Saturday, February 9, 2013

Robert Ringer Blog: The Dilemma: Lie or Lose

Quote:

Ah, my … how time flies when you’re having fun. It seems like yesterday that we were crying tears of hope and change. The hope is gone, but there are still plenty of tears over the change.

How well I remember Thomas Friedman’s article in The New York Times during the 2008 presidential campaign titled “Who will tell the people?”

Said Friedman, “We don’t need a president who is tough enough to withstand the lies of his opponents. We need a president who is tough enough to tell the truth to the American people.”

Based on his words, I assume Friedman ended up not voting.

Of course, by now everyone this side of Hugo Chavez realizes that the Kenyan guy who won is tough enough to tell the truth. It’s just that he chose not to, because he knew that the truth would have been a losing hand. Once in office, he was still tough enough to tell the truth, but, again, he chose not to because he knew it would impede his efforts to carry out his agenda.

Then came the 2012 presidential race. I imagine most people naively believed that Obama couldn’t outdo his 2008 festival of fabrications, but he sure fooled them. This time around, he lied with a Madoffian style and grace that made people forget that his first term in office showcased the most failed presidency in U.S. history.

But on the Republican side, it was a different story. The GOP thought they’d try something new, so they nominated a paper mache mannequin to run for president. Unfortunately, as one would expect from a mannequin, he couldn’t spell. He thought tough was spelled s-o-f-t. It was obvious from the outset that Mannequin Mitt was not going to stick his neck out and offer up even small morsels of truth.

Establishment Republicans kept insisting that Romney was a man of character (Ann Coulter even gushed that he was a “Mormon square”), but, in the end, he couldn’t quite muster up the character to tell voters the truth. Too bad, because if he had, he probably would have won handily.

Before the 2008 election, I wrote that no matter who you voted for, the moral and economic decline of the U.S. would continue, though faster with Barack Obama at the controls rather than John McMush. I also said that the next president would preside over more and bigger disasters than any president in U.S. history. I was right on both counts.

But I also wrote that since there was no realistic way to solve any of the nation’s major economic problems, whoever won the election would receive most of the blame. In this case, I was, for the most part, wrong. True, after a year or two, several million people were jarred out of their decades-long slumber and realized they had been scammed by Commie Obammie. But most people who voted for BHO happily went back for seconds — unemployment benefits, disability payments, food stamps, etc.

In fairness, BHO sent the American public many clear messages about his intentions, but it’s hard to process information when your mind is focused on rushing out to pick up a fresh supply of food stamps. In any event, it doesn’t matter what the Duplicitous Despot says if most people pretend as though they didn’t hear it.

But forget about Obama. We already know what to expect from a Saul Alinsky disciple. The question is, which Republican will finally step forward and tell the people the truth? Unfortunately, in today’s morally decadent America, politicians realize that the constituency for cutting entitlements is a small minority, so they have only two choices: lie or lose. Just ask Ron Paul, who was brushed aside by the media (including Fox News!) and the Republican Party for consistently refusing to deceive voters.

Conclusion: Best to forget about politicians and focus on doing what you, as an individual, can do to combat tyranny. And the first step toward that end is to acknowledge the reality that BHO is not just another far-left guy like FDR, LBJ, or Jimmy Carter. None of them had a Marxist agenda.

True, FDR pushed for dictatorial rule, but when Congress and the Supreme Court let him know they were drawing a constitutional line, he backed off. Do you really believe Barack Obama will ever back off? Wake up, America! It’s not in his playbook.

The clock is ticking on the American Empire as the “dreams from my father” continue to become ever more entrenched. Gun confiscation, Obamacare, and runaway inflation, to name but a few of BHO’s atrocities — are moving ahead full steam.

Oh … and so, too, is the possibility of a third, fourth, and fifth term — and beyond! — for the media-invented president whose arrogance now has him focused on making 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue his permanent address.

Laugh at your own peril. After all, in a “free” country you have a right to go on believing whatever you want to believe. But, at the same time, you should recognize that reality is not discriminatory. Nature does not accept ignorance as an excuse for harboring false beliefs. It metes out negative consequences just as harshly to a person who is well-meaning but misinformed (or naïve) as to one who is malevolent and stubborn.

Regardless, the one thing none of us can complain about is boredom. Thanks to Bolshevik Barry, we do live in exciting times.

You have permission to reprint this article so long as you place the following wording at the end of the article:

Copyright © 2013 Robert Ringer
ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and host of the highly acclaimed Liberty Education Interview Series, which features interviews with top political, economic, and social leaders. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, The Lars Larson Show, ABC Nightline, and The Charlie Rose Show, and has been the subject of feature articles in such major publications as Time, People, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron's, and The New York Times.

To sign up for his one-of-a-kind, pro-liberty e-letter, A Voice of Sanity, Click Here.

unquote.


Andrew Carnegie and Limousine Liberalism

Andrew Voice of Sanity, Robert Ringer

Carnegie was known as a "robber baron".  Surprisingly, the article says that Carnegie called himself a socialist.

In a way, that makes sense.  Socialists and liberals are huge hypocrites, as Carnegie is described here matches up with that.

Flywheel idea nixed

They are too heavy and don't deliver that much power for their weight and size.  They won't work on cars.

That leaves batteries and fuel cells.


NASA Curiosity Rover Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory  h/t Behind the Black

First time something like this has ever been done.



NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used its Mast Camera (Mastcam) to take the images combined into this mosaic of the drill area, called "John Klein." The label "Drill" indicates where the rover ultimately performed its first sample drilling.



Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs -Little Red Riding Hood

This is what brought that on.



Olivia Newton-John - The long and winding road




Nicer to look at than Paul McCartney.  This is very nicely done, I must say.


Founder of the green movement: "movement draws near to fascism"

link via Behind the Black blog

I am an environmentalist and founder member of the Greens but I bow my head in shame at the thought that our original good intentions should have been so misunderstood. We never intended a fundamentalist Green movement that rejected all energy sources other than renewable, nor did we expect the Greens to cast aside our priceless ecological heritage because of their failure to understand that the needs of the Earth are not separable from human needs. … Although well-intentioned it is an erosion of our freedom and draws near to what I see as fascism.

Comment:

Like a lot of things, the fight against global warming isn't what it is claimed to be.  It's not about saving the planet, it's about control.  It's about politics.

One more thing that I thought about with regard to this supposed problem.

Whenever you burn fossil fuels, you also create water.  Water is as much a byproduct of combustion as carbon dioxide.  So, why not regulate water in the same way as you would regulate carbon dioxide?

Could it be because there's no way that you could get people to believe that water is going to create more global warming risk?  After all, we need water to survive.  Water covers 3/4ths of the planet.  How could water be a problem?  

But water vapor is also a greenhouse gas.  It's a more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, for heaven's sake.


20 Reasons America Is Becoming An Increasingly Nonfunctional Society

By John Hawkins, Townhall

Number 6 got my attention, thus the quote, as follows:
Americans have lost confidence in our institutions. Most Americans don't trust our politicians, our criminal justice system, big business, our schools, our media or our churches.[ emphasis added]
If Americans don't trust the media, then why are they supporting it?  You don't buy their product if you don't trust it, wouldn't you say?

Anyway, I'll give my number one reason why America is becoming more and more dysfunctional---The Democrat Party.

Number two:  The Republicans.

If the Republicans would just oppose the Democrats, we'd at least have a choice.  They are an echo, not a choice.


Obama's S&P Suit Smacks Of Vendetta

IBD via Free Republic

Staring at a another debt ceiling crisis, the president's punishing the one credit rating agency that dared downgrade U.S. debt in the last crisis.

And Wall Street analysts say the timing's no coincidence.

Just weeks away from the next debt-limit showdown, the Justice Department filed a whopping $5 billion lawsuit against Standard & Poor's for alleged fraud.
Can you say "abuse of power"?

The GOP wants to negotiate with this thug?

Dem senators: Legalized illegal immigrants will have to wait around 10 years to apply for green card

hotair via Free Republic

  • Rubio wants the path to citizenship implemented only after border enforcement increases
  • Both sides agree that probationary legal status will be granted immediately, though. Ahem.
My reaction is that breaking the law by getting here should be a disqualification for citizenship barring something extraordinary which would make it an exception.

Probationary status should come only when enforcement is serious.  Without that, there's really nothing to talk about.

The Democrats need Rubio, and are using Rubio.  The GOP is foolish to agree to anything that comes out of this process.  The only thing that the Democrats are interested in is the Latino vote.  There's no interest in actually solving a problem.

Translation: Democrats don’t have a lot of leeway with immigration special-interest groups to make the “substantial period of time” much more substantial than 10 years. Which is ironic, because the group they’re ostensibly fighting for here — illegals — might very well accept Rubio’s longer time frame for citizenship in exchange for the right to work legally in America immediately. That’s been Raul Labrador’s point all along: Most illegals he’s encountered as an immigration lawyer don’t care about becoming citizens, he claims, they care about jobs.

So, why should the GOP be interested in working the Democrats at all?   It is only a net plus for Democrats, so why do it?

No wonder the GOP is called the Stupid Party.




El Paso, America’s safest big city, undermines Chicago’s case for gun control

Washington Examiner via Instapundit

Chicago, Ill., a city surrounded by the rural midwest, has tight guns laws. El Paso, Texas, has lax gun laws and neighbors one of the most violent cities in the world. Yet, El Paso is the safest big city in the U.S., whereas President Obama cites the murder rate in his hometown as a reason to implement his gun control agenda.

Do the Republicans even look at this information?  Why can't it be presented in election campaigns?  Why do we get a government that works against us rather than for us?

Byron York: With public focused on jobs, Washington fights other fights

Washington Examiner via Instapundit

Excerpts:
  • A new survey...shows many more Americans than previously reported have been profoundly touched by joblessness and its related hardships...the survey, by scholars at Rutgers University, shows more Americans than previously thought blame illegal immigration for the problem of unemployment
  • So what is Washington doing amid these deep economic anxieties? Working on a bipartisan plan that would begin with the mass, immediate legalization of illegal immigrants[emphasis added]
  • The researchers asked people -- unemployed and employed alike -- about the "major causes" of joblessness. Seventy percent named "competition and cheap labor from other countries." [emphasis added]
  • In his inaugural address, President Obama did not even mention the problem of joblessness
  • when the Rutgers researchers asked whether people put more trust in Obama or the GOP as far as handling the economy is concerned, the largest number of people said "neither."
  • People are deeply pessimistic about the future
Comment:

And the GOP wonders why they lost the election.  Then they go do what the Democrats have been doing, as opposed to paying attention to what the people are saying and feeling.

If they would just pay frickin' attention, they would trounce the Democrats.

