In theory I support the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)*, which is why I was a little perturbed to find a story about the WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) on www.stoptheaclu.com. A quick look at your site shows several articles that apparently support the WBC.
If the WBC really believed in what they were saying, it would be one thing, but they are not. They are gaming the system.
Near as I can tell, this bunch of troglodytes are in it for the money. They stage these protests hoping someone will attack them and "violate their civil rights", where upon they turn around and sue. They have done this before and made a bunch of money, so they continue the practice, hoping for more money.
*In practice I don't send you any more money because it seems that all my money is spent sending me more requests for money. Also, I'm unemployed, which is why I have time to harass you about this.
Could it be that the WBC has made a big contribution to the ACLU and this is why you are supporting them?
Friday, April 29, 2011
Letter to the ACLU
Just An Earth Bound Misfit put up a post about "those hate-filled lunatics of the Westboro Baptist Church", which sent me wandering off in search of the origin of the referenced story. Never did find it, but my browser is a little crippled these days due to an attack by the evil effing WindowsFixDisk malware. All of which prompted me to drop a line to the ACLU. Since I wrote it, it must be wonderful, so I thought I would share.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Tree Goose
Look! A new species of goose! Oh, wait. It's spring. Never mind. From the swamp.
Update February 2017 replaced missing picture.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Mary J Wanna
I saw a line in the news this week about how one per cent of the electricity produced in the United States is used in the production of marijuana, i.e. it's used for grow lights for indoor pot farms. That is a heck of a lot of pot.
I'm all in favor of legalizing marijuana, matter of fact, I'm in favor of legalizing all drugs. I think people are smart enough to figure this stuff out for themselves, and it certainly isn't any of the government's business. But I don't think it is going to happen anytime soon.
The prohibition of alcohol (early in the 20th Century in the US) is the example commonly given of why the laws banning drugs should be repealed. Then I had a thought. I have heard numerous stories about how prohibition came to be (Carrie Nation and rampant alcoholism), but I never heard anything about how it came to be repealed. Big campaign for years to get prohibition enacted, the prohibition lasted for several years and then it was repealed. What happened? What happened is that half of the people in the country wanted a drink.
It's a little hard to tell what's going on with marijuana. Accurate numbers are hard to come by because, well, it's illegal. Near as we can tell though it's the biggest cash crop in several states. It's easy to see why. When a bushel of pot goes for ten thousand dollars, and a bushel of corn goes for three or four, you don't have to grow a whole lot of pot to make a big pile of cash. On the other hand, only about five percent of our population are regular pot smokers. That's a considerable number, but it's nothing like the number of people who drink.
Rational, reasonable arguments are not going get the laws changed. There is going to have to be a sea change in people's attitudes before anything happens. It's possible that the drug war going on in Mexico might trigger a ground swell of opinion, but I kind of doubt it. I mean it's in Mexico, that's another country, that doesn't have anything to do with US. Oops, sorry, a little sarcasm slipped out there.
If some rich guy, like Murdoch or Bill Gates, wanted to mount a media campaign, they could probably get the laws changed eventually. But I don't think that is likely to happen. Right now too many people are making too much money off of marijuana for anyone on either side of the law to want it to become legal.
I'm all in favor of legalizing marijuana, matter of fact, I'm in favor of legalizing all drugs. I think people are smart enough to figure this stuff out for themselves, and it certainly isn't any of the government's business. But I don't think it is going to happen anytime soon.
The prohibition of alcohol (early in the 20th Century in the US) is the example commonly given of why the laws banning drugs should be repealed. Then I had a thought. I have heard numerous stories about how prohibition came to be (Carrie Nation and rampant alcoholism), but I never heard anything about how it came to be repealed. Big campaign for years to get prohibition enacted, the prohibition lasted for several years and then it was repealed. What happened? What happened is that half of the people in the country wanted a drink.
It's a little hard to tell what's going on with marijuana. Accurate numbers are hard to come by because, well, it's illegal. Near as we can tell though it's the biggest cash crop in several states. It's easy to see why. When a bushel of pot goes for ten thousand dollars, and a bushel of corn goes for three or four, you don't have to grow a whole lot of pot to make a big pile of cash. On the other hand, only about five percent of our population are regular pot smokers. That's a considerable number, but it's nothing like the number of people who drink.
