The Retreat At Cadracet

Walter Reed

2007-03-11T14:25:00.000-07:00

The medivac and trauma care is what these guys get on the battlefield is what these guys get on the *battlefield* and only after several decades of concentrated effort by the DOD to reduce casualty rates - after observing the trend that if you survived long enough to get to the rear you were prbably going to survive period.

What's goign on at Walter Reed (and elsewhere) is more indicative of type of longish term care that civilians receive, run by the same sort of monolithic organization that we want to put in charge of *everyone's* healthcare - The guy's running WR don't have a huge incentive to spiff up quarters for junior troops.

What the Heeeeeelllllllll!

2006-12-07T07:16:00.000-07:00

U.S. House Passes Resolution Honoring Milton Friedman

One of the most influential figures in economics and Libertarian politics dies, and a group of people diammetrically opposed to his work honors him?

The best treatment for murderers? Kill them, and anyone who might be them.

2006-11-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

TIMES ONLINE

However much one might sympathise with the
police who are overstretched by drug-related crime and with householders
who have been the victim of pilfering junkies, Mr Roberts’s suggestion
is fundamentally flawed — it is amoral, defeatist and illogical.
Those who seek to legalise narcotics cry “the war on drugs has been lost”.
One might as well also argue that “the war on murder has been lost” or
that “the war on rape, theft, fraud, larceny and pyromania has been lost”.
Like drug abuse, these are malaises that will always be with us, and no
sane person believes they will ever be totally abolished. Rather we just
do our best to ensure that they are minimised — and we do this by
enforcing the law and the threat of punishment. Just because you can’t
eradicate a crime doesn’t mean you have to surrender by legalising it.
Patrick West would be correct about losing the war on murder if the tactics we used to deter murder caused more harm and mayhem than murder itself - such as if we say served warrants on people suspected of having the materials needed to kill someone in the dead of the night, threw flash-bangs into their homes, and stormed in heavily armed and on hair triggers (and shoot to kill orders for the family dogs).

All of the rather questionable testimony of a CI that, oh sorry, we didn't bother to check out his story before we went in (to the wrong house).

Some people like to pretend that there is an absolute moral guide to living with each other but in reality we are all moral utilitarians.

Even one of our strongest taboos (killing each other) is situation dependent. Cold, methodical murder is often contenanced in extreme circumstances - just look at the American Revolutionary War or, closer to home, wives murdering abusive spouses.

Our response to murder has been tuned over the centuries to keep it down to an acceptable level.

Getting back to Prohibition - drugs are like any other undesirable thing. You have to weigh the pros and cons of any action (including no action) to decide what course is the best one to minimize the risks involved.

we've tried prohibition for 3 decades and drugs are more prevalent then before, more people are on drugs than before, there is more violence associated with the drug trade than before - basically prohibition has failed to improve things by any measure you care to choose.

On the other hand we have alcohol - legal but regulated - no violence in the alcohol trade, and while lots of people use it, most use it responsibly.

Its about time we applied that model to other drugs.

What?!

2006-06-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

". . . Deputies were unsure whether he was intoxicated or psychotic, and they wanted to get him down before he hurt himself or others . . ."

So they shot him.

Thanks to The Agitator

An apology

2006-05-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

I would like to apologize for the way in which politicians are represented in this blog. It was never my intention to imply that politicians are weak-kneed political time servers who are concerned more with their personal vendettas and private power struggles than the problems of government, nor to suggest at any point that they sacrifice their credibility by denying free debate on vital matters in the mistaken impression that party unity comes before the well-being of the people they supposedly represent, nor to imply at any stage that they are squabbling little toadies without an ounce of concern for the vital social problems of today. Nor indeed do I intend that readers should consider them as crabby ulcerous little self seeking vermin with furry legs and an excessive addiction to alcohol and certain explicit sexual practices which some people might find offensive.

I am sorry if this impression has come across.

Fuck The FCC

2006-04-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

Its about time the networks stood up to the FCC, maybe someday we can even get rid of it.

Inconsistent legal theory.

2006-03-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

So why are illustrations of children in sexual situations considered the same as child pornography, but illustrations of torture or mass murder not the same as the act?

Why are pictures of children in swimsuits pornography but nude babies on tv aren't?

Why can we farm and kill animals for sport, food, clothing, medicine, etc but we can't have sex with them?

How is copying a picture online the same as making a new picture?

E-Loan

2006-02-28T21:51:00.000-07:00

"Do you like to be treated fairly? That's why E-Loan . . ."

What utter nonsense! If you have a bettr service, advertize it as such.

This crap of trying to portray other lenders as exploitative is low class.

Killed by a cop

2006-02-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

Radley Balko at The Agitator posts a link to a killing by a cop of a teenager after the teen and his friends apparently left without paying their bill.

I'm not sure exactly how this happens as police ROE would generally rule out the use of lethal force when apprehending those accused of misdemenors (even its use for felony captures is limited).

Sometimes Ya've Got to Chose Between the Lesser of Two Evils.

2006-01-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

From Last One Speaks

A Congressional staffer had a new one. His reason for opposing ending prohibition? ‘If we legalize marijuana, eventually the growers will want to receive a subsidy to grow it, the same as farmers receive subsidies to grow tobacco, rice, sugar etc. It will just mean one more expense for the federal government.

What Howard should have said is that we already subsidize marijuana growers through the premium they can charge for dealing under aprohibition regime. Simple agricultural subsidies would be a lot better than what we have now.

Free Markets = Free Competition

2005-11-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

Pima County and Tucson are pondering placing limitations of what payday lenders can charge and how close they can be together - all in the name of "protecting" the poor.

