Chaos Manor – Jerry Pournelle – Page 298 – the original blog of Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor

Veterans Day

By Jerry Pournelle | Nov 11, 2011 - 3:38 pm | Updated: November 11, 2011 - 3:38 pm | View

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View 700 Friday, November 11, 2011

VETERAN’S DAY

I am taking the day off. Have a great day. There used to be parades. Perhaps in some places there still are.

The Michigan Debate: Candidates 9, Moderators 0; The Cain Affair

By Jerry Pournelle | Nov 10, 2011 - 12:04 pm | Updated: November 10, 2011 - 5:09 pm | View

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View 700 Thursday, November 10, 2011

Happy Birthday, US Marines

Happy Birthday, Marines!

Semper Fidelis,

Couv

Cheap energy = prosperity! Drill here, DRILL NOW!

David Couvillon

Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Retired.; Former Governor of Wasit Province, Iraq; Righter of Wrongs; Wrong most of the time; Distinguished Expert, TV remote control; Chef de Hot Dog Excellance; Avoider of Yard Work

The Republican Candidate Debate in Rochester, Michigan, went well for the Republicans. All of them, including Governor’s Romney and Perry. Romney looked and acted both principled and presidential; looking presidential is not news, but he came across as quite principled; more so than the media likes. As to Perry, he had a momentary fit of absentmindedness as he tried to remember the names of the Departments of the government that he would eliminate the day after his inauguration: Commerce, Education, and – and he couldn’t remember. Gov. Romney suggested EPA, and for a moment Perry accepted that, then recalled that it’s an Agency, not a Department. Given another chance to name the Department he would eliminate, he once again had a lapse of memory. Eventually he realized, as everyone who has listened to his previous speeches already knew, that it was the Department of Energy.

If I, with my wretched memory, could recall that it was Energy, I assume that the other candidates, and all of the CNBC moderators, knew precisely which Department Gov. Perry had in mind, but apparently Gov. Romney didn’t when he prompted Gov. Perry with ‘EPA’. After all this was over I began to mull over what I would do had I been one of the candidates.

(Actually, given my history, there’s no real mystery had it been me: I’d have said, loudly, “Energy” because that’s what I have done for most of my life, including a rather unhappy time in high school in which I corrected a classmate’s answer by saying aloud ‘Osmosis’, winning me the not very affectionate nickname of “Osmosis” for weeks; but that’s another story. It’s also why I have never run for office, although I have been a successful campaign director for both a Mayor and a Congressman. But enough rambling about me.) I am still a bit curious: I can understand the CNBC ‘moderators’ leaving Governor Perry to twist in the wind while they hid their grins, but why no one on the stage, or for that matter in the audience, didn’t simply say ‘Energy’ and get the embarrassment over with escapes me. Perhaps Speaker Gingrich thought it would be impolite: Newt. like me, suffers from a tendency to correct other people’s mistakes and I note that he has been very careful not to interrupt or otherwise break the debate rules. Newt is almost inevitably the smartest guy in any room he is in, and he has to be careful not to appear to be an irritating know it all. I don’t know the others well enough even to speculate on why they didn’t simply end Governor Perry’s misery.

But when all is said and done, while the incident was embarrassing, it was hardly definitive. It doesn’t show Perry more or less qualified to be President. We know that Perry has been an effective and re-elected governor of a prosperous state. We know that candidates can be dependent on a teleprompter and get elected. We know that Perry’s lapse of memory was both temporary and unimportant. We all, or certainly I, can cheer for a man who will eliminate those three Departments. I have reservations about getting rid of Commerce, and I doubt that he can do that one; but certainly Education has to go!

Newt’s tirade against the moderators brought cheers.

