Another test failure from our missile defense program:
The Air Force says a missile-intercept test failed when a long-range missile launched from California missed a target missile launched from a Pacific island because of radar problems.
Month: February 2010
Death Spiral, JSF Edition, Chapter 2 of Many
Well, this week, SecDef Robert Gates has just fired the program manager for the JSF program, Major General David Heinz, and is withholding millions of dollars in performance fees to the prime contractor, Lockheed-Martin, because of schedule and budget slips, citing a “troubling performance record.” (see also here, here, and here)
Lockheed-Martin’s response has been nothing short of delusional, at least as described by Steve O’Bryan, L-M VP for “business development and customer engagement” for the JSF, “:
Gates’ actions, in O’Bryan’s view, “reflected the commitment of the U.S. government to the F-35… the program is fully funded, with more development funding and more robust leadership.” The decision shows that the aircraft is “relevant today, and that the customer wants the jet right now.”
I’m beginning to think that part of the reason that this program is over budget and behind schedule is that Lockheed Martin has, and so the tax payer is paying for, a, “vice president for business development and customer engagement on the JSF program”.
It seems to me that this is a rather high falutin, and likely highly paid, position for what amounts to a PR flack with heavy duty knee pads.
Misapplication of resources may be a part of the problem, and Mr. O’Bryan’s continued employment does not seem to me to be an example of “spending smart.”
Of course, the USAF chief of staff is similarly sanguine, suggesting that the delays in the pro will only raise unit cost in the immediate term, because, like no other program before it, the delays will increast the cost only, “for a period,” and he does not see a Nunn-McCurdy breach in the costs.
It makes me want to quote that Samuel L. Jackson speech from Pulp Fiction again, because it’s clear that they want to f%$# the taxpayer like a bitch.
There are people who recognize the truth, like the Director Of Operational Test & Evaluation (DOT&E), who says that even with a flawless program, there will be a slippage of at least 18 months on the program, but that a flawless program is extremely unlikely, since things like the idea that modeling and simulation can reduce testing are unlikely to succeed.
Of note in the DOT&E report:
- LRIP configuration is not yet defined.
- Clutch heating on the STOVL variant
- Increases in weight and landing speeds means that tires are running into their thermal limits for the carrier (F-35C) version.
- Software instability
- They aircraft is pulling out many of its survivability features, fuel check valves in the engine nozzle and fire extinguishers, to reach the specified weight.
Additionally, it now appears that the F-35C fuselage is under-strength:
Lockheed Martin Corp. is fixing a structural weakness in the Navy version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that limits the jet’s ability to launch from aircraft carriers, according to a company spokesman.
Engineers in July discovered a “strength shortfall” in an aluminum structure in the aircraft’s center fuselage that helps absorb stresses during a catapult takeoff, Lockheed spokesman John Kent said today in an e-mailed statement.
Additionally, it appears that the carrier model may be too hot, literally for carrier decks:
The Pentagon’s Gilmore said in his report that the engine and power-systems’ exhaust on the Navy and Marine versions is powerful enough to pose a threat to carrier personnel. The blasts also may damage shields used to deflect heat on the deck, including on the CVN-21 carrier, the Navy’s most expensive warship.
“Early analyses of findings indicate that integration of the F-35 into the CVN-21 will result in damage to the carrier deck environment and will adversely affect hangar deck operations,” Gilmore wrote.
<snark>Actually, it’s not a worry, since their new electromagnetic catapults don’t work anyway. </snark>
Another Reason for the Islamic World to Hate Us
We are trying to poison them.
You see, Vegemite is now Halal:
VEGEMITE has gone halal in a bid by food giant Kraft to make the national “treasure” available to Muslim Australians.
The label on Australia’s most famous spread has changed in recent months to include halal certification in a move some have described as “ridiculous” political correctness.
“Islamic communities are proud Australians and they want to be able to eat our national icon as well,” Kraft spokesman Simon Talbot said.
I think that this qualifies as chemical warfare.
True Dat
This is Wicked Cool
It’s a P-38 training film, from 1943:
It’s 34 minutes long, but worth it.
Why People Hate Bankers
Because their systems are patently unfair.
Case in point, AIG, which is owned by the US government, gave retention bonuses to employees who no longer work there:
A substantial number of AIG’s Financial Products employees set to get some $195 million in retention payments no longer work with the bailed out insurer, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
It’s clear that such behavior not only does not serve society, but it does not serve the share holders or the company.
This is a crooked game, and it needs to be shut down.
I’m going long on pitchforks and torches.
Snowpocalypse Videos
For your amusement:
Jim Kosek Needs to Switch to Decaf
That’s the 3rd largest snowball fight I’ve ever seen.
