Gospel at the Wall St Journal (and probably the other business publications too) is that raising interest rates hurts the stock market and falling interest rates help the stock market. The Journal is the only business publication I read, so I don't really know if the rest of the business press follows the Journal's gospel, but it's a good bet that they do.
Why this link between market performance and interest rates? Could it be that a lot of stock is bought for speculation, and on borrowed money? Margin accounts with brokerages, where the stock broker loans the investor/speculator the money to buy the stock, and the investor/speculator pledges the stock as collateral to back the loan.
Is this a good thing? Margin accounts can really slam the market hard. When the market goes down, like it did this month, the value of the stock pledged as collateral goes down. And the broker calls the investor/speculator and asks for more money to back the loan. A margin call. The only way most investor/speculators have to raise the money is to sell the stock, which drives the market down further.
The social good that the stock market performs is to make stocks into a very liquid asset. I can buy stock with my extra cash, knowing that when I need the money for something, I can sell the stock, quickly. Without the stock market, should I need to turn my stock into cash, it might take months to find someone who wants to buy my stock. And without the market doing deals and publishing the stock price, I would be hard pressed to get a decent price for my stock. I might decide not to put my money into stocks, but rather such economy boosting assets as antiques, artworks, classic cars, coins, stamps, cyber currency, or betting on sports.
The social purpose of the joint stock company is to channel investor money into companies that use the money to build factories, build railroads, buy equipment, and grow the economy. If the investor's money is just a loan, then the investor is sucking up loan money that could just as well be borrowed from banks by the company itself, rather than giving the investor a cut.
The stock market has a lot of gambling built into it. Do margin accounts, and borrowing to buy stock make it easier for companies to raise money, or do they just support the gambling part of the market? If we forbid borrowing to buy stock, would the market be steadier and more predictable?
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
V-22 Osprey vs large Helicopters
A few numbers:
Chinook CH-47
Cost $38 million
Combat Radius 200 miles
Cruise Speed 160 knots
Payload 24,000 lbs
Super Stallion CH53
Cost $24 million
Combat Radius 621 miles
Cruise Speed 150 knots
Payload 30,000 lbs
Osprey V-22
Cost $72.1 million
Combat Radius 426 miles
Cruise Speed 275 knots
Payload 20,000 lbs
The Marine Corps loves the V-22. Not sure why. All the V-22 offers over the CH53 is much higher cruise speed. The CH-53 has better combat radius and payload. We could buy three CH-53 helicopters for the price of a single V-22.
Chinook CH-47
Cost $38 million
Combat Radius 200 miles
Cruise Speed 160 knots
Payload 24,000 lbs
Super Stallion CH53
Cost $24 million
Combat Radius 621 miles
Cruise Speed 150 knots
Payload 30,000 lbs
Osprey V-22
Cost $72.1 million
Combat Radius 426 miles
Cruise Speed 275 knots
Payload 20,000 lbs
The Marine Corps loves the V-22. Not sure why. All the V-22 offers over the CH53 is much higher cruise speed. The CH-53 has better combat radius and payload. We could buy three CH-53 helicopters for the price of a single V-22.
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Taking Honest Work From Trial Lawyers
Yesterday's Wall St Journal had an op-ed piece headlined "Safety from Hackers -- and Trial Lawyers". The author, Brian E. Finch is a lawyer working for a "cyber security" law firm. He is advocating passage of the "Cyber Safety Act" thru Congress. This act would shield companies from law suits over security breaches.
Right now, companies can get sued down to their socks when hackers get thru their security and steal customer lists, with addresses and credit card numbers. Mr. Evans thinks this liability is horrible and discourages innovation in the tech industry.
Me, I think fear of lawsuits is the only thing preventing companies from selling even more insecure products than they do today. Suing Micro$oft for the uncounted security holes in Windows would improve world wide cyber security. The hackers that cracked the federal Office of Personal Management got their hands on my old Air Force service records and records of security clearances that I held for years after leaving the Air Force. Right now, any thoughtful company will take all the precautions it can think of to keep hackers out, for fear of dreadful law suits and market annilation when loopholes let the hackers in.
We got a lot of excess lawyers sloshing around the country, mostly causing trouble. Let's put them to work suing companies that peddle insecure products or who fail to safeguard their customer's records.
Right now, companies can get sued down to their socks when hackers get thru their security and steal customer lists, with addresses and credit card numbers. Mr. Evans thinks this liability is horrible and discourages innovation in the tech industry.
Me, I think fear of lawsuits is the only thing preventing companies from selling even more insecure products than they do today. Suing Micro$oft for the uncounted security holes in Windows would improve world wide cyber security. The hackers that cracked the federal Office of Personal Management got their hands on my old Air Force service records and records of security clearances that I held for years after leaving the Air Force. Right now, any thoughtful company will take all the precautions it can think of to keep hackers out, for fear of dreadful law suits and market annilation when loopholes let the hackers in.
We got a lot of excess lawyers sloshing around the country, mostly causing trouble. Let's put them to work suing companies that peddle insecure products or who fail to safeguard their customer's records.
Meet Jane Walker
Big liquor company Diageo is launching a whiskey for women brand. Called Jane Walker, with a snappy new label showing a sharp looking female version of Johnny Walker. The scotch inside will be the same as what goes into Johnny Walker Black Label bottles.
Will it sell? Consider that few guys will buy a women's whiskey, which cuts the new brand off from half the population, the harder drinking half. How many women will buy a women's whiskey rather than the old reliable well known Johnny Walker? Or old reliable Cutty Sark, J&B, or Ballentine for half the price of Jane Walker ?
Will it sell? Consider that few guys will buy a women's whiskey, which cuts the new brand off from half the population, the harder drinking half. How many women will buy a women's whiskey rather than the old reliable well known Johnny Walker? Or old reliable Cutty Sark, J&B, or Ballentine for half the price of Jane Walker ?
Monday, February 26, 2018
Dr. Seuss is back on top
Wall St Journal, best selling books week ended 18 Feb.
Hardcover Fiction
Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss Number 6 in sales
One Fish Two fish Red fish Blue Fish Dr. Seuss Number 10 in sales.
Not bad for a couple of children's books that have been in print like forever.
Hardcover Fiction
Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss Number 6 in sales
One Fish Two fish Red fish Blue Fish Dr. Seuss Number 10 in sales.
Not bad for a couple of children's books that have been in print like forever.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Alternate History: WWII Might have beens
Everyone agrees that Hitler's greatest mistake was to take on the Russians before finishing off the British. In 1940 the German army had shown it was lightyears ahead of every other army. The Germans had occupied Denmark and Norway, invaded and conquered Poland, Holland, Belgium, and even France. All the Germans needed to do, to settle Britain's hash, was to get their army, actually just a small part of their army, across the English Channel. After Dunkirk the British Army was in no shape to stand off an invasion of Boy Scouts, let alone a couple of panzer divisions.
The only problem from the German point of view, was getting their army across the channel in one piece. They had about 2000 Rhine river barges to make the crossing in. These were seaworthy enough for a channel crossing in good weather. Summer weather. Trouble was, the British had a couple of hundred destroyers, fifty cruisers, and a dozen real battleships to oppose such a crossing. When the British steam up along side a river barge in a destroyer, that's the end of the river barge and all its troops, (or cargo). The Germans only had about ten destroyers, some subs, a couple of cruisers, and a couple of light duty battleships. The Royal Navy would have an enjoyable turkey shoot cleaning out that batch. The only equalizer the Germans had was the Luftwaffe, and for that to be effective it had to defeat the Royal Air Force. You cannot take out surface vessels when you have Hurricanes and Spitfires on your tail. The Germans tried to take out the RAF in the summer of 1940, resulting in what we now call the Battle of Britain. Unfortunately for Hitler, the RAF out shot the Luftwaffe that summer.
One equalizer that the Germans might have obtained, the French Navy. France was a great power, and had a sizable Navy, not quite as big as the Royal Navy, but far superior to what the Germans had in 1940. The French were pissed off at the British, they blamed the British for their defeat by the Germans that summer. According to the French, the British didn't send enough troops, enough aircraft, and they bugged out when the going got tough. If the Germans had stroked the defeated French enough, they might have been able to get the French to join them in an invasion of England, and bring along their Navy. This would have required a lot more diplomacy from the Germans than was usual for them, but it might have happened. And if so, it would have been curtains for the Brits in 1940.
This worried the British so much, that they sank a good portion of the French fleet in North Africa just to make sure they didn't join the Germans.