The CNBC “moderators” apparently believed this was a debate between the candidates and the media, with the CNBC moderators being the representatives of the media. They made little effort to conceal their own views and their antagonism to the Republicans. They didn’t do quite so much in trying to set the Republicans at each other’s throats as they have in the past – some of that may be due to Newt’s popularity in addressing that in previous debates — but they clearly believed that this was to be a debate between themselves and the Republicans, and that they held the upper hand. One of them, Jim Cramer, came off like – well the word I want may be libelous. Let us say that he may more than once have taken leave of his senses? Rush Limbaugh wonders if he escaped from a zoo, and advocates using a tranquilizer dart. The others were no better. The permanent moderator Maria Bartiromov displayed her hostility to all the candidates – particularly to Cain of course — and was generally smarmy towards all of them. But then what do you expect from CNBC? I think last night was the first time I had watched that channel in months, and no moderator’s performance made me want to see more.

Bartirmorov tried to engage Newt in some kind of slanging match, and showed that she’s not up to that task.

More after lunch: but my conclusion from the debate is that all the candidates are alive and well, any one of them would be capable of beating Obama, and any one of the would be infinitely superior to the current president. If they can all cooperate – and last night it appeared they can – we can look forward to at least some recovery from the past few years. I came away much relieved.

Lunchtime now.

Perhaps it is time to take assessment of the Herman Cain situation. We still don’t know anything, but the matter won’t go away, and it should be resolved.

There are several related questions of importance.

First, of course, is the question of truth: what did Cain do? Did he do anything at all?

Second, is what he did relevant to being President of the United States?

Third, is what he did relevant to being the Republican Candidate for President of the United States.

The problem with the first question is that we can’t answer it because we don’t know what he is supposed to have done. We have one specification from Sharon Bialek, but few clues as to what Cain is supposed to have done regarding Kraushaar and the two anonymous accusers. We know that Kraushaar received a termination settlement on condition that she go away and never come back, but we also know that the termination payment was considerably less than the cost would have been had formal charges been filed, no matter what the outcome. Many corporations make settlements like that. The larger the corporation the more likely the incidents.

We have Donna Donella who says she is emphatically not a “fifth accuser” for she has nothing to accuse Cain of. He once asked her to arrange dinner in a public place in Cairo, and Ms. Donella has a “weird feeling” about all that, but she only came forward because all the others did. All the others being two in number, one with a specification and the other with a formal complaint that resulted in her termination with compensation. The media makes Ms. Donella “the fifth accuser” in her despite. The story is told in The Frisky as well as other places, with the headline that a Fifth Woman Accuses Cain of Sexual Harassment, when Donella explicitly says she is not making any such charge. She just had a spooky feeling.

Another on line magazine says “Donella joins accusers Sharon Bialek, Karen Kraushaar, and two unnamed others.”

We have Sharon Bialek who looks less credible as time goes on.

And Ann Coulter has found links to Axelrod, who managed to find charges of sexual misconduct against other Obama political opponents back in Illinois – and oddly enough, Sharon Bialek and Karen Kraushaar have far more Chicago connections than they do to Washington or to Cain. And Kraushaar may have long standing connections to Democratic politics.

As to whether any of the charges have relevance to the presidency whether true or not, they do now: Cain has left us no choice in the matter. He hasn’t said that the stories we have heard so far are misinterpretations. He has said that what was charged in the Bialek specification just didn’t happen, and while he doesn’t know what specifications are alleged in the Kraushaar case, he didn’t do anything wrong.

As to whether this affects his candidacy, it certainly does. If he can show that this is all political chicanery originating with people close to the President of the United States directed against a black conservative candidate, and it’s all made up, it will greatly strengthen his candidacy, both for nominee and for President. If one of his accusers can come up with a credible specification – an allegation of a specific act – that is sufficiently disturbing, it will destroy him, not because of the act itself – it’s pretty clear that we have heard the worst, which is an alleged clumsy and thoroughly unsuccessful offer of sexual attention to a non-employee – but because Cain has made it so. Either he is the man he appears to be, and whom most of those who know him claim he is, or he is not. Clinton never claimed to be anyone but Clinton. Cain aspires to a higher standard of character.

