Parades are economical. They show off your military strength to potential enemies. The Soviets used to do a big one every year on May Day. Aviation Week always ran a fair sized article about what the Soviets had displayed this year. Seeing troops and tanks marching down the street carries more impact than dry intel reports.
And, parades show the tax payers that they are getting something for their tax money. What's not to like.
And parades are cheap, especially compared to even the smallest military action. After all, the troops are all ready in the service, getting pay, uniforms, rations, and board. The extra money for a bit of parade practice and transport to and from the parade site is chickenfeed as military expenses go.
And everyone likes to watch a parade.
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
A Global Test for Kindergarteners???
Piece in today's Wall St Journal. Some ed group I never heard of is proposing a world wide test for 5 year olds, so we can compare the effectiveness between kindergartens in various places. Right.
The kids don't get taught to read until first grade. I didn't get good at reading till half way thru third grade. What kind of test can you run on kids that cannot read the questions and haven't even learned how to write (Print!) their names yet. And we are going to do this world wide? In every important language?
I always thought the purpose of Kindergarten was to get the kids used to being away from home for half the day, and to give 'em some experience in making friends and playing together. Important socializing, but how do you grade socializing? By how well the kids know the Alphabet Song?
Is this a bunch of ed majors looking for something to get funding for?
The kids don't get taught to read until first grade. I didn't get good at reading till half way thru third grade. What kind of test can you run on kids that cannot read the questions and haven't even learned how to write (Print!) their names yet. And we are going to do this world wide? In every important language?
I always thought the purpose of Kindergarten was to get the kids used to being away from home for half the day, and to give 'em some experience in making friends and playing together. Important socializing, but how do you grade socializing? By how well the kids know the Alphabet Song?
Is this a bunch of ed majors looking for something to get funding for?
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Good Day. Falcon Heavy launch successful. Stock Market is up 500 points
All 27 engines worked and worked right. Booster separation worked. A Tesla roadster is on its way to Mars. Both boosters landed safely at Cape Canaveral. The main stage was supposed to land on a ship at sea. Haven't seen the video of that, but it probably worked. Good job SpaceX. Take a few Attaboys.
And the stock market came up 500 points. It was dicey, lot of up and down movement all day, big moves too, but after yesterday's 1200 point "correction" (we don't dare say crash anymore), it is good to see the market go up instead of down.
The TV is talking about "program trading". By which they mean the computers panicked on Friday. The computers all issued sell orders which drove the Dow Jones down 1200 points, a record one day drop. Once the market starts down, the computers all have preprogrammed sell orders (sell this and that stock if the Dow drops below whatever). The computers are quick, and all their sell orders hit the market within milliseconds.
And the stock market came up 500 points. It was dicey, lot of up and down movement all day, big moves too, but after yesterday's 1200 point "correction" (we don't dare say crash anymore), it is good to see the market go up instead of down.
The TV is talking about "program trading". By which they mean the computers panicked on Friday. The computers all issued sell orders which drove the Dow Jones down 1200 points, a record one day drop. Once the market starts down, the computers all have preprogrammed sell orders (sell this and that stock if the Dow drops below whatever). The computers are quick, and all their sell orders hit the market within milliseconds.
Monday, February 5, 2018
We oughta reform US Copyright law
Right now copyright lasts for 70 years plus the life of the owner. Any thing can be copyrighted, leading to endless welfare for lawyers like the lawsuit over one click or two clicks to place an item in your digital shopping basket.
We ought to go back to a 17 year limit on terms of copyright. All the real money is made by the time 17 years is up. The author ought to get off his couch and write something new after 17 years of royalties.
US Constitution Article I Section 8 clause 8 reads "To promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." Note to the reader. This clause does not authorize copyright of "business methods" (that one-click two-click foolishness) nor mathematics, nor software, nor music. The exclusive rights are granted only to "Authors and Inventors", real individuals, not corporations, not patent trolls.
And copyright should only last while the book is in print. Once out of print, it should be legal to Xerox copies as needed.
And makers of toys and models should be immune from predatory lawyers owned and operated by the real life businesses. GM should not be able to shake small makers down just cause they are making Hot Wheels toys or plastic models of GM cars. Railroads should not be able to shake down model train makers for painting rolling stock in proto type paint schemes.
We ought to go back to a 17 year limit on terms of copyright. All the real money is made by the time 17 years is up. The author ought to get off his couch and write something new after 17 years of royalties.
