Friday, September 18, 2009
Heartbreaking Story
The widow of a US marine who died in combat in Iraq is being hassled by US immigration. The bureaucrats have found some excuse to deny the young widow, and her infant child entry to the US. Do we need immigration reform or what? Story is here.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Obama hangs the East Europeans out to dry
Obama announced the cancellation of the US missile defense system scheduled for installation in Poland and the Czech Republic. Talk about hanging allies out to dry. The Poles and the Czechs stuck their necks out, angering the Russians, by accepting the anti missile systems. They hoped that US installations with US personnel on their soil would deter a Russian invasion, of the Georgian sort. Obama just yanked that rug out from under our best European allies.
The Russians are known to carry grudges, so the Poles and the Czechs are worse off than if they had refused the anti missile systems in the first place. They have Russian bad feelings and now, no Uncle Sam in their corner. The Obama foreign policy seems to be grovel to your enemies, hang your friends out to dry.
Nor did Obama get any concessions from the Russki's. They have been all bent out of shape about US anti missiles so close to their border. You'd think they would have been willing to do the Americans a few favors, like leaning in Iran, in return for a US missile pullout. Apparently community organizers don't learn about horse trading.
The Russians are known to carry grudges, so the Poles and the Czechs are worse off than if they had refused the anti missile systems in the first place. They have Russian bad feelings and now, no Uncle Sam in their corner. The Obama foreign policy seems to be grovel to your enemies, hang your friends out to dry.
Nor did Obama get any concessions from the Russki's. They have been all bent out of shape about US anti missiles so close to their border. You'd think they would have been willing to do the Americans a few favors, like leaning in Iran, in return for a US missile pullout. Apparently community organizers don't learn about horse trading.
Stories drift slowly thru newsspace
This morning I read a piece on NowHampshire.com blog entitled "Study links Humans to Arctic Warming". NowHampshire was quoting a Concord Monitor piece published today. The Concord Monitor is reprinting a Wash Po article dated 4 September. So, it takes 13 days, nearly two weeks for a Wash Po article to filter up to where I see it.
Doesn't really matter. The article is written by a modern journalism major. She included no data, no graphs, no photos, no evidence to support the scare headline ("Human beings are ruining the planet"). Virtually no numbers. At one place she does say that Arctic temperature has risen 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit from "they would have expected". Translation. Temperature is 2.5 degrees higher than I think it ought to be. That's not data, that's an opinion. Real data would be a graph of measured arctic temperatures going back 2000 years. With an explaination of how you determine temperature in the past. This "2.5 degrees" is the only number in the entire piece.
The "journalist" mentioned something about new lake bottom cores that go back 2000 years. She is ignorant of Scandinavian lake bottom cores going back to the end of the last ice age which have been well known for 50 years. The Scandinavian cores show thin layers, called varves, which indicate the passage of years. Apparently sedimentation slows down a lot in winter when the lake freezes over, leaving a color stripe in the sediment. In fact these cores were used to date the end of the last ice age. The sedimentation only began after the glacier melted back enough to allow open water. Count the layers starting at the top, and you know how many years passed since the lake started out in the lake business.
Nor does the "journalist" mention just how one determines temperature 2000 years ago by analysing lake bottom mud. Pollen counts? Isotope analysis? something else? Method makes a difference. Temperature estimates from ancient pollen counts are nowhere near as accurate as temperature from isotope analysis can be.
In short, this article is just an opinion piece unsupported by any sort of evidence, scientific or otherwise. This might have happened because the "journalist" who wrote it is uneducated and innumerate, or because there really isn't any evidence to support a beloved theory of the greenie left.
Doesn't really matter. The article is written by a modern journalism major. She included no data, no graphs, no photos, no evidence to support the scare headline ("Human beings are ruining the planet"). Virtually no numbers. At one place she does say that Arctic temperature has risen 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit from "they would have expected". Translation. Temperature is 2.5 degrees higher than I think it ought to be. That's not data, that's an opinion. Real data would be a graph of measured arctic temperatures going back 2000 years. With an explaination of how you determine temperature in the past. This "2.5 degrees" is the only number in the entire piece.