Whether he can prove it in the court of public opinion – the only place this will be tried – is not known. The Axelrod attack machine makes the Clinton attack machine look tame and reasonable. We can look for more and more of this as the campaign goes on. And the longer it goes on, the more it will come down to this: is Cain the man he says he is? Because I don’t have any doubt that Axelrod is the man we all believe him to be.

Electric cars come to the forefront. Few seem to have noticed that using an electric car inevitably increases the CO2 in the atmosphere. It has to because the energy cycle is never more than 50% efficient and generally is less so. That means that in order to generate the electricity to go into the car, it must first be generated by the burning of coal. The coal to Kilowatts cycle is less efficient than the gasoline to horsepower cycle. The Kilowatts to horsepower cycle is also inefficient. The result is that burning gasoline directly produces less CO2 than burning coal and transmitting that to be converted into potential energy in batteries which is then converted to horsepower.

Note that the electric care is less polluting than an internal combustion car – but only if you do not define CO2 as a pollutant. If you think CO2 pollutes the atmosphere, then electric car users are polluters. I could do the numbers for you, but I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader because I am running a bit late.

If you have not seen Ann Jolis “A French Lesson in Free Speech” it is well worth your attention. Between political correctness and Muslim terrorism the whole tradition of free speech including blasphemous speech is very much in danger, here and elsewhere.

A Wall Street Journal editorial tells us that there is a proposed Federal regulation that would save 12 children a year by regulating the cords on Venetian blinds in private homes. It would incidentally raise the price of the blinds, and the profits of the blinds makers. I cannot believe that the cost of the program will be less than $!2 million a year. I also cannot understand why this is the business of the federal government, or where in the Constitution it makes cords on Venetian blinds a federal matter. No wonder we’re broke and getting broker.

I hate Firefox. It is a horrid memory hog, and it can take a long time to readjust itself once it glitches. I like the extensions and ad-ons but I am about ready to try something else.

Roberta reminds me that it is probably time for the Department of Commerce to go. There was a time when it did some important things for the US, but it is now mostly a source of regulations which we don’t need and which ought to be left to the States. Of course that brings us to the matter of the Department of Labor.

The Federal Government does a lot of stuff that may need doing but which we can’t afford. Most of that has been done in the past by the states, and that is the way this Republic was conceived. Having 50 semi-sovereign states means competition in taxes, regulations, and much else. It also makes it much more likely that you get consent of the governed; if a state government becomes intolerable, you can go to another state (as many are moving to Texas…)

And of course there are federal items like this: http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/8294-walnuts-are-drugs-

Surely that is a matter best left to the states?

Climate, Chinese traditional business practices, and more

By Jerry Pournelle | Nov 9, 2011 - 3:46 pm | Updated: November 9, 2011 - 3:46 pm | Mail

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Mail 700 Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Not surprised

Dr. Pournelle —

I can’t say I’m surprised by this. I know some who welcome such behavior.

"China Threatens Massive Venting of Super Greenhouse Gases in Attempt to Extort Billions as UNFCCC Meeting Approaches"

" In the run-up to the international climate negotiations in Durban later this month, China has responded to efforts to ban the trading of widely discredited HFC-23 offsets by threatening to release huge amounts of the potent industrial chemical into the atmosphere unless other nations pay what amounts to a climate ransom. "

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-threatens-massive-venting-of-super-greenhouse-gases-in-attempt-to-extort-billions-as-unfccc-meeting-approaches-2011-11-08

It never works to pay the Danegeld.

Pieter

And then there’s this:

Severe Defense Problems

This is a problem I’ve known about for years; you’ve been aware of it for at least a year — I emailed about this before. Well, our government is still "talking" and "writing" about it:

<.>

"Sprinkling" sounds like a fairly harmless practice, but in the hands of sophisticated counterfeiters it could deceive a major weapons manufacturer and possibly endanger the lives of U.S. troops.

It’s a process of mixing authentic electronic parts with fake ones in hopes that the counterfeits will not be detected when companies test the components for multimillion-dollar missile systems, helicopters and aircraft. It was just one of the brazen steps described Tuesday at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing examining the national security and economic implications of suspect counterfeit electronics – mostly from China – inundating the Pentagon’s supply chain.

