Tankers for USAF Part IV

Perhaps Airbus will submit a bid after all. They just asked for another 90 day extension of the bid deadline to get their act together. I dare say a lot of USAF officers begged and pleaded with Airbus to submit a bid. With two bidders USAF gets a better price, AND all they have to do is pick the lowest bidder. Anyone can do that. And you don't have to justify your choice to angry losers, the Congressmen from angry losers district, SecDef, and MSM.
Money Quote from Airbus: the Pentagon's overture "does not address EADS' underlying concerns that the request for proposal clearly favors a smaller less capable aircraft, and that the additional combat capability offered by our system may not be fully valued".

Translation. Airbus has proposed as significantly bigger plane than Boeing. Bigger planes are more expensive than smaller planes. In a straight lowest bidder competition the smaller cheaper plane wins.

Note to Airbus. Take a hint, propose a plane the same size as Boeing's plane. You will have to redo a humongous stack of paperwork, but that's what computers are for.

Note to USAF. If you want a plane about the size of the existing KC-135, say so up front. Bigger planes carry more fuel, smaller planes can operate out of smaller shorter runways. Figure out what you want, and tell the bidders. Boeing apparently had an ear close to Pentagon walls and proposed a KC-135 sized airplane.

Note to protectionists. It doesn't really matter whether Boeing or Airbus builds the plane. Both planes have American built engines, and engines are like one third of the cost of the plane. Even if Airbus gets the job, American companies get a lot of business selling expensive parts to Airbus.

Damn rollies

Rule. Small tools like screwdrivers and chisels and scribes shall NOT have round handles. It lets them roll off the workbench onto the floor too damn easily. Always make the handle hexagonal or square so the damn thing stays put when you put it down.
Thank you.

The Wall St Journal finally catches on.

Canada has a much more sane banking scene than the US does. The Wall St Journal had a favorable op ed today. I blogged about it here, some weeks ago. Key point, home ownership in Canada is as good as in the US, with a whole bunch fewer mortgages in default, and a lot less loss of home value.

The end of the World as we know it.

Wired has a long article on a new strain of wheat rust. Should it keep spreading it could wipe out the world's wheat crop. No more bread.

The Nanny State moves on

According to the Boston Globe, a Malden man just won $1.5 million against Ryobi after he ran his fingers thru a Ryobi table saw. Grounds? The Ryobi table saw did not have an electronic safety device that would stop the blade as soon as it encountered flesh. This from a US district court in Boston.
Such a table saw does exist, trade named "Saw Stop" and according to the various hobby magazines, it actually does work. It's expensive, and rare. I have never seen such a saw, even in stores. It is pretty new, probably had just come on the market at the time the Malden man got clumsy.
As things stand, after this amazing bit of judge made law, all makers of power tools are liable for every accident that happens.
Unless overturned on appeal, this decision will raise the price of power tools by a factor of two. I'm glad I already have all the power tools I'm likely to need.
I'm so glad I live in a representative democracy where laws are made by the legislature.

Why "deem and pass"?

The Democrats are talking about, close to, about to, who knows, pass Obamacare by a parliamentary trick. Rather than voting on the senate bill, which many Democrats are queasy about, they want to pass the fix up Obamacare bill with a paragraph at the end that says "We deem the senate bill as passed".
Does anyone think the voters will be less outraged by "deem and pass" than by a vote on the senate bill?
Nobody in the country really thinks this is kosher, although Democrats are ready to do what ever it takes. A court challenge to the "passed" Obamacare is a sure bet if they go with the "deem & pass" trick. Was it me, I'd rather pass the thing the old fashioned way, queasy stomachs or no, to avoid the endless headlines about the court challenge. The court won't act before November, keeping the Obamacare issue before the voters thru the election. That ought to guarantee Republican control of Congress.
There comes a time to wrap it up. Obamacare is at that point. If Nancy doesn't have the votes to pass the senate bill she ought to give it up.

Kucinich "Health Care is a right, not a privilege"

Not sure where they find Congressmen out there in Illinois. Dennis is plain wrong. Health care is not a right and not a privilege. It's a service that must be paid for by someone. Mostly in the US health care is paid for by the company you work for.
TV snippet on Kucinich has him deciding to vote for Obamacare. Apparently he voted against it last time because the house version of Obamacare wasn't generous enough for his tastes. Obama or someone was able to get Kucincich unstuck from stupid by pointing out that the senate bill is the only game in town.

ERic Holder dodges a question on TV

They asked Eric Holder what kind of trial he would give Osama Bin Ladin when we catch him. Holder evaded by saying we would never take Osama alive. Perhaps. But all we need is intelligence and security to catch bin Ladin. With air-to-air refueling, the helicopters can take a company of infantry nearly anywhere in the world. That's enough men in surround any clandestine HQ and throw tear gas inside. Osama is no longer a young man. Young, strong, and in shape US infantrymen should have no trouble wrassling him to the ground and cuffing him.