The "journalist" mentioned something about new lake bottom cores that go back 2000 years. She is ignorant of Scandinavian lake bottom cores going back to the end of the last ice age which have been well known for 50 years. The Scandinavian cores show thin layers, called varves, which indicate the passage of years. Apparently sedimentation slows down a lot in winter when the lake freezes over, leaving a color stripe in the sediment. In fact these cores were used to date the end of the last ice age. The sedimentation only began after the glacier melted back enough to allow open water. Count the layers starting at the top, and you know how many years passed since the lake started out in the lake business.
Nor does the "journalist" mention just how one determines temperature 2000 years ago by analysing lake bottom mud. Pollen counts? Isotope analysis? something else? Method makes a difference. Temperature estimates from ancient pollen counts are nowhere near as accurate as temperature from isotope analysis can be.
In short, this article is just an opinion piece unsupported by any sort of evidence, scientific or otherwise. This might have happened because the "journalist" who wrote it is uneducated and innumerate, or because there really isn't any evidence to support a beloved theory of the greenie left.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Mortise and Tenion Lathe Stand
Home Hobbyshopper rides again. I might have mentioned the vintage wood lathe I picked up this summer. To get it off the floor of the garage, so I can get the car into the garage before snow falls, and so it can be used, I needed a stand to put it on. Lathes are long and narrow, and, should the workpiece not be round and balanced, they shake a lot. The work piece only gets round and balanced after the lathe chisels round it off. Begin turning a workpiece they can shake hard. So a stout stand is required. Being a cheapskate, and having time for home projects I'm making it.
Back in the lumber rack I have a piece of 2*12 to make the top of the stand, and enough 2*4 to make the legs. I put 2*4 "runners" on the bottom of the legs and did mortise and tenon joints, mortise in the runner, tenon on the legs. Do the mortises first, and then cut and fit the tenons to the mortises. I was clever enough to number the legs (1,2,3,4) and the mortises, (1,2,3,4) so as to fit each leg into one and only one mortise. This is all hand work, parts are NOT interchangable. Leg 1 will be cut, planed and sanded to fit mortise 1, and it will not necessarily fit mortise 2 or 3 or 4.
I lack a mortising rig for the drill press, and mortising 4 inches thru a 2*4 is far beyond my humble router, so I did it the old fashioned way. Drill a row of half inch holes with the drill press and clean it out with hand chisels. I have a mess of hand chisels collected over the years. Some cut better than others, something magic in the steel, it either takes a better edge or holds a better edge or elvish smiths worked an enchantment, or who knows. My best chisel is an old all steel Craftsman my father gave me as a gift when I was a child. Working in construction grade pine, the mortises all cleaned up without much trouble.
Tenons I cut with the radial arm saw (RAS for short). Cross cut the tenon cheeks and swing the blade horizontal to cut the faces. Cut them just hair over size and then do a trial fit. Trim them down bit by bit until they fit hand tight. Turn the blade height crank 45 degrees to move the blade up or down by 1/64 of an inch.
Next time I will do tenons with the dado set. The 10 inch blade bends just a skosh on the face cuts resulting in a slight taper over the length of the four inch tenon. The blade gives a smoother tenon than the dado set, but I'd rather have a dead straight tenon that needs some clean up with a file than a slight taper which ruins the fit.
So, all fits, and the glue is drying. I still need to make some lengthwise stretchers, cut the top to size and make a shelf, but project is moving forward.
Back in the lumber rack I have a piece of 2*12 to make the top of the stand, and enough 2*4 to make the legs. I put 2*4 "runners" on the bottom of the legs and did mortise and tenon joints, mortise in the runner, tenon on the legs. Do the mortises first, and then cut and fit the tenons to the mortises. I was clever enough to number the legs (1,2,3,4) and the mortises, (1,2,3,4) so as to fit each leg into one and only one mortise. This is all hand work, parts are NOT interchangable. Leg 1 will be cut, planed and sanded to fit mortise 1, and it will not necessarily fit mortise 2 or 3 or 4.
I lack a mortising rig for the drill press, and mortising 4 inches thru a 2*4 is far beyond my humble router, so I did it the old fashioned way. Drill a row of half inch holes with the drill press and clean it out with hand chisels. I have a mess of hand chisels collected over the years. Some cut better than others, something magic in the steel, it either takes a better edge or holds a better edge or elvish smiths worked an enchantment, or who knows. My best chisel is an old all steel Craftsman my father gave me as a gift when I was a child. Working in construction grade pine, the mortises all cleaned up without much trouble.
