Why is Roger Clemens back in court? Far as I know he is accused of using drugs to improve his baseball playing. I don't approve, but why is this a matter for the courts? We have a commissioner of baseball, who can enforce major league baseball's rules against "performance enhancing drugs".
Let baseball enforce it's rules against drugs, by itself.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Raptors Rapping, F22 Hypoxia mystery
For mysterious reasons, pilots of the new F22 Raptor are suffering from hypoxia in flight. Hypoxia severe enough to have caused one fatal crash already. Since then the Air Force reports 11 more events, not quite as severe, but way out of line. Investigations of cabin air supply have not detected any toxins. Now they are looking at ill fitting survival suits that might be cutting off circulation. No solid cause, let alone a fix, has been found to date.
I never heard about anything like this ever happening on any other aircraft.
I never heard about anything like this ever happening on any other aircraft.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
AdvertisementFail
So I'm looking thru a slick paper blow-in for Nikon camera's which fell out of yesterday's Wall St. Journal. I like cameras, and would love to upgrade my worn plastic point-n-shoot to a big black Nikon with a lens the size of a manhole cover. So I open the flyer and we have a Nikon point-n-shoot in five designer colors, with color coordinated carry cases. Instead of a good zoom lens, which covers all bases, this little fellow has interchangeable lens, which is pretty fancy for a point-n-shoot. The lenses are even color coordinated. Pretty fancy price too, $700 for the camera. There are just a few simple things the ad doesn't tell you about. Such as batteries, cost of, type, recharger, battery life. I'm guessing the viewfinder is electronic, but they don't say. Nor do they give the number of pixels. Does this baby have that really convenient automatic lens cap so you can jam the thing into a pocket without worrying about scratches and dirt on the lens? My cheapy Kodak can do that, what about this really pricey Nikon?
Next page they have some $100 point-n-shoot's, fixed lens, 16 Megapixel. And a total of eight different models, at various prices, but far as I can see, roughly the same performance on each model, despite a three to one range in prices.
Last page we get into the big iron, black, leatherette covered, professional grade camera's with thru the lens viewfinders. These guys start at $549 and work up to $3000. Wow, I could get into these babies for less that the color coordinated lady's model point-n-shoot. They have a selection of mean looking lenses. But the catalog doesn't say which lens fits which camera's, nor does it say the lenses have a universal mount that fits all camera's. No word about batteries. Nothing about the size and weight of these babies. It's probably sizable but it would be nice to know how sizable. No word about speed. Digital camera's need a bit of time to digest each shot before they can take the next shot. Would be nice to know just how much time is involved. These boys can all double as video camera's, high definition video no less. The flyer neglects to say if they do sound as well as video, and how the video comes out, VGA? HDMI? USB? some new interface that my computer lacks?
In short, this flyer raises as many questions as it answers. It would be nice if there were some ad guys who knew something about cameras.
Next page they have some $100 point-n-shoot's, fixed lens, 16 Megapixel. And a total of eight different models, at various prices, but far as I can see, roughly the same performance on each model, despite a three to one range in prices.
Last page we get into the big iron, black, leatherette covered, professional grade camera's with thru the lens viewfinders. These guys start at $549 and work up to $3000. Wow, I could get into these babies for less that the color coordinated lady's model point-n-shoot. They have a selection of mean looking lenses. But the catalog doesn't say which lens fits which camera's, nor does it say the lenses have a universal mount that fits all camera's. No word about batteries. Nothing about the size and weight of these babies. It's probably sizable but it would be nice to know how sizable. No word about speed. Digital camera's need a bit of time to digest each shot before they can take the next shot. Would be nice to know just how much time is involved. These boys can all double as video camera's, high definition video no less. The flyer neglects to say if they do sound as well as video, and how the video comes out, VGA? HDMI? USB? some new interface that my computer lacks?
In short, this flyer raises as many questions as it answers. It would be nice if there were some ad guys who knew something about cameras.
Read the charges aloud
The Guantanamo defendants were not co-operating at their arraignment. One tactic was to demand that the charges against them be read aloud in court. Not unreasonable really. That took two and a half hours. Wow.
Apparently the lawyers thought they were being paid by the word. The charge sheet was 87 pages long. The ten Commandments themselves can be typed on a single A sized piece of paper. Who needs 87 pages to say "this no good nick planned 9-11"? Frankly having to sit around for another two and a half hours serves all the lawyers, and the judge, right.
The reason to try KSM and his buddies, is to convince the rest of the world that they are guilty and they deserve every bit of what we are going to give them. 87 pages of legal malarkey won't convince anyone, not even a bunch of Army officers serving as jury, let alone the Arab street. It only takes a few words to spell out why we want to execute these scumbags, and the arraignment is the place to say those few words.
I'd say the prosecutors need to find some real lawyers, and the judge oughta be replaced on account of terminal stupidity.
Apparently the lawyers thought they were being paid by the word. The charge sheet was 87 pages long. The ten Commandments themselves can be typed on a single A sized piece of paper. Who needs 87 pages to say "this no good nick planned 9-11"? Frankly having to sit around for another two and a half hours serves all the lawyers, and the judge, right.
