Sequester, Fort Hood, FLOTUS, Comet to strike Mars, and other matters of interest.

Mail 764 Friday, March 01, 2013

Sequester

Jerry,

A sequester reminder – the sequester’s 7.9% cut in Defense spending is on top of last year’s pre-sequester 8% cut in Defense. The first was absorbed in relatively good grace. This one won’t be, and we will regret it in the long term — if not the short term.

There are certainly ways to mitigate the effects, but I have no doubt that the current Administration’s, to put it kindly, defense mismanagement (what even Bob Woodward has called "madness") will assure that the impact to our defense preparations is even greater than the combined percentage of Defense cuts would suggest.

J

Yes but until we decide just what we are to defend and why, it might be better to stand down, finance X projects, and wait to see what kind of military we need. I do not care to have a splendid army which must then be used to intervene in places we should not be in. As in Balkans

Jerry Pournelle

Chaos Manor

I don’t dispute that as a potentially viable strategy – but the administration is downsizing x projects first.

Dr Pournelle

I thought about the award of Purple Hearts to Hassan’s victims. Without going into details, I can see that such awards would create problems for Hassan’s prosecution. What I do not understand is why the prosecution is taking so long. Hassan should have danced the Danny Deever years ago.

Live long and prosper

h lynn keith

Major Hassan was taken in the act of levying wear against the United States, which is the Constitutional definition of treason. There were two witnesses to the overt act. It is a prima facie case, and the only defense would be insanity. An insanity plea by a psychiatrist is going to be difficult and it is actually unlikely. The gallows can be erected outside the court room. Of he can be shot to death by musketry. The entire procedure need not take longer than a day.

Purple Hearts at Ft Hood

Jerry,

I offer a couple more questions about the Ft. Hood incident?

Sergeant Houst writes:

The actions of Major Hasan that led to the deaths and injuries of soldiers at Fort Hood fall within the category of criminal attack, not combat. As such, his actions are considered equivalent to "fragging". Fraggings are neither enemy nor friendly fire related even if the motivation for the ‘fragging’ was due to a real-time or previous enemy-related situation; and as such, not eligible for the Purple Heart.

I assume that if a soldier had shot up several comrades in arms at a military base during WWII that the he would be charged with murder under the Articles of War and his victims would not have been eligible for purple hearts. So what if he had shouted "Heil Hitler" prior to opening fire? Would he be shot as a spy or tried as a murderer?

Would the answer to this question determine whether his victims received Purple Hearts? I gave WWII as an example since it was a declared war, but I see the UCMJ was passed in 1950. My question isn’t intended to be about arcane difference in military justice before or after 1950, but about how we define enemy action during a war.

The situation is even more complicated now because we are engaged in a war with terror. We still don’t necessarily have a great handle on how to treat "operations other than war", as we have seen with recent concerns about who authorizes drone attacks. Can we ever defeat terror? I’m pretty sure that terror can’t sign a treaty of surrender on the deck of a battleship.

Mike Johns

Fragging is an act of mutiny. I will confess to not knowing much about the UCMJ. We had the Articles of War, and they were read to the troops every four weeks.

“ART. 66. MUTINY OR SEDITION.–Any person subject to military law who attempts to create or who begins, excites, causes, or joins in any mutiny or sedition in any company, party, post, camp, detachment, guard, or other command shall suffer death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.

“ART. 67. FAILURE TO SUPPRESS MUTINY OR SEDITION.–Ay officer or soldier who, being present at any mutiny or sedition, does not use his utmost endeavor to suppress the same, or knowing or having reason to believe that a mutiny or sedition is to take place, does not without delay give information thereof to his commanding officer shall suffer death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.”

I suppose the UCMJ is a bit more lenient. I prefer the old Articles of War.

As to how we know when terror is defeated, we probably do not, but the war ends when Congress declares that it is ended. It is not good for a Republic to be in a continuous state of war. The gates of the Temple of Janus were closed only twice in the days of the Republic, but three times under Augustus. The normal state for the United States is peacetime, and it should return to that.

Major Comet Impact On Mars Possible Next Year

Jerry,

Via Instapundit, this story on a recently discovered large comet that will be doing a close pass by Mars in October 2014. The comet’s diameter and course are still not precisely known – it could hit Mars, and if it does it’ll be a major impact, what would be an "extinction-level event" if it happened on Earth. Even if it does miss, it should be spectacular, at least as observed by the various Mars probes.

http://astronomyaggregator.com/solar-system/large-comet-to-buzz-mars-impact-possible/

Henry

Which should be interesting.

