Secrets in a Shipwreck

“Secrets in a Shipwreck” is the title of a National Geographic article from June 2009. It describes the treasures of gold, silver, and ceramics found in the Gelasa Strait between Bangka and Belitung Indonesia. The ceramics come from the Hunan Province kilns and were dated from AD 826. The ship carrying the estimated 60,000 pieces to the Middle East to market was a 9th century Arab dhow.

When I read the article, I wondered what flowed in the opposite direction to pay for the goods manufactured in China? Has such a shipwreck ever been found? What did it contain? I also found it interesting that China has been exporting goods for over a millennia! Of course now, it is all containerized on mammoth ships instead of Arab dhows.

Light Sport Aircraft for $25,000

I was day-dreaming the other day about flying (what else) and convinced myself that I would purchase a new light sport aircraft if it cost $25,ooo or less. I thought about that for awhile and then I remembered that the Ercoupe models 415 C and 415 CD fit the rules for LSA and are standard category aircraft. A quick search on Barnstormers.com produced a number of Ercoupes for sale in the $20,000 to $25,000 range - just what I was looking for. The original Ercoupes didn't have rudder pedals, since control of the rudders was "mixed" with the ailerons and elevator. The tricycle gear was also a plus , since I don't have a tail wheel endorsement.

However, I have heard that they are underpowered, but a number of them have been upgraded to 85 horsepower. I would certainly want that at my home field elevation of 4,200 feet. The aircraft is also supposed to be easy to land, especially in a stiff crosswind, due to the simplified controls. The wings come in two flavors, fabric covered metal and metal covered. I understand that the fabric wings are lighter, giving an greater useful load. (LSA max gross is 1320 pounds.)

Bottom line - I got my wish. There is a LSA ready to fly for $25,000. They just happen to have all been built in the 40's and 50's.

I still haven't given up my daydream. I wonder what Burt Rutan and Scaled composites could come up with for a LSA? What if I had a prize named after myself called the Rex prize for the first LSA with a MSRP of $25,000? I would love to see Burt's approach to the design. The choice of engines would really be limited, since the darling of most current LSAs is the Rotax 912/914, which retails for over $20,000! Maybe Burt would pick a VW conversion?

For more info on LSAs, click here:

http://www.sportpilot.org/learn/lsa/standard_certificate_aircraft.html

Utopia the 13th part 13

Just like a sequel to a bad B movie, tonight was the "hearing" on pouring yet more money into the misnamed Utopia project in Brigham City. The "for" and "against" groups had only 10 minutes each to have a few people represent their entire group by addressing the mayor and council. The place was also packed on both floors and in the lobby.

I had prepared a speech, but I only had time to read the last four points I wanted to make. Here is what I read.

1. This is a lame duck council and mayor. I believe that it is inappropriate for them to vote on this issue. The vote can wait for the new mayor and city council to be seated.
2. If more money is committed against my wishes, what guarantee do we have that the money won’t just go into a black hole. Any funds should be held in escrow and not released until actual completion milestones are verified. This also should have been done from day one.
3. ATK just announced today 800 more layoffs. I don’t need to remind everybody that they are one of the biggest employers in the state and this will affect Brigham City at the exact time that your previous Utopia obligations are coming due.
4. If there is one thing that should come of this experience it should be that 5 people, the mayor and council, should never have had the authority to issue bonds without a referendum of the voters. Imagine 5 people having the legal authority to commit 17,000 to pay for a project called Utopia. George Orwell should have named his novel 2009.

In the end, it was a done deal. The mayor and all the council members except for Ruth Jensen voted for the further indebtedness to pay for the "Special Assessment Bonds for the Purpose of Financing the Cost of Acquiring and Constructing Improvements and Facilities for the Purpose of Connecting Properties to the UTOPIA Fiber Optic Telecommunications Network". Council member Scott Ericson was absent, but Mayor Christensen read his statement, which led me to believe that he would have voted in favor also.

Ruth Jensen was the only dissenting voice and asked that the bond be postponed for a real public hearing and to allow people to rescind or reverse their desire to sign up for a $3,000 connection fee, which will become a 20 year lien on their property at $25 per month. That sure seemed reasonable to me.

At an intermission, I shook hands with Mayor-Elect Dennis Fife. He thanked me for my comments and I wished him good luck, since he will be inheriting these financial time bombs when he takes office next month.