</>

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MILITARY_COUNTERFEIT_PARTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-11-08-13-41-48

—–

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

It is a traditional Chinese business practice to establish relations with a customer, then slowly over time degrade the product delivered until the customer complains. This is described in stories out of China dating back hundreds of years, involving both British and Japanese customers. It was not considered unethical by Chinese merchants.

But of course we now get a lot of our electronics including military electronics from Chinese factories. And most of our Internet stuff including routers.

NCDC data shows that the contiguous USA has not warmed in the past decade, summers are cooler, winters are getting colder

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/05/ncdc-data-shows-that-the-contiguous-usa-has-not-warmed-in-the-past-decade-summers-are-cooler-winters-are-getting-colder/

"So according the the National Climatic Data Center, it seems clear that for at least the last 10 years, there has been a cooling trend in the Annual mean temperature of the contiguous United States."

I was also interested in the discovery that 1934 was hotter than 1998 before it was cooler.

Graves

The evidence continues to come in: it’s not getting hotter just now. We are not on as long a cooling trend as we had in the 1970’s that caused so much concern about the possibility of a New Ice Age, but it has been a decade. Whether that applies to the entire Earth is a matter not easily settled because the average temperature of the Earth depends more on your model – the weights given to certain observations, whether you take air temperatures in the shade or exposed to the radiant environment, etc. – than anything else. By manipulating the samples and the weights you can get a significant change in the overall average temperature.

I think we can say that the way to bet is a slow rise in temperature since 1800 at about a degree a century; and superimposed on that linear model is the cyclical solar sunspot cycle; and over that a longer cycle whose cause we don’t know yet. We think it’s warming, but over the millennia we are still in an remission of a longer Ice Age. I don’t think the climate models know how to deal with that.

What Was Life Like In The Little Ice Age? – Part I

http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/what-was-life-like-in-the-little-ice-age/

Life during the little ice age, both old world and new, northern and southern hemisphere.

For those who think it was just Europe.

Don’t be suprised if this winter is exceptionally cold, there is considerable data to show that we are in for a mild liltle ice age for the next several decades caused by a solar quieting which will likwely go for at least two solar cycles *we are not halfway through the first one yet, the next will be colder), and this winter we are into La Nina, which always results in cold. Individual results in differenct areas of the world may vary.

Legatus

So far as I can tell, there are enough fudge factors in the samples and weights used to calculate average temperatures to allow considerable swings in the final averages. I conclude that I do not ‘believe’ in any model that cannot take initial conditions in 1900 and output something similar to what was observed; I certainly would not trust such a model to predict the temperature in 2100. Why should I?

I am aware of the arguments that say there are no other factors involved so the models have to be more or less rights, but I am not convinced. I don’t know if we know all the factors. Arrhenius calculated some ‘extra’ warming would happen in the 20^th Century due to industrial CO2, but I have yet to see that anyone has shown more warming in the 20^th Century than there was in the 19^th.

On the coming ‘Cold Fusion’:

Rossi’s E-Cat

Dear Dr. Pournelle,

Just FYI, Rossi has a very, um, colorful past. He has been convicted and served prison sentences at least twice, once for smuggling gold, and once for claiming to have a process to convert garbage into oil (Petroldragon), which according to prosecutors, consisted of adding lime to the waste before dumping it in a landfill.

He also claimed to have invented a thermo-electric "heat-to-electricity" device that was five times more efficient than anything available. He convinced the Army to put money in to it, but never produced a working device. Here’s a link to the Army’s report: http://dodfuelcell.cecer.army.mil/library_items/Thermo(2004).pdf

Sincerely,

John Bresnahan

I have no more information. I do know there are Rossi believers and Rossi deniers, and I know people in each group.