The damn Arizona Daily Star gets it, why can't these guys. Placing controlls on businesses trying to enter a field only helps the businesses that are already in it. These rules wil hurt those they're supposed to help. To make it worse the limits won't effect already open lenders, only new ones.

Is that the intent? Are our city and county governments deliberately trying to hurt us. It seems so, since they want the state legislature to take action, maybe they are trying to make the problem worse and worse until that happens.

Which would sort of mean that the problem of paydaylenders is not so bad to actually need correction.

Limiting competition here means the current players are free to amass higher profits at the expense of their customers. Lots of payday lenders mean they are all competing for customers and cutting margins as much as possible - this, and only this, help low-income (actually all)consumers.

Why the Paris Riots

2005-11-06T13:41:00.000-07:00

The Guardian printed an article on the Paris riots a couple of days ago. The money quote -

The country's immigration and integration policy is based on one of the founding principles of the republic that all its citizens are equal. Few politicians will yet admit, however, that radical and anti-republican measures such as positive discrimination may now be unavoidable.

Why “positive” discrimination? The reason these guys are chronically unemployed is that French labor policy – the one based on the republic’s founding principles – ensures that the young and in-experienced are kept out of the market by forcing prospective employers to pay far more for their work than the value it adds to the company’s bottom line.
I’ve been to France a few times and one of the little differences that illustrate my point is that, except in large chain stores like Carre-Four, French grocery stores do not have baggers. You’ve got to do it yourself. Now you might say that’s not a particularly important job and you’d be correct. It’s why the French don’t do it – the French consumer is not willing to pay for the service at the prices the government demands so businesses won’t include it. But it is a source of job experience nonetheless, one of many denied by the French governments “egalitarian” policies.
Britain, for example, doesn’t seem to have too large a problem getting immigrants working. They’re getting roughly 16,000 a month from the former Eastern Bloc countries and are still maintaining an under 5% unemployment rate. France on the other hand has given approximately 700 work permits in the last 10 months – permits the British immigrants don’t need.
There’s no need for the French to give up their principles of equality and liberty, merely that they actually live up to them. Get rid of your ridiculously high minimum wage, limits on hours worked, and actually let employers fire non-performers, and then lower your barriers to entrepreneurship and you’ll see your economy flourish – able to absorb the immigrant influx without so much as a burp.
France’s current problems are caused by an excess of government intervention. Don’t let them make it worse by allowing more in the form of Affirmative action and Equal Opportunity laws.

And In A Victory For The 4th And 5th Admendments

2005-11-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

Floridians charged with DUI will get to see the breathalyzers source code.

The sad thing is, the state's attorneys are more concerned with finality rather than justice.

They've argued against releasing the source code because it might put previous convictions in doubt.

Steal This!

2005-11-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

Simple Measures Could Make Big Difference in Gas Consumption

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, gasoline prices have hit a record high, which has prompted a public outcry for the government to "do something." Federal and state officials can do much to reduce gasoline consumption, and in turn, the price of gas, by implementing existing regulations and enforcing laws already on the books.

The key to success is to work with, rather than against, motorists. With this in mind, there are several opportunities to reduce gasoline consumption, without resorting to rationing schemes or heavy-handed price controls:

Synchronize Traffic Signals – In 2003, the City of San Jose, California started to coordinate its traffic light system. By altering the timing on just a third of the city’s stoplights, traffic delays were reduced 33 percent and average travel time was reduced 16 percent. The city also estimated that this project significantly reduced fuel usage – saving approximately 471,000 gallons of gasoline each year.

Properly Install Stop Signs – Stop signs are intended to control right-of-way at intersections, not to slow traffic or discourage motorists from taking certain routes. Improper stop sign installations increase noise, emissions, and gas usage. Confining stop sign installations to locations where traffic volume or intersection conditions make them necessary would save significant amounts of gasoline.

Promote and Enforce Lane Courtesy – Lane courtesy, the practice of yielding the left lane to faster moving traffic, strongly influences highway safety, traffic flow, congestion, and the entire driving environment. Disregarding lane courtesy creates more congestion, and in turn, it contributes to speed fluctuations, both of which increase overall fuel consumption.

"Most people would be amazed by the fuel savings that would occur if these simple, well-proven, strategies were implemented. There is an urgent need to properly implement traffic control measures that promote smoother traffic flow.

Not written by me (obviously) - for those interested in traffic law related issues go over to the National Motorist Association's website.

Tough Choices

2005-11-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

. . .the very day that the governor lifted the moratorium on evictions, her
landlord presented her with an eviction notice. The reason? Failure to pay
September's rent. The Smiths, like everyone else in the city, had been forced to
evacuate. . .
Ms. Smith is determined to fight the eviction, and local
lawyers have come to her aid. But the real reason for the eviction notice is
that houses that didn't flood are at a premium and her landlord, like many
others, is eager to cash in.

Housing is at a premium now and can demand higher prices, homebuilders will flock to the area to cash in on the larger than normal profits to be made. In this scenario some people will be hurt in the short term, but prices will come down quickly as new housing is constructed (by the greedy eager to cash in on human misery).

Or we can fix prices at pre-disaster rates, ensuring that the incentive for new construction stays at pre-disaster levels despite the now greater demand. In this scenario a few of people benifit in the short term, but a lot are screwed in the long (by the greedy not so eager to cash in on human misery if there isn't any cash to actually be had).

Modern Monsters . . .

2005-10-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

. . . old art.