The only problem from the German point of view, was getting their army across the channel in one piece. They had about 2000 Rhine river barges to make the crossing in. These were seaworthy enough for a channel crossing in good weather. Summer weather. Trouble was, the British had a couple of hundred destroyers, fifty cruisers, and a dozen real battleships to oppose such a crossing. When the British steam up along side a river barge in a destroyer, that's the end of the river barge and all its troops, (or cargo). The Germans only had about ten destroyers, some subs, a couple of cruisers, and a couple of light duty battleships. The Royal Navy would have an enjoyable turkey shoot cleaning out that batch. The only equalizer the Germans had was the Luftwaffe, and for that to be effective it had to defeat the Royal Air Force. You cannot take out surface vessels when you have Hurricanes and Spitfires on your tail. The Germans tried to take out the RAF in the summer of 1940, resulting in what we now call the Battle of Britain. Unfortunately for Hitler, the RAF out shot the Luftwaffe that summer.
One equalizer that the Germans might have obtained, the French Navy. France was a great power, and had a sizable Navy, not quite as big as the Royal Navy, but far superior to what the Germans had in 1940. The French were pissed off at the British, they blamed the British for their defeat by the Germans that summer. According to the French, the British didn't send enough troops, enough aircraft, and they bugged out when the going got tough. If the Germans had stroked the defeated French enough, they might have been able to get the French to join them in an invasion of England, and bring along their Navy. This would have required a lot more diplomacy from the Germans than was usual for them, but it might have happened. And if so, it would have been curtains for the Brits in 1940.
This worried the British so much, that they sank a good portion of the French fleet in North Africa just to make sure they didn't join the Germans.
Friday, February 23, 2018
Notes for auto designers
Let's talk about the driver on the interior of the car. The dashboard has to be usable in full sun and in darkness. Those dinky little digital displays, LED's usually, just aren't bright enough to see when the sun is shining in thru the windows. Where as a good round dialface, with a nice bright pointer is readable day and night. Even better would be the system we used in the Air Force. All gauges were marked in green for their normal operating range and red for dangerous ranges. Hence the term "redline".
And the cost cutters keep pushing the cheapest kind of control, a single pole single position push button. And they make black buttons on a black control panel, with tiny little legends on the buttons. Leaving us drivers fumbling in the dark just trying to change stations on the radio. The radio on my car is so bad that Buick wired up a complete second set of radio controls on the steering wheel, to make it easier to use the radio. Fine industrial design that, dual controls on a car radio. If they just made the buttons a contrasting color to the control panel it would help a lot. And they could standardize those steering wheel stalks that work the wipers and washer, the lights, the turn signals, and the slushbox. And important controls ought to be knobs that you can feel for in the dark, not pushbuttons. For extra credit put different shaped knobs on different controls so you can tell them apart by feel in the dark.
And the cost cutters keep pushing the cheapest kind of control, a single pole single position push button. And they make black buttons on a black control panel, with tiny little legends on the buttons. Leaving us drivers fumbling in the dark just trying to change stations on the radio. The radio on my car is so bad that Buick wired up a complete second set of radio controls on the steering wheel, to make it easier to use the radio. Fine industrial design that, dual controls on a car radio. If they just made the buttons a contrasting color to the control panel it would help a lot. And they could standardize those steering wheel stalks that work the wipers and washer, the lights, the turn signals, and the slushbox. And important controls ought to be knobs that you can feel for in the dark, not pushbuttons. For extra credit put different shaped knobs on different controls so you can tell them apart by feel in the dark.
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Arming school teachers?
Depends upon the teacher. Most of my elementary teachers, Miss Shirley, Miss Gaudet, Miss Percy, Mr. Convery, Mrs Falby were courageous, determined, and cool under pressure. Miss Coyne, not so much, but five out of six ain't bad. Middle school we had Miss Macglaflin, Mr Davis and Mr Sanacandro who all would qualify as courageous and competent. High school not so much. It was a a Quaker school, with most of the faculty firm believers in the Quaker doctrine of non-violence. Although I admired many of them, they were not the kind of people to draw a bead on a school shooter and let him have it right in center of mass.
But the public school teachers came from a tougher mold, at least back in those days. I wonder how teachers are now a days.
But the public school teachers came from a tougher mold, at least back in those days. I wonder how teachers are now a days.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Effective TV commercials
They have been playing one commercial, for some kinda herbal supplement. They explain it contains a miracle ingredient from jellyfish. Well, I remember the jellyfish part, but I cannot remember the name of the product. Effective that ad was.
Then there is William Devane, distinguished looking older guy, who pitchs silver and gold on TV these days. One of his ads starts out on the deck of a retired US battleship. Devane is standing in front of the main battery giving the pitch. "When the US used battleships to make its points, things were better." Although the US launched battleships starting when they were first developed, except for the Spanish American War, a tiny sideshow long ago, we never used them in combat. By the time the US Navy became the world class force, it was WWII and the battleships had been replaced by aircraft carriers.
And I still haven't invested in silver or gold.
Then there is William Devane, distinguished looking older guy, who pitchs silver and gold on TV these days. One of his ads starts out on the deck of a retired US battleship. Devane is standing in front of the main battery giving the pitch. "When the US used battleships to make its points, things were better." Although the US launched battleships starting when they were first developed, except for the Spanish American War, a tiny sideshow long ago, we never used them in combat. By the time the US Navy became the world class force, it was WWII and the battleships had been replaced by aircraft carriers.
And I still haven't invested in silver or gold.
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Parkland Shooter. What should have happened
This homicidal manic should have been confined to a mental hospital years ago. But we didn't. We don't have mental hospitals anymore. Up here in NH, mental cases often spend days confined in hospital emergency rooms, hand cuffed to the bed, 'cause there is nowhere else to put them.
Everyone admits that this shooter showed plenty of signs that were ignored and not acted upon. Resulting in 17 innocents dying.
The problem is homicidal maniacs allowed to run around loose. If they cannot buy a gun, they will find other ways to do evil.
We need a fair system to identify and confine these madmen before they do awful things.
Everyone admits that this shooter showed plenty of signs that were ignored and not acted upon. Resulting in 17 innocents dying.
The problem is homicidal maniacs allowed to run around loose. If they cannot buy a gun, they will find other ways to do evil.
We need a fair system to identify and confine these madmen before they do awful things.
Monday, February 19, 2018
AT&T Last Company Standing
All the others have changed their names. Marketing loves to change the name. They think they are smart enough think up magic names that increase sales. Right.
So here we are,
Company Old Name New Name
Electric Company. Public Service of NH Eversource
Telephone company Fairpoint Communicatons Consolidated Communications
Cable company Time Warner Spectrum
Only survivor
Long Distance Carrier AT&T AT&T
So here we are,
Company Old Name New Name
Electric Company. Public Service of NH Eversource
Telephone company Fairpoint Communicatons Consolidated Communications
Cable company Time Warner Spectrum
Only survivor
Long Distance Carrier AT&T AT&T
This ain't Chicken Feed
Alexander Soros, son of George Soros, donated $650 million to the Democrats. Wow! That is a lot of money. According to the Free Beacon.
Friday, February 16, 2018
Congress critters blow it again
70% or more of the country wants to do something good for the DACA people. Our Congress critters, Senate breed, were unable to pass anything today. The Republicans lacked the votes to pass their bill, the democrats lacked the votes to pass theirs. Neither side had the brains or the guts to find a compromise that both sides could vote for. And so, the DACA people may all get deported beginning next month.
Way to go Congress critters.
Way to go Congress critters.
Pentagon estimates $10-30 million parade cost
Chicken feed. Wall St Journal carried this. A single new jet fighter costs $80-100 million. $10-30 million is nothing. Remember Everett Dirksen's comment, "A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you are talking real money."
Thursday, February 15, 2018
Anyone got examples of Russian meddling in the 2016 election?
I read a lotta talk about Russian meddling vie social media. But I haven't seen any examples. How about a website or two? or some posts on Facebook etc. If it happened, let's see some of it.
It's Horrible
And my deepest sympathies for the victims of the Florida school shooting yesterday. And that's all I am going to say, the TV news has been saying everything under the sun since it happened yesterday. So I don't need to add my two cents worth.
Imran Amed, WSJ fashion plate
"Some ideas for fixing the fashion industry" is the headline of a piece in the Journal's Life and Arts section. It's an interview with Imran Amed, rated "No 1 in GQ India's list of Best Dressed Global Indians. Big color pictures of Imran to go with the article. If he is well dressed, I'd hate to see a real slob. Hair is uncombed. Unshaven. Wearing a low speed dark suit made from some strange fabric, not the proper woven wool of a real suit. No necktie. A salmon pink sweater under the suit jacket, with white T-shirt showing at the neckline. No shirt. And he is wearing boondocker combat boots instead of low quarter shoes. Not my idea of well dressed.
