Really. Email that is taken in, carried by a snail using an RFID Chip, and a
To paraphrase Styx, someone has “too much time on their hands.”
Month: July 2008
Preemptive Nuclear War is Now Off the Table
For a while, at least.
The plan called CONPLAN 8022, was withdrawn by U.S. Strategic Command.
My guess is that this is the lame duck effect yet again, thank God.
Another Day, Another Defense Procurement Clusterf$#@
Lockheed and the C-5M, up 108% from last year.
We gotta frog march some of these execs out of their offices in hand cuffs.
Something Else Over Budget on the JSF
The engine, or more specifically, the Pratt & Whitney F-135, to the tune of at least $850 million.
I’m not sure if this is an excuse to kill the alternate GE/RR F-136, or to keep funding it to keep them honest.
Seriously, the Indian Defense Establishment is the Most Fracked Up Military-Industrial Complex on the Face of the Earth
I just saw this press release from the Indian government about the Nag anti-tank missile.
It’s supposedly a “third generation anti-tank missile”, and it’s supposed to undergo final trials in the next week or so, but the missile has been 22 years in development.
22 years? For an anti-tank missile?
That is completely whack, and once again the initials DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization), a government agency and defense contractor, which figures prominently in this absurdity.
Perhaps, shuttering the organization, bulldozing the buildings, burning the rubble, encapsulating the ashes in concrete, and starting afresh in establishing an indigenous defense establishment would help, because, based on the performance that I’ve seen, this is the most screwed up defense procurement establishment in the world.
EADS Looks for U.S. A400M Partner in Push for Pentagon Sales
The weak dollar, which has increasingly made US labor attractive to the Europeans may be a contributing factor, but the EADS’ discussions with Northrop-Grumman and Lockheed-Martin for final assembly (Paid Subscription Required) are really all about getting access to the US military market.
Airbus Says A320 W/GTF Could Be Ready in 30 Months
They are saying that it would take two and half years to integrate P&W’s geared turbofan into the A320.
The end date would depend on when they started, and at this point, a stumbling block would be that P&W is not releasing maintenance costs specifics.
When one considers the fact that what killed Thielert was the frequency of maintenance, and that the primary concern over the GTF is maintenance, so I would not expect any effort to integrate the engine until Pratt & Whitney either gives some guarantees, or there is some data on the wing in commercial service.
Friday Cat Blogging
It’s been a while:
Epic Fail
So, WaPo scribe Krissah Williams Thompson is talking with some young Republicans at a bar, that she describes as, “A who’s who of young conservatives,” and they are bumming.
Let’s see, we have:
- The 20-something who helped steer Fred Thompson’s Internet operation.
- The young woman who put Mitt Romney’s Web site on the map.
- A 24-year-old staffer for Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future.
- Editor in chief of the Heritage Foundation’s Web site.
- A full time blogger at Townhall.com.
Ummmm….I thought that conservatives were supposed to feel crappy when they failed. That they objected to efforts to raise self esteem absent of accomplishment.
When you are failures, you are supposed to feel bad.
Fitch Now Predicting ANOTHER 25% Drop in House Prices
This was a part of their updating their ResiLogic mortgage loss model, which is used to rate residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS), and they now believe that in constant dollar terms, residential real estate will fall 25% over the next 5 years.
Peak to trough, local housing bubbles bursting are typically 5 years, but this is far more widespread, and the bubble is far frothier.
I think that they are too optimistic. They ignore the size of the bubble, the national nature of the bubble, and the fact that unsustainably low interests created the bubble.
I agree with Rich Toscano’s assessment he did two years ago, which was far grimmer, (a 3-parter, see here, here, and here), though it should be noted that it’s primarily about San Diego, one of the frothier markets before the bubble burst.
What a Bunch of F&%$ing Whiners
Yes, we are now seeing hand wringing from the pampered self-centered Washington press corps.
The example given is when Adam Nagourney and Megan Thee write a piss-poor article on polling about Obama, Poll Finds Obama Isn’t Closing Divide on Race, and he’s offended, when the Obama campaign launches a point by point rebuttal that makes him look like a complete pratt.
If you don’t want to look like a pratt, stop being one.
The press needs to get over itself.
