So I added all the disks to my Netflix Queue. Then I decided to refresh the series in my mind by watching season 6 over again. I've just finished watching the first three episodes and they are bad. Black out camera man gives us pure solid black scenes with maybe just a single faint white face showing out of blackness. Rest of the actor, costumes, sets, completely invisible, lost in the darkness. No character every addresses any other character by name, leaving us audience wondering who they all are. They start to magic John Snow back to life in episode 1 and it isn't til episode 3 that they get the job done.
Let us hope season 7 is better.
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Friday, June 8, 2018
D-Day. Sixth of June
It was really before my time. I was only one year old back in June of 1944. D-Day was the first time the Anglo American forces were strong enough to fight the main German army on the German's home turf. Previous combat in North Africa and Italy were against small detachments like Rommel's Africa Corps, or bloody but small scale combat against limited German forces, fighting a defensive battle in very defensible Italian terrain.
Humongous forces were poured into D-Day. The operation looked all kinds of dangerous. Eisenhower, supreme commander, the man with the best view of the situation, found it so dicey that he prepared a press release, to be issued in case the landing was defeated. Had he needed to use it, the setback to Anglo American arms would have been staggering. 1942 and 1943, two whole years of war production and training, went into marshaling the D-Day forces. Had the Germans won, much of this vast investment in infantry, tanks, artillery, warships, and warplanes would have been lost. It would have taken at least another year, probably two, to build up to launching a second invasion. Give Hitler another year or two and there is no telling what might have happened. The Germans might have perfected nuclear weapons. The V-weapon program would have had another year or two to rain destruction upon London. Time to bring a radical new U-boat, the type 21, into operation. Lots of things could have given Hitler victory.
Anglo American victory was possible by defeating the U-boats in the Atlantic in 1943. We could not have moved our troops, let alone the vast quantity of supplies needed to support our forces, and keep England fed and producing, had the U-boats kept sinking ships at the rate they had in 1942. Second, USAAF and the RAF had pretty much blown the Luftwaffe out of the air by 1944. This guaranteed that the Germans couldn't sink the D-Day armada in mid channel, or render close air support to advancing Panzer divisions. Finally, the Germans did not know where the Anglo American invasion would come. The entire coast of France, including the Riviera, and the low countries, was possible. The Germans had to spread their troops up and down the European coastline, whereas the Anglo Americans could concentrate all their forces on the invasion beaches, giving a solid superiority in numbers at the crucial spot.
As it was, it was a tough fight. A lot of bravery, and sacrifice carried the day, just barely. And, once ashore, the Anglo American armies could beat the German army in a standup fight.
Humongous forces were poured into D-Day. The operation looked all kinds of dangerous. Eisenhower, supreme commander, the man with the best view of the situation, found it so dicey that he prepared a press release, to be issued in case the landing was defeated. Had he needed to use it, the setback to Anglo American arms would have been staggering. 1942 and 1943, two whole years of war production and training, went into marshaling the D-Day forces. Had the Germans won, much of this vast investment in infantry, tanks, artillery, warships, and warplanes would have been lost. It would have taken at least another year, probably two, to build up to launching a second invasion. Give Hitler another year or two and there is no telling what might have happened. The Germans might have perfected nuclear weapons. The V-weapon program would have had another year or two to rain destruction upon London. Time to bring a radical new U-boat, the type 21, into operation. Lots of things could have given Hitler victory.
Anglo American victory was possible by defeating the U-boats in the Atlantic in 1943. We could not have moved our troops, let alone the vast quantity of supplies needed to support our forces, and keep England fed and producing, had the U-boats kept sinking ships at the rate they had in 1942. Second, USAAF and the RAF had pretty much blown the Luftwaffe out of the air by 1944. This guaranteed that the Germans couldn't sink the D-Day armada in mid channel, or render close air support to advancing Panzer divisions. Finally, the Germans did not know where the Anglo American invasion would come. The entire coast of France, including the Riviera, and the low countries, was possible. The Germans had to spread their troops up and down the European coastline, whereas the Anglo Americans could concentrate all their forces on the invasion beaches, giving a solid superiority in numbers at the crucial spot.
As it was, it was a tough fight. A lot of bravery, and sacrifice carried the day, just barely. And, once ashore, the Anglo American armies could beat the German army in a standup fight.
Thursday, June 7, 2018
So who should we believe?
We have President Trump, saying that the entire Mueller investigation is phony. We have the MSM claiming that President Trump is saying mean things about them, and about Mueller. The MSM claim that Mueller will show that Trump did something illegal and bad during the campaign back in 2016.
So far Mueller hasn't shown any evidence of anything much. You would think that by now he would have something, if there was anything there to find. He has frightened a few Trump people into confessing to minor sins that don't have much to do with the campaign or the Russians.
President Trump has indeed laid into the MSM with an ax. On the other hand, who can blame him? The media hates Trump and has been doing their damndest to discredit him and his administration. The media are never going let up, they want Trump's scalp just so they can enter the Woodward and Burnstein Hall of Fame. Trump's best strategy is to discredit them, and he has been fairly effective in doing so.
So for the time being, I am going to believe that Trump got elected fairly and squarely, and the Russians had little or nothing to do about it. Should Mueller come forward with some solid evidence, a creditable witness say, or some real documents (the paper kind with signatures) I could change my mind.
So far Mueller hasn't shown any evidence of anything much. You would think that by now he would have something, if there was anything there to find. He has frightened a few Trump people into confessing to minor sins that don't have much to do with the campaign or the Russians.
President Trump has indeed laid into the MSM with an ax. On the other hand, who can blame him? The media hates Trump and has been doing their damndest to discredit him and his administration. The media are never going let up, they want Trump's scalp just so they can enter the Woodward and Burnstein Hall of Fame. Trump's best strategy is to discredit them, and he has been fairly effective in doing so.
So for the time being, I am going to believe that Trump got elected fairly and squarely, and the Russians had little or nothing to do about it. Should Mueller come forward with some solid evidence, a creditable witness say, or some real documents (the paper kind with signatures) I could change my mind.
Wednesday, June 6, 2018
If the Democrats win Congress this fall
They will immediately start to impeach President Trump. All they need is a simple majority in the House to impeach. They need a 2/3rds majority in the Senate to convict, which they probably won't have. So about a year will go by with only impeachment proceedings, testimony, votes, and procedural maneuvering. The newsies will eat it up and cover nothing else. In short, the federal government will be paralyzed for a year or more. Nothing else will get done in DC. In the bitter end, the Democrats won't have the Senate votes to convict, and so the whole exercise will be in vain.
So, unless you are a deep dyed yellow dog Democrat, you ought to vote Republican this fall, just to permit the federal government to operate at all. Votes for Democrats are votes to stop all government activity.
Despite what you may think of Trump, you gotta admit that GNP growth is up from Obama's miserable 1.5% to nearly 3%. Unemployment is way down, 3.8%. Stock market is up. Wages are up. Taxes are down. These are all good things.
So, unless you are a deep dyed yellow dog Democrat, you ought to vote Republican this fall, just to permit the federal government to operate at all. Votes for Democrats are votes to stop all government activity.
Despite what you may think of Trump, you gotta admit that GNP growth is up from Obama's miserable 1.5% to nearly 3%. Unemployment is way down, 3.8%. Stock market is up. Wages are up. Taxes are down. These are all good things.
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Baking a cake for a Gay wedding
This case has been stumbling along for 6 years now. Generating billable hours for lawyers. Got all the way to the Supremes yesterday to little good. The Supremes did hold that the Colorado people had been mean to the baker, and displayed hostility to religion, and the baker should be let off oin this one case. For all this legal mickey motion, sucking up 6 years and countless legal bills, no new broad principle of law came out of it. We can expect more years of profitable lawyering, at tax payer expense, on this issue.
What I would like to see is a law that says caterers, contractors, the self employed, people rendering custom services, cakes, photographs, music, hair care, flowers, don't have to serve customers they don't want to serve. They are different from retailers, restaurants, hotels, motels, gas stations, railroads, airlines, and bus companies, who are rightly obligated to serve everyone who walks in their door. These people are rendering custom services which makes them into supporters of the customer served. The baker felt that by baking a custom cake for a gay couple, he was supporting gay marriage. Which is understandable on the bakers part.
What I would like to see is a law that says caterers, contractors, the self employed, people rendering custom services, cakes, photographs, music, hair care, flowers, don't have to serve customers they don't want to serve. They are different from retailers, restaurants, hotels, motels, gas stations, railroads, airlines, and bus companies, who are rightly obligated to serve everyone who walks in their door. These people are rendering custom services which makes them into supporters of the customer served. The baker felt that by baking a custom cake for a gay couple, he was supporting gay marriage. Which is understandable on the bakers part.
