The hard part is creating a party platform that will attract voters. After the disaster of Nov 2012, Republicans have been doing a lot of soul searching. Practicing Republicans (selectmen, school board, State reps, party officials, party workers) want the party to stand for jobs, tax cuts, spending cuts, and improving the economy. They don't want to get mixed up in the wedge issues (abortion, contraception and gay marriage), cause they know these issues are losers. They drive away more young voters, than the elderly voters they appeal too. If the practical Republicans had their druthers, no Republican would ever mention a wedge issue, especially in primary elections.
Trouble is the abortion issue is huge and it really motivates a lot of voters. Used to be the country was split 50-50 on it. Recent polling suggests that the pro abortion sentiment is now ahead maybe 55 to 45 percent. That's huge. Means every time the issue comes up, Republicans loose by 10 percent. In American elections 10 percent is a landslide.
Guess which party the 45 percent anti abortion voters join? I'll give you a clue, it ain't the democrats.
So here we are with a load of gung ho anti abortion voters in the party. It's a democratic party, we cannot kick them out or brainwash them. And they vote in primaries. So the Republicans have a LOT of wedge issue voters that won't go away. And Republican candidates have to come to the best terms they can make with them.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Ford needs a better ad man
It's a maximally ineffective TV car ad. It starts off with an animated cartoon of a SUV. As the voice over explains that the SUV is too small to hold all the passengers. The cartoon car shows bulges all of a sudden. Then they melt down the cartoon car and redraw it. A happy voice over now explains how everyone fits inside, now. That uses up half the ad time.
Then we finally get to see a photo of the car they are trying to sell. It bursts thru a big sheet of wallpaper. The car is not on screen long enough to really see it. It's painted mud color. It has an odd name "C-Max" which is never spelled out on screen. It has three grownups squeezed into the back seat looking squashed which kinda negates the point the cartoons tried to make. Price is not given.
That ad ain't gonna sell cars.
To sell a car on TV you want to show the car,.early and all the way thru. You want to show the car name prominently and early, 'cause cars all look alike these days. Give the car a real pronounceable name rather than random strings of letters and numbers.Show people doing fun things in the car at interesting places. For instance parked at a beach with surfboards on the roof. Or with skis on the roof at a ski resort. Or towing a boat trailer to a fishing spot. Or beside a tent at a scenic campground. And paint the car a real color, not mud.
Then we finally get to see a photo of the car they are trying to sell. It bursts thru a big sheet of wallpaper. The car is not on screen long enough to really see it. It's painted mud color. It has an odd name "C-Max" which is never spelled out on screen. It has three grownups squeezed into the back seat looking squashed which kinda negates the point the cartoons tried to make. Price is not given.
That ad ain't gonna sell cars.
To sell a car on TV you want to show the car,.early and all the way thru. You want to show the car name prominently and early, 'cause cars all look alike these days. Give the car a real pronounceable name rather than random strings of letters and numbers.Show people doing fun things in the car at interesting places. For instance parked at a beach with surfboards on the roof. Or with skis on the roof at a ski resort. Or towing a boat trailer to a fishing spot. Or beside a tent at a scenic campground. And paint the car a real color, not mud.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
A Sweet Deal
The US Department of Agriculture is planning to buy 400,000 tons of sugar to prop up sugar prices. That's $168 million worth of sugar, at the March price of 21.03 cents a pound. Where is that sequester when you need it?
According to the Wall St Journal, USDA is motivated by a desire to prevent bankruptcy among sugar producers who have borrowed $862 million from USDA this growing season. If the producers go broke, Uncle doesn't get paid back, at least not in dollars. Apparently the sugar borrowers pledge their crops as security for the loans. If they don't have money, they give the sugar to Uncle Sam instead of dollars. Last time this happened, 2000, Uncle wound up the proud owner of one million tons of sugar. At least sugar isn't perishable, that gives bureaucrats some years to figure out how to get rid of it. The 2008 farm bill calls for this sugar to be made into ethanol and added to gasoline.
In addition to cheap loans and price supports, the sugar industry gets tariff protection. World sugar prices are only 18 cents a pound, compared with 21 cents a pound inside the US. The National Confectioners Association, big sugar consumers, claim the sugar producers have cost US consumers $14 billion in higher sugar prices since the 2008 farm bill passed.
One bright spot. Our democratic senator, Jeanne Shaheen calls this swindle "unacceptable" and is sponsoring a bill to "give the USDA more flexibility in handling the sugar program". More flexibility my foot, she ought to sponsor a bill to shut this scam down completely.
According to the Wall St Journal, USDA is motivated by a desire to prevent bankruptcy among sugar producers who have borrowed $862 million from USDA this growing season. If the producers go broke, Uncle doesn't get paid back, at least not in dollars. Apparently the sugar borrowers pledge their crops as security for the loans. If they don't have money, they give the sugar to Uncle Sam instead of dollars. Last time this happened, 2000, Uncle wound up the proud owner of one million tons of sugar. At least sugar isn't perishable, that gives bureaucrats some years to figure out how to get rid of it. The 2008 farm bill calls for this sugar to be made into ethanol and added to gasoline.
In addition to cheap loans and price supports, the sugar industry gets tariff protection. World sugar prices are only 18 cents a pound, compared with 21 cents a pound inside the US. The National Confectioners Association, big sugar consumers, claim the sugar producers have cost US consumers $14 billion in higher sugar prices since the 2008 farm bill passed.
One bright spot. Our democratic senator, Jeanne Shaheen calls this swindle "unacceptable" and is sponsoring a bill to "give the USDA more flexibility in handling the sugar program". More flexibility my foot, she ought to sponsor a bill to shut this scam down completely.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
World's most famous stove pipe comes out of storage
The Vatican's chimney, the one that puffs white smoke or black smoke to signal election or non election of a new pope was on TV the other day. Vatican workers were shown installing it in the roof of the Sistine Chapel. Damn. You would think that the world famous chimney would be solid masonry, there all the time, not a piece of stove pipe kept in some storage place except for papal elections. If for no other reason, Vatican tout guides would love to be able to point out the famous chimney to tourists.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
There oughta be law
Against telemarketers who ring your phone and then fail to answer when you pick up. Penalties might include boiling in oil, keel hauling, and hanging from the nearest phone pole.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Green Eggs and Ham, #1 in hard cover fiction
It's been a week and Dr, Suess still dominates the Wall St Journal best sellers list. Of the 10 entries in hard cover fiction, 6 of them are Dr. Suess. Green Eggs and Ham is now the number 1 best seller.
Friday, March 8, 2013
New York Times makes up new science
The Times ran an article about Shaun Marcott and his team at Oregon State University. Marcott claims to have "read" earth's temperature going back 11 thousand years. Naturally (for the NYT) Marcott's temperature "reading" shows temperature's were colder than today, for the last 11 thousand years. Global warming rides again.
Naturally the Times didn't both to explain just how Marcott was able to measure the temperate 10,000 years ago. That's actually quite a trick. Many global warmers have made mistakes, like claiming tree ring wide indicates temperate. (It indicates rainfall).
The Times also quotes the notorious Dr. Michael Mann of Penn State. Mann was exposed in the great Hadley Climate Research Unit document leak as an very partisan warmist not above fudging his results to get the answers that he wants.
Finally, the Times declares a solution to the age old question of "what caused the ice ages". This has been a topic of discussion for the last century or more. There are dozens of theories kicking around, none of them convincing enough to become generally accepted. But this doesn't stop our NYT warmists. The Times boldy declares that variation in the heat of the Sun causes ice ages. Sun gets colder and we have an ice age.