His comments on the fashion industry are super bland. He likes Gucci because they are selling well. He likes Attico because they have 124,000 Instgram followers and they are selling well. Insightful that is.
His comments on the fashion industry are super bland. He likes Gucci because they are selling well. He likes Attico because they have 124,000 Instgram followers and they are selling well. Insightful that is.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Cops work differently in Israel
The TV news is talking about Israeli cops accusing prime minister Netanyahu of corruption and mopery and dopery. They say the Israeli prosecutors now have to indict Netanyahu, which is expected to take a year or more.
Wow! Over here the cops don't have the stones to accuse powerful politicians of corruption. US cops know that the politicians control their funding, their hiring, their promotions, and much else. If the corruption charges don't stick, and in US courts anything can happen, the accused politician has plenty of time and power to take revenge on the accusers.
I guess things work differently in Israel.
Wow! Over here the cops don't have the stones to accuse powerful politicians of corruption. US cops know that the politicians control their funding, their hiring, their promotions, and much else. If the corruption charges don't stick, and in US courts anything can happen, the accused politician has plenty of time and power to take revenge on the accusers.
I guess things work differently in Israel.
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
New flu medicine
Japanese pharmacy company Shionogi announced an new anti flu drug that cures all types of flu in 24 hours, with a single dose. The Wall St Journal didn't mention a name for Shionogi's experimental drug but it is not a vaccine, it works by disrupting the flu virus' ability to take over human cells and reprogram them to produce more flu virus. The article indicated a deep understanding of the biochemistry of the flu virus. It also mentioned a fast track approval process in Japan might authorize the drug for sale as soon as next month. They talked about submitting paperwork to the US Fuddy Duddy Administration (FDA) this summer and waiting til next year for FDA approval for sale in the US.
If this works out, it will be great.
If this works out, it will be great.
Monday, February 12, 2018
What's going down in Congress about the Dreamers?
The Senate voted to discuss the matter. Typical Senate malarky, you don't vote to have a discussion. You bring a bill to the floor and discuss it. Then you vote to pass it or kill it.
Far as I can see, the Republican position, as outlined by the president is this. We do something nice (unspecified) for maybe 1.8 million DACA eligibles. We fund the border wall. We limit chain migration to immediate family, spouses and minor children. We shut down the 50,000 person "diversity lottery". We do all of this or nothing.
The Democratic position is murky. They don't talk about it. At a guess, they want nice things for at least the 800,000 people who signed up for DACA. Maybe they are OK with the border wall. They want to keep chain migration and the "diversity lottery" the way it is now. They haven't really said all this out loud, but from listening to the TV newsies, I think this is where they are coming from. I might be wrong. The democrats would do them selves a favor by a clear statement of where they are coming from.
The Republicans have some internal problems. An unknown number of Republican congress critters don't like the idea of letting anyone into the country and are against doing anything nice for 1.8 million DACA eligibles. The president ought to be able to get enough Republicans to vote his way, but you never know. The rest of the presidents ideas, border wall, chain migration and diversity lottery ought to OK with most Republican congress critters.
Neither side has described just what nice things for DACA eligibles might be. Was it up to me, I'd offer citizenship anyone who looks like a good, loyal, production citizen. Say a clean criminal record (no felony convictions) graduated high school or college, married, employed, children, veteran or some subset of these. Anyone who looks like trouble, gang members, drug runners, car jackers, and such, deport them ASAP. Short of citizenship we offer them ID cards that allow them to stay in the US, take a job, get a driver's license. For extra niceness we could make them eligible for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid.
The 800,000 vs 1.8 million comes from DACA eligibles fearing that going and registering with Mr. Migra was dangerous. Mr. Migra might betray them and use the registration to hunt them down and deport them. Which may happen unless Congress gets its act together in the next three weeks. The administration estimates that about another million DACA eligibles were smart enough to keep their heads down and stay out of sight.
Far as I can see, the Republican position, as outlined by the president is this. We do something nice (unspecified) for maybe 1.8 million DACA eligibles. We fund the border wall. We limit chain migration to immediate family, spouses and minor children. We shut down the 50,000 person "diversity lottery". We do all of this or nothing.
The Democratic position is murky. They don't talk about it. At a guess, they want nice things for at least the 800,000 people who signed up for DACA. Maybe they are OK with the border wall. They want to keep chain migration and the "diversity lottery" the way it is now. They haven't really said all this out loud, but from listening to the TV newsies, I think this is where they are coming from. I might be wrong. The democrats would do them selves a favor by a clear statement of where they are coming from.
The Republicans have some internal problems. An unknown number of Republican congress critters don't like the idea of letting anyone into the country and are against doing anything nice for 1.8 million DACA eligibles. The president ought to be able to get enough Republicans to vote his way, but you never know. The rest of the presidents ideas, border wall, chain migration and diversity lottery ought to OK with most Republican congress critters.
Neither side has described just what nice things for DACA eligibles might be. Was it up to me, I'd offer citizenship anyone who looks like a good, loyal, production citizen. Say a clean criminal record (no felony convictions) graduated high school or college, married, employed, children, veteran or some subset of these. Anyone who looks like trouble, gang members, drug runners, car jackers, and such, deport them ASAP. Short of citizenship we offer them ID cards that allow them to stay in the US, take a job, get a driver's license. For extra niceness we could make them eligible for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid.
The 800,000 vs 1.8 million comes from DACA eligibles fearing that going and registering with Mr. Migra was dangerous. Mr. Migra might betray them and use the registration to hunt them down and deport them. Which may happen unless Congress gets its act together in the next three weeks. The administration estimates that about another million DACA eligibles were smart enough to keep their heads down and stay out of sight.
Sunday, February 11, 2018
How to prevent foreign meddling in US elections
Get rid of electronic voting machines altogether. Go back to paper ballots, that can be saved and recounted. The voting machines are merely desktop computers running an "I am a ballot" program. They can be hacked before election day, on election day, and after election day. The can be hacked over the internet, at the factory, in storage at town hall, during software updates, by sticking a flash drive into their USB port, and a bunch of other ways. You cannot recount a voting machine the way you can paper ballots. Use paper ballots. That will prevent anyone from hacking the election results.
Demand source information for social media stories. And for MSM stories. If the story, no matter how juicy, doesn't have a source, it's fake news. If a juicy story lacks a source, or the source doesn't check out, you gotta say to yourself that this story is BS.
Remember that the MSM is mostly the NYT and the WaPo, and the TV networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, and CNN. These are all run by democrats and see their mission as electing democrats, not reporting the news. The NYT has been in love with Communists since the 1930's. They supported Josef Stalin, Fidel Castro, and the Viet Cong.
Demand source information for social media stories. And for MSM stories. If the story, no matter how juicy, doesn't have a source, it's fake news. If a juicy story lacks a source, or the source doesn't check out, you gotta say to yourself that this story is BS.
Remember that the MSM is mostly the NYT and the WaPo, and the TV networks, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, MSNBC, and CNN. These are all run by democrats and see their mission as electing democrats, not reporting the news. The NYT has been in love with Communists since the 1930's. They supported Josef Stalin, Fidel Castro, and the Viet Cong.
Friday, February 9, 2018
So what hath Congress Wrought?
This morning's Wall St Journal was less than clear. Partly because the Journal's stories went to press last evening before Congress voted on the thing. Far as I can tell it is yet another continuing resolution that runs out 23 March. It lifts the Federal debt limit until March next year. It lifts the spending caps by $160 billion on the military and about the same amount on "discretionary spending". It does NOT authorize spending for the entire fiscal year, just for the rest of February and most of March. And it has a lot of pages, few of which anyone has seen, let alone read.
The House voted it thru at o'dark thirty, and Trump signed it sometime after 9 AM this morning.
Between the Trump tax cut and this spending authorization every one expects the US to go in the hole by $1 trillion for this fiscal year.
The House voted it thru at o'dark thirty, and Trump signed it sometime after 9 AM this morning.
Between the Trump tax cut and this spending authorization every one expects the US to go in the hole by $1 trillion for this fiscal year.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Cannon Mt Ski Weather. Six inches of new powder snow
I just put a yard stick onto the snow on my deck, and we got a real six inches of [powder yesterday. No rain at all. Very light wind so the snow is on the trails, not blown into the woods. Skiing at Cannon will be great this weekend.