Remember the Auschwitz Sign Theft
In December, some Jamokes stole the sign over the gate of Auschwitz, the one that said “Arbeit Macht Frei,” basically saying (it was a lie) that work would set the inmates free.
I remember reading about it, and thinking that I would wait a couple of days until the full story played out.
I wasn’t sure if this was a stupid prank, something involving organized antisemitism, or something falling into the middle ground, where the history Polish anti-Semitism could be inferred from the incident, but there was no some grounds for doubt.
Well, 2 months later, and the story has played out, and Mithras has nailed what happened in just 28 words (+ title):
Turns Out, It Was Anti-Semites
The guy who commissioned the theft of the Auschwitz sign is a Swedish neo-Nazi. The Poles who stole the sign for him say They Were Just Following Orders.
(emphasis mine)
Ok, Maybe Not “Meh”
Click for full size
That mound with the wiper blades is a 1996 Honda Odyssey
The lump in the center left is a trash can
Back Yard
When I wrote about the Snowpocalypse, I said, “meh”.
OK, not so much.
I managed to get the back door open by about a foot, and then had to shovel the stoop to get the door open the rest of the way, and it’s still snowing.
Also: this is not the light and fluffy snow. This is heavy and sticky.
Maybe the kids will do a snow man, but I’d give less than 50-50 that there will be school on Monday.
Again, apologies for the crappy cell phone camera pix.
We have plenty of food, and if it stretches on for weeks, a very fat cat who looks good for stewing.
(Not really, the cats are family, and besides, they are not kosher)
Friday Cat Blogging, True Dat Edition
It’s Bank Failure Friday!!!!
And here they are, ordered, and numbered for the year so far.
- 1st American State Bank of Minnesota, Hancock, MN
Only one bank failuer this Friday, so the trend line is down a bit:
I will note that this early in the year, individual weeks make a bigger difference, so the trend line should not be considered to have any great predictive characteristics.
On Science
It’s somewhat profane, but very true:
Snowpocalypse
Click for full size
Just starting at about 3:00pm
At about 5:00pm
We’re getting somewhere between 12 and 28 inches of snow, probably more than 20 inches.
People around here are freaking, but having spent 6 years in Alaska, and about 12 years in New England during and after college, so for me, it’s just, “Meh.”
No driving for at least the first half of tomorrow, but it’s really not that big a deal.
It will be a mess for a day or so, it ain’t the end of the world
Dodd Says that Financial Reform Has Stalled
I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here!
There is probably an element of truth to Chris Dodd’s claim that he cannot come to an agreement with Senate Republicans on financial reform:
The chairman of the Senate banking committee said Friday that efforts to reach a bipartisan consensus on sweeping legislation to overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory system had “reached an impasse,” but he said he intends to move forward even without Republican support.
For the second time since November, talks have stalled between Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said ranking Republican Sen. Richard Shelby (Ala.). Both men have expressed interest in reaching a consensus on a wide-ranging bill that would revamp regulation of the financial services industry. But after months of negotiation, they have yet to overcome a key hurdle: the proposed creation of a consumer protection regulator to focus on mortgages, credit cards and other such financial products.
The part that is suspicious, and the reason that I’m inclined to believe that he has lost interest in reform now that he is no longer running for reelection, is that he is going all Claude Rains on the fact that Republicans are not negotiating in good faith.
We’ve seen this phenomenon over and over again: Republicans do not negotiate in good faith until you have something that would kill them politically to vote against.
First you jam them up, then you twist their arm, and then maybe, just maybe, they will agree to be cooperative as you move their head toward the toilet bowl.
Court Case Against the Patenting of Genes Progresses
I originally wrote about this in May, and my position then is what it is now, that you patent inventions, not discoveries, and that the counter argument, “discovering is hard work,” is a load of crap.
The case law is clear that, “a product of nature is unpatentable unless it is sufficiently different to become a patentable ‘composition of matter.'”
In any case, the litigation, put forward by a number of civil liberties and scientific organizations, is now making arguments before the judge:
Federal court hearings continued Tuesday on a lawsuit that could transform biotechnology in the United States by eliminating gene patents.
The case hinges around the claims of Utah-based Myriad Genetics on BRCA1 and BRCA2, a pair of genes closely linked to breast and ovarian cancer. Myriad “owns” the genes, and says its patents make it possible to profit on diagnostic tests. The company argues that if you remove the patents, the tests — indeed, commercial biotechnology as we know it — will vanish.
Myriad is, from the perspective of an engineer, not a patent attorney, dammit,* full of crap.
Their tests for the gene are still protected, it’s just that alternative, and better test methods for the gene that they discovered will be able to compete.