Congress and the amazing digital to analog converter

2005-10-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

So, Congress is determined to subsidize digital converters for those who won't buy HDTV sets, so they can still watch tv on their old analog sets.

Did these guys ever once stop to think that maybe, just maybe, if they hadn't mandated the change in the first place none of this would be necessary?

Actually, its worse than that. Congress created the FCC and grabbed wholeheartedly the idea that the airwaves were public property. Since the FCC's start we've gone from a government agency intended to handle problems arising from the technical limitations of the equipment (and handling it poorly - public entities which do not have to watch the bottom line do not respond quickly to changes) to one that spends most of its time pandering to people who have little better to do than watch tv and complain.

If we had sold off the EM spectrum (instead of providing licensing) owners ould have had a built in incentive to maximize the return on their expenditures, i.e. limit the bandwith used to the bare minimum and sell off or rent the rest. As such the whole idea of forcing the turnover to digital broadcasting to free up spectrum would't be necessary.

So we basically have a government mandated solution to solve a problem vreated by a government mandated solution. One that's having a hard time getting off the ground since no one using these frequencies wants to spend money on it since they won't get anythng back.

As an added benefit, we wouldn't have had an agency that can be unduly influenced by the NAB to place limitations on competing formats (such as satellite radio and LPFM stations) to protect their market share from competition. And don't talk to me about enabling different viewpoints by limiting ownership in a given market. Publishers aren't stupid, 5 stations playing the same crap and spouting the same bullshit will quickly find that no one is willing to pay for it. Congress has been increasingly liberalizing its ownership laws for media and all we are seeing is a flourishing.

Does Anyone . . .

2005-09-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

Have any information on the Titans of Warhammer 40,000? I'm looking for sizes and pictures if possible.

Fecking shite spammers!

So I'm an anarchist, who would've guessed?

2005-09-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

You are a
Social Liberal
(85% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(91% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Anarchist

Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Are ol' Pat's prayers finally starting to work

2005-09-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

Looks like Rehnquist's dead. Should we arrest Robertson for incitement?

At "The Agitator"

2005-08-27T23:59:00.000-07:00

Radley Balko's learned that decades of strong campaigning have turned the US sailor into a lightweight who can't hold his liquor. Nothing wrong with that in principle (especialy as I'm a principle example), but I have to wonder at the pussies who are writing in to complain.

Kung Fu Hustle

2005-08-27T23:15:00.000-07:00

Normally, I seem a fairly cold and unsentimental type of guy - but at heart I'm rally a romantic. And as such I can whole-heartedly reccommend "Kung Fu Hustle". I saw it in theater when it came out a few months ago and, now, tonight on DVD. I don't think I've laughed, and yes, cried , this much in a long time - so go out and buy it if you haven't already. Though the fact that I've not been this pissed in ages may have something to do with it. Hell, I can barely type this evening/morning, whatever. If it weren't for the backspace key I'd sound like Hynes (not that that's a poor act to copy).

Ultimately all this teaches me is that, as a sailor, I'm a disgrace. Barely a sixpack and I'm almost comatose and it's only two thirty in the morning.

Homocide Bombers Homocided

2005-07-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

The Mirror suggests that the recent London bombers may have been murdered.

Apparently the bombers did a lot of things that hint they planned on escaping and none of the things normally done if they didn't.

I think it would be a delicious irony to prosecute they guys responsible for planning this for the murder of the dupes they used to carry it out.

Ever been out on the road . . .

2005-07-16T21:16:00.000-07:00

. . . and noticed that everyone's doing at least 10 mph over the limit? Yeah me neither.

All this traffic enforcement is supposed to be about safety. However, red light cameras, radar cameras, speed traps, and the loss of the right to a trial by jury all come down to one thing - MONEY!

The last is the worst part of of all. In the struggle to increase revenue streams so they can provide services 95% don't need or want, local governments (especially the smaller ones) run roughshod over our rights to reduce their expenses. Something that I think a lot of us have forgotten is that the Constitution does not lay out what I can do - it lays out what the government can't or has to do.

Instead we get the "can't give 'em a trial by jury - we can't afford to do that for every traffic offense".

How about this instead? Raise the fines enough that they cover that cost. Simple, effective, and to the point and everyone's rights are preserved. If you're found guilty the trial is paid for - if innocent then the local cops might start to feel some pressure to be sure of their collars. Heck, it might even help slow or reverse the current trend of disrepute that police and politicians are held in.

Of course it would also mean that maybe, possibly, their would be some publice pressure to raise the limits to where they should be for SAFETY reasons and not for revenue generation.

Keeping Score

2005-07-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

I've been watching "Cold Case Files" on A&E a lot recently and saw something sort of disturbing on the last episode.

Got a crime lab somewhere that does DNA testing and they keep a win/loss scoreboard of successful convictions versus unsuccessful for cases coming through their lab.

Its disturbing that they would consider an unsuccessful prosecution a loss.

UPDATE

Rereading this, I realize that, contrary to the last sentence, there is no such thing as an unsuccessful prosecution.

Wasteful Military Spending

2005-06-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

The wasteful purchasing we indulge in can be pretty bad sometimes.

At the command I work at now, one of our shops ordered 2 filter washers, needed (and so kept) 1, gave the other to my shop.

We don't use it because the value it adds to our services is less than the cost of getting rid of the waste it generates and another shop already provides that the filter washing service (after all, they ordered the freaking thing in the first place).

For two years ours has been serving as a parts bin for the other one and so it wouldn't work even if we had a use for it (and this after wasting the time and money to construct it).

So we try to get rid of it - CO says no - he's the only one who can authorize us to remove equipment (which came as a surprise, since we've been getting rid of unnecessary/broken junk since I've been here).