Trouble with this theory is that instrument readings don't support it. We have solar output readings going back to the beginnings of artificial satellites. The instruments are sensitive enough to show the 11 year sun spot cycle. But they don't show any long term variation at all. Solar output today is exactly the same as it was 40 years ago (date of earliest satellite observations). Which suggests that the Sun burns at the same level all the time.
Glad to hear that the Times is so scientifically hep, throwing out new theories as if they were generally accepted. I always believe what I read in the Times.
Naturally the Times didn't both to explain just how Marcott was able to measure the temperate 10,000 years ago. That's actually quite a trick. Many global warmers have made mistakes, like claiming tree ring wide indicates temperate. (It indicates rainfall).
The Times also quotes the notorious Dr. Michael Mann of Penn State. Mann was exposed in the great Hadley Climate Research Unit document leak as an very partisan warmist not above fudging his results to get the answers that he wants.
Finally, the Times declares a solution to the age old question of "what caused the ice ages". This has been a topic of discussion for the last century or more. There are dozens of theories kicking around, none of them convincing enough to become generally accepted. But this doesn't stop our NYT warmists. The Times boldy declares that variation in the heat of the Sun causes ice ages. Sun gets colder and we have an ice age.
Trouble with this theory is that instrument readings don't support it. We have solar output readings going back to the beginnings of artificial satellites. The instruments are sensitive enough to show the 11 year sun spot cycle. But they don't show any long term variation at all. Solar output today is exactly the same as it was 40 years ago (date of earliest satellite observations). Which suggests that the Sun burns at the same level all the time.
Glad to hear that the Times is so scientifically hep, throwing out new theories as if they were generally accepted. I always believe what I read in the Times.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Renaming the Washington Redskins.
The PC police are suing the Washington Redskins football team. They claim "Redskin" is racist and derogatory and yadda yadda. The case is at the Supreme Court right now.
If the court rules that "Redskins" is unacceptable, I think the team ought rename themselves as the Washington Rednecks.
If the court rules that "Redskins" is unacceptable, I think the team ought rename themselves as the Washington Rednecks.
Bring back top 40 radio
Was watching Channel 6 (Vermont Public TV). They had an hour long show (Hullabaloo) with just good '60s groups playing good '60s hits. It was great to hear. Back in the day you could get music that good off the AM car radio. Now a days, all the car radio (FM no less) has is elevator music.
And, despite 60 year old recordings, you could hear every single word of the lyrics. Unlike many current movies.
And, despite 60 year old recordings, you could hear every single word of the lyrics. Unlike many current movies.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Change of Blog Template.
Youngest son thought the default page color was boring and made my blog look moldy. So I just changed it.
Cyberwarfare
Op Ed in today's Wall St Journal calling for new federal laws to harden up cybersecurity. Author is a Texas Republican congressman on the Homeland Security Committee. He talks about the risks, which are real. Then he wants new laws. Just what he wants to make law is less clear. He mentions "necessary liability protections" and "streamlining processes" which don't mean much to me. I am suspicious of "necessary liability protection". Fear of tort lawyers suing the company down to its socks is a good motivator to tighten up security.
In the real world what cyber security means is the computer administrators all across the private and public sectors tightening up on passwords, disallowing login from the public internet, and paying real bucks to buy private lines to remote sites rather than passing everything over the wide open public internet.
It means Microsoft has to close the gaping holes in Windows security. Right now you can plug a CD or a flashdrive into a Windows computer and Windows will automatically and secretly load and execute what ever malware is on that media. This is how the hard hitting Stuxnet worm was loaded onto Iranian computers. Flash drives with Stuxnet in them were scattered about the parking lot and sharp eyed employees walking from their cars picked them up and took them into work. There are dozens of other holes in Windows, it's like Swiss cheese. Any high school kid can break into Windows without working up a sweat.
In the real world what cyber security means is the computer administrators all across the private and public sectors tightening up on passwords, disallowing login from the public internet, and paying real bucks to buy private lines to remote sites rather than passing everything over the wide open public internet.
It means Microsoft has to close the gaping holes in Windows security. Right now you can plug a CD or a flashdrive into a Windows computer and Windows will automatically and secretly load and execute what ever malware is on that media. This is how the hard hitting Stuxnet worm was loaded onto Iranian computers. Flash drives with Stuxnet in them were scattered about the parking lot and sharp eyed employees walking from their cars picked them up and took them into work. There are dozens of other holes in Windows, it's like Swiss cheese. Any high school kid can break into Windows without working up a sweat.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Innumeracy on the Factor
I'm watching Bill O'Reilly on the Factor last night. He has some blonde Hollywood woman on who is selling "Alternate Energy". O'Reilly allows that he has a house on Long Island that needs to be heated. The Alternate Energy Blonde then launched into a long spiel about how to heat with alcohol. She is sincere, makes you want to run out and pour a fifth of Old Crow into the furnace.
But, O'Reilly never asks her how much alcohol costs. Furnace oil costs me $4 a gallon. Whiskey costs me $20 a gallon at the State Store. Granted industrial alcohol for fuel is probably less, but is it cheaper than furnace oil?
Alternate energy is like alternate medicine. Quackery.
But, O'Reilly never asks her how much alcohol costs. Furnace oil costs me $4 a gallon. Whiskey costs me $20 a gallon at the State Store. Granted industrial alcohol for fuel is probably less, but is it cheaper than furnace oil?
Alternate energy is like alternate medicine. Quackery.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Hide the menus. Fixing My Deskjet
So one fine day, I click on "print" to get hardcopy of a spread sheet. The D4260 whirs and thrashes and out comes a nearly blank sheet of page. One a single number prints, everything else is blank. I futz around with Excel's format menu, thinking the maybe the text color had been changed to white-on-white or something. Finally I change the text color to blue, and lo and behold, it prints.
Ah, the black ink cartridge must have run out. So, next trip to Wally Mart, I buy an new one. Only the new one doesn't match the number on the old one exactly. It's close and I think it ought to work, so I pay $19 for it.
Once back home I am happy to find the new cartridge clips right into the printer, so far so good. I haven't totally wasted $19 on a cartridge that won't fit. Then I think I might print a test page, just to make sure the new black ink cartridge works.
Used to be, you clicked on Start, Settings, Printer and Faxes, and obtained a list of all the printers and pseudo printers on your machine. And, there was a check box to print a test page for each device.
Not any longer. You have to right click on the printer, select "Printer Preferences" and then "Features" and then "Printer Services" and then "Device Services" to get to a menu offering to print a test page. It takes a while to find my way this deep into the bowels of HP's user friendliness. I hit "Test Page". The printer whirres and thrashes and I get a test page that is all in color. No black.
This has gotta mean that the new black cartridge ain't working. Does it not? I remove the cartridge to make sure I have removed the factory shipping seal over the ink holes. No joy, the seal has been removed and there is even a little wet ink to blacken my finger.
I decide not to trust the HP test page and open up Word for Windows and print a short document. That works. Hurrah.
Sometimes I get nostalgic for the good old Centronics 101 dot matrix printers.
Ah, the black ink cartridge must have run out. So, next trip to Wally Mart, I buy an new one. Only the new one doesn't match the number on the old one exactly. It's close and I think it ought to work, so I pay $19 for it.
Once back home I am happy to find the new cartridge clips right into the printer, so far so good. I haven't totally wasted $19 on a cartridge that won't fit. Then I think I might print a test page, just to make sure the new black ink cartridge works.
Used to be, you clicked on Start, Settings, Printer and Faxes, and obtained a list of all the printers and pseudo printers on your machine. And, there was a check box to print a test page for each device.
Not any longer. You have to right click on the printer, select "Printer Preferences" and then "Features" and then "Printer Services" and then "Device Services" to get to a menu offering to print a test page. It takes a while to find my way this deep into the bowels of HP's user friendliness. I hit "Test Page". The printer whirres and thrashes and I get a test page that is all in color. No black.