US Constitution Article I Section 8 clause 8 reads "To promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." Note to the reader. This clause does not authorize copyright of "business methods" (that one-click two-click foolishness) nor mathematics, nor software, nor music. The exclusive rights are granted only to "Authors and Inventors", real individuals, not corporations, not patent trolls.
And copyright should only last while the book is in print. Once out of print, it should be legal to Xerox copies as needed.
And makers of toys and models should be immune from predatory lawyers owned and operated by the real life businesses. GM should not be able to shake small makers down just cause they are making Hot Wheels toys or plastic models of GM cars. Railroads should not be able to shake down model train makers for painting rolling stock in proto type paint schemes.
Has anything important happened in the real world lately?
The news is full of unimportant stories. The classified memo. Superbowl. Guvmint shutdowns, they have another one coming up this week just for your entertainment. Didn't anything important happen all week?
Friday, February 2, 2018
So I read the famous classified memo.
Less than earth shaking. It says the FBI flimflammed the FISA court to get a warrant for surveillance of Carter Page, a new name to me. The FBI showed the Steele document, opposition research paid for by Clinton and the DNC, to the FISA court as evidence that Carter Page needed his phone and email tapped. The FBI also showed a Yahoo news article based on leaks from Steele, as independent corroboration of the Steele document.
Seeing as how the FISA court is a pure rubber stamp, out of thousands of requests for warrants submitted to FISA, only dozen or so are ever rejected. So the famous memo identifies one case where the FBI flimflammed the FISA court and obtained a warrent improperly. Wanna bet the FBI has been doing this all along and of those thousands of warrents issued, many of them are just as bogus as the one obtained on Carter Page?
The FISA court is secret. We don't know who the judges are, where the court meets, we never get to see their transcripts and records. They can order surveillance on anybody on the flimsiest of evidence, and have been for decades. It's a rubber stamp.
We ought to close the entire FISA court thing. Law enforcement, including the FBI, should have to go to a real court, the kind that tries cases, in order to spy on American citizens.
Seeing as how the FISA court is a pure rubber stamp, out of thousands of requests for warrants submitted to FISA, only dozen or so are ever rejected. So the famous memo identifies one case where the FBI flimflammed the FISA court and obtained a warrent improperly. Wanna bet the FBI has been doing this all along and of those thousands of warrents issued, many of them are just as bogus as the one obtained on Carter Page?
The FISA court is secret. We don't know who the judges are, where the court meets, we never get to see their transcripts and records. They can order surveillance on anybody on the flimsiest of evidence, and have been for decades. It's a rubber stamp.
We ought to close the entire FISA court thing. Law enforcement, including the FBI, should have to go to a real court, the kind that tries cases, in order to spy on American citizens.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Was it AmTrak's fault?
Certainly embarrassing to wreck a train full of Congressmen. The train hit a truck at a grade crossing doing 70 mph. Killed the truck driver, shook up a lot of Congressmen who were not in their seats. Train stayed on the track, which is a good thing.
I think the fault lies with the truck driver. The grade crossing was protected, crossbucks, automatic red flashers, and automatic crossing gates. On TV you could see that the crossing gates were down. We can assume that the crossing protection gear functioned, that stuff is pretty reliable and I cannot remember a case where it failed to work. Still, someone ought to check that, just to be sure. So how did that truck get on the tracks? Either he got stuck on the tracks before the train arrived, or he was in a hurry and drove around the crossing gates. So far the newsies have not said anything about that. And, why did not the people in the truck get out and run when they heard the train coming. Trains are required to whistle (sound the horn now a days) as they approach grade crossings, two longs, a short and a very long. Those horns are loud, easily heard over the sound of a truck engine.
I think the fault lies with the truck driver. The grade crossing was protected, crossbucks, automatic red flashers, and automatic crossing gates. On TV you could see that the crossing gates were down. We can assume that the crossing protection gear functioned, that stuff is pretty reliable and I cannot remember a case where it failed to work. Still, someone ought to check that, just to be sure. So how did that truck get on the tracks? Either he got stuck on the tracks before the train arrived, or he was in a hurry and drove around the crossing gates. So far the newsies have not said anything about that. And, why did not the people in the truck get out and run when they heard the train coming. Trains are required to whistle (sound the horn now a days) as they approach grade crossings, two longs, a short and a very long. Those horns are loud, easily heard over the sound of a truck engine.
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