So we couldn't get rid of it or leave it as is, we had to spend money to get the thing running again.

Needless to say the other shop doesn't get to cannibalize it any more - we aren't buying their damn spare parts for them. That money comes out of *my* OPTAR.

True Horror

2005-05-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

Why do some seafood restauraunts have aquariums? All these fish and lobsters in the tank with nothing to do except swim around and watch as the customers dine on their (now ex) compainions.

Just swimming back and forth with little expressions of utter horror on their faces.

Irony?

2005-04-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

I find it somewhat ironic that I, as a pro-free market kind of guy, like to listen to musicians with a very definite pro-socialism bent.

Maybe its just that I have a whiny-complainy personality and the capitalists don't have much to be mad about.

City sponsored Wi-Fi Nonsense (1)

2005-04-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

What is it with politicians and taxes? You can hardly go a day without reading about some hare-brained scheme to spend money to “provide services” that are either already being taken care of by the private sector or not needed.
Everyone says that monopolies are bad, yet this is exactly what ends up happening. One player (the government) already has a guaranteed income – you’ve already payed for the service from them whether or not you use it – which makes it that much less likely you’ll go to a private provider. Then couple that with the ability to make the rules up and you get prohibitively high entry costs for competitors. What you end up with is lack of competition except in the most lucrative markets – the exact opposite of what we want to encourage.
And its not like the government is a great provider of services at the best of times. As an example, the Arizona Department of Transportation used to be a state-run organization. When this was the case it was a paragon of time-wasting and inefficiency. All the clichés of the DMV were there. Now most of its services (mainly the ones that involve direct contact with its customers) are outsourced. People up here in CT can’t believe how easy I can get things done with the AZ DMV – I live on the other side of the country from my state and I have spend less time dealing with them that the guys dealing with the local (state-run) CT DMV.
My point here is that states should only run those services which absolutely can’t be provided by the private sector and that competition should be allowed free-reign.

Thanks Are In Order

2005-03-12T21:46:00.000-07:00

Before Christmas the sidebar here wouldn't start until below the end of the posts. Now, obviously its fixed.

During the holidays I did get an email message telling me that due to the backlog I'd have to resend my help request (lazy bastard I am, I failed to do that), but lo-and-behold, its fixed anyway.

I'm going to assume that someone did something to correct the problem and offer my thanks to this anonymous person.

Especially as that fits in with my utter certainty that every problem in my life (I'm willing to admit that most of it may be paranoid delusion, but somebody is following me and turning all the stoplights red) part of a widespread conspiracy.

I'm Confused

2005-03-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Which, despite appearances to the contrary, is a rarity for me. Those non-sequitors I spout, seemingly because I wasn't following the conversation, are really because I wasn't listening to you. A poor grasp of logic coupled with utter certainty make my head hurt, so I tune out until the pain goes away.

To get back on the subject of this post, Blue Eyed Infidel (formerly of Moorewatch - your one-stop shop for all the skinny on His Fatness) complains that some chick on TV isn't perfectly made-up and impossibly georgeous - that the advertisors completly failed to make sure that she was airbrushed pin-up fake beautiful.

Haven't seen the commercial myself as I'm one of those annoying people who have no tv. Well, that's not completely true - I do have a tv, hooked up to a DVD player and, for a while, my computer (until I found out how crappy it looks next to a proper monitor) but I don't have it hooked up to an antenna. Not out of some sense of cultural superiority mind - rather broadcast out here is crap and I'm not paying for cable hook-up without also getting broadband (not offered in my area even though I'm completely surrounded by those who can get it). But its top priority once I get out of this place.

BUT, after decades of hearing complaints that the women in magazines, movies, and TV are so perfect that real women feel inferior, now that someone has put a real women on TV we get complaints that she's not good enough.

Congratulations are in order

2005-02-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the traders of the London International Petroleum Exchange. Greenpeace decided to "interrupt" their trading a couple of days ago and so broke into the building and tried to make a fuss on the trading floor. The lads didn't like this so they kicked the whale-huggers arses.

Let's get one thing straight - Greenpeace says they didn't do anything violent and didn't resist the attack. That's complete and utter bullshit. They broke in and tried to stop these guys working. Now you may agree that their motives were good, but its violence nontheless. The traders were just defending themselves.

Biometric Passport ID

2005-02-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

First off, it damn well snowed again. Why anyone would choose to live here is beyond me.

Apparently the US is going to start requiring passports with embedded RFID chips to get into the country. These passports will store the same info that is on regular passports (including a digital picture). Also they will have the ability to be read remotely.

There are two problems with this scheme, one minor and one major.

With automated facial recognition, the problem is that its not 100% accurate. That's not really the problem some regard it as. Human comparers aren't 100% reliable either. What we need is data comparing people with the machines - both on false positives and false negatives. From my own experience, people are pretty poor at this (especially if there's any sort of time pressure involved). Strangely I don't see either side asking this question. One side says biometrics will solve everything and the other says not to use it because its not perfect. We don't compare one option with perfection and if it doesn't measure up choose the other.

The real problem with this whole scheme is the remote reading ability. The specs call for readers to have a 10 cm range, but that isn't a hard limit. Readers with greater power or sensitivity can read from greater distances. The main question is what advantage does this give us and what risks does it have? Outside the port of embarkation, passports aren't required for ID so why would anyone carry one around? Can't scan passports if they're not carrying them. On the other hand snagging passport data is made easier this way (especially as the data willnot be encrypted). Seems to me that there's no particular advantage and lots of risks.