But that would be too obvious.  It would make too much sense.


Friday, February 8, 2013

Kirk Sorensen interview on WSPD 1/26/13

EnergyFromThorium Blog

Sorensen says that you could find windmills throwing blades on Youtube.  Well, I didn't quite find that, but I did find one blowing up!



Not good PR for windmills.


Next Big Future: Non-smartphone mobile phones going extinct

Next Big Future: Non-smartphone mobile phones should be non-existent by about 2015: The total mobile phone market, at 438.1 million units, was flat year-on-year, while the worldwide smart phone market grew 37%. Android smar...

Frankly, I doubt this.  There will always be a need for cheap stuff that works.  Smartphones don't work all that well in my opinion.  Yes, they do interesting things, but not a reason to crowd out everything else.


Three Principles for Immigration Reform

American Thinker

For any law, there has to be a way to enforce it.  Otherwise, it is meaningless.

Such would also be the case with any new immigration law.  The last one didn't get enforced, so it became meaningless.  Will they do it again?  Probably.


You Don't Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way Journalists Blow

reason.com via Instapundit

Remember back in what was it - 2006 or thereabouts - when left-leaning critics of President Bush couldn't stop talking about how nothing was more red, white, and blue than good old-fashioned American dissent?
The gist of the meaning of the title is that journalists should be screaming bloody murder, but aren't.  The issue is accountability--- both in the presidency and the media.   There isn't any now, but there was before, when Bush was president.

The Obama administration claims that the secret judgment of a single "well-informed high level administration official" meets the demands of due process and is sufficient justification to kill an American citizen suspected of working with terrorists. That procedure is entirely secret. Thus it's impossible to know which rules the administration has established to protect due process and to determine how closely those rules are followed. The government needs the approval of a judge to detain a suspected terrorist. To kill one, it need only give itself permission. [ emphasis added]
A man cannot be a judge of his own case. That should include the president.  If he is the judge of his own case, he is a dictator.  There has to be means of determining whether the president is following the law, or not.

The president doesn't have the power to judge this on his own.  The Constitution doesn't grant that authority.


Still struggling at making the smartphone work

Today makes one week since I got my smartphone.  I've made progress in using it.  Yesterday, I successfully loaded a video I made with the phone.  This morning, I edited it by splicing two of them together.  Now, that's interesting.  With this technique, I can make an interesting video out of a number of short clips.

In addition to that, I had success at making a voice file and sending it to my email.  Now that may be useful also in making posts.  Still working on that one.  Now, the trick is to transcribe the voice into text.  Here's a video that shows how that may be done, but I haven't tried it yet.



The main idea is to expand the range of this blog and make it more interesting.  More interesting posts may mean more pageviews ( I hope).


Chris Rea - Texas

Recently, Texas Gov. Perry takes out an advertisement in California persuading businesses to relocate to Texas.  That gets under Jerry Brown's skin a bit and he says it's only a fart.  Whatever.

It's gotten some attention, as Instapundit links to a Walter Russell Mead post about a competition between the two states that bears watching.  Actually, if it were a prize fight, it would be a knockout in the first round.

California is going bust.  They've got some good things in California, but California would still be a part of Mexico if it weren't for Texas.  Now, it looks like they want to rejoin Mexico. The people that want to make it instead of breaking it are coming to Texas. There's even a song about it.





Rhett and Link on the future

They give the impression of having dinner with William Shatner, but Rhett explains that he didn't want to interrupt Shatner's meal with his grandchild.   So, technically, Rhett had dinner with Shatner, but there was no interview.  The rest of the video is about the future.




With respect to the future, I will be getting more active with my youtube account again. I have some success getting videos uploaded and edited. Maybe the results will not be so hot, but there's a learning curve involved. That goes with having this smartphone, with its own learning curve.


Thursday, February 7, 2013

"Humans, the sick animal"

A phrase that stands out in my mind.  Human beings tend toward self-destructive behaviors that are a form of sickness.

Where did I first encounter the phrase?  It must have been in Shirer's book about Hitler.  There was a discussion there of the philosophy of Nietzsche.
the "human soul" is refined as the target of our own aggression. Thus the sickness of the modern human being is self-inflicted. We tear ourselves down in the way a caged animal rubs its skin raw chafing at the cage which confines it.
Now, let's relate this to good thinking v bad thinking.   A measuring stick for determining good thinking is results.  Bad thinking leads to bad results and vice versa.  Or it could be related to truth, but truth is a slippery thing.

When I think of liberalism, I think of bad thinking.  It is bad thinking because it leads to bad results.  It is not truth based, but to the contrary---it denies truth.  Or it manipulates truth to be whatever the manipulator desires it to be.  I've heard it said that "perception is reality".  Thus, if you alter perceptions, you change reality.  But do you?  Or is it just a deceptive way towards mind-control?


Liberalism is a type of mind-control.  One way towards that is to control perceptions, which in turn alters reality.  Or it alters the way reality is perceived.  Liberals want to change the way people perceive reality so as to encourage them to think the way they do, and to therefore change the reality towards something more to their liking.  But what if that isn't the truth?

It seems to me that good thinking should be factual and without bias.  But that is hard to accomplish.  There has to be the search for truth, no matter how difficult it is to find it.

Yet, the effort is not even present with liberals.  They won't bother with this pursuit of accuracy--- instead there exists a  Nietzschean "will to power".  Even though they know what they say is wrong factually and morally, they'll push it anyway because that is what they want.  Power is everything.  It trumps truth and morality.  It is akin to the Post Modern Philosophy that defines Modern Liberalism.

