Polls closed in California about 11 hours ago. So I'm listening to NPR talking about the results on the clock radio this morning. In an hour, they never mentioned the election results. They had a lot of happy interviews with Hillary people saying how wonderful Hillary's victory was, but never in an hour of NPR talk did I hear any real results, like how many votes cast, how much the winner won by, size of Republican and Democratic turnout. Just an hour of happy talk. So I got up, turned on the TV to Fox, and not much better. I did learn that Hillary beat The Bern by 11% in California, which is solid, but that's it.
So I got in the net. To bad, Fire fox was unable to connect to anything. So, I trudged down to the basement, found my cable modem and my router. Unplugged both for the count of ten. Plugged back in, and voila, internet connectivity was back. So I decided to post on my blog. Next I'll see if we have any election results on the net.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Day After D-Day
I know I am a day late. Success of the D-day landings was crucial to the defeat of Hitler. It was a humungus enterprise, thousands of landing craft, all built just in time, a million soldiers, tanks, floating harbors, fuel pipelines laid across the channel, and a zillion other things cranked out by British and American industry.
It was extremely dangerous. It might have failed. It was so chancy that Eisenhower, the supreme commander, and the man with the best information, penned a press release announcing defeat of the invasion. Fortunately he never had to use it. With a little more luck, and a better German command structure, Rommel might have been able to throw German armor into the battle on the day of the landings instead of a day later.
Defeat would have been a disaster. It took all of 1942 and 1943, and half of 1944 to build up for D-day. After a defeat on the landing beaches, it would have taken at least another year to build up to a second try. Hitler would have been able to move all the troops guarding France against invasion to the Russian front and that surely would have slowed the Red army down, perhaps even defeated it. It would have given Hitler time to bring secret weapons, V1, V2, jet fighters, guppy submarines, even nuclear weapons into action.
It was extremely dangerous. It might have failed. It was so chancy that Eisenhower, the supreme commander, and the man with the best information, penned a press release announcing defeat of the invasion. Fortunately he never had to use it. With a little more luck, and a better German command structure, Rommel might have been able to throw German armor into the battle on the day of the landings instead of a day later.
Defeat would have been a disaster. It took all of 1942 and 1943, and half of 1944 to build up for D-day. After a defeat on the landing beaches, it would have taken at least another year to build up to a second try. Hitler would have been able to move all the troops guarding France against invasion to the Russian front and that surely would have slowed the Red army down, perhaps even defeated it. It would have given Hitler time to bring secret weapons, V1, V2, jet fighters, guppy submarines, even nuclear weapons into action.
Monday, June 6, 2016
Payday loans.
The Diane Reams show was whining about pay day lenders this morning. Lender's are accused of making very high cost short term loans to borrowers who cannot actually pay off the loan off, they just keep rolling it over, at horrible rates of interest, and get skinned.
Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to increase paperwork, and make the lender learn the borrowers income , expenses, and calculate his chances of repaying the loan. Does not sound very effective to me, although it will furnish work for bureaucrats.
They used to have laws against usury, usually defined as loans at 35% per year or worse. The payday lenders are charging more like 350% per year, which is really really bad. Usury laws used to be a business of state law. I understand that the payday lenders have managed to get usury laws repealed, or watered down in many states to allow them to operate. The payday lenders claim that they cannot do business at 35% and allowing the really poverty stricken access to loans is a social good.
I'm thinking that an old fashioned usury law, criminalizing doing loans at more than 35% would clean up the payday lender situation. It would deny credit to people on the bottom, no income, no assets, no job. These people are not good credit risks, and mostly don't have the money to pay off a payday loan. I think it's better for such people to do with out, rather than lend them money that they will be unable to repay.
Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to increase paperwork, and make the lender learn the borrowers income , expenses, and calculate his chances of repaying the loan. Does not sound very effective to me, although it will furnish work for bureaucrats.
They used to have laws against usury, usually defined as loans at 35% per year or worse. The payday lenders are charging more like 350% per year, which is really really bad. Usury laws used to be a business of state law. I understand that the payday lenders have managed to get usury laws repealed, or watered down in many states to allow them to operate. The payday lenders claim that they cannot do business at 35% and allowing the really poverty stricken access to loans is a social good.
I'm thinking that an old fashioned usury law, criminalizing doing loans at more than 35% would clean up the payday lender situation. It would deny credit to people on the bottom, no income, no assets, no job. These people are not good credit risks, and mostly don't have the money to pay off a payday loan. I think it's better for such people to do with out, rather than lend them money that they will be unable to repay.
Fair Point phone book fail.
So I need to renew my drivers license. I know there is or was (haven't checked lately) a DMV office on US 302 in Twin Mountain. Decide to give them a call, just to see if they are still there, and if there is any paperwork I might need to bring.
Open the Fairpoint phone book. Check the Government Offices, State section. No phone number there. Call the Littleton State Police office thinking they might have the number. They didn't, although the officer was very polite on the phone. Check the town of Franconia website, looking for a phone number for Franconia police. No phone numbers on the website. Finally dial 911. Convince the 911 person that it is not an emergeny, I just need a phone number. She finally comes up with a number. I call it. They give me another number, which finally works.