Chris Dodd thinks we need consumer protection

Well, we do, but the protection we need is protection against losing our jobs rather than protection for credit card fees. Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, recipient of sweetheart mortages, and a man who bears great responsibility for Great Depression 2.0, was on the radio this morning pushing a "consumer protection agency". He spoke as if this was the holy grail and we would all get to heaven as soon as it was passed.
I disagree. We truly need regulation of the banking practices that caused Great Depression 2.0 and threw enormous numbers of us out of work. These practices are the buying and selling of mortgages, creation and sale of "securities" backed by nothing, credit default swaps, and calling worthless paper "capital". Plus a horde of accounting industry scams. These practices brought down the economy. Not credit card fees and balloon note mortgages.
Dodd must be hoping we voters will forgive his many sins if he beats up on credit card and home mortgage issuers.
I want someone to beat up on the Wall St gamblers who wrecked the economy.

2300 page add on to 2700 page Obamacare

The Hill reports that the fixup bill for Obamacare has grown to 2300 and some pages. Add that to the 2700 page Senate bill and we have 5000 pages of obscure gobbledegook. Permanent employment for zillions of lawyers and bureaucrats who will be able to find paragraphs supporting any damn thing they please. Give me 5000 pages to search thru and I can find anything I need.
A five thousand page bill is so vague that administrators will have a completely free hand, and plenty of tax money to spend as they see fit.

Some Questions about Obamacare

1. How can we pay for health care by taxing health care? Surely the health care providers will raise their rates to pay the taxes?
2. What great sin are the insurance companies guilty of? There are all state regulated. The rate increases they are asking for have to be approved by state regulators. If the companies can convince the regulators that they need the money, then it's a good bet they really do need the money.
3. What's wrong with a race to the bottom? Obama's objection to interstate sale of insurance is that people will flock to cheaper insurance from states with fewer mandated coverages. What's wrong with that?

Mud Season starts with confused weather

The sun is out, but it's raining medium hard. Keep it up and that will be the end of the snow. We still have snow on the ground, but the rain is eating into it. Round here, the season after ski season is known as mud season. Lasts about a month. The ground get so soft that heavy trucks are banned from most roads. The truckers call it road ban season.

Repo man.

Wall St is supposed to be about financing economic growth. Lending money for construction projects, inventory purchase, plant and equipment. All of which are long term investments.
Why then the existence of the "repo" market. According to the Wall St Journal, a repo is a short term loan, from one bank to another. The borrower posts collateral, in the form of securities (stocks and bonds) in return for cash. The borrower promises to repay the loan in a few days, the lender returns the securities when the loan is paid off. The Journal's financial reporters describe the repo market as "the life blood of Wall St."
Oh really.
Why does anyone need money for only a few days? None of the investments in economic growth will pay off in a few days. Surely any deal could be postponed for a few days while the buyer raises the money? Or the seller could be willing to accept a short delay in payment? Certainly in the ordinary business world, we will do damn near anything to make a sale, we certainly would not be stuffy about a few days delay in payment. Hell, most deals are done with purchase orders, not cash, and you have 30 days to make good on a purchase order.
So why are short term loans "the life blood of Wall St"? What economically useful activity can be completed in a few days?
Other tidbits from the article. Apparently Lehman crashed after it ran out of securities to borrow upon. And, Lehman tried to use worthless securities to borrow against. J.P. Morgan demanded Lehman come up with better collateral or repay the loan. This happened just days before Lehman went under for good.
Lehman also did the old "treat a loan as a sale" trick to make their books look better at the end of each quarter. If you call a repo deal a sale, then the money is income and an asset. If you treat it as a loan , then the money is a liability which you owe. Your balance sheet looks better with assents than liabilities. Apparently no US law firm would OK this scam, and Lehman used a letter from a British law firm as justification.
So what was Lehman doing, banking or gambling? I say gambling. In which case flushing Lehman was a good idea.

Great Depression 2.0 caused by glandular disorder

The PBS Newshour had a guy on last night pushing this idea. Reckless banking is caused by endocrines or dopamine or something medical sounding. Don't blame me, my glands made me do it. Great Depression 2.0, caused by foolish Wall Streeters gambling in sub prime mortgages and credit default swaps, is actually a medical problem. Right.
Is this why Obamacare is claimed to fix the economy?
The Newshour used to be better than this.

US Dept of Education buying shotguns?

Right here is the request for bids. Are these for use on students? parents? tea partiers? Republicans?

Tankers for USAF Part III

It's official. Airbus has pulled out. Was in the Wall St Journal the other day.
The urge to jazz up the aircraft is still running strong in the heart of Boeing. They plan to warp the newer 787 instrument panel into the older 767 they are proposing.
Cost enhancement is hard at work.