That allows me to segue into the topic of morality.  It is my observation that human beings are moral beings.  But Liberalism uses morality for control, not for its own sake.  There can be no morality in Liberalism that really means anything, unless it is useful in control the subject of their manipulations.

Morality has to be based upon truth.  Any philosophy that willfully contradicts this is by definition evil.

The "Evil Empire" did not die with the Soviet Union. It is still amongst us, and is known as Liberalism.  It has infiltrated our society and is bringing it down.  Not by military force, but by the force of the mind.

Update:

A thought just occurred to me.  Liberals love to talk about equality, even though they exempt themselves from it.  Take the Declaration of Independence, for example.  They'll quote from it: "all men are created equal".  But that is only part of the sentence.  The entire sentence reads as follows:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Not exactly the same way that liberals mean it.  Liberals will take your property to make everyone more equal.  They will take your liberty and your very life, if they have to, in order to force you into compliance with their notion of "equality".  Thus, the pursuit of happiness is presumed to be the product of liberalism, but that isn't so either.   Judged by the results, Liberalism ought to be called the "mad pursuit of misery".


Immigration Law Enforcement Put On ICE By Obama

Free Republic

When those charged with enforcing existing federal law on immigration have to sue their bosses to be allowed to do their jobs, it doesn't say much for the prospects of immigration reform being hammered out in Congress, allegedly a legislative priority of a president who picks when, how and if he'll enforce the law.[ emphasis added]

The perils of deal-making.  If you make a deal, the deal has to be honored.  Otherwise, why make the deal in the first place?

Will Deep-sea Mining Yield an Underwater Gold Rush?

National Geographic

A mile beneath the ocean's waves waits a buried cache beyond any treasure hunter's wildest dreams: gold, copper, zinc, and other valuable minerals.

An alternative to mining the sky?  

New coal technology harnesses energy without burning, nears pilot-scale development

sciencedaily

The coal and iron oxide are heated to high temperatures, where the materials react with each other. Carbon from the coal binds with the oxygen from the iron oxide and creates carbon dioxide, which rises into a chamber where it is captured. Hot iron and coal ash are left behind...The coal ash is removed from the system.The carbon dioxide is separated and can be recycled or sequestered for storage. The iron beads are exposed to air inside the reactor, so that they become re-oxidized be used again. The beads can be re-used almost indefinitely, or recycled...Since the process captures nearly all the carbon dioxide, it exceeds the goals that DOE has set for developing clean energy. New technologies that use fossil fuels should not raise the cost of electricity more than 35 percent, while still capturing more than 90 percent of the resulting carbon dioxide.

Question:

What do you do with the carbon dioxide?  Sure, it's captured, but then what?  It still has to be processed.

Oh yeah, there is a process which makes calcium carbonate out of it.



Texas Senator Ted Cruz Needs Letters Supporting the Second Amendment

Free Republic

Senator Cruz is asking for your help.

Please be willing to submit your thoughts on a relevant topic for Sen.Cruz and the committee to consider in the form of a formal letter to the committee which makes either a pro 2nd Amendment argument or a tells a short, compelling, personal story about how you exercised your 2nd Amendment rights in a positive way, such as in defense of yourself, your family, your business, or how you scared off a robber.

Please submit your stories and statements in MS Word, well-written and clear. Then send as an attachment to the email address of Senator Cruz’s staff below. •Jon_McClellan@cruz.senate.gov

Something of a reminder that this effort to grab our guns is ongoing.

Mediterranean diet good for diabetes, study shows

mercurynews.com/health

A Mediterranean-style diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables and legumes, whole grains, fish, and using olive oil and herbs in place of butter and salt. Saturated fats from red meat and dairy products are typically less than eight percent of total calories consumed.

Looks like the kind of diet my doctor wants me on.  Plus more exercise, but there's little time.


Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Next Big Future: Superconducting Bi-2212 wire that has five times h...

Next Big Future: Superconducting Bi-2212 wire that has five times h...: A group of scientists has discovered how to make better wires using a promising material known as Bi-2212. With this discovery comes the pos...

Comment:

Wondering if this is practical for use in automobiles?


CNN's Ashleigh Banfield: You Should Be Happy About Traffic Jams Because They Mean the Economy's Booming

Ace of Spades blog

Ignore reports of a cratering GDP and rising unemployment -- the real leading economic indicator to keep an eye on is Time in Traffic.

Not necessarily.  Time in Traffic could be incompetent administration, such as what I reported on before.

Biden may be interim president by end of 2013.

Free Republic

Quote:

VERY QUIETLY OBAMA'S CITIZENSHIP CASE REACHES THE SUPREME COURT AP - WASHINGTON D.C.



Comment:

It looks like they may have the goods on Obama.  But will that matter?  Nothing else matters anymore, so why should this?

Here's a question:

What if the Democrats decide to fight this even though they know they are in the wrong?  Then what?

This could be the crossing of the Rubicon as far as this country goes.  The Republic could be declared officially dead if this is proven and Obama doesn't go.



MAB post 12

As a refresher, the MAB is a speculative Microwave Air Breathing Booster.  Maybe it should be MABB, huh?

There were eight specifically named MAB posts, but there were other mentions, so I'll call this one number 12.

Now, here's the latest idea with a speculation alert.