Economics Update
It sounds like good news, durable goods orders went higher in June, but it was almost entirely due to defense related purchases.
Real estate is pretty much bad news too, with 2nd quarter foreclosures up 120% year over year, and new home sales down, though not as crappy as expected.
Meanwhile, the National Australia Bank is writing down 90% of its mortgage backed securities, which is a realistic, if somewhat alarming valuation of these instruments.
In the world of retail, we have Rumors that Boscov’s is near collapse. They’re local, so maybe there will be some deals as a result.
More generally, oil and retail gasoline are down, and the dollar is mixed against world currencies.
New Stock Market Terms
Courtesy of WallStreetJackass:
CEO –Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO— Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET — A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET — A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.
….
Read the rest at the site…It’s a hoot.
The Next Thing to Kill You: Granite Countertops
Well, it looks like someone has finally noticed that granite actually contains small quantities of Uranium which decay into Radon gas.
Ummm…I’ve know that for years, but I went to school in New England, where granite is a major source of Radon.
Had a discussion with Harry Stubbs, pen name Hal Clement, where he said that his being in a trench about a mile from a nuclear blast in the 1950s exposed him to less radiation than hanging in his basement..He ran the numbers for us, actually.
The amount of radiation is small, but it might effect resale value, so if you are getting the counters installed, you might want to have a technician measure the radiation level before installation.
Finally
This has been a problem for over 5 years, and they are finally addressing it.
My guess is that someone ran the numbers, and determined that enough of them had fled to other countries, or had been killed, that they would not have too much demand.
Conflicting Claims on Russian Bombers in Cuba
Well we have Izvestia claiming that Russian bomber crews were surveying sites in Cuba for suitability, and we have a Russian defense ministry spokesman denying the reports.
My guess would be that there are no plans, but someone in the Russian establishment wants there to be some.
More Bad IP Legislation
Well, it appears that Senator Patrick Leahy has merged two draconian IP bills to create a bill that combines the worst of both.
I think that the problem is two fold:
- The large IP driven businesses know that their business model exists only because of government support, so they spend lavishly.
- That IP enforcement has been defined as ownership, when it is merely an exclusive license granted for the benefit of society.
So, we now have
- Doubling of penalties
- The authorization of federal prosecutors to use civil suits, where the burden of evidence is 50%+1
- Confiscation of any property tangentially involved, like computers and houses.
- The creation of an IP “Czar”, which would necessarily lead to an expansive and aggressive policy towards pursuing the law, as it is how the “Czar’s” office would justify its existence.
Bad law, bad policy, and a fundamental misunderstanding of the reasons behind copyright and patent protections.
House Races Shifting Democratic
CQ politics 14 districts have shifted in a Democratic direction. Good stuff, though I could deal without Melissa Bean.
DADT on the Block
It looks like the worm is finally turning on the antedeluvian Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy of the US Military,with Congress looking at changing the law.
Of course, Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, a right wing group, claims that it will drive away too many allegedly straight soldiers, but honestly this is not likely to be the case, and as the people most likely to leave are those who are attempting to make the US military an explicitly Evangelical Christian institution, it’s a net win for everyone.
We get needed skilled soldiers, and the religious whack-jobs who are creating a religiously hostile institution in contravention of good military order.
Every Major Senate Democratic Challenger Announces Support for Network Neutrality
Matt Stoller Reports that every major Senate Democratic challenger supports network neutrality:
| Candidate | State | Contributions fromTelecom/Cable | Position | |
| Allen | ME | $2500 | Favors | |
| Begich | AK | $0 | Favors | |
| Franken | MN | $62,650 | Favors | |
| Hagan | NC | $0 | Favors | |
| Kleeb | NE | $0 | Favors | |
| LaRocco | ID | $4,600 | Favors | |
| Lunsford | KY | $0 | Favors | |
| Merkley | OR | $0 | Favors | |
| Musgrove | MS (B) | $0 | Favors | |
| Noriega | TX | $0 | Favors | |
| Rice | OK | $0 | Favors | |
| Shaheen | NH | $0 | Favors | |
| Slattery | KS | $2,800 | Favors | |
| Udall | CO | $54,450 | Favors | |
| Udall | NM | $0 | Favors | |
| Warner | VA | $45,050 | Favors |
Cool.