They are hurting. They just announced they will be closing 1000 stores. And it may get worse. I remember when they started up, a single store on Washington St in Boston. That was before Tandy bought them. In those days the store was filled with electronic parts, mostly surplus, TV antennas, hifi equipment, and ham radio stuff. If you were building or fixing electronic stuff Radio Shack is where you went for parts. They carried their own brand of hifi, Realistic, which never had the cache associated with Harman Kardon or Bogen or McIntosh, but the price was right and it sounded OK to my ear. Once they even carried British Army surplus rifles for $19.95 each. It used to be a fun place to shop, even if you didn't need any parts or rifles.
That was a long time ago. They are still around but the stock is less interesting, cell phones and point-n-shoot cameras, and toys. They still have some parts and wire and connectors, but this is all little stuff, couple of dollars apiece, and you gotta sell an awful lot of it to keep the lights on. I still buy parts for my home projects at the Shack, but that's about it. Although Radio Shack pioneered home computers, remember the TRS-80, they seem to have faded out of that business. They still have a few cables and connectors, but you don't see laptops or printers in the store.
Without a high value or a high volume product, they will continue to hurt. When they go, most of us will have to go Internet for electronic parts and stuff.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Bob Beckel inserts foot into mouth
Beckel, the token liberal on Fox News's Five, said something really dumb last night. He trashed Bush for not using enough troops against Iraq. Really Bob. The force we sent overran the country, seized the capital, and drove Saddam Hussein into hiding, all with in a matter of weeks. That's a crushing victory by anyone's standards. Which means we sent enough soldiers to do the job.
I'll grant that we didn't handle victory as well as we should have, but that's not a matter of boots on the ground, that's a matter of heads up and locked.
I'll grant that we didn't handle victory as well as we should have, but that's not a matter of boots on the ground, that's a matter of heads up and locked.
Godwin's Law strikes Hillary
Godwin's law comes from Internet discussion/argument groups. The first person to invoke Hitler's name (usually by calling his opponent a Nazi) lost the argument. That rule used to be confined to high level Internet surfer nerds.
Well, Godwin's law is spreading. Hillary Clinton compared Putin's claim to be protecting Russians in Crimea to Hitler's claim to be protecting Sudetenland Germans in the 1930's. Which actually is a pretty good fit. Hitler took over Czechoslovakia claiming he was protecting ethnic Germans living in Czechoslovakia. Putin took over the Crimea claiming that he was protecting ethnic Russians living in the Crimea. What goes around comes around.
And, Hillary was forced to back off about comparing Putin to Hitler. Apparently the liberal newsies just couldn't stomach calling a bastard a bastard. Godwin's law moves off the 'net into the political world.
Well, Godwin's law is spreading. Hillary Clinton compared Putin's claim to be protecting Russians in Crimea to Hitler's claim to be protecting Sudetenland Germans in the 1930's. Which actually is a pretty good fit. Hitler took over Czechoslovakia claiming he was protecting ethnic Germans living in Czechoslovakia. Putin took over the Crimea claiming that he was protecting ethnic Russians living in the Crimea. What goes around comes around.
And, Hillary was forced to back off about comparing Putin to Hitler. Apparently the liberal newsies just couldn't stomach calling a bastard a bastard. Godwin's law moves off the 'net into the political world.
Boston to Manchester by rail
They were talking about it on NHPR this morning. They are spending taxpayer money on a "study". They hope the study will be convincing enough to gain them federal funding. Greenies love rail, they think it's low carbon. They also love the money that rail projects soak up. They estimated that 31,000 passengers a year would ride a Boston to Manchester train.
On an emotional level, I like it. I'm a rail fan from way back, I have an HO model railroad in my guest room. On an economic basis, it's craziness. Right now, travelers from Boston to Manchester drive. It's only 53 miles on I93. Takes about an hour by my reckoning, and only 55 minutes by Google maps reckoning. And there is bus service, takes about an hour 20 minutes and costs $18.
Rail would have to compete, in speed and cost to be worth the sizable money fixing up the track would cost. The land is hilly and the existing track, all laid down in the 19th century, is curvy, which limits speed. Buying a brand new ultra straight right of way would cost maybe $10 million a mile, for 53 miles, or $530 million. Which is probably out of the question. Especially for a mere 31,000 passengers. Figure a fare of somewhat more than the bus, say $25. That makes farebox revenue for a year $775000, and it takes 683 years to pay off the bonds. No can do.