Monday, June 4, 2018
Victory At Sea
Shortly after World War II, NBC television created the Victory at Sea documentary, and aired it in the very early 1950's. I can remember watching episodes of it from a 14 inch portable TV on rabbit ears. NBC got Richard Rogers, of the famous Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway show business, to do the musical score. Back in the day you could buy LP records of just the score. The documentary makers picked the best of thousands of feet of news reel film, added Roger's score and some narration. They made better than 30 episodes.
I ran across a DVD set of the whole series in the $5 a DVD bin at Wallymart. Been playing it on evenings when I lack a new Netflix to watch. It's all black and white of course. Color film and just been invented but was so slow ( insensitive to light) that everybody shot the faster black and white film. And even the black and white film wasn't all that good. Lot of shots have the sunlit topsides of things over exposed (burned out white) and the shadows pure black. A fair amount of the footage is enemy footage captured during or after the war.
If you have children or grandchildren Victory at Sea is a good thing to show them. It moves right along, all the footage is genuine WWII footage, and there is plenty of action to keep a kid's interest. From what I hear, schools have pretty much giving up teaching history. WWII is the formative event of the 20th century. Watching this show, even just a few episodes of it will give the children an idea of the vastness of the war. Although this show emphasizes the Navy side of the war, it gives a fair showing to the land side of the conflict.
I ran across a DVD set of the whole series in the $5 a DVD bin at Wallymart. Been playing it on evenings when I lack a new Netflix to watch. It's all black and white of course. Color film and just been invented but was so slow ( insensitive to light) that everybody shot the faster black and white film. And even the black and white film wasn't all that good. Lot of shots have the sunlit topsides of things over exposed (burned out white) and the shadows pure black. A fair amount of the footage is enemy footage captured during or after the war.
If you have children or grandchildren Victory at Sea is a good thing to show them. It moves right along, all the footage is genuine WWII footage, and there is plenty of action to keep a kid's interest. From what I hear, schools have pretty much giving up teaching history. WWII is the formative event of the 20th century. Watching this show, even just a few episodes of it will give the children an idea of the vastness of the war. Although this show emphasizes the Navy side of the war, it gives a fair showing to the land side of the conflict.
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Irreversible. Wonder how that works? Really.
That's one of the American demands upon the NORKs. We want denuclearization that is irreversible. Just just how do we prevent the NORKs from deciding to scrap whatever deal they make and start up their nuclear program again? Even if we insist on daily no knock inspection of their nuclear sites, they can just create new secret sites, keep 'em secret, and go merrily on enriching uranium, making plutonium, and building bombs.
Saturday, June 2, 2018
Wants the Yankees to pick up his motel bill
Little Rocket Man doesn't have the cash to pay his own motel bill in Singapore? Wow. Talk about cheap cheap cheap. He wants us to pick up his tab. So far all he has managed is to convince all the Americans that he is broke, cheap, and a shameless panhandler.
The NORKs are a nation state. They can afford a nuclear program, a million man army, a ballistic missile program but they cannot afford their own motel bills? Come on.
The NORKs are a nation state. They can afford a nuclear program, a million man army, a ballistic missile program but they cannot afford their own motel bills? Come on.
Friday, June 1, 2018
All the News that fits we print
Fox News did a short peace on a new air vehicle, looked like an air car. Talked about it's use evacuating the wounded from the battlefield, and speeding civilian auto accident victims to the hospital. Mentioned that getting the wounded/victims to the hospital within one hour would greatly improve survival rates. Probably true.
They failed to give any useful information about the vehicle. They failed to give the name of this wonderful machine, or the name of the Israeli company developing it, or the name of the US company that might produce it. They didn't tell us the range of the vehicle. They didn't state the engine horsepower it uses to get airborne. They didn't state the payload. To be useful it has to be able to get off the ground with a single patient, and the pilot.
The thing might be a success if it had a 50 mile range, and could land and get airborne again with a 200 pound patient and and 200 pound pilot aboard. No indication of the capability of the flying prototype shown in the TV piece. The prototype might not have the range and payload to be a success, but if we knew how close it was to successful performance, we could form an idea of how far it has to go to make the grade and be a successful product. I assume the flying prototype they showed was a full scale prototype. But they didn't tell us that. It could have been a small scale model, a drone, no way I could tell watching TV. And the TV people didn't tell us what we were watching, full scale working prototype, or tiny model drone.
They failed to give any useful information about the vehicle. They failed to give the name of this wonderful machine, or the name of the Israeli company developing it, or the name of the US company that might produce it. They didn't tell us the range of the vehicle. They didn't state the engine horsepower it uses to get airborne. They didn't state the payload. To be useful it has to be able to get off the ground with a single patient, and the pilot.
The thing might be a success if it had a 50 mile range, and could land and get airborne again with a 200 pound patient and and 200 pound pilot aboard. No indication of the capability of the flying prototype shown in the TV piece. The prototype might not have the range and payload to be a success, but if we knew how close it was to successful performance, we could form an idea of how far it has to go to make the grade and be a successful product. I assume the flying prototype they showed was a full scale prototype. But they didn't tell us that. It could have been a small scale model, a drone, no way I could tell watching TV. And the TV people didn't tell us what we were watching, full scale working prototype, or tiny model drone.
Logan 2017
I missed it in theaters back in 2017. I got it on DVD thru Netflix. Not impressed. Although we have Hugh Jackman playing Logan, not much else is right. Logan has gone to seed, drinks too much and uses stuff. Drives an airport stretch limo, nicely washed and polished, but still a stretch limo. You would never catch me behind the wheel such an under powered, ungainly, hard to parallel park tank. Logan spends a fair bit of his time taking care of Charles Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart. Like Logan, Charles Xavier has gone to seed too. He no longer sees the whole of mankind's future, nor can he do anything about it. The plot, if any, never became clear to me, the movie just kinda rambled along, and never getting anywhere. If Logan or Charles Xavier was trying to accomplish anything, I never figured out what it might be.
Not the best X-man spinoff movie.
Not the best X-man spinoff movie.
Thursday, May 31, 2018
military-still-wants-belly-gun-v-22-osprey
Full article here. According to the article, Osprey fans and supporters have been calling for a research and development project for a belly gun for the Osprey for years. Strange. We figured out how to mount machine guns on aircraft back in 1915, Antony Fokker did the deed. Bolt the gun to the fuselage somewhere, cut a hole for the gun muzzle to stick out of, and the job is done. You have to steer the aircraft to lay the gun, but that's easier and more instinctive and more reliable than some kinda steerable gun mount. No R & D required, just go do it. We did it back in Viet Nam, the local boys managed to mount a 30 cal Gatling gun on an F4C, and Chuck Yeager scored a number of kills with it. It worked so well that the next version of the F4, the F4D, was built with an internal gun.
Plus, the mission of the Osprey is to carry troops and land them behind enemy lines. Adding guns and ammunition costs range and payload, i.e. an armed Osprey is less effective at its primary mission than an unarmed one. If the landing zone is hot, send some armed escort fighters along with the Ospreys to dust off any bad guys stupid enough to stick their heads up.
Plus, the mission of the Osprey is to carry troops and land them behind enemy lines. Adding guns and ammunition costs range and payload, i.e. an armed Osprey is less effective at its primary mission than an unarmed one. If the landing zone is hot, send some armed escort fighters along with the Ospreys to dust off any bad guys stupid enough to stick their heads up.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
Obamas to do TV show. It will be non political
According to Variety the Obamas will get a TV show with Netflix. Netflix claims the show will be non political. Really.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
Palestinians firing mortars into Israel from Gaza
That sort of thing has been an act of war since the invention of cannon. Last time the Palestinians did this they provoked an Israeli invasion that did them a lot of hurt. Seems pretty obvious that the Israelis are prepared to do that again. How much hurt do the Israelis have to inflict to get their message across? And how crazy is the Hamas leadership, asking to get their asses kicked again, for no reason?
I know the Palestinians are still sore about Israeli victory back in 1948. But they gotta learn that they lost, and it ain't likely that they ever will be able to beat the Israelis. Keeping up the hostilities ain't gonna do the Palestinians any good, the Israelis are better educated, more unified, more dedicated, and generally tougher than the Palestinians will ever be.
I know the Palestinians are still sore about Israeli victory back in 1948. But they gotta learn that they lost, and it ain't likely that they ever will be able to beat the Israelis. Keeping up the hostilities ain't gonna do the Palestinians any good, the Israelis are better educated, more unified, more dedicated, and generally tougher than the Palestinians will ever be.
GDPR Notice on my blog
The blogger people tell me that they have posted some kind of message on the overseas versions of my blog, to comply with the new European data privacy law. I cannot see this message. I have no idea what it says. It's a message from the blogger people, not me.