Let's use the maglev to get the booster plus orbital vehicle airborne.  Using a microwave beam, described in earlier posts, boost the two stage launch vehicle high into the atmosphere, where the assembly of two vehicles separate.  The booster returns to base to be reused.  The second stage is a proposed new idea.  Use a nuclear thermal design with the tungsten fuel rods discussed on the Space Show months ago---actually close to a year.

The problem with nuclear thermal is that it doesn't have enough thrust in order to overcome its mass. It cannot be launched from the ground.  But once it is already up and moving, this problem no longer exists.  It only needs a thrust ratio of greater than one to get to orbit and this idea should accomplish that.

By using a tungsten fuel rod, it will overcome the problem of radiation release.

The advantage of using nuclear thermal is that it increases the ISP of the rocket, which means less fuel will be necessary.  Payloads can be larger.

The second stage will also be reusable. It could use the VentureStar's airframe. The oxygen tank can be replace by the nuclear fuel core. Hopefully, the weight should be similar, or even less. The hydrogen tank may be downsized a little, or kept the same size, if necessary. Or it may be larger, should it be required.

Here's a video of the VentureStar.



Electric car idea


Speculation alert:

Here's an idea for an electric car--- use a flywheel.   The flywheel can be relatively small and would take the place of the battery.  Let's say about a 7 kwh flywheel.   If the average of 3 miles per kwh, this would give a range of 20 miles or so.

By the way, let's explain what a flywheel is.  The flywheel is a device which stores energy by spinning at a high rate of speed.   In order to take energy from it, reduce the speed.  To put energy back in, increase speed again.  The speeds can be pretty fast, maybe over 50 thousand RPM.

In addition to the flywheel, add a 20 kwh bank of Aronsson's fuel cells.   There would need to be four 5 kwh fuel cells.  These should fit inside the hood, or somewhere inconspicuous.   It would take 20 kwh of fuel cell capacity in order to keep the vehicle at highway speed, or maximum discharge rate of a battery, or in this case, flywheel.

The fuel cells would be powered by hydrogen, which would be kept at cryolytic temperatures.   The ultra-low temperature of the hydrogen could be an asset as opposed to liability.   For example, add a small Stirling engine.  This would take advantage of the temperature difference between the very low temperature of the hydrogen, plus the outside temperature, or the fuel cells in operation.   Such a device could run all of the electrical accessories and help out with the power system in general.   Furthermore, liquid hydrogen could be used for superconducting bearings which would minimize friction on the flywheel.   That would make the flywheel more efficient.  Finally, the low temperature of liquid hydrogen can be used for climate control ( in conjunction with these other functions).

Finally, you would add in ultra-capacitors for regenerative braking.  Ultra-capacitors can take hundreds of thousands of charge/discharge cycles.  They can't hold much energy, but can give a hefty boost that would come in handy during passing maneuvers and other quick acceleration scenarios.

The benefits of such an arrangement of technology?  It would be best described as longevity.  One problem with batteries is that they need to be replaced.  If the batteries are big enough, that becomes a big job and expensive job.  Contrast that with a flywheel, which is already smaller than a battery to begin with.  Another advantage is compactness in weight and size.  Since all of this must fit on a car, the relatively small size of these various pieces should fit on a car.

Such an arrangement of technologies takes advantage of a number of features of each which complement each other in turn and makes the proposed idea efficient and durable.


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Still not happy with my smartphone

No, I'm not about to give up yet, but this thing is frustrating as hell.

It is way too easy to get an inadvertent touch screen response when I didn't intend to touch it or do something with it.  It is way too sensitive.  You can barely hold the thing without touching something inadvertently.

Some stuff that I'd like to do isn't possible, or it seem impossible for the moment.  For example, I'd like to be able to post to this blog, but the keyboard is way too hard to use.  I'm lucky if I'm able to get a single sentence typed in--- it's that bad.

I've experimented with it a bit, but there doesn't appear to be much that I can do with it, at least for now.  I've used it to make short movies, but the same old problem keeps popping up---sensitive screen, unexpected responses.  If you don't keep touching the screen, the thing will cut off automatically.  Phone calls can do the same thing.  That might be adjustable, but it is all a pain in the neck.

The battery life is pretty short too.  I knew about that, but it is even worse than what I was warned about.  There are batteries on the market and other stuff.  All is not lost on that count, at least.

There's a learning curve to this thing, and that curve may be a bit longer than any reasonable person should expect.  So far, not a good experience.


Why am I not surprised?

Yesterday, I heard that a contributing factor in the Columbia disaster was old heat-shielding tiles.  The tiles were made all in one batch, and kept in a warehouse as they were needed.  Since the shuttles were over 30 years old, the tiles were also over 30 years old, and subject to a greater risk of failure.

Not that it was the cause of the disaster, but what if the tiles were newer and stronger?  Then the shuttle may have survived.  Maybe.  There's no proof of that, or if there is, it may be covered up.  Come to think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.



Next Big Future: Laser based generation of high energy neutrons

Next Big Future: Laser based generation of high energy neutrons: A new compact high-flux source of energetic neutrons has been built by physicists in Germany and the US. The new laser-based device has the...

