Intel's Ronler Acres Plant

Silicon Forest
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Monday, September 21, 2020

H-6K


China bombing US Guam base
Original caption: 解放军空军“模拟轰-6K轰炸美军基地”视频
[Google translation: Video of the PLA Air Force "Simulated Bombing -6K Bombing US Base]
[You need to watch this in full screen, the aspect ratio makes it tiny on anything smaller.]
encryptedpictures

The Chinese are beating the war drum. Not sure what they expect to accomplish, probably hope to intimidate their neighbors into letting them have free reign over the South China Sea.

I hadn't heard of the H-6K before, not sure whether I've even heard of the Soviet Tu-16 which is what they started with.


This is the only picture of this airplane that I found that shows the upper surface. There are any number of photos of it that show the bottom or the side, but apparently none from above.

The Chinese started a program to develop their own jet engines a few years ago, but I haven't heard any more about it. As far as I know, they are still using engines they are buying from other countries.



Woody Island in the South China Sea

Back in 2018, The National Interest reported:
For the first time ever, the PLAAF has landed Xian H-6K bombers on Woody Island in the disputed Paracel archipelago.

Woody Island wasn't much of a place until the Chinese decided to make an airbase out of it.

Via ZeroHedge, that bastion of clear-headed, foaming at the mouth conspiracists.

Update July 2022 replaced missing video.

Friday, September 18, 2020

Bottles or Cans?

Coors Beer Bottles & Cans

I've been drinking beer this summer. You can get it in cans or bottles, though you don't always get a choice. Sometimes the store only has your favorite brand in one or the other so unless you are persnickety and are willing to travel to another store, you take what they have.

But which one is better? Cans are lighter, they chill faster, and are more likely to be recycled. Sure bottles can be dumped in the recycling bin, but do they actually get recycled? Last I heard the recycling folks had accumulated a big pile of glass but nobody wanted it, so they eventually gave up and sent it to the landfill. 

Aluminum has a higher intrinsic value than glass so even in states that don't have bottle deposit laws, you seldom see cans by the side of the road. Scrappers are out there picking them up and hauling them to the scrap metal dealers to get cash money they can use to buy more beer.

The lighter weight of cans means the delivery trucks can be a little more efficient so they burn less fuel for the amount of beer they deliver, though I suspect the amount of fuel saved only makes a difference when aggregated over a nationwide fleet of trucks.

Bottles are easier to drain. To get the last little sip of beer out of a can you have to tilt your head back so far you are in danger of falling over backwards. I don't have that problem with bottles.

I could pour the beer out of the can into a glass, but now I have to wash the glass. I have a dishwashing machine (the term dishwasher is ambiguous. Is it a person or a machine?) so that is not an onerous task, but it does use energy to run the machine and heat the water. It is a new fangled machine that takes like three hours to wash a load of dishes, but it is supposed to be energy efficient.

Glass containers, bottle or glass, hold more heat (or cold) than aluminum does, so the beer doesn't warm up as fast, but that's not really a problem for me because I finish that first beer in a matter of minutes and the second one doesn't take much longer. After that, well, you need to factor in things like ambient air temperature, relative humidity and how entertaining or tedious your fellows are.

Being as I am lazy, I prefer bottles. No washing glasses, no straining my neck, no fooling with beer koozzies, no chasing empty cans that the wind has blown off the table. Unless it's hurricane season but I don't drink outside when we get hurricane force winds.


Old Chisholm Trail


Old Chisholm Trail
Gene Autry

Tune just popped into my head this morning. My dad used to sing snatches of it around the house when I was a kid.



Assholes & Old Ladies

Pyramids, built by old-timey assholes

Seems to me there are two schools of belief operating in our society. I will call these two camps assholes & old ladies. These two camps do not discriminate between the sexes, though there does seem to be a preponderance of men in the asshole camp and old ladies are generally women. The assholes are the guys that follow the rules and rigidly enforce them. Clint Eastwood's character in Gran Torino is a good example. The old ladies clutch their pearl necklaces and sympathize with the poor, the miserable and the trampled upon.

Generally speaking, old ladies, have a poor understanding of how the physical world works. Assholes have no sympathy for old ladies.

The people in the old ladies camp tend to follow whoever will make nice speeches and promise love and kisses for everyone. They will worship the devil if he is polite and well spoken. The people in asshole camp put on their armor and go to war against whatever obstacles are in the way, be it a rock or an army.


Funnies

 









Thursday, September 17, 2020

Nvidia Buys ARM

 

Joined the Thursday lunch bunch today for via Zoom and it was like I had never left. I quit going a while back because going out to lunch more than once a week was more than I could handle. But now because of COVID-19 they are getting together via Zoom and I must say it works pretty well. I drug my Chromebook over to the new house, plugged in my cell phone modem, open the email invitation, clicked on the link, and poof, just like magic, there I am.

Marc tells us Nvidia (his employer & famed graphics card manufacturer) has made an offer of a gazillion dollars to buy ARM. Nvidia has expanded considerably beyond their graphics card roots, among other things they are now building servers. Looking at the stock market values, Nvidia might be bigger than Intel, they might soon be bigger than Apple which is hard to imagine.


Electric Bike

Iaman's Electric Bike

Iaman bought an electric bike conversion kit and applied it to an old bike he acquired from Dennis.
Took me many hours over a couple days to assemble.  Now I could do it much quicker.  I had a psychic block about removing the crankset to install the motor. Bought the $799 kit for $900 total with shipping from Bafang USA Direct.

No test ride report yet, smoke is still stifling.