Rational, reasonable arguments are not going get the laws changed. There is going to have to be a sea change in people's attitudes before anything happens. It's possible that the drug war going on in Mexico might trigger a ground swell of opinion, but I kind of doubt it. I mean it's in Mexico, that's another country, that doesn't have anything to do with US. Oops, sorry, a little sarcasm slipped out there.
If some rich guy, like Murdoch or Bill Gates, wanted to mount a media campaign, they could probably get the laws changed eventually. But I don't think that is likely to happen. Right now too many people are making too much money off of marijuana for anyone on either side of the law to want it to become legal.
Unnecessary Truck
Big, four wheel drive pickup trucks seem to be a plague on our roads. I've read numerous comments by people who think they are gas guzzling road hogs driven by red-necks who want nothing more than to crush the little people in the their fuel efficient little foreign bug cars. Me, I've been on both sides of this skirmish. Ten foot tall pickup trucks come flying by me at a hunert miles an hour, obviously driven by maniacs, or getting stuck behind tiny little tiny putt-putts driven by idiots crawling down the road, holding up traffic in three counties.
Now there are some people who have a legitimate use for a large pickup, like people in the construction trades who are occasionally called on to haul material or tow trailers. Then there is the RV crowd who drive their monster truck to work five days a week and then use it to tow their travel trailer to the beach or the mountains on the weekend. These people could buy another small car to commute to work, but is having two cars instead of just one really any better? It is certainly more expensive to maintain two vehicles than one.
Our neighbor's older daughter got married a few months to a guy who joined the marines. He spent some time in Afghanistan. He does not need a monster truck. But then it struck me: he probably feels more comfortable driving in something like this, because what has he spent the last year riding around in? An MRAP. Coming back to the States is going to require some adjustments, and if driving a monster pickup truck makes him feel more comfortable, well, I for one am not going to complain.
Now there are some people who have a legitimate use for a large pickup, like people in the construction trades who are occasionally called on to haul material or tow trailers. Then there is the RV crowd who drive their monster truck to work five days a week and then use it to tow their travel trailer to the beach or the mountains on the weekend. These people could buy another small car to commute to work, but is having two cars instead of just one really any better? It is certainly more expensive to maintain two vehicles than one.
Our neighbor's older daughter got married a few months to a guy who joined the marines. He spent some time in Afghanistan. He does not need a monster truck. But then it struck me: he probably feels more comfortable driving in something like this, because what has he spent the last year riding around in? An MRAP. Coming back to the States is going to require some adjustments, and if driving a monster pickup truck makes him feel more comfortable, well, I for one am not going to complain.
Mystery Cable
My wife and I are getting ready for the neighborhood garage sale next weekend. If I have anything else to do, like a job, I don't like participating. They can be fun to browse if you have a couple of hours free, but selling stuff is another matter: getting ready, setting up, manning the barricades and all that is a lot of work, and I would just as soon not. But we have reached critical mass and if some of this stuff doesn't go the house might explode. There is a lot of stuff that could just go to Goodwill, but there are things Goodwill won't take. There are a couple of valuable items, some big and heavy stuff, some things that are useful but you can't really charge money for, so we're getting ready.
While we are rummaging around we find this cable. Obviously a specialized item for a specific application. I look at it, but for the life of me I cannot figure out what it goes to. Game Boy to cell phone? Power supply to GPS? I don't have a clue, so I ask my kids. Youngest calls back and tells me he found it on the street and brought it home so I could wonder what it was. Bah! He caught me, not once, but twice. Stinker.
While we are rummaging around we find this cable. Obviously a specialized item for a specific application. I look at it, but for the life of me I cannot figure out what it goes to. Game Boy to cell phone? Power supply to GPS? I don't have a clue, so I ask my kids. Youngest calls back and tells me he found it on the street and brought it home so I could wonder what it was. Bah! He caught me, not once, but twice. Stinker.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Bad Educator Stories
I heard a couple of stories about educators at lunch today.
Marc was taking a Computer Science class at PSU. He was also working, so he had limited time to actually work on his homework. When he did get a chance to sit down at the university's computer to work on his assignment, the system was down. He eventually completed the assignment, but because of the downtime, he was late turning it in, so he got no credit. He got an A on the final, but because of the missing assignment (a mid-term equivalent, maybe?) he got a D for the class. He needed to get a C to get reimbursed for the class, so he talked to the instructor. The instructor told him he needed to talk to the Dean, so he did. Marc made the argument that he was there for an education and since the school was in the education business, he should get credit for what he had learned. The Dean replied, no, you are in error, we are not in the education business, we are in the certification business. That was it for Marc. He quit.