Lets have a Parade
Parades are economical. They show off your military strength to potential enemies. The Soviets used to do a big one every year on May Day. Aviation Week always ran a fair sized article about what the Soviets had displayed this year. Seeing troops and tanks marching down the street carries more impact than dry intel reports.
And, parades show the tax payers that they are getting something for their tax money. What's not to like.
And parades are cheap, especially compared to even the smallest military action. After all, the troops are all ready in the service, getting pay, uniforms, rations, and board. The extra money for a bit of parade practice and transport to and from the parade site is chickenfeed as military expenses go.
And everyone likes to watch a parade.
And, parades show the tax payers that they are getting something for their tax money. What's not to like.
And parades are cheap, especially compared to even the smallest military action. After all, the troops are all ready in the service, getting pay, uniforms, rations, and board. The extra money for a bit of parade practice and transport to and from the parade site is chickenfeed as military expenses go.
And everyone likes to watch a parade.
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
A Global Test for Kindergarteners???
Piece in today's Wall St Journal. Some ed group I never heard of is proposing a world wide test for 5 year olds, so we can compare the effectiveness between kindergartens in various places. Right.
The kids don't get taught to read until first grade. I didn't get good at reading till half way thru third grade. What kind of test can you run on kids that cannot read the questions and haven't even learned how to write (Print!) their names yet. And we are going to do this world wide? In every important language?
I always thought the purpose of Kindergarten was to get the kids used to being away from home for half the day, and to give 'em some experience in making friends and playing together. Important socializing, but how do you grade socializing? By how well the kids know the Alphabet Song?
Is this a bunch of ed majors looking for something to get funding for?
The kids don't get taught to read until first grade. I didn't get good at reading till half way thru third grade. What kind of test can you run on kids that cannot read the questions and haven't even learned how to write (Print!) their names yet. And we are going to do this world wide? In every important language?
I always thought the purpose of Kindergarten was to get the kids used to being away from home for half the day, and to give 'em some experience in making friends and playing together. Important socializing, but how do you grade socializing? By how well the kids know the Alphabet Song?
Is this a bunch of ed majors looking for something to get funding for?
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Good Day. Falcon Heavy launch successful. Stock Market is up 500 points
All 27 engines worked and worked right. Booster separation worked. A Tesla roadster is on its way to Mars. Both boosters landed safely at Cape Canaveral. The main stage was supposed to land on a ship at sea. Haven't seen the video of that, but it probably worked. Good job SpaceX. Take a few Attaboys.
And the stock market came up 500 points. It was dicey, lot of up and down movement all day, big moves too, but after yesterday's 1200 point "correction" (we don't dare say crash anymore), it is good to see the market go up instead of down.
The TV is talking about "program trading". By which they mean the computers panicked on Friday. The computers all issued sell orders which drove the Dow Jones down 1200 points, a record one day drop. Once the market starts down, the computers all have preprogrammed sell orders (sell this and that stock if the Dow drops below whatever). The computers are quick, and all their sell orders hit the market within milliseconds.
And the stock market came up 500 points. It was dicey, lot of up and down movement all day, big moves too, but after yesterday's 1200 point "correction" (we don't dare say crash anymore), it is good to see the market go up instead of down.
The TV is talking about "program trading". By which they mean the computers panicked on Friday. The computers all issued sell orders which drove the Dow Jones down 1200 points, a record one day drop. Once the market starts down, the computers all have preprogrammed sell orders (sell this and that stock if the Dow drops below whatever). The computers are quick, and all their sell orders hit the market within milliseconds.
Monday, February 5, 2018
We oughta reform US Copyright law
Right now copyright lasts for 70 years plus the life of the owner. Any thing can be copyrighted, leading to endless welfare for lawyers like the lawsuit over one click or two clicks to place an item in your digital shopping basket.
We ought to go back to a 17 year limit on terms of copyright. All the real money is made by the time 17 years is up. The author ought to get off his couch and write something new after 17 years of royalties.
US Constitution Article I Section 8 clause 8 reads "To promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." Note to the reader. This clause does not authorize copyright of "business methods" (that one-click two-click foolishness) nor mathematics, nor software, nor music. The exclusive rights are granted only to "Authors and Inventors", real individuals, not corporations, not patent trolls.
And copyright should only last while the book is in print. Once out of print, it should be legal to Xerox copies as needed.
And makers of toys and models should be immune from predatory lawyers owned and operated by the real life businesses. GM should not be able to shake small makers down just cause they are making Hot Wheels toys or plastic models of GM cars. Railroads should not be able to shake down model train makers for painting rolling stock in proto type paint schemes.
We ought to go back to a 17 year limit on terms of copyright. All the real money is made by the time 17 years is up. The author ought to get off his couch and write something new after 17 years of royalties.
US Constitution Article I Section 8 clause 8 reads "To promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." Note to the reader. This clause does not authorize copyright of "business methods" (that one-click two-click foolishness) nor mathematics, nor software, nor music. The exclusive rights are granted only to "Authors and Inventors", real individuals, not corporations, not patent trolls.
And copyright should only last while the book is in print. Once out of print, it should be legal to Xerox copies as needed.
And makers of toys and models should be immune from predatory lawyers owned and operated by the real life businesses. GM should not be able to shake small makers down just cause they are making Hot Wheels toys or plastic models of GM cars. Railroads should not be able to shake down model train makers for painting rolling stock in proto type paint schemes.
Has anything important happened in the real world lately?
The news is full of unimportant stories. The classified memo. Superbowl. Guvmint shutdowns, they have another one coming up this week just for your entertainment. Didn't anything important happen all week?
Friday, February 2, 2018
So I read the famous classified memo.
Less than earth shaking. It says the FBI flimflammed the FISA court to get a warrant for surveillance of Carter Page, a new name to me. The FBI showed the Steele document, opposition research paid for by Clinton and the DNC, to the FISA court as evidence that Carter Page needed his phone and email tapped. The FBI also showed a Yahoo news article based on leaks from Steele, as independent corroboration of the Steele document.
Seeing as how the FISA court is a pure rubber stamp, out of thousands of requests for warrants submitted to FISA, only dozen or so are ever rejected. So the famous memo identifies one case where the FBI flimflammed the FISA court and obtained a warrent improperly. Wanna bet the FBI has been doing this all along and of those thousands of warrents issued, many of them are just as bogus as the one obtained on Carter Page?
The FISA court is secret. We don't know who the judges are, where the court meets, we never get to see their transcripts and records. They can order surveillance on anybody on the flimsiest of evidence, and have been for decades. It's a rubber stamp.
We ought to close the entire FISA court thing. Law enforcement, including the FBI, should have to go to a real court, the kind that tries cases, in order to spy on American citizens.
Seeing as how the FISA court is a pure rubber stamp, out of thousands of requests for warrants submitted to FISA, only dozen or so are ever rejected. So the famous memo identifies one case where the FBI flimflammed the FISA court and obtained a warrent improperly. Wanna bet the FBI has been doing this all along and of those thousands of warrents issued, many of them are just as bogus as the one obtained on Carter Page?
The FISA court is secret. We don't know who the judges are, where the court meets, we never get to see their transcripts and records. They can order surveillance on anybody on the flimsiest of evidence, and have been for decades. It's a rubber stamp.
We ought to close the entire FISA court thing. Law enforcement, including the FBI, should have to go to a real court, the kind that tries cases, in order to spy on American citizens.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Was it AmTrak's fault?
Certainly embarrassing to wreck a train full of Congressmen. The train hit a truck at a grade crossing doing 70 mph. Killed the truck driver, shook up a lot of Congressmen who were not in their seats. Train stayed on the track, which is a good thing.
I think the fault lies with the truck driver. The grade crossing was protected, crossbucks, automatic red flashers, and automatic crossing gates. On TV you could see that the crossing gates were down. We can assume that the crossing protection gear functioned, that stuff is pretty reliable and I cannot remember a case where it failed to work. Still, someone ought to check that, just to be sure. So how did that truck get on the tracks? Either he got stuck on the tracks before the train arrived, or he was in a hurry and drove around the crossing gates. So far the newsies have not said anything about that. And, why did not the people in the truck get out and run when they heard the train coming. Trains are required to whistle (sound the horn now a days) as they approach grade crossings, two longs, a short and a very long. Those horns are loud, easily heard over the sound of a truck engine.