This has gotta mean that the new black cartridge ain't working. Does it not? I remove the cartridge to make sure I have removed the factory shipping seal over the ink holes. No joy, the seal has been removed and there is even a little wet ink to blacken my finger.
I decide not to trust the HP test page and open up Word for Windows and print a short document. That works. Hurrah.
Sometimes I get nostalgic for the good old Centronics 101 dot matrix printers.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Gas Tax Hike, WMUR
WMUR had a couple of gas taxers on. They want a $0.15 cent a gallon hike in the state gasoline tax, The excuse given is that our roads and bridges are all falling down and in need of money. The real reason is they want the money to finish widening I93 south of Manchester. That project is pretty much at a stand still.
But we had money to replace a tiny little bridge on Three Mile Hill over the Gale River, to replace an elegant steel truss bridge over the Ammonusuc out by Lahout's with a boring highway style I beam bridge, and we were able to repave US 302, I-93, and NH Rt 18. All of this work in just in the last couple of seasons. Far as I can see our roads and bridges are in decent shape up here. Far better shape than anything around New York City.
Another downside, all the revenue dedicated to the highway fund, whether it needs it or not. Give 'em money and they will spend it. There is always something you can do. We would save money if the highway department had to come to the legislature and justify each project they want to do. Give our legislature a chance to veto some of the real pork projects.
Everyone wants earmarked money, money they can count on getting, the schools, the highway, the police, all of 'em want guaranteed money that they don't have to justify to the legislature, the taxpayers, and the press. I don't see why they should get it.
But we had money to replace a tiny little bridge on Three Mile Hill over the Gale River, to replace an elegant steel truss bridge over the Ammonusuc out by Lahout's with a boring highway style I beam bridge, and we were able to repave US 302, I-93, and NH Rt 18. All of this work in just in the last couple of seasons. Far as I can see our roads and bridges are in decent shape up here. Far better shape than anything around New York City.
Another downside, all the revenue dedicated to the highway fund, whether it needs it or not. Give 'em money and they will spend it. There is always something you can do. We would save money if the highway department had to come to the legislature and justify each project they want to do. Give our legislature a chance to veto some of the real pork projects.
Everyone wants earmarked money, money they can count on getting, the schools, the highway, the police, all of 'em want guaranteed money that they don't have to justify to the legislature, the taxpayers, and the press. I don't see why they should get it.
Beat the Press
David Gregory was on air, harassing John Bohner about the sequester. The usual things were said. What Bohner did not say is sorta interesting. Bohner did not say that the sequester was small and he did not say that the sequester was all about fake cuts, after sequester the US government will spend more than it spent last year. In short, the sequester is about chicken feed.
So John Bohner is perfectly happy to have a not-very-important issue taking up air time and the limited attention span of TV newsies. Does this mean Bohner thinks he "won" on the sequester?
So John Bohner is perfectly happy to have a not-very-important issue taking up air time and the limited attention span of TV newsies. Does this mean Bohner thinks he "won" on the sequester?
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Dr. Suess revival
Saturday Wall St Journal, Best selling hard cover fiction. We have Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish, Blue Fish, The Cat in the Hat, Fox in Sox, Dr .Suess's ABC, and Hop on Pop. These took places 2,3,5,7,8,10. The good doctor took 6 out of 10 spots this weekend. All of these are old favorites that I remember reading aloud to my children back in the day. Dunno what this means in the larger scheme of things. AS you might guess, no Dr. Suess books made in the Fiction E-books list. Which figures, it's hard to imagine reading Dr. Suess to small children off a Kindle.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Cannon Mt Ski Weather
We didn't get any snow. Despite Winter Storm Warnings, clever weather maps, endless babbling by TV newsies, no snow. Its beautiful, sun is out, icicles are dripping, tramway is taking a day off. But no snow. There is plenty left on the mountain, but it would have been nice to get that foot of new snow the TV promised but failed to deliver.
Why have they not discovered a "root cause"?
For the lithium battery problem on the 787? According to yesterday's Wall St Journal, the National Transportation Safety Board doesn't have anyone who knows anything about batteries or lithium, or even lithium batteries. They are much more complex than those lead acid car batteries whose chemistry we learned in high school. At least at my high school.
Apparently both the Japanese and US safety boards have a single charred battery, taken from a 787, sitting on the bench, looking burnt. The investigators have no clue as the how they came to catch fire. And that's where it stands. They haven't taken the batteries apart, analyzed the charcoal for dendrites, molten lithium, or whatever, 'cause they don't know how.
Gonna be a long time before those 787's fly again.
Apparently both the Japanese and US safety boards have a single charred battery, taken from a 787, sitting on the bench, looking burnt. The investigators have no clue as the how they came to catch fire. And that's where it stands. They haven't taken the batteries apart, analyzed the charcoal for dendrites, molten lithium, or whatever, 'cause they don't know how.
Gonna be a long time before those 787's fly again.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Feds and Staties go after Fung Wah Bus
The cheapest trip between Boston and NYC is the Chinatown bus, fare go as low a $10 one way a couple of years ago. It's still cheaper than the Hound, Trailways, Amtrak, or flying. Fung Wah has been running for at least ten years that I know of.
According to the Wall St Journal, the Massachusetts authorities have petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to take 21 of Fung Wah's 28 buses off the road for cracked frames. The Feds obliged by shutting down all 28 Fung Wah buses.
Fung Wah says service is continuing using chartered buses.
Someone made the right campaign contributions. Or failed to make them.
According to the Wall St Journal, the Massachusetts authorities have petitioned the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to take 21 of Fung Wah's 28 buses off the road for cracked frames. The Feds obliged by shutting down all 28 Fung Wah buses.
Fung Wah says service is continuing using chartered buses.
Someone made the right campaign contributions. Or failed to make them.
Feds take out the Scooter Store
You must have seen the ads on TV. Happy grandmother seated in an electric wheel chair, whirring about the kitchen. Voice over saying "Medicare or your insurance will defray all costs." Looks like the Scooter Store hasn't been making political contributions to Obama. The Feds used 150 agents to raid the Scooter Store, shutting them down. They claim the Scooter Store has been gouging Medicare. Never the less the TV ads are still running.
Better the Scooter Store, than Gibson Guitar.
Better the Scooter Store, than Gibson Guitar.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Toasting BP
Lawyers have been submitting plenty of billable hours in the three years since BP's well blew in the Gulf of Mexico. Today they are actually in court, making arguments to a jury. One thing the delay has done is allow time for people to forget what happened.
Let's do a little review. The BP well was drilled 13000 feet into a high pressure gas and oil deposit. For some reason BP decided not to bring the well into production. Instead BP tried to shut it down. They pumped cement between the drill pipe and the rocky hole to seal it. After the cement was given enough time to harden, pressure readings indicated that the cement job was leaking. Donald Vidrene and Robert Kaluza, two BP executives aboard the drill rig, ordered the readings ignored and to proceed to pump out the drilling mud. Personnel from Trans Ocean (rig owner) and Halliburton (cement contractor) protested, saying the well was leaking high pressure natural gas. The BP men ignored this advice and continued to pump out the mud and replace it with sea water. The mud is very heavy and a 5000 foot column of mud is enough to contain the gas. Seawater is much lighter and cannot withstand gas pressure. The highly flammable natural gas, under great pressure, forced its way all the way up the drill pipe out onto the drill rig and ignited. The resulting fires and explosions sank the rig and killed 11 workers. Mr Vidren and Mr. Kaluza took the fifth amendment to avoid testifying at the inquiry, and then fled the country.