CERN FTL Data Accumulation

Jerry,

Concerning the letter today regarding the observation of apparent FTL neutrinos being a "statistical fluke," I think they were referring to the observation from the Dutch scientist that you posted at https://jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/?p=2624 .

(link to http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2394747,00.asp#fbid=iYm2szmfdD7 dated 15 October)

That said, I’ve been checking the CERN web site and have come across:

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2011/45/News%20Articles/1394597?ln=en

Posted 7 Nov 2011: since 21 October CERN has been conducting test runs of an approach to obtain better timing definition for next year’s larger run of induced neutrino measurements.

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2011/44/News%20Articles/1392338?ln=en

Posted 24 Oct 2011: Theorists have been looking at the data, but "(currently) there is no theoretical model that can accommodate the measurement." This reports a workshop on theoretical explanations on 14 October, before the ostensible date of publication of the Dutch paper.

So bottom line CERN has not yet accepted the "Dutch paper" as a contra-indication.

Jim

So we can hope the FTL is real, although I would not advise anyone to bet it that way.

Hello Jerry,

How could ANYONE speak harshly about a government that provides a service like this?:

http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/8294-walnuts-are-drugs-says-fda

It is examples like this that provide affirmation, as if any were needed, that a government (like our current one) that consumes 50% or more of the gross national product is, by all rights, just a START.

One can only imagine our idyllic existence when it has, finally, expanded to 100% and provides optimum solutions to ALL our problems. Or at least all of them that anyone is willing to complain about in public.

Bob Ludwick

The Iron Law in action. The government engages in a very large number or activities that we don’t need and can’t afford. Some are silly. Not news but we often need reminding.

Letter from England

The risk when a government releases a computer virus to the wild–people will copy it. http://preview.tinyurl.com/44kowgr

The UKBA decided to imitate the TSA, and ended up in a pit: http://preview.tinyurl.com/6g64tr7

Bankers challenged by Church for having slipped their moral moorings. http://preview.tinyurl.com/6fbxloz

Patent bubble? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/04/is_there_a_patent_price_bubble/

Mandatory teacher training for university academics? http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=418019&c=1

Visa casualties: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=418020&c=1

—

"We do not understand how a country,… can produce people who seem to be acting without thinking, let alone making serious efforts to investigate the consequences of their actions." (Mary Evans in the Times Higher Education)

Harry Erwin

UAVs & Pilots

Common sense has no place in military thinking.

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htairfo/articles/20111107.aspx

Cheap energy = prosperity!

Drill here, DRILL NOW!

David Couvillon

Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Retired.;Former Governor of Wasit Province, Iraq;Righter of Wrongs; Wrong most of the time;Distinguished Expert, TV remote control;Chef de Hot Dog Excellance; Avoider of Yard Work

We devoted some space to the operations and doctrines requirements for employing a strategy of technology in, guess what, The Strategy of Technology by Possony, Pournelle, and Kane.

does this bear hate Quantas?

Dr. Pournelle,

Possible "Koala?" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_cuscus

-d

Coup Against Google

The coup against Google forms in 2011:

<.>

Yahoo Inc , Microsoft Corp and AOL Inc have set up an advertising partnership as Google and Facebook’s online ad dominance grows.

</>

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/microsoft-aol-yahoo-idUSN1E7A724520111108

Make no mistake, this begins cooperation, communication, and consensus among three major Google advesaries — this could be a serious concern for Google in years to come. If this alliance could get Apple on board, this would be a commanding, powerful alliance. I do not see an alliance with MS and Apple, however. Though, I believe with Steve Jobs — and his historical conflicts with Bill Gates — out of the way this might be possible. It will be interesting to see what shape Apple takes with Jobs gone — both in terms of products and business strategies. But, anyone who knows the history of windows development, etc. knows that Jobs would never work with MS — never.

—–

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Interesting questions. We can wait and see…

One WTF item and something pretty cool

Not sure if you heard about this story:

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/08/obama-couldnt-wait-his-new-christmas-tree-tax/

It sounds like something completely unnecessary. Of course, this is just one more example of the Iron law.

