S.A.R.S. - Perspektiva

Just when I think I have figured out how the world works I come across something like this that tells me that a lot of people have not. Or maybe they have and it just doesn't make any sense. I ran the lyrics and the name of the band through Google translator and got, well, not much. Perspectiva is maybe Russian or Slovenian for perspective.
Update: I admit I posted this because of the video. The tune, while bright and lively, is nothing special. The woman has a pretty face, and she's kind of a bad-ass, though it's more in the line of a junky-slut than a ninja-assassin, but hey, she's dressed in black and she can hold her liquor. What more does a guy want from a girl? Besides, most guys can't actually handle having a ninja-assassin for a girlfriend. Since I haven't heard anything else interesting lately (other than superbikes at the Isle of Man, which, while musical, don't really have much of a melody) I listened to some of their other videos, and this band is actually pretty good. They even use an English word or two occasionally.

Reflectance

I just walked down to the mailbox. On the way back I noticed that one of my neighbors has a new sports car so I walked across the street to ask him about it. Walking barefoot on the sidewalk is a bit of a challenge for my tender tootsies. The concrete has a rough surface and it was a little warm. The black asphalt on the street was unpleasantly hot. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!
    The other day when I was studying the Tu-160, a.k.a. the white swan, I read that it was painted anti-flash white. This paint gets its name because it is supposed to reflect some of the thermal radiation given off by atomic bombs when they go off. I imagine they were hoping to reflect the infrared radiation. Higher energy electromagnetic radiation, like X-rays and gamma rays aren't going to be dissuaded by mere paint, or even by a thin sheet of aluminum. Still, simple heat energy can cause plenty of damage all by itself, so maybe it would help. At least it might keep the air crew from being roasted alive. That way they can return to base and fill out their reports before they succumb to radiation poisoning from the atomic radiation that the paint did not reflect.

    The other day there was a mystery radar event down at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. Well, it's a mystery to everyone who wasn't in on it. Looks like they might have been testing a new kind of chaff. Chaff. That's a funny word. Developed about the same time as radar (WW2)  it wasn't initially used by either side because they were afraid that once the enemy caught on to it, they would start using it, which would render their radar useless. The original chaff was foil backed paper cut into thin strips one-half the wavelength of the radar you are trying to fool.

The stuff that turned up on the ground outside Redstone looked by little tufts of fiberglass. Wouldn't think fiberglass would reflect RADAR, but then maybe it's not ordinary fiberglass but some sooper-secret glass with little bits of magic inside.

P.S. Turns out the 'new' sports car is 14 years old. Several years ago the check engine light came on and previous owner parked it, not wanting to pay the German car dealer the umpteen zillion dollars they wanted to turn the light off. My neighbor rescued it and has spent the last couple of years removing the moss and tree and sap that had accumulated while it was parked.

Disturbing

Recent reports documenting the collection of Verizon customer telephone records by the National Security Administration are disturbing, but certainly not surprising. Programs like this have been a concern since they were authorized in the Patriot Act in 2001. This is one of the reasons I have voted against that legislation every time it has come to the floor for reauthorization.

While the White House has explained that the order does not allow the government to listen in to anyone’s conversations, and asserted the program has been valuable in protecting the nation from terrorist threats, I remain dubious about its effectiveness. As of last October, 4.92 million federal employees and contractors had access to secret information, which is larger than the entire population of Los Angeles. I am concerned that the amount of information being reviewed by the intelligence community and number of people involved may actually be making us less safe.

I urge Congress to use this controversy, and the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2013 which will soon head to the floor for debate, as an opportunity to reevaluate methods of domestic surveillance, the growing size of the intelligence bureaucracy, and reiterate the importance of maintaining the privacy and civil liberties of American citizens. 
Sincerely,





Earl Blumenauer
Member of Congress

It's little things like this that make me think that maybe, just maybe, there is some hope for our benighted country.

Malaysia Pushes Joint Development to Solve Asia Sea Disputes

There are several insignificant islands in Southeast Asia whose ownership is disputed. The islands themselves are of no particular use, but the territorial rights to undersea resources that accompany those islands are. This story showed up on Bloomberg today:

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called for claimants in the South China Sea to jointly develop resources to avoid conflict and prevent “extra-regional states” from becoming involved.
Najib cited a joint development zone in waters claimed by Thailand and Malaysia as a precedent that could be applied in the South China Sea. Vietnam and the Philippines reject China’s map as a basis for joint development in the waters, part of which are also claimed by Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
“Agreeing to share prosperity, rather than let it divide us, is infinitely preferable to the alternative,” Najib said in a speech yesterday in Kuala Lumpur.
Competition for oil, gas and fish threatens to disrupt the estimated two-thirds of global trade that passes through the waters. China favors joint development of resources, while the U.S., Japan and the Philippines advocate international arbitration.
Najib said a code of conduct for operating in the waters would be a “good start” to prevent tensions from escalating. He warned that involving unspecified “extra-regional states” may “add yet another layer of complexity to the dispute.”
“For Asian nations, this problem is ours to solve,” Najib said. “Should we stray from the path of dialogue and cooperation, we may pave the way for other parties to take remedial action to protect the freedom of navigation and safe passage.”