Subj: Valve: A Video-Game company run on anarcho-syndicalist principles

http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/02/varoufakis_on_v.html

>>Yanis Varoufakis of the University of Athens, the University of Texas, and the economist-in-residence at Valve Software talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the unusual structure of the workplace at Valve. Valve, a software company that creates online video games, has no hierarchy or bosses. Teams of software designers join spontaneously to create and ship video games without any top-down supervision. Varoufakis discusses the economics of this Hayekian workplace and how it actually functions alongside Steam–an open gaming platform created by Valve. The conversation concludes with a discussion of the economic crisis in Europe. <<

Rod Montgomery==monty@starfief.com

A variant on this management scheme is one in which all the officers are equal and use a matrix management system, and the troops are in much the same situation. There have been feudal periods in which something like this happened. The management madness of the last century wasn’t always so.

Apollo 16: Driving on the Moon

Jerry

From NASA, in their glory days: What would it be like to drive on the Moon? You don’t have to guess — humans have actually done it:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130129.html

This video is way cool.

Ed

They Know What You’re Shopping For –

Jerry

We have no privacy:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324784404578143144132736214.html?mod=djemalertTECH

This one is not behind the paywall.

Ed

Subject: Buckyballs going away.

Another sad case of regulation run rampant. Probably marbles are next.

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/11/02/magnetic-buckyballs-toys-discontinued/

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/02/tech/web/apparently-this-matters-buckyballs/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5

Tracy

John W Gardner Quote

Jerry,

I was so intrigued by the quote Mike Flynn referenced, I sourced it. The actual quote is a tad longer, but the short form Mr. Flynn sent in is an excellent condensed version.

The quote is from John W. Gardner’s "Excellence: Can We Be Equal and Excellent Too?" (W.W. Norton & Company, 1961) pages 101-102 (it is still in print)

"We must expect students to strive for excellence in terms of the kind of excellence that is within their reach. Here we must recognize that there may be excellence or shoddiness in every line of human endeavor. We must learn to honor excellence in every socially accepted human activity, however humble the activity, and to scorn shoddiness, however exalted the activity. An excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent philosopher. The society that scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."

Humble of course is "low in stature." This says more about our culture than it does about the skilled trades such as plumbing. I have many friends who are excellent in the crafts. They make a decent living and seem to be happier than most. I think this is because they see and feel the results of their efforts immediately. The most skilled seem to fare better in rough times since the wealthy do appreciate skilled work and are willing and able to pay for such work.

My friends in the trades have told me quite directly and with good humor the things they will allow me to do in my home. They said anything else will waste my time and effort and will have to be redone. They prefer to do work right the first time, rather than resolve a mess made worse.

An apropos quote on obtaining excellence from Will Durant, page 61, The Story of Philosophy (also in print)

Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly; ‘these virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions’ [1]; we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit: ‘the good of man is a working of the soul in the way of excellence in a complete life; … for as it is not one swallow of one fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy.’ [2]"

[1] Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, ii, 4

[2] Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, i, 7

Regards, Charles Adams, Bellevue, NE

Of course no one reads Aristotle now. We are supposedly so far past that… You can see the results all around us.

More Bob Woodward on the origin of the sequestration plan

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-02-22/opinions/37238840_1_jack-lew-treasury-secretary-rob-nabors

the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of Lew and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors

Regards,

John Harlow

Oscar and the First Lady

That posting did it for me.

I will continue to read your fiction, but your columns and/or social commentary have degraded to the point where I question whether you are really compos mentis.

I always though of you as a straight shooter, dealing from an evidence based deck (if I may mix my metaphors) but your comments on the FLOTUS are beneath my idea of you.

I won’t read your columns anymore…. thank you for the previous years.

Jason

I’m sorry you feel that way, but are you really saying that was not a political speech? And why was she surrounded by military people in formal uniform? You may well think this was a good thing to do, and I may well have lost my mind, but if so I am not the only person to have thought it was a bit strange. And certainly unprecedented. One assumes they were expecting Lincoln to win in which case the historical association might have been more appropriate, but once again, why surrounded by uniformed military?

Jerry Pournelle

Chaos Manor

Oscar and the First Lady

Thank you very much for your response.

Granted…in the sense that she has attained her position/fame though politics, then everything she does can be considered political.

But reading into it that there may have been an expectation for Lincoln to win and/or that the occasion is strange and/or is part of some unprecedented Machiavellian plot to further… whatever it is that she was furthering… oh and she forced an inappropriate military presence to further reinforce…whatever…

This is not evidence based…. at best, it is mean spirited gossip that is best served by outlets like TMZ.

Was the participation of the FLOTUS a completely innocent incursion into our collective Weltanschauung, probably not, did it have unprecedented and strange political purposes, some people seem to think so…. but then some people think that Elvis is not dead <g>

Cheers

I never thought it was evil, and clearly the troops were having a great time; but I do not think the office of president nor the military ought to be involved in a Hollywood event without good reason. Of course they may have thought Lincoln would win, in which case it would be appropriate for the President himself to make the presentation; but I am not sure I think of any reason for his wife to be an Oscar presenter, particularly when in theory they don’t know what film will win

Jerry Pournelle

Chaos Manor

Not evil, no…. never got that impression….

