pulse nightclub massacre, Orlando. Nobody shot back.
My deepest sympathies to the victims and their families. Newsies are still not fully up to speed on this one. Question nobody is asking: Howcum in a crowded club, several hundred patrons, nobody was carrying? Just one little pocket pistol might have stopped the bastard before he killed so many.
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Teacher Training
Cover story in the Economist. Their shtick is teacher training this week. We can solve all our education problems with radically more effective teacher training, so says the Economist. Good teachers are not born, they are trained. No discussion of phonics vs whole word method of teaching reading. No discussion of Common Core. No numbers anywhere.
Me, I'm not so sure. To teach public school in the US, you have to suffer thru the education major in college. Four years of meaningless blather. Those who survive and go on to teach, either were highly motivated, or totally dull, to put up with the total boredom of the ed major.
I went thru nine years of public school, three years of a very good prep school and four years of a good college. In this sixteen year educational odyssey I encountered quite a few teachers, most decent, some extra ordinary, and some worthless. Then I went into the Air Force, and took a few classes from the Field Training Detachment (FTD in USAF speak). The instructors in FTD were uniformly excellent, as good as any teacher I'd ever had. These instructors were just ordinary enlisted men, pulled right off the flight line, no college, on their second hitch in the Air Force. And they were good. Their students were all teenage guys, of prime trouble causing age, but they never had any trouble. And the students learned the stuff. They paid attention, did the homework, passed the tests.
What made the FTD instructors so good? First of all, they knew their subject matter, backwards and forwards, standing on their heads and underwater. Then the subject matter was interesting, jet engines, machine shop work, hydraulics, aircraft instruments, guided missiles, radar, autopilot, sheet metal work, avionics and more. For young guys with a day job doing aircraft maintenance, all this stuff was interesting. It really helps the instructor to be teaching something his students care about.
And the instructors were motivated. They knew that the teenagers they were instructing were the future of the Air Force, and they were all career Air Force men, who deeply cared about the Air Force. They gave their best, and it worked.
Bottom line, I don't think good teachers are born or trained. Good teaching happens when the teacher knows his subject thoroughly, and cares about his students. And it really helps to teach subjects that the students care about. .
Me, I'm not so sure. To teach public school in the US, you have to suffer thru the education major in college. Four years of meaningless blather. Those who survive and go on to teach, either were highly motivated, or totally dull, to put up with the total boredom of the ed major.
I went thru nine years of public school, three years of a very good prep school and four years of a good college. In this sixteen year educational odyssey I encountered quite a few teachers, most decent, some extra ordinary, and some worthless. Then I went into the Air Force, and took a few classes from the Field Training Detachment (FTD in USAF speak). The instructors in FTD were uniformly excellent, as good as any teacher I'd ever had. These instructors were just ordinary enlisted men, pulled right off the flight line, no college, on their second hitch in the Air Force. And they were good. Their students were all teenage guys, of prime trouble causing age, but they never had any trouble. And the students learned the stuff. They paid attention, did the homework, passed the tests.
What made the FTD instructors so good? First of all, they knew their subject matter, backwards and forwards, standing on their heads and underwater. Then the subject matter was interesting, jet engines, machine shop work, hydraulics, aircraft instruments, guided missiles, radar, autopilot, sheet metal work, avionics and more. For young guys with a day job doing aircraft maintenance, all this stuff was interesting. It really helps the instructor to be teaching something his students care about.
And the instructors were motivated. They knew that the teenagers they were instructing were the future of the Air Force, and they were all career Air Force men, who deeply cared about the Air Force. They gave their best, and it worked.
Bottom line, I don't think good teachers are born or trained. Good teaching happens when the teacher knows his subject thoroughly, and cares about his students. And it really helps to teach subjects that the students care about. .
Friday, June 10, 2016
House passes Puerto Rico bill.
The Hill, usually a pretty good source, is fairly clueless on this one. They give a good discussion of the back and forth tugging to pass it. Nothing about what's in it. They give one brief quote from Paul Ryan to the effect that there is no taxpayer money going to Puerto Rico, but that's it. I hope that's true. There was talk a few weeks ago, about setting up a special board/commission/bureau in Washington to supervise Puerto Rico's government and it's spending habits. The Hill didn't say anything about that.
Such a bill ought to offer Puerto Rico protection for law suits while a bankruptcy court sorts out the island's finances. Without the customary protection from lawsuits, Puerto Rico and the courts would be swamped as every lender and every supplier, and every union, and every body else sues Puerto Rico for the money they think they are due. You gotta shut all that off to get any where.
Was I the bankruptcy judge, with full powers, I would tell the lenders to suck it up. It's been obvious to anyone for the past 20 years that Puerto Rico had no way, and never would have a way. to repay the loans. For making dumb loans, the lenders deserve to loose. I'd review all the island pensions, and chop them back to barely enough to live on. I'd review the government payroll, I understand that a third of the island's residents are on it, and lay off a lot of 'em. I'd shake up the island's tax collection department and drive them to collect all the taxes owed, by everyone.
Such a bill ought to offer Puerto Rico protection for law suits while a bankruptcy court sorts out the island's finances. Without the customary protection from lawsuits, Puerto Rico and the courts would be swamped as every lender and every supplier, and every union, and every body else sues Puerto Rico for the money they think they are due. You gotta shut all that off to get any where.
Was I the bankruptcy judge, with full powers, I would tell the lenders to suck it up. It's been obvious to anyone for the past 20 years that Puerto Rico had no way, and never would have a way. to repay the loans. For making dumb loans, the lenders deserve to loose. I'd review all the island pensions, and chop them back to barely enough to live on. I'd review the government payroll, I understand that a third of the island's residents are on it, and lay off a lot of 'em. I'd shake up the island's tax collection department and drive them to collect all the taxes owed, by everyone.
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