All I can say is that my posts, and your comments, stay on the blog pretty much for ever, and are visible to anyone who visits the blog.
All I can say is that my posts, and your comments, stay on the blog pretty much for ever, and are visible to anyone who visits the blog.
Monday, May 28, 2018
Do the players and/or the owners understand?
Understand the real issue that is. The real issue is that we fans don't like players dissing the US flag and/or the American national anthem. It irritates us down deep. I will avoid the more descriptive words for our feelings because they are a little too vulgar for my blog. And when we fans get irritated, we stop buying game tickets and we stop watching games on TV. Which is bad for business. Any fool ought to understand this by now.
Apparently there are a bunch of fools out there. I have heard one bunch claim that President Trump's disapproval was divisive with the owners. Nonsense, the president is just one guy. It's the masses of football fans who have been turned off to the game that matter.
Another bunch of fools say dissing the flag and the anthem is free speech. Maybe it is, but just because speech is free doesn't mean we fans have to like it. We don't. That sort of free speech has taken a solid hit on TV viewership. A little more such free speech and NFL football will be down there with European soccer matches. And only available on U-Tube.
Good luck NFL. Maybe common sense will penetrate before it's too late.
Apparently there are a bunch of fools out there. I have heard one bunch claim that President Trump's disapproval was divisive with the owners. Nonsense, the president is just one guy. It's the masses of football fans who have been turned off to the game that matter.
Another bunch of fools say dissing the flag and the anthem is free speech. Maybe it is, but just because speech is free doesn't mean we fans have to like it. We don't. That sort of free speech has taken a solid hit on TV viewership. A little more such free speech and NFL football will be down there with European soccer matches. And only available on U-Tube.
Good luck NFL. Maybe common sense will penetrate before it's too late.
Sunday, May 27, 2018
US has been getting hostages released
Let's see, those three from North Korea, now one from Venezuela. Neither country is a friend of America. But they released their hostage[s]. Either out of fear of what we might do to them, or a desire to butter up the Yankees to get something from us. Either way, we get our people back. Which is a good thing.
Saturday, May 26, 2018
Keep the banks from going broke
Great Depression 2.0, back in 2008, was caused by big banks and insurance companies going broke. They went broke by making loans to flaky borrowers (Greece, Puerto Rico) and flaky deals (mortgage backed securities and credit default swaps), not keeping enough cash on hand to cover losses. As the smoke cleared, and we launched into an 8 year depression, the Democrats passed a bunch of regulations (Dodd Frank) , and failed to prosecute anyone who was running the failed firms.
I say we could have a more dependable financial sector if the people running it, CEO's and the like, had a real fear of personal retribution when they drove their companies onto the rocks. Start with more aggressive prosecution under existing laws. Pass a law making financial executives personally liable for failure of their firms. Enlist that army of unemployed lawyers to sure to socks off anyone who bankrupts his bank.
In short, scrap the regulations. Bring on the ambulance chasing lawyers.
I say we could have a more dependable financial sector if the people running it, CEO's and the like, had a real fear of personal retribution when they drove their companies onto the rocks. Start with more aggressive prosecution under existing laws. Pass a law making financial executives personally liable for failure of their firms. Enlist that army of unemployed lawyers to sure to socks off anyone who bankrupts his bank.
In short, scrap the regulations. Bring on the ambulance chasing lawyers.
Friday, May 25, 2018
The NORKs, on again, off again, maybe on again?
At least President Trump understands that his mission is to obtain a deal helpful to the United States, rather than just obtain a deal that looks good in the democratic MSM, like Obama did. We want the NORKs denuclearized. We offered the NORKs an end to the embargo, a signed peace treaty to end the Korean War, a guarantee of survival of Kim and of his government, and maybe some investment to spiff up their disastrous economy. Apparently this ain't enough to get Kim to give up his nukes. I assume Kim feels that a good dozen working nukes is a better guarantee of his and his regime's survival than any amount of Yankee promises. Can't say that I disagree with Kim on this.
So, the NORKs made noises about keeping their nukes. And President Trump replied by cancelling the summit. Probably the right move. As of this morning the NORKs are making back off noises, and making lets do the summit anyhow noises.
Say tuned for further developments.
So, the NORKs made noises about keeping their nukes. And President Trump replied by cancelling the summit. Probably the right move. As of this morning the NORKs are making back off noises, and making lets do the summit anyhow noises.
Say tuned for further developments.
Words of the Weasel Part 52
Informant vs Spy. In real life these two nouns mean exactly the same thing. But in today's strange politics the democrats seem to think that "informant" sounds better than "spy". They are calling the spy planted upon the Trump campaign in 2016 was really only an informant, which sounds so much nicer than spy.
I will admit that "informant" is used in law enforcement stories whereas "spy" is used in military and international stories, but they both work the same. A harmless looking individual is planted on the enemy and passes useful/damaging information to the other side.
If the spy/informant planted on the Trump campaign story holds up, it will cause a furore, probably as big as Watergate.
I will admit that "informant" is used in law enforcement stories whereas "spy" is used in military and international stories, but they both work the same. A harmless looking individual is planted on the enemy and passes useful/damaging information to the other side.
If the spy/informant planted on the Trump campaign story holds up, it will cause a furore, probably as big as Watergate.
Thursday, May 24, 2018
Difference between investment and gambling
I think there is one. Investment means taking good real money and lending it to business enterprises to build factories,power stations, and pipelines, purchase machinery, aircraft, motor vehicles, and ships, to buy inventory, stuff that grows the business. Gambling is fun, but the money doesn't go to finance business, it goes back and forth between players. To keep the economy growing we need to encourage investment and discourage gambling with laws, regulation, and taxes.
The stock market makes investment in stocks attractive, mostly because investors can sell their stock for cash, anytime. And quickly, call your broker, and the sale will go thru that day or the next, and the cash will be in your checking account in another day or so. That's liquidity, and it vastly increases the desirability of stocks as an investment. And companies can issue and sell stock, raising cash for merely printing a stock certificate. If you are starting a company, the ability to issue company stock to raise money is a real boon.
And then we have those things that are mostly gambling. The morning NPR news regularly reports "Dow futures are up (or down)". I don't really know just how Dow futures work, but I seriously doubt that any of the money that changes hands gets to businesses for investment. I think the money just goes back and forth between financial players. Pure gambling. Same goes for "derivatives" another poorly understood (at least I don't really understand them) financial deal which just passes money around among players.
We always need more investment and less gambling.
The stock market makes investment in stocks attractive, mostly because investors can sell their stock for cash, anytime. And quickly, call your broker, and the sale will go thru that day or the next, and the cash will be in your checking account in another day or so. That's liquidity, and it vastly increases the desirability of stocks as an investment. And companies can issue and sell stock, raising cash for merely printing a stock certificate. If you are starting a company, the ability to issue company stock to raise money is a real boon.
And then we have those things that are mostly gambling. The morning NPR news regularly reports "Dow futures are up (or down)". I don't really know just how Dow futures work, but I seriously doubt that any of the money that changes hands gets to businesses for investment. I think the money just goes back and forth between financial players. Pure gambling. Same goes for "derivatives" another poorly understood (at least I don't really understand them) financial deal which just passes money around among players.
We always need more investment and less gambling.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
Oxford History of the American People by Samuel Elliot Morison
This is American history as it ought to be written. Morison starts with pre Columbian America and takes the story right up to the present day (in Morison's case 1965). Morison is a fine writer, his text reads as well as anything by Bruce Catton or Shelby Foote. He covers everyone of any interest, and every political thought that occurred in America. He leaves nothing out. And he make it all interesting. The book is massive, 1150 pages.
Morison is an fascinating guy. He was a Harvard professor. He held a commission in the Navy reserve. When WWII broke out, Morison became the Navy's historian. He went to sea, pretty much for the duration. He was at the Torch landings in North Africa, he was at Midway. After the war he single handedly wrote the Navy's history of World War II, in fifteen volumes, The History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II. And he collaborated with Henry Steele Commager to write Growth of the American Republic, (usually known as Morison and Commager) which was the standard college US history text for decades. They don't make Harvard professors like that anymore.
It's a fine read by one of the best American historians ever.
Morison is an fascinating guy. He was a Harvard professor. He held a commission in the Navy reserve. When WWII broke out, Morison became the Navy's historian. He went to sea, pretty much for the duration. He was at the Torch landings in North Africa, he was at Midway. After the war he single handedly wrote the Navy's history of World War II, in fifteen volumes, The History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II. And he collaborated with Henry Steele Commager to write Growth of the American Republic, (usually known as Morison and Commager) which was the standard college US history text for decades. They don't make Harvard professors like that anymore.