An attempt was made to close the blow out preventer, a 500 ton valve on the sea floor to shut off the drill pipe. This attempt failed. Better than a year later, the blow out preventer was salvaged from the sea floor and brought up to a dock. Engineers reported that the drill pipe was off center which prevented the rams from closing the pipe off. That's a major design failure of the blow out preventer..
The root cause of the accident is the decision by the BP executives on the rig to ignore indications of a leak and pump out the drilling mud. The failure of the blow out preventer is a secondary issue, apparently that design is an industry standard. I won't fault BP for using an approved industry standard device, even it failed to work.
The above information is from the Wall St. Journal, the only paper to cover the accident. The rest of the MSM were conspicuous by their absence.
Let's do a little review. The BP well was drilled 13000 feet into a high pressure gas and oil deposit. For some reason BP decided not to bring the well into production. Instead BP tried to shut it down. They pumped cement between the drill pipe and the rocky hole to seal it. After the cement was given enough time to harden, pressure readings indicated that the cement job was leaking. Donald Vidrene and Robert Kaluza, two BP executives aboard the drill rig, ordered the readings ignored and to proceed to pump out the drilling mud. Personnel from Trans Ocean (rig owner) and Halliburton (cement contractor) protested, saying the well was leaking high pressure natural gas. The BP men ignored this advice and continued to pump out the mud and replace it with sea water. The mud is very heavy and a 5000 foot column of mud is enough to contain the gas. Seawater is much lighter and cannot withstand gas pressure. The highly flammable natural gas, under great pressure, forced its way all the way up the drill pipe out onto the drill rig and ignited. The resulting fires and explosions sank the rig and killed 11 workers. Mr Vidren and Mr. Kaluza took the fifth amendment to avoid testifying at the inquiry, and then fled the country.
An attempt was made to close the blow out preventer, a 500 ton valve on the sea floor to shut off the drill pipe. This attempt failed. Better than a year later, the blow out preventer was salvaged from the sea floor and brought up to a dock. Engineers reported that the drill pipe was off center which prevented the rams from closing the pipe off. That's a major design failure of the blow out preventer..
The root cause of the accident is the decision by the BP executives on the rig to ignore indications of a leak and pump out the drilling mud. The failure of the blow out preventer is a secondary issue, apparently that design is an industry standard. I won't fault BP for using an approved industry standard device, even it failed to work.
The above information is from the Wall St. Journal, the only paper to cover the accident. The rest of the MSM were conspicuous by their absence.
Sequester Sky is still Falling
We have the president and secretaries of Navy and Interior on TV whining about awful budget cuts. Suck it in Obama administration. If you can't handle a chicken feed 3% fake budget cut, the Republic is doomed.
Fake budget cuts happen when the agency gets less than it asked for. Real budget cuts happen when the agency gets less money than it got last time. The famous sequester is all fake budget cuts. Nothing real about the sequester.
The Republicans gave you a $600 billion tax hike just last month . Naturally they aren't gonna give you another one this quarter. Get used to it.
Fake budget cuts happen when the agency gets less than it asked for. Real budget cuts happen when the agency gets less money than it got last time. The famous sequester is all fake budget cuts. Nothing real about the sequester.
The Republicans gave you a $600 billion tax hike just last month . Naturally they aren't gonna give you another one this quarter. Get used to it.
Oscars go world wide
Iranian TV carried the Oscar show. The mullahs thought Michelle Obama's dress was too revealing and had them airbrush on a high necked blouse.
The amusing part is that Iran is so hungry for Hollywood fluff from the Great Satan that they are showing the American Oscars. Presumably it ran with Persian subtitles, but it is hard to imagine getting much enjoyment out of the Oscars if you don't understand English. And know something about the movies, actors and actresses. It's like watching football or NASCAR. You have to be a fan to get much out of it. Sounds like Hollywood still has a lot of fans in Iran. There is more to being a superpower than nukes and planes and tanks.
The amusing part is that Iran is so hungry for Hollywood fluff from the Great Satan that they are showing the American Oscars. Presumably it ran with Persian subtitles, but it is hard to imagine getting much enjoyment out of the Oscars if you don't understand English. And know something about the movies, actors and actresses. It's like watching football or NASCAR. You have to be a fan to get much out of it. Sounds like Hollywood still has a lot of fans in Iran. There is more to being a superpower than nukes and planes and tanks.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Pediatrics scores again
This in from NPR. The pediatrics association is now advising doctors to lay off the antibiotics for childhood ear infections. They claim the ear infection often clears up by it self, the antibiotics can lead to upset stomaches, and overuse of antibiotics is breeding up generations of drug resistant super bugs.
Right. So kiss goodbye to that pink bottle of amoxcylin in the fridge.
And, speaking from personal experience, those ear infections REALLY hurt bad. And kids get a LOT of them. Like at least once a winter until they grow out of them. And the antibiotics make the hurt go away within hours, not days. And compared to the pain of an ear infection, upset stomach is a none starter. And in a country that routine feeds antibiotics to farm animals to make them gain weight faster, don't worry about the small amount of antibiotics given to small children.
Right. So kiss goodbye to that pink bottle of amoxcylin in the fridge.
And, speaking from personal experience, those ear infections REALLY hurt bad. And kids get a LOT of them. Like at least once a winter until they grow out of them. And the antibiotics make the hurt go away within hours, not days. And compared to the pain of an ear infection, upset stomach is a none starter. And in a country that routine feeds antibiotics to farm animals to make them gain weight faster, don't worry about the small amount of antibiotics given to small children.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Virus Hunting
Where do you look for virii? Simple, you look in computer memory (RAM). Computer programs of any kind have to be loaded into memory to work at all. Windows uses the name "Process" for each piece of programming loaded into RAM. Process Explorer is a freeware program that lists all the processes loaded into memory. It can be downloaded from the web. Just Google for "Process Explorer" to find a site to down load it from.
When running, Process Explorer displays a list of all programs loaded in memory, and thus runnable. A typical computer will have about 30 processes loaded. Most of these processes are parts of Windows and are supposed to be there. But if you have a virus, it will show up in the Process Explorer.
So how does one tell the harmless and necessary parts of Windows from virii? Just right click on the process name and Process Explorer will Bing (Microsoft's Google competitor) the internet for information on the program name. Cool. You will get dozens of hits on every process name.
You want to read a number of them. Many of the hits are from websites offering magical Windows Washing programs. I don't trust magical Windows Washers, they can be virii themselves, or they can break your computer. But postings from Microsoft.com, Da Tech Guy, Bleeping Computer, CNET and many others are reliable. Take a preponderance of evidence. If all the posts say it's part of windows, or all the posts say it's a virus, you know where you are at. If most of the posts are wishy-washy, and the single post that calls it a virus sounds like a rant, then it means no one really knows what it is.
So what do you do when you find a virus lurking in RAM? It only gets into RAM by loading itself off disk at boot time. You have to use Windows Explorer to find it on disk and zap it. In fact just to make sure it's really gone, I'd empty the trash after deleting the file.
This is hand-to-hand virus fighting. You only need get into this sort of thing after your anti virus program[s] have failed to kill.
When running, Process Explorer displays a list of all programs loaded in memory, and thus runnable. A typical computer will have about 30 processes loaded. Most of these processes are parts of Windows and are supposed to be there. But if you have a virus, it will show up in the Process Explorer.
So how does one tell the harmless and necessary parts of Windows from virii? Just right click on the process name and Process Explorer will Bing (Microsoft's Google competitor) the internet for information on the program name. Cool. You will get dozens of hits on every process name.
You want to read a number of them. Many of the hits are from websites offering magical Windows Washing programs. I don't trust magical Windows Washers, they can be virii themselves, or they can break your computer. But postings from Microsoft.com, Da Tech Guy, Bleeping Computer, CNET and many others are reliable. Take a preponderance of evidence. If all the posts say it's part of windows, or all the posts say it's a virus, you know where you are at. If most of the posts are wishy-washy, and the single post that calls it a virus sounds like a rant, then it means no one really knows what it is.