Ha Ha Ha is right, clowns are dangerous. The ones who thought this up are going to get us killed.

This stuff is obscene

2005-02-07T18:57:00.000-07:00

From The Facts.com via Vice squad

MANVEL — A Manvel couple has been arrested on obscenity charges after authorities say they found pictures from a swingers group on a laptop the wife had on loan from Alvin Community College. Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne said the computer had more than 800 photos of people posing nude and engaging in sex acts. The suspects could not be reached for comment Wednesday. They were arrested Tuesday and each was charged with four counts of promoting obscenity, a Class A misdemeanor. They remained in jail Wednesday in lieu of bonds totaling $40,000 each.

And from D'Alliance

Five cops in Tennessee, make that former cops, are set to plead guilty to federal charges that they conspired to violate a man's civil rights by beating and torturing him.

My comments elsewhere

2005-01-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

Now that alcohol is legal throught most of the US you don't see liquor manufacturers killing each other over distribution rights - something that was common during Prohibition.

As for the whole "society of addicts" counter to leagalization I would like to remind everyone that during the early 19th century (when opium and the like was legal) GB and the US enjoyed the greatest increases in wealth and quality of life in pretty much the whole history of mankind.
And they did it half stoned at an average of 125 doses per person per year.

The problems in Latin America aren't exerbated by those who want drugs, but by those who prevent us from getting them peacefully.

Well that and our (the US) assumption that Central and South America are our own personal palyground.

Darth Cheney caught on tape.

2005-01-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Sounded like you could hear Rehnquist's respirator while delivering the oath today. For a brief moment I had the image of W as emperor Palpatine and Cheney as Vader - to make it even more vivid, as the band played the first couple of notes immediately after it sounded like they were going to play the Imperial March (albeit for only half a second). Absolutely hilarious (I guess you had to be there).

The speech, well it wasn't so bad as political speeches go - long but not too long. He could have cut half that crap out and would have had something concise and possibly even stirring. Instead he pads it with trite phrases. As Bill O'reilly says, pithy.

And if you're spending $40 mil on your parade and NINE freakin' balls, the least you can do is shell out for a priest who can write an interesting "prayer" and not fill it with a bunch of grandstanding. Its kind of hard to fulfill God's will when he hasn't exactly made it clear what he wantsin, oh the last two millenia. A transcript of his prayer would be "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Equal Opportunity, Jesus, Obey God, Civil Rights, Jesus, Jesus, One Nation Under God, Jesus, Amen".

Don't let politics triumph economics.

2005-01-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

The loss of the groton base would amount to the loss of 25,000 jobs and $2.5 billion to the state's economy.

Economic impact is not one of the eight criteria being considered in formulating the initial base closure list -

other than cost-savings to the Pentagon.

Ray Hackett Norwich Bulletin

Sorry Ray but the economic impact is one of the things considered. The impact on the WHOLE country. Groton is only one small part of the United States.

Reasons to close the base

Groton Subbase finished 246th out of 354 of US bases in quality of life.
We (the Navy) have one third more training facilities than we need.
The Navy's looking to cut its sub force down from 52 to 40 subs, most of which will be stationed on the west coast. That means we need to lose 17 subs from the Atlantic fleet. There just happen to be 17 subs up here in Groton.

Why should we keep the Subbase open?

uhm, taxpayer subsidies to the state and city governments of CT.

Reciprocity

2005-01-09T14:48:00.000-07:00

From the National Review Online

This is a letter in response to by Jonah Goldberg at the NRO (one of several in the same vein).

"After I was captured, my hands were tied behind my back . . .I was thrown on the water board, where under questioning the enemy would drown you till the verge of losing consciousness. . . I was confined to a three by four foot tiger cage with a coffee can for a toilet. . . I was repeatedly dragged from my cage for more beatings and interrogation. . . I was deprived of any food for five straight days.
. . . that is only part of what EVERY U.S. Navy and Air Force pilot and flight crew goes through in survival school. . . We do this to our own people for training but we can't do it to terrorists?Incredible."

So let me see if I understand Jonah Goldberg's reader's letter's intent.
Japanese treatment of American POW's and Chinese during WWII - Torture

North Vietnamese treatment of American POW's during the Vietnam War - Torture

Americans doing the same to Iraqi/Afghani POWs (excuse me "Enemy Combatants") - Perfectly justified in the name of the Greater Good.

Can anyone come up with an instance in which American POW's were tortured and our government said that was a perfectly acceptable thing to do to them? If we as a nation didn't like it when this stuff was done to us, then why would we consider it ok to do to others?

When fighting monsters, one should take care not to become one.

Dangerous drug criminal get what he has coming to him?

2005-01-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

Whatever happened to the maxim "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer" ?

What happened to the 'Christian Morality" that some are so found of saying this country is founded upon? What the hell happened to plain old Christian charity? What happened to "judge not lest ye be judged"? We put thousands in jail every year for indulging in a vice - no harm to others, they just like being stoned. Wouldn't that be something best left to God to sort out? Still, most of these people get off light. After a few years in the pokey they get to go home.

But not all, not some like Jonathan Magbie.

This dangerous criminal was such a flight risk the judge would not waive the requirement that he show up at his scheduling hearing, issued an arrest warrant for him, and allowed no bail.
Magbie, 27, had been paralyzed from the chin down as the result of being hit by a drunk drive when he was four (Magbie, not the driver was four).

Magbie was sentenced to 10 days incarceration in late September- he died four days after starting his sentence.

Why don't we start off the new year right and get the federal government out of state's business.

Support Medical Marijuana Reform in your area.

