First Washington DC "banned" them. Actually they used the greenie furor to hike prices. Bags used to be free, now the DC markets charge 5 cents a bag. PITA. Now LA is talking about bannng them.
So what do the greenies have against a simple plastic bag? I go to the store, the store puts my groceries into plastic bags, I carry the bags to the car. At home I save all the bags and use them to take my recycling to the "transfer station". (it's not PC to call it the town dump). What's not to like?
This blog posts about aviation, automobiles, electronics, programming, politics and such other subjects as catch my interest. The blog is based in northern New Hampshire, USA
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Real Jobs and Government Jobs
Thing to bear in mind. Real jobs produce real wealth. Real jobs manufacture stuff, transport stuff, grow stuff, mine stuff, construct stuff. At quitting time, the real worker goes home knowing that there is a little more wealth in the world than when he came on shift.
Government jobs do not create wealth. Firemen, cops, school teachers, soldiers, and bureaucrats may be necessary, but they don't create wealth. Their salaries are paid with money taken from the real workers by force of law. At quitting time the government worker goes home knowing that it's five o'clock.
You hear Obama saying "The private economy is doing OK, it's the government employment that needs help." and you gotta know the president is talking thru his hat.
You hear "progressive" economists like Krugman and democratic politicians decrying the reduction of the government work force as if government workers were the key to prosperity. They aren't.
Prosperity comes from real workers at real jobs. Euro style bankruptcy comes from government jobs.
Government jobs do not create wealth. Firemen, cops, school teachers, soldiers, and bureaucrats may be necessary, but they don't create wealth. Their salaries are paid with money taken from the real workers by force of law. At quitting time the government worker goes home knowing that it's five o'clock.
You hear Obama saying "The private economy is doing OK, it's the government employment that needs help." and you gotta know the president is talking thru his hat.
You hear "progressive" economists like Krugman and democratic politicians decrying the reduction of the government work force as if government workers were the key to prosperity. They aren't.
Prosperity comes from real workers at real jobs. Euro style bankruptcy comes from government jobs.
Beast of extreme dampness
Stupid Beast went out yesterday. Then we had one of those sudden summer thunderstorms. A real gullywasher cloudburst. She failed to make it back to the house in time. After the rain let up, she appeared at the door, wanting IN. NOW.
She has somewhere out doors to get out of the rain. But either she wasn't fast enough to get there in time or it wasn't all that rainproof. She was wringing wet, fur soaked, leaving wet paw prints on the rug. I tried to dry her off with a bathtowel, but the towel spooked her (your basic fraidy cat) and she scuttled under a bed, still wet. Didn't dry off for hours.
She has somewhere out doors to get out of the rain. But either she wasn't fast enough to get there in time or it wasn't all that rainproof. She was wringing wet, fur soaked, leaving wet paw prints on the rug. I tried to dry her off with a bathtowel, but the towel spooked her (your basic fraidy cat) and she scuttled under a bed, still wet. Didn't dry off for hours.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Counterfeit MIL SPEC semiconductors
Yet another Aviation Week article on the dangers of counterfeit chips finding their way into US systems such as THAADS anti missile, C-130J transport, Apache and Chinook helicopters. The article goes on to scary speculation with counterfeit chips might have concealed backdoors allowing an enemy to disable US weapons systems in time of war thru a sneaky internet attack.
This is largely a self inflicted wound. The military wants to approve each semiconductor device that goes into a weapons system. They take so long to approve a device that it is out of production by the time the Pentagon finishes doing the paperwork. Since the makers can not obtain approved MIL SPEC devices from the OEM manufacturer, instead they deal with a world full of shady wholesalers/distributers, who for a price, will offer any old MIL SPEC chip you might need. And the wholesalers/disti's will find the needed chips anywhere.
The solution is to require defense contractors to use current production commercial chips from reputable US makers. A box of commercial grade chips shipped from the likes of Intel, Analog Devices, Texas Instrument, Micron, Xylinx or Altera will be what the maker says they are. A shipment of chips from Midnight Semiconductor Supply might be damn near anything , from damn near anywhere.