Glenn's story was about some electronics classes he took at PCC. He took two introductory classes, and then he looks at the description of the next class and it doesn't sound like there is anything new. So he asks the instructor, and the instructor tells him that, yes, there is a bunch of new material in this third class. So he takes it. There isn't any new material. At the end of the term, in spite of getting all A's on his work, he get's a B for the class. When he asks the instructor why, he tells him that he didn't learn anything.
How much of education is actually learning the material, and how much is learning how to play the game?
Marc was taking a Computer Science class at PSU. He was also working, so he had limited time to actually work on his homework. When he did get a chance to sit down at the university's computer to work on his assignment, the system was down. He eventually completed the assignment, but because of the downtime, he was late turning it in, so he got no credit. He got an A on the final, but because of the missing assignment (a mid-term equivalent, maybe?) he got a D for the class. He needed to get a C to get reimbursed for the class, so he talked to the instructor. The instructor told him he needed to talk to the Dean, so he did. Marc made the argument that he was there for an education and since the school was in the education business, he should get credit for what he had learned. The Dean replied, no, you are in error, we are not in the education business, we are in the certification business. That was it for Marc. He quit.
Glenn's story was about some electronics classes he took at PCC. He took two introductory classes, and then he looks at the description of the next class and it doesn't sound like there is anything new. So he asks the instructor, and the instructor tells him that, yes, there is a bunch of new material in this third class. So he takes it. There isn't any new material. At the end of the term, in spite of getting all A's on his work, he get's a B for the class. When he asks the instructor why, he tells him that he didn't learn anything.
How much of education is actually learning the material, and how much is learning how to play the game?
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Compressing the Uncompressible
While I was reading about the Triton submarine over the last week, it occured to me that it would be possible to test the Triton's pressure hull on dry land, i.e. it was small enough that you could conceivably build a pressure tank big enough to contain it. Then I got to thinking about how much work it would be to pressurize it, and I realized that if you got all the air out it wouldn't take much. You could probably use something like a three inch diameter hydraulic cylinder with a long lever attached. Lean on the end of the lever enough to move the piston an inch or two and you could have all the pressure you needed. Of course the trick is to get all the air out. Any bubbles caught inside the tank could easily absorb all your hand made compression without raising the pressure noticeably.
Then Bobbi mentions traction engines, which is just another name for locomotives. I suspect they are called traction engines to distinguish them from cog engines which use a gear wheel on the engine to push against a rack laid between the rails. If you remember your geometry, a line tangent to a circle intersects the circle at only one point. A steel railroad wheel when it sits on a rail is tangent to the rail, and steel is uncompressible, so the contact is at one point, which we know from geometry has no measurable length. Friction is measured by a coefficient (a number) and the area of contact. If the area of contact is zero, then the friction is zero, no matter what the coefficeint is. If there is no friction, there is no traction, so how can a locomotive pull anything?
Lastly there is Newton's Cradle, the executive toy with five or six steel balls hanging from strings. Look at any explanation and they talk about perfect elastic impacts. Steel is elastic? Well, in a word, yes. From an answer on Yahoo: Actually water is slightly compressible, about the same as steel.
Then Bobbi mentions traction engines, which is just another name for locomotives. I suspect they are called traction engines to distinguish them from cog engines which use a gear wheel on the engine to push against a rack laid between the rails. If you remember your geometry, a line tangent to a circle intersects the circle at only one point. A steel railroad wheel when it sits on a rail is tangent to the rail, and steel is uncompressible, so the contact is at one point, which we know from geometry has no measurable length. Friction is measured by a coefficient (a number) and the area of contact. If the area of contact is zero, then the friction is zero, no matter what the coefficeint is. If there is no friction, there is no traction, so how can a locomotive pull anything?
Lastly there is Newton's Cradle, the executive toy with five or six steel balls hanging from strings. Look at any explanation and they talk about perfect elastic impacts. Steel is elastic? Well, in a word, yes. From an answer on Yahoo: Actually water is slightly compressible, about the same as steel.
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