War

An interesting and sobering report from Michael Totten, in which this quote from a returning visitor (for five months) to Israel appears:

Everyone knows there is a war coming.

As Michael elaborates, "the street" in Israel sees five enemies, each of which seems likely to attack Israel sometime soon -- perhaps even next month.

Michael Totten is a consistently reliable voice from Lebanon, Iraq, and Israel; his site is worth visiting frequently for straight-up, level-headed reporting from the region. I'm assuming that's what you're interested in, of course.

Update:

Much more from Spook86 at In From The Cold, including more links and some quotes from John Bolton.

Quote of the Day

From Jeff Goldstein at Protein Wisdom, as witty as always, commenting on Elizabeth Edwards' leveraging of the Ann Coulter kerfuffle to raise funds for her husband's (aka "SilkyBoy") campaign:

This country needs leadership. And nothing says leadership more than having your wife run interference for your campaign in order to butch it up a bit.

Thanks, Jeff, for my morning chuckle...

Botany Photo of the Day

I recently discovered the Botany Photo of the Day email list, a free service of the University of British Columbia's Botanical Gardens. It's a delightful and simple email list that sends a link to an interesting new botanical photo each day. I joined it to get the wildflower photos, but all of them have been interesting. Today's photo (at right) was of a slime mold from Kansas, Stemonitis.

The main web site is here; the subscription form is in the upper right hand corner.

Pandora's Box

Wouldn't you just love to have a radio station that played only the music you like? Even better -- how about 20, 50, 100, or 500 radio stations, one for each mood you're in or atmosphere you want?

I just discovered a web site that does a remarkably good job at doing exactly that: Pandora.

As I write this post, I'm listening to a piano piece by George Winston (a modern jazz pianist). A few hours ago, I created my own George Winston radio channel; it plays only songs that are similar to those that George Winston plays. Every song played is one that I enjoyed, and is pleasant for me to work while listening to. Something like half of the songs I heard were new to me, by artists I'd never heard of (but my radios station told me who they were!). I love this radio station!

What did I have to do to create it? Here's exactly what I did: I typed (get ready now, this is really complicated and challenging) "George Winston". Oh, and then I clicked on the button. That's it!

Did I mention that this web site is free? There is a subscription service, which looks very useful if you want to download music into your iPod, cell phone, or similar "on the go device" -- but the basic service, playing on your personal computer, is absolutely free.

Amazing!

Gaydar

The current issue of New York magazine has a fascinating article on the observed biological differences between gay men and straight men. A gay reporter (David France) researched and wrote the article after observing that most people -- gay or straight -- were able to effortlessly identify gay men, a skill popularly called "Gaydar" (a pun on "radar", if you don't get it).

This is not a subject I've ever read much about, so all but one of the biological differences caught me by surprise. For example:

As he recruited experiment subjects, Lippa scanned the passing scalps, some shaved clean, some piled in colorful tresses. “It’s like a kind of art. You look at the back of people’s heads, and it’s literally like a vector field,” he says. “We assume that whatever causes people to be right-handed or left-handed is also causing hair whorl. The theory we’re testing is that there’s a common gene responsible for both.” And that gene might be a marker for sexual orientation. So, as part of his study, he has swabbed the inside cheek of his subjects. It will be months before that DNA testing is complete.

I was surprised at how many people quickly agreed to lend five minutes of their pride celebration to science. “If I could tell my mother it’s a gene, she would be so happy,” said one, Scott Quesada, 42, who sat in a chair for Lippa’s inspection.

“Classic counterclockwise whorl,” the researcher pronounced, snapping a photo.

Quesada, who is right-handed and seemed to have a typically masculinized finger-length ratio, was impressed. “I didn’t know I had a whorl at all,” he said.

By the end of the two-day festival, Lippa had gathered survey data from more than 50 short-haired men and photographed their pates (women were excluded because their hairstyles, even at the pride festival, were too long for simple determination; crewcuts are the ideal Rorschach, he explains). About 23 percent had counterclockwise hair whorls. In the general population, that figure is 8 percent.

Gay men are three times more likely to have a counterclockwise hair whorl than straight men. There has long been a belief or suspicion amongst many straight people that gay men choose to be homosexual, rather than there being some biological cause for for their homosexuality. The hair whorl evidence (along with the other kinds of biological evidence covered in the article) is very difficult to square with the notion of homosexuality being a choice. It lends great credence to the (now) consensus of science: that homosexuality is derived from a biological predisposition. In other words, homosexuals are born as homosexuals; homosexuality is not acquired by choice or nurture.

The author weaves in many related topics, from the consequences of brutal suppression on Gaydar to the social implications of this research. It's a very interesting read -- so go read the whole thing!

Haku

Haku

Years ago we had a cat we named "Haku", which is Hawaiian for "master" – an entirely appropriate name for this fellow. He was one mean hombre of a cat!

He was a street stray that we took in (it's sort of a hobby of ours) and took care of. He lived in an outdoor cattery that we'd built to house the kitties we'd rescued that didn't have the right attitude to live indoors. Haku was very friendly with us, and got along with the other kitties just fine. He was enormous, but not at all fat; he was all muscle. Being white, his hair did little to protect him from the sun. Eventually all the exposure caused skin cancer in the tips of his ears, and at our vet's recommendation we had them amputated. This did nothing but enhance his already ferocious look!

Haku had one ability that always amazed us. On more than one occasion when we visited the kitties in the cattery we discovered a bunch of feathers all over the ground – and Haku looking very pleased with himself. It sure looked like he was catching pigeons and eating them – but how could he do this from within the cattery? Finally one day we watched it happen. Haku was curled up, apparently asleep, about eight feet from one wall of the cattery. A pigeon strutted stupidly around just outside that wall (sort of like a politician at work, don't you think?). Then when the pigeon was about 18 inches from the wall, Haku moved at relativistic speed across the cattery floor and extended one front paw an impossible distance through the wire fence that made up the wall. Claws were extended, of course – and they snagged the pigeon quite handily. A few minutes later, nothing but feathers – and that big, ugly grin on Haku's face!

Click on the small photo to get an album of Haku photos...

Estonia

I miss Estonia; it's been over two years since my last visit. Starting in 1993 and continuing through 2003, I made many business trips to this little country. Two different companies I worked for had software development teams there, and I met with them fairly frequently.

On most of those trips, I managed to get a weekend or two to go exploring on my own. My habit was to rent a car (in the early years, this was an adventure unto itself!), and take off on a solo expedition with only a map as my guide. On a few memorable occasions, friends from work traveled with me as guides.

My solo expeditions were always interesting and fun. Enough people spoke English so that I never had very much trouble getting answers to my (many) questions. On many occasions, a child acted as a translator for us -- they all get English in school, whereas many adults (especially outside of the three main cities) never did. Despite their reputation for reticence, the Estonians I met were never reluctant to help me. On a couple of occasions, I was invited into someone's home for a dinner and talk.

Those who know me won't be surprised that the main attractions for me were off the beaten track. I chased down famous trees, meteorite craters, the Takhuna moment to the children lost in the SS Estonia ferry sinking, remote islands, all the national parks, the "erratic boulders" of red granite from Finland dropped by the retreating glaciers on Estonia's limestone, ancient castles, wildflowers and birds. The photo above is of a tiny spit of land projecting a kilometer into the Baltic Sea from the island of Hiiumaa. Estonia has all these things in great abundance; for a traveler like me, it is a heavenly place.