Franconia Town Meeting

We still do it the old fashioned way in Franconia. None of this new fangled SB-2 stuff for us. After the overflow crowd at town hall last year, town meeting moved to the larger Lafayette school gym. Turnout was decent, better than 150 people. The standard town warrent articles, budget, purchase of new vehicles, library appropriation, and such all passed on voice vote with little discussion. The first controversial article was a proposal to relocate the town police department from the big tin building they currently share with the fire department and the life squad into the cellar of the town hall. The town's infrastructure committee recommended this plan. A citizen asked the police chief to comment on the plan. Turns out the chief was against it for a number of good reasons, and then the cost was $480,000 and that plan got tabled.
Then the greenies got a tax break for "alternate energy" (wind, solar, and wood heat). That was a close vote.
Then we got to really controversial, a resolution approving the naming of rt 18 up three mile hill after police corporal Bruce McKay who was murdered in the line of duty right in the center of town a few years ago. A secret ballot was adopted after a show of hand vote defeated a motion to table the matter. Surprisingly, after voting to keep the issue before the meeting, the town voted down the proposal 92 to 70.
Then a plan to have the town cough up $40K to fix the clock tower on the Dow Academy building was tabled after a good deal of discussion. The clock town is nice and scenic and all that, but it isn't town property.
The last controversial article was a resolution to support a state wide referendum on gay marriage. It was voted down. After that vote a large number of people got up and left. Things wrapped up at 11 PM, a couple of hours later than last year's town meeting which approved the massive water project.

Poor Groveton

I spent yesterday poll watching in Groveton NH. It's a smallish town about 30 miles north of Littleton. The reason for Groveton's existence was the big Groveton paper mill. Well, the mill closed recently and it's been a disaster for Groveton. The mill used to provide 700 jobs, just everyone in town used to work at the mill. It used to pay serious taxes and a serious water bill. No longer.
The Groveton natives at the polls talked of little else than economic disaster, closing of local businesses, sky rocketing taxes, declining school enrollment. It's too bad, Groveton has wonderful scenery and everyone in town seemed to know everyone else.

Do potatoes possess a biological clock?

If not, how come they know to sprout in the spring? Sitting in the bottom of my veggie drawer, hob nobbing with the onions, kept at room temperature, in the dark, no contact with the soil, my super market potatoes know it's spring and sprout furiously.
If yes, how does it work? I mean these are potatoes. I can slice 'em and dice 'em and never does the knife disclose anything other than potato.

I am not "addicted" to oil.

And it irritates me every time NHPR accuses me of "addiction". I just buy enough gasoline to drive to work, and enough furnace oil to keep the pipes from freezing. This is not "addiction", its frugal purchasing of essential fuel. Trading my $9K used Detroit car for a $35K Prius is beyond my means. Plus the Detroit iron gets 27 mpg highway. My house is heavily insulated, I keep the heat way down, I have a lot of solar gain from south facing Anderson windows. There ain't much more fuel economy to be squeezed out of either the car or the house.
I'm tired of having my modest fuel use described as "addiction". Let's explore for more oil and gas so my children won't have to freeze in the dark.

Tankers for USAF Part II

Pentagon paper shufflers are about to release the new Request for Proposal (RFP in mil jargon) on a replacement tanker. USAF is currently still flying the KC135's bought in the Eisenhower administration. Good planes and all, but they have been flying for 50 years and its time to buy new ones.
USAF would like to get a bid from Boeing and a competing bid from Airbus. They figure two bidders will get the government a better price than a sole source buy. Plus the Air Force doesn't like Boeing much, and would be happy to give the job to Airbus. They tried just that two years ago but Boeing had good lawyers and got the contract award overturned.
Technically the job is straight forward. Buy 179 jet airliners, take out the seats and install tanks. This is not rocket science.
For some reason, Airbus is balking. They say it will cost them $100 million to do the bidding paperwork and the RFP is slanted toward Boeing. Presumable Airbus figures they won't win this time, and in that case, why go to all the trouble?
One thing is clear, the Air Force thinks its doing a design and development of a brand new aircraft. They have a list of 372 requirements that the design must meet, 93 more optional requirements, and a fancy computer program (Ifara) that will "evaluate" performance on a variety of missions. This attitude is a guaranteed cost enhancer.
An air liner is an airliner. Airbus and Boeing will propose existing airliners. Either plane would work just fine, both of them have been flying paying passengers for years. Both planes performance (speed, take off weight, range, engine power, instrumentation) is well known and well documented. Both aircraft compete successfully in the international air liner market, which means one is about as good as the other.
The Air Force should procure the standard run-of-the-production-line aircraft. They should not ask for modifications of any kind. These planes don't need modifications, they work fine just as they are. Modifications are expensive, and the expense lasts the live of the aircraft. Standard aircraft can use standard spare parts, widely available and in stock to support the civilian fleet. Modified aircraft need special spare parts which are not stocked commercially. Uncle Sam will have to buy, store, and maintain these special spare parts at taxpayer expense.

