| Friday, December
27, 2002
Continuing an important discussion.
Two good references on using unconventional metrics
to determine long-term global temperature patterns:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/
heather.hobden1/GlobalWarming.htm (By my Uncle, who did
ground-breaking but classified work on Perceptrons in the late 50's - also
Robotics at Stanford in the 60's) and http://www.disasterrelief.org/
Disasters/011207solarcycles/
Alan Brain, Canberra, Australia mailto:aebrain@webone.com.au
Thanks. I'll try to read and comment later.
Following from very cursory look:
Solar cycles are far more likely to influence
global climate than any greenhouse effect, and if it is greenhouse, water
vapor is going to be more important than CO2.
We know that Greenland was once inhabitable, and
that ice formed on the Hudson River centuries afterward: i.e. that there
have been cycles in historical times. And we know there have been Ice Ages
and other cyclical phenomena. Why we want to blame CO2 is akin to a belief
in magic: we think we can do something about the CO2.
On much the same subject:
Subject: Solar and Hydro Power
Dr. Pournelle,
Regarding the note from Greg Goss about using both
solar and hydro power, I wonder how many people have considered that new
fuel cell technologies may provide a boost to all the "green"
power sources.
As you've pointed out, fuel cells are a battery
technology. With sufficient infrastructure changes, a "hydrogen
economy" could solve the time-and-distance issues for both mobile and
fixed power needs. It might lead to a much more distributed system of
power plants. A windmill in the backyard might be a practical way to
supplement the hydrogen you buy for home and car.
On another subject, have you seen these DVDs of
archival NASA footage:
http://www.spacecraftfilms.com ?
Thanks for your time,
Todd Campbell elvis@iastate.edu
===
From: Stephen M. St. Onge saintonge@hotmail.com
Date: Dec. 26th, 2002
subject: U. S. energy policy
Dear Mr. Todd:
Your letter to Dr. Pournelle, which you CC'ed to me,
arrived when I was too busy to reply to anyone.
Anyway, very thoughtful and interesting letter. I
like your distinction between the two energy economies. About saving
heating and cooling in the 'stationary economy,' I've long believed that
we should encourage on site power production for that. End distribution
losses, and use the waste heat rather than throw it away. But everyone
seems to feel that as a matter of morality, the only proper power plant is
one located far away. I don't get it.
Absent a battery breakthrough, we won't be able to
tie the 'stationary' and 'transportation' economies together, but we can
work on better efficiency for the mobile power plants.
We could also work on car transporters. Instead of
driving a long distance directly from pt. A to pt. B, drive to pt. C, and
load your car on a transporter that takes it to pt. D. Then drive to pt. B
from there. The train can be powered electrically, by a much higher
efficiency engine than almost any vehicle's.
As I type, another thing occurs. A hybrid
diesel-electric might be rigged to pick up power directly from a road
system. Drive to the freeway, attach to the power lines or rails, go where
you want at higher efficiency than your onboard engine.
Of course, if we get good fuel cells for cars, this
all changes. The portable power plant would be as efficient as the
stationary one.
As for 'mega-milers,' my wife the RN is one. When we
bought the house, she worked locally, then the hospital closed and her new
job was a long distance away. We didn't and don't want to move there, for
a variety of reasons.
Again, thanks for an interesting and thought
provoking letter. Feel free to write again!
Best, Stephen
Stephen M. St. Onge Minneapolis, MN
DELENDAM ESSE SAUDI ARABIA!
Also related...
Good morning, Jerry
Found this on Fox News site and it's pretty good:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,73967,00.html
Regards Mike Detjen
Indeed!
Jerry,
I just received and installed my Vonage Internet
Phone service. www.vonage.com I
am very impressed.
The service requires that you have a Broadband
Internet Connection (I have AT&T Broadband). For $39.95, you have
unlimited phone calls, no long distance in the U.S., cheap overseas calls,
voice mail, call forwarding, caller ID, and you can pick an area code from
those they have activated. I chose a Washington DC area code, not for any
special reason, just because I thought it would be neat. I live in
Montana.
I got the Cisco ATA-186 out of the box, plugged it
into my home network switch (they will sell you one cheap if you don’t
have one), plugged in a regular telephone handset, and powered it on. It
was DHCP’d an IP from the switch, the light on ATA-186 flashed for a
second or two, and it was ready to go. It was that easy. Your Aunt Minnie
could do this (if she had the prerequisite connection).
I placed several calls, and they were all crystal
clear, full duplex. I’ve heard rumors that with a cordless phone, the
clarity isn’t as good, but I don’t have one connected as it’s at my
computer desk, and I don’t want family members walking off with the
handset. J I plan on checking several times a day to see how the clarity
is, but if stays this good, this is a winner. The interesting time will be
when the Internet is under a DDOS attack.
I don’t know where the Internet-to-Voice phone
network interface is, but the servers and switches are excellent so far.
Another pretty neat feature is that I can get my
voice mail on the Internet at my Vonage Extranet website. I can also get a
record of the calls made and received, along with time, numbers, and
duration. Those are posted in 5 to 10 minutes from the time the call is
completed. It’s a nice record of what transpired.
I’ll keep you updated if I have problems, but so
far, this is very cool.