In the most recent years I visited, I could see the beginning of the end of some of rural Estonia's charm. The coastal areas are being "invaded" by wealthy people (often foreigners, mostly Finns) who block off access to the coast and build a private home. Talking with some of the farmers on the northwest coast, I discovered that this was an windfall for them; some of Estonia's most impoverished people now have newfound wealth. This is easy to sympathize with, but still it is indisputable that something beautiful and peaceful is disappearing. I am glad I was able to see it before it disappeared.

On my visits after 1996, I carried a digital camera with me. I have taken thousands of photographs from all over Estonia. Many of them were previously published on a web site which I no longer have running. Some of them have been published by various government and tourist web sites in Estonia (usually, but not always, with my permission <smile>). In recent months, several people have written to ask that I publish those photos again -- so in this album I published a selection of them.

Enjoy!

USS Long Beach

I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in the early '70s, and served for six years. For approximately four of those years I was stationed on the USS Long Beach CGN-9, a nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser. This album has quite a few images of the ship, and the USS Long Beach Association web site has all sorts of information about the ship, its history, and its crew.

Good Kitty...

Via Cute Overload:

You Decide

Watch this video and then ponder: which Ted do you think more accurately reflects the views of the majority of Americans -- Kennedy or Nugent?


I know what I think...

They're Baaaack!

The old blog photos, that is. All 3,000 of them!

Well, almost all. There were few images that were incompatible with Blogger (mainly animated GIFs). But everything else is there!

Geek Alert! Do not continue reading if you are not a geek...

It has taken me exactly one month of spare-time programming and diddling and tweaking to get there, but I have finally succeeded in transforming my old blog (which ran on Pebble, on a Tomcat platform) to the Blogger platform. With minor exceptions, everything is back the way it was. Here's what it took:

1. I wrote a program that converted the Pebble posts (each in an XML file) to Blogger posts. I used JDOM to read the Pebble XML files, and the Blogger API to post them to my blog. The main challenge in this program was to convert the non-HTML markups in Pebble to HTML for consumption by Blogger. This involved porting a bunch of classes called "Decorators" in Pebble to my conversion program, and making a style sheet that rendered the posts properly in Blogger. The Blogger API is very easy to use; the only real problem I ran into there was that Google initially limited me to importing 50 posts per day. After I begged for a break, they raised the limit to 500. This code took me three days to write and debug, and then it took a week to get all the posts on Blogger.
   
   
2. Next I wrote a program that transferred all the images on the old blog to Picasa, using the Picasa API. This was necessary because the Blogger API doesn't provide any means of posting images. The main challenge for this step was the need to convert all image file types to JPG files; to do this I had to learn the ImageIO API in Java, including a series of quirks related to "transcoding" from one file type to another. Trust me, it was a pain in the neck! This program also built a database that kept track of the image URLs as they appeared in the old blog and the new Picasa URL. I ran this program over the past weekend; it took 11 hours over a high-bandwidth connection to transfer the 3,004 images from the old blog to Picasa.
   
   
3. Next I wrote a progam that munged all the old posts on Blogger, changing the href and src references to point to Picasa instead. I used the Blogger API again for this program. The main challenge in this program was identifying and correctly tranforming the many variations of IMG and A tags my blog had accumulated over the years.
   
   
4. Finally, I wrote a popup viewer (in JavaScript) to more elegantly handle the display of a large image when a thumbnail is clicked. Picasa serves up any image in up to 17 different sizes; my viewer attempts to pick the most appropriate size, taking into account screen resolution, window size, etc.

This is one project I'm very glad to have behind me!

Tower of Power

What on earth is this gobbledygook?

Free Energy for Spaceship Earth

Free Energy for Spaceship Earth will take you on an incredible journey, revealing the means to provide a nonpolluting, unlimited source of energy that will stem the tsunami tide of global warming and make free energy available to the entire planet. Over thirty years ago, this solution to the world energy crisis was presented as an advancement of Tesla technology. Discover how this new technology, based on the interdimensional science of energy, will enable scientists to develop Nikola Tesla's vision of a World Wide Energy System and Power Tower.

The new video program also includes Infinite Concept: Lesson #3 - Part 1. This enlightening lesson focuses on energy and mass, explaining how they are interchangeable and how energy functions by well-ordered principles in the interdimensional cosmos.

Ask the Unarians; they've got this interdimensional thing down pat...

Summer Nights...

This morning the dogs woke me a little earlier than usual, and I was up, showered, and ready to take them for a walk just before 4 AM. At this time of year, that's just before the first hints of dawn start showing in our northeastern sky -- so the sky was still pitch-black (the moon had set hours previously).

When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the first thing I noticed was the Milky Way splayed out across the sky, passing right over my head. Beautiful! And as I stood their gawking at it (with an uncomprehending puppy bouncing around on the end of a leash), I saw a meteorite flash briefly in the northwestern sky. A few seconds later, another one flashed in the northern sky. Over the space of the next few minutes, I counted six meteorites in total; one of them a "long trail" meteorite with a visible flame trail -- and even a smoke trail lit by dimly by the pre-dawn sun at higher altitude.

Getting back in the house, I looked up the meteor showers predicted for June. The Boötids reach their maximum in just two days:

Prior to 1998, only two definite returns had been detected, in 1916 and 1927, and with no significant reports between 1928 —1997, it seemed probable these meteoroids no longer encountered Earth. The dynamics of the stream were poorly understood, although recent theoretical modelling has improved our comprehension. The shower's parent Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke has an orbit that now lies around 0.24 astronomical units outside the Earth's at its closest approach. It was last at perihelion in 2002, and is next due in late 2008. Consequently, the 1998 and 2004 returns resulted from material shed by the comet in the past, and which now lies on slightly different orbits to the comet itself. Dust trails laid down at various perihelion returns during the 19th century seem to have been responsible for the last two main outbursts.

If you're an early riser, you might want to go outside and do a little observing the next couple of mornings!

Sicko Evisceration

David Hogberg, writing at American Spectator, has an excellent point-by-point evisceration of Michael Moore's recent speech advocating "HillaryCare"-style social medicine in the U.S. In his article, he takes the specific points Moore made and rebuts them, one at a time. Here's a sample:

3. "I believe that pharmaceutical companies need to be regulated like a public utility. We need medicine, but we need government control and regulation, so that the medicine is affordable for everyone, so that we are producing the right medicines, so that we are producing safe medicines."

Someone who makes such a remark must know next to nothing about the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA's regulatory process for new drug approval averages eight-to-ten years. That adds a huge cost to new drugs. We need to find ways to reduce this regulatory burden. Moore wants to increase it. Anyone who believes that will make medicine more affordable, or that government will be able to figure out how to produce the "right medicine," please purchase a one-way ticket to Fantasyland.

But go read the whole thing if you'd like to understand just how the liberals would like to destroy the quality of U.S. health care. He's particularly good on the role of the profit motive in medicine.