Lasers and aircraft

2004-12-31T17:05:00.000-07:00

If this stuff is actually happening (and not someone misinterpreting what happened) the lasers aren't likely to be a weapon themselves. The energy requirements for a beam that would do actual physical damage is pretty large and would require a separate vehicle just to generate the power.

Its also not likely to be part of an active homing weapon. Passive IR ManPads have been around for decades and I would imagine that its easier to get one of these than develop a completely new weapon.

It could be a rangefinding laser. At the upper end of the power spectrum these are capable of blinding people at decent ranges. But you still have the problem of targeting the cockpit windows and simultaneously blinding both the pilot and copilot at a critical point in the landing/takeoff sequence. Not impossible, but difficult. On the other hand a targeting laser is easier to conceal than a missile. On the gripping hand a hundred dollar pair of sunglasses would remove the threat.

Have a vacation in Thailand

2004-12-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

There seem to be a lot of people disgusted at those who are taking advantage of the current disaster in SE Asia to snag a cheap vacation in the less than devastated areas. I guess they feel that these vacationers should stay home and just send money in to the aid organizations.

I would like to take this opportunity to disagree.

There's already a ton of money flooding into the disaster areas to help with the recovery. But as we've seen in EVERY single country that has received financial aid - charity alone is not enough. It will be business that will allow these people to fully recover. One of the major industries in the affected zones is tourism. What are these people going to do if they have to wait until everything is back to the way it was before the tsunami before anyone considers it "moral" to vacation there? The best thing we can do at a time like this is through a little business their way.

Of course if we really cared about helping these people rebuild (and eliminating poverty all over the world) we'd get rid of the agriculture and textile tarrifs we place on imported items to protect local interests.

An open letter to the guy who lives below me.

2004-12-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

Sir,I've lived in this building for almost three years now and most days I get to listen to you practice on your guitar.

You suck.

Thirtysome months have gone by and you still can't even string two notes together with anything approaching rythm, let alone a pleasing sound. I know, I know, the old saying is "if at first you don't succeed then try again" but this is starting to become hazardous to your health. If you don't stop I am going to come down there and insert your toy into one of your holes. It really won't matter which one since none of them are design to accomodate so large an object - but I'm thinking an "exit only" type.
I would like to address this next point to those who think it is great fun to leave shoe prints on the upper parts of the elevator walls. It isn't funny, witty, or amazingly smart. We know how you do it, it doesn't puzzle anyone. No one is going "well gee, how did they get those shoe prints up there?", it's just dirty. And while we're at it, can you all just stop leaving your garbage in the hallways? How difficult is it to carry that soda can into your apartment, or to the trash can RIGHT OUTSIDE THE ENTRANCE?
Thank you for your time,
Agammamon

Great job opportunity lost

2004-12-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

Tim Worstall points to a great job opportunity at the UK (British, English, - despite years of reading stuff from the land of fish and chips I still can't remember what the collective name is supposed to be) Equal Opportunity Commission, good performance opening the door to a possible appointment in the Commission for Equality and Human Rights slated to replace it.

Normally I would consider myself unqualified for the job since I couldn't get their application for to work, but then again this is an EO job. And I have an in - I'm a member of a minority ethnicity (but would I be considered a "visible minority ethnic" I wonder?) in the UK (after all how many American-Britishers are there living in the isles?

Too bad the closing date for the applications is today, though one has to wonder why since when the application is emailed in you get an OOO reply saying the guy won't be back until the early January.

Troika games holds onto its reputation . . .

2004-12-29T01:47:00.000-07:00

. . . as a group who come up with great ideas for RPG's and then completely feth up the implementation.

I'm playing VtM: Bloodlines now.

Patch support? Ha! The game's released with glitches starting from the INTRO CUTSCENE! How the hell can you screw up a cutscene? But is there a patch, well finally there is. I guess that's better than the wait for ToEE's patches (a game that I gave up on and uninstalled before the first patch finally came out).
They're the first game to liscense the HL2 engine so I can cut a little slack, but why does the game slow down so badly when it rains? I don't have that problem when playing HL2 itself.
Play anyway you want my ass. The game does have options for taking a more stealthy/diplomatic approach to your roleplaying. IGNORE THESE OPTIONS. Unfortunately the game is designed with "checkpoints" where you have no choice but to fight some big bad monster and if you haven't been maxing out your combat skills you'll fare poorly. Several battles I was able to complete only due to really bad AI. One I spent 10 minutes running in a circle with the monster chasing me just out of reach while I waited to heal. Another time my opponent got knocked against a wall and got stuck between the wainscotting and the ceiling. What is it with CRPG's these days with the boss monster approach to game design, these aren't FPS. This one does it, KOTOR did it, NWN did it, even FO2 did it.
I realize that developing a CRPG with the same level of detail as a PnP one is a herculean undertaking, but could we at least have some dialogue options other than either callous asshole or simpering wuss?
The play areas themselves are all right, except there are no areas inside a zone that aren't related directly to some sort of quest (with the usual "you can't get into here without the proper key no matter how good you are at picking locks" locks on the doors) but the people populating it either just stand there or move around randomly, usually bumping into walls.

All in all not a bad little game for those of us who are familiar with the Vtm but I really couldn't reccomend this to anyone else.

Hey, the EU says he's all right.

2004-12-26T14:45:00.000-07:00

"Kofi Annan can be sure of the EU’s support for him and the for the United Nations"

President of European Commission Jose Barroso

Oh, that's all right then. Annan couldn't possibly have done anything wrong, after all the EU has vouched for the moral bona-fides of its closest competitor for the title of "Most Power Hungry and Corrupt Insitution in the West".