Fundamentally, IP law is about the public good, as it says in the Constitution, “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries,” [where “discoveries” means “invention”, hence the reference to “inventors”, it gets complex],
My guess is that if Myriad had been a bit less hard assed about their patents, they have absolutely refused to license to anyone for any purpose, this case would probably have never come up.
As it stands now, they are literally killing people, and this makes them a thoroughly unsympathetic defendant.
I can’t imagine this not ending up at the Supreme Court though.
*I LOVE IT when I get to go all Doctor McCoy!!!
Economics Update
I already posted on the job numbers on their own, so otherwise, this is slow news day.
What we have is a continuing retrenchment by consumers as they pay down their debt. Consumer credit has fallen for the 11th straight month.
Meanwhile, in energy and currency, the continued fall in non-farm payrolls drove crude oil lower, while the problems in the EU with Greece, etc. pushed the dollar higher.
Blankfein Buys a Clue
Well, it appears that he is a bit less arrogant than his ilk, as Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein year bonus was just $9 million, with none of it in cash, a far cry from the reports of $100 million:
Goldman Sachs stunned many in the Wall Street community Friday by awarding chief executive Lloyd Blankfein $9 million as his year-end bonus, far less than many were anticipating, and none of it in cash.
It was in restricted stock.
My guess is that there are some back channel deals, and the whole idea of a “just $9 million” being an exercise in frugality is odd, but he recognizes that there is a very real problem, and he is taking actions to immunize himself, as well as the vampire squid,* from some of the treats of regulatory and legislative action, so credit where is due.
My guess would be is that he got some security and buy-out guarantees that are worth a lot more, in exchange, but those are crafted so as not to show up headline.
Additionally, this may be a big “f%$# you” to his competitors, who now have to explain why they got bigger bonuses with less performance.
*Alas, I cannot claim credit for this bon mot, it was coined by the great Matt Taibbi, in his article on the massive criminal conspiracy investment firm, The Great American Bubble Machine.
Sanity in Maryland Lege
Well, Maryland Delegate Emmett Burns put forward a bill to forbid the state from recognizing same-sex marriage, but it was defeated on Wednesday.
I would note that Maryland already recognizes marriages that are illegal in the state but conducted elsewhere, most notably common-law marriages. This tradition may have helped opponents of the bill.
Insert South Carolina Joke Here
No, this is not The Onion.
You have a Lt. Governor who thinks that nutritious lunches for poor children is like feeding strays, a governor who has forever ruined the idea of hiking the Appalachian trail, and is now asking for the stimulus money that he refused, and now the South Carolina lege has passed a law requiring that people who wish to overthrow the United States government pay a fee and get a license for the privilege:
Terrorists who want to overthrow the United States government must now register with South Carolina’s Secretary of State and declare their intentions — or face a $25,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.
The state’s “Subversive Activities Registration Act,” passed last year and now officially on the books, states that “every member of a subversive organization, or an organization subject to foreign control, every foreign agent and every person who advocates, teaches, advises or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States … shall register with the Secretary of State.”
There’s even a $5 filing fee.
By “subversive organization,” the law means “every corporation, society, association, camp, group, bund, political party, assembly, body or organization, composed of two or more persons, which directly or indirectly advocates, advises, teaches or practices the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing or overthrowing the government of the United States [or] of this State.”
The interesting thing here is that it appears to me that this definition might very well apply to any number of the more rabid Confederate heritage groups.
The members of the South Carolina legislature had better find someone to cut their meat, because if we allow them to handle knives, it will get very ugly.
[on edit]
It appears that the definitive word on the state was made in 1860, following the vote for secession, by Congressman James Petigru, “South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum.”
Bipartisanship This!
Richard Shelby is now placing holds on all Obama nominations he doesn’t think that the Obama administration is being friendly enough to Airbus/Northrop-Grumman on the tanker deal, and because they have not started constructed an FBI lab that he cut an earmark for in his district:
According to the report, Shelby is holding Obama’s nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track. The two programs Shelby wants to move forward or else:
– A $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers. From CongressDaily: “Northrop/EADS team would build the planes in Mobile, Ala., but has threatened to pull out of the competition unless the Air Force makes changes to a draft request for proposals.” Federal Times offers more details on the tanker deal, and also confirms its connection to the hold.
– An improvised explosive device testing lab for the FBI. From CongressDaily: “[Shelby] is frustrated that the Obama administration won’t build” the center, which Shelby earmarked $45 million for in 2008. The center is due to be based “at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal.”
(emphasis mine)
Seriously, you cannot negotiate with these clowns.
Bipartisanship needs a plan B.
I would suggest stress positions, waterboarding, extreme sleep deprivation, and enforced nudity.