One clearly observable pesky fact keeps getting in the way of the Democrats attempts to "fix" our health care system: by any rational measure, the U.S.'s health care system is the very best in the world, and the source of the vast majority of medical discoveries and innovations.

The clearest evidence for this assertion: where does anyone, anywhere in the world, choose to go for their health care (if they have the option). Why, the United States, of course. Check the patient list at the Mayo Clinic or any other major hospital, and you'll find many foreign patients. Then check the patient lists at any hospital in Canada, England, German, France, Sweden, etc. for American patients.

Oops.

And the Democrats want to turn health care system into the mess that it is in so many other countries. Want the real story? Talk to a Canadian or an Englishman about their health care system. You'll quickly discover that they have a long list of problems -- especially with rationing and unavailable treatments -- that vex them. People there who think about health care lust for our system! There's a message there, Dummocrats...

Estonia Mourns

Today's news brings this sad story:

Estonia went into mourning on Sunday for two of its soldiers killed in Afghanistan - the first time the Baltic state has lost troops in the country.

Twenty-four-year-old Sergeant Kalle Torn and 33-year-old Corporal Jako Karuks, both mine-clearance specialists, were killed in the southern province of Helmand on Saturday, the Estonian Defense Ministry announced.

Estonia has about 200 troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq; they are a member of the "coalition of the willing", and have been ever since the NATO administration of Afghanistan and the Iraq war began. Some people I've mentioned this too have laughed at the small size of Estonia's contingent -- but that reaction misses something important. Estonia is a tiny little country with only about 1.5 million citizens -- about 1/200th the size of the U.S. In proportional terms, their contingent is about the same as 40,000 U.S. troops -- a sizable contribution, and one which I am most grateful for.

With these two casualties in Afghanistan, Estonia now has a total of four casualties between the two conflicts -- proportionally, this is like 800 U.S. casualties. Not only is their contribution substantial -- so is the price they have paid.

Thank you, Estonia, for your participation in these unhappy, but necessary, efforts to combat the evil of radical Islamic fundamentalism.
And thank you for standing by your ally -- the United States -- in its time of need...

Jerusalem Cricket

I found this "cricket" while doing the chores this morning -- it was hopping around on the concrete floor of our patio, looking very lost. The common name for it here is "Jerusalem Cricket"; this particular one is (I think) a Stenopelmatus fuscus, one of several closely related species that are common here. We've seen them many times, especially if we're digging -- these things live most of their life underground. The little guy running around on our patio was probably trying to find some ground he could dig into!

There are all sorts of myths about this creature -- read here, here, and here for more details. In fact they are quite harmless, non-venomous; the worst they can do is give you a good pinch or bite with their strong jaws, and some species can emit a foul stench. But they won't really hurt you...

Consequences of Appeasement

For several years now, Iran has unrelentingly

• spewed anti-western bombast
  
  
• directly threatened Israel, the United States, and (more recently) Europe
  
  
• supplied, aided, and trained the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan -- leading to the deaths and injury of many U.S. soldiers
  
  
• fought barely-disguised proxy wars (through the Iranian financed and controlled Hamas) in Lebanon and Palestine, against Israel
  
  
• actively pursued a nuclear weapons program, while poking a stick in the world's eye by laughably calling it a nuclear power program

None of this is disputed by any serious observer. Even the corrupt jerks in the UN and EU "admit" all of these as facts. For years, "strong statements", "stern letters", "sanctions", "diplomacy", and (my favorite) "negotiations" have been the only action the world has taken to stop the Iranians -- who, by their own boisterous statements, have the intention of killing everyone who is not a Muslim of their liking. That would include me, so I have a personal interest in this fight.

Now comes the claim from Iran that they have 100 kg (about 220 pounds) of enriched uranium on hand. Assuming this is true (a big assumption, given the source of the claim), the Iranians are years ahead of the schedule the IAEA projected just a month ago -- and they have enough materials for several weapons right now. Right now!

The IAEA is, naturally, quite concerned. So concerned that they've met with the Iranians and they've come up with a plan. Thank goodness they've got a plan! Let's see now ... what is this plan?

The U.N. nuclear watchdog director said on Friday he and Iran's chief negotiator had agreed to draw up an "plan of action" within two months on how to resolve questions about Iran's disputed nuclear program.

International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei said he hoped the stalemate of the last weeks could be broken and described the two-hour meeting with Ali Larijani as "quite satisfying".

So ... the plan is to "draw up a plan" within two months. That's it? The Iranians want to kill us all with nuclear weapons, and our plan to stop them is to draw up a plan? I have no doubt at all that the Iranians found this most satisfying -- I'm sure they had trouble suppressing their giggling at the "negotiations".

To anyone who has read of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the run-up to World War II, this is eerily familiar territory. The consequence of that particular appeasement path was that Hitler finally took an action that the rest of Europe couldn't sit back and ignore -- but by the time that happened, he had already built a powerful military and had completely locked down his control of Germany. The Iranians appear to be on that same path, the rest of the world is reacting right out of the same playbook that Chamberlain used.

Except for one oasis of sanity: Israel. They have quietly said, many times, that Iran "shall not be allowed" to become a nuclear power. The U.S. has made similar statements, but somehow I find the Israelis to be more ... credible ... on this point. In the news this week: the Israeli Air Force is training for long-range missions. It's hard to imagine any reason for them to do so other than an attack on Iran. I'd personally love to see a joint U.S./Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, but I suspect I'm dreaming of something unlikely there. We're behaving too much like the IAEA and the EU for us to make such a bold and useful move. Much more likely is that the Israelis will do this on their own, to which I will say "Thank you, my friends."

From New Jersey...

...of course -- where else would the world's ugliest dog come from?

PETALUMA, Calif. (AP) - Elwood, a 2-year-old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix, was crowned the world's ugliest dog Friday, a distinction that delighted the New Jersey mutt's owners.

Elwood, dark colored and hairless—save for a mohawk-like puff of white fur on his head—is often referred to as "Yoda," or "ET," for his resemblance to those famous science fiction characters.

"I think he's the cutest thing that ever lived," said Elwood's owner, Karen Quigley, a resident of Sewell, New Jersey.

Quigley brought Elwood out to compete for the second year at the annual ugly dog contest at the Marin-Sonoma County Fair. Elwood placed second last year.

Most of the competing canines were also Chinese Crested, a breed that features a mohawk, bug eyes and a long, wagging tongue.

Quigley said she rescued Elwood two years ago. "The breeder was going to euthanize him because she thought he was too ugly to sell," said Quigley.

"So ha ha, now Elwood's all over the Internet and people love him and adore him."

Beyond the regal title of ugliest dog, Elwood also earned a $1,000 reward for his owner.

Sewell is less than forty miles from where my retired parents live. Yes, they live there -- in New Jersey -- by choice. The explanation for this otherwise inexplicable choice involves a complex mix of the neurological effects of prolonged exposure to air pollution, the effect of corrupt politics on free will, the sense-deadening of the evil smells on the New Jersey turnpike, and the nutritional consequences of radioactive waste sold as tomato fertilizer...

Creating Sheeple...