Z1485 Kodak Easyshare Digital Camera gotcha

If you take pictures with the memory card removed, be sure to copy the pix off the camera into your computer BEFORE reinserting the memory card. Any pix taken while the memory card is out are stored in the camera's limited internal RAM. Re inserting the memory card wipes the RAM and the pictures go the the great bit bucket in the sky.
How do I know this? I pulled the memory card out of the camera and stuck it into the computer to copy new pictures off the camera. I had an attack of the stupids and forgot to put the memory card back into the camera. Took the camera in my pocket and snapped a few pictures.
Being of a suspicious turn of mind, I copied the pix off the camera using the USB cable first. Then I put the memory card back in the camera. Sure enough, the new pix disappeared from the camera.
I don't believe the manual talks about this gotcha.

Another spending cut

This article suggests shutting down the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for Democracy.
In a day of multi trillion dollar deficits, the money is only a billion or so, but you know what Dirksen said, "A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon we are talking real money".
NPR's programming is now so strong it doesn't need public subsidy any more. They can sell ads just like real networks do.
Any art that needs a government subsidy is bad art. Good art supports itself by sales. If people won't buy it, it's bad art. By definition.
The Humanities (English lit, history, art, music and such) do not need subsidy. Not with college tuitions as high as they are. Most college student major in the humanities anyway, science and engineering are too hard for them. That much tuition money is plenty.
I'd never heard of the National Endowment for Democracy before, so it obviously isn't doing anything worth while.

Gambling hearing in Concord

I got on the road to Concord at 8 AM, too early really. I was in Concord by 9:10 and the hearing didn't start until 10:30. By 10 AM there was a huge semitrailer truck, all painted up for the United Auto Workers parked in from the the State House. On the curb side of the truck was a platform, a mike, and a huge crowd of people wearing bright international orange T-shirts marked "Gaming Now. We need jobs". I took photos and then slipped inside the State House.
The hearing was scheduled for room 100, which has maybe 100 seats. The room was jammed, and the corridor was filled with people wanting in. By 11 AM the hearing had been moved up into the legislative chamber, which was big enough.
A bunch of senators and reps spoke in favor of more gambling. The state attorney general (forget his name) spoke against it. Couple of people from gambling think tanks estimated the gross take from gambling would be $800 million with the state getting $250 million in taxes. Then an amendment to the gambling bill was publicized. Instead of using gambling revenue to close the state deficit, the new revenues would be turned over to Health and Human Services and spent on a vast collection of welfare programs. In short, lets spend it as fast as it comes in.
Executives from Rockingham and the Nashua Golf & Gamble casino spoke about their plans. Rockingham was talking about $450 million capital investment, the Nashua deal didn't mention money but they promised a 300 room luxury hotel, convention space, big casino and a first class golf course.
A representative of the State Police spoke in favor of gambling, but he didn't really explain why. I assume he was hoping for some money to flow to the Staties from the gambling revenue. A rep from the League of Women Voters spoke against.
All in all, the pro grambling people out numbered the anti gamblers. By 2:30 they got down to me, and I gave a three minute talk against.
As I walked back to the car, I passed a couple of the gambling think tank guys on the sidewalk with a TV camera doing a man on the street interview. They were coaching the man on the street as to what to say.
I got home just at 4 PM. The cat was over joyed to see her human come back. Lotta time to deliver a three minute talk.
--

Speech before the NH Gambling Committee

State sponsored gambling is Reverse Robin Hood, steal from the poor, and give to the rich.
Gamblers are our poorer, disadvantaged and less educated citizens. We call them losers, and upon entering a casino, they lose again. Dunno about you, but I am squeamish about fleecing losers.
The losers will be New Hampshire citizens. People won’t fly in from the west coast, or even drive up from Boston to play slots at Indian Head. Gambling takes money from the poor of New Hampshire. Gambling doesn’t create wealth, it merely redistributes it.
The casino management will be experienced out of state people, from Vegas and Atlantic City, mostly with Mob connections. The Mob started Vegas and still controls it, politely of course. Same goes for Atlantic City. You can’t find an experienced casino manager who isn’t tied to the Mob.
Jobs promised by the gambling “industry” are bottom level, waiting tables, making beds, sweeping floors, no health benefits, no career path. The only winners are casino operators. They get their cut before any taxes are paid. They also do the books. Want to bet they show humongous expenses, no profit and hence owe no taxes?
SB 490 sets up a gambling commission with juicy jobs. The commissioners get $50 million license fees with no obligation to put the money into the state treasury. They get the power to revoke casino licenses. The casinos will go out of their way to treat the commissioners right. Free meals, free drinks, free this and that, walking around money, a split on the take. What other under the table kickbacks can they invent?
The commissioners can do criminal record checks on casino employees but don’t have to divulge the results to anyone without a court order. Prevents the citizens from getting upset about the Mob connections of people in the gambling business.