I also got to speak with Royce from the Utah Taxpayers Association. I sat next to him during the "for" comments. I had so many sarcastic zingers that I thought of and wanted to share with him, but didn't think that would gain me any points with others sitting around me.

I will share one zinger. Reese Jensen said that he fully supported Utopia and that it had cost him the election, but 80% of callers in the last week had indicated to him their support. I guess those 80% were sick on election day!

The meeting gave me the chance once again to see the beast of representative democracy up close and personal. Reese Jensen explained how he was doing this because he felt an obligation to Utopia's sister cities and that it was also in Brigham City's best interest even though the voters roundly defeated his mayoral candidacy more that 2 to 1 in favor of Mayor-elect Fife this past November. So, Reese represents the voters of Brigham City, but they don't know what is best for the city, while he feels an obligation to the other Utopia cities. This is a complete inversion of logic!

One last irony. It brought great satisfaction to my soul to see the snake oil salesmen from Utopia on their wireless devices!!!! They're bilking hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers by exaggerating the ecstasies of fiber-to-the-home while texting their colleague across the room!

Final Score:
FOR: Mayor Lou Ann Christensen
Bruce Christensen
Reese Jensen
Bob Marabella
Scott Ericson (absent but his written comments were in favor of the bond)

AGAINST:
Ruth Jensen

PS. I posted this over copper wire on a 1.5 Mbit DSL connection. Neener-Neener. Who's your daddy, mayor and council?

Delegates, can you count this high?

Seven hundred seventy days during this solar minimum without a sunspot. I wonder if the delegates in Copenhagen can count this high? I hope they get frostbite or at least a really good case of the chills.

Rocket Science Diet

I want to add my two cents to all the other diets out there. I will call it the "Rocket Science Diet" for some obvious personal reasons. Here it goes.

1. Eat less of everything you like. Cut the portions you are used to into thirds and freeze the other 2 parts for tomorrow, the day after, or next week. Your budget and your waistline will thank me.

2. Get rid of the soft drinks. I have seen so much anecdotal evidence of this. I frequently see obese people toting the 256 oz bladder bursters from the local QT or 7-11. The high fructose corn syrup sweetener in the soft drinks is not good for you - avoid it. If you must have a soda get a Coke bottled in Mexico with real sugar and limit yourself to one a day.

3. Get some exercise. You are not going to shed the weight unless you eat less and get more exercise. I know that's not Rocket Science and it's not a magic pill, but those folks promising effortless weight loss are liars!

To summarize the Rocket Science Diet, eat less, exercise more, and avoid high fructose corn syrup.

Seven Hundred Sixty One

That's the number of days without sunspots in the current solar minimum. It's starting to look like the start of the Maunder Minimum. I bet it's a combination of CFCs, evil fossil fuels, DDT and deforestation that are causing the sunspots to disappear! All would be well if the universe were rid of you dastardly humans!

Some things need no commentary

Liquid Motor Fuels

It may come as a revelation to some folks, but switchgrass will burn just like it is. It fuels wild prairie fires. So here's my question: Why would anyone want to turn it into a liquid motor fuel? If there were really any economic value to it as a fuel, a dried, baled and solid state would be orders of magnitude better than wasting resources turning it into a liquid fuel. I suspect that 5 or 10% of the coal at any coal-fired power plant could be replaced with switchgrass (or corn, wood, sagebrush, trash, etc.) without any retrofits or adjustments and without any increase in emissions. This could potentially reduce (slightly) the pressure on oil and natural gas fired power plants. But let simple, unfettered economics decide, not the diktat of some politician or bureaucrat.

I strongly believe that future generations will look back at our nonsensical, mystical, feel-good attempts at "saving the earth" as we do the human sacrifices of the Aztecs or the Incas. How could an intelligent people that built such a civilization like this be capable of such profoundly irrational thought and behaviour?

Plasma, Plasma, Plasma, Plasma

If I ever went back to do graduate work at the university, I would like to study about plasma. Here are some pictures of different ways that I have made plasma in the garage.

Harold Aspden's Triaxial Capacitor

Dr. Harold Aspden of the UK has been writing about energy for some time. His latest book is called "Creation, The Physical Truth". He has theorized about some possible devices to extract energy from what he terms vacuum spin. I have made some humble attempts to put his ideas into a testable prototype, but have not yet had any success in extracting energy. I am looking for others to colloborate with. If you are interested, please send me a message.