Tracy Walters
"The fate of a nation has often depended upon
the good or bad digestion of a prime minister."
Voltaire
Thanks!
And
more
Hello Dr. Pournelle: We have all seen incidents like
this many times in the last year or so, but I still can't help asking what
on Earth is going on in this country. We are turning into a nation of men
without minds, and being rewarded for the transformation.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/dec02/105834.asp
The frightening thing about this is that the
victim was apologetic, and seemed to agree with authorities that he was in
the wrong and deserved what he got. I suppose it has now become the duty
of all good Americans to remain silent, orderly, and free from doubt or
question. While I don't consider this to be the most intelligent thing
that could have been said, considering the times, I believe that the man
did nothing malicious, wrong, or particularly out of line. It's not as if
there are no records of any pilots ever being found intoxicated on the
job. The real harm was done by silly people who can not resist the allure
of following procedures in a situation in which they very well know, they
do not apply. I believe there is a perverse side to the bureaucratic mind
which revels in the thought that a wrong can be committed, or a stupid act
performed, with impunity by the simple expedient of saying "I was
just following procedure."
So while all of these things are happening to
regular Americans, just doing what they do, where are the ACLU, and the
other self appointed protectors of liberty? They seem to be busy
protecting those, who common sense tells us should rate particular
attention. According to the ACLU, and most of the other liberal, and
politically correct groups, the following people are those whose
protection will most benefit the country. It is far more important to see
to the best interest of people who may be a real threat, than to worry
about regular people being fined, and detained for innocent comments made
in jest. Below are a few recent examples of our friends on the left
interfering with legitimate police work: http://www.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/
12/25/fbi.colleges.reut/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/
12/26/afghan.detainees/index.html
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?
StoryID=20021224-123107-1546r
But then, with people like this in charge, why
should anyone be surprised: http://chblue.com/home.pl?&&frameurl
=http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r55455441
Neal Pritchett
Well, in a properly run country, the officer
involved, and all those in command, could be sued by the victim: an
officer acting beyond his authority is always personally liable under the
Common Law. Ultra Vires, and all that. But we don't do that sort of thing
any more... And in fact, for fear that someone might sue, they will
threaten you with 20 years in prison for "endangering a flight"
or "interfering". They know better, but they can so endanger you
that you won't sue them.
But we were born free.
What is the crime in expressing the wish that the
pilots be sober? And given the reaction of the pilots, were they? Do sober
people react that way to being asked if they are sober?
When I used to drink, I would get pretty abusive to
people asking if I were drunk. I wonder ...
But apparently it is "just procedure".
Ordnung! Your Papers, Please.
I will not fly if I can possibly avoid it. It
wasn't much fun before all this but at least it wasn't dangerous. Now they
will put you in jail for 20 years for asking if the pilots are sober.
Censorship? Or something else?
I just posted the following on my Journal page: <
http://www.ttgnet.com/daynotes/
2002/2002-52.html#Thursday >
-------------------
"What is going on here? Google censorship? On
my Journal page for Saturday, 16 November, I posted a response to a
message from a reader. That response included a word I'd just made up,
"Heimatsicherheitshauptamt", or "Homeland Security Main
Office". Also on 16 November, Jerry Pournelle posted a message from
me that included the word Heimatsicherheitshauptamt.
The following Monday, I wondered if I'd actually
made up that word, or if someone else had used it first. So I did a Google
search for "Heimatsicherheitshauptamt". That search returned
only two hits, one my Journal page for 11 November, and the other Jerry's
Mail page. I didn't think much more about it until a couple of weeks ago,
when I decided to run the search again to see if anyone had picked up on
it. This time, Google returned zero hits. Nada. Nothing. Zip.
The subject just came up on the messageboard, and so
I checked again. Google returned zero results, although a reader has this
to say:
"I've searched high and low, Hotbot on
"fast" search found an email you sent to Pournelle on this
subject. So did Kartoo and Excite, however Google, Teoma, Inktomi, lycos,
Alta Vista, MSN, Looksmart, Ask Jeeves did not. Interesting that you have
been censored but he has not."
-------------------
So what is going on? I could understand if the
search had returned no results originally. Perhaps the pages in question
simply hadn't been spidered yet. But they obviously were spidered, because
Google returned two hits a couple days after that word was published on
the two sites. The fact that they were there and are no longer means
something or someone decided to remove them. Why?
-- Robert Bruce Thompson thompson@ttgnet.com http://www.ttgnet.com/thisweek.html
http://forums.ttgnet.com/ikonboard.cgi
I invite comment.
Note I have made up my own word, GeheimSicherheitPolizei
which will have the shortened form of Gesipo
rather than Gestapo. We will see what happens...
Subject: Here's what I think is going on with Google
Read the whole thing:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.01/google_pr.html
---------- Roland Dobbins
Interesting. Thanks!
And I discover that Gesipo is a word. I'll have
to try Gestipo.
That one is also on Google already, but not very
many hits. We'll see what happens in a few hours.
Google is very convenient, and I like their
ethics; at least they are trying to do the right thing. If they block too
many searches, surely someone will set up a competing site with different
policies? That's what will save the Internet as a fountain of information.
Some of it will be incorrect information, but that's for users to
determine: find sites that CARE and try to put up the truth and correct
themselves...
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