Tenons I cut with the radial arm saw (RAS for short). Cross cut the tenon cheeks and swing the blade horizontal to cut the faces. Cut them just hair over size and then do a trial fit. Trim them down bit by bit until they fit hand tight. Turn the blade height crank 45 degrees to move the blade up or down by 1/64 of an inch.
Next time I will do tenons with the dado set. The 10 inch blade bends just a skosh on the face cuts resulting in a slight taper over the length of the four inch tenon. The blade gives a smoother tenon than the dado set, but I'd rather have a dead straight tenon that needs some clean up with a file than a slight taper which ruins the fit.
So, all fits, and the glue is drying. I still need to make some lengthwise stretchers, cut the top to size and make a shelf, but project is moving forward.
Champlain College
The car radio is tuned to NPR as I swish down to Plymouth on I93 the other day. A Champlain College (of which I have never heard) has some nice air time to explain/sell the benefits of the institution. The Champlain spokesman remarks that all incoming freshmen are required to take a written psychological evaluation test (Met-Riggs perhaps?) and then share their scores with their new roommate.
Wow. Glad I don't have to go back to college. Damned if I want to share my head shrinking score with anyone, let alone a new roommate, assigned to me by chance, whom I have never met before.
This Champlain College may turn out worse than University of Delaware, which was running an abusive student orientation/indoctrination program just last year. At Delaware the resident assistants told students that being white made them racist by definition, and asked improper questions such as "have you had intercourse yet".
With luck, youngest son will be graduated in two more years and safe from "educational" brainwashing.
Wow. Glad I don't have to go back to college. Damned if I want to share my head shrinking score with anyone, let alone a new roommate, assigned to me by chance, whom I have never met before.
This Champlain College may turn out worse than University of Delaware, which was running an abusive student orientation/indoctrination program just last year. At Delaware the resident assistants told students that being white made them racist by definition, and asked improper questions such as "have you had intercourse yet".
With luck, youngest son will be graduated in two more years and safe from "educational" brainwashing.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
To die peacefully at home
As opposed to dying in hospital, wired to fancy electronic instruments, stuck full of needles, wakened at the staff's convenience rather that your own. Many elderly desperately want to just die quietly, at home. They fear the arrival of ambulances to haul them off to uncomfortable, unpleasant and scary hospitals. Where, after a round of unpleasant and uncomfortable procedures, they die anyway.
The way things are now, their health deteriorates until something bad happens, a stroke, a fall, an infection, death can come in many ways. Then the loved ones call 911, the ambulance arrives, and granny is carted off to a hospital because that's procedure, and age and illness have sapped her powers to say NO, Leave me be, at home. We ought to something to make it easier for the truly elderly to refuse heroic medical treatments and just pass away quietly, at home, surrounded by family rather than paid medical staff.
This path is not for everyone. Plenty of elderly desire to live longer and it is totally unethical to deny them treatment. Sorting out the two cases is very difficult, especially for EMT's manning the ambulance, to say nothing of doctors at the hospital.
Resolution of these cases properly lies with the doctor. A conscientious doctor ought to know something of his patient's mind, and should feel free to permit a patient to return home if that is what the patient truly desires. In some cases the family's wishes should be taken into account. But when the possible treatment is unlikely to help, and the patient doesn't want to under go said treatment, a doctor ought to be able to discharge the patient to die at home without fear of a malpractice suit.
The way things are now, their health deteriorates until something bad happens, a stroke, a fall, an infection, death can come in many ways. Then the loved ones call 911, the ambulance arrives, and granny is carted off to a hospital because that's procedure, and age and illness have sapped her powers to say NO, Leave me be, at home. We ought to something to make it easier for the truly elderly to refuse heroic medical treatments and just pass away quietly, at home, surrounded by family rather than paid medical staff.
This path is not for everyone. Plenty of elderly desire to live longer and it is totally unethical to deny them treatment. Sorting out the two cases is very difficult, especially for EMT's manning the ambulance, to say nothing of doctors at the hospital.