Quote:

high powered lasers with high repetition have been proposed for high performance space propulsion and for commercial nuclear fusion...according to his calculations, improvements in short-pulse laser systems could make this form of thruster more than 40 times as efficient as even the best of today’s ionic propulsion systems that push spacecraft around. Even at 50 percent efficiency, burning off 40 milligrams of the boron fuel would deliver a gigajoule of energy. The amount of power depends on the laser pulse rate. The motor could generate 1 megawatt per second if the pulses are frequent enough to start reactions that consume that amount of boron in 1000 seconds.[ emphasis added]

Whoa!  If all that is true and pans out, it's a big deal.

Ron Paul Warns Immigration 'Reform' Will Turn The US Into A Police State

Free Republic via marketoracle

As I noted in my most recent book, Liberty Defined, much of our immigration problems would be eliminated were the federal government to simply return to sound money practices and end the welfare incentive for individuals to come to the US illegally. Afterward, what remains of the problem would mostly be solved with a far more generous and flexible guest worker program. Whatever the case, turning the US into a police state in order to fight a hyped up illegal immigration "crisis" is a bad deal for us all.

Comment:

Paul is against E-Verify because it would be too intrusive, it appears.  It would be like a national ID card.

But I think he's a little bit off because you need to prove your birth in order to get a passport.  That's not considered an ID card, but you have to have one if you want to go overseas.  If you can prove your birth, then you can prove your US citizenship.

For those who can't prove their citizenship this way, something could be arranged, I'm sure.

It's no big deal.   Still, I would prefer a smaller, less intrusive system.  But that is less likely than what this is, I suspect.

Tesla Reaches 20,000 Unit Production Rate Annually for Model S

treehugger.com  via Free Republic

This is a big deal because economies of scale; that is, the more you make of something, the less it costs you per unit because you can amortize your fixed costs over more products

Comment:

Bingo.  When you have economies of scale, your costs per unit go down.  Thus, the achievement of economies of scale is overcoming a barrier to entry.  

An electric vehicle could be feasible technically, but not competitive economically because barriers to entry forbid the achievement of economies of scale.  How?  Because economies of scale requires a big factory which costs a lot of money.

There is little incentive for existing manufacturers to do this because it is a revolutionary design which makes their existing models obsolete.  If their existing models become obsolete, they lose a lot of money.

A new player who wants to implement a revolutionary design has to round up the capital to make a big factory and that isn't easy for "unproven" technology.

This is not a contradiction, because the thing that isn't proven is customer acceptance.  It can be proven technically, but if customers can't get it, it can't be proven economically.  It's a chicken and egg dilemma.  Musk is on his way to overcoming that.

Update:

Maybe not so fast.  According to this MarketWatch post, the company's stock is not a buy.  Actually, according to them, the company is bankrupt.

If Tesla is to succeed, they will probably have to do it on the basis of the stock or on Musk's own fortune.  I have confidence in Musk, but I don't believe that the taxpayers should be financing his business.

However, it is in the national interest to stop importing so much oil.  Tough dilemma.  I won't bitch too much if subsidies happen, but if it is so good, people should be supporting it.

That means if you believe in Tesla and Elon Musk, you should buy the stock and/or his car with your own money.  Otherwise, if there is no subsidy, nor if there's no stock purchases or car purchases, there is a great risk that Tesla will fail.

This now puts what was said about the infeasibility of electric cars into perspective.

Update:

Paging Al Gore.  Are you awake, Al Gore?  What about the rest of these big-time liberals.  Where are they on this?  Put up, or shut up.

By the way, Musk says he will make money this year.

Update:

Oh, hell.  What am I thinking about?  Have Uncle Sam give Musk all he needs to make Tesla work.

It's for national security.  No more imported oil.





Tarkenton: Mickelson was right on taxes

usatoday via Instapundit

Mickelson was telling the truth. If there's anything that should upset or insult Americans, it's just how much of their money the government takes.

Comment:

That business about Mickelson reminds me of something that I almost forgot about.

The Mickleson and Culliver episodes lead me to believe that there is an ongoing attempt to silence opposition or even the hint of opposition. This is a rather chilling development because it means that the regime will not tolerate dissent.

It means that they will find a way to get to people in order to shut them up. It could take relatively mild techniques at first, but if resistance starts to mount, then what?

Do you remember the Dixie Chicks episode in the Bush Administration?  The Dixie chicks were claiming censorship then, but the Bush Administration had nothing to do with that.  If is arguable whether there was any censorship at all from any quarter, much less the government, at that time.

The constant and relentless hounding of the media against the Bush administration turned the people against Bush.  Yes, Bush made mistakes, but those mistakes were being magnified all out of proportion to their significance.  Yet Obama's mistakes are minimized or covered up.  The end result is that we are getting a more state controlled economy that is strangling personal initiative in its crib.

There should be concern about the integrity of our information and political systems.  The propaganda combined with the censorship is distorting the political process and I think it is yielding an ominous result that will end in tyranny.

Update:

It is all about the conspiracy to keep you poor and stupid.


Monday, February 4, 2013

'Father of the Prius' Declares Electric Cars 'Not Viable'

breitbart via Free Republic

President Obama made promotion of electric vehicles a key component of his green initiative. Last September, the Congressional Budget Office reported that federal policies to prop up and promote electric cars will cost taxpayers $7.5 billion through 2019. 

Did some reading and an impression given was electric cars are a bad idea from the start---due to laws of thermodynamics.

I hope not.

If all else fails, an intriguing idea would be  flywheel energy storage..

Update:

That bit about the laws of thermodynamics has me a bit suspicious.  I still think there is hostility towards actually making changes that will challenge the status quo.  Even if those changes can be superior in all respects, including economic.