Tourists contribute a lot to the New Hampshire economy. We get incredible numbers of tourists from out of state and over seas. They come to experience the New Hampshire advantage, natural beauty, mountains, woods, lakes, rivers. They climb, hike, camp, ride the tramway, hunt, fish, ski, leaf watch. Many of them love New Hampshire so much they build taxable vacation homes and ski chalets. Casinos are tacky, casino people are tacky, and casino customers (gamblers) are unattractive. Garish neon signs on the Indian Head on the way into Franconia Notch are a turn off. Let’s not drive off the paying tourists by turning upstate New Hampshire into Las Vegas with pine trees.

Bank regulation works in Canada

Canada avoided the 2006 housing bubble and avoided the 2008 housing crash. Could this be due to more conservative banking policies? Good article here.

Canadian hockey wins American Beer

First, congratulations to Team USA. They played a good game, made it to the finals and almost won. Better luck next time.
I heard on the radio that Obama had wagered a case of beer with the Canadians on the match. Bad choice. Canadians consider American beer to be weak and flavorless. They have a point there, personally I buy Canadian beer cause it tastes better. If Obama sends a case of Bud Light to Ottawa, the Canadians will get a good laugh out of it.
It would have been better to bet a case of whiskey, something both countries do well. A case of Jack Daniels is a fair wager against a case of Canadian Club.

Secondhand, the price is right

What can you buy second hand? Ans: Lots of stuff. Nice cars. Used Detroit up scale cars (Caddy, Buick, Lincoln, Ford) can be had for very good prices, far less than the cheapest new econobox. They are well built, parts are widely available, and gas mileage is very good. I'm getting 27 mpg highway out of a Caddy Deville. Used Japanese and German cars are not as good a deal as Detroit iron. The cars are fine but the price is higher.
Tools, hand and power. Old stationary power tools, the cast iron kind, are better than brand new Chiwanese sheet metal jobs. I've picked up hand saws, socket sets, chain saws, weed wackers, files, a Yankee screwdriver, a Fluke digital multimeter, and turning chisels. Exception, used battery powered tools most often have dead batteries and battery replacement is nearly as costly as buying a whole new tool.
Housewares, drinking glasses, decorative copper bowls, brass candle sticks, table lamps, electric pencil sharpeners, bowls and plates and mugs. All look as good as new after washing and polishing.
Clothes. A little looking on the racks at thrift stores turn up plenty of LL Bean, Arrow, Woolrich, and other top name shirts. Plus outerwear, children's clothing, chinos, and blue jeans.
Electronics, stereo receivers, speakers, VCR's, tape decks, computers.
Second hand stuff is a quarter of new pricing. If you are on a budget, and who isn't, you can stretch the dollars a long way. Plus, the stuff looks good and no one will know.

Greece, down the slippery slope

In case you haven't noticed, Greece is slowly going bankrupt. Greek government expenditures far exceed tax revenues. Greek politics will not allow spending cuts or tax hikes. The country is staying afloat by borrowing money.
Couple of questions. First off, who in their right mind would loan money to Greece, no matter how high the interest rate? The chances of Greek default, followed by social and political chaos are serious. The chances of getting your loan paid back are poor.
Well, the lenders are taking out bond insurance, "credit default swaps" is the Wall St code word. The insurers, in return for a juicy fee, guarantee to repay the Greek loans if the Greeks default. Question. Can the insurers pay off when the Greeks default? If not, are they expecting a bailout from Uncle Sam? Are the insurers of sound mind? The chances of default are high, the Wall St Journal financial page has talked of little else for weeks. The other Europeans have made it clear that they won't bail out Greece.
The Obama administration ought to make it perfectly clear to Wall St that any firm issuing, buying, or holding Greek "credit default swaps" will NOT get a bailout. It will be tough on Greece, but it is pretty clear that the Greeks won't clean up their act until they run out of money. It's a poor use of valuable capital to prop up a government that is living far beyond its means.

And the third winter storm warning fizzles

They forecast 8 to 12 inches for the White Mountains yesterday. We got zip for snow and a lot of rain. Then the wind picked up and howled around the house. The lights went out at 10PM and didn't come back on til 5 AM. House stayed warm enough with the furnace out. It didn't get cold enough to make me get up and start the fire.

The Health Care Circus

Fox, to its credit, carried most of Obama's circus live. Surprisingly, Cspan did not, or at least not on the two Cspan channels I can get. The pols put on a pretty good show. This was a public relations effort, both sides were talking to the TV audience, not to each other. No agreements on anything were reached, at least not in front of the TV cameras.
The PR effort was a Mexican standoff. The Republicans stuck with their position of malpractice reform, interstate sale of insurance, importation of drugs from Canada. The Democrats told endless tales of woe, and called for passage of Obamacare to relieve the woes, the spending and to save the Union.
Obama came out against interstate sale of insurance, saying that people would flock to cheaper insurance from states with fewer mandated coverages, and that was bad, we have to force everyone to buy expensive cover everything policies. He also implied that the democrats will try to jam Obamacare thru Congress using reconciliation.
Obama also came out against catastrophic only coverage, saying that full coverage was only a few pennies more that catastrophe only coverage. That's not true. I switched from a $12K full coverage policy to a $3K catastrophe only policy. The $9K in savings more than covered my office visits. Plus, since I was paying for it out of pocket, I bothered to get my prescription switched to low cost generic drugs.