Resolution of these cases properly lies with the doctor. A conscientious doctor ought to know something of his patient's mind, and should feel free to permit a patient to return home if that is what the patient truly desires. In some cases the family's wishes should be taken into account. But when the possible treatment is unlikely to help, and the patient doesn't want to under go said treatment, a doctor ought to be able to discharge the patient to die at home without fear of a malpractice suit.
Monday, September 14, 2009
What XP does behind your back
Many of us have whined and bitched about Windows XP slowness. Why do gigahertz CPU's behave so sluggishly?
Answer, the CPU is running all sorts of invisible programs behind your back. A lot of these busy little CPU hogs do nothing useful, they just slow down your machine. You can see these little ramhogs in Task Manager. Just hit Control-Alt-Delete once and Task Manager will pop up. Click on the Process tab and obtain a list of all the hidden programs. My machine runs well with no more than 21 processes. I have seen machines burdened with as many as 50.
If you are in the quest for speed under Windows, the first step is to remove all the programs you don't use. Click on Start -> Settings -> Control Panel and select the "Add or remove programs" icon. This gives you a list off all programs installed on the machine. Keep the ones you use, or think you might use sometime. Keep the Windows service packs, Internet Explorer, Java, Microsoft .net and anything that the name suggests is a hardware driver. Blow away everything else, the cheezy games you never play, the freeby programs that you never used. This stuff mostly came with the machine and is obsolete by now. If you should really need one later, you can find new and up to date versions on the net.
Blowing away the excess stuff frees up disk space, and sometimes kills off run-behind-your-back programs. Sometimes it kills off virii that have been hiding in the clutter of files. Blowing away programs is SUPPOSED to remove all disk files, all drivers, all registry patches and scrub the program clean off your machine. Not all programs remove cleanly. You can do some clean up after the sloppy programs by blowing away any remaining files with Windows Explorer. Take notes on what programs you removed as aide to finding their files on disk.
After you zap all the useless programs, you can trim some fat off Windows.
From inside the "Add and Remove Programs" applet, click on "Add/ Remove Windows Components. My machine runs fine with nothing more than Windows Explorer and Networking Services. Be sure to uncheck Indexing Services, its a useless CPU hog. I would dump OutLook Express and use Thunderbird to do email. For that matter the only reason I keep Internet Explorer around is to make Windows Update work. I use Firefox for all my web browsing.
When done, count the number of processes in Task Manager. Depending, you might have killed off a few CPU hogs.
Answer, the CPU is running all sorts of invisible programs behind your back. A lot of these busy little CPU hogs do nothing useful, they just slow down your machine. You can see these little ramhogs in Task Manager. Just hit Control-Alt-Delete once and Task Manager will pop up. Click on the Process tab and obtain a list of all the hidden programs. My machine runs well with no more than 21 processes. I have seen machines burdened with as many as 50.
If you are in the quest for speed under Windows, the first step is to remove all the programs you don't use. Click on Start -> Settings -> Control Panel and select the "Add or remove programs" icon. This gives you a list off all programs installed on the machine. Keep the ones you use, or think you might use sometime. Keep the Windows service packs, Internet Explorer, Java, Microsoft .net and anything that the name suggests is a hardware driver. Blow away everything else, the cheezy games you never play, the freeby programs that you never used. This stuff mostly came with the machine and is obsolete by now. If you should really need one later, you can find new and up to date versions on the net.
Blowing away the excess stuff frees up disk space, and sometimes kills off run-behind-your-back programs. Sometimes it kills off virii that have been hiding in the clutter of files. Blowing away programs is SUPPOSED to remove all disk files, all drivers, all registry patches and scrub the program clean off your machine. Not all programs remove cleanly. You can do some clean up after the sloppy programs by blowing away any remaining files with Windows Explorer. Take notes on what programs you removed as aide to finding their files on disk.
After you zap all the useless programs, you can trim some fat off Windows.
From inside the "Add and Remove Programs" applet, click on "Add/ Remove Windows Components. My machine runs fine with nothing more than Windows Explorer and Networking Services. Be sure to uncheck Indexing Services, its a useless CPU hog. I would dump OutLook Express and use Thunderbird to do email. For that matter the only reason I keep Internet Explorer around is to make Windows Update work. I use Firefox for all my web browsing.
When done, count the number of processes in Task Manager. Depending, you might have killed off a few CPU hogs.
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