Green Technology

Are compact florescent light bulbs living up to their promise? My experience says definitely not! Here is a picture of all the ones that have failed me. This represents roughly half of the ones that I have purchased and they generally failed after a few months to a year - nothing like the 5 to 7 years to pay back their acquisition cost in saved electricity. I believe that they are more efficient in electricity use when compared with incandescent bulbs, but not when their purchase price and reliability are factored in!

Now, when I see Phillips advertisements for compact florescent light bulbs, I think of the Marlboro man hawking cigarettes. Both are trying to get you to buy something that doesn't benefit you by appealing to your concern for the environment or the allure of the open range. It's called marketing.

The trouble is that the more "Green" claims I personally investigate, the more seem to be unworkable scams that appeal to nebulous, good-for-the-environment types.

Steal My Idea #1

I'm now trying to give away some of my ideas, after years of entertaining the delusion of patenting them. I finally reached the conclusion that patents are stupid and only favor the already established, both in legal representation and money. Additionally, companies are so afraid of getting sued by some would-be inventor that they will plug their ears and sing la la la la la when you mention that you have an "idea" that they might be interested in.

This idea uses ordinary fence brackets, like those made by Simpson http://www.strongtie.com/ My idea is to put some double-backed adhesive foam on the bracket to hold it on the fence post while you install the screws. Simply measure for the location of the bracket, remove the release paper from the double-backed adhesive, and press the bracket to the fence post. Then, install the screws to complete the bracket. The adhesive makes it easy to do, without needing a third hand.

Take look at the photos to get a good concept of my idea. Steal it and make millions!

Not Enough Juice

"Not Enough Juice", that's the title of a recent editorial in Machine Design by Leland Teschler (http://machinedesign.com/article/leland-teschlers-editorial-not-enough-juice-reality-and-alternative-energy-0519). I recommend the entire article. It is well worth reading, but I will summarize the basic facts.

Siemens recently announced a order for 33 of its 2.3 MW wind turbines for a project in North Dakota.

It would take 13,000 of these 2.3 MW wind turbines spinning at full speed to power New York City; and 50,000 of these to meet the peak eletricity demand of the Big Apple.

It will take 2 years to install the 33 wind turbines in North Dakota. At that rate, it would take until 2797 to install the 13,000 wind turbine to power New York City.

Talk about tilting at windmills! What a waste of capital to build these medieval devices merely updated with modern materials.

I prefer compact, safe, clean nuclear power.

No Batteries

In a previous blog I wrote about electric cars without batteries. I made the assertion that batteries are not needed, just electrified roads powered by nuclear plants. Now, I see that SEW Eurodrive actually makes a contactless energy transfer system for industrial use, including automatic guided vehicles. I haven't investigated this technology beyond reading their brochure, but it sure seems like this might work. The literature claims it possible to have a air gap of 20mm (almost an inch). You can check it out for yourself at http://www.sew-eurodrive.com/download/pdf/11452617.pdf

Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency

I have been fuming about this raging stupidity known as the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, or UTOPIA, for years. Steam has been coming from my ears and I have been sputtering about how ridiculous I find the whole thing. So, I finally condensed my opposition into one reason. The reason I hate UTOPIA is because I am being coerced into paying for it. So there it is in one simple sentence. Let me repeat. I hate UTOPIA because I am coerced into paying for it.

Never mind that the whole idea behind it is a delusion, the business model sucks, the name is infantile, it has no accountability, its principals pretend to have never heard of the Rigas family or WorldCom or iProvo or etc, etc.

None of that would matter one whit to me if "my" property had not been put up as collateral for the bonds being used to build the network. Brigham City Council twice voted to use tax revenue as collateral to obtain the bonds and tax revenue to ultimately pay the bonds, if the venture fails.

Utah has long been the target of schemers, shysters, and conmen, some of who are smart enough to go for the deep pockets!

Batteries?

Batteries are the Achilles' heel of electric cars and always will be. It's a fact of chemistry and physics. However, I submit to you that electric cars really don't need stupid, unobtainable, heavy, expensive, low-power density batteries any more than they need to carry the road with them.