Here are two articles at random…. this one gave me the same impression as yours: http://althouse.blogspot.ca/2013/02/the-completely-inappropriate-use-of.html

While this one is quite a bit more thought provoking and in mine opinion more in line with what I’ve read from you over the years. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/02/26/first_ladys_oscar_night_role_prelude_to_a_bigger_one_117173.html

Cheers Jerry and thank you very much for following up. I’ve always thought very well of you….

Which probably is enough on that matter.

Behold the 900-MPH Supersonic Ping-Pong Bazooka

Dear Jerry,

Physics fun…

"For years, Mark French has been using the regular subsonic version of the gun to teach kids about physics. "I’ve brought it to 4-H clubs and to schools. I’ve gotten ridiculous mileage out of this thing. With all that use, you can’t help but wonder whether you can improve it."

The typical setup uses a PVC plastic tube, with a ping-pong ball inside, that’s sealed on both ends with duct tape. A pump removes the air inside the tube, creating a vacuum. Then, when the seal at one end of the tube is broken, air rushes in, and because there’s no aerodynamic drag on the ping-pong ball, it can fire out the other end at 400 mph. "The [main] limitation here is how fast you can get air to go down the tube, because the ball is only going to go as fast as the air," French says.

On a hunch, French and his students modified the gun with a convergent–divergent nozzle, the type used in rocket engines and supersonic wind tunnels to accelerate air flow. The revamped gun shoots pressurized air through the hourglass-shaped nozzle. As the air travels through the nozzle’s choke point, compression accelerates the air. It blasts the ping-pong ball outward at 900 mph…"

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/engineering/gonzo/behold-the-900-mph-supersonic-ping-pong-bazooka-15097897

There is a link to their paper and a some video. The ball remains surprisingly intact.

Cheers,

Rod Schaffter

Absurdity in security-clearance renewals

Jerry,

This may not be quite up to bunny inspector standards, but it is sufficiently dumb to catch my attention. The underlying article referenced was a Washington Post Opinion piece, and cited other mindless examples.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/absurdity-in-security-clearance-renewals/2013/02/25/ac6a7c3e-7e8f-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_story.html

==============================================================

Letter to the Editor

Absurdity in security-clearance renewals

Feb 26, 2013 01:19 AM EST

The Washington Post <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/absurdity-in-security-clearance-renewals/2013/02/25/ac6a7c3e-7e8f-11e2-a671-0307392de8de_story.html#license-ac6a7c3e-7e8f-11e2-a671-0307392de8de> Published: February 25

Kudos to John Hamre [“This is no way to weed out spies <http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-wrong-way-to-conduct-security-clearances/2013/02/20/2d0d1e2c-7554-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html> ,” Washington Forum, Feb. 22] for taking on some of the absurdities in how our government investigates candidates for security clearances.

During the most recent investigation into my own clearance renewal, the responsible agency refused to sign off. The reason? I had failed to file a foreign-contact report on an English-born woman I had known for many years and with whom I am still close. At that point in time, I had held a top clearance for more than 20 years and had served in several positions of significant trust. I had even disclosed the relationship on my application, but the government was correct: I had never filed that report.

I asked for a waiver on the grounds that she was naturalized in 1955 and had therefore been an American longer than me, even providing a copy of her naturalization certificate. It was all to no avail, however, so I dutifully filed a report disclosing that I was in regular contact with my mother. My clearance was renewed a few weeks later.

Andrew A. King, Arlington

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Al Perrella

Dear Dr. Pournelle,

This source claims that Senator Graham has put the casualties from drone strikes at 4700.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/02/graham-drones

Methinks it’s time for some due process. As it now stands, the President has the power of life and death over any human not actually living in the United States. And he will make these decisions on the advice of the same intelligence experts who told us Iraq had WMDs and North Korea was decades away from launching missiles.

What due process is possible? I understand that this is war, but this isn’t like killing Admiral Yamamoto in 1943. Our enemies do not wear uniforms, and there will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of the USS Missouri. Terrorists and their ilk are going to be a thorn in our side for the rest of our foreseeable national existence. We’ve got to have a better answer than giving the executive total authority to kill enemy nationals.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Dog Bites Man; Mann Bites Everyone —

". . . The major function of the school is the social orientation of the individual."

While alarming, this was not new, even in 1948. Samuel Blumenthal’s book "Is Public Education Necessary?" details the origins of publicly-funded, compulsory primary education in America, spearheaded by Horace Mann. It is not a pretty story. The quote above and all the others provided by Peter Polson are simply echoes of the purposes originally envisioned by Mann and his accomplices.

Richard White

Austin, Texas