Current production commercial chips are 10 to 100 times more reliable than any kind of MIL SPEC device. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Built a brassboard system with commercial devices, it worked fine. Built the deliverable system with MIL-SPEC devices which were terrible. A couple of dead devices in every box. Electrical performance so low that we had to redesign circuits that worked fine with decent commercial devices to work with the cruddy MIL-SPEC devices.
This is largely a self inflicted wound. The military wants to approve each semiconductor device that goes into a weapons system. They take so long to approve a device that it is out of production by the time the Pentagon finishes doing the paperwork. Since the makers can not obtain approved MIL SPEC devices from the OEM manufacturer, instead they deal with a world full of shady wholesalers/distributers, who for a price, will offer any old MIL SPEC chip you might need. And the wholesalers/disti's will find the needed chips anywhere.
The solution is to require defense contractors to use current production commercial chips from reputable US makers. A box of commercial grade chips shipped from the likes of Intel, Analog Devices, Texas Instrument, Micron, Xylinx or Altera will be what the maker says they are. A shipment of chips from Midnight Semiconductor Supply might be damn near anything , from damn near anywhere.
Current production commercial chips are 10 to 100 times more reliable than any kind of MIL SPEC device. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Built a brassboard system with commercial devices, it worked fine. Built the deliverable system with MIL-SPEC devices which were terrible. A couple of dead devices in every box. Electrical performance so low that we had to redesign circuits that worked fine with decent commercial devices to work with the cruddy MIL-SPEC devices.
A looming threat
A dock from Japan washed up on an Oregon beach the other day. It had been washed out to sea by the terrible earthquake and tidal wave that hit Japan last year. USA Today called it a looming threat.
Wow. Japan suffered an earthquake, a flood, tens of thousands of deaths, even more still homeless, power shortages, rolling blackouts and radiation leaks. But one piece of flotsam washing up on a west coast beach is a looming threat.
Is not something out of proportion here?
Wow. Japan suffered an earthquake, a flood, tens of thousands of deaths, even more still homeless, power shortages, rolling blackouts and radiation leaks. But one piece of flotsam washing up on a west coast beach is a looming threat.
Is not something out of proportion here?
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Chartres can't borrow money
Yes that Chartres, the one with the famous cathedral in France. It's the custom of European municipalities to finance public works projects with bank loans, rather then by selling bonds, as is customary in the US. Chartres (and a lot of other municipalities) are having trouble finding a bank that will make them a loan. Chartres sent people as far away as China looking for loans. The point of the Wall St Journal piece is that the Euro financial hangup is slowing the European economy. Perhaps.
Of course you have to wonder about some of these projects. Chartres managed to build a really nice water park and a 10 screen movie theater a few years ago with a 500 million Euro loan. Is it appropriate for government to build recreational facilities? As opposed to letting private enterprise handle it? Up here in darkest New Hampshire we have some really nice water parks and movie theaters and they are private operations, privately owned, privately operated, and privately financed.
Of course you have to wonder about some of these projects. Chartres managed to build a really nice water park and a 10 screen movie theater a few years ago with a 500 million Euro loan. Is it appropriate for government to build recreational facilities? As opposed to letting private enterprise handle it? Up here in darkest New Hampshire we have some really nice water parks and movie theaters and they are private operations, privately owned, privately operated, and privately financed.
Yet More Presidential Leadership
And Obama wants to hike the minimum wage. What a great idea. Would you rather have $10 a hour or unemployment?
Minimum wage workers are the entry level, the summer worker, the less than diligent, the not very employable. They are hanging onto their jobs because the little they produce brings in a little more money to the business than their pay and benefits cost the business.
Raise the pay and suddenly these workers cost more than they bring in. And they get laid off.
Minimum wage workers are the entry level, the summer worker, the less than diligent, the not very employable. They are hanging onto their jobs because the little they produce brings in a little more money to the business than their pay and benefits cost the business.
Raise the pay and suddenly these workers cost more than they bring in. And they get laid off.
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