Modern, gas-burning cars need roads. Look out your window in any direction and you will see this reality. Cars that don't need roads are called four-wheelers or Off Road Vehicles (ORV). Now, I don't think that the greens are really suggesting that we develop electric ORVs, so we can conclude that electric cars are intended to be used on roads (infrastructure). Thus, if electric cars need roads to function, then they don't need batteries. Here's why - electric power can be added into the existing roads and the electric cars can pick-up the power they need from the road. Only a small battery would be required to take the car from the garage to the electrified road. The driver could even be billed monthly for the electricity used since the car could connect to the road grid with a unique IP-like address, similar to a cell phone or other wireless device and keep track of the kilowatt-hours used.

Of course, a nuclear power plant would have to be "connected" to the road, or what would be the point of burning coal instead of gasoline? This arrangement would also have the added benefit of supporting both gasoline powered cars and electric cars at the same time.

Note: Non-contact power transmission devices have been available for industrial uses for a few years. I believe that they could serve as a model for the type of electric car that I am talking about.

Peak Uranium

I want to be the first to predict the coming shortage and potential crisis if humanity becomes dependent on nuclear power. I have dubbed this looming catastrophe, "Peak Uranium". Based on known supplies of uranium and breeder reactor technology, humanity will reach the peak of production of uranium in approximately 2 billion years. We need to act now to prevent this cataclysm! This crisis is as critical to the survival of the planet as is global warming. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away!

Seriously, folks, breeder reactor technology has the ability to provide all of humanity with the energy it needs for as long as this planet is estimated to be habitable (3 to 5 billion years) See Abundant US Energy-Supply Options for the Very Long Term, by S. S. Penner http://www.ddponline.org/penner08.pdf

By the way, I have addressed the non-issue of nuclear waste in a previous post. Mr. Penner also further comments about this non-issue in the above link.

Killing General Aviation

The June 2009 issue of Kitplanes has a very relevant editorial by Marc Cook, entitled "Airport Security: Out of hand and getting worse". He concludes the article: "If you had a master plan to kill general aviation in this country, I can't think of a better one than to combine obscene and ineffective security rules with a brutally bad economy". I couldn't agree more!

As a kid, I lived on a bluff overlooking the Elko, Nevada Municipal Airport. I used to ride my bike to the airport and just look around. One afternoon two Mustangs flew over the city and landed. I easily persuaded my dad to quickly take me to the airport. He grabbed his camera and us kids piled in the car. In those halcyon days anyone could wander out on the ramp and see the planes. Here are pictures of the two Mustangs as proof. One of them was the "Red Baron" of Reno Air Race fame.

In addition to the profane costs of flying that have devastated general aviation for decades due to the monopoly of FAA certification, we now have to deal with the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration. I bet if those names were translated into Russian or German their letters would be NKVD or SS. But hey, that's the price we pay for living in a free country!

More Slogans

I came across this tidbit in the Mesa, Arizona CAF Museum on a box of matches: Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer. One People, One Nation, One Leader. They called it the fuhrerprinzip. W called it the unitary executive. One wonders what Obama will call it? I hope I live to see the end of the evil done in the name of nationalism.

The Biggest of the Big Lies

This is a whopper of a lie. Who could even imagine that the sun, which is the dynamo that drives our climate, is at a 100 year low in solar activity? You would never know from the rubbish that masquerades as news. Google "sunspots" and find out for yourself. Lack of sunspots is correlated with cooler, wetter weather. Direct, observational data of sunspots goes back over 400 years and the sun is currently very quiet with over 200 days without sunspots in 2008. No one understands the physics that drive these solar cycles, yet we are to believe global circulation models that predict anthropogenic global warming when the biggest input into the models is not understood by scientists!

An Improbable Place

Lambayeque, Peru is a very improbable place, or at least it was very improbable that I visited the very factory that makes King Kong. Here is a picture of some that my in-laws just brought back from Peru. Yum Yum.

One Gram

Part of the reason that I became an engineer was to solve or at least contribute to the solution of some of mankind’s problems - like the alleged energy crisis. However, after I graduated from engineering school and when I gained a little more wisdom and years, I learned that there weren’t really all that many bonafide technical problems facing mankind. And most certainly there is NOT an energy crisis.