So the project has to run over existing right of way, of which there are plenty. Much of it has been abandoned, or turned into bike trails, but some still works. Bring the track and roadbed up to 19th century standards and the trains could surely do 60 mph, but probably not more than 100 mph. Trains don't corner as well as cars. So that makes the train trip somewhere between half an hour and a hour. On the Boston end, it has to connect with the T, and it ought to have a station on 128. Assume fixing up the track is a mere $1 million a mile, so we put $53 million into track work At that rate the fares will pay off the bonds in a mere 68 years, assuming ALL the fare goes to baying off the bonds, with nothing for maintenance, keeping the culverts clear, buying diesel fuel, plowing the snow, paying the trainmen, buying rolling stock. And assuming the bonds are zero interest. At 5%, a 68 year $53 million bond will require $147 million to pay off.
For the taxpayer, this isn't just a bad deal, it's a swindle.
On an emotional level, I like it. I'm a rail fan from way back, I have an HO model railroad in my guest room. On an economic basis, it's craziness. Right now, travelers from Boston to Manchester drive. It's only 53 miles on I93. Takes about an hour by my reckoning, and only 55 minutes by Google maps reckoning. And there is bus service, takes about an hour 20 minutes and costs $18.
Rail would have to compete, in speed and cost to be worth the sizable money fixing up the track would cost. The land is hilly and the existing track, all laid down in the 19th century, is curvy, which limits speed. Buying a brand new ultra straight right of way would cost maybe $10 million a mile, for 53 miles, or $530 million. Which is probably out of the question. Especially for a mere 31,000 passengers. Figure a fare of somewhat more than the bus, say $25. That makes farebox revenue for a year $775000, and it takes 683 years to pay off the bonds. No can do.
So the project has to run over existing right of way, of which there are plenty. Much of it has been abandoned, or turned into bike trails, but some still works. Bring the track and roadbed up to 19th century standards and the trains could surely do 60 mph, but probably not more than 100 mph. Trains don't corner as well as cars. So that makes the train trip somewhere between half an hour and a hour. On the Boston end, it has to connect with the T, and it ought to have a station on 128. Assume fixing up the track is a mere $1 million a mile, so we put $53 million into track work At that rate the fares will pay off the bonds in a mere 68 years, assuming ALL the fare goes to baying off the bonds, with nothing for maintenance, keeping the culverts clear, buying diesel fuel, plowing the snow, paying the trainmen, buying rolling stock. And assuming the bonds are zero interest. At 5%, a 68 year $53 million bond will require $147 million to pay off.
For the taxpayer, this isn't just a bad deal, it's a swindle.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Filling Steve Jobs' shoes at Apple
Wall St Journal ran a nice long piece about Apple's new president, Tim Cook. Needless to say, Mr. Cook is having a spot of bother filling in for Steve Jobs. According to the Journal, Tim is cutting the mustard, but it's hard work. They go on to talk about management styles, clothing styles, hair styles, and other fluff 'n stuff.
It is a full page piece, with photographs.
Not once does the Journal talk about how Jobs built Apple into what it is today. Jobs could envision a new product, get it designed, get it into production, get it out to market. And Jobs' products sold, like hot cakes. Apple II, Macintosh, Ipod, Iphone, Ipad, every one of them was new, nothing like it on the market, priced right, low enough to sell, high enough to turn a profit. Good styling. The right functions. Not since Thomas Edison has one man put out so many brand new products.
The real question us readers have, is "Can Tim Cook bring another successful new Apple product to market?" This Journal piece didn't even attempt to answer that question.
It is a full page piece, with photographs.
Not once does the Journal talk about how Jobs built Apple into what it is today. Jobs could envision a new product, get it designed, get it into production, get it out to market. And Jobs' products sold, like hot cakes. Apple II, Macintosh, Ipod, Iphone, Ipad, every one of them was new, nothing like it on the market, priced right, low enough to sell, high enough to turn a profit. Good styling. The right functions. Not since Thomas Edison has one man put out so many brand new products.
The real question us readers have, is "Can Tim Cook bring another successful new Apple product to market?" This Journal piece didn't even attempt to answer that question.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
BitCoin gets bit
Mt Gox, the leading Bitcoin exchange announced they have been robbed. $470 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen. Mt. Gox halted customer withdrawals, and has filed for bankruptcy in Japan. Mt. Gox claims that bugs in the Bitcoin programming allowed "unauthorized withdrawals".
