V/Stol version of F-35 fighter faces cancellation

The so-new-it-isn't-in-service yet F35 fighter was supposed to come in three models, "A" standard for the Air Force, "B" Vertical/Short Takeoff and landing for the Marines, and "C" carrier equipped for the Navy. The B model is in trouble. Important pieces of the lift fan need to be redesigned, it's late, and it's getting expensive. The Pentagon (or someone) floated the idea of cancelling the B model to save money in Aviation Week.
The Marines wanted the B model, probably 'cause they could operate it off the big helicopter ships. These ships are built to carry and support Marine landing parties. They have a big flight deck for helicopter operations but it isn't big enough to fly fighters. The F-35B would be able to operate, giving the Marines fighter support flying off their own ships. Marine Corps institutional memory reaches back to WWII when the Navy would dump the Marines on a beach and then pull their precious aircraft carriers back out of danger, leaving the Marines to tough it out without Navy air support. The though of having Marine Corps fighters to support Marine infantry must be very appealing.
Actually, they could probably save money by merging the A models and the C models. The only real difference between a carrier fighter and a land based fighter is the carrier fighter needs a tail hook and must be more stoutly built to withstand the tail hook yank, the catapult heave, and the carrier deck whack. No reason the Air Force cannot fly the same plane. Granted, a special model that doesn't have to do carrier landings could have a little more range and payload, but the difference is small and the savings in having just ONE version of the fighter are huge.

TV from your laptop.

What with TV programmng moving to the Internet, you want any new computer to be able to hookup to your TV set. Unless you like watching TV programs on your laptop's screen. Me, I prefer to get my couch potato fix sitting in my recliner in the living room. For this to happen the computer needs to drive a signal down a cable into the TV and both computer and TV need a connection (a port) compatible with each other. There are at least four common types of ports, trouble is, not all computers or TV's come with all four types.
Composite video. This is the single prong RCA type connector (phono plug we used to call them). All VCR's (remember them?) came with a composite video output jack, and all TV's made since the VCR age have one. There aren't all that many TV's still running from pre VCR times. Composite video is pure analog, and works reasonably well. Some but not all computers have composite video outputs.

S-video This has a 5 pin DIN connector, and is less common. But it gives a much nice looking picture than composite video, the colors are clearer and the video is crisper. The presence of a S-video connector on either the computer or the TV is a plus.

VGA A 15 pin three row DB style connector used on computer monitors. Many computers, including laptops, have a VGA output, and new TV sets often have one too. Gives VERY good video.

RGB "Red-Green-Blue" three RCA connectors and three cables DVD players often have RGB outputs. Few computers have them. New TV sets will have RGB inputs. Gives VERY good video.

Bottom line? If shopping for a computer, take a look to see what it has for video outputs. Some laptops have no video out at all, which means you will never be able to use it to show Internet TV on the TV. If your TV has one of the better inputs, like S-Video, or VGA it would be nice if the computer had a matching jack. If all your TV has is composite video input, your want your new computer to have a composite output.
Remember computers get replaced fairly often, and the brand new laptop you buy today, may well be your #2 machine demoted to living room TV watching duties in few years. Remember also that your children will grow dissatisfied with their current laptops, upgrade to something newer to run their games faster, and leave the old laptop with parents. My three children have gifted me with as many castoff laptops. The laptop you buy your child today may be a castoff left at the old family home sooner than you think. It would be nice if said castoff were at least useful for watching TV.

Teach Languages in Public School

A Wall St Journal letter to the editor suggested that computer programming languages be taught in the public schools, just like we no teach foreign languages. This actually is a very good idea. In addition to the obvious employment benefits, knowing how to program gives great insight into how computers work and what they can and cannot do. A citizen today has to interact with computers in daily life. Knowing programming gives the citizen an useful edge in navigating the murky currents of cyberspace. Now that most students own computers, the school would be spared the the expense of setting up a computer lab.
Un fortunately the public school faculty, ed majors, are incapable of teaching programming, and few of them are capable of learning. So it won't happen unless enormous pressure is brought to bear upon the school systems. I don't see much sign of that happening.

All we got was a barograph trace

My barograph shows a dramatic dip, bottoming out a full inch down, around 6 PM last night. Other than a lot of rain, that was it, no wind, no lightening, zippo. We did have some flooding on rivers, but I'm up a thousand feet in Franconia Notch, so the rain all runs down hill away from my house. Except for the Cannon Cloud I'd have sunshine this morning. Electricity stayed on, not even a blip all night. I can tell, when the power goes blip, my clock radio forgets everything, clock setting, alarm setting and station settings. Clock radio was right at it, only at 6:55 the NHPR station in Lebanon 91.3Mhz, was off the air. They recovered and were back on the air by 7:30.
Bottom line, Irene was more TV news hype than hurricane.

More Weather signs

As I write this, the eye of hurricane Irene is inside the city limits of New York, some 300 miles away. Up here we have steady heavy rain which started around midnight. No wind. Barometer dropped from 29.2 inches of mercury to 28.5 over the last 12 hours. Rainwater is pouring off the roof and down the driveway gutter. The Cannon Cloud is down to the top of Gremlin.

So much for weather signs

All day yesterday, a perfectly clear blue sky, gentle breezes, just the right amount of warm. Really nice day. Except for the TV you would never know a hurricane is coming. The TV has the projected storm track coming right up the Connecticut River valley and going over our heads on Sunday. This mornings Wall St Journal has about the same track, maybe a few miles to the west, and maybe not til Sunday night.

Your Tax Dollars at work.

Federal agents raided Gibson Guitar in Memphis and Nashville. They claimed that some rare wood purchased by Gibson to make guitars didn't have enough paperwork. Gibson did have paperwork but the Feds claimed it wasn't good enough. The Feds seized pallets of wood, electronic files, and guitars.
I'm sure that helped Gibson maintain their production schedules, what with raw materials, and finished goods swiped. This is part of Obama's plan to get the economy moving again.
Plus, musicians now worry that taking a wood instrument to a concert will get it seized. The Feds will seize an antique instrument made with protected species of wood unless the owner has paperwork proving that the instrument was made before the wood became protected.
Your tax dollars at work.