Wrap your mind around this fact. Fat Man, the plutonium bomb that the US dropped on Nagasaki released the binding energy of one (Yes, Virginia ONE) gram of plutonium, “one third of the weight of a penny! A number of kilograms of plutonium were in the bomb, but the amount that actually released its binding energy and created the fireball was one gram. E (twenty kilotons) equals m (one gram) times the square of the speed of light.” (McPhee, John, The Curve of Binding Energy, pg 163.) I am not advocating nuclear war or weapons, but I use this fact to simply demonstrate the awesome amount of energy that can be harnessed from the atom.

I consider the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki a war crime perpetrated by Truman et al, but that is not my point. My point is that nuclear energy (binding energy found in the nucleus of the atom) can provide mankind with abundant energy for peaceful uses. All of mankind, all abundantly supplied with energy. I have already addressed the non-problem of nuclear waste in an earlier blog.

So, providing energy to mankind is not a technical problem yet to be solved. It is a moral crisis confronting the opinion and policy makers (did I repeat myself?) in the industrialized countries. Will they continue to deny the world abundant, cheap, clean, peaceful nuclear power in pursuit of their green elitist utopian fantasies? Or will they finally have a gram of compassion for the world’s masses? That is a problem that no engineer has been trained to solve.

Stupid criminals

A recent search for “stupid criminals” on Google yielded 1.75 million hits. Americans really seem to love the proverbial stories of idiots whose shoe size is larger than their IQ. Here is a typical one: “An employee of the Lucky Buffet noticed a strange sight on arriving at the restaurant. There were legs hanging out of a vent over the grill! 45-year-old Billy Jordan had tried to enter the restaurant the night before by climbing through the ductwork, but became stuck and stayed there for ten hours. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue workers used a rope to pull Jordan back out through the roof, after which he was arrested for burglary.”

Maybe we like these stories so much because they make us feel smarter. Well, duh, they make crayfish feel smarter! But what about smart criminals? Do we every hear about them? Another Google search for “smart criminals” produced 13.3 millions hits but the first 2 pages of hits weren’t really about smart criminals, but simply more stories about criminals who did dumb things and eventually were apprehended.

I submit that there are really smart criminals and lots of them out there. They are so astute that the crimes they commit are not even crimes, but necessary features of society. I have in mind the banksters of the federal reserve.

For example, having Tim Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury is like having convicted sex offenders running the national rape crisis hotline. These banksters have stolen trillions(!) of dollars for the benefit of themselves and their friends and it isn’t even a crime, but a necessary part of “getting the economy working again” and “providing liquidity to help the economy”. Murray Rothbard has written lucidly and extensively about this gang of criminals. His writings and many other explanatory articles can be found at http://www.mises.org/.

Feddle Gummint

A good friend and colleague got the pink slip on Tuesday. He was very surprised, but seems to be coming to terms with it. He did get paid for 2 weeks plus a relatively (these days) generous severance package. There in lies the rub. Here is what he said, “Would you believe that they're going to take out 38 percent for taxes! (25% federal, 5% state, and 8% FICA.) Where's the stimulus?”

This has always amazed and angered me. The rotten IRS makes companies withhold at a higher rate on final checks, such as a severance check. Talk about kicking a guy when he is down! Why isn’t the regular rate of withholding enough? Or how about letting those who lose their jobs have their severance without having to pay any income tax? How would that be? Couldn’t Obama sign an executive order instructing the IRS to go easy on those who lose their jobs? How hard could that be? Bush signed executive orders creating Gitmo, denying American citizens their rights, and setting up secret torture prisons around the world. Obama has ordered attacks on Pakistan by unmanned Predator aircraft and struck down a rule that prohibits U.S. money from funding international family-planning clinics that promote abortion or provide counseling or referrals about abortion services. Tax money for foreign abortions yes; some slack for the long suffering American taxpayers, no way!

AIG gets $170 billion in bailout money that still has not saved the company, but Joe Sixpack gets screwed out of his severance. My friend won’t get that extra withholding back until he files his tax returns a year from now, if ever. That’s criminal!! Government by the banksters, of the banksters, and for the banksters!! So help us God!

Alternative Aircraft Engines - Kitplanes May 2009

I just received the latest issue of Kitplanes (May 2009) and to my surprise, there are a couple of articles on alternative aircraft engines. I read the first one by Larry Simpson, which describes his building experiences with a RV-7A. He and his wife spent four years building and engineering the installation of a Eggenfellner Subaru H6 engine.

