Do you believe in Anti Gravity??

Well I do.  A strong anti gravity field exists around the mouth of every trash can and waste basket in this world.  Try it.  Pitch anything into the trash, and watch the anti gravity field repel it onto the floor.  Pitch something clean into an empty trash can and watch the anti gravity field bounce it out of the trash and onto the floor. 

TV Debate Watch Party

We had one for the 15 December Republican debate.  It was sorta fun, watching politicians bad mouth each other is entertaining.  I don't think the debate changed many voters minds.  The Donald was there, of course, but he didn't make any new news generating things.  Everybody ragged on The Donald over his "ban all Muslim immigration idea".  Lotta talk about "boots on the ground", but no talk about what said boots were supposed to achieve on said ground.  Nobody talked about invading and occupying the ISIS lands, rounding up the ISIS people living there, punishing them, and establishing a just and stable government in the area.  Nobody advanced plans to get the US economy growing again. 
   The net result, the majority of Republicans who don't want the The Donald, 'cause we think he would loose big time, are still faced with nearly a dozen competitors, and we didn't hear anything last night that would help us settle on one. There are plenty of votes to defeat Trump, but those votes are scattered over all the other candidates giving none of them enough votes to beat anyone, not Trump, not even Rand Paul. 

New York is tougher than Lalaland

New York and Los Angeles both received terrorist threats by email this morning.  LA bought into the threat and closed all the schools in LA.  New York decided the threat was BS, and pressed on with an ordinary school day. 
   Lalaland needs to toughen up.

Obama's gun control

Obama wants to prohibit gun sales to anyone on the "no-fly" list or the "terror watch list".  Bad idea.  Both lists are operated by bureaucrats, probably Obama voting bureaucrats.  They can put anyone they like on a list, for any reason they like, or no reason at all.  They won't take anyone off a list.  Denying the right to purchase firearms to anyone on a list means giving Obama the power to deny firearms to anyone he dislikes.  How much do you trust Obama, or his bureaucrats?
   Obama wants to "close the gun show loophole".  He, and the rest of the lefties, never define just what here.  Presumable it means requiring everyone who sells a weapon to anyone to go thru the back ground check hassle. Right now only real gun stores and holders of the federal firearms dealer license are required to do the background check stuff.  Obama wants to force everyone, for instance a father selling a gun to his son, to do the bureaucratic dance.  Which doesn't do any of us any good, but it keeps the bureaucrats on the payroll.
   Then Obama has been trashing the long guns used at San Bernardino as "assault rifles".  Ohhh, scary.  Trouble is, there are no objective differences between deer rifles and "assault rifles".  The San Bernardino rifles were ordinary Armalite style .223 self loading rifles.  My antique Marlin 30-30 lever action throws a heavier slug than .223 and hits harder.  And the lever action can reload faster than the eye can pick a new target.  "Assault rifle" is really a styling term, if it has a black plastic stock it's an "assault rifle".  Walnut stock makes it a deer rifle. 

A brokered Convention???

By which, the newsies mean a Republican convention where no candidate has enough votes from primary elections to say, "I got the votes, I'm it, let's get on to the balloon drop".  Newsies love the idea.  It would have the Republican convention generate real news, that they could cover, live and in real time.  It would be a giant step backward to the old times, before primaries, where presidential candidates were actually selected at the conventions. 
  Don't hold your breath.   We haven't had Iowa or New Hampshire primaries yet. Both events will narrow the field significantly, and  the followers of the drop out candidates will float around and settle behind someone else.  Chances are excellent that someone will go the the convention with an unbeatable lead.  We just don't know who that might be. 
    The newsies are talking it up 'cause they would love to cover it, but I don't think it will happen.

Power for Kitty Hawk

The Wright Bros wanted an engine that developed 8 horsepower and weighed less than 200 pounds.  They quickly discovered that no one made such an engine in 1903.  They would have to make their own, from scratch.  They cast their own engine block in aluminum. According to later reminiscences by Charles Taylor, the Wright's "mechanician" who built the engine, there were no drawings, it was all built from sketches.  Contrary to modern practice, the pistons were cast iron rather than aluminum.  It had no carburetor, and no throttle.  Gasoline ran out of a tube into the intake manifold where engine heat vaporized it.  Lacking a throttle, the engine ran at full power all the time.  It had a chain driven camshaft that worked the exhaust valves and the ignition points.  Intake valves were held closed with springs, and opened from the suction of the piston going down, no cam drive as is normal today.  The hand built engine exceeded spec, producing 12 horsepower and only weighing 180 pounds.
   All this from this week's Aviation Week, which is celebrating their 100th anniversary. 

I've been hacked, courtesy of Uncle Sam

Letter came in yesterday from Office of Personnel Management (OPM).  My records got hacked in the great OPM hack a little while ago.
   OPM was probably running Windows, did not insist on strong passwords changed every 30 days, kept everything on line instead of off line, and gave Internet access to every computer in the building, did not run firewalls, and allowed contractors access to the data. 
    I suppose my Air Force service records from long ago were on the system as well as the secret clearance I held up until I retired.  I wonder where OPM got my current address which they used to address the letter.  That address would not have been in any of my records at OPM since I did not live here in those days.  Maybe they got it off my federal income tax return?  To which no one is supposed to have access except IRS?
  I did notice the letter was signed "Acting Director".  Apparently the previous director, the one responsible for the hack, was relieved of duty.  Should have been boiled in oil. 
   "I'm from the government and I am here to screw you"