I think the fault lies with the truck driver. The grade crossing was protected, crossbucks, automatic red flashers, and automatic crossing gates. On TV you could see that the crossing gates were down. We can assume that the crossing protection gear functioned, that stuff is pretty reliable and I cannot remember a case where it failed to work. Still, someone ought to check that, just to be sure. So how did that truck get on the tracks? Either he got stuck on the tracks before the train arrived, or he was in a hurry and drove around the crossing gates. So far the newsies have not said anything about that. And, why did not the people in the truck get out and run when they heard the train coming. Trains are required to whistle (sound the horn now a days) as they approach grade crossings, two longs, a short and a very long. Those horns are loud, easily heard over the sound of a truck engine.
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
State of the Union
I stayed up and watched it. Trump mentioned the successes he has had so far, spoke to and of some impressive people in the visitors gallery, a policeman, a soldier, grieving parents, a 12 year old boy, a Korean freedom fighter, good people all. He announced his DACA policy, infrastructure policy, military funding policy, all good stuff, but nothing I hadn't heard before. Trump was doing a national pep rally, and doing it well. He even had me clapping in front of my flat screen TV, and I'm a cynical senior citizen. The democrats were not into pep rally, they didn't clap or stand and clap hardly at all. Cold water is what the democrats were into. Fortunately there were enough Republicans at the show to give Trump a lot of standing ovations and keep the pep rally spirit up.
So all full of good patriotic spirit I stayed up and watched young Joe Kennedy give the Democrats reply to Trump's State of the Union. Boy what a downer that was. I remember young Joe's grand father RFK, and his grand uncle JFK, and neither of them ever talked like that. Young Joe just gave a long lament about how terrible everything is, business is making money, taxes are being cut, all sorts of guvmint freebies are going away, one wail after another. A real glass half empty talk.
So all full of good patriotic spirit I stayed up and watched young Joe Kennedy give the Democrats reply to Trump's State of the Union. Boy what a downer that was. I remember young Joe's grand father RFK, and his grand uncle JFK, and neither of them ever talked like that. Young Joe just gave a long lament about how terrible everything is, business is making money, taxes are being cut, all sorts of guvmint freebies are going away, one wail after another. A real glass half empty talk.
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
The losers always cry Gerrymander
Gerrymander, the art of drawing voting district lines to favor your own party and disadvantage the opposition party. After the election, the losing party always blames a gerrymander. We have to have voting districts, otherwise everyone runs at large. Which is difficult and expensive, the candidate has to run ads, make campaign appearances, and put up yard signs all over the state, rather than just his own district. To gerrymander, you arrange the voting districts either to pack the opposition voters into a few districts which you cede to the them, or to dilute the opposition voters among your strong districts, where they never have the numbers to win the district. Elbridge Gerry, a serious Massachusetts politician, signer of the Declaration of Independence, was governor of Massachusetts after the Revolution when redistricting created an odd shaped district, long and wiggly and looking like a salamander. It was dubbed a Gerrymander, and the term has stayed in American politics ever since.
Trouble is, gerrymandering is hard to define, and thus hard to legislate against. So far all we have tried is the appointment of a "non partisan" commission to draw district lines. Such commissions are better than nothing, but not all that effective.
What we might try is a law that requires districts to be reasonable compact. Define "reasonable compact" as the longest way across the district may not exceed twice the shortest way across the district. That would outlaw the long and skinny districts.
Trouble is, gerrymandering is hard to define, and thus hard to legislate against. So far all we have tried is the appointment of a "non partisan" commission to draw district lines. Such commissions are better than nothing, but not all that effective.
What we might try is a law that requires districts to be reasonable compact. Define "reasonable compact" as the longest way across the district may not exceed twice the shortest way across the district. That would outlaw the long and skinny districts.
Sunday, January 28, 2018
The engineer missed the 30 mph speed limit sign
That's from the Wall St Journal on that train crash in Tacoma Washington this winter. Reasonable, and easy to do. And that's the engineer's story.
My only question is, after spending $180 million on bringing this line into service, why is a dangerous 30 mph curve left in the track? With $180 million to spend, I'd think they could have straightened that curve out to allow 80 mph running clean thru the whole line.
My only question is, after spending $180 million on bringing this line into service, why is a dangerous 30 mph curve left in the track? With $180 million to spend, I'd think they could have straightened that curve out to allow 80 mph running clean thru the whole line.
Saturday, January 27, 2018
I'll wash your mouth out with soap
Common threat to children using bad language. Or sassing their parents. Now the children say "I'll eat a Tide Pod"???
Even on a dare, I would not eat soap or Tide Pods, no matter what. I learned that soap tasted awful at a very early age, probably from tasting it accidentally during bath.
I don't understand the growth of Tide Pod eating among the young. When I was a kid we knew better.
Even on a dare, I would not eat soap or Tide Pods, no matter what. I learned that soap tasted awful at a very early age, probably from tasting it accidentally during bath.
I don't understand the growth of Tide Pod eating among the young. When I was a kid we knew better.
Friday, January 26, 2018
Why is Washington so disfunctional?
This came up in a discussion with youngest son. We are still close enough to talk politics even though his politics don't always agree with mine. To which I said, neither side (party) has enough votes to pass their program. The Republican majority in the Senate is now down to one since the Alabama election. The Republican majority in the house is a little bigger, but the "House Freedom Caucus" RINO's all, cannot be counted to vote with the party. In short, the Congress is deadlocked between the two parties, neither has enough votes to vote their program thru and get on with things.
The only solution is to convince more voters to join one side or the other, and give their side a solid majority. This is hard. First off, neither party has made (and published) a clear and simple statement of their views. Partly because they cannot come together on one view, and partly because of the modern conviction that stating your views just makes you enemies, never friends. Which is why politicians refrain from saying any thing of substance and talk about motherhood and apple pie.
Lacking any thing from the two parties, the voters will listen to respected public figures. But we don't have many of those any more. Used to be guys like Walter Cronkite, Jim Lehrer, and David Brinkley had the respect of the public and were listened to. Now a days all we have is Dan Rather, Rachel Maddow, and Opray Winfrey. Nobody respects them much. And the entire MSM has destroyed any confidence the public might have held in them. Nobody believes any politician much. Public opinion isn't going to change much in the current absence of trusted voices urging change.
So, the current deadlock looks like it will continue for a long time.
The only solution is to convince more voters to join one side or the other, and give their side a solid majority. This is hard. First off, neither party has made (and published) a clear and simple statement of their views. Partly because they cannot come together on one view, and partly because of the modern conviction that stating your views just makes you enemies, never friends. Which is why politicians refrain from saying any thing of substance and talk about motherhood and apple pie.
Lacking any thing from the two parties, the voters will listen to respected public figures. But we don't have many of those any more. Used to be guys like Walter Cronkite, Jim Lehrer, and David Brinkley had the respect of the public and were listened to. Now a days all we have is Dan Rather, Rachel Maddow, and Opray Winfrey. Nobody respects them much. And the entire MSM has destroyed any confidence the public might have held in them. Nobody believes any politician much. Public opinion isn't going to change much in the current absence of trusted voices urging change.
So, the current deadlock looks like it will continue for a long time.
Thursday, January 25, 2018
America needs more good citizens
Those DACA kids/young people. When your parents decide to slip into the United States, kids don't have a choice, they have to go where mom and dad go. Ain't the kids fault that mom and dad are illegal immigrants.
For the ones that have grown up in the US, have stayed out of serious trouble with the law, have reasonable English language skills (speak even if with a thick accent, read a road sign, and sign their names) I am willing to extend them US citizen ship. Especially if they have graduated high school, or even better college, have a job, are married, are veterans. These are desirable citizens, and we need more good citizens.
Polls show that a fair number of my fellow citizens think the same way. Can the Congress Critters get their act together to pass a law letting the stay in the country, or even better make them US citizens? I know that a lot of 'em will vote for Democrats once they are registered. but that's OK. I'm happy to have good US citizens even if they don't vote Republican.
For the ones that have grown up in the US, have stayed out of serious trouble with the law, have reasonable English language skills (speak even if with a thick accent, read a road sign, and sign their names) I am willing to extend them US citizen ship. Especially if they have graduated high school, or even better college, have a job, are married, are veterans. These are desirable citizens, and we need more good citizens.
Polls show that a fair number of my fellow citizens think the same way. Can the Congress Critters get their act together to pass a law letting the stay in the country, or even better make them US citizens? I know that a lot of 'em will vote for Democrats once they are registered. but that's OK. I'm happy to have good US citizens even if they don't vote Republican.
