The Spechtacle

I think I’m losing my patience as I get older. I’d rather not hear anymore about Iraq, and especially Afghanistan.

We Americans are in love with the impossible. No matter how many countries have tried in the past, whatever it is, we can surely do it. We’re Americans.

Afghanistan, in terms of what we want to do, is impossible. We have set out to transform a people. We plan to take a 4th century country, and change its culture, it’s governmental structure, it’s very technology base. We want to do this over several years, with less than 100,000 teachers (soldiers, NGOs, etc). Impossible.

In WWII, the objective was to kill the enemy, up to a point that they surrendered, or to a point where there just wasn’t too may of them left alive. We bombed Dresden, Tokyo, and other major civilian structures into oblivion. Collateral damage was off the chart. Civilian casualties were also off the charts. No more enemy, job done.

We are after Osama Bin Hidin, and his organization. We think he and it is now in Pakistan. We don’t want Afghanistan to become a terrorist staging area. So take the money we save from the war and send up a new spy satellite. Keep a few more SR-71s flying. Buy a few more Global Hawks. But don’t send more troops to chase shadows. Recruit more people into the CIA.

Western Armies are very useful. But, they are best used against other like armies. in Iraq and Afghanistan, they are more like security guards. The biggest killer, the roadside bomb and the suicide bomber, continue with success.

Western Armies are typically very good at swift large scale destruction. The typical America 4 tank platoon routinely trains to defeat 14 or more opposing weapon systems entering their engagement area, in under a few minutes. Unfortunately, this kind of fight doesn’t happen in Afghanistan.

Coaching the Afghans to do their own fighting and ruling is like going through little league with your son. He cant grow up fast enough, no matter how hard you want him to. It’ll take years, and you’ll never be finished.

Saturday, May 23rd, my Radio Control Club hosted a Float-fly at Freeman Lake, in Elizabethtown KY. Of course, we had to mount a camera to a 110 inch wing spanned float equipped airplane, and fly over the lake. Boy with toys. What can we say?

Photos at www.hcrcm.org

try that again after going to

http://online.wnewsj.com/index1.php

you have to go to archives,
Feb 21, 2009

http://online.wnewsj.com/index1.php

Like most everyone, I have been sitting on the sidelines, biting my nails, listening to all the debates surrounding how to end the economic crisis. I am not comforted by anything I have heard up to now.

I am just not sure there is a sure-fire way to kick start the economy. The issue, at the end of the day, is about our thirst for stuff (to borrow a phrase from the late George Carlin). For a long time, we all were acquiring more and more stuff, borrowing more and more money to get bigger and bigger stuff. We were able to do this, because we were employed by companies making this stuff, or selling this stuff, or shipping addons and doodads for our stuff.

Somewhere along the line, a lot of people discovered they couldn’t pay for all their stuff. The cost increased (adjustable rate mortgage) and the value went down (home devaluation) so people defaulted on their loans. Someone woke up and realized “holy crap, I own all these loans!”. So when the word got out, no one would lend them or their friends any more money, and their company’s value plummeted. Investors panicked, and wanted their money. The holders of these “Toxic investments” lost value, and confidence, and investors, and so on. The fear spread, and confidence went into the toilet. Now, people are holding on to their money out of fear, so buying grinds to a halt. Catch 22 (thank you Joseph Heller).

So what’s the answer? Beats me. I don’t think that the rescue lies with Enterpreneurs creating new jobs in new industries. I think the answer is partially infusing money into existing businesses, so that they might add workers. The problem is they will not add workers until they know that demand has returned. Giving me a tax cut won’t convince me to buy a new car. I’ll bank it. But the bank won’t lend it, so were back to square one.

So GM, cut the price of your cars in half, and ship them to China and India. Government, chip away at trade restrictions in foreign markets. Banks, lend the money necessary to establish a larger beachhead in those markets. Let’s pack these cars with all the latest cellphone-gps-bluetooth technology. Volume sales will make the pricing profitable.

The point of this is to underline the fact that we have overproduced for ourselves, over purchased, under-saved, and now we don’t trust the future. That’s bad. We have too much stuff on the shelves. One solution is another market. But it won’t be there for long.

br

Electric going out briefly is not new; going out for several days is fairly rare. Here are some observations:

A generator is the ticket. It makes life relatively easy. You power the fridge, power some heat, and some hot water, and you are on easy street.

We were lucky. We have a gas stove, and a Rennai water heating system that runs on gas, and uses 115/60 hz 75 amps for the sensors. I ran that off an inverter hooked to a 12 volt battery.

Electricity also controls estrogen. I had no idea…

A fireplace doesn’t produce that much heat. An electric heater, the oil heating type, produces a little more. Your HDTV and TIVO system produces a lot, for not much electricity draw. You want to heat up a room? Watch TV.

Propane also makes life easy. A dual head propane heater atop a grill’s propane tank, and you are pretty comfortable.

A 400 watt power inverter will run several things, but has a hard time charging anything above a cellphone. If your cars charging system is unstable you may toast the inverter.

Cell phones go down for a while at the outset. Everyone jams the airwaves asking if electricity is out. The cell company adjust the network to only service emergency and police and fire users. You become cutoff.

The toughest part, is the time right after power fails. This is the assessment phase. If you are not ready to ride this out until places like Home Depot and Lowes come back to life, you join the scrambling masses.

br

Out at the farm today – some folks know how to have a good time!

I think cars should have only 3-6 engine parts that plug in and you can pick them up at the supermarket,
that would be progress!!!!

Happy B day Bootsy!

Peg