Tom Harkin (D) gets it wrong

Senator Tom Harkin is ranting on TV saying that malpractice reform doesn't work. He said NH had to repeal it's malpractice law.
Not true Tom. It was passed, it's worked so well the doctors insurance fund has a $100 million surplus that the governor tried to pinch to balance the state budget.
In NH, tort lawyers must present their case to a special medical malpractice court. If the lawyer doesn't like the verdict of the special court, he is at liberty to sue in regular state court. BUT, the verdict of the special medical malpractice court MUST by read aloud to the jury. The jury, not being fools, pays close attention to the verdict of the special court. Malpractice suits have been cut in half.
Trial lawyers attempt to repeal this reform every legislative session, so far with no success.
So Senator Tom Harkin, for somewhere-or-other in the heartland, malpractice reform is alive and well in NH. And it has reduced our cost of medical care.

Insurance pools?

The great Obamacare debate is on TV as I type. Obama is claiming that creation of "insurance pools" would offer health insurance for a lower rate than at current. Sounds too good to be true. The cost to insure a family is the same whether they are in a "pool" or on the beach.
A "pool" isn't the same as health insurance offered by employers. Companies get a better rate than individuals, mostly because workers are in good health. When their health fails they stop working. A "pool" composed of anyone who walks in off the street ain't gonna get the discount the big boys like Caterpillar and Microsoft get.

The Nature of Horses Stephan Budiansky

Good read which I picked off the stacks at the Abby Greenleaf public library. Subtitle is Exploring Equine Evolution Intelligence and Behavior which is a good summary. Archaeology now places the domestication of the horse on the northern shores of the Black Sea. A grave of a "cult stallion", complete with grave goods and dated to 3000 BC was discovered. The teeth of the stallion showed wear marks characteristic of a bit, this some 500 years before the earliest wheel. Leading the the conclusion that the horse was domesticated for riding first, and for pulling chariots only later. Which makes a certain amount of sense, the urge among teen aged boys to show off by riding a half wild horse is understandable, and doesn't require fancy technology, like spoked wheels, yokes, axles and axle bearings. Whereas to ride bareback, you just jump on and hang on.

Second Winter Storm Warning fizzles out

Last week they canceled public school on account of forecasts of mega snow all over NH. Today we got a few flakes, maybe an inch, after a forecast of a foot or more. In fairness, the TV is reporting that western MA got clobbered good, but it didn't make it up here to Cannon. They say yet another storm is coming tomorrow. We need the snow...

Don't weep for me, Toyota Part II

Poor Toyota is really getting slammed in Congress today. I have mixed feelings about it. The accidents and deaths are terrible, but ruining a company and throwing it's people out of work is not very nice either.

Atlantic Monthly Columnist flunks high school chemistry

Megan McCardle wrote in her Atlantic column

"I've read a lot about prohibition, but I never read about the government's deliberate effort to make industrial alcohol undrinkably poisonous. Thousands of people seem to have died as a result."

Looks like Megan never took high school chemistry. Anyone who did knows that denatured alcohol is poisonous. Plus the containers are marked with skull and cross bones for those who don't read. Denatured alcohol is drinking alcohol rendered undrinkable so it can be sold for industrial uses without paying liquor taxes. Of course journalism students are not required to know anything about the real world. Which is why fewer and fewer people read the MSM. Why waste your time reading stuff written by the profoundly ignorant?

How to advertise cars on TV

Just a few pointers for the ad guys who know nothing about cars, car buyers, or TV.
First remember that you are selling a car, you are not selling pretty girls, hunky guys, exotic vacation spots, or open road. The video should concentrate on the car. And guys, we all have color TV's now. In fact we have all had color TV since the 1980's. Show us the car in color, not black and white. I know black and white is arty and cool, but the cars look better in color. Give us a good side view, front view, rear view and interior view. Show the car moving. For extra credit show us the engine.
Second. Give us the name of the car at the beginning of the commercial. The ad is worthless if us TV viewers don't know which car it is. Remember, it's the 21st century and cars all look alike now. Name the car, on the screen and in the voiceover at the beginning. The car logo isn't enough. Many of us can't keep Chevy bowties and Ford blue ovals straight in our heads, let alone the smaller brands.
Third. Tell us what makes this car desirable and worth laying out big bucks for. It might be performance, or luxury, or carrying capacity, or greenness, or off road handling, or something. No car can be all things to all customers, so figure out what this car is and let us know it.
Fourth. Show the price in the ad. Price is the most important single specification of cars, (or anything for that matter). If you don't show us the price, we TV viewers figure it's too expensive for us, and the ad is wasted.