Some wag a while back coined the term "sheeple", meaning people who meekly and unprotestingly obey "authority". Many since then have observed that Americans (and citizens of many other countries) seem to be turning into sheeple, markedly different from the outspoken, forthright citizen behavior that was the norm in revolutionary times through at least the late 1800s. Remnants of it still exist, mind you -- but vast herds of sheeple tramp through our political landscape. How else could you explain the repeated re-election of Kennedy, Byrd, Reid, Pelosi, etc. ad nauseum?

Breeding sheeple is an objective of the modern liberal movement. Of course they wouldn't couch it in those terms, but that's really what they mean. Consider the notion of "politically correct speech", wherein some "authority" asserts that we should avoid saying things that might offend someone else -- without regard to whether what's being said is true, or is a interesting question. That notion is closely associated with modern liberalism -- and it's really just code for speech control and thought control. There are an infinite number of examples that could be used to illustrate this; I'll use this one: remember last year when the president of Harvard was harassed into resigning -- because he dared to wonder out loud whether there were gender-related differences in ability or aptitude, and asserted that there was good evidence for such? His speech contained a provably true statement and an interesting question -- something you'd hope academics would be in favor of -- and yet he was excoriated for his politically incorrect words.

The Zero Tolerance movement is yet another technique for breeding sheeple, by suppressing speech and action related to some "outlawed" subject -- without regard to whether the speech or action actually harmed anyone. These sheeple-breeding techniques are powerful, and some in the liberal movement talk about them quite openly -- but they use euphemisms like "shaping minds", "ideological introduction", etc. to avoid riling the sheeple herd.

With that context, I read an interesting article about an attempt in Canada to breed more sheeple. A 15 year old high school student named Kieran King was shown a film on drugs. He was curious about the "facts" presented in the movie, and decided to research the subject on his own. He's never used any illicit drugs, he says; the research was conducted entirely with publicly available materials -- much of it provided by the government. He discovered (and this should surprise nobody!) that drug film was basically propaganda -- playing games with the facts, and trying to scare the viewers. This is the behavior of someone with an active mind and a curiosity about the world; good things in my view.

But then Kieran discussed some of his findings with his fellow students, and one of them reported Kieran to the authorities for violating the school's zero tolerance policy on drugs. Uh oh -- a sheeple is wandering off the pasture! Flog him immediately! Kieran was suspended and reprimanded. How stupid is that? Well, if your objective is to breed sheeple, it's not stupid at all...

Colby Cosh, writing at Canada.com, has an interesting take on this. The lead:

What fascinates me about the case of Kieran King, the Saskatchewan high school student who was threatened, punished and slandered by various officials over the past three weeks for talking with some pals about the health effects of marijuana, is that it explodes almost every single utopian cliche about public schools that has been ever propounded by their employees and admirers. It's almost glorious, in a way. Ever heard an educator say "We're not here to teach students what to think -- we're here to teach them how to think"? BLAMMO! "We encourage children to make learning a lifelong process." KAPOW! Poor Kieran didn't even make it to age 16 before someone called the cops.

"Diversity is one of our most cherished values." But express a factually true opinion that diverges from what you've been taught and -- WHOOMP! "Public schools aren't crude instruments of social control, they're places where we lay the foundation for an informed citizenry." BOOM!

I could go on, but I'm running out of sound effects and I really don't have time to fire up an old Batman episode on You-Tube to gather more.

Mr. Cosh is not so much offended by the sheeple-breeding (as I am), but rather by the hypocrisy of the educational establishment. Well, that's true too -- it is hypocritical to prattle about freedom of speech only to shut it down when it offends your sheeple-breeding dogma. And maybe the hypocrisy is an easier thing to attack than the sheeple-breeding...

Imagine...

Imagine, for a moment, that you're a California farmer -- you own a few hundred acres with orange groves. You and your buddies, when you're talking over a few glasses of orange-jack (fermented orange juice), get to talking about the future of orange picking...

Things don't look so good, you all agree. That transient illegal immigrant labor force your industry has depended on for a hundred years really does look like it's about to evaporate. Between amnesty and Z-1 visas, the one thing it appears you can be certain of is that your labor costs are about to go up dramatically. Labor shortages look like a very real possibility.

So what do you do?

You use the collective power of your agriculture associations to fund robotics development, of course!

Vision Robotics, a San Diego company, is working on a pair of robots that would trundle through orchards plucking oranges, apples or other fruit from the trees. In a few years, troops of these machines could perform the tedious and labor-intensive task of fruit picking that currently employs thousands of migrant workers each season.

The robotic work has been funded entirely by agricultural associations, and pushed forward by the uncertainty surrounding the migrant labor force. Farmers are "very, very nervous about the availability and cost of labor in the near future," says Vision Robotics CEO Derek Morikawa.

The economics of robots are compelling if you're a businessman (as all farmers are). A $500,000 robot might sound like a very expensive investment -- but that works out to about a $5,500 per month expense, and that's downright cheap for a machine that can pick fruit 8 or 10 times as fast as a human worker, and can work 24 x 7.

When we start seeing these devices in our fields, it's really going to start feeling like we're living in a science fiction story! The implications to our immigration problems are all good, so far as I can suss them out. In effect, converting low-skill agricultural jobs to robotics will remove the biggest incentives -- both for the immigrants and for business -- to the kind of undesirable transient immigration that is hurting us today.

Is anyone surprised to see that a solution is coming from the private sector, instead of the government?

Stem Cells

My wife subscribes to a magazine called "Western Horseman" -- not the kind of thing I'd usually read, but this morning I happened to be thumbing through the May 2007 issue. Mostly I was marveling at the huge industry built around horses (they need lots of accessories!), but I happened upon a very interesting article: Stem-Cell Research Offers New Options, by Jennifer Zehnder. In it, Zehnder interviews Dr. Robert Harman, a San Diego veterinarian who has started a stem cell therapeutics company to treat lame horses. Unfortunately this article is not online, but here's the sub-heading and couple of paragraphs that caught my attention:

Embryonic Stems Cells take a Back Seat

The evolution of stem-cell technology for use in humans or animals is rooted in controversy. This is because early research led scientists to believe embryos were the only viable source for stem cells, but Harman is quick to point out lesser-known issues with such cell sources.

"Moral and political view aside, embryonic stem cells have huge flaws the public never hears about," Harman explains. "The recipient's body views embryonic stem cells as foreign genetic material, which translates into a lifetime of immuno-suppressant drugs."

What? You mean embryonic stem cells aren't the singular answer to all medical challenges?

Dr. Harman's company could have chosen embryonic stem cells, but instead they chose stem cells from adipose tissue (fat); they'll grow them from the animal being treated, so no immuno-suppressive drugs are needed.

Similar things are happening in human medicine as well, but I have not read such a direct and cogent explanation as I found in this article. The issue with humans is so wrapped up with reflexive liberal anger over President Bush's refusal to fund embryonic stem cell research that all discussion of it that I have found is very light on the facts and very heavy on the hype.

Especially prominent is the liberal claim that Bush has "banned" stem cell research. This is an especially disingenuous claim, as stem cell research is being funded by the Bush administration by a 4:1 margin over the funding in the Clinton administration. No research -- even on embryonic stem cells -- is banned. There's just no federal funding of it.