On a lighter note, a pretty cool rendition of "Welcome to the Jungle":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AYEgwwCYWw&feature=share

Erik

Bunny Inspectors on steroid megadoses?

You thought bunny inspectors were bad? Wait until you see the Christmas Tree Commission.

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/08/obama-couldnt-wait-his-new-christmas-tree-tax/

Res ipsa loquitur, or some such.

Hm. Maybe some disgruntled Muslim could make a case for this being a clear violation of separation of church and state, Christmas being a religious holiday and all that…

John

I understand that President Obama has removed the Christmas Tree Tax, but I am not sure. Thanks

iPAD Halloween Costume

Jerry,

You may remember that I was struggling to find a real use for the iPAD. Well, this engineer may have just the thing:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20127922-501465/a-bloody-incredible-ipad-halloween-costume/

Tracy Walters

Jerry,

Subj: A blind spot for wind energy

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/11/05/wind-farms-disrupting-radar-scientists-say/

Jim

There are places where wind makes sense, but not so many as most think. Intermittent power requires storage capabilities which generally cost more than the power itself.

Subject: Record flight is step toward HYPERSONIC SPACE AIRSHIP

I suggest going to the site, there are some interesting animations:

Tracy Walters

Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/02/space_airships/

Record flight is step toward HYPERSONIC SPACE AIRSHIP Ion-drive dirigibles to orbit from aerial ‘Dark Sky’ base By Lewis Page <http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2011/11/02/space_airships/>

Posted in Space <http://www.theregister.co.uk/science/space/> , 2nd November 2011 13:02 GMT <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/02/>

Inventors in America are claiming an altitude record for airships after a recent test flight in which an unmanned electrically-propelled helium dirigible successfully manoeuvred under power at 95,085 feet above the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The "Tandem" craft is intended to demonstrate the first stage of radical plans which would see enormous, permanently inhabited "Dark Sky Stations" floating high in the atmosphere at the edge of space – to act as bases for radical hypersonic airships which would slowly fly themselves into orbit over a period of days using hybrid ion drive propulsion.

Somewhat more conventional extreme-high-altitude airships along the lines of the Tandem, flown above Nevada on October 22, would serve as shuttles carrying people and cargoes from the surface up to the colossal, mile-wide Dark Sky air/spaceports floating at 140,000 feet up.

The "Airship to Orbit" scheme comes to us from American DIY volunteer space collective JP Aerospace <http://www.jpaerospace.com/> [1], founded by engineer John Powell, which has been developing high altitude balloons, rockets and combo rocket/balloon missions (aka rockoons, or in the parlance of our own Special Projects Bureau, ballockets) since 1979. JP Aerospace has now moved on beyond conventional rockoon flights to work on the use of small unmanned Dark Sky Stations <http://www.jpaerospace.com/dssoverview.html> [2] as bases for vertical rocket launches starting from high up on the edge of space.

Both the Tandem and the prototype Dark Sky Station already flown use conventional helium balloons for lift, linked together by lightweight carbon-fibre trusses slung beneath. The Tandem features electrically driven propellors designed for the thin air found up at 100,000 feet and higher. One particularly neat trick is JP Aerospace’s use of tied-down bags on the ground in which to inflate their balloons, meaning that there’s no need to wait for windless conditions to make a launch.

Future manned ground-to-Dark-Sky ships and Dark Sky bases would use similar but more polished structures which would resemble huge cylinders of helium with lightweight keels running along them. Technically the ships would not be blimps – that’s the term for airships without a rigid structure, which maintain their shape purely by internal pressure – but semi-rigids.

According to Powell, the two different types of ship and the intervening aerial base stations are vital as neither craft could survive the flight regime of the other. The vast, flimsy orbital vessels would be torn apart by the dense winds of the lower atmosphere, and the sturdier surface-launched jobs could never reach orbital velocity.

Behold the Mach 20 hypersonic hybrid ion rocket semi-rigid airship!

