Today is a local election being followed nationwide, or so I hear. It hardly matters. The cities are Democrat strongholds. What they want, they'll likely get around here. I pay little attention anymore.
That said, I'm thinking the national scene isn't much better. The conservatives, if they exist, had better get moving before it is too late. It may already be.
The political situation is really bad, but there's still a chance ( don't laugh ) that people may finally see the light.
I didn't vote, as you may guess. It makes little difference here.
Update:
The homosexual ordinance failed. ( No men in women's restrooms.) Thank goodness for miracles. The mayor's race will require a runoff. Another black mayoral candidate is in it, so Houston is still following the pattern set by failed rust belt cities.
Al Fin: "Cowboy Commentary", aka "Eat your veggies" The Flag banner is posted in order to defy those who would make patriotic symbols illegal or disreputable.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
He was really talking about Washington DC
You can still say something like that in this country, but for how much longer?
Before you know it, they'll declare themselves God, and require that you worship them.
Obligatory, 11.3.15; Skylon update
Skylon is the Single Stage To Orbit Spaceplane concept developed by Alan Bond. It's one of the technologies that I like for space travel. It looks like it got a big boost when BAE decided to invest into it.
Frankly, I think they should go "balls to the wall" on the development of it.
Here's a comment on the development at NextBigFuture.
Frankly, I think they should go "balls to the wall" on the development of it.
Here's a comment on the development at NextBigFuture.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Being rich isn't evidence of anything except the ability to make money
The title of this post is a reaction to what Bill Gates is quoted to have said about the subject of climate change.
The trouble here is that a guy who is as rich as Gates is viewed as an authority on any subject just because he is rich. Yet, in my estimation, I am not impressed by Gates' initiatives with respect to energy. For instance, he has a program called TerraPower or something like that. It sounds really impressive, but what Gates may not realize is that everything that TerraPower is trying to do has already been done. It was done with molten-salt reactors forty years ago. Basically, he is just reinventing the wheel. Not only that, but he's not even making as good of a wheel as the original.
I think Gates is really smart about how to make money in selling software. Outside of that core area, he may not be nearly as smart. Maybe not even smart at all.
Throwing money at a problem isn't necessarily an answer either. Once heard a story about how the Americans had spent a lot of money trying to get a pen to write in space. A Russian solved that problem rather easily by giving the American astronaut a pencil. See? Sometimes a problem that seems really hard isn't hard after all. It could be the assumptions underlying the problem. In this example, there wasn't necessarily a need for an ink pen to work, just needed something that would write in space. Didn't matter whether it was an ink pen or not. That wasn't the problem. The problem was in getting something that would write. America has a lot more money than Gates, but the solution to that problem took a pencil that would cost less than a buck.
There was a recent post here about Gates making a new toilet. But you don't need anything high tech in order to improve sanitation. Off-the-grid "solarcabin" LeMar Alexander came up with a solution that uses very simple technology and works. Just don't use water! Or not much of it. Then, let the sun dry it out. Finally, bacteria will break down the waste naturally. No need for anything fancy.
Gates cannot solve these types of problems because he's really not very good at these kinds of problems. If he had to do this for a living, he'd starve. The kinds of problems that Gates is good at is making money with software. This doesn't make him an expert at anything else unless he can demonstrate otherwise.
The trouble here is that a guy who is as rich as Gates is viewed as an authority on any subject just because he is rich. Yet, in my estimation, I am not impressed by Gates' initiatives with respect to energy. For instance, he has a program called TerraPower or something like that. It sounds really impressive, but what Gates may not realize is that everything that TerraPower is trying to do has already been done. It was done with molten-salt reactors forty years ago. Basically, he is just reinventing the wheel. Not only that, but he's not even making as good of a wheel as the original.
I think Gates is really smart about how to make money in selling software. Outside of that core area, he may not be nearly as smart. Maybe not even smart at all.
Throwing money at a problem isn't necessarily an answer either. Once heard a story about how the Americans had spent a lot of money trying to get a pen to write in space. A Russian solved that problem rather easily by giving the American astronaut a pencil. See? Sometimes a problem that seems really hard isn't hard after all. It could be the assumptions underlying the problem. In this example, there wasn't necessarily a need for an ink pen to work, just needed something that would write in space. Didn't matter whether it was an ink pen or not. That wasn't the problem. The problem was in getting something that would write. America has a lot more money than Gates, but the solution to that problem took a pencil that would cost less than a buck.
There was a recent post here about Gates making a new toilet. But you don't need anything high tech in order to improve sanitation. Off-the-grid "solarcabin" LeMar Alexander came up with a solution that uses very simple technology and works. Just don't use water! Or not much of it. Then, let the sun dry it out. Finally, bacteria will break down the waste naturally. No need for anything fancy.
Gates cannot solve these types of problems because he's really not very good at these kinds of problems. If he had to do this for a living, he'd starve. The kinds of problems that Gates is good at is making money with software. This doesn't make him an expert at anything else unless he can demonstrate otherwise.
Obligatory, 11.2.15; Computer is down
This post is being composed off-line. It is quite the experience now when there's no internet. It is like being without electricity, in a sense. You really feel the loss when it occurs.
Not that I'm without internet access. I can use my phone in order to access the net, but for these purposes, I won't be doing that now.
Nothing's wrong with the internet connection. I'm just updating the desktop. While I'm doing that, the internet connection is turned off. Don't know if this helps, but it cannot hurt.
The desktop goes idle for weeks at a time sometimes, so it is a big deal to get it going again. I need to use it for something, but in order to use it, it has to be updated.
What to write about? Well, that business about Sierra Blanca pretty much tells the story about the USA. Here you have a great opportunity, and the people there aren't able to see it, and respond negatively to it. There was also plans to use the area for a nuclear waste dump.
