Economist loves traffic circles

For some reason the Economist loves traffic circles ( aka rotaries or roundabouts) ) enough to run TWO articles reminiscing fondly about them in the same issue.  The Economist thinks the British invented them and seems proud of the fact.  You gotta wonder why.
  Actually, a traffic circle is what you build when you cannot afford a proper clover leaf intersection.  Some people think a traffic circle is better than a plain grade crossing of two roads.  Other people think they are death traps. 
   The Economist has some strange numbers in their articles.  They claim that traffic circles were introduced into the United States by Nevada in 1990.  That ain't right.  Memorial Drive in Cambridge MA has a pair of vicious traffic circles on Mem Drive that have been bending fenders since the 1950's to my certain knowledge. In fact their have probably been there since the 1930's, but that's before my time.  And there was another lethal traffic circle on US route 1 in Saugus, now happily gone, that bent it's share of fenders in the 50's and 60's. 
   Must be a slow news week at the Economist.

She wants to be a mainstream novelist

I wonder why.  After writing the immortal Harry Potter books, why would anyone want to write mainstream novels?  We can understand that perhaps she has written all that needs to be written about Harry, and she wants to try something new, but why mainstream novels?  They have been boring and unreadable ever since Hemingway died.  The modern writers who made a real mark are fantasy writers, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Philip Pullman, Rick Riordan, Brian Jacques, or science fiction writers like Robert A. Heinlein or Tom Clancy.  Come to think of it, J.K. Rowling made her name as a fantasy writer, as good as any. 
  Anyhow, she has a mainstream novel out, it's in the Village Bookstore now, but I didn't buy it. 

How long can "shutdown" stay shut?

Just asking.  So far, I haven't heard of anything very horrible happening.  Either we ain't very shut down, (lots of guys still coming to work) or the ones not coming to work aren't being missed.  In which case, some obvious cost savings spring to mind.....

Leaves are peaking up nicely

This is peak leaf weekend for Franconia Notch.  They are bright, and mostly still on the trees.  Won't be long now and they will be on the ground, needing raking up.  If you want to go leaf peeking, this is the weekend.  Even with a bit of cloudiness, the view out my windows is all bright yellow and orange.  

So how hard does sequester hit DoD?

Hard enough to make the generals flinch, and flinch a lot.  According the Aviation Week, the Pentagon figures Congressional deadlock will persist up to and maybe thru the 2016 election.  They are preparing for current and even lower funding until 2016 and beyond.  So
  The Air Force is talking about retiring 552 older aircraft, about 10% of the fleet.  On the chopping block, A10 close air support tank buster , KC10 tanker  and MC12-W (the Beechcraft King Air fitted out for reconnaissance). 
  The Army will loose 18% of its soldiers. 
  The Marine Corps will loose 7% of its soldiers
  The Navy drops from 295 ships to 255-260 ships.

Reducing the size of the Army and Marines means that in event of war, they have to work harder.  For Iraq and Afghanistan we were able to send the troops on one year combat tours and then rotate them back stateside.  If we run out of troops, then the combat tours get longer, they get extended, and the rotation home goes away.  It's tough on the troops, and tough on their families, but we have done it in the past.  In WWII troops enlisted for the duration, and nobody got rotated home after a one year combat tour.  (except the Air Force got rotated home after 50 missions, if they lived that long)

Goldie Oldie takes a hit from rank newbie

Last month, it looked like South Korea was going to buy 60 F15's.  Now we are not so sure.  The Koreans have announced they have re opened the competition, with the F35 and the European Typhoon back in the running.  The Korean Defense Minister said, "There is a consensus that South Korea needs the 5th generation fighter jet to deter the growing threat posed by North Korean".  Aviation Week says this means the F35 will win.
   This is a tremendous disappointment for Boeing, they were hoping for a big order to keep the F15 production line running.  But it's understandable, the F15 is old, and the South Korean Air Force really wanted to be flying something up to date.  Fifteen former Korean air force chiefs wrote an open letter to the Korean president  supporting  the F35.  On the other hand, it's a great boost for Lockheed Martin, who needs the sales.
  F35 isn't getting any cheaper.  Last month Aviation Week quoted the cost as $97 million.  This week they report that negotiations the Low Rate Inital Production batch 7 will be $96.8 million, LESS engines.  That's a biggy, engines are usually 25% of the cost of an aircraft, so with engines, the F35 is hiked up to $125 million. Each. Ouch.
   Plus, F35 is a totally software product.  The software to launch missiles, aim guns, jam enemy radar and drop bombs is still under development.  Only the basic "aviate and navigate" software is actually running in the aircraft.   Until that software is finished, the F35 is not a warplane, it's just an expensive trainer.  

Tom Clancy died today

Just heard the news.  He was only 66, which isn't very old.  I read and enjoyed all his books.  Clancy was really a science fiction writer, only his stories were set only a few years into the future.  His characters were decent, level headed, and competent, who overcame their challenges  with courage and persistence.  Clancy's book were always a good read.   He will be missed.