It's a fine read by one of the best American historians ever.
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Give all the teachers a 40% raise
That's what an op ed in Tuesday's Wall St Journal calls for. The writer seems to feel that teachers ought to get paid more, to bring their salaries in line with say civil engineers. OK, nice thought and all. But.
I'm still a believer in capitalist free market theory. You pay enough to attract the people you need, and no more. The modest wages paid to teachers are a signal to young people that we have a goodly supply of teachers and you could do better and make more money in other lines of work. That's what the market is supposed to do, issue price signals to workers and suppliers, when there is a shortage of something, be it Hershey bars or school teachers, the price goes up, more people take up teaching, or candy companies make more candy bars. It's a system that has served us well, allocated labor and capital intelligently, and given us fantastic prosperity. The Soviets tried to operate without the market and they only lasted 70 years.
The same op ed did note that teachers of math and science, who are always in short supply, get paid more than the average teacher. Hint to aspiring teachers, do a math or science major in college rather than the ed major.
I guess my other problem with the mare 'em more idea is that we have poured more and more money into public schools. The vast funding increase has not improved our children's education, at least by objective measures like test scores. They have remained flat over the decades while school funding has doubled.
I'm still a believer in capitalist free market theory. You pay enough to attract the people you need, and no more. The modest wages paid to teachers are a signal to young people that we have a goodly supply of teachers and you could do better and make more money in other lines of work. That's what the market is supposed to do, issue price signals to workers and suppliers, when there is a shortage of something, be it Hershey bars or school teachers, the price goes up, more people take up teaching, or candy companies make more candy bars. It's a system that has served us well, allocated labor and capital intelligently, and given us fantastic prosperity. The Soviets tried to operate without the market and they only lasted 70 years.
The same op ed did note that teachers of math and science, who are always in short supply, get paid more than the average teacher. Hint to aspiring teachers, do a math or science major in college rather than the ed major.
I guess my other problem with the mare 'em more idea is that we have poured more and more money into public schools. The vast funding increase has not improved our children's education, at least by objective measures like test scores. They have remained flat over the decades while school funding has doubled.
Monday, May 21, 2018
Why was Prince Harry wearing a black uniform?
I thought Harry had served in the British Army, you know, the Redcoats. He was wearing a black uniform, with his pilot's wings and some ribbons, at his wedding yesterday.
Hair Products popular with Black Women may contain harmful chemicals
Thus saith UnScientific American on their website. They go on at some length, listing a whole bunch of organic chemicals that I am unfamiliar with. I never took organic chem. On the other hand, they failed to mention, anywhere, ever, just HOW MUCH of these allegedly harmful chemicals were present in the hair products. Modern chemical analysis is so sensitive that it can detect small amounts of anything, just about anywhere. The article failed to let us readers know if these harmful chemicals were present in just tiny trace amounts, or in amounts large enough to matter.
Sunday, May 20, 2018
The Economics Profession ain't diverse enough
Thus saith The Economist. They been running the occasional think piece about economics. This week they ran the last of the series. And all they had to talk about was the lack of diversity, women and blacks, in economics faculties. It's a worthy thought, I think.
But I'm more interested in whether economics as a "science" gets it right or not. Actually I consider economics as much as an art as a science, sorta like history. In fact economics could call itself economic history. Since you cannot run experiments in economics, at least not on the scale of a national economy, the people object, the best economists can do is gather observations, like they do in geology and astronomy. So although economists use a lot of mathematics ('cause a page of equations looks so cool in a paper) it isn't really a full science like physics and chemistry. It's scientific, sometimes.
But the real question is do the economists really know what they are doing?
But I'm more interested in whether economics as a "science" gets it right or not. Actually I consider economics as much as an art as a science, sorta like history. In fact economics could call itself economic history. Since you cannot run experiments in economics, at least not on the scale of a national economy, the people object, the best economists can do is gather observations, like they do in geology and astronomy. So although economists use a lot of mathematics ('cause a page of equations looks so cool in a paper) it isn't really a full science like physics and chemistry. It's scientific, sometimes.
But the real question is do the economists really know what they are doing?
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Eradicating Polio
A piece on NHPR the other morning talked about eradicating polio in Pakistan. The Pakistani's mounted a massive vaccination campaign, thousands of workers, going every where, and vaccinating every child they found. The case rate dropped from several hundred polio cases a year down to this year, just one case so far.
Trouble is, the vaccination program is encountering Pakistani parents who refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated. The one polio case this year was a child whose parents refused vaccination, several times. Vaccination program workers are reporting resistance and threats of violence.
I gotta wonder about a culture so poisonous that it prefers to see their young children die of a horrible disease rather than give them a life saving vaccine. I remember back when the polio vaccine was first invented. They set up tables outside in the Saxonville School yard, and in one day, they vaccinated every single kid in Saxonville including me. Parents supported it 100%.
Trouble is, the vaccination program is encountering Pakistani parents who refuse to allow their children to be vaccinated. The one polio case this year was a child whose parents refused vaccination, several times. Vaccination program workers are reporting resistance and threats of violence.
I gotta wonder about a culture so poisonous that it prefers to see their young children die of a horrible disease rather than give them a life saving vaccine. I remember back when the polio vaccine was first invented. They set up tables outside in the Saxonville School yard, and in one day, they vaccinated every single kid in Saxonville including me. Parents supported it 100%.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Driving back from DC.
It took me 11 and 1/2 hours this time, from DC motel to Mac's Market in Franconia. It was pouring down rain in DC when I left at 7 AM. It was heavy enough to create that road fog, a mix of falling rain, real fog, and spray thrown up by tires, that hangs over the roadway obscuring vision. It was so thick I could not see an unlighted vehicle at all, and even the lighted ones were hard to see until I was right on their rear bumper. The rain lightened up by the time I got to Delaware, and was pretty much dry at New York. The sun was out by the time I reached Vermont.
Pretty much every thing moving up and down the East Coast has to get thru, or get to, New York. I tried the George Washington bridge this time, right around 12 noon. A mistake, traffic is terrible, long periods of just plain stuck in traffic. I think Tappan Zee bridge is a better deal. They have the new Tappan Zee span open to traffic, and they are taking the old span down.
The other touchy spot is Philadelphia, the last break in I95. Coming up from the south on I95 in Delaware, you want to take the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Don't follow the I95 signs to Philadelphia, you will get dumped off on city streets in North Philadelphia, or pushed onto I295 going the wrong way. Looks like they never will finish I95 thru Philadelphia. Stick with the Jersey Turnpike.
Pretty much every thing moving up and down the East Coast has to get thru, or get to, New York. I tried the George Washington bridge this time, right around 12 noon. A mistake, traffic is terrible, long periods of just plain stuck in traffic. I think Tappan Zee bridge is a better deal. They have the new Tappan Zee span open to traffic, and they are taking the old span down.
The other touchy spot is Philadelphia, the last break in I95. Coming up from the south on I95 in Delaware, you want to take the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Don't follow the I95 signs to Philadelphia, you will get dumped off on city streets in North Philadelphia, or pushed onto I295 going the wrong way. Looks like they never will finish I95 thru Philadelphia. Stick with the Jersey Turnpike.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Win 10 makes posting photos a pain
Used to be, back in the last decent Windows, Windows XP, you could hit photo upload in say Facebook, and you would get a set of snapshots of each photo in the directory. Which made it pretty easy to click the photo you wanted to post. Not too shabby.
Well, the Micro$ofties managed to break that in Win 10. Aren't we glad that Micro$oft has such a large programming staff with time to break stuff. In Win 10 all you get is a bunch of faceless icons, all alike, and you have to guess which one is the one you want to post.
Good Work Micro$ofties.
Well, the Micro$ofties managed to break that in Win 10. Aren't we glad that Micro$oft has such a large programming staff with time to break stuff. In Win 10 all you get is a bunch of faceless icons, all alike, and you have to guess which one is the one you want to post.
Good Work Micro$ofties.
Driving down to DC, surveying the traffic
After posting about Ford getting out of the car business, at least the small econobox car business. I took note of what was on the road on the way down from Franconia to DC. It does seem like fewer econoboxes, more pickups, more SUV's and the smaller SUVs that the car people call "crossovers". About half the pickup trucks had company names painted on their doors, but the other half looked to be be privately owned.
And lots and lots of heavy trucks, 18 wheelers. I figure that's a sign of a good economy, all those 18 wheelers on the road are either hauling some company's product to the customer, or going empty to pick up a load. Lots and lots of heavy trucks on the interstates is a good sign.
And lots and lots of heavy trucks, 18 wheelers. I figure that's a sign of a good economy, all those 18 wheelers on the road are either hauling some company's product to the customer, or going empty to pick up a load. Lots and lots of heavy trucks on the interstates is a good sign.