World is getting noisier
Watch some TV news, which is pretty much all from an indoor studio somewhere. Notice the background noise of ringing phones, emergency vehicle sirens, yelling and shouting, car crash noises. Let's hope all this noise is coming from outside the studio. It's pretty damn loud. Out on the street it's gotta be worse.
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Walls, Border type.
The Trump administration is now talking about a combination of masonry wall, cyclone fencing, and electronic surveillance. The MSM is criticizing them for backing off from a 2000 mile masonry wall. Does not bother me much, at least the cyclone fence part. A good cyclone fence, with three strands of barbed wire on top is pretty effective. You cannot get vehicles thru such a fence, at least not without leaving a whacking big hole which is a tip off to the Border patrol.
I am not impressed with the electronic surveillance idea. I was in South East Asia during the war when we tried electronic surveillance along the Ho Chi Min trail. We air dropped a humongous load of sensors, microphones mostly, up and down the trail. Mostly the sensors went dead in a few days. Some of them picked up monkeys howling in the jungle or water buffalo snorting and stomping. Never did detect a Cong.
I am not impressed with the electronic surveillance idea. I was in South East Asia during the war when we tried electronic surveillance along the Ho Chi Min trail. We air dropped a humongous load of sensors, microphones mostly, up and down the trail. Mostly the sensors went dead in a few days. Some of them picked up monkeys howling in the jungle or water buffalo snorting and stomping. Never did detect a Cong.
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
USAF talking about buying lightweight fighters
The first line jet fighters (F22 and F35) cost $50-80 million a piece, and cost $35000 per flying hour. They are fast, loaded with fancy avionics and expensive missiles, and need long paved runways.
For ground attack missions, something simpler and cheaper with modest performance can do the job. Some recon, some close air support bombing, some strafing, and some training. Modest performance might be 500 knots top speed, 100 knots landing speed, propeller driven, 700-800 horsepower turbine engine. With some really sharp bargaining, you might be able to buy such a plane for $1 million apiece. If the enemy doesn't have an air force, or a squadron or two of our high performance fighters takes care of enemy fighter opposition, such a modest performance (approximately the performance of a good WWII fighter) aircraft could be very effective.
There are a number of American allied countries that have security problems, that a little air power might solve, who could afford some $1 million warplanes, but could never afford high performance high cost jet fighters. If USAF were to demonstrate the effectiveness of light weight fighters, they would be encouraged to try some. "If the Americans are flying them, they must be OK."
For ground attack missions, something simpler and cheaper with modest performance can do the job. Some recon, some close air support bombing, some strafing, and some training. Modest performance might be 500 knots top speed, 100 knots landing speed, propeller driven, 700-800 horsepower turbine engine. With some really sharp bargaining, you might be able to buy such a plane for $1 million apiece. If the enemy doesn't have an air force, or a squadron or two of our high performance fighters takes care of enemy fighter opposition, such a modest performance (approximately the performance of a good WWII fighter) aircraft could be very effective.
There are a number of American allied countries that have security problems, that a little air power might solve, who could afford some $1 million warplanes, but could never afford high performance high cost jet fighters. If USAF were to demonstrate the effectiveness of light weight fighters, they would be encouraged to try some. "If the Americans are flying them, they must be OK."
Oscar Nominations for Best Picture 2018
They nominated nine movies. Five of them I never heard of before. Fine publicity work there. Two of em (Dunkirk and Darkest Hour) I have seen, in theater, and they are not bad. I had actually heard of another two (The Post and Shape of Water). I cannot imagine ever going to see either them.
Perhaps there is a connection between mediocre to miserable Oscars and the worst year for box office receipts?
Perhaps there is a connection between mediocre to miserable Oscars and the worst year for box office receipts?
Monday, January 22, 2018
Darkest Hour 2017
Good Flick. Gary Oldham plays Winston Churchill and plays him well. Churchill was the key allied leader in WWII. The movie shows Churchill rallying the British rank and file, silencing the appeasers, launching Operation Dynamo (the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk). This is a crucial period in WWII. England was the only important European power that Hitler never conquered. Had England crumped, Hitler and his Nazis would have owned Europe, pretty much forever. The movie ends with Churchill giving his "fight them on the beaches, fight them on the landing grounds. We shall never surrender." speech in Parliament. Far as I can tell, the movie follows the real history of the time. The real history is so dramatic that nobody can imagine a way to make things more dramatic.
I liked this movie better than Dunkirk. We watch one key protagonist (Churchill) leading his country to fight against the Nazis. Dunkirk was more into battle field views of anonymous British soldiers.
Costumes and sets were excellent. Sets were ingeniously lit with the brightest light centered on the important actors in the scene. Most scenes were the famous smoke filled rooms, the air blue with tobacco smoke. Lots of very fancy period bric a brac every where, on desks, bureaus, and whatever.
I saw the movie at the Lincoln NH theater on a Sunday night. Crowd was light. In fact there was only one other person, aside from myself in the theater.
I liked this movie better than Dunkirk. We watch one key protagonist (Churchill) leading his country to fight against the Nazis. Dunkirk was more into battle field views of anonymous British soldiers.
Costumes and sets were excellent. Sets were ingeniously lit with the brightest light centered on the important actors in the scene. Most scenes were the famous smoke filled rooms, the air blue with tobacco smoke. Lots of very fancy period bric a brac every where, on desks, bureaus, and whatever.
I saw the movie at the Lincoln NH theater on a Sunday night. Crowd was light. In fact there was only one other person, aside from myself in the theater.
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Coffee, making thereof
Your coffee is good when you can enjoy it black. If you have to do the cream and sugar thing, it means your coffee is coming out bitter.
Step 1 in making good coffee is a clean coffee maker. Brewing coffee releases all sorts of oils and fragrances which stick the the coffee maker innards. After time ( a few hours) the oils turn rancid and make the next pot taste bitter. You need a coffee maker that is easy to clean, inside and out. The French press is good, it comes completely apart and you can get inside it with a wash rag or a sponge. The Silex vacuum coffee makers are good, all glass, easily cleaned. Percolators are bad, the inside of that perk tube is just plain uncleanable.
Step 2 is good coffee. Shop around, try a can of the expensive stuff. Try some cans of the supermarket brand cheap stuff. Keep some notes so you can remember what you like. Up here, Surefine 100% Columbian $4.50 a can makes very good coffee, as good or better than some $10 a can coffee from Dunkin, Green Mountain and others .
I don't do the grind it from beans thing. I buy ground coffee and keep it in the fridge after opening it. Works for me.
Put in one heaping tablespoon of coffee for each cup of water. Give the coffee at least four minutes to brew. Try a little salt with the coffee. Sometimes salt improves the coffee, the US Navy swears by it, sometimes not so much.
Step 1 in making good coffee is a clean coffee maker. Brewing coffee releases all sorts of oils and fragrances which stick the the coffee maker innards. After time ( a few hours) the oils turn rancid and make the next pot taste bitter. You need a coffee maker that is easy to clean, inside and out. The French press is good, it comes completely apart and you can get inside it with a wash rag or a sponge. The Silex vacuum coffee makers are good, all glass, easily cleaned. Percolators are bad, the inside of that perk tube is just plain uncleanable.
Step 2 is good coffee. Shop around, try a can of the expensive stuff. Try some cans of the supermarket brand cheap stuff. Keep some notes so you can remember what you like. Up here, Surefine 100% Columbian $4.50 a can makes very good coffee, as good or better than some $10 a can coffee from Dunkin, Green Mountain and others .
I don't do the grind it from beans thing. I buy ground coffee and keep it in the fridge after opening it. Works for me.
Put in one heaping tablespoon of coffee for each cup of water. Give the coffee at least four minutes to brew. Try a little salt with the coffee. Sometimes salt improves the coffee, the US Navy swears by it, sometimes not so much.
Saturday, January 20, 2018
Who will buy Greek bonds?
Nobody in their right mind. The Greeks have racked up debts equivalent to several years of Greek GNP. They are still spending more than they take in with taxes. No way are they going to be able to pay off what they owe right now, let along pay off any future borrowings. All sensible people know that lending more money to Greece is like pouring the money down a drain. The Greeks just don't have, and never will have, the ability to pay it back.
For some reason, unclear to me, the EU (Germany mostly) has been giving the Greeks bailout money to keep them from outright default on their debts. Why the EU feels this generous is a mystery, but they do. And, for some years, the EU has run a Greek supervision operation that tries to tell the Greek government what to do to balance their budget. The Greeks hate this. They have been rioting in the streets of Athens to show their displeasure. But the EU has been saying, "Do it our way, or no more bailout money."
