What matters is Syria, not American credibility

The TV has been all Syria, all day.  Being newsies, they get a lot wrong.  They yack a lot about credibility and what the rest of the world thinks about America.  But intervention in Syria must be decided upon what intervention will do to Syria, not what the rest of the world thinks about us.
   Does anyone think we can just do a fireworks display?   When we intervene against one side, we are handing victory to the other side.  If we zap Bashar Assad, much as he deserves it, we tip the civil war to the opposition, who seems to be mostly Al  Quada.  Have you seen the video of an opposition soldier disemboweling a fallen soldier, and eating the heart and liver, raw?  Do you want to put  those people in charge of Syria?  Think about it. 
   Obama has convinced the entire world that the Americans are flakes.  Intervention is Syria isn't going to make them think better of us.

Words of the Weasel, Part 33

"Military grade" firearms.   Phrase used by anti gun types to imply that some guns are more dangerous, more worth of being banned.  In the real world, a gun is a gun, they all shoot bullets, and bullets hurt.  It is true that guns made for the Army are more plainly finished than guns made for commercial sale.  But a plain finish doesn't effect the shooting quality of a gun. 

Flying a satellite in atmosphere

The Mars Atmospheric and Volatile Evolution  ("Maven")  mission, getting ready to launch for Mars, is planning to do just that.  To investigate the Martian upper atmosphere, the satellite will be placed in an elliptical orbit around Mars, which dips into the Martian upper atmosphere to take readings.  The orbit will go within 150 kilometers of the surface.
   That's about the altitude that the old Mercury capsules orbited at.   On Earth, there is enough air left above that altitude to form the ionosphere, important to HF radio transmission.  Clearly the experimenters believe there is a Martian ionosphere, thick enough for Maven's instruments to take a reading on.
   They didn't say how long this can go on before atmospheric drag pulls the satellite down. 
   They mentioned that Mars used to have a strong magnetic field which disappeared some time in the distant past.  That's a new one on me.  It is thought that the magnetic field used to shield Mars from the solar wind.  When the field went away, they think the solar wind stripped away most of the Martian atmosphere.  Just how the ancient Martian magnetic field was discovered, and what might make it go away wasn't discussed. 
   Anyhow they hope to use Maven to measure what in the upper atmosphere might be related to, or causes of, Mars' lack of air and water. 

We were eyeball to eyeball and our guy just blinked

Probably not a bad idea.  Zapping Bashar Assad in Syria to teach him a lesson about the use of poison gas, actually amounts to tipping the civil war against Assad and in favor of Al Quada.  Which is not a good idea. 
Note:  The reason Obama hasn't gone to Congress yet is he fears he will loose, making him look stupider than ever.  And Congress is just as happy with that, they don't want to vote on anything, 'cause taking a stand on anything just looses you votes.  So Congress doesn't get called into special session. 

Is college worth it?

Depends.  For students who like their subjects and study 'em, it's a good deal.  For a lot of students coming out of 13 years of K-12 classrooms, who really could care less about the declination of Latin verbs, Shakespeare's literary devices, or when the battle of whatever was fought, college is another four years of drudgery, punctuated with parties.   These students would do better getting a job in the real economy (fast food, construction,  truck driving , retail sales) or enlisting in the military.  After a year or so of hard work for not much money, they will find their attitude toward academia much improved, leading to much better grades and the learning real life skills. 
   College is only worth it if you study real subjects.  Subjects with a job market other than becoming a college professor.  English, history,  foreign language, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, economics, computer science.  Art only pays off for artists.  Unless you have some artistic talent, study something else.  Same for music.  If you don't have any musical talent, don't study music.  You gotta have some talent to be an artist or a musician. 
   Avoid the fake subjects.  Black studies, gender studies, these are indoctrination subjects.  Sociology, political science, and journalism, the talky talk subjects.  Lots of fine ideas, no facts, anyone's opinion is as good as anyone else's.  And there is NO job market for these subjects. 
  If you cannot get interested in real subjects, college won't pay off for you.

Destroyers to the rescue?

According to the TV newsie, the US is massing destroyers off the coast of Syria to do a little 21sth century gunboat dipomacy. 
Destroyers?  The smallest warship that counts as a ship?  Smaller vessels are known as boats, not ships.  Either 21st century destroyers are a LOT bigger and meaner than 20th century destroyers, or the proposed strike on Syria is gonna be a lovepat.  I mean, we used to do this sort of thing with aircraft carriers, no destroyers need apply. 
    Actually, destroyers have gotten bigger and costlier over the years.  Used to be, a destroyer was only 2000 tons displacement.  Lately they have been pushing 5000-6000 tons.  Ships that big used to be called cruisers.  Now they are destroyers.  

Brits bail on Obama

They showed it on TV, the British Parliament in session, tight small room with everyone crammed in face to face.  Prime Minister on the front bench trying to talk the members into supporting the American plan to do something in Syria.  He tried hard, he thought he had the votes, but when the vote was taken, it was a vote to stay out and let the Americans dangle in the wind.
   This is the first time in a hundred years that the Brits and the Yankees haven't pulled together.  We were so tight during WWII that the rest of the world called us the "Anglo Americans".  Since WWII the Brits have stayed really close, Brit authors do best sellers, Brit singers hit the Top Forty, Savile Row tailors out swank NYC tailors, Britain is a top tourist destination, Brit sports cars have more class than Japanese.  The relationship is so close that the Brits could be the 51st state. 
   Could it be that repeated insults from Obama have finally turned off the Brits?  There was that business about returning a bust of Winston Churchill, failure to send anyone to Maggie Thatcher's funeral, and doubtless some other snubs that I don't remember but the Brits do.  Obama doesn't like the Brits and he lets it show.  It's payback time.  It's dumb to let people know you don't like 'em.  Makes it easier for them to dump on you.
   Anyhow, if we cannot get our closest ally, Britain, to go along with zapping Syria over poison gas use, good luck anywhere else.