A bunch of NH political types were discussing Voter ID on WMUR this morning. Much of the discussion revolved around the"intent" of voters, namely do they "intend" to live in NH. That's what you get when you get a bunch of lawyers together. All talk, no sense.
Intent is what a person thinks, and we don't have telepathy, so no one knows what another person thinks. Law that takes thought into account creates thought crimes, where merely thinking the wrong thoughts is a violation of the law. We should not have thought crime laws.
In regard to the matter of who is entitled to vote in New Hampshire, we need to speak of objective, real things, things that can be seen and touched and photographed. As a general rule, a New Hampshire voter needs New Hampshire plates on the car and a New Hampshire drivers license. In fact, those two items are enough in my book. Voters lacking a car upon which to have NH plates, need to explain how they got to the town offices, since most NH town offices can only be reached by car. If a friend drove them to the office, the friend's car needs NH plates.
Voters lacking a car and a drivers license (very suspicious, everyone has a drivers license) must show evidence (lease, utility bill, mortgage stub) of a home in NH, something a little more permanent than a motel room, and a year round residence, not just a ski chalet. And they need to show a decent photo ID. NH drivers license, passport, Armed Forces ID card, birth certificate, something solid. College ID's don't count.
But what ever we do, let's do something real. Let's not create thought crimes.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Somewhere a village is missing its idiot
Jack Lew, Obama's new Treasury Secretary was on Meet the Press this morning. Oh boy, are we in trouble now with this guy running Treasury. He starts off by saying that Congress needs to fund things the Middle Class needs. Right. The middle class doesn't need "programs", doesn't use "programs" . The middle class needs jobs, not programs.
Then Jack talked about all the good work Obama has done reducing the deficit. Right. Deficit is still $1 trillion dollars, which is too damn high by a factor of 10.
Than Jack talked about economic growth, and how good it is. Right. The economy hit bottom back in 2008 and is still there on the bottom. Obama declared that recovery had begun when things stopped falling, but things are still on the bottom it hit back in 2008. Can you say dead cat bounce? Growth this year is in the 1 percent range, which translates out as invisible.
Finally Jack urged that we "stay on the path to growth." Right. Since 2008 the path has not led to growth. But Obama is bound and determined to keep the country on it.
Either Jack believes this stuff, which makes him a total idiot, or he has no qualms about peddling snake oil on national TV. Which isn't a good thing either. So glad Obama appointed this loser.
Then Jack talked about all the good work Obama has done reducing the deficit. Right. Deficit is still $1 trillion dollars, which is too damn high by a factor of 10.
Than Jack talked about economic growth, and how good it is. Right. The economy hit bottom back in 2008 and is still there on the bottom. Obama declared that recovery had begun when things stopped falling, but things are still on the bottom it hit back in 2008. Can you say dead cat bounce? Growth this year is in the 1 percent range, which translates out as invisible.
Finally Jack urged that we "stay on the path to growth." Right. Since 2008 the path has not led to growth. But Obama is bound and determined to keep the country on it.
Either Jack believes this stuff, which makes him a total idiot, or he has no qualms about peddling snake oil on national TV. Which isn't a good thing either. So glad Obama appointed this loser.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Eddie the Markey rides again.
I used to live in Ed Markey's district. He was an amiable idiot, always campaigning for regulation of something. He started out campaigning for federal regulation of cable TV rates. That was way back when we still had over the air TV. Instead of allowing customers who felt they were being overcharged to cancel their cable service, he wanted to slap a rate cap on what was a luxury service.
Now that he has become a US senator, thanks to the ever so wise voters of Massachusetts, he wants to set up Federal regulation of amusement park rides. Ostensibly this is in reaction to the horrible accident at Six Flags over Texas. We couldn't leave it up to the insurance companies or the states, oh no, we need to create a vast new Federal bureaucracy, well staffed and well paid, with excellent benefits, to do something that other agencies have been doing nicely for many years.
Anyhow the Fox TV newsies have been expressing surprise at Markey's call for action. They should not be surprised, Markey has been doing this kind of stuff for 30 years. Anybody with experience in Massachusetts knows Markey's style by now.
Now that he has become a US senator, thanks to the ever so wise voters of Massachusetts, he wants to set up Federal regulation of amusement park rides. Ostensibly this is in reaction to the horrible accident at Six Flags over Texas. We couldn't leave it up to the insurance companies or the states, oh no, we need to create a vast new Federal bureaucracy, well staffed and well paid, with excellent benefits, to do something that other agencies have been doing nicely for many years.
Anyhow the Fox TV newsies have been expressing surprise at Markey's call for action. They should not be surprised, Markey has been doing this kind of stuff for 30 years. Anybody with experience in Massachusetts knows Markey's style by now.
Grassroots politicking at the Haverill Fair
Haverill puts on an old fashioned fair. A midway, rides, cotton candy, horse pulls, the works. We put up a booth for the Grafton Republican Party, and manned it with politicians and party workers. We had Ray Burton, Jeanne Forrester and Jim Reubins for pols, and a bunch of party workers. You get to see real voters, lots of 'em, having a good time.
After all the TV whining about obesity, there wasn't much in evidence among fairgoers. Kids and teenagers were all thin as rails, decently dressed, well behaved, and happy. Haircuts for boys varied from the 1/2 inch buzz cut to shoulder length. As people got older, they put on some weight, the 40 year olds were uniformly heavier than the 18 year olds, but that's nature. I think the TV obesity whiners have over played their hand. Among the crowd were a lot of couples, of all ages, many holding hands, as they strolled about the exhibits. Clearly the couples were enjoying each others company as much as the delights of the county fair.