His first flight "lasted a total of 17 seconds, and the second half of it was unpowered. A basic electrical design flaw that was entirely my responsibility resulted from my miscalculating the power requirements of the Subaru engine computer during sustained full-power operation. A critical circuit breaker popped just as I passed about 80 feet. A long runway and lots of dead-stick practice as a glider pilot made this practically a non-event."

In my opinion this particular alternative aircraft engine installation, despite the builders' skill and dedication does not have any of the qualities that I desire. It doesn't appear to be any cheaper than a conventional Lycoming IO-360. The reliability of the custom firewall forward is unproven and it seems to weigh quite a bit more than a conventional Lycoming installation. When I consider all the time and effort that went into alternative engine, I wonder why anyone would do this? I suspect the builders could have been flying a proven engine two years sooner with a lighter plane and a heavier wallet. I admire their dedication, but I think life is too short for people to spend doing one-off installations of alternative engines that are not significantly cheaper than conventional aircraft engines.

I believe that the VW and Corvair conversions offer what I am looking for - significant savings, demonstrated reliability (100's to 1000's of installations) with available firewall forward packages. Of course, these engines are limited to 70 hp for the VW and 100 for the Corvair. I'll have to content myself with finding a small plane that can be powered by one of these.

There is No Such Thing as Nuclear Waste

A friend of mine recently gave me a copy of an article from the Wall Street Journal, by William Tucker, entitled There is No Such Thing as Nuclear Waste. It was excellent. You can access the entire article here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123690627522614525.html. Here is one of the gems that it contains, "Ninety-five percent of a spent fuel rod is plain old U-238, the nonfissionable variety that exists in granite tabletops, stone buildings and the coal burned in coal plants to generate electricity. Uranium-238 is 1% of the earth's crust. It could be put right back in the ground where it came from."

Mr. Tucker has written a book entitled "Terrestrial Energy: How Nuclear Power Will Lead the Green Revolution and End America's Long Energy Odyssey". I hope that his book is as good as his editorial in the WSJ!

Stupid chain e-mail

Recently, a well meaning relative sent me a stupid e-mail. (Actually she sends a lot of them. No, it's not my Mom!) The subject of the e-mail made me so mad that I wrote the following response. After my response, I will include the text of the e-mail for your reading pleasure.

My response:

Let’s start with Truman and put to rest this colossally bad idea. He is the only person in history to order not one, but two nuclear attacks against civilians (that’s what Hiroshima and Nagasaki were/are – cities - civilization – civil - civilians). He was also complicit in the illegal, unconstitutional, immoral and extrajudicial detention and internment of innocent American citizens of Japanese descent. He was and remains an immoral midget and any argument that he did something and we should follow his example is morally bankrupt.

Secondly, I seriously doubt that the job demographics of undocumented aliens and Iraq and Afghanistan veterans overlaps to any significant extent.

Next, let’s leave aside the moral ramifications of this proposed deportation for a moment to discuss some of the other side effects.

The results would be rather predictable. The hideous violence necessary to repatriate these people – tearing them from their families, children, homes, communities, lives, jobs, businesses, etc., would bring down the governments of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and perhaps Wyoming, Idaho, New Jersey and New York. The government of Mexico would be overthrown if it did nothing to intervene and who knows but what the narcos would take complete control in the DF. The accelerated destruction of the Bill of Rights (even beyond Dubya and his gulag of torture) necessary in identifying these undocumented aliens could also lead to full blown civil war in the rest of the United States. Neighbors would become snitches, perhaps thinking they might get some of the possessions left behind by the deportees. Could pogroms be far behind?

And if the US somehow accomplished this deportation? What will it have achieved beyond the Hitleresque crimes themselves? Will the United States be prosperous and free again? Will the disturbed Iraq and Afghanistan veterans be employed in construction, landscaping, domestic help, and fast food industries? Or will they inhabit the homeless shelters like their colleagues still do from the Vietnam war?

What are you really trying to do by deporting 12 million people? What is the objective? To give jobs to returning veterans? A lot of them are going to need medical and psychiatric care for the rest of their lives – forget about jobs for these veterans. With luck, a large part of the rest of them will be able to integrate into peaceful society. If your objective is for these veterans to have jobs, try the following ideas that don’t involve violence. Eliminate capital gains tax, eliminate income taxes on new business (and old businesses, for that matter), slash the red tape involved with starting new businesses, don’t bailout another single bank, deregulate business, freeze the money supply, etc.