Notes to Architects of Hotel/Motel[s]
I've on a trip to DC and have stayed in two pretty new
hotels or motels on the way. Used to be
hotel was a multi story city building where you carried your bags in the front
door and up to your room, and a motel was a one or two story building, each
room with an exterior door, and you parked in front of you room door and
carried your bags in These two places
were sorta hybrids. You entered thru the
front door, they were only a few stories tall
On points I should call them hotels.
But somehow that seems pretentious for what these places were, so I
think of them as motels.
Improvement number
1 would be to find a floor covering that is not slippery as ice when wet. Bathroom floors were glossy ceramic
tile. Stepping out of the shower was
just asking for a fall. Surely there is
a tile product with a little grit in it to give some traction to a wet
foot. One place had a nice looking
asphalt tile with a wood grain pattern to it in the bedroom. Looked OK, but was slippery as all hell when
wet. Place had big sliding glass
windows, that leaked when it rained, giving puddles on the bedroom floor. Nearly broke my neck getting up to go to the
bathroom at night.
Improvement Number
2, go with US
standard light switches. Both places had
groovy Euro style switches, that were hard to see, even by day, and didn't feel
like light switches in the dark, when you need to turn the lights on.
And while we are at
it, lets go with water faucets clearly marked for hot and cold water. At least colored red for hot and blue for
cold. A single tiny color dot isn't
enough.
One place had high
definition TV cabled into all the rooms.
The working channels did show nice video. About half the channels showed just error messages
suggesting I check the antenna connections.
Some channels flicked off and then on.
Changing channels was slow, it took the high def TV 10-15 seconds to
lock onto the high def digital signal and show a picture. The TV would not remember it's channel
settings, so turning it on in the morning meant you had to go looking for a
watchable channel all over again.
And signage. The Holiday Inn folk had the right idea back
in the '60s, big sign, bright lights, make sure every one can see the
place. The place in DC had a tiny little
sign, hidden by the brighter lights of a gas station, that I missed in the
dark.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Glad to see three American's freed from North Korea
At least they got out of Kim's jails with their health, unlike poor Otto Warmbier. All three of them are obviously of Korean ancestry, but the press has uniformly called them Americans, which is a good thing. And the fact that Kim let them go indicates that Kim wants something from the Americans and he thought letting these guys go would put the Americans into a better frame of mind.
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Note to foreign governments
To make a deal with the United States you have to push thru a treaty, ratified by the Senate. Otherwise you don't have a deal. As the Iranians are finding out. Obama knew he could never get the Senate to agree to the Iranian deal, so he never sent to to the Senate for ratification, which means it is not a deal binding upon the United States. And probably Obama knew that the Iranians would never agree to the kind of terms that the Senate would ratify. So Obama settled for a not-treaty scrap of paper that was only good as long as Obama remained President. The ever sucking up newsies gave Obama the same good publicity as if he had gotten a real treaty, which was all Obama really cared about.
Anyhow, if you don't get a treaty ratified by the Senate, you don't have a binding deal.
The real trick will be to get the Europeans and Boeing to forgo all those sales to Iran. The Iranians have good money from crude oil sales to buy a lotta stuff. They want to buy a flock of jetliners from Boeing (many $billion in sales) and about the same number from Airbus. Plus a lot of other stuff. It's gonna be hard to get everyone to forgo all that Iranian money.
Anyhow, if you don't get a treaty ratified by the Senate, you don't have a binding deal.
The real trick will be to get the Europeans and Boeing to forgo all those sales to Iran. The Iranians have good money from crude oil sales to buy a lotta stuff. They want to buy a flock of jetliners from Boeing (many $billion in sales) and about the same number from Airbus. Plus a lot of other stuff. It's gonna be hard to get everyone to forgo all that Iranian money.
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Turning point in history 1782
The American Revolution is just won. The British have capitulated and will sign a peace treaty giving the Americans just about everything they fought for.
Thirteen Colonies, now thirteen independent sovereign states. Each one possesses a state government, state courts, a state code of law, an army, a navy, a state establishment that runs things to their liking and wants to keep it that way. They all have conflicting claims to western lands, their original charters tended to claim all the land clear out to the Pacific Ocean. Each new state, born in battle, has plenty of reasons to want to retain every scrap of their hard won liberty. Each new state was plenty big enough by the standards of the 18th century to be an self sufficient independent nation.
How did these thirteen independent states manage to bury their various hatchets and form the Union? It helped that they all spoke the same language, and had fought side by side against the British. It also helped that they all correctly viewed Britain as a super power, who was just itching to get even for loosing the Revolutionary War, and the slightest sign of American disunity would bring the Redcoats back in force.
As it was, each American state had to give up important pieces of sovereignty, like the right to have armies and navies, to negotiate with foreign powers, to levy tariffs against each other, and accept laws passed by the new Federal government. Somehow, they managed to come up with a long lasting deal, the US Constitution, that they all bought into, and which has lasted to this day. They could have so easily got into a large variety of petty squabbles or not so petty squabbles like slavery, and all gone home mad and determined to go it alone. Which would have seriously changed history.
Thirteen Colonies, now thirteen independent sovereign states. Each one possesses a state government, state courts, a state code of law, an army, a navy, a state establishment that runs things to their liking and wants to keep it that way. They all have conflicting claims to western lands, their original charters tended to claim all the land clear out to the Pacific Ocean. Each new state, born in battle, has plenty of reasons to want to retain every scrap of their hard won liberty. Each new state was plenty big enough by the standards of the 18th century to be an self sufficient independent nation.
How did these thirteen independent states manage to bury their various hatchets and form the Union? It helped that they all spoke the same language, and had fought side by side against the British. It also helped that they all correctly viewed Britain as a super power, who was just itching to get even for loosing the Revolutionary War, and the slightest sign of American disunity would bring the Redcoats back in force.
As it was, each American state had to give up important pieces of sovereignty, like the right to have armies and navies, to negotiate with foreign powers, to levy tariffs against each other, and accept laws passed by the new Federal government. Somehow, they managed to come up with a long lasting deal, the US Constitution, that they all bought into, and which has lasted to this day. They could have so easily got into a large variety of petty squabbles or not so petty squabbles like slavery, and all gone home mad and determined to go it alone. Which would have seriously changed history.
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Gina Haspell for CIA director
She is Mike Pompeo's choice to replace himself. She is a new name to me. Apparently she is an old CIA hand, been with the agency for 30 plus years. Actually worked in the field, collecting intelligence, rather than being a paper shuffling desk weenie back at Langley.
Democrats have been trashing her because some of the intelligence she gathered came from vigorous interrogation of,(possibly waterboarding of) Al Quada prisoners back right after 9/11. I'm perfectly OK with this, it shows she was actually gathering intelligence rather than opining without facts. Or leaking to the NY Times.
If I was going to criticize Ms Haspell, I would ask her about her views on past CIA disasters, such as the failure to predict the fall of the Soviet Union, their prediction that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons, their prediction that the Iranians had stopped their nuclear weapons program, the Valerie Plame case, and leaking the story of Bin Laden's satellite phone to the New York Times. Bin Laden must read the Times too, after the satellite phone story broke, Bin Laden got rid of his phone and ran Al Quada by messengers. This probably extended his life by five years.
Democrats have been trashing her because some of the intelligence she gathered came from vigorous interrogation of,(possibly waterboarding of) Al Quada prisoners back right after 9/11. I'm perfectly OK with this, it shows she was actually gathering intelligence rather than opining without facts. Or leaking to the NY Times.
If I was going to criticize Ms Haspell, I would ask her about her views on past CIA disasters, such as the failure to predict the fall of the Soviet Union, their prediction that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons, their prediction that the Iranians had stopped their nuclear weapons program, the Valerie Plame case, and leaking the story of Bin Laden's satellite phone to the New York Times. Bin Laden must read the Times too, after the satellite phone story broke, Bin Laden got rid of his phone and ran Al Quada by messengers. This probably extended his life by five years.
Facebook's New "feature"
In the last few days, Facebook began placing tags on news articles that they force onto your Facebook feed. Click on the tag and you get a short writeup containing the name of the source of the article (useful) and Facebook's opinion of that source. For Breitbart News, their opinion went on for two lines calling Breitbart right wing extremists and screwballs. Neutral it was not.
Question for Facebook. If you think Breitbart is alt right trash, why do you push Breitbart articles onto my Facebook feed?
Question for Facebook. If you think Breitbart is alt right trash, why do you push Breitbart articles onto my Facebook feed?