So what do you do when you find a virus lurking in RAM? It only gets into RAM by loading itself off disk at boot time. You have to use Windows Explorer to find it on disk and zap it. In fact just to make sure it's really gone, I'd empty the trash after deleting the file.
This is hand-to-hand virus fighting. You only need get into this sort of thing after your anti virus program[s] have failed to kill.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Radioactive waste leaks
News is full of talk about tanks of liquid radioactive waste leaking at Hanford. So why don't they bring in some new tanks and pump out the leaking tanks? If the local tank store is out of stock, how about using some railroad tank cars? Or highway tank trucks? Ought to be able to scare up something in a day or so.
No talk about doing anything about the leaks. Instead we hear soothing talk about no hazard to human health.
I'm glad Hanford on on the other side of the country from me.
No talk about doing anything about the leaks. Instead we hear soothing talk about no hazard to human health.
I'm glad Hanford on on the other side of the country from me.
Guns for Newbies
Been a lotta talk going around about this, up to and including Joe Biden (he likes shotguns). Long post on one of my favorite blogs, all about various calibers, stopping power, full of recommendations by name of obscure guns I barely even heard of. The kind of jargon that goes well in gun magazines. So, here are my recommendations for the total newbie (doesn't own a gun, hasn't fired and gun, doesn't watch many action adventure movies).
Get one that you can shoot well. A .22 caliber hit beats a .44 caliber miss. The bigger guns are more more likely to kill your target, if you can hit said target. Bigger means heavier, harder to hold steady, kicks harder and has a louder report, all of which add up to harder to shoot. Compromise on something you can shoot well, rather than a Dirty Harry style hand cannon.
Handguns are convenient, fit nicely into a drawer, a purse or a glove compartment. It is also VERY difficult to hit anything with a handgun, even at very short range. Long guns are much easier to aim and get hits with. They are also more powerful than handguns, a hit with a rifle or a shotgun is much more likely to kill your opponent than a hit with a handgun.
To do any good, you have to figure on doing some practice shooting. You need to practice long enough to keep all your shots inside a 10 inch circle. (At 25 yards with a handgun, at 100 yards with a rifle). Always wear ear defenders when shooting, they will improve your accuracy. The report of a gun is so loud it scares most of us, and the scare makes us jerk the trigger when we should be gently squeezing it. Shooters call this condition "flinching". Once a flinch is learned, it's hard to overcome. Ear defenders muffle the report enough to prevent a flinch from developing in the first place.
The fit of a hand gun to your hand is very important. The right fit prevents the grip from twisting or sliding in your hand as the gun is fired, which makes the second shot more likely to go where you want it to go. A regular sized handgun is easier to shoot. The little snub nose jobs are harder to aim (and grasp). You really have to shoot a handgun to know if you are going to like it.
Revolvers are more dependable than automatic pistols. Revolvers have no safeties to forget, need little lubrication and have no springs under compression waiting to break. Just pull the trigger and a revolver goes bang. Automatics not so good. American Rifleman magazine did a comparison shopping piece on small automatic pistols not long ago. For each gun reviewed, they listed the number of times it jammed while shooting it. Stick with a revolver.
Get one that you can shoot well. A .22 caliber hit beats a .44 caliber miss. The bigger guns are more more likely to kill your target, if you can hit said target. Bigger means heavier, harder to hold steady, kicks harder and has a louder report, all of which add up to harder to shoot. Compromise on something you can shoot well, rather than a Dirty Harry style hand cannon.
Handguns are convenient, fit nicely into a drawer, a purse or a glove compartment. It is also VERY difficult to hit anything with a handgun, even at very short range. Long guns are much easier to aim and get hits with. They are also more powerful than handguns, a hit with a rifle or a shotgun is much more likely to kill your opponent than a hit with a handgun.
To do any good, you have to figure on doing some practice shooting. You need to practice long enough to keep all your shots inside a 10 inch circle. (At 25 yards with a handgun, at 100 yards with a rifle). Always wear ear defenders when shooting, they will improve your accuracy. The report of a gun is so loud it scares most of us, and the scare makes us jerk the trigger when we should be gently squeezing it. Shooters call this condition "flinching". Once a flinch is learned, it's hard to overcome. Ear defenders muffle the report enough to prevent a flinch from developing in the first place.
The fit of a hand gun to your hand is very important. The right fit prevents the grip from twisting or sliding in your hand as the gun is fired, which makes the second shot more likely to go where you want it to go. A regular sized handgun is easier to shoot. The little snub nose jobs are harder to aim (and grasp). You really have to shoot a handgun to know if you are going to like it.
Revolvers are more dependable than automatic pistols. Revolvers have no safeties to forget, need little lubrication and have no springs under compression waiting to break. Just pull the trigger and a revolver goes bang. Automatics not so good. American Rifleman magazine did a comparison shopping piece on small automatic pistols not long ago. For each gun reviewed, they listed the number of times it jammed while shooting it. Stick with a revolver.
Friday, February 22, 2013
How to revise our military procurment
According to Aviation Week that is. Everyone knows that US military procurement is a mess. It takes too long, puts on too much gold plate, and costs too much. Aviation Week has been around a long time and knows the ins and outs of procurement and where the bodies are buried. They have five recommendations for improvement.
1. Permit the few remaining prime contractors to merge. There aren't many left, (Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, and Northrup-Grumman?). They would all merge together in a heartbeat if the government would let them. Downside for us taxpayers, no more competitive bids, there would be only one qualified bidder on all jobs. The industry would love that.
2. Drop the 8(a) goals for small and disadvantaged defense contractors. This is the first time I heard of this one. Sounds like crony capitalism at work for favored contractors.
3. Drop the 50-50 rule requiring half of military maintainance to go thru the military depots. Good idea. Air Force depots were huge, slow, and did terrible work. Plenty of stuff shipped to us from depot was defective on arrival. Repair work ought to be done on a competitive bid basis. Low bidder gets the job. If the depot can bid low fine, if not (the likely case) private industry gets the work.
4. Publish an official list of critical future technologies, cyber warfare, UAV's, reconnaisance, etc. Not sure if this is so critical. Sounds like a plea for the government to convince industry suits to back certain projects. Not sure if that's such a good idea. A government list is no more likely to be right than an industry list.
5. Make the loser pay in contract award disputes. It takes for every to get a project going, 'cause no matter what the contract awarding agency does, figure that the loser will sue just on general principles. That's gotta add a couple of years delay on every job. If the loser had to pay court costs, he would be less willing to sue, or at least only sue when he had a strong case.
Well, I can go alone with numbers 2,3, and 5. I am against number1. Number 4 doesn't strike me as terribly important.
1. Permit the few remaining prime contractors to merge. There aren't many left, (Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, and Northrup-Grumman?). They would all merge together in a heartbeat if the government would let them. Downside for us taxpayers, no more competitive bids, there would be only one qualified bidder on all jobs. The industry would love that.
2. Drop the 8(a) goals for small and disadvantaged defense contractors. This is the first time I heard of this one. Sounds like crony capitalism at work for favored contractors.
3. Drop the 50-50 rule requiring half of military maintainance to go thru the military depots. Good idea. Air Force depots were huge, slow, and did terrible work. Plenty of stuff shipped to us from depot was defective on arrival. Repair work ought to be done on a competitive bid basis. Low bidder gets the job. If the depot can bid low fine, if not (the likely case) private industry gets the work.
4. Publish an official list of critical future technologies, cyber warfare, UAV's, reconnaisance, etc. Not sure if this is so critical. Sounds like a plea for the government to convince industry suits to back certain projects. Not sure if that's such a good idea. A government list is no more likely to be right than an industry list.