It's interesting to note that pharmaceutical companies (who are free to fund whatever research they want) are choosing to fund far more research on non-embryonic stem cell research -- and the total of their research expenditures dwarfs the federal governments funding. It's very much a tempest in a teapot, being driving by ideologues and demented Bush bashers.

Meanwhile, the science moves on ... and away from embryonic stem cells...

Fairness

In recent weeks the Democrats have been repeatedly floating the notion of reinstating the badly-misnamed "Fairness Doctrine". Older readers will remember that before the Reagan administration (during which the "Fairness Doctrine" was repealed) there was very little political talk radio -- and the little that existed was so boring that virtually nobody listened to it. Then after the "Fairness Doctrine" was repealed, talk radio exploded to become, today, the biggest success story in radio.

What happened?

It's very simple, really: the "Fairness Doctrine" required radio stations to give equal air time to all sides of a political issue. If a radio station had a commercial success with, say, a Communist talk show host -- then they'd have to have an equally long conservative show, liberal show, centrist show, Green show, and who knows what other kind of show. This was, of course, completely impractical -- so the radio stations did the only thing they could: they nixed all the political shows. When the "Fairness Doctrine" was repealed, the radio stations immediately started airing political talk shows, and they were very popular. In the 20+ years since the repeal, these talk shows have been thoroughly market tested -- the networks and stations know exactly what kind of talk shows people want to listen to. There's no mystery about this; all you have to do is look at your local stations' schedules and it's obvious: conservative and (to a lesser extent) libertarian talk shows dominate the air.

Today a more formal study about this phenomenon was published:

In a report titled "The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio," the Center for American Progress concluded that 91 percent of weekday talk radio is conservative, compared with liberal content at 9 percent. The group, which said it analyzed 257 news and talk stations owned by the five biggest radio broadcasters, calls for stricter media-ownership limits and public-interest requirements.

"There is little free speech or free choice in a market system that pushes out one-sided information 90 percent of the time on the radio," said John Halpin, a senior fellow at the center. "Radio stations are licensed to operate in the public interest. Promoting one point of view over all others does not meet any reasonable public-interest standard."

Halpin's comments toe the Democratic story line: it's unfair that conservative and libertarian shows dominate. Never mind that those are the shows that people want (as they demonstrate by listening to them), it's unfair! And that translates -- in their small, controlling, anti-freedom brains -- directly into action. They must be stopped! Their message must be forbidden! Americans must listen to us!

Unspoken is the subtext: so we can control them!

The controlling nature of modern American liberals (as amply demonstrated by their ambition to reinstate the "Fairness Doctrine") is most disturbing to me. From my perspective, it's invidious and downright un-American. It's what's behind the nanny-state ambitions in California: banning spanking, mandating CFLs, motorcycle helmet laws, seat belt laws, and on and on. There seems to be an almost unstoppable momentum behind this, much like (if slightly later than) what happened in Europe. We need some good ideas about how to stop this...

Soviet Slide Rule

This circular slide rule is markedly different in almost every respect from the usual slide rules manufactured in the Soviet Union. Instead of being "just good enough", and generally lacking in any non-functional attributes, this thing is overbuilt, rugged, and pays great attention to both function and beauty.

It weighs over a pound, is almost 9" in diameter, and can multiply, divide, take sines and tangents, and inverse sines and tangents -- all accurate to 3 or 4 decimal places. Almost certainly it is a military slide rule, probably associated with artillery (calculating the elevation of the gun to aim it is a fairly involved exercise in mathematics).

You can read more about it here.

Solstice Morning

Today is the summer solstice -- the longest day of the year. I watched for the first moment that the sun peeked over our local hills (at 6:05 AM), and measured the azimuth as 36° from due north (I used a Brunton surveyor's compass, the "Classic" model, to do this). If the hills weren't there, sunrise would have been slightly earlier and the compass reading would have been a slightly smaller azimuth.

Tonight I will measure the azimuth at sunset as well. The hills are slightly lower there, so I'm expecting the azimuth to be something like 325° instead of the exact mirror of 36° (324°). But little errors like that aside, basically the sun will be traversing 360° - (2 x 35°) = 290° today -- the most it ever does at our latitude (33°). At noon today, the sun will be at the highest elevation ever seen at our latitude: 23° + (90° - 33°) = 80°.

Update and bump:

At 1:00 PM (instead of noon, because of daylight saving time), I measured the elevation of the sun, using the clinometer built into the Brunton surveyor's compass. I took 5 readings and averaged them. The result: 10.4° -- as predicted, within the limits of my instrument's accuracy.

Update and bump, II:

Just before sunset (at 7:28 PM) I measured the azimuth of where the sun will set. In doing so, I realized that I had made dumb error this morning when measuring the azimuth of the sunrise: I set the 14° deviation for magnetic north into the compass backwards, introducing a 28° error. The azimuth this morning should have been 64°, not 36°. The azimuth of the sunset should be 360° - 64° = 296°. That agrees very well with the 295° I just measured (with the magnetic north deviation set correctly!). This morning I computed the sun's azimuthal transit incorrectly as well, it should have been 360° - (2 x 64°) = 232° of azimuthal transit.

Puppiosity

You just know this cute, coy little puppy is about to do something totally, outrageously bad!

Via Cute Overload, natch...

Quote of the Day

From Captain Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters:

Ralph Nader has Democrats looking for a wooden stake and a truckload of garlic.

Thanks for the chuckle, Captain!

Operation Arrowhead Ripper: Day One

Michael Yon has filed a dispatch from the battle in Baqubah (Operation Arrowhead Ripper). An excerpt:

Our guys are tough. The enemy in Baqubah is as good as any in Iraq, and better than most. That’s saying a lot. But our guys have been systematically trapping them, and have foiled some big traps set for our guys. I don’t want to say much more about that, but our guys are seriously outsmarting them. Big fights are ahead and we will take serious losses probably, but al Qaeda, unless they find a way to escape, are about to be slaughtered. Nobody is dropping leaflets asking them to surrender. Our guys want to kill them, and that’s the plan.

A positive indicator on the 19th and the 20th is that most local people apparently are happy that al Qaeda is being trapped and killed. Civilians are pointing out IEDs and enemy fighters, so that’s not working so well for al Qaeda. Clearly, I cannot do a census, but that says something about the locals.

Go read the whole thing!

I am especially heartened by his report of the objective: to kill the Al Qaeda terrorists...

Inkjet Printers Lie!

Do you own an inkjet printer? If so, read this article! Here's the lead:

A new study says that on average, more than half of the ink from inkjet cartridges is wasted when users toss them in the garbage. Why is that interesting? According to the study, users are tossing the cartridges when their printers are telling them they're out of ink, not when they necessarily are out of ink.

Stand By For ... Global Cooling?

Here's some more recent research that suggests that global warming is tied more to solar power output than to mankind's activities. The article starts off with some political posturing, and then gets into the meat of it:

Climate stability has never been a feature of planet Earth. The only constant about climate is change; it changes continually and, at times, quite rapidly. Many times in the past, temperatures were far higher than today, and occasionally, temperatures were colder. As recently as 6,000 years ago, it was about 3C warmer than now. Ten thousand years ago, while the world was coming out of the thou-sand-year-long "Younger Dryas" cold episode, temperatures rose as much as 6C in a decade -- 100 times faster than the past century's 0.6C warming that has so upset environmentalists.