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

More EU madness

2004-12-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

As brought to my attention by the EU-Serf, this little article in the Telegraph about the difficulties of getting canadian saskatoons into the country. Saskatoons are a type of berry the canadians have been eating for several centuries but the EU prohibits them because they're a "novel food". Well, novel in Europe maybe, but not really since they've been eaten in some of those countries for a good long while also.

This isn't a new thing either, for saskatoons or other foods. The same regulations were used to try to keep grape tomatos out of the EU (in my opinion because they compete with european cherry tomato growers).

The article beats up (unfairly) on the guy responsible for enforcing the novel foods regulations and the Labour Party (though they probably deserve every hit they get) and throws in a few good words about Brussels solving the problem.

What Boris fails to mention however is that it is EU regulations that mandated the two year waiting period and the agency overseeing "novel foods" in the first place. The only problem Brussels (has ever) solved was the one they created in the first place.

Something related to Christmas

2004-12-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

If A Christmas Carol had been written by someone else.
From Tech Central Station

Ayn Rand: The ruggedly handsome and weirdly articulate Ebeneezer Scrooge is a successful executive held back by the corrupt morality of a society that hates success and fails to understand the value of selfishness. So Scrooge explains that value in a 272-page soliloquy. Deep down, Scrooge's enemies know that he is right, but they resent him out of a sense of their own inferiority. Several hot sex scenes and unlikely monologues later, Scrooge triumphs over all adversity -- except a really mean review by Whittaker Chambers. Meanwhile, Tiny Tim croaks. Socialized medicine is to blame.
The Libertarian Party: It's pretty much the same as the Ayn Rand version, but about halfway through the story, we learn that Scrooge is an alcoholic wife-swapping embezzling weirdo who's wanted for back child support payments in several states. Even readers sympathetic to the Libertarian story throw up their hands in disgust and grudgingly seek out the Republican version.

The rest are just as funny.

Does it make me a loser . . .

2004-12-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

. . . that when I see the acronym WoD the first meaning that pops into my head is World of Darkness?

Yes, its just that one reason.

Comrades, strike a blow against the hated Gun Control Advocate oppressor, uhm dude.

2004-12-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

I suppose I should preface this by mentioning that I have only owned one gun in my entire like. A used Chinese SKS which I no longer have. Nowadays I'm comletely unarmed (not even a heavy stick for protection) not because I feel safe but rather because the Navy (indeed all the US Armed Forces) frown upon their members actually defending themselves if attacked. Bad press if a servicemember hurts someone else, but its all good if we get cut up.

Looks like the forces of liberty have recently scored again (even sweeter after the setbacks of the post 9/11 House/Senate complete crapfest). The U.S. Justice department has formally set out the reasons that it considers gun ownership to be an individual right as opposed to solely belonging to the state (uhmm, that's state state, not State - i.e. federal government).

Gun control's never made sense to me, even in my younger, more naive years (oh, the years I wasted believing in that Drug War nonsense). As a matter of fact the WoD is a perfect example of what happens when you try to restrict an item that there is a large demand for. The DEA and other law enforcement agencies are proud that they only intercept a small percentage of the drugs at great cost - in money, effort, and lives. How do they expect to have any better success with firearms?

So we make guns illegal and only those willing to break the law will have them, and there's a large supply of those willing to do just that. In the US it can be damn difficult to go through your day without breaking a law somewhere. Just try to drive down the street at the speed limit. Either you'll be run over by those travelling faster than you or you'll hit the old guy wobbling around in his lane (and part of the next one). All that and in a car bigger than my apartment.

So we've disposed of the whole cut supply and you'll cut demand theory (that one's like Socialism - doesn't work but there's no end of maroons willing to give it one more try).

So how about "do you want your neighbors to have rocket launchers?". No, my neighbors are a bunch of ninkers. But I'm sure they think the same about me and if they are going to have heavy weaponry (legally or illegally) then shouldn't I be able to maintain parity. MAD got us through the worst parts of the Cold War until the Sov's went bust. Those who think Mutally Assured Destruction is an insane concept should go to a dive bar, pick the biggest, baddest biker there, spit in his face and the try to talk your way out of an ass-wooping.

Even places like the National Research Council say that there data shows that concealed carry has no effect on violent crime. If it has no effect then why should it be an issue? Its not the function of a government in a democracy to tell us what we can do, but what we can't - and it better have a damn good reason for it.

After all if we ban guns we might become like the United Kingdom, another bastion of freedom that doesn't consider self-defense to be a right. That's right, defend youself in the U.K. and you go to jail. After all that's what the police are for.

And in an unrelated note, the U.K. has recently become slightly less free as government ID's are now required for all citizens. This is to help "intimidate, dominate, and control". No that's wrong, theat's for our homegrown TSA twerps, I mean "help fight terrorism". Of course no one is required to carry the ID with them, of show it to a police officer (though you will need it to receive government services - so its mainly the poor who get hassled) so one has to wonder exactly how this is going to make people more secure. Most likely its like to Social Security Number crap we have to put up with here. At first the SSN was explicitly not meant to be an identifier. Nowadays, unless you live in a shack in the woods you can't do anything without it. I take that back. You still need an SSN to buy the land the shack is on.

And I need to learn to preview this stuff before posting.

Crow's Nest

2004-12-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

So, the crow’s nest is so named because Viking navigator’s used to release crows in periods of low visibility and plot their course – the crows supposedly always went towards land. Since the cage the crows were kept in was high on the mast the lookout position that developed later was named after it.