Wow. Just how do you steal a Bitcoin? And, surely each Bitcoin has a serial number. Why cannot Mt. Gox put out the word that Bitcoins serial numbers thus and thus and thus are stolen and not to be honored anywhere? And since Bitcoins are a pure software concept, why cannot Mt. Gox's computers simply gin up enough Bitcoin to cover their obligations?
And what does one do with a stolen Bitcoin? Surely you cannot hide it under a mattress.
Wow. Just how do you steal a Bitcoin? And, surely each Bitcoin has a serial number. Why cannot Mt. Gox put out the word that Bitcoins serial numbers thus and thus and thus are stolen and not to be honored anywhere? And since Bitcoins are a pure software concept, why cannot Mt. Gox's computers simply gin up enough Bitcoin to cover their obligations?
And what does one do with a stolen Bitcoin? Surely you cannot hide it under a mattress.
Monday, March 3, 2014
The Forty Knot Sailboat wins the America's Cup
Years ago I read "The Forty Knot Sailboat". The author described a large sailboat equipped with hydrofoils. These underwater wings would lift the entire boat out of the water, vastly reducing drag and enabling ice boat like speeds. Ice boats can do 100 miles an hour because the friction of the runners is zip, and doesn't rise with speed. Whereas the friction and wave drag on a hull in the water is high, and goes up by the square of the speed. But once a boat is up on hydrofoils, planing, friction drag drops off, form drag goes away and fantastic speeds become possible. The author foresaw sailing yachts fast enough to outrun bad weather. It all seemed like science fiction at the time. In those days sailboats were made of wood, lines were manila fiber, dacron sails were just coming in.
Fast forward to the 21st century, 2013. The America's cup, currently in possession of the Americans (again) is facing a challenge from New Zealand. Larry Ellison of Oracle is defending the cup in San Francisco bay. The cup defender is a huge catamaran, all carbon fiber, 72 feet long and carrying a 131 foot mast (that's better than twelve stories tall). It's got hydrofoils, and with the right wind, it's been clocked at 55 miles per hour (48 knots) . That's freeway speed, and it's done under sail.
Trouble is, hot as the Oracle boat was, the Kiwis kept beating it. This year it takes winning nine races, match races, just two boats. The Kiwis had won eight straight and one more win would give them the cup. Up to this point, the Oracle crew had been sailing in accordance with computer simulations. Oracle being a software house, I dare say every single programmer in the company was working on America's Cup programs. And, all the software had favored a strategy of pointing. This is one strategy for going to windward. You point the boat up into the wind as high as she will go, until the sail begins to luff (flap). This is the closest to a straight line course, and the boat gets to the windward mark by covering the shortest distance on the water.
The other strategy is footing. You bear off a touch and get the sails really full of wind. You go faster thru the water, but you have to cover more distance since you aren't going as directly to the windward mark. For the crucial ninth race, the Oracle team decided upon footing instead of the pointing recommended by all the computers. All, wonder of wonders, the extra speed footing gives was enough to get the boat up on foils, vastly increasing its speed. The Oracle team came from behind, won the next nine races and kept the America's Cup in America.
Fast forward to the 21st century, 2013. The America's cup, currently in possession of the Americans (again) is facing a challenge from New Zealand. Larry Ellison of Oracle is defending the cup in San Francisco bay. The cup defender is a huge catamaran, all carbon fiber, 72 feet long and carrying a 131 foot mast (that's better than twelve stories tall). It's got hydrofoils, and with the right wind, it's been clocked at 55 miles per hour (48 knots) . That's freeway speed, and it's done under sail.
Trouble is, hot as the Oracle boat was, the Kiwis kept beating it. This year it takes winning nine races, match races, just two boats. The Kiwis had won eight straight and one more win would give them the cup. Up to this point, the Oracle crew had been sailing in accordance with computer simulations. Oracle being a software house, I dare say every single programmer in the company was working on America's Cup programs. And, all the software had favored a strategy of pointing. This is one strategy for going to windward. You point the boat up into the wind as high as she will go, until the sail begins to luff (flap). This is the closest to a straight line course, and the boat gets to the windward mark by covering the shortest distance on the water.
The other strategy is footing. You bear off a touch and get the sails really full of wind. You go faster thru the water, but you have to cover more distance since you aren't going as directly to the windward mark. For the crucial ninth race, the Oracle team decided upon footing instead of the pointing recommended by all the computers. All, wonder of wonders, the extra speed footing gives was enough to get the boat up on foils, vastly increasing its speed. The Oracle team came from behind, won the next nine races and kept the America's Cup in America.
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