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Ford wants to drop out of the car business
Ford announced this change of course last week. They are going to concentrate on pickup trucks, SUVs, crossovers and similar stuff. They will keep making Mustangs and one new sedan design. But Fiesta, Focus, Taurus, and a couple of other econoboxes will be dropped.
Ford didn't give reasons for their plan. At a guess, they like the higher margin in pickups and SUVs as opposed to the close to zero margins in the little econoboxes. At the time, I thought it was short sighted to abandon the bulk of the car market to the Japanese. I think the big boys, Ford, GM, and Chrysler/Fiat need to compete head on for a share of the biggest part of the car market. Driving to work, or anywhere, the bulk of the vehicles I see on the road in my part of the USA are little econoboxes. There may be be much margin in econoboxes, but there is real volume.
Now this week some new info comes to light. According to the Wall St Journal, both Honda and Toyota are having trouble moving their Accords and Camrys, despite new redesigns on both models, and excellent reputations going back many years. And on Saturday, an article speculating that the sedan as a product is going away for ever, just like the station wagon did.
Hmm. Maybe Ford is onto something?
Ford didn't give reasons for their plan. At a guess, they like the higher margin in pickups and SUVs as opposed to the close to zero margins in the little econoboxes. At the time, I thought it was short sighted to abandon the bulk of the car market to the Japanese. I think the big boys, Ford, GM, and Chrysler/Fiat need to compete head on for a share of the biggest part of the car market. Driving to work, or anywhere, the bulk of the vehicles I see on the road in my part of the USA are little econoboxes. There may be be much margin in econoboxes, but there is real volume.
Now this week some new info comes to light. According to the Wall St Journal, both Honda and Toyota are having trouble moving their Accords and Camrys, despite new redesigns on both models, and excellent reputations going back many years. And on Saturday, an article speculating that the sedan as a product is going away for ever, just like the station wagon did.
Hmm. Maybe Ford is onto something?
Friday, May 4, 2018
$130K Bimbo Hush Money
Did anyone, for even a minute, think that Trump's lawyer paid off Stormy Daniels out of his own pocket? $130K may be pocket change to billionaires like Trump, but for ordinary folk like New York lawyers, $130K is real money, far too much to just kick in out of friendship.
Apparently it's a big surprise to the TV newsies. They have been talking about little else ever since Rudi Guliani said that Trump reembursed the lawyer for it yesterday. I mean, what else did you think happened?
Apparently it's a big surprise to the TV newsies. They have been talking about little else ever since Rudi Guliani said that Trump reembursed the lawyer for it yesterday. I mean, what else did you think happened?
Speed up your computer. Uninstall Avast
Computer had been getting sluggish and flaky. So bad that I dared to run ComboFix, world's most aggressive anti virus. Combo Fix didn't find much, but it did demand I shut down Avast's active virus scanner, 'cause it was interfering with ComboFix. The only way I could find to shut down Avast was to uninstall it. The Avast uninstaller whined a lot and took forever, but it did get Avast off the machine.
After killing off Avast, Trusty Desktop is perceptibly more lively. He is an older machine, but he has a 2.19 gigahertz processor and nearly a gigabyte of RAM, not too shabby, even today. He is still running XP, which is leaner and meaner than the later Micro$oft offerings.
These virus scanners hook onto the network port, and inspect every packet, in coming and out going, which slows your internet a lot. It was really showing up running Firefox. Downloads were flaky, and Firefox would freeze for long enough to irritate the bejesus out of me. Getting rid of Avast cleaned up a lot of that.
After killing off Avast, Trusty Desktop is perceptibly more lively. He is an older machine, but he has a 2.19 gigahertz processor and nearly a gigabyte of RAM, not too shabby, even today. He is still running XP, which is leaner and meaner than the later Micro$oft offerings.
These virus scanners hook onto the network port, and inspect every packet, in coming and out going, which slows your internet a lot. It was really showing up running Firefox. Downloads were flaky, and Firefox would freeze for long enough to irritate the bejesus out of me. Getting rid of Avast cleaned up a lot of that.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Those questions for President Trump
The ever clueful New York Times is the source for the list. It might have been leaked from the Mueller investigators (doubtful) or Trump's people (somewhat more likely) or just invented out of clear blue sky by the NY Times people (highly likely). I notice a senior Times editor just left the Times, could it be over inventing fake news?
The questions that I saw are kinda awful. Totally vague, which allows the prosecutors to bear down and take the interview anywhere they want. Lots of "what did you think" questions, which is fishing for a thought crime. Covering vast stretches of time, which makes it hard for the target to remember everything he said or did going back 10 and 20 years. And opens the target up for perjury charges should he misstate or misremember any picayune detail.
Was I Trump, I'd hold out for written questions, asked in writing and replied to in writing. And I get some very clever lawyers to go over each answer with a fine toothed comb to weed out any booby trap answers.
The questions that I saw are kinda awful. Totally vague, which allows the prosecutors to bear down and take the interview anywhere they want. Lots of "what did you think" questions, which is fishing for a thought crime. Covering vast stretches of time, which makes it hard for the target to remember everything he said or did going back 10 and 20 years. And opens the target up for perjury charges should he misstate or misremember any picayune detail.
Was I Trump, I'd hold out for written questions, asked in writing and replied to in writing. And I get some very clever lawyers to go over each answer with a fine toothed comb to weed out any booby trap answers.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
I don't believe in thought crimes
Crimes, that get you hauled into court, ought to be things you did, not thoughts you had. To be a free country, like we claim to be, one should be free to think anything they like. Only actions can be criminalized.
And not too many actions either. I believe Moses got the number just about right, and Moses lived and died thousands of years ago.
Take that newsie's Watergate Wail, "What did he know and when did he know it?" That's a cry to pursue a thought crime. "Knowing" is pure thought. It's perfectly legal to know damn near anything. Why do the newsies go about siccing cops and courts on people just for knowing something? A far better question is "What did he do, and when did he do it?"
A lot of places have passed new laws penalizing "hate crimes". These are things already crimes, they just added some extra jail time if the crime is motivated by prejudice against minorities. I don't hold with that. The law should punish actions, crimes, the same way no matter what the perp was thinking, before during, or after committing the crime. Murder is murder, doesn't matter why the accused committed murder.
And not too many actions either. I believe Moses got the number just about right, and Moses lived and died thousands of years ago.
Take that newsie's Watergate Wail, "What did he know and when did he know it?" That's a cry to pursue a thought crime. "Knowing" is pure thought. It's perfectly legal to know damn near anything. Why do the newsies go about siccing cops and courts on people just for knowing something? A far better question is "What did he do, and when did he do it?"
A lot of places have passed new laws penalizing "hate crimes". These are things already crimes, they just added some extra jail time if the crime is motivated by prejudice against minorities. I don't hold with that. The law should punish actions, crimes, the same way no matter what the perp was thinking, before during, or after committing the crime. Murder is murder, doesn't matter why the accused committed murder.
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Cultural Appropriation
The social justice warriors are attacking a good looking young woman for wearing a prom dress with some Chinese style to it. Despicable. Its a good looking dress, makes her look good. You ought to be able to select your prom dress on how it looks on you, not whether SJW fanatics will dump on you for your choice.
Western civilization has been very effective over the centuries at adopting important technical ideas from other cultures. Magnetic compass, which vastly improved the odds of your ship returning safely, came from China, and only appears in Western literature in the time of King Richard the Lionheart. Gunpowder also came from China, although the idea of putting it into cannon is probably a western idea. Some early cannon were taken to the battle of Agincourt in 1415.
I am in favor of cultural appropriation. If other cultures have good ideas, or well styled garments, or well cooked food (chili, pizza,bleu cheese,lots of other goodies) we ought to adopt them.
Western civilization has been very effective over the centuries at adopting important technical ideas from other cultures. Magnetic compass, which vastly improved the odds of your ship returning safely, came from China, and only appears in Western literature in the time of King Richard the Lionheart. Gunpowder also came from China, although the idea of putting it into cannon is probably a western idea. Some early cannon were taken to the battle of Agincourt in 1415.
I am in favor of cultural appropriation. If other cultures have good ideas, or well styled garments, or well cooked food (chili, pizza,bleu cheese,lots of other goodies) we ought to adopt them.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Trump vs the NORKs
Hard to tell how things are going. According to the newsies, Kim Jong whats-his-face has offered to denuclearize the Korean peninsula. Assuming that's what Kim really said, and not an overly wishful translation by peacenik newsies, it's good. That's more and better than any NORK offer since 1953. Granted we have some well founded trust issues with the NORKS, i.e. we think they are liars, it's still good to have them making the denuclearization offer.
And certainly we have one idea of what denuclearization means and the NORKs have another, and we may not be able to come up with a compromise acceptable to both sides, there is still a possibility of success We ought to go for it.