Except, how do the crows find land if visibility is poor? Also, wouldn’t the crow disappear quite quickly in low visibility conditions giving you only a very poor estimate of direction? Why keep the crows on the mast where feeding and keeping them warm is difficult, they could just as easily be released from the deck? Is there something wrong with me that I ask these basic questions but others do not?

Contrary to my initial expectations, crows are native to Iceland, Greenland, and other Scandinavian type countries – the raven (For the rare and radiant maiden whom angels named Lenore) probably being the most familiar type.

Yet if the Vikings were dependent upon crows for low visibility navigation how were they able to maintain links with widely separated permanent settlements in the British Isles, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland? The North Sea area is known for its fogs (especially in winter) so these guys must have carried a lot of birds with them. Also why do none of the Viking sagas record the usage of crows in this manner? They are incredibly descriptive when it comes to other means of measuring time, distance, and position. Other sources are available that demonstrate the huge knowledge base they had.

Short inserts in various manuscripts of the imported scholarly texts talking about independent observations on calendars, solar motion and navigation.
Manuscripts intended to educate the reader on various matters of practical value, For example - the Norwegian King’s Mirror contains sections on astronomy, time reckoning, and tides.
In Denmark and Norway ships and sailing gear have been excavated. Replicas based on the excavated material have been constructed and tested – data on seaworthiness and speed have matched that found in the older texts..

The reality is that the Vikings didn’t need birds any more than their contemporaries did (a lot less actually). They relied on several centuries’ worth of theoretical knowledge and practical experience in sailing to maintain a nation in a time when their contemporaries were hard pressed to sail out of sight of land.

So why is it called a crow’s nest? Its most likely because the lookout position is a high roost, perhaps even where birds landed on occasion and, as the saying goes, if a person only knows of three types of birds, one of them will be a crow.

Origins of Naval Terminology Question Authority

Rabbit Season

2004-12-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

If, in homeopathic medicine, water is able to remember contact with the “active” ingredient (through some so far unknown mechanism) which - through repeated dilution – is no longer present, why doesn’t it also remember having come into contact with the myriad other compounds it would also have been exposed to during its existence?

Rabbit season!
Duck season!
Rabbit season!
Duck season!
Rabbit season!
Rabbit season!
Duck season!
Rabbit season!
Duck season!

BLAM!

Of course you realize, this means war.

Good Links

2004-12-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

If nothing else, reading the following blogs should make up for any disappointment you may be experiencing after having wasted your time here.

In no particular order
Tim Worstall
The Angry economist
EU Referendum
The Road to Euro Surfdom
Virginia Postrell
James Randi Educational Foundation
Council for Secular Humanism
Reason
8-bit Theater

And if not, too bad.

After posting (of course) this I realized that not all of the above links are to blogs. Oh well.

Cup of "Joe"

2004-12-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

I got into a little "discussion" a few days ago about how coffee came to be known as "a cup of Joe". As none of you may know I am in the US Navy (and if you do know, STOP STALKING ME!) and many of my colleagues believe the phrase stems from Admiral Josephus Daniels' (Secretary of the Navy 1912-1920) banning of alcohol onboard US Navy ships (thanks a lot Joe). Its even become the official backstory on the Navy's own Origins of Naval Terminology website.

Unfortunately the dates don't pan out. US Navy Ships had been dry since 1862, it wasn't until 1893 that the wardrooms were allowed wine messes (bloody officers). General Order 99

"The use or introduction for drinking purposes of alcoholic liquors onboard any naval vessel or within any navy yard or station, is strictly prohibited, and commanding officers will be held directly responsible for the enforcement of this order."

wasn't issued until 1914 - except for the wardroom itself (comprising a small fraction of the total complement) ships had been dry for a bit over 50 years. Even the wardrooms were limited to wine and similar. Add into this, that the earliest written record of the phrase "cup of Joe" doesn't appear until 1930 - 16 years after ships were completely dry and 10 years after the man who gave that order was gone.

Because the phrase first shows up in 1930 its wouldn't be derived from "GI Joe" (apparently a slang term for soldiers and not a cartoon) which doesn't appear until the WWII timeframe.

The most likely explanation (and backed up by an entry in the Reserve Officer's manual of 1931) is that the phrase comes from a corruption of the other terms for coffee like Java or Mocha.

First Post

2004-12-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I've finally worked up the courage to try out this blog thingy - which shows how disfunctional I am if I'm worried about embarrassing myself in front of people I'll never meet.

In any case for my first post I'll demonstrate my incredible ignorance regarding physics by relating some of the thoughts I had last night while trying to sleep with about 2 liters of Coke worth of caffeine running through my system.

Anyway the first bit with movement and the speed of light limit. Wanna hear it? Goes som'thin' like this.

Everything travels at one constant speed through four dimensional spacetime (three space dimensions and one time), the faster you move through the three space dimensions (relative to something else) the slower you move through time.

The other one deals with the problem of time travel and conflates the distance you can move through time with the lenght of time virtual particles can exist. Just as a virtual particles lenght of existence is inversely proportional to its mass so too could the distance an object can travel back in time. The more massive an object the shorter the lenght of time you could move back through. Of course then I realized that this doesn't explain why we can move through time in one direction with ease but not the other.

And as regards to paradox, maybe when traveling through time you must also travel through space. I.e. traveling 6 hours back in time requires you to travel 6 lighthours through space, preventing you from - for example - going back in time and preventing yourself from going back in time. Of course that little bit is predicated on time travel paradox not being allowed by physical law.

That's it for now. Who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll actually have something to write that's worth your time to read it.