The reason to try KSM and his buddies, is to convince the rest of the world that they are guilty and they deserve every bit of what we are going to give them. 87 pages of legal malarkey won't convince anyone, not even a bunch of Army officers serving as jury, let alone the Arab street. It only takes a few words to spell out why we want to execute these scumbags, and the arraignment is the place to say those few words.
I'd say the prosecutors need to find some real lawyers, and the judge oughta be replaced on account of terminal stupidity.
Monday, May 7, 2012
"Austerity isn't working" sez Euro Lefties
Euro softies, (Greece, Spain, Italy, and now France) are whining about "austerity". Socialism has run out of other people's money. The Softie countries are spending, and want to keep on spending, a good deal more than their tax revenues. Since they joined the Euro, they can't print money, unlike the US. More and more they cannot borrow the money, 'cause nobody in their right mind would give them a loan, for fear the loan won't get paid back. The Germans are the only Euro country with real amounts of money, and the German taxpayers see no reason to give that money away to the softie countries.
About the only things left are to issue IOU's like California did, or drop out of the Euro so they can print the money they want to spend. Nobody is talking about those alternatives. So far, the citizens of the softie countries like the Euro because it holds it's value. They know that savings in lira or drachma or francs are worth less and less as time goes by, whereas savings in Euro's will be worth the same in the future. What the future of IOU's is nobody knows, they don't talk about it.
So, the softie governments have to cut spending or run out of money. This means laying off "workers" from the government payroll, canceling cost of living hikes, freezing wages, and squeezing down pensions. Nobody likes this much.
And nobody is talking about economic growth, which is the only way out. Was I running a country (I'm not) I'd make a list of all the industries in my country and rank them by size. Start with the big ones and see what could be done to make them grow. Things like removing export restraints (ITAR regulations for instance), issuing needed permits, rationalizing the tax burden, making well educated labor available, encouraging research and development, fostering competition, improving transportation, lowering electric power prices, and publicizing quality control measures (things like Appellation Controlee and ISO 9000)
About the only things left are to issue IOU's like California did, or drop out of the Euro so they can print the money they want to spend. Nobody is talking about those alternatives. So far, the citizens of the softie countries like the Euro because it holds it's value. They know that savings in lira or drachma or francs are worth less and less as time goes by, whereas savings in Euro's will be worth the same in the future. What the future of IOU's is nobody knows, they don't talk about it.
So, the softie governments have to cut spending or run out of money. This means laying off "workers" from the government payroll, canceling cost of living hikes, freezing wages, and squeezing down pensions. Nobody likes this much.
And nobody is talking about economic growth, which is the only way out. Was I running a country (I'm not) I'd make a list of all the industries in my country and rank them by size. Start with the big ones and see what could be done to make them grow. Things like removing export restraints (ITAR regulations for instance), issuing needed permits, rationalizing the tax burden, making well educated labor available, encouraging research and development, fostering competition, improving transportation, lowering electric power prices, and publicizing quality control measures (things like Appellation Controlee and ISO 9000)
Sherlock
It's a new Masterpiece Mystery Theater offering. I watched the first episode on PBS last night. This Sherlock Holmes is right up to date, operates in 2012 London. Trades the magnifying glass for a smart phone. Watson is a blogger. It was disappointing. Holmes talks funny (too fast) and comes across as a terminal nerd who dislikes people, the detective business, and is rude to every one. We open with Holmes dispatching Watson to a crime scene with a laptop. Holmes remains at Baker street and surveys the clues thru the laptop's webcam. Weird. Irene Adler makes her entry in the nude, and even after putting on a few clothes she just doesn't click as femme fatale. Why Holmes would want to get involved with her remains a mystery.
I won't make any special effort to catch the following episodes.
I won't make any special effort to catch the following episodes.
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Treasure Island
Just yesterday I caught a favorable review in the WSJ. So I watched it last night. It's a made for TV miniseries on the SyFy channel. It's good. We all know (or ought to know the story) so I won't say much about it. The cast were all pretty good. Jim Hawkins was a bit older ( looked to be 18 or 19) than is traditional, but well acted. Long John Silver gave up his traditional long greasy locks for a whiffleball haircut. The pirates were convincingly villainous. And best of all, this version of the great sea story actually went to sea. So many Treasure Islands are filmed on dry land, with nary a wave slopping on deck, or a sail being hoisted. For this one they have a real sailing vessel, a big top sail schooner, just right to be the Hispaniola.
All in all, a fine production. Keep an eye on SyFy, they ought to rerun this if you missed it. It didn't get much publicity or netbuzz, I only heard about it yesterday in the Journal, after the first episode (with Donald Sutherland as Captain Flint) had aired.
All in all, a fine production. Keep an eye on SyFy, they ought to rerun this if you missed it. It didn't get much publicity or netbuzz, I only heard about it yesterday in the Journal, after the first episode (with Donald Sutherland as Captain Flint) had aired.
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