Climate-change research is now literally exploding with new findings. Since the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the field has had more research than in all previous years combined and the discoveries are completely shattering the myths. For example, I and the first-class scientists I work with are consistently finding excellent correlations between the regular fluctuations in the brightness of the sun and earthly climate. This is not surprising. The sun and the stars are the ultimate source of all energy on the planet.

It then details the research activities, and concludes the science discussion with this:

Our finding of a direct correlation between variations in the brightness of the sun and earthly climate indicators (called "proxies") is not unique. Hundreds of other studies, using proxies from tree rings in Russia's Kola Peninsula to water levels of the Nile, show exactly the same thing: The sun appears to drive climate change.

However, there was a problem. Despite this clear and repeated correlation, the measured variations in incoming solar energy were, on their own, not sufficient to cause the climate changes we have observed in our proxies. In addition, even though the sun is brighter now than at any time in the past 8,000 years, the increase in direct solar input is not calculated to be sufficient to cause the past century's modest warming on its own. There had to be an amplifier of some sort for the sun to be a primary driver of climate change.

Indeed, that is precisely what has been discovered. In a series of groundbreaking scientific papers starting in 2002, Veizer, Shaviv, Carslaw, and most recently Svensmark et al., have collectively demonstrated that as the output of the sun varies, and with it, our star's protective solar wind, varying amounts of galactic cosmic rays from deep space are able to enter our solar system and penetrate the Earth's atmosphere. These cosmic rays enhance cloud formation which, overall, has a cooling effect on the planet. When the sun's energy output is greater, not only does the Earth warm slightly due to direct solar heating, but the stronger solar wind generated during these "high sun" periods blocks many of the cosmic rays from entering our atmosphere. Cloud cover decreases and the Earth warms still more.

The opposite occurs when the sun is less bright. More cosmic rays are able to get through to Earth's atmosphere, more clouds form, and the planet cools more than would otherwise be the case due to direct solar effects alone. This is precisely what happened from the middle of the 17th century into the early 18th century, when the solar energy input to our atmosphere, as indicated by the number of sunspots, was at a minimum and the planet was stuck in the Little Ice Age. These new findings suggest that changes in the output of the sun caused the most recent climate change. By comparison, CO2 variations show little correlation with our planet's climate on long, medium and even short time scales.

It's well worth reading the whole thing, both for the details of the science and for the political commentary (by a scientist!).

The more actual research (as opposed to computer models) I read about, and the more I observe the behavior of the "true believers", the more skeptical I become about anthropogenic global warming...

Fanatics With Guns....

As I was reading this excellent (as always) piece by Ralph Peters, this passage made me stop and think:

At the height of last week's fighting in Gaza, one Palestinian in 300 carried a weapon in support of Hamas - a third of one percent of the population. Now Hamas rules 1.5 million people.

Numbers still matter, of course. But strength of will can overcome hollow numbers. And nothing - nothing - gives men a greater strength of will than religious fanaticism.

That's exactly the aspect of the radical fundamentalist Islamic movement that scares me the most -- they have that powerful underlying motivation that animates their every action, whereas we look a lot like sheep ambling towards the slaughterhouse. Only something like 9/11 seems to wake us up, and even then only briefly. We lack that motivation, and they have it. And it gives them power that frightens me.

The entire piece is an excellent, sober analysis of the recent events in Palestine and the Gaza Strip. As they say, read the whole thing. Here's his (very slightly) hopeful conclusion:

The true believer always beats the feckless attendee. The best you can hope for is that the extremist will eventually defeat himself.

And that does leave us some hope: Fanatics inevitably over-reach, as al Qaeda's Islamo-fascists have done in Iraq, alienating those who once saw them as allies. But the road to self-destruction can be a long one: The people of Iran want change, but the fanatics have the guns. And sorry, folks: Fanatics with guns beat liberals with ideas.

Faith is the nuclear weapon of the fanatic. And there's not going to be a religious "nuclear freeze." It doesn't matter how many hearts and minds you win, if you don't defeat the zealots with the muscles.

Catch Ralph's commentary every chance you get, and don't miss his books.

Poop on the Porch

Mike D. passed this story along:

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week, we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tiles, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive-bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and, in three days, the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quiet, serene and no one demanding thei r rights to a free meal.

Now let's see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen. Then the illegal's came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: you child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English; Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder.

This is the first immigration-related email in quite a while that I agree with. It analogizes nicely a couple of the points I keep making about our current immigration policy: the welfare programs are wrong-headed, and "immigrants" who are really just transient workers with no intention of becoming Americans are undesirable. Removing the welfare programs -- and enforcing immigration law in the workplace -- would indeed "clean up our porch".

But I'm pessimistic about this happening. More likely, I think, is the direction things seem to be headed in Congress: some token (and utterly useless) "border security" efforts, some token internal enforcement, and a huge broadening of immigrant welfare programs and an amnesty for those already here.

All of which makes me start thinking about the unthinkable: where else, other than America, might I want to live? Because if we continue down this path, I don't think my country is going to remain the kind of place I want to live in...

Metric System

Most Americans have only a passing acquaintance with the metric system. Most Americans I know -- even technical folks -- have no intuitive sense of even the most basic metric units, such as meters, °C, kilograms, etc. Likewise, most find conversions a bit intimidating, and would most likely have to hit the books (or the web) to convert, say, inches to centimeters.

I recently found the map at right, which shows (in red) the countries of the world that officially do not use the metric system. I knew there weren't many -- I'd probably have guessed ten or so -- but only three? Look at the company we're in: Liberia and Myanmar (formerly Burma).

In my own experience, this is a little misleading, but not too much. Everywhere I've ever been (and I've never been to Liberia or Myanmar) everyone is at least familiar and comfortable with the metric system. However, in some countries, remnants of the older, non-standard units still exist. For example, in the UK one can still find some speed and distance signage on the roads that uses miles instead of kilometers, and in the grocery stores you'll find some items packaged in non-round metric values (like 454 grams) that just happen to be a round Imperial value (454 grams equals 1 pound).

Even here, the metric system is starting to "sneak in" a bit. Wine is normally packaged in metric sizes these days. Many mechanics are familiar with the metric hardware found on Japanese and European cars. Electronics technicians and engineers generally use the metric system, even though they may not even know it. We even passed a law a decade or so ago mandating a switch to the metric system. What's holding up the works?

Probably it just boils down to this: completely switching to the metric system would involve a considerable expense without an obvious way to recover the expense. Certainly if the entire world (and especially such a huge market as the United States) were using a single system of measurement, there would be lots of small efficiencies that would benefit us all. But if you look at it from the perspective of most individuals or companies, mostly you see additional expense and no extra revenue.

For example, suppose you owned a saw mill in Idaho that catered to the local building trade. To switch to the metric system would mean that (for instance) a 2x4 (in inches) becomes a 5x10 (in cm). All of your products would be affected. You'd have to print new price sheets and catalogs. You'd have to buy new software to plan your cuts for the new products. You'd have to re-tool all your fixed jigs, and likely you'd want to buy new saw blades that had a metric kerf. You'd have to train all your workers, and even your customers. All of this would cost a significant amount of money -- but where's the benefit to the company? None at all...