F for NBC Olympic coverage

Watching the ski racing. At the end of the race, NBC is too brain dead to show the racer's time to us TV viewers. Ski racers are all good, all fast, and the difference between a gold and last place is a fraction of a second. After watching the skier hurtle down hill we want to know how well he did, namely his time.
NBC sometimes displayed a stopwatch on screen but it was broken, showing 2 minutes and some seconds as the skier leaves the start house, where it should read zero. It also would stop and start erratically during the run. They never displayed the skiers time and name, not at the start, not during the run, and not after the run. BOO.

Constituent Service, Scott Brown version

Newly elected Senator Scott Brown sent me nice thank-you letter, for my modest (very modest) campaign contribution last month. I'm suitably impressed. Clearly a man who understands ordinary politeness and makes sure it happens. I wish him well.

Cost Cutting, Health Care version

Doctors buy malpractice insurance to protect themselves against lawyers. The insurance can run as much as $100,000 a year. That's a helova lot of money. If the doctor works 50 weeks a year, 40 hours a week that's 2000 hours. $100,000 / 2000 hours equals $50/hr. The doctor has to charge $50 an hour for his time just to pay his malpractice insurance.
That's one of the reasons that medical care is so expensive. We could cut this down a lot.
1. Cap on awards. Surely $300,000 dollars is enough compensation for pain and suffering. In fact it's generous for individuals. But it's too low to feed a lawyer. Malpractice lawyers work on contingency fees, they take the lion's share of any court awards in lieu of fees. A couple of million dollar jackpots covers the expenses of the suits they loose. Lower the awards and a lot of lawyers will find more profitable lines of work.
2. Demand expert witnesses be real practicing doctors, not hired mouths. An expert witness should be required to show that he personally treated a round dozen cases like the case before the court. Right now any joker with a medical degree is an expert witness. Most of them do no medicine, they just testify in court, for pay. Real practicing doctors have real experience, and are reluctant to point fingers at colleagues. The hired mouths will say anything they are paid to say.
3. Adopt a "loser pays" rule. Losing side pays all the court costs. That will drive off the weaker suits.
4. Forbid lawyers to advertise for plaintiffs. Used to be it was unethical for lawyers to advertise at all. Now Fox TV runs hourly ads from lawyers looking for plaintiffs to give them some standing to sue.
5. Proscribing FDA approved drugs and medical equipment is NEVER malpractice. Even if the FDA later changes its mind and pulls the drug off the market. The FDA is so conservative in granting approval for the sale of drugs, that any reasonable person is justified in believing approved drugs are safe. Doctors, hospitals and drug companies should not get sued for proscribing, administering and manufacturing FDA approved drugs.

Snooping by laptop

You must have heard about the school district that issued laptops to the students and then remotely turned on the built in video cameras and sneaked photographs of the students at home?
Takeaways:
1. That school district had more money than brains to issue student laptops. No way would my district be so profligate. Students learn by studying, not by computering. Plus the students all have computers already. Why spend public money to give 'em a backup computer?
2. If a computer illiterate public school can turn a laptop into a video snoop camera, so can anyone else. A piece of duct tape over the camera lens (and perhaps another piece over the built in microphone) is your only guarantee of privacy. Good thing my antique 3 Gigahz desktop lacks cameras and microphones.
3. That school board has to be stuck on stupid. They can look forward to getting voted out of office next election time.

America is ungovernable?

I hear the Democrats whining this whine now that Obamacare seems to be dead. Probably true. I don't like being governed (bossed around) any more than the next American. America doesn't need or want governance. We like leadership instead. We don't like Obamacare, and we were able to resist the Democratic attempt to stuff it down our throats. I like that kind of ungovernable.
By the way, Obamacare is kinda like a snake. You can't depend upon a snake being dead until it's cut up into six inch lengths. I don't see Obamacare as being that kind of dead, yet. It's lying on the floor and not moving much, but it might come back to life and bite.

Why the Love Gene in cats?

Cats, at least modern house cats, love their humans. Nothing else explains why cats demand petting, sleep on favored human's beds, sit in laps, and purr when picked up and stroked. They get terribly lonely when left alone. But what is the evolutionary origin of this gene? Cats are solitary hunters, not pack animals. Before hooking up with humans back in Egyptian times, what good would a gene to love humans do for a cat? I have read of small African wild cats that cannot be tamed even today. Presumably that breed of cat lacks the love gene.
After hooking up with humans, the love gene is obviously a good thing. Compare well fed and sleek house cats with skinny, dirty, and miserable looking alley cats. It interacts successfully with the love animals gene in humans.
Perhaps the cat love gene is a mutation or only occurs in small numbers of cats in the wild. The love animals gene in humans prompts them to adopt kittens. Perhaps the adoptions proceeded unsuccessfully until some human got lucky and adopted a kitten carrying the love gene. Once settled in with humans the cats with the love gene would flourish and the cats that lacked it would go back to the wild.
Does this account for a origin of the species of affectionate cats?