That would also be an opportunity. A HUGE opportunity. In combination with the sewage dump, you could use a molten-salt reactor to make ammonia fuel. Ship that ammonia to California, which could use it in its hydrogen highway program. The Japanese are set to begin producing hydrogen fuel cell cars, which can use the hydrogen that could be easily obtained from the ammonia.
Beginning in California, you could build out to the entire nation.
But what if the Californians refuse to accept the ammonia? You could burn the ammonia and collect the water. The area would have a large water supply which could be used to grow crops.
This is all a possibility even now, but people will find ways to block it, which is unfortunate. We are wondering why the economy won't grow. It is stuff like this that holds the economy back.
Here I am wondering how to make a living out there when the chance of a lifetime exists, but you can't take advantage of it.
All of that big time stuff will have to be set aside. What my problem is is to make a living out there, and my plan is to drive for Uber in El Paso, and come back out there to farm some crops.
With some research over the weekend, I was able to find a place I could rent for about $350 month, utilities included. I could buy a trailer for $3800, set it up out there, and move out there as early as April first of next year. There's some uncertainty involved, and some risk that things won't work out as planned.
But you don't know until you try. It has been over six months since my last visit. Who knows what condition the shack is in. This month, I could go out there on the Thanksgiving weekend and check it all out.
Not that I'm without internet access. I can use my phone in order to access the net, but for these purposes, I won't be doing that now.
Nothing's wrong with the internet connection. I'm just updating the desktop. While I'm doing that, the internet connection is turned off. Don't know if this helps, but it cannot hurt.
The desktop goes idle for weeks at a time sometimes, so it is a big deal to get it going again. I need to use it for something, but in order to use it, it has to be updated.
What to write about? Well, that business about Sierra Blanca pretty much tells the story about the USA. Here you have a great opportunity, and the people there aren't able to see it, and respond negatively to it. There was also plans to use the area for a nuclear waste dump.
That would also be an opportunity. A HUGE opportunity. In combination with the sewage dump, you could use a molten-salt reactor to make ammonia fuel. Ship that ammonia to California, which could use it in its hydrogen highway program. The Japanese are set to begin producing hydrogen fuel cell cars, which can use the hydrogen that could be easily obtained from the ammonia.
Beginning in California, you could build out to the entire nation.
But what if the Californians refuse to accept the ammonia? You could burn the ammonia and collect the water. The area would have a large water supply which could be used to grow crops.
This is all a possibility even now, but people will find ways to block it, which is unfortunate. We are wondering why the economy won't grow. It is stuff like this that holds the economy back.
Here I am wondering how to make a living out there when the chance of a lifetime exists, but you can't take advantage of it.
All of that big time stuff will have to be set aside. What my problem is is to make a living out there, and my plan is to drive for Uber in El Paso, and come back out there to farm some crops.
With some research over the weekend, I was able to find a place I could rent for about $350 month, utilities included. I could buy a trailer for $3800, set it up out there, and move out there as early as April first of next year. There's some uncertainty involved, and some risk that things won't work out as planned.
But you don't know until you try. It has been over six months since my last visit. Who knows what condition the shack is in. This month, I could go out there on the Thanksgiving weekend and check it all out.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Did the people in Sierra Blanca Tx screw up?
This is with respect to the sewage sludge dump situation that they had not too long ago. To me, this looked like an opportunity, not a liability. Here's a place that could really use an opportunity, because if there's one thing that town needs is an economic base. Outside of government, there's nothing there. It's the county seat and it is close to the border checkpoint. That's it.
If you google the town and check out the pics that they have, then you will easily see. I know the town a little having visited there several times. That's basically what the town looks like. Old, dilapidated, abandoned buildings, and no businesses. What a difference it would make to have a thriving business in the area.
The sewage dump was handled wrong, I suspect. They just wanted to use the place to dump the sewage on the ground. Instead of doing that, they could have turned it into power and products.
I looked into trying it myself, but that's too big of a risk for me. If I were to do it, first I would try a pilot project to show that it can be done. Then, I'd scale it up so that it can take sewage sludge from any place that wanted to use the facility.
One thing that you may be able to make is some building aggregate. You can use it for improving roads in the area. That place needs some good roads. You could use the syngas for energy, or to make ammonia for use in agriculture in the area, or to make energy to sell. They could convert vehicles to ammonia use and virtually have free fuel.
Looks to me like an opportunity lost.
If you google the town and check out the pics that they have, then you will easily see. I know the town a little having visited there several times. That's basically what the town looks like. Old, dilapidated, abandoned buildings, and no businesses. What a difference it would make to have a thriving business in the area.
The sewage dump was handled wrong, I suspect. They just wanted to use the place to dump the sewage on the ground. Instead of doing that, they could have turned it into power and products.
I looked into trying it myself, but that's too big of a risk for me. If I were to do it, first I would try a pilot project to show that it can be done. Then, I'd scale it up so that it can take sewage sludge from any place that wanted to use the facility.
One thing that you may be able to make is some building aggregate. You can use it for improving roads in the area. That place needs some good roads. You could use the syngas for energy, or to make ammonia for use in agriculture in the area, or to make energy to sell. They could convert vehicles to ammonia use and virtually have free fuel.
Looks to me like an opportunity lost.
Obligatory, 11.1.15; Liberty Healthshare
Probably about 3 years ago, I read about something like this. It isn't a traditional health insurance type setup. What you do is pay for somebody else's health care; and when you need it, somebody else will pay for yours. It's banding together for the common good of all, without the government. It is also good enough to exempt you from ObamaCare, which I dislike very much. I could opt for something like this.
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