5. Make the loser pay in contract award disputes. It takes for every to get a project going, 'cause no matter what the contract awarding agency does, figure that the loser will sue just on general principles. That's gotta add a couple of years delay on every job. If the loser had to pay court costs, he would be less willing to sue, or at least only sue when he had a strong case.
Well, I can go alone with numbers 2,3, and 5. I am against number1. Number 4 doesn't strike me as terribly important.
Cannon Mt Ski Weather
Good. Very Good. We got 2-3 inches last night, and 2-3 inches the night before. Today the sun is out and the temperature in mid to upper 20's. Perfect for skiing. Trails are all in good shape. More snow is forecast for the weekend.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Lithium Batteries
New Aviation Week came in, and it has stories about the 787 and its battery. So far it looks like the battery is the culprit, not the charger or 787 wiring. Boeing is floating the idea of adding a fireproof battery box to contain the fire when the battery decides to burn up. Silence from FAA and airlines. I cannot imagine either of them being happy about that solution. Boeing is wringing its hands over the idea of changing back to ordinary batteries, say nickel cadmium or nickel metal hydride. The paperwork burden looks awful, it would add a couple of hundred pounds to the empty weight and Boeing is still hoping some magic discovery about the battery will yield a non flammable lithium battery. The Japanese battery maker has not been heard from.
Personally, I think Boeing ought to bite the bullet and get rid of the lithium and get the plane flying again. They can appeal to their Congressmen to expedite the paperwork thru FAA. It will cost, but having $200 million airliners piling up around the factory costs too.
Personally, I think Boeing ought to bite the bullet and get rid of the lithium and get the plane flying again. They can appeal to their Congressmen to expedite the paperwork thru FAA. It will cost, but having $200 million airliners piling up around the factory costs too.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Apple Got Hacked
Yesterday Apple announced that a "small number" of employee's Mac's were infected by visiting a software development site. Wow, a Mac attack after all that Appletalk about how only Windows gets infected by virii. A "small number" presumably means something less than all the computers at Apple. And, hard working Apple employees were infected at a software development site, not those nasty porn sites. Apple workers never watch porn on the job. Right.
Since the infection occurred by just visiting a website, that means the browser did it. The Apple browser got stupid and ran a program off that website, something it should never do, but all commercial browsers are doing today.
What the world needs is a secure browser that never ever executes programs from anywhere. You would think such a browser would sell fairly well. Maybe some of the flashier websites would look less flashy, but I'll take secure over flashy anyday.
Since the infection occurred by just visiting a website, that means the browser did it. The Apple browser got stupid and ran a program off that website, something it should never do, but all commercial browsers are doing today.
What the world needs is a secure browser that never ever executes programs from anywhere. You would think such a browser would sell fairly well. Maybe some of the flashier websites would look less flashy, but I'll take secure over flashy anyday.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
What's the State of War, today?
The chattering classes are all worked up about the War on Terror killing American citizens. Not mentioned much is that Obama doesn't do War on Terror. He calls it something else, I forget what. No matter what Obama calls it, he's been doing some really warlike things. That raid on Bin Ladin, and all those drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen certainly aren't regular Constitutional law enforcement. They are acts of war.
In actual fact we have been treating Al Quada like an enemy nation-state ever since 9-11. We have been waging war against them, and the laws of war permit damn near everything. Under the laws of war we can bomb cities, torpedo ships, shoot enemy soldiers, execute enemy spies, shoot down enemy admirals in mid air, herd civilians into concentration camps, and bombard towns. About the only things the laws of war forbid are poison gas and maltreatment of prisoners. That leaves a whole range of hurt that can lawfully be applied to the enemy.
Once someone determines that so and so is enemy, the hurt locker is opened, and his ass is grass. "Someone" is not well defined. Most of the original inmates of Guantanamo were fingered by Afghani's and turned over the the Americans, who flew 'em out of the country to a warm tropical clink. Many of those drone strikes in Pakistan are flown based on intelligence from the Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agency. Which is pure as the driven snow and would never ask the Americans to snuff a personal enemy.
In real life, "someone" is probably a kill committee of Lt. Colonels and CIA middle management types. Once these guys declare you to be an enemy, you are in a world of hurt. Obama may boast that he reviews the kill list personally, but that's pure bragging, he just initials a list that is presented to him.
And the kill committee right now doesn't seem to care if the target is an American citizen or not. Which is not as much of a problem as their total liberty to add targets to the snuff list pretty much at will. I'm thinking we need to regularize the proceeding of the kill committee. As long as their decisions to add targets are reasonable, I have no problem with adding US born targets, just so long as they have done enough bad stuff to justify snuffing them and we have decent evidence that they really did what we accuse them of doing.
In short, we need to make the rules of engagement for the kill committee as tight as the rules of engagement that hinder USMC and Army infantry.
In actual fact we have been treating Al Quada like an enemy nation-state ever since 9-11. We have been waging war against them, and the laws of war permit damn near everything. Under the laws of war we can bomb cities, torpedo ships, shoot enemy soldiers, execute enemy spies, shoot down enemy admirals in mid air, herd civilians into concentration camps, and bombard towns. About the only things the laws of war forbid are poison gas and maltreatment of prisoners. That leaves a whole range of hurt that can lawfully be applied to the enemy.
Once someone determines that so and so is enemy, the hurt locker is opened, and his ass is grass. "Someone" is not well defined. Most of the original inmates of Guantanamo were fingered by Afghani's and turned over the the Americans, who flew 'em out of the country to a warm tropical clink. Many of those drone strikes in Pakistan are flown based on intelligence from the Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agency. Which is pure as the driven snow and would never ask the Americans to snuff a personal enemy.
In real life, "someone" is probably a kill committee of Lt. Colonels and CIA middle management types. Once these guys declare you to be an enemy, you are in a world of hurt. Obama may boast that he reviews the kill list personally, but that's pure bragging, he just initials a list that is presented to him.
And the kill committee right now doesn't seem to care if the target is an American citizen or not. Which is not as much of a problem as their total liberty to add targets to the snuff list pretty much at will. I'm thinking we need to regularize the proceeding of the kill committee. As long as their decisions to add targets are reasonable, I have no problem with adding US born targets, just so long as they have done enough bad stuff to justify snuffing them and we have decent evidence that they really did what we accuse them of doing.
In short, we need to make the rules of engagement for the kill committee as tight as the rules of engagement that hinder USMC and Army infantry.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Sequester won't hurt economy, or defense
Despite all the heavy breathing, whining and wailing, the sequester is only $100 billion in cuts, many of them fake cuts. The US budget is $3.8 trillion of 2013. The sequester is a measly $100 billion, about 3.8%. A 3.8 % cut isn't going to hurt anything. And if we cannot bring ourselves to do a 3.8% cut we are doomed to go down the same drain the Greeks are going down.
You have to remember that each dollar Uncle Sam spends is a dollar taken away from citizens, who have better uses for the money that Uncle ever will. Government spending hurts the economy by reducing demand from citizens.
You have to remember that each dollar Uncle Sam spends is a dollar taken away from citizens, who have better uses for the money that Uncle ever will. Government spending hurts the economy by reducing demand from citizens.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Damn the Defiant
Antique 1962 gem that turned up from Netflix. A deep sea, age of fighting sail, sea story. With Alec Guiness in the Royal Navy as captain of HMS defiant, with a nasty first lieutenant played by Dirk Bogarde. Made in England. Great sets and costumes. Real sailing ships, billowing sails, towering rigging needing climbing. Broadside to broadside action. Guiness is his usual self, breathing life into the part. Beautiful sound work, fine photography, in color, plenty of light, steady camera, sharp focus. A fun flick.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Miracle Jumper Cable
I'm paying the bills. The wastebasket is filling up with all the junk advertising that gets packed into bills. I'm pitching it as fast as I open 'em. Til I get to this one that I just gotta share.