Words of the Weasel Part XIV

"The aircraft was on final approach to Heathrow from Beijing when an uncommanded power reduction occurred in both engines."
We used to call that engine failure.
The aircraft augered in 984 feet short of the runway. Gotta watch them uncommanded power reductions.

Blame Shifting

On the radio (NHPR) this morning. The terrible Belgian train accident is blamed on lack of new technology automatic train brakes.
Wow!
Brakes won't save you in a head on collision. Something went wrong and put two trains on the the same track going opposite directions. A signal failed, an engineer ran a red signal, a dispatcher gave the wrong orders, or a turnout was thrown the wrong way. Once that happens you have two trains barreling right at each other. It takes a mile or more to stop a train, automatic brakes or no automatic brakes. The engineers cannot see that far ahead ahead. Blam.
The radio story went on to quote various Europeans pointing fingers at each other. The Belgians blamed the EU for failure to standardize automatic brake requirements. The EU blamed the Belgians for not installing automatic brakes anyhow. Money was mentioned, like 200,000 Euros per train and 25,000 Euros per mile of track.
This story is a smoke screen behind which the true culprits are escaping.

Archival Quality (photographic)

My fiftieth high school reunion is coming up this year. Old classmates are agitating for photos. So I though I might look thru my pile of slide trays, looking for high school photos.
Step 1. Fix the slide projector. A beefy Basch & Lomb at least 50 years old itself. At least it is fixable, it all came apart, with ordinary hand tools, and with a liberal anointment of 3-in-1 oil it started to cycle the slides in and out. The slide advance electric switch was broken and no replacement available. But there is a plug for a remote control switch. I made a remote control switch from scratch, and had a working projector. Good thing I had a lathe, bandsaw, drill press and radial arm saw in the basement, I used them all for this little DIY project.
Step 2. Try to read the labels on the slide trays. That didn't work. What ever it was had faded over the years and was unreadable. Note to self. Use black India ink to label anything you care about. Damn felt tips fade in less than five years.
Step 3. Show the slides. Got some real oldies here. Recognized the old family house that we moved out of in 1957. Shots inside the ski chalet that I am currently retired too. Some shots of relatives, now deceased.
Step 4. Agonize over the generally low quality of the slides. Out of focus, under exposed, over exposed. My low end point&shoot digital makes much better pictures.
I wonder if the digital photos will be viewable fifty years from now>

Dreaming in Code by Scott Rosenburg

Cool story about software development at a silicon valley startup. Mitch Kapor, the man who created Lotus 1-2-3 years ago, decided to do another killer app. Rented office space, small team of experienced programmers, self financed by Mitch. The author, who is not a software guy, hung around the operation for it's first three years and wrote a book about it.
Software development hasn't changed much. Three years into the project and they had little to show for it, despite all the experience on the team, leadership by a silicon valley legend, and a booming economy.
Rosenburg gives a good layman's account of the various fads in software engineering, going back to the 1960's. Each new fad was supposed to create great software on time and on budget. Well, that hasn't happened yet.
The project was to create a super personal information manager that would hold contact information, to-do lists, appointments, photographs, and anything else, keep the home computer updated with the work computer, allow sharing with everyone and anyone, and perhaps travel faster than light as well.
Rosenburg, a non programmer, doesn't understand what specifications are for. He mentions that the project lacks specs. He doesn't understand that a spec is a trial run at the real program. If the programmer cannot explain what he is doing to other humans in his native tongue, he won't be able to explain it to a non sentient computer using a complex programming language. And, specs allow the others on the project to know what the program is going to do, and if it will fit into the rest of the project.
This project didn't understand "the minimum working set". Until code is running, you have nothing. To get the code running, you select the absolute minimum amount of code needed to make the program do something, even if something isn't very much. Get the minimum working set running and then add in the rest of the project, piece by piece. This project did "release" early versions, but it was a pro forma activity, the early releases crashed continuously and didn't do anything.
Anyhow, good to learn that software development hasn't changed since I retired.

NHPR spins the gambling focus group

NHPR did a piece on the gambling focus groups this morning. Their spin is pro gambling, and they implied that all the good citizens attending the focus group were pro gambling too. Or at least not anti gambling.
That's not the way it was at the Littleton focus group. The attendees were luke warm at best and mostly hostile to more gambling.
All the news that fits we print...

Another Spending Cut

The Security and Exchange Commission was created after Great Depression 1.0 with a mission to regulate the stock market and prevent Great Depression 2.0. Remember that Great Depression 1.0 was triggered by the stock market crash of 1929. The Roosevelt administration wanted a watchdog agency to prevent practices like margin selling that had toppled the market in 1929.
Same agency is still in business, with a $1 billion dollar budget. They failed to prevent Great Depression 2.0. Clearly they are a waste of money. Let's shut them down and apply that $1 billion to deficit reduction.