In short, let the money and the people be free from government manipulation! Entrepreneurs will then create jobs for returning veterans and everyone else besides and without violent revolutions at home and abroad.

This was the stupid e-mail:


This is something to think about. Consider the loss of jobs right now and` the cost to you, the tax payer. Then ask why would we keep them here illegally. The new president says he will bring home all the troops from the Middle East , where will they work, there are little jobs now?

THREE PRESIDENTS
The people that are in Washington , tell us they can not deport 12 million illegals! We` probably need to vote all of them out of office and send them back to school to learn history! We pay more to illegals in welfare than it would cost to deport them! Our career politicians need to work for the voters and the good of the United States of America , not the lobbyist and big business.

HOOVER , TRUMAN AND EISENHOWER Here is something that should be of great interest for you to pass around. I didn't know of this until it was pointed out to me. But, back during The Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover ordered the deportation of ALL illegal aliens in order to make jobs available to American citizens that desperately needed work. Harry Truman deported over two million Illegal's after WWII to create jobs for returning veterans. And then again in 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower deported 4 million Mexican nationals! The program was called 'Operation Wetback' so that American WWII and Korean veterans had a better chance at jobs. It took 2 Years, but they deported them! Now, if they could deport the illegals back then, they can sure do it today!!

If you have doubts about the veracity of this information, enter Operation Wetback into your favorite search engine and confirm it for yourself.
Reminder. Don't forget to pay your taxes... 12 million Illegal Aliens are depending on` you.

TV

I've often considered the unrealistic worldview created by TV and movies and what do you know, I read something the other day that was spot on. So, I will quote directly from Kerry Patterson of VitalSmarts:

". . .TV is no better. It often teaches us that the good life consists of sitting around with friends, flirting and playing—and nobody has to work very much in order to afford outlandishly upscale New York apartments. Plus by using their magical clocks, the main characters are able to spend all of their perceivable time goofing off with their friends, yet somehow still have time to meet people and have amazingly active and glamorous dating lives as well as successful careers. How does that work? It’s all part of decoupling action from consequence. Selfish and unrealistic lifestyles lead to fun—not the heartache and deprivation that would likely ensue. . . "

When I read this, Friends immediately came to mind!

Alternative Aircraft Engines

I have been investigating the Corvair engine as a possible alternative aircraft engine. I even bought a conversion manual from William Wynne, "The Corvair Authority" http://www.flycorvair.com/. This engine seems to fit the bill of being inexpensive, with readily available parts and components, reliable, powerful (100 hp) and light. It is a direct drive engine (no gear or belt reduction drive) and has been used for decades in experimental aircraft.

I also think that the VW based alternative aircraft engines are good candidates, but have less power (about 80 hp) since they are 4 cylinder engines with smaller displacement. The ones that I have looked are the AeroVee http://www.aeroconversions.com/ and the Great Plains VW based conversions http://www.greatplainsas.com/.

Austrian Economics

All the mainstream economists are telling us that saving is making the recession deeper. I don’t believe that for an instant. I read http://www.mises.org/ and http://www.lewrockwell.com/ for a clear explanation of the current crises – and the responsible miscreants.

Anthropogenic Global Warming??

I am so glad Al Gore invented the Internet, so now I can use it to say that I don’t agree with the theory of anthropogenic global warming. If Al can bloviate, so can I! Check out the sunspot number at this link: http://www.spaceweather.com/


Al, can you say Maunder minimum? An inconvenient truth?

Are you shovel ready?

I love it when our masters create a phrase or buzzword that unwittingly describes what they are really doing. The latest is "shovel ready" to ostensibly refer to projects that are ready immediately for some economic stimulus. "Shovel ready" - it sounds so fitting to describe the crap ready to be dispensed, the slop ready to be fed to the hogs, or even better, we'll need to have our shovels ready to dig ourselves out of the latest crap, courtesy of DC. And this time, we'll be digging for a very long time to get out of this one!

Alternative Aircraft Engines

Alternative aircraft engines - I wrongly assumed that everyone was interested in the engines for the same reasons that I was – namely they were cheaper. I was wrong, some people just want to be different. What's the point of having a Subaru conversion that costs as much a Continental O-200 ($19K)? I have nothing against Continentals, except for their price and the fact that they're harder than heck to start when cold.