The Tesla would work better if he had used Aronsson's batteries.  Don't know why Musk won't.  Furthermore, Aronsson has fuel cells that would work and Musk wasn't interested in those either.  In my opinion, everything you need for an electric car already exists.  In the case of Aronsson's batteries, those have existed for decades.

There is simply too many economic self-interested people who are anti-electric combined with sincere people who are pro-electric who are making mistakes.  To put it succinctly, there is no will to get this done.



We Are All Going To Die From Inflation Says Bill Gross

pointsandfigures via Instapundit

Credit is now funneled increasingly into market speculation as opposed to productive innovation. Asset price appreciation as opposed to simple yield or “carry” is now critical to maintain the system’s momentum and longevity. Investment banking, which only a decade ago promoted small business development and transition to public markets, now is dominated by leveraged speculation and the Ponzi finance...When does money run out of time? The countdown begins when investable assets pose too much risk for too little return; when lenders desert credit markets for other alternatives such as cash or real assets.
Comments:

If there's a hyperinflation, it may happen pretty fast.

This article reads a lot like the book I reviewed:  Why things are falling apart.  A lot like it, but not exactly like it.  For example, it the economy can produce a "surplus", growth can resume.  Without it, then you have this scenario here.

My take is that you need a growth driver that can produce a surplus.  Hugh-Smith, the author of mentioned book, believes that we took all the low hanging fruit---this is what produced the surplus.  To contrast with Hugh-Smith, if you were to develop something like a aneutronic fusion device ( or something even more plausible, a molten salt reactor ), it could spark a boom in economic activity because of the new surplus.


Texas History

In the few years before the beginning of the Texas Revolution, there was a fact-finding trip made by the central government of Mexico.  If memory serves, it was called the Teran commission.  One recollection from that report was that the observation that the American colonists kept their "constitutions in their hip pockets."

What this meant was that the Texans were considered to be a bad influence upon their people.  Imagine that one.  If your bill of rights is a bad influence, what does that say about your own intentions and attitude towards your own people?

Anyway, the Teran report resulted in a number of measures that were meant to restrict the Texans.  This resulted in a number of protest conventions that eventually led to even greater hostility between the Mexican central government and the residents of Texas.

The uprising in Texas wasn't the only place in Mexico where there was opposition to the regime.  It was the only successful one, however.

Eventually, the government of Mexico decided that they wanted a cannon back from Gonzales.  By the way, Gonzales is just about an hour's drive from San Antonio.  The cannon was to be used a protection against the fierce Indian raids that were visited upon the area from time to time.  It was these fierce Indians that prevented the Mexican population from settling in Texas in the first place.  So, the Mexicans invited the Americans in, and now they were trying to disarm the Americans and leave them defenseless against the Indians.

The first shot of the Texas Revolution occurred in Gonzales when the Texans refused to give up the cannon.

It is reminiscent of what happened in the USA itself at Lexington and Concord.

It is also a reminder of what has happened in the past and could happen again.  Actually, it is happening again.  It has been said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.  Is anyone paying attention?



After watching this government video, I feel so, so safe.


Don't you? /sarc



What's the point in my being so critical?  The government doesn't trust you.  This should raise your antenna a bit.  If the government doesn't trust us, should we trust them?


Al Gore is in the news again

Two things:

1) He wants George Soros to have more say in American politics.  Yeah, right.  That's the ticket.
2) He wants Obama to go around Congress and implement climate change regulations unilaterally.  Oh, yeah.  That's the ticket too.  Just do away with Congress and proclaim Obama king.

What other evidence do you need that the left has dictatorial ambitions?   But there's more, if you've been paying attention.


Theory: Super Bowl was thrown by the refs

There some reports out there that there were several non-calls that went against the 49'ers.  It was a close enough game that the blown calls could have been decisive.  I've heard that the calls weren't even close.  They were flagrantly bad.

Now, why do you suppose that a game that was said to have been called flawlessly up to that point to have such a turn of events?

The game was ruined deliberately.  That was the idea.  Just a thought.



NFL and Boy Scouts

This one about the Boy Scouts threw me for a loop when I first noted it.  I was waiting in a reception area to make a pickup and they had CNN piped into the reception area.  Unbelievable.

So, under pressure from its sponsors, the Boy Scouts are considering allowing gays in.

What's next?  Pedophilia?  That's how it starts.  That's how priests start abusing boys.  The liberals have ruined this country enough already.  But they aren't satisfied even now.

Destroy the Boy Scouts.  Destroy the NFL.   Change you can believe in.

All you have to do is to say no to this.  If the sponsors want to pull funding, then screw them.  They are trying to buy you.  Don't allow yourself to be bought.

But everybody will let themselves be bought and they'll cave in.  They love money more than they love right and wrong.  They'll do anything for a buck.


Why the push for background checks?

You hear more and more about this today.  After reading this post from the Ace of Spades blog, it appears that the government can block the purchase of a weapon on many, many grounds.  Hence, the background check.  They want to prevent more people from owning guns.  Here are the grounds for denying a purchase:

(g) It shall be unlawful for any person—
(1) who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
(2) who is a fugitive from justice;
(3) who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802));
(4) who has been adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution;
(5) who, being an alien—
(A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or
(B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa (as that term is defined in section 101(a)(26) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 (a)(26)));
(6) who has been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions;
(7) who, having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his citizenship;
(8) who is subject to a court order that—
(A) was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice, and at which such person had an opportunity to participate;
(B) restrains such person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child; and
(C)
(i) includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or
(ii) by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or
(9) who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence,


to ship or transport in interstate or foreign commerce, or possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition; or to receive any firearm or ammunition which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce.