Only a small minority of individuals or companies in the U.S. would actually see a benefit by conversion. Some companies currently make two versions of their products -- one built to the metric system for the international market, and one built to English measures for the American market. These companies would benefit by having a simpler product line. Some individuals would benefit because they must, for their work, use both systems; having one would be easier. But there aren't very many examples like this. Most of us, and most companies, would simply incur a useless expense in converting.

Which probably explains the recurring complaints by international trade organizations about our intransigence in sticking with English measurements. I'm sure they'd like nothing better than to see us uselessly wasting our money and time converting, while they can sit back righteously praising our efforts -- which temporarily would make them more competitive.

Having said all that, I must also say this: I wish the U.S. had already adopted the metric system. It grates on me that we are not participating in one of the few worldwide standards that actually makes sense. But I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon, for the reasons given above. Unless, of course, the moonbats come to power -- in which case we'll be switching to the metric system along with changing our national language to French (or perhaps Esperanto)...

Guess the Speaker

Who do you think said these positive things about the terrorist group Hamas today?

The United States and Israel decided to punish all the people in Palestine and did everything they could to deter a compromise between Hamas and Fatah," he said.

...the Bush administration's refusal to accept the 2006 election victory of Hamas was "criminal."

...(the Palestinian election which Hamas won) was "orderly and fair" and Hamas triumphed, in part, because it was "shrewd in selecting candidates," whereas a divided, corrupt Fatah ran multiple candidates for single seats.

...the United States and others supplied the Fatah-controlled security forces in Gaza with vastly superior weaponry in hopes they would "conquer Hamas in Gaza" - but Hamas this month routed Fatah because of its "superior skills and discipline."

Jimmy Carter, the Georgian peanut farmer who was, to our everlasting shame (especially those who voted for him), a duly elected President of these United States. Out there in his dotage, speaking out publicly despite his evident brain damage, bad-mouthing his country and supporting (of all things!) Hamas -- the terrorist group whose manifesto includes the death of all infidels (non-Muslims) and specifically the destruction of Israel and the United States.

Pause to reflect for a moment.

At this point, after so much self-righteous, preachy, traitorous nonsense from this man, my only reaction is to be proud that he is not a Californian. Or that I'm not a Georgian. Or both.

Another Border Patrol Chase...

Nobody was killed, this time. The photo at right is a Google Earth view of the vicinity, with my best guess about where the crash occurred circled in orange. This Union-Tribune story is so short that any conceivable excerpt would include it all, so here it is:

Jamul pursuit ends in crash

Six people in a Honda Civic crashed on Lyons Valley Road in Jamul tonight after being pursued by the Border Patrol, the California Highway Patrol said.

Undercover Border Patrol agents tried to pull over the driver, who then led them on a five-mile pursuit. The Honda went off the road and struck a rock about 10 p.m.

The CHP said two people in the Honda suffered moderate injuries and two ran away. Eastbound lanes of Lyons Valley Road were blocked at Chaparral Heights during an investigation.

That's all I've been able to find out about it. If any local residents know any more, please let us know in the comments.

Major Combat Operations Begin in Iraq...

Michael Yon is, for my money, the most credible reporter currently working on the war in Iraq. He's a very interesting character whose life and talents have uniquely prepared him for this role. Yon is a former Special Forces warrior, so he has no problem getting the respect or attention of our soldiers or their officers -- and no problem understanding what they're doing. Where he really shines, though, is in his beautiful writing and ability to convey complex ideas eloquently and readably. As if all that wasn't enough, he's also a very talented photographer -- you've almost certainly seen some of his work.

For quite a while now, Yon has been successfully pursuing a career as a reader-supported, independent reporter. His only source of income at the moment is the "tip jar" on his web site, where appreciative readers make contributions of all sizes to help keep him going.

I've been reading Yon's work ever since he first started posting, and he's been the best single source of good information I've found about Iraq (and, to a lesser extent, Afghanistan). He has consistently been a critic of the war in Iraq -- not of the fact of the war, but of the way it has been executed. In today's dispatch, I sense some real optimism on his part about the major combat operations just starting today in Iraq. Yon is deeply knowledgeable about the situation in Iraq, and has much time with boots on the ground -- and he knows our military and its leadership very well. His choice for the perfect commander in Iraq: General David Petraeus, whom he calls "the doctor" below. Yon made that choice in 2005, and has been wondering ever since why General Petraeus wasn't back there and in charge. Now he is, and Yon is obviously impressed with the results, and seems to be cautiously optimistic about the outcome. Here's an excerpt from the dispatch, but you really need to go read the whole thing:

The doctor has made a decision: Al Qaeda must be excised. That means a large scale attack, and what appears to be the most widespread combat operations since the end of the ground war are now unfolding. A small part of that larger battle will be the Battle for Baquba. For those involved, it will be a very large battle, but in context, it will be only one of numerous similar battles now unfolding. Just as this sentence was written, we began dropping bombs south of Baghdad and our troops are in contact.

Northeast of Baghdad, innocent civilians are being asked to leave Baquba. More than 1,000 AQI fighters are there, with perhaps another thousand adjuncts. Baquba alone might be as intense as Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah in late 2004. They are ready for us. Giant bombs are buried in the roads. Snipers—real snipers—have chiseled holes in walls so that they can shoot not from roofs or windows, but from deep inside buildings, where we cannot see the flash or hear the shots. They will shoot for our faces and necks. Car bombs are already assembled. Suicide vests are prepared.

The enemy will try to herd us into their traps, and likely many of us will be killed before it ends. Already, they have been blowing up bridges, apparently to restrict our movements. Entire buildings are rigged with explosives. They have rockets, mortars, and bombs hidden in places they know we are likely to cross, or places we might seek cover. They will use human shields and force people to drive bombs at us. They will use cameras and make it look like we are ravaging the city and that they are defeating us. By the time you read this, we will be inside Baquba, and we will be killing them. No secrets are spilling here.

These operations, which just began today, are the same operations that Harry Reid declared a failure a few weeks ago -- before the soldiers were even in Iraq, and before the operation had even begun. Al Jazeera and similar Arabic media outlets have been carrying stories of gloating Al Qaeda members ever since. They claimed victory based on the statements of Reid, Pelosi, and other such surrender monkeys. If Yon's reporting is even close to accurate -- and based on his past performance, I'm confident that it's spot on -- then Al Qaeda is in for a memorable comeuppance. If he's right, our troops are in for a tough slog, one that will carry substantial casualties -- but Al Qaeda is in for much worse.

I'll be thinking of our troops today, and wishing them well. I made a contribution to Michael Yon, and I hope you will as well. Yon is embedded with our troops, headed into combat today; he's planning on filing daily dispatches via satellite.

Computer Problems Doom the Space Station?

Update and Bump:

Multiple news sources are reporting that the ISS's computers are back up and have passed all their operational tests. Damned the bad luck!

Original Post:

All over the news this morning was the saga of the ongoing computer failure at the International Space Station (ISS). As best I can understand the (very) non-technical stories, the German-built (under Russian contract) computer system that controls the life support system, the environmental systems, and the spacecraft's attitude (direction) failed a few days ago. All attempts to resuscitate it have been unsuccessful, but these attempts are ongoing. Right now the only reason the astronauts can stay there is because the space shuttle is docked with the ISS and is providing attitude control.

