King Solomon's Mines 1985

Some how I missed this one back in 1985.  It's a fun, lightweight African adventure story featuring Richard Chamberlain as Allan Quatermain, intrepid great white hunter, and Sharon Stone, American beauty searching for a father lost in darkest Africa.  Also has John Rhys-Davies as villainous Turkish war lord.  A lot of scenes put one in mind of/were ripped off from, Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Lots of action, including funny scenes of African cannibals popping the lead characters into a giant cooking pot filled with water and sliced vegetables.  
   The title of the movie comes from an old H. Rider Haggard adventure story, published a hundred years ago.  It was a best seller back then, it's been mentioned repeatedly in other fiction stories, but I have never read the book.  I suspect the movie takes little from the novel other than the title and the names of the characters.  There were older movies of this title, one from 1937 and one from 1950. 
   All in all, an enjoyable flick.  Lightweight but fun. 

New Product Design, Winners and Losers

Maybe a dozen years ago Boeing and Airbus were casting around for an idea for a new aircraft.  Airbus decided to build the largest plane that available engines could hoist off the runway, the A380.  It was a double decker, four engines, seating 500 passengers.  Boeing did some market research and decided that more modest aircraft, seating 250-280 passengers was about right for the market.  After all it takes some doing to round up 500 paying passengers to fill an A380.  The Boeing plane, the 787 has only two engines (engines are the most expensive part of an aircraft), a very high tech "composite" fuselage and lithium ion batteries which gave a lot of grief. 
   As of right now, Boeing has sold several hundred, and has a backlog of close to 1000 787's.  They judged the market right.  The A380 has only one customer, Emirates, who has an order for another 42 A380's.  After which, the production line will shut down.  And as things are, Airbus is loosing money on every one they build.  Emirates (and no one else) is thinking about ordering some more, but they fear that Airbus might stop building A380's at a loss.  So they have not committed to an order. 
   Looks like Boeing's marketeers called it right.  The Airbus marketeers followed the Field of Dreams marketing plan (If we build it they will come).   Airbus has taken a big hit on the A380.  So big that they might not stay in business at all.   

CongressCritters want a tax hike without voting for it

New twist to the tax bill.  A "snap back" clause that pops taxes back up if the deficit gets too large.  "Too large" is not defined, so it can happen anytime.  The effect is a tax hike but Congresscritters don't have to vote for it.  Constituents don't like tax hikes which accounts for Congresscritters reluctance to stand up and vote for them.  They like this trick better, where they can cancel the tax cuts, pretty much anytime they like, with out voting for it. 
  This should not be allowed.  When Congress raises taxes, each member must take a vote, in public (rollcall) so we taxpayers can know which Congresscritters are taking our hardearned money.
   Speaking of the tax bill, I have been noticing some TV ads denouncing the tax bill because it will raise the deficit.  The ads don't have sponsors, I don't know for sure who is running them, but I suspect Democrats.  Might be RINO's.  I'm thinking we voters ought to ignore political ads that don't declare their sponsors.  The deficit argument is kinda bogus too.  It really means that Congress wants to keep on spending, that shutting down the gravy train is just too painful to think about. 
   The deficit could be reduced by better economic growth, and shutting down worthless programs.  Start with shutting down the federal education department.  Education from preK thru college is funded and controlled by state and local government and parents.  The feds just draw their salaries, they don't actually educate anyone.  Then shut down the federal Housing and Urban Development department.  Let the state and local governments do the work. 
   Those few ideas will do good things for the deficit. 

Sexual Harassment bags three more newsies today

Wow.  NBC fired Matt Lauer, host of the Today show.  That hit my FM radio this morning at 7 AM.  Then Garrison Keillor, who used to do the Prairie Home Companion on PBS  announced the Minnesota Public Broadcasting had fired him.  David Sweeney, a senior news editor for NPR, was also canned today.
  Three down in just one day.  Does not look like the sexual harassment crusade is letting up at all.
In these three cases, the accusations, and the accusers are still secret.  Could be anything, or anybody.
   Talk about a target rich environment. 

Lawrence of Arabia uses Facebook in the Sinai desert

After the horrible attack on the Sinai Al Rawda  mosque, Bedouin leaders in the Sinai have issued a call to their people to assist the Egyptian army.  This was posted on Facebook by the Union of Sinai Tribes. 
   Our culture is spreading.

Just how did the US Navy collide with two different merchant freighters??

I have done a bit of yachting in my time, various places, from the Chesapeake Bay up thru Maine.  When at the wheel (or tiller, same-same) you have to stay situationally aware.  You need to keep track of wind direction, state of the tide, buoys, lighthouses, landmarks, other vessels.  You need to know where your vessel is on the chart.  You have to keep an eye on the radar.  You have to stay in the buoyed channels lest you hit a rock or get stuck in a mudbank.  As a 30-40 foot vessel you have to give right of way to the big steamers,  who draw much more water than you do, and don't dare steer outside the buoyed channel.  The big boys find it cheaper to just run down a yacht than pay for the tugboats needed to pull them off a sandbar if they were to leave the channel even for an instant. 
   So just how did those two Navy destroyers manage to collide with freighters?  At what distance did the destroyer's radar pick up the freighter?  Who was officer of the deck?  How much real sea time did he have? When was a plot of the freighter's course and the destroyer's course made, and did it indicate a collision was coming?  At what range did the lookouts see the freighter thru binoculars and report it to the bridge? What did standing orders say about avoiding merchant traffic?  Were the destroyer's navigation lights burning?  Had anyone on the bridge read Admiral Dan Gallery's book where he wrote "Steer well clear of any merchie, lest he decide to liven up your day by ramming you."  When was any change of the destroyer's course ordered? 
   I haven't seen any discussion of the seamanship leading up to collision[s].  Probably the newsies are all landlubbers and  don't know what to ask.  And the Navy is embarrassed to say what went wrong.

Why I do my Christmas Shopping on line

There is more cool stuff on line.  Cooler than anything Walmart carries.  Littleton NH, my local shopping emporium, has been loosing good shopping for years.  It is down to La Houte's Sporting Goods, some second hand and antique shops.  Years ago, I would go Christmas shopping in downtown Boston, Washington street.  There used to three good department stores, Jordan Marsh, Filene's, and Raymond's.  The original Radio Shack, Lafayette Radio, Eric Fuchs Hobby Shop, a flock of good camera stores on Bromley St, book stores, jewelry stores, FAO Schwatz toy store.   The department stores had Christmas decorations, shop windows, Santa Claus, huge operating electric train layouts, and the department stores carried a lot more than just ladies clothing.  Not only was there cool stuff to buy, they put on a show for use shoppers. 
   All that is gone.  About the most exciting store left down town is a CVS pharmacy.  Boring.  So I thumb thru my stack of catalogs, fire up Windows XP, and start placing orders.  Plus the internet stores wrap it and mail it for you.