"Safely Start you car's dead battery without opening the hood". And they show a special cable that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. Excuse me, the "DC Power Port". This I gotta see. It takes 500-800 amps to crank a big motor in cold weather. The cigarette lighter circuit has a 20 amp fuse in it. Plug it in, hit the starter and pop, the cigarette lighter stops working.
Only $14.95 plus $5.95 Shipping and handling.
Such a deal.
"Safely Start you car's dead battery without opening the hood". And they show a special cable that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. Excuse me, the "DC Power Port". This I gotta see. It takes 500-800 amps to crank a big motor in cold weather. The cigarette lighter circuit has a 20 amp fuse in it. Plug it in, hit the starter and pop, the cigarette lighter stops working.
Only $14.95 plus $5.95 Shipping and handling.
Such a deal.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Cannon Mt Ski Weather
Not good. Right now it is 40 degrees out. Been that way all day. Radio says it might snow a little tomorrow. Mountain has fairly good cover. If it gets cold tomorrow skiing will be frozen granular. If it stays warm it will be spring skiing.
Would you believe a $275 million blimp?
According to the Wall St Journal the US Army has canceled the Long Endurance Multi Intelligence Vehicle project. This was to be a 300 foot long blimp with an endurance of weeks. It would float above the battlefield and furnish reconnaissance video, wifi, cold beer and everything else to troops below. Apparently the program was planned to cost $517 million, of which $275 million has been spent.
Question 1: How in the name of all that is holy can you spend $275 million on a single blimp? It's not like it is new technology. Count Zeppelin had them flying better than 100 years ago.
Question 2: Can it survive a surface to air missile?
Question 1: How in the name of all that is holy can you spend $275 million on a single blimp? It's not like it is new technology. Count Zeppelin had them flying better than 100 years ago.
Question 2: Can it survive a surface to air missile?
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Pre School
I remember childhood as being really cool, up until I had to start going to school at age six. Before that dread day, life was good, I played in the street with a regular gang of kids every day that it didn't rain. This was before computer games, Sesame Street, or even TV.
And now Obama is proposing to end the good part of childhood at four years old, instead of six. And he is telling us that real learning takes place at age four, learning so valuable that we must take our kids away from good times and toss them into school.
I didn't even do kindergarten myself, and I never missed it. School started with first grade and I did as well as any other kid in the class.
Far as I can see, pre kindergarten schooling is state sponsored day care. The kids don't learn anything, but parents can drop their kids off as they go to work. With so many people out of work, you'd think there would be plenty of unemployed family members to look after kids while parents are out earning a living.
And now Obama is proposing to end the good part of childhood at four years old, instead of six. And he is telling us that real learning takes place at age four, learning so valuable that we must take our kids away from good times and toss them into school.
I didn't even do kindergarten myself, and I never missed it. School started with first grade and I did as well as any other kid in the class.
Far as I can see, pre kindergarten schooling is state sponsored day care. The kids don't learn anything, but parents can drop their kids off as they go to work. With so many people out of work, you'd think there would be plenty of unemployed family members to look after kids while parents are out earning a living.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Cybersecurity
All sorts of companies are getting hacked these days. Latest victims to fess up are newspapers, the NY Times, the Journal, and WashPost. Congress has ignored prodding to pass a cybersecurity law. So Obama is calling a "voluntary" meeting to OK some "voluntary" standards and then promise to implement them. I don't know just what Uncle Sam is gonna propose, so here are my recommendations.
1. Everyone has to use long and strong passwords, and all passwords are changed every couple of months.
2. Signals to control machinery shall never go over the public internet. No remote controlled machine shall ever accept commands from the public internet.
3. Private networks never accept login from off the premises, from the public internet, or from a dial up connection.
4. All laptops must have full disc encryption to protect contents and passwords should the laptop fall into hostile hands..
5. Autorun must be disabled on all computers to prevent malicious programming from automatically uploading and executing off CDs and flashdrives..
6. Use nothing but secure email clients and browsers. Secure means never executing any sort of programming received over the internet or as an attachment. Secure email clients and browsers will only display mail and websites, they will never execute programming of any sort. To my knowledge no commercial email or browser programs are secure, they will all download and execute malicious programming with no assistance on the part of the user, or notification that they are doing so.
Companies need to understand that poor security will give competitors access to their bids, customer lists, their designs and trade secrets, their books, their employee lists, and any other intellectual property they own. No company can win a bid when the competitor knows just how much they bid for a job. The risks ought to be obvious to even the stupidest of suits.
1. Everyone has to use long and strong passwords, and all passwords are changed every couple of months.
2. Signals to control machinery shall never go over the public internet. No remote controlled machine shall ever accept commands from the public internet.
3. Private networks never accept login from off the premises, from the public internet, or from a dial up connection.
4. All laptops must have full disc encryption to protect contents and passwords should the laptop fall into hostile hands..
5. Autorun must be disabled on all computers to prevent malicious programming from automatically uploading and executing off CDs and flashdrives..
6. Use nothing but secure email clients and browsers. Secure means never executing any sort of programming received over the internet or as an attachment. Secure email clients and browsers will only display mail and websites, they will never execute programming of any sort. To my knowledge no commercial email or browser programs are secure, they will all download and execute malicious programming with no assistance on the part of the user, or notification that they are doing so.
Companies need to understand that poor security will give competitors access to their bids, customer lists, their designs and trade secrets, their books, their employee lists, and any other intellectual property they own. No company can win a bid when the competitor knows just how much they bid for a job. The risks ought to be obvious to even the stupidest of suits.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Lithium batteries
Aviation Week came in today. They haven't pinned the lithium battery fires on anything yet. They are now talking about doing the paperwork to change over to some other kind of battery. They haven't committed to this yet, but they are worrying that it might become necessary. If so, they worry that FAA paperwork will take months.
North Korean Nukes
The newsies have been chattering about the North Korean nuclear test all day. Amid the torrent of words on both lefty NPR and righty Fox, the one important number has NOT been given. A further example of innumeracy among the newsies. They can't count, can't add, can't subtract.
The missing number is yield, in kilotons. The first two North Korean tests were fizzles. Their yield was so low (1 kiloton) as to tell us something went wrong and the bomb barely went off. Any decent sort of nuke ought to have a 20 kiloton or better yield.
Question for the world's newsies. Did this North Korean test yield enough to make us think they have it working right? A yield of 20 kilotons makes them a nuclear power. One kiloton makes them wannabes.
The chattering classes have taken the North Korean claim of "miniaturized" to mean the bomb is small enough to put on their ballistic missile. You can believe as much of that as you want to.
The missing number is yield, in kilotons. The first two North Korean tests were fizzles. Their yield was so low (1 kiloton) as to tell us something went wrong and the bomb barely went off. Any decent sort of nuke ought to have a 20 kiloton or better yield.
Question for the world's newsies. Did this North Korean test yield enough to make us think they have it working right? A yield of 20 kilotons makes them a nuclear power. One kiloton makes them wannabes.
The chattering classes have taken the North Korean claim of "miniaturized" to mean the bomb is small enough to put on their ballistic missile. You can believe as much of that as you want to.
Monday, February 11, 2013
Battlestar Galactica revival
The Sci-Fi channel ran a new feature length Battlestar Galactica last night. I'm an old fan, I can remember watching the very first episode on TV, with a bunch of techie friends from work, lo these many years ago. So I watched this one.