“Extra-regional states”? I wonder who he was thinking of. And then there was this: China favors joint development of resources, while the U.S., Japan and the Philippines advocate international arbitration.

Of course it's hard to tell what China really favors being as they are so inscrutable (other than total world domination, bwah hah hah hah hah). Naturally the U.S. would favor arbitration. I mean we are a half a world a way, how else could we justify stirring that pot? And you can bet stirring it is our intention, because sure as shooting we are hoping to get our fingers on some of that pie.
     Now that it looks like we are finally starting to pull out of Afghanistan, I'm sure our national security advisers are looking for someplace else we can pick a fight. Isn't it about Southeast Asia's turn again? Otherwise it's gonna be Africa. I'm not sure which one would be worse.

Puzzling Quote

Found this over on Military Photos dot net:

Respect of the dead is something pretty much any culture do. It's actually one of the mark of intelligence in human development. Djihadist desecrates bodies and tombs, because there a bunch of savages. - Bidoul33t 

Never mind the misspellings, I wonder about the substance. Is respect for the dead a mark of intelligence, a mark of civilization, or just a mark of compassion that any feeling creature can have? And aren't we all savages? The only difference between "us" and "them" is we have a more reliable history of civilized behavior, or maybe just a selective memory. And doesn't how you treat the living count more than how you treat the dead?

Super Creep

Super refers to Superalloys, and creep is what Superalloys do when they get really hot, like in a jet engine, which is where you need superalloys, the lack of which was one of the main stumbling blocks in developing the first jet engines, and which are still giving engineers fits.

I'm reading about the TU-160, Russia's giant supersonic nuclear bomber. It uses four Kuznetsov NK-32 turbofan engines.

KUZNETSOV Factory. I'm guessing early 20th Century.

 Kuznetsov NK-25 engine. No, not the engine from the TU-160, but similar.

I'm looking for pictures and I stumble over a Portuguese language blog with a story about the Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop engine. Same company, similar large turbine engine. The Google translation was interesting enough that I stole the story and polished it up a bit. The Portuguese story mentions an alloy called Nimonic. (Wait, what? You mean mnemonic? No, not Johnny.) Nimonic leads me to Wiggin, which leads to Inco, which leads to Special Metals, which leads to Precision Castparts, which leads to union organizers, which leads to commies, which is where we started. Full circle in one paragraph. Marvelous.

Nimonic was the original high temperature alloy. A person by the name of L. B. Pfeil, working at the Henry Wiggin company came up with it when they were first trying to build jet engines back in 1941 in England. It was 50% nickel. It has evolved over the years and is still being used in the latest Rolls Royce hi-bypass turbofans and for the valves in your ordinary automobile engine. Henry founded the Wiggin company, on Wiggins Street, in Hereford, England. He eventually sold out to Inco, which used to be called International Nickel, and which used to be an important company in it's own right: Paraphrased from Wikipedia:

Prior to 2006, Inco was the world's second largest producer of nickel. It was also a charter member of the 30-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average formed on October 1, 1928. It is now part of the Brazilian mining company Vale.

Inco sold their foundary business to Special Metals, which was recently acquired by Precision Castparts. Precision Castparts is an Oregon company that has been making great strides making parts out of exotic alloys, much of which is going into military hardware. Union organizers are trying to organize the workers at Precision. I don't know how much luck they are having.

Update: Stu challenges us to identify the five aircraft shown in silhouette in the Nimonic ad above. Only two of them looked familiar, and even after spending some time with Google and Wikipedia, I only managed to identify four of them. Stu supplied the last one, #4. Highlight to read, or click to follow the link. From left to right:

1. Gloster Meteor
2. de Havilland Vampire
3. Supermarine Attacker
4. English Electric Canberra
5. Grumman F-9 Cougar

Uncooperative

One of the themes, and a source of constant irritation, in Absolution Gap is the continuing conflict between nominal allies. All humans in this story, indeed, all living, intelligent creatures are at risk of extinction from the "Inhibitors". You would think that when they were facing a common enemy our gang of thieves would be able to put aside their differences and band together to defeat this threat. But that never seems to be the case. They spend as much time fighting amongst each other as they do fighting their one real threat. After a bit of stewing in frustration over their obvious stupidity I realized a group of disparate individuals can only join together if they can agree on a common strategy and/or are willing to accept one person as their leader. If you can't get over that hurdle, you will continue to have conflicts between factions as well as the main war with the enemy. I suppose it's more realistic this way, having all these dominant personality types vying for control, but it's not as much fun as having all these petty differences shoved under the rug.