Big question. Why is Kim making nice now? Possibly the US led trade embargo is beginning to bite? Possibly the Chinese are worried about American tariffs on their goods killing their economy, and so have decided to make nice with the Americans by leaning on Kim? My sources say that the NORKs are totally dependent upon imports of fuel and food from China. Perhaps the Chinese are telling Kim to cool it with the Yankees or face a cutoff of vital imports. Although the Chinese like having the NORKs around as a buffer state between them and the pushy American allied South Koreans, and as an attack dog who they can sic on the Americans any time they want to , they cannot be happy with the idea of a nuclear armed North Korea. And both we and the Chinese have doubts about the stability of Kim's government. If revolution breaks out in the North, the Chinese fear that the South will take over all of Korea, the way West Germany took over all of Germany. Bye-bye buffer state and attack dog. So the Chinese may be reining Kim in to prevent him from over stressing his hold on power in the North.
Who knows?
If things work out right, President Trump ought to get a Nobel Peace Prize.
And certainly we have one idea of what denuclearization means and the NORKs have another, and we may not be able to come up with a compromise acceptable to both sides, there is still a possibility of success We ought to go for it.
Big question. Why is Kim making nice now? Possibly the US led trade embargo is beginning to bite? Possibly the Chinese are worried about American tariffs on their goods killing their economy, and so have decided to make nice with the Americans by leaning on Kim? My sources say that the NORKs are totally dependent upon imports of fuel and food from China. Perhaps the Chinese are telling Kim to cool it with the Yankees or face a cutoff of vital imports. Although the Chinese like having the NORKs around as a buffer state between them and the pushy American allied South Koreans, and as an attack dog who they can sic on the Americans any time they want to , they cannot be happy with the idea of a nuclear armed North Korea. And both we and the Chinese have doubts about the stability of Kim's government. If revolution breaks out in the North, the Chinese fear that the South will take over all of Korea, the way West Germany took over all of Germany. Bye-bye buffer state and attack dog. So the Chinese may be reining Kim in to prevent him from over stressing his hold on power in the North.
Who knows?
If things work out right, President Trump ought to get a Nobel Peace Prize.
Sunday, April 29, 2018
The Economist discovers a new Greenhouse Gas
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) has been the greenie's favorite greenhouse gas. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are blamed for global warming. These are gases that are transparent to visible light and near visible light (short infrared and some ultraviolet) and opaque to long wave infrared. Solar heat comes to the earth and warms it as visible light. The warmed earthly objects, rocks, soil, vegetation, everything, throws off heat by radiating long wave infrared. On the night side of earth, the long wave infrared goes up into space carrying heat with it. Overall earthly temperature is believed to be the result of a balance between incoming Solar heat on the day side, and outgoing infrared radiation on the night side. Increased levels of greenhouse gas block the long wave infrared and are believed to increase the average temperature of the earth.
Now the Economist has a long piece about the evils of methane in the atmosphere. It's dreadful. Methane is the bulk of natural gas, and flatulence. It comes from leaks in natural gas pipelines and gas wells, as well as flatulence among cows, of which there are lot on the earth.
Only one little problem with the methane scare story. The Economist shows a graph starting in 1984 and going to 2018. Methane in the atmosphere has increased from 1650 parts per BILLION, to 1850 parts per BILLION.
Rescale from parts per billion to the more widely used parts per million, and the methane levels become 1.65 PPM and 1.85 PPM.
We have good laboratory data going back about 100 years on carbon dioxide levels. They used to be 350 some PPM, and now are getting close to 400 PPM.
Somehow I don't think less than 2 PPM of methane will ever make much difference against 400 PPM of carbon dioxide.
And for that matter, plain old water vapor is as strong a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide or methane, and the atmosphere contains about 10000 PPM of water vapor. It varies from time to time, the weathermen call it humidity and report it on the nightly news. As I write this, it's raining outside, which means 100% relative humidity. Since there is about 25 times more water vapor in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, I don't worry much about carbon dioxide. Compared to the water vapor, there just isn't enough carbon dioxide to worry about. And the water vapor is better than 1000 times more plentiful than methane.
On a planet that is three quarters ocean, nothing is going to reduce the water vapor content of the atmosphere. Plus the water vapor comes down as rain, which most places need more of.
Now the Economist has a long piece about the evils of methane in the atmosphere. It's dreadful. Methane is the bulk of natural gas, and flatulence. It comes from leaks in natural gas pipelines and gas wells, as well as flatulence among cows, of which there are lot on the earth.
Only one little problem with the methane scare story. The Economist shows a graph starting in 1984 and going to 2018. Methane in the atmosphere has increased from 1650 parts per BILLION, to 1850 parts per BILLION.
Rescale from parts per billion to the more widely used parts per million, and the methane levels become 1.65 PPM and 1.85 PPM.
We have good laboratory data going back about 100 years on carbon dioxide levels. They used to be 350 some PPM, and now are getting close to 400 PPM.
Somehow I don't think less than 2 PPM of methane will ever make much difference against 400 PPM of carbon dioxide.
And for that matter, plain old water vapor is as strong a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide or methane, and the atmosphere contains about 10000 PPM of water vapor. It varies from time to time, the weathermen call it humidity and report it on the nightly news. As I write this, it's raining outside, which means 100% relative humidity. Since there is about 25 times more water vapor in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, I don't worry much about carbon dioxide. Compared to the water vapor, there just isn't enough carbon dioxide to worry about. And the water vapor is better than 1000 times more plentiful than methane.
On a planet that is three quarters ocean, nothing is going to reduce the water vapor content of the atmosphere. Plus the water vapor comes down as rain, which most places need more of.
Friday, April 27, 2018
Too bad about Bill Cosby
I remember Bill Cosby in "I Spy" on Philadelphia TV in the 1950's. I once owned the "200 Miles an Hour" LP record. "Mother Jugs and Speed" was hilarious. "Fat Albert" livened up Saturday morning cartoon time. He did the Doc Huxtable gig well. I never met the guy, all I know him by is his entertainments, which were entertaining.
I am sorry to hear that he has been convicted of sexual some-thing-other committed 14 years ago. We used to call it rape, but apparently simple four letter words are too much for lawyers and the political correct now a days.
Too bad such an good comedian turned out to be a rapist.
I am sorry to hear that he has been convicted of sexual some-thing-other committed 14 years ago. We used to call it rape, but apparently simple four letter words are too much for lawyers and the political correct now a days.
Too bad such an good comedian turned out to be a rapist.
Thursday, April 26, 2018
New Hampshire must be doing something right
Thursday's Wall St Journal had a bar chart, showing growth of personal income in all the New England states. New Hampshire is best in show, with 3.5 % income growth for last year, 2017. Better than Massachusetts (3.3%) , better than the US average (3.1%). Way better than Connecticut which only managed 1.5%. The purpose of the editorial was to trash Connecticut's performance and blame it on state government's tax hikes, deficit spending and driving GE to move to Massachusetts. It didn't say anything about what pushed New Hampshire to the top, but Governor Sununu ought to use this chart in his next campaign for governor.
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
Farewell to Heat and Eats
They aren't the greatest, they aren't the worst, and they do heat up and serve just one, which is nice for us who live alone. But now, it looks like heat and eats are off my menu.
Reason? More and more heat and eats now say "Microwave only" and "Do not heat in conventional oven or toaster oven". I don't have a microwave, my kitchen is very small and I just don't have any counter space to put a microwave. And I don't plan on remodeling my kitchen just so I can microwave heat and eats.
I wonder why the heat and eat makers only want us to microwave their product?
Reason? More and more heat and eats now say "Microwave only" and "Do not heat in conventional oven or toaster oven". I don't have a microwave, my kitchen is very small and I just don't have any counter space to put a microwave. And I don't plan on remodeling my kitchen just so I can microwave heat and eats.
I wonder why the heat and eat makers only want us to microwave their product?
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
How Hollywood can improve its product
Let's start with the actors. Actors must speak up. Mumbling, or whispering means we the audience don't hear your lines. Do enough of that and we loose interest in the movie. And in the same vein, sound men need to take especial care to place the microphones in just the right places. And when editing the sound track, mixing in the score and the sound effects, don't obscure the dialogue. Mute both score and sound effects when the actors are speaking.
First rule for camera men. Put the camera on a tripod and leave it there. Those arty shake the camera shots which were are the rage a few years ago are just plain annoying to us in the audience. And turn the lights on set ON, before starting to film. Don't do those black on black shots, with all the lights out. Game of Thrones, season 6 is a prominent offender in this respect.
Directors need to help us in the audience by putting different costumes on the various actors to help us tell one from another. Don't have everyone wear the same costume, or even worse, same uniform. They used to have the good guys wear white hats and the bad guys wear black hats. That was a good idea, and should be kept up.