Save your old Verizon phone books, the Fairpoint one is mostly useless.
Or is it the death of phone numbers?
Open the Fairpoint phone book. Check the Government Offices, State section. No phone number there. Call the Littleton State Police office thinking they might have the number. They didn't, although the officer was very polite on the phone. Check the town of Franconia website, looking for a phone number for Franconia police. No phone numbers on the website. Finally dial 911. Convince the 911 person that it is not an emergeny, I just need a phone number. She finally comes up with a number. I call it. They give me another number, which finally works.
Save your old Verizon phone books, the Fairpoint one is mostly useless.
Or is it the death of phone numbers?
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Agencies shall make no law...
Right now federal agencies, IRS, FDA, EPA, FHA, FAA, FCC, FEC, NRC, BATFE, NSA, BLM. et cetera, ad nausium, issue regulations, lots of regulations, all of which have the force of law, and are binding upon us poor citizens. Regulations that can favor one company over another, regulations that tear a man's house down, regulations that can shut a business down arbitrarily, and regulations that make every thing more expensive.
I think we ought to take the power of regulations away from all agencies. The only laws a citizen should have to respect are real laws, passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president.
Should an agency want to bind the public to something, they can try and get Congress to pass a real law. If perchance, Congress fails to pass the agency's little brain child, then it means it's a bad idea.
And while we are at it, no agency should have it's own private police force, with badges, guns, and the power of arrest. Should an agency want some law enforced, they can jolly well call the regular police, just like us citizens have to do.
In a real democracy, laws are passed by the legislature, not written by bureaucrats in secret.
I think we ought to take the power of regulations away from all agencies. The only laws a citizen should have to respect are real laws, passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president.
Should an agency want to bind the public to something, they can try and get Congress to pass a real law. If perchance, Congress fails to pass the agency's little brain child, then it means it's a bad idea.
And while we are at it, no agency should have it's own private police force, with badges, guns, and the power of arrest. Should an agency want some law enforced, they can jolly well call the regular police, just like us citizens have to do.
In a real democracy, laws are passed by the legislature, not written by bureaucrats in secret.
Trump figures out the media
The Donald figures that the media are Democrats to a man, and out to get him, and elect Hillary. So, rather than the usual shtick of trying to placate them, which is what the usual pol does, Trump is trashing them, figuring that it gets him air time, and the media is so hostile now, that good solid trashing won't make things any worse than they already are. Plus the voters like watching the Donald trashing the media.
I predict more solid anti-media words coming toward the media. If Trump gets elected, he will have the bully pulpit and at least four years to let 'em have it. Fun fun fun.
I predict more solid anti-media words coming toward the media. If Trump gets elected, he will have the bully pulpit and at least four years to let 'em have it. Fun fun fun.
Saturday, June 4, 2016
SpaceX wants to go to Mars. Year after Next.
SpaceX is creating a manned vehicle to take astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Essentially they are adding life support equipment, an air plant, and retro rocket engines to the existing ISS resupply carrier. And doing 50,000 pounds of NASA paperwork to "man rate" the vehicle.
SpaceX wants to send one, unmanned, to Mars in 2018. They have a signed agreement with NASA regardng intellectual property for SpaceX and NASA support for the mission. The vehicle ("Red Dragon") would make a jet landing on Mars, under control of the autopilot. SpaceX has been able to jet land the Falcon booster on a raft in the ocean which seems like a harder job than landing on Mars with it's lesser surface gravity.
"Red Dragon" has impressive engine power. Eight engines, burning nitrogen tetraoxide and hydrazine, produce 33,000 pounds of thrust, call it 16 tons of thrust. The vehicle only weights 15 tons on earth. If the fuel holds out, it has plenty of thrust to slow down and even hover briefly before touchdown.
Takeoff will be atop a Falcon Heavy booster which is three Falcon Nine boosters, strapped together. That will be 27 rocket engines, producing 5.1 million pounds of thrust. Design goal is deliver 15 tons to Mars surface. Straight thru, no earth orbit rendezvous.
SpaceX wants to send one, unmanned, to Mars in 2018. They have a signed agreement with NASA regardng intellectual property for SpaceX and NASA support for the mission. The vehicle ("Red Dragon") would make a jet landing on Mars, under control of the autopilot. SpaceX has been able to jet land the Falcon booster on a raft in the ocean which seems like a harder job than landing on Mars with it's lesser surface gravity.
"Red Dragon" has impressive engine power. Eight engines, burning nitrogen tetraoxide and hydrazine, produce 33,000 pounds of thrust, call it 16 tons of thrust. The vehicle only weights 15 tons on earth. If the fuel holds out, it has plenty of thrust to slow down and even hover briefly before touchdown.
Takeoff will be atop a Falcon Heavy booster which is three Falcon Nine boosters, strapped together. That will be 27 rocket engines, producing 5.1 million pounds of thrust. Design goal is deliver 15 tons to Mars surface. Straight thru, no earth orbit rendezvous.
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