The underlying concepts at least of the surface-to-base craft and the Dark Sky outposts themselves seem to be feasible, but JP Aerospace has understandably yet to really do much in the way of flight tests on the mighty orbital rocket airships. Are they really feasible? Can massive gossamer envelopes full of helium gradually boost themselves up to Mach 20+ using slow-acting electrical ion drives (such as those used <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/07/goce_engines/> [3] to keep low-flying satellites up to orbital speed despite drag from the upper traces of the atmosphere)? Even though there’s very little air up there, surely a giant, hypersonic rocket airship is a big ask.

Powell recently gave an interview <http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/10/floating-airship-could-radically-reduce.html> [4] on the subject to nextbigfuture.com, in which he points out that upper-atmosphere weather balloons have already achieved Mach 10 as long ago as the 1960s, so that in his view Mach 20 isn’t impossible with modern materials. In fact in his judgement what’s called for is not a super-low-thrust but ultra-efficient ion drive, nor a conventional chemical rocket, but rather a hybrid of the two – which he describes as "the most efficient chemical rocket ever, or the least efficient ion rocket". The key issue will be whether enough electrical power can be stored at a low enough weight – either using fuel cells or batteries, solar panels can’t do the job – to get the ships up to orbital poke. One cunning aspect of the plan is that the ships will not need any heat shield for re-entry as they will slow down so gradually (using drag in the evanescent upper atmosphere) that no appreciable heating will result.

Powell and his crew certainly don’t lack for ambition. The idea is that the mighty Dark Sky floating spaceports would also carry telecoms equipment and tourist hotels to generate additional revenue on top of that gleaned from orbital launch. Their analysis suggests that the hypersonic airships could haul cargo into space for as little as $100 per pound in the near term and eventually just $1 per pound – and Powell sees manned flights to the Dark Sky region as soon as 2013, and permanent inhabited bases there from 2021. He says that JP Aerospace never makes a flight unless it will pay for itself, with revenue coming so far from advertising, telecoms experiments and aerospace tests for companies such as Lockheed.

It’s interesting stuff, but progress has been slow – 33 years after commencement Powell and Co and are still doing small unmanned tests on the more achievable parts of their scheme. Larger craft such as the "Ascenders" – more like the massive V-shaped craft envisaged for the future ground-to-Dark Sky leg – are not flying at the moment. We probably shouldn’t hold our breath waiting for the hypersonic space airships.

Even so, Powell’s team is plainly one to watch, especially in light of the Reg’s own aspirations <http://www.theregister.co.uk/science/special_projects_bureau/> [5] in the rockoon/ballocket space plane arena.

Professor fired

Professor fired for making students think?

http://www.good.is/post/was-a-professor-fired-for-requiring-students-to-think/

–Gary P.

—————-

Is this a consequence of the government getting involved in employment

relationships? Where hiring and firing decisions are based upon evidence,

not good judgment. So objective criterion is needed.

Who’s Afraid of Cain?

By Jerry Pournelle | Nov 9, 2011 - 1:28 pm | Updated: November 10, 2011 - 2:45 pm | View

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View 700 Wednesday, November 09, 2011

The Herman Cain story continues. After him will come Newt Gingrich. Tonight’s debate will be important. The reason for the increasing shrillness of the attacks is desperation: the liberal establishment has concluded that Obama is vulnerable, possibly even doomed, and of the Republican candidates only Romney appears to be someone they can work with, someone who can grow in office, who will reach across the aisle to continue liberal programs.

Note that Romney has nothing to do with the attacks on Cain. He’s just the guy the media consider to be the lesser of a number of evils. They can work with him.

As to Cain: The charges and specifications are still unclear, as is the number of accusers anonymous and identified. Are there four or five? Have more than two identified themselves? Why come forward now, 14 years after the incidents supposedly took place (about the time of the Clinton Lewinsky affair). If Cain is a serial harasser, why have there been no incidents in this millennium?