Even Obama himself has violated this law, but nothing is done.  I think the point is clear.  YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE ALLOWED TO OWN GUNS.

The $64K question is why the hell not?



WND: Why is government stockpiling guns, ammo?

Joseph Farrah


He seems to have this guy figured out.  He predicted that Obama would appoint Gates as defense secretary because Gates talked about a civilian national security force.

So, that's what the idea is.  It is for a civilian national security force.  That force is intended to wage war on the political opposition.  Obama has declared war on the opposition.

He is setting a new bureaucracy under his direction, the article points out.  The media says nothing.  The Congress does nothing.  Now he wants our guns.

He is an aspiring dictator.  His supporters are cheering him on.

Update:

A thought on this state of affairs.  Since the Senate won't pass a budget, it is up to the House to stop this development.  Yet, the House will do nothing.  How can the House stop this?  The House has the power of the purse.  The House can refuse to approve funds for these purchases.  If the administration won't obige, it can refuse funds across the board.

The House is derelict in its duty.  Why is that so?  Why won't they do something?  Does this mean that the House Republicans approve of this?

Update:

Another thought on this.  Correlating this series of developments with the book Why We Are Falling Apart, one could conclude that the government knows darned well that a collapse is possible and is preparing for the chaos that ensues.  Yet they do nothing about that, either.


Sunday, February 3, 2013

Blog: Seven Reasons Why it's a Photoshop

American Thinker

It is curious that he would feel the need to have a photo like this.  What do you suppose he is trying to accomplish?

Obviously he is trying to fool people, but the question is to what end?  Gun-control? How does that help with gun-control?  Who would be for gun-control just because of this picture?

Things just don't make sense anymore.



Obama, The Left and the National Football League

American Thinker

You mark my words, this business of head injuries and whatever else gets lumped into the cauldron of Pay Me is a Union looking to get paid far beyond the limits of collective bargaining. That means the Left will get paid. Which ultimately means a large part of the money Union players will spend in this coming battle is being spent to ensure the Democratic Party wets its beak in the Owners' profits. The Left and its Unions have mastered this technique and in consequence you're watching the demise of American professional football because of The Chicago Way.
I'm not watching the Super Bowl today.  Not only because my team isn't there, but because it is being turned into something that it was never meant to be.  Same for this country.




Fuss (aka "Bond God") :"Bonds Are The Most Overbought I've Seen In My 55 Year Career

businessinsider  via Free Republic

Interest rates are going to go up.

Yeah, but how much and for how long?  If it lasts very long, the interest on the debt is going to skyrocket.

Kyle Bass warned us about this.

Spree killer says he learned to hate white people in college

topconservativenews.com via Free Republic


When Nkosi Thandiwe shot three white females in Atlanta, the “mainstream” media went into extreme CENSORSHIP mode. It was a top secret in the media that the victims were all beautiful, young white ladies. The Atlanta Journal Constitution even lifted information about one of the victims from a website that contained numerous pictures. The newspaper pretended like the pictures didn’t exist.

 Comment:

The media is hiding the fact that Liberals are teaching racial hatred in our schools.  When something like this happens, they cover it up, like Benghazi.  But let anything happen in the reverse case, of white on black anything, even if it is just the N-word, they are all over it.

The media is the enemy.


Learning about my new smartphone

This is quite frustrating, I assure you.

If I were to write a review of this thing, the words would be quite salty.  This thing is not particularly "smart".

I liked my "dumb" phone better.

Sure, it may take awhile to learn how to use it, but it may be helpful if they actually had instructions.  The user manual is way, way too short.  It is basically sink or swim.   You have to experiment with the darned thing in order to know how to do anything with it.  That tries my patience beyond all belief.  If I hadn't learned how to manage my temper, I think I would have smashed the thing by now.

Oh, well.  I may need to actually write an instruction manual on how to use this thing.  It is totally ridiculous that they don't have some instructions.

By the way, the battery runs down real, real fast.  I had to rig up an extension cord to keep it plugged in so that I could actually figure out how to use the darned thing before the battery ran down, and forced me to recharge.

Arghh!

Update:

I'm making progress.  Just made a little movie and uploaded it to my email.  Now the trick is to get it to youtube, if possible and then embed it here.  That's kinda the plan.

Update:

Success!  Now I can post videos if I want.  What a hoot!  Now all I need to know is what the hell to post.

Update:

I should write down my procedure even if it isn't the best procedure.  I sent it to my email as an attachment and loaded the email from my email page.  Then I saved the video on my desktop and uploaded the video from there.  Now I realize that isn't the best way of doing it but it worked, dammit.








The blog is about solutions, not about conflict

Conflict may sell, so declaring that may hurt the pageviews for the blog.  So be it.  I don't intend to sell out for pageviews.  If you want conflict and doom, go somewhere else.

That allows me to segue into a post I just saw on Via Meadia.  It discusses how to make our system work better.  As opposed to letting it crash and burn.  The post correlates with the book I've just read about the country falling apart.

I'm all for making things work better.  Crashing and burning is what Nero was said to have done while Rome was on fire.  If you get your kicks that way, this blog ain't for you.