A movie needs a protagonist ($2 word meaning hero or heroine) with whom we can identify, and like. Don't show us scumbag protagonists, we won't like them, or the movie. Female protagonists are fine, Katniss Everdeen and Rey did just fine. Protagonist needs a challenge to overcome. And we in the audience need to know what that challenge is, early on, it helps us understand what is going on. Tolkien handled this in the second chapter of Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf tells Frodo about the ring and what has to be done with it. For the rest of the trilogy, it was clear to us readers what was going on. Build the movie to a climax, where the protagonist faces his/her challenge and either defeats it or suffers defeat him/herself. We like movies where the good guy[s] win, but we will put up with a tragedy if it's well done.
And we have enough comic book movies. If you lack the originality to do your own story, there are plenty of good books that have not yet been used as the basis for movies.
First rule for camera men. Put the camera on a tripod and leave it there. Those arty shake the camera shots which were are the rage a few years ago are just plain annoying to us in the audience. And turn the lights on set ON, before starting to film. Don't do those black on black shots, with all the lights out. Game of Thrones, season 6 is a prominent offender in this respect.
Directors need to help us in the audience by putting different costumes on the various actors to help us tell one from another. Don't have everyone wear the same costume, or even worse, same uniform. They used to have the good guys wear white hats and the bad guys wear black hats. That was a good idea, and should be kept up.
A movie needs a protagonist ($2 word meaning hero or heroine) with whom we can identify, and like. Don't show us scumbag protagonists, we won't like them, or the movie. Female protagonists are fine, Katniss Everdeen and Rey did just fine. Protagonist needs a challenge to overcome. And we in the audience need to know what that challenge is, early on, it helps us understand what is going on. Tolkien handled this in the second chapter of Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf tells Frodo about the ring and what has to be done with it. For the rest of the trilogy, it was clear to us readers what was going on. Build the movie to a climax, where the protagonist faces his/her challenge and either defeats it or suffers defeat him/herself. We like movies where the good guy[s] win, but we will put up with a tragedy if it's well done.
And we have enough comic book movies. If you lack the originality to do your own story, there are plenty of good books that have not yet been used as the basis for movies.
Monday, April 23, 2018
How did those refugees get on the train roofs??
TV has been talking up a caravan of central American refugees, traveling up thru Mexico, riding on the roofs of boxcars, heading for the US border. Hoping to be granted refugee status in America.
Question. How did all those people get up on the roofs of the boxcars? In America, the Federal Railway Administration decided that allowing railroad workers on top of cars was just too dangerous. They ordered the roofwalks and the ladders removed. Back in the dawn of time, before the invention of the Westinghouse air brake, railroad brake men used to run along the tops of the cars, tightening up the handbrake wheels when the engineer whistled for brakes on. This hasn't been necessary for the last hundred and something years, the engineer now pulls a brake lever in the engine cab, and compressed air puts the brakes on, thruout the length of the train.
Anyhow, about 1970, on American railroads, new cars were purchased without roofwalks or ladders giving access to the roof. By now, no freight cars in the US have easy access to the roof. I assume the Mexican railroads follow US practices since they interchange cars with US roads, and vice versa.
I assume that an athletic 20 something can climb up on top of a boxcar without ladders. But what about women and children? Surely not all of those refugees are athletic 20 somethings?
Question. How did all those people get up on the roofs of the boxcars? In America, the Federal Railway Administration decided that allowing railroad workers on top of cars was just too dangerous. They ordered the roofwalks and the ladders removed. Back in the dawn of time, before the invention of the Westinghouse air brake, railroad brake men used to run along the tops of the cars, tightening up the handbrake wheels when the engineer whistled for brakes on. This hasn't been necessary for the last hundred and something years, the engineer now pulls a brake lever in the engine cab, and compressed air puts the brakes on, thruout the length of the train.
Anyhow, about 1970, on American railroads, new cars were purchased without roofwalks or ladders giving access to the roof. By now, no freight cars in the US have easy access to the roof. I assume the Mexican railroads follow US practices since they interchange cars with US roads, and vice versa.
I assume that an athletic 20 something can climb up on top of a boxcar without ladders. But what about women and children? Surely not all of those refugees are athletic 20 somethings?
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Is there a difference between Democrats and Republicans?
It's hard to tell by listening to the politicians. They mostly bland down their words until they really don't mean anything. They have learned that speaking out on one side of any substantive issue just looses them votes. The voters that don't like what they hear will remember and make a point to vote against them, where as the voters that like what they hear don't care enough to get to the polls on election day. So the professional politicians practice saying as little as possible while sounding good. Hence all the happy talk about motherhood and apple pie. Donald Trump is an exception to this rule and it hasn't killed him, yet.
But there are real differences between the parties. Consider the matter of helping the poor. Republicans believe the real solution to poverty is plenty of decent jobs. Which means they favor things that help business because business creates those decent jobs. Democrats believe the real solution to poverty is government handouts, welfare, food stamps, single payer health care and such. Paid for by confiscating (taxing) wealth from the wealthy and giving it to the poor. With some nice fat skimming off the top for deserving friends of the party.
Modern Republicans believe that America, as the largest and strongest country in the world, needs to take action to oppose foreign tyranny, obnoxious ideologies, nuclear proliferation, and out right banditry. Modern Democrats are isolationists and peaceniks. They don't believe that anything outside our borders deserves our attention. This is a reversal of the party positions from the early years of the 20th century.
Republicans are respectful of Christianity and organized religion. Democrats favor removing religious symbols (creches) from just about everywhere, and punishing anyone who offers prayer in public.
But there are real differences between the parties. Consider the matter of helping the poor. Republicans believe the real solution to poverty is plenty of decent jobs. Which means they favor things that help business because business creates those decent jobs. Democrats believe the real solution to poverty is government handouts, welfare, food stamps, single payer health care and such. Paid for by confiscating (taxing) wealth from the wealthy and giving it to the poor. With some nice fat skimming off the top for deserving friends of the party.
Modern Republicans believe that America, as the largest and strongest country in the world, needs to take action to oppose foreign tyranny, obnoxious ideologies, nuclear proliferation, and out right banditry. Modern Democrats are isolationists and peaceniks. They don't believe that anything outside our borders deserves our attention. This is a reversal of the party positions from the early years of the 20th century.
Republicans are respectful of Christianity and organized religion. Democrats favor removing religious symbols (creches) from just about everywhere, and punishing anyone who offers prayer in public.
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Is Fiction Really Dead?
Every Saturday the Wall Street Journal publishes a best seller list. They break it down into hardcover fiction, ebook fiction, hardcover non ficition, ebook nonfiction and business titles. Often as not, best sellers in hardcover fiction will be Dr. Suess, or Shel Silverstein. Both of these are classic children's books, every child has, or ought to have, a copy. Parents, grandparents and grown up friends and relatives buy these classics for birthdays and Christmas presents. There is a steady market, proportional the the number of small children in the country. When one of these steady sellers makes it to the top of the best seller list, it really means that no other author has been able to sell all that many copies of their work. The last real best seller fiction were the Harry Potter stories, that J.K. Rowling fed into the market every other year or so. I can remember riding the Boston subway to and from work where a quarter of the riders in the subway car would be reading the latest hardback Harry Potter yarn. That's a best seller. We don't seem to have any best sellers of that magnitude any more.
Partly the dropoff in best seller fiction is the fault of the big publishers. They won't look at any new fiction unless the author has acquired an agent. There aren't all that many agents in the world and the ones that are out there, are swamped with clients. They won't take on a new author. They are too busy.
Even best selling author Tom Clancy had to go all around Robin Hood's barn to get into print back in the 1980's. His best seller, Hunt for Red October , was finally published by the Naval Institute Press, a specialty house for technical works for Navy officers. After the smash hit success of his first book, Tom had no trouble getting his second best seller, Red Storm Rising, published by GP Putnam.
What this means, is as the established authors die off, (for example Clancy died quite recently) there is nobody in the pipeline to replace them.
Partly the dropoff in best seller fiction is the fault of the big publishers. They won't look at any new fiction unless the author has acquired an agent. There aren't all that many agents in the world and the ones that are out there, are swamped with clients. They won't take on a new author. They are too busy.
Even best selling author Tom Clancy had to go all around Robin Hood's barn to get into print back in the 1980's. His best seller, Hunt for Red October , was finally published by the Naval Institute Press, a specialty house for technical works for Navy officers. After the smash hit success of his first book, Tom had no trouble getting his second best seller, Red Storm Rising, published by GP Putnam.
What this means, is as the established authors die off, (for example Clancy died quite recently) there is nobody in the pipeline to replace them.
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