We managed to engage the politically active in discussion, but most voters merely gave a friendly nod as they strolled by.
After all the TV whining about obesity, there wasn't much in evidence among fairgoers. Kids and teenagers were all thin as rails, decently dressed, well behaved, and happy. Haircuts for boys varied from the 1/2 inch buzz cut to shoulder length. As people got older, they put on some weight, the 40 year olds were uniformly heavier than the 18 year olds, but that's nature. I think the TV obesity whiners have over played their hand. Among the crowd were a lot of couples, of all ages, many holding hands, as they strolled about the exhibits. Clearly the couples were enjoying each others company as much as the delights of the county fair.
We managed to engage the politically active in discussion, but most voters merely gave a friendly nod as they strolled by.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Wanna bet they were running Windows?
Fox news is bleating about the biggest cyber crime ever. Couple hundred thousand credit card numbers compromised, couple hundred thousand dollars stolen. Betcha all the victimized companies were running Microsoft Windows.
Asiana 214 crash. The autothrottle did it
The 777 auto throttle has a lot of modes. Push buttons on the mode control panel are labeled "Auto Throttle", "Vertical Nav" and "Flight Level Change". Experts on the 777 are saying that the "Flight Level Change" mode actually pulls the throttles back to flight idle and leaves them there. And they think the Asiana crew somehow selected Flight Level Change instead of "Auto Throttle". What the Vertical Nav mode might do is unmentioned. Apparently Flight Level Change is actually a strange kind of standby, I cannot think why a pilot would use the "Flight Level Change". The situation is so bad that 777 pilots refer to the problem as the "Flight Level Change trap".
Sounds like some human factors work wasn't done right when the 777 was designed. On the other hand, the plane has been flying for 20 years accident free, so it cannot be all wrong. Certainly the crew failed to monitor airspeed during the landing.
Sounds like some human factors work wasn't done right when the 777 was designed. On the other hand, the plane has been flying for 20 years accident free, so it cannot be all wrong. Certainly the crew failed to monitor airspeed during the landing.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Nose Gear
Tricycle landing gear, two mains and a nose gear, came into service in the 1940's. That's when concrete runways became common. Grass runways have potholes and soft spots that can catch a nose wheel and snap the nose gear clean off. Planes designed to land on grass fields had tailwheels.
The major attraction of a nose gear is you can use the brakes as hard as you please without standing the aircraft on it's nose. For pilots who have coped with short runways, wet and slippery runways, obstructions in the runway, and who have landed a bit long, the ability to use the brakes good and hard is compelling.
Of course, as happened to Southwest at LaGuardia the other day, the nose gear can fail. Something like that happened back in the 436 Military Airlift Wing in the late 1960's. A C-141 jet transport, returning to Dover AFB from a mission reported that the nose gear would not go down. They had plenty of fuel, and so they circled the field while radioing the tower for advice. On the ground, the Technical Orders for the C141 were hastily consulted, and there was an emergency procedure to lower the nose gear. On the C141 the gear was held retracted in the wheel well with a hook. The crew was directed to go into the main cargo hold, take up some floor panels and gain access to the nose wheel well. Then with a long pry bar, the hook could be levered back and the gear would go down. The crew found the pry bar, got into the wheel well, and started fumbling around with the hook. Unfortunately, in real life things didn't work as neatly as the tech order directions said they would. The damn hook just would not let go. After a lot of fumbling in the dark, and a lot of bad language, something went wrong. The pry bar slipped out of someone's sweaty hands, and fell, fell clean out of the aircraft. And that was the only pry bar on board.
So there was nothing left to do but foam the runway and bring her in. The pilot used elevator to keep the nose up as long as possible. The plane slowed to about a jogger's pace before the nose plunked onto the concrete. We were standing by with jacks, a dolly, and a Coleman tractor and had the plane off the runway in under an hour.
Damage was surprisingly light. Just a scuffed up patch on the bottom of the fuselage, less than two feet across. The sheet metal shop had it fixed good as new in a couple of days.
The major attraction of a nose gear is you can use the brakes as hard as you please without standing the aircraft on it's nose. For pilots who have coped with short runways, wet and slippery runways, obstructions in the runway, and who have landed a bit long, the ability to use the brakes good and hard is compelling.
Of course, as happened to Southwest at LaGuardia the other day, the nose gear can fail. Something like that happened back in the 436 Military Airlift Wing in the late 1960's. A C-141 jet transport, returning to Dover AFB from a mission reported that the nose gear would not go down. They had plenty of fuel, and so they circled the field while radioing the tower for advice. On the ground, the Technical Orders for the C141 were hastily consulted, and there was an emergency procedure to lower the nose gear. On the C141 the gear was held retracted in the wheel well with a hook. The crew was directed to go into the main cargo hold, take up some floor panels and gain access to the nose wheel well. Then with a long pry bar, the hook could be levered back and the gear would go down. The crew found the pry bar, got into the wheel well, and started fumbling around with the hook. Unfortunately, in real life things didn't work as neatly as the tech order directions said they would. The damn hook just would not let go. After a lot of fumbling in the dark, and a lot of bad language, something went wrong. The pry bar slipped out of someone's sweaty hands, and fell, fell clean out of the aircraft. And that was the only pry bar on board.
So there was nothing left to do but foam the runway and bring her in. The pilot used elevator to keep the nose up as long as possible. The plane slowed to about a jogger's pace before the nose plunked onto the concrete. We were standing by with jacks, a dolly, and a Coleman tractor and had the plane off the runway in under an hour.
Damage was surprisingly light. Just a scuffed up patch on the bottom of the fuselage, less than two feet across. The sheet metal shop had it fixed good as new in a couple of days.
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