And just last week, the EU began talking about getting out of the Greek supervision business in August and letting the Greeks do their own thing. Not discussed was whether the bailout money would continue after August.
Greeks don't have their own currency, they are on the Euro. Greeks cannot print their own Euros like they used to do when they were using their own drachmas years ago. Now the Greek government has to borrow money when expenses exceed tax revenue, which they do, every year. And what sensible person would loan the Greek government a dime? Fortunately for the Greeks there are plenty of sucker banks who will buy anything, no matter that the borrower will never be able to repay.
It will be a good sideshow to see what happens to the Greeks after August. Bring popcorn.
For some reason, unclear to me, the EU (Germany mostly) has been giving the Greeks bailout money to keep them from outright default on their debts. Why the EU feels this generous is a mystery, but they do. And, for some years, the EU has run a Greek supervision operation that tries to tell the Greek government what to do to balance their budget. The Greeks hate this. They have been rioting in the streets of Athens to show their displeasure. But the EU has been saying, "Do it our way, or no more bailout money."
And just last week, the EU began talking about getting out of the Greek supervision business in August and letting the Greeks do their own thing. Not discussed was whether the bailout money would continue after August.
Greeks don't have their own currency, they are on the Euro. Greeks cannot print their own Euros like they used to do when they were using their own drachmas years ago. Now the Greek government has to borrow money when expenses exceed tax revenue, which they do, every year. And what sensible person would loan the Greek government a dime? Fortunately for the Greeks there are plenty of sucker banks who will buy anything, no matter that the borrower will never be able to repay.
It will be a good sideshow to see what happens to the Greeks after August. Bring popcorn.
Looks like the Congresscritters blew it.
They were unable to pass a budget or a continuing resolution to fund the Federal government. Republicans and Democrats are on the tube, blaming each other for the shutdown. Neither side is explaining what great issue is being served by this impasse. They probably don't know themselves. After all they are Congresscritters, none too bright. The MSM is busy blaming the Republicans, as usual. We shall see if any voters believe the MSM any more.
I suppose the shutdown will continue until the pain becomes too acute and Congresscritters agree to fund the government again. The pain is largely felt by servicemen who won't get paid. And snivel servants declared "non-essential" who don't get paid either. I feel for the servicemen, they don't get paid much and just paying the bills each month is tough. I don't care that much for the snivel servants, they can go out and find honest jobs in the private sector.
As far as I am concerned, the Post Office will continue to deliver my mail and my Wall St Journal, and my Social Security electronic funds transfer (checks are obsolete) will continue to happen. At least that's what they are saying on TV. I am not entitled to an income tax refund, so the IRS can stay laid off forever far as I am concerned.
I hear that the Congresscritters will continue to get paid, which is a scandal, they ought to be the first to have their pay stopped.
I suppose the shutdown will continue until the pain becomes too acute and Congresscritters agree to fund the government again. The pain is largely felt by servicemen who won't get paid. And snivel servants declared "non-essential" who don't get paid either. I feel for the servicemen, they don't get paid much and just paying the bills each month is tough. I don't care that much for the snivel servants, they can go out and find honest jobs in the private sector.
As far as I am concerned, the Post Office will continue to deliver my mail and my Wall St Journal, and my Social Security electronic funds transfer (checks are obsolete) will continue to happen. At least that's what they are saying on TV. I am not entitled to an income tax refund, so the IRS can stay laid off forever far as I am concerned.
I hear that the Congresscritters will continue to get paid, which is a scandal, they ought to be the first to have their pay stopped.
Friday, January 19, 2018
Conquer the World with Soft Power
We used to be good at that. American soft power crumbled the fearsome Soviet Union. We never had to use our substantial hard power against the Soviets, in general a good thing. Instead Hollywood movies, blue jeans, hot rods and drag racing, rock and roll, major league baseball, a booming economy where the streets were paved with gold, Voice of America and the BBC, and democracy, convinced the average Russian-in-the-street that America was way cooler than Russia. This finally lead to the overthrow of the Soviet government in the late 1980's. The Russian people, who had stood shoulder to shoulder against the Nazis under Stalin, just lost faith in Communism and wanted a government and economy like the Americans enjoyed.
Now we have Islamic terrorism to confront. If soft power worked against the Soviets, a very tough opponent, it ought to work against the Islamics. Some of the soft power that stood us in such good stead in the 50's and 60's is looking dated now. Hollywood has almost forgotten how to make a good flick. Detroit is bankrupt and the Detroit auto industry is building boring little econoboxes rather than 409 Impalas and GTO's. Pop music lacks any one of the stature of Elvis or the Beatles, short wave radio is mostly gone, replaced by the Internet.
We do have some soft power stuff going for us. Apple and Iphones, Facebook and Google. The world still sees our streets as paved with gold, that's why so many of them want to move to the US. But the Islamic terrorists put up a show so strong as to recruit lone wolf terrorists with just Internet contact. We need to do something about that. Some movies making fun of them, or some horror flicks starring Islamic crazies in place of the usual monsters. We could get pop music back on track by returning control of the industry to real music people, like it was in the 1950's, rather the the current crop of clueless suits who persist in featuring wimpy boy bands. To replace VOA and BBC we could build up a respected international web site centered on real news (if there is a journalist left alive who could run such a site). Jim Lehrer hasn't been on air for quite a few years.
Now we have Islamic terrorism to confront. If soft power worked against the Soviets, a very tough opponent, it ought to work against the Islamics. Some of the soft power that stood us in such good stead in the 50's and 60's is looking dated now. Hollywood has almost forgotten how to make a good flick. Detroit is bankrupt and the Detroit auto industry is building boring little econoboxes rather than 409 Impalas and GTO's. Pop music lacks any one of the stature of Elvis or the Beatles, short wave radio is mostly gone, replaced by the Internet.
We do have some soft power stuff going for us. Apple and Iphones, Facebook and Google. The world still sees our streets as paved with gold, that's why so many of them want to move to the US. But the Islamic terrorists put up a show so strong as to recruit lone wolf terrorists with just Internet contact. We need to do something about that. Some movies making fun of them, or some horror flicks starring Islamic crazies in place of the usual monsters. We could get pop music back on track by returning control of the industry to real music people, like it was in the 1950's, rather the the current crop of clueless suits who persist in featuring wimpy boy bands. To replace VOA and BBC we could build up a respected international web site centered on real news (if there is a journalist left alive who could run such a site). Jim Lehrer hasn't been on air for quite a few years.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
DACA, Lotta talk, few specifics.
I have a lot of sympathy for people brought into America as children and who have grown up in America. Far as I am concerned, we ought to treat them as if they were born in the US. Make 'em citizens.
For all the talk from the newsies about DACA, we have few details. Such as cutoff age for membership. Clearly children brought into the country at age 6 and under ought to count. Maybe age 12 and under. Age 21 and over, clearly should not count, we reckon 21 to be the age of majority. What about teenagers between 12 and 21? For all the newsie babbling on the tube, you would think someone would have mentioned an age limit by now.
Detail. Is anything else required to gain the privileges of DACA status? Graduation from an American high school? Graduation from college? Good behavior, such as a clean criminal record? Or perhaps just no felony convictions? Reasonable English language skills? Holding a real job in the private sector? Marriage? children?
Detail. Just what benefits come from DACA status? Immediate US citizenship? a green card? some kind of path to citizenship? Eligible to vote? US driver's licenses? Permission to stay in the US for say five years? Or ten years? Or for life? I have not heard a word about this detail from the newsies either.
Detail. Do we offer DACA status to children arriving in the future?
I think we citizens deserve these details. Clearly the newsies and the Democrats don't think so.
Bottom line, our country needs more good decent citizens. We ought to work to keep the DACA cases of good decent people as citizens and throw the book at gang members, drug runners, bus hijackers, San Francisco shooters, and Islamist terrorists.
For all the talk from the newsies about DACA, we have few details. Such as cutoff age for membership. Clearly children brought into the country at age 6 and under ought to count. Maybe age 12 and under. Age 21 and over, clearly should not count, we reckon 21 to be the age of majority. What about teenagers between 12 and 21? For all the newsie babbling on the tube, you would think someone would have mentioned an age limit by now.
Detail. Is anything else required to gain the privileges of DACA status? Graduation from an American high school? Graduation from college? Good behavior, such as a clean criminal record? Or perhaps just no felony convictions? Reasonable English language skills? Holding a real job in the private sector? Marriage? children?