Note to all camera men. Buy a tripod. Use it. The camera bounced, jounced, jiggled and wavered thru out the two hours of the show. The action scenes switched the camera from one viewpoint to another too fast for anyone to keep up with. The color kept fading out to black and white or sepia. I know some Hollywood wienies think this is artistic. I think it means my color TV set is dying. The space combat scenes were a moving blur of fuzzy space vessels and brilliant explosions. You couldn't tell who was blowing up, good guys or bad guys. The space combat scenes would have been better if the space vessels had carried distinctive paint jobs, unit insignia, tail numbers, names, anything to tell one from another. This camera man was into dark and gloomy. All the scenes were poorly lighted, many so dim I failed to recognize faces. Too many backlit scenes where the cast appears as pure black silhouettes.
The cast was mediocre. Most of them mumbled so badly that I kept missing the punch lines. We have young ensign Hotshot, fresh out of the Academy, full of piss & vinegar, joining his first combat unit. Instead of jumping into the cockpit of a colonial Viper, he gets assigned to fly a trashhauler, a little cargo ship. Said trashhauler comes equipped with a co-pilot with an attitude and a short and curly beard, who has put in his paperwork to get out of the service when his hitch is up. Mysterious and domineering woman is a passenger who later reveals secret orders to fly deep into Cylon space.
The plot was predictable, up until the twist ending, involving appalling treachery. Ensign Hotshot spends a good deal of time yelling at the co-pilot, who has objections to flying a suicide mission. Good leadership technique they teach at that Academy. Despite a steamy love scene, Ensign Hotshot never establishes a real relationship with mysterious brunette passenger.
Too bad. I was up for some light entertainment of the action adventure sort. This fairly expensive to make two hour show wasn't very entertaining.
Note to all camera men. Buy a tripod. Use it. The camera bounced, jounced, jiggled and wavered thru out the two hours of the show. The action scenes switched the camera from one viewpoint to another too fast for anyone to keep up with. The color kept fading out to black and white or sepia. I know some Hollywood wienies think this is artistic. I think it means my color TV set is dying. The space combat scenes were a moving blur of fuzzy space vessels and brilliant explosions. You couldn't tell who was blowing up, good guys or bad guys. The space combat scenes would have been better if the space vessels had carried distinctive paint jobs, unit insignia, tail numbers, names, anything to tell one from another. This camera man was into dark and gloomy. All the scenes were poorly lighted, many so dim I failed to recognize faces. Too many backlit scenes where the cast appears as pure black silhouettes.
The cast was mediocre. Most of them mumbled so badly that I kept missing the punch lines. We have young ensign Hotshot, fresh out of the Academy, full of piss & vinegar, joining his first combat unit. Instead of jumping into the cockpit of a colonial Viper, he gets assigned to fly a trashhauler, a little cargo ship. Said trashhauler comes equipped with a co-pilot with an attitude and a short and curly beard, who has put in his paperwork to get out of the service when his hitch is up. Mysterious and domineering woman is a passenger who later reveals secret orders to fly deep into Cylon space.
The plot was predictable, up until the twist ending, involving appalling treachery. Ensign Hotshot spends a good deal of time yelling at the co-pilot, who has objections to flying a suicide mission. Good leadership technique they teach at that Academy. Despite a steamy love scene, Ensign Hotshot never establishes a real relationship with mysterious brunette passenger.
Too bad. I was up for some light entertainment of the action adventure sort. This fairly expensive to make two hour show wasn't very entertaining.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Words of the Weasel, Panetta style
Panetta said, "You can't willy-nilly send
F-16s there and blow the hell out of the place. ... You have to have good
intelligence."
Panetta apparently has never heard the phrase "Show of Force".
A couple of fighters just orbiting low over the consulate would mightily discourage terrorists climbing the wall and give a real shot in the arm to the defenders.
And this guy was our defense secretary ?
Panetta apparently has never heard the phrase "Show of Force".
A couple of fighters just orbiting low over the consulate would mightily discourage terrorists climbing the wall and give a real shot in the arm to the defenders.
And this guy was our defense secretary ?
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Cannon Mt Ski Weather
We got it. Snow. We have 10-11 inches down and it's still falling. Best skiing of the year.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Laws of War
Used to be, the armed forces were free to kill the enemy. Enemy civilians at their homes were bombed, enemy soldiers on the battlefield were shot, bombarded, machine gunned, flamed, everything except poison gas was used to make 'em into casualties.
War was something that was done between nation states. Now we have Al Quada, Hezbollah, Hamas, Taliban and other shady clandestine organizations. They aren't nation states, they don't wear uniforms, they hide within the civilian population. They are terrorists. They blew down the Twin Towers in NYC and killed 3000 American civilians. That's an act of war. And, we took them up on that, we make war right back on them.
Far as I can see, under the laws of war, we are entitled to kill, capture, interrogate or wound any terrorists we can lay our hand on. Doing 'em by Predator drone is just a neater technique than dispatching a sniper to do 'em. You can stay on base, safe and comfortable, keep your uniform clean, take the terrorist out. Going in after 'em Arnold Schwarzenegger style is hard work, your hands get dirty, and it's hard to find enough hard case snipers to do the missions.
Now we have some lawyers whining that this terrorist or that terrorist was a US citizen and we shouldn't whack citizens without a lawyer giving the OK. Pretty soon the lawyers will be wanting the infantry men to ask for a legal opinion before they take a shot.
In my humble opinion, an Al Quada terrorist is an Al Quada terrorist and it make no matter if he was born in the US, he is still a terrorist, and deserves to be whacked. And the lawyers can just dry up and blow away.
War was something that was done between nation states. Now we have Al Quada, Hezbollah, Hamas, Taliban and other shady clandestine organizations. They aren't nation states, they don't wear uniforms, they hide within the civilian population. They are terrorists. They blew down the Twin Towers in NYC and killed 3000 American civilians. That's an act of war. And, we took them up on that, we make war right back on them.
Far as I can see, under the laws of war, we are entitled to kill, capture, interrogate or wound any terrorists we can lay our hand on. Doing 'em by Predator drone is just a neater technique than dispatching a sniper to do 'em. You can stay on base, safe and comfortable, keep your uniform clean, take the terrorist out. Going in after 'em Arnold Schwarzenegger style is hard work, your hands get dirty, and it's hard to find enough hard case snipers to do the missions.
Now we have some lawyers whining that this terrorist or that terrorist was a US citizen and we shouldn't whack citizens without a lawyer giving the OK. Pretty soon the lawyers will be wanting the infantry men to ask for a legal opinion before they take a shot.
In my humble opinion, an Al Quada terrorist is an Al Quada terrorist and it make no matter if he was born in the US, he is still a terrorist, and deserves to be whacked. And the lawyers can just dry up and blow away.
PSNH telephones me with storm warnings
Groovy. I am settled in to watch it snow. The phone rings. It's a robocall from the power company, offering advice on coping with power outages. I pay 20 cents a kilowatt hour for this?
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Cannon Mt Ski Weather
It's been cold enough to make snow these last few days. The radio is promising a big storm tomorrow, like feet of snow. If that comes thru, Cannon will be in great shape.
Update:. It started snowing this morning and is still at it. We have picked up 3-4 inches up here in the Notch. We are getting more snow up here than they are down in the ville. Driving ought to be OK this afternoon and early evening. I drove down Three Mile Hill to the ville and got back up. If I can do Three Mile Hill, then I-93 oughta be a piece of cake. They are making snow tonight and conditions ought to be fabulous tomorrow.
Update:. It started snowing this morning and is still at it. We have picked up 3-4 inches up here in the Notch. We are getting more snow up here than they are down in the ville. Driving ought to be OK this afternoon and early evening. I drove down Three Mile Hill to the ville and got back up. If I can do Three Mile Hill, then I-93 oughta be a piece of cake. They are making snow tonight and conditions ought to be fabulous tomorrow.
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