But here's the real kicker: if the stories are correct, there's a looming deadline -- the limit of the space shuttle's stay. If the problem cannot be fixed by then, the ISS will have to be abandoned -- left drifting aimlessly in space. After some time, it will be slowed down by friction with the upper Earth's atmosphere, and will fall out of orbit in a hail of flaming wreckage.

I can hardly wait! That useless, purposeless hunk of junk called the ISS has been sucking the money from all the good programs at NASA for a long time now. I can't think of a better end than this, with no deaths or injuries to the astronauts, and a flaming decent into hell for the ISS. Hooray! Now I just hope I'm not being set up for a major disappointment, like an emergency shuttle repair mission that cancels yet another real science program...

Manned Space Flight

Over the past few months, several of my readers have emailed me about my opposition to manned space flight programs. The gist of these emails is surprise that I (a complete geek) would take this position, and accusations that I'm ignoring the long-term imperative for mankind to live in more than one place. A couple writers suggested that I lacked an appreciation of the romance and frontier adventure inherent in manned space flight.

Well.

I'm not actually opposed to manned space flight. I am opposed to the use of public funds for manned space flight in its current incarnation, and for the objectives set for so far. If a private company can raise the capital to pursue a profit-seeking venture in space (as several have done), then I'm all for it. I think the X prize notion for incremental technology advances (even for advances that support manned space flight) is a wonderful idea -- a relatively small amount of public funding that generates a large amount of competitive invention and development. But tens of billions of dollars spent for a useless space station, or a lunar station, or a visit to Mars? In my book, those are mind-boggling boondoggles run by an inefficient bureaucracy for no good purpose at all. Much better to either not spend those public dollars at all, or to invest them instead in something with an obviously useful objective -- such as, say, a replacement for storage batteries (one of the key problems facing alternative power technologies).

I'd also be supportive of publicly funded research to solve the two key problems with long-term manned space flight: propulsion systems and the energetic radiation problem.

Chemical rockets -- currently the only propulsion system available to lift payloads from the Earth's surface to near-Earth orbits -- are woefully inadequate for any serious manned exploration of space. They're outrageously expensive, dangerous, and (usually) badly polluting. It simply isn't practical to launch thousands of such rockets a year. If manned space operations are to become routine, this issue must be solved. We need a practical, safe, cheap lift system. Some alternatives to chemical rockets have been proposed, most notably "rail guns" and "space elevators". Both have lots of challenges, and it remains to be seen whether either can be successfully developed. It seems most likely to me, however, that the real answer hasn't even been thought of yet. I could support public funding in an intelligent way to get at an answer for this problem.

The energetic radiation problem has been discussed in the media, but it still isn't widely known (based on my own informal discussions with ordinary people). Simply put, everywhere in space outside of a planetary magnetosphere there is lots of very energetic radiation that is dangerous for astronauts -- dangerous enough that weeks of exposure is certain to lead to a high incidence of radiation-related illnesses and (if the exposure is long enough) death. The "energetic" part of the phrase implies something else: shielding is very difficult. Several feet of lead would be required to reduce the radiation to levels comparable to that found on the Earth's surface. Can you imagine a spaceship whose hull was lined with several feet of lead? Absurd, of course -- but nobody has yet come up with a good answer for this problem. Again, I could support a wise expenditure of public funds for the purpose of attacking this challenge.

So... Imagine a future where we've got a good lift system and where we have solved the energetic radiation problem. Would I then support public funding of manned space flight? I don't know the answer to that without knowing what he objective is. If it was a lunar station or a visit to Mars, my answer would still be "no". However, I think the question is actually moot -- because under those conditions, I think entrepreneurs would be raising capital to fund their own profit-seeking manned space flight. What would their objectives be? I have no idea, though I could imagine tourism, solar power, and some kind of natural resource exploitation being natural categories.

In the meantime, I believe NASA's role should be limited to robotic research missions (which have in the past ten years accomplished truly amazing things) and nurturing research on the tough challenges to manned space flight...

Everest Panorama

A friend sent along this spectacular 360° panorama, taken at the peak of Mt. Everest in the Himalaya mountains. You need to click on the image at right to see it at full size, and you'll probably have to scroll left and right to see the whole thing.

Thank you, Richard S.!

Solstice Approaching...

Just four days from now, on June 21, the summer solstice occurs. On that day, the sun is above the horizon longer than on any other day of the year.

The photo at right is from HPWREN's automatic camera on top of Lyon's Peak, a couple miles almost due south of my house. The camera looks at a 90° swath of the horizon, centered on due north. It was taken just a little while before sunset. You can see that the sun is on the left (which is west), and nearly in view. That means the sun's direction is just a few degrees less than 315°, well north of west and much further north than it normally sets. Each day until June 21 it will set (and rise) a little further north. Between June 21 and December 21 (the winter solstice), it will set (and rise) a little further south each day.

There's your astronomy lesson for the day...

Hummer Juice Mass Production...

Every summer as the number of flowers decrease, the hummingbirds start drinking more from our feeders. In addition, the number of hummingbirds (and in recent years, orioles) attracted to our feeders increases every year. This year we are seeing much larger numbers of orioles feeding, most especially hooded orioles, but also at least two pairs of Bullock's orioles. The rate of sugar water ("hummer juice") consumption at our feeders is now at about six quarts per day.

For years we've been mixing the hummer juice two quarts at a time, the size being set the by size of the pitcher we made it in. Typically in the summer, we'd have to make two batches a day, as the feeders ran out. That's quite a bit of repetitive work -- so a few days ago I decided to try to make the job easier.

I located the perfect hummer juice container: a five gallon container with a spigot. It's made by Coleman, and is intended to be a water jug for camping. I also located a pet food container with an airtight spin-on lid that's perfect for storing 50 pounds of sugar. Now I'm making five gallons of hummer juice in one batch, enough for several days of happy hummers. An added bonus: it's very convenient to fill the feeders from the Coleman container, using a funnel. But it sure feels like mass production when I make a batch! I start by filling the Coleman container half full of hot tap water. Then I pour five quarts (about 9.5 pounds) of sugar into the hot water, swizzling it with a section of half inch PVC pipe as my swizzle stick. Once I've got the sugar all dissolved, I fill the container the rest of the way with hot water and add about a 3:1 mixture of yellow and red food coloring. The hummers couldn't care any less about the nice orange color that results, but (very subjectively) it does seem to attract the orioles. Then a little more swizzling with my giant swizzle stick and I'm stocked up on hummer juice for days...

Monkey Flowers

A treat for me each summer is the bloom of the monkey flowers. Lawson Valley is home to several species, all blooming for several weeks starting roughly June 1 (later than most spring flowers). The species here range from deep reddish-orange to very pale oranges. On our property, including within our mostly cleared, fenced yard, we have several stands of monkey flowers -- all of them Diplacus puniceus, the Otay Monkey Flower. The photo at right shows one such stand, just uphill and east of our house, right against the fence and (as usual for monkey flowers) right next to a rock outcropping.