Detail. Just what benefits come from DACA status? Immediate US citizenship? a green card? some kind of path to citizenship? Eligible to vote? US driver's licenses? Permission to stay in the US for say five years? Or ten years? Or for life? I have not heard a word about this detail from the newsies either.
Detail. Do we offer DACA status to children arriving in the future?
I think we citizens deserve these details. Clearly the newsies and the Democrats don't think so.
Bottom line, our country needs more good decent citizens. We ought to work to keep the DACA cases of good decent people as citizens and throw the book at gang members, drug runners, bus hijackers, San Francisco shooters, and Islamist terrorists.
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Windows 10 explorer
Window Explorer, not to be confused with Internet Exploder, used to offer us users a view of the files we had on the hard drive, actually on all the drives, hard, floppy, CD, or thumb. Now that we are upgraded to Windows 10, we find that Explorer doesn't work right. The Win 10 version of Explorer shows four copies of all my files. I keep my files in "My Documents" the traditional Windows location. Only in Win 10, Explorer show four versions of "My Documents" one of which just gives error messages when clicked on. Which one is the real one? Why display the same thing four different times? Is this to add confusion to us users?
And, Windows Explorer has forgotten alphabetical ordering. Click on your desktop and ask it to sort your icons into alphabetical order. The icons swirl around, but they do not wind up in alphabetical order.
Micro$oft strikes again.
And, Windows Explorer has forgotten alphabetical ordering. Click on your desktop and ask it to sort your icons into alphabetical order. The icons swirl around, but they do not wind up in alphabetical order.
Micro$oft strikes again.
Monday, January 15, 2018
I wonder how that happens? The midnight pageview spike.
I get a few statistics from Blogger every day. One them is "page views" In fact I get a line graph of page views over time. The funny part is the timing. Every day, around midnight, I get a burst of 100 page views all packed into a very short time, like less than an hour. Makes the graph look like a sea of low level grass with a whacking big spike of 100 page views sticking up once a day at midnight. Why are they all packed in at midnight? Surely normal people are in bed by midnight? Is it robo webcrawlers all doing their crawling when the web isn't so busy? Is it a bug in the Blogger software? Something else?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Also, how come I get so many page views from Italy? Like more pageviews from Italy than from the entire US of A. I don't post in Italian.
Inquiring minds want to know.
Also, how come I get so many page views from Italy? Like more pageviews from Italy than from the entire US of A. I don't post in Italian.
Saturday, January 13, 2018
Duck and Cover !!!
Damn. That false alarm must have scared Hawaiians out of their socks. As well it should. If they sprang that up here in NH, I dunno what I would do. I suppose just get down in my basement, which is masonry (cinder block not poured concrete which is far stronger) If I survived the initial blast, I have no idea what I would do for food or fuel or electricity after the bomb.
And, we need to get serious about Little Rocket Man and his ICBMs.
And, we need to get serious about Little Rocket Man and his ICBMs.
Friday, January 12, 2018
Dunkirk 2017
It came by Netflix, and I watched it on my Sony flatscreen last night. Lots of dramatic shots of British soldiers in deep doo-doo, bombs falling, tide going out, few to no boats in sight, struggling in the water. Many pitiful scenes of British soldiers standing in line on the sand, (queuing up the British say) waiting for a vessel to take them home. One group takes a stranded fishing trawler out into the Channel. They spend most of their time below decks shouting at each other. I kept wondering why they stayed below, rather than out on deck where they could see where they were going and who was coming after them. Lots of shots of RAF fighters going out at low level. RAF pilots looking and sounding cool as cucumbers under fire.
Although the camera man did things right, turning on the lights before filming, the sound man bungled badly. He never muted the score and the sound effects when characters were speaking. That, combined with modern actor's tendency to mumble their lines, caused a good deal of the dialog get lost. Fortunately there wasn't much dialog. I never caught the stage names of any of the characters, mostly because nobody ever addressed any one else by name. And with the exception of the two teen aged boys aboard the old codger's yacht, nobody had any connections with friends, family, sweethearts, warbuddies, any other human being. There was no protagonist for us audience to rally behind and root for.
The movie never told us that we were watching a turning point in WWII. Hitler could have won the war that day. If der fuhrer had stayed off the telephone and let his best tank general, Heinz Guderian, commander on the scene, do what he wanted to do, the British army (every soldier Britain had) would have been surrounded and taken prisoner of war. Instead, Hitler feared that Guderian's panzers were too far out in front, they might be counter attacked. He ordered Guderian to stop and wait for the bulk of the German infantry, marching on foot, to catch up with him. This delay gave the British time to evacuate. This fact comes right out of Guderian's after-the-war memoir.
Britain nearly gave up the fight that summer. They had been driven out of Norway, driven out of the Low Countries, driven out of France. They had sacked their prime minister and installed Winston Churchill that very week. The entire British establishment, members of parliament, the press, academia, the churches, business men, the entertainment business (we call ours Hollywood, dunno what the Brits called theirs) were against fighting the war. Many of them had fought in the First World War, and they were not going to do that sort of thing, ever again. And Germany had more people, more industry, more advanced science, and looked invincible.
Hitler was offering the Brits a deal, You Brits let me keep all of continental Europe, and I Hitler will let you keep your overseas empire and your Navy. A lot of Brits were ready to take this deal. Not Churchill. Newly installed as prime minister, Churchill had to rally his country. The British rank and file were more tough minded than their establishment. The rank and file didn't want to kowtow to the Nazis, and were willing to fight. They figured they had whipped the Germans twenty years ago and they could do it again. But in June of 1940 everything was in flux. If the Germans had taken the BEF prisoners of war that would have been a tremendous downer to all of England. As it turned out, the Brits got nearly every man, 350,000 or so, off the Dunkirk beaches and safely home. That did a lot to steady things down and build support for Churchill.
If the evacuation had failed, Churchill might have been turned out of office (he had a lot of old enemies going back forty years) and Britain might have signed a deal with Hitler. Which would have made launching the D-Day invasion from Britain impossible, and deprived USAF of bases from which to bomb Germany.
Although the camera man did things right, turning on the lights before filming, the sound man bungled badly. He never muted the score and the sound effects when characters were speaking. That, combined with modern actor's tendency to mumble their lines, caused a good deal of the dialog get lost. Fortunately there wasn't much dialog. I never caught the stage names of any of the characters, mostly because nobody ever addressed any one else by name. And with the exception of the two teen aged boys aboard the old codger's yacht, nobody had any connections with friends, family, sweethearts, warbuddies, any other human being. There was no protagonist for us audience to rally behind and root for.
The movie never told us that we were watching a turning point in WWII. Hitler could have won the war that day. If der fuhrer had stayed off the telephone and let his best tank general, Heinz Guderian, commander on the scene, do what he wanted to do, the British army (every soldier Britain had) would have been surrounded and taken prisoner of war. Instead, Hitler feared that Guderian's panzers were too far out in front, they might be counter attacked. He ordered Guderian to stop and wait for the bulk of the German infantry, marching on foot, to catch up with him. This delay gave the British time to evacuate. This fact comes right out of Guderian's after-the-war memoir.
Britain nearly gave up the fight that summer. They had been driven out of Norway, driven out of the Low Countries, driven out of France. They had sacked their prime minister and installed Winston Churchill that very week. The entire British establishment, members of parliament, the press, academia, the churches, business men, the entertainment business (we call ours Hollywood, dunno what the Brits called theirs) were against fighting the war. Many of them had fought in the First World War, and they were not going to do that sort of thing, ever again. And Germany had more people, more industry, more advanced science, and looked invincible.
Hitler was offering the Brits a deal, You Brits let me keep all of continental Europe, and I Hitler will let you keep your overseas empire and your Navy. A lot of Brits were ready to take this deal. Not Churchill. Newly installed as prime minister, Churchill had to rally his country. The British rank and file were more tough minded than their establishment. The rank and file didn't want to kowtow to the Nazis, and were willing to fight. They figured they had whipped the Germans twenty years ago and they could do it again. But in June of 1940 everything was in flux. If the Germans had taken the BEF prisoners of war that would have been a tremendous downer to all of England. As it turned out, the Brits got nearly every man, 350,000 or so, off the Dunkirk beaches and safely home. That did a lot to steady things down and build support for Churchill.
If the evacuation had failed, Churchill might have been turned out of office (he had a lot of old enemies going back forty years) and Britain might have signed a deal with Hitler. Which would have made launching the D-Day invasion from Britain impossible, and deprived USAF of bases from which to bomb Germany.
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