As of now the most serious charge is actual touching someone in what amounts to a spectacularly inept pass in a car parked or stopped on a District of Columbia street. The story makes it appear that Cain expected sexual gratification on the spot. The woman, not an employee but a job seeker, said no, and the incident ended without any actual sexual encounter. If the entire incident happened as Bialek describes, it is not sexual harassment, but it would be an assault and battery without injury. It happened 14 years ago, and no charges were ever filed.

No other charge alleges an assault. To the extent that anyone knows, they all involve “inappropriate gestures” at least one of which was “not of a sexual nature.” One or more might sustain a charge of ‘sexual harassment’ in that there was an employee relationship in some cases, but that would have to be a charge against his employer. At least one of the cases was formally reported to the employer and there was an investigation and settlement. The settlement involved termination of the employee and the details are not available, but none of the rumors involves any large amounts of money: the settlements are all far lower than would have been the costs if an actual suit had been filed, and there are many precedents for actions like that.

We do know that President Clinton made much larger settlements, and a great deal more than inappropriate offers or requests were made by him. He also said that he never had sex with that woman, then after the appearance of the dress stained with the Presidential DNA he redefined what “have sex” means. He was twice elected President of the United States.

Cain says he never did anything of the kind, specifically that he hasn’t acted inappropriately with anyone, not fifteen years ago and not since. His defense is innocence. That is hard to prove – how can you prove that you did not do something when the charge is ambiguous, and the specification nebulous? But the Bialek case is specific, and by its nature there is no possibility of witnesses or evidence. She says he did it, he says it did not happen. It all happened 14 years ago. No charges were made, no suits were filed, Cain did not get her a job. Cain has gone for broke here: this isn’t a case of misinterpretation. One of them is flat lying.

The President of the United States was impeached, not for inappropriate sexual advances, but for lying. Interestingly enough, it is not easy to find a copy of the formal Articles of Impeachment that were passed by the House and sent to the Senate; they involved perjury under oath. But then Martha Stewart has been convicted of perjury not under oath for denying to a federal investigator an act that was not itself a crime, so things are fairly murky there – my point being that it will be easy for the Administration and the media to keep this matter alive. Next step might be to have a Federal Elections Commission inspector ask Cain, possibly in a public place; that would allow them to bring charges against him if he continues the denial and the accusations continue. No conviction is needed, and indeed the matter need not come to trial: it’s unlikely that any major party will nominate a candidate for President who is out on bail.

Are the Obama supporters that afraid of Cain? Would they go that far?

A few years ago I would have said that was too farfetched to be credible even in a science fiction story. Now I have to ask. And I don’t know.

The purpose of all this is to eliminate Cain as a candidate.

Newt will be next. Then anyone else who isn’t Romney. The attack machine will be silent on Romney until he is the nominee. Then it will begin again, but it will be a different attack.

If all this reminds us of the end of the Republic in Rome, with Pompey and Cicero and Caesar and Clodius crashing a females-only party, and the street gangs burning public buildings, and mercenaries hired as candidate bodyguards, and the unemployed veterans demonstrations and — Well, it won’t remind many, because our schools no longer teach anything about that. I wonder what the Legions think of Cain?

Odd stories at links that may interest you, but I didn’t feel like writing about.

Google Beer:

http://www.reghardware.com/2011/10/07/google_launches_own_brand_of_beer/

Climate change story continues

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2055191/Scientists-said-climate-change-sceptics-proved-wrong-accused-hiding-truth-colleague.html

AP Exclusive: Cain Accuser Complained in Next Job

http://www2.wsls.com/news/2011/nov/09/ap-exclusive-cain-accuser-complained-in-next-job-ar-1447447/

Internet Legends

http://rjwhite.tumblr.com/post/472668874/fact-checking

Why U.S. military in Uganda? Soros fingerprints all over it

Obama’s billionaire friend has interests in African country’s oil

Read more: Why U.S. military in Uganda? Soros fingerprints all over it http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=356321#ixzz1dFMpUCRo

I have no idea why we are in Uganda, or whether we are doing any good there. I have a couple of sources, but no new information.