| Sunday, November
7, 2010
The mystery of England's 2000-year-old headless
gladiators.
<http://io9.com/5683616/headless-gladiators
-came-from-all-over-europe-to-get-their-heads-cut-off>
--- Roland Dobbins
==========
: Presidential travel
The 3 most prominent Black Americans in the 20th
century are Martin Luther King, Malcom X, and Barack Obama. Given how the
other two wound up, wouldn't you take precautions?
Brian Gulino
Of course I would take precautions. Note that
Truman's house was shot up by insurgents who killed two guards; next day
Truman took his walk through Washington, saying when told of the risk,
"Comes with the job." Since that time a great deal of security has become
more routine. But the size of the entourage is not just dictated by
security. Obama was not in an open car driving straight away from a Book
Depository in Los Angeles or Seattle.
This is not to say that Obama approves of the
size of the fuss. And of course whoever is in charge will take no
chances. The question remains: is the President of the United States more
in danger than the Premier of Russia or the President of Iran? If so, is
that a matter to be considered in adjusting foreign policy? Or are we the
only Great Power? The President of China does not go with such a large
entourage.
I am not begrudging Obama his security forces.
Bush's "Mission Accomplished" stunt was hardly cheap. My question, and it
is only a question, is do we want to appear imperial? And if we do, should
we adjust policies to competent empire? At the moment it appears to be
incompetent empire; and note I have used this term for the policies of the
previous president, in fact several previous presidents.
=============
'His Communism is quite unpolitical. He has never
read a line of Karl Marx, nor of Engels of course.'
Pablo Picasso, Useful Idiot:
<http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives
/2010/nov/25/how-political-was-picasso/?
pagination=false>
--- Roland Dobbins
============
"We thought Obama is a trained
orator and skilled in the art of mass address with his continuous eye
contact."
<http://www.hindustantimes.com/
Obama-to-use-teleprompter-for-Hindi-s
peech/H1-Article1-622605.aspx>
-- Roland Dobbins
============
“Every dirty job has to be done by the police. Then
you become a police state, because they have to deal with every problem."
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/06/
world/asia/06china.html>
-- Roland Dobbins
============
random notes on matters
diverse
Dear Jerry
In re painting house roofs and/or bus/airplane upper
sides white
Though it is not commonly remembered the practice
seems to have originated with US airlines (I believe either United or TWA)
in the 1940's when they introduced the first airconditioned airliners, if
memory serves (it's been a while since I read this) the effect was a
lowering of internal temperature on the order of 10° and sometimes more (I
would assume this depends on the region and time of the day) which clearly
translated in a fuel consumption benefit, especially for piston engined
airliners such as the DC-4/6 and Constellations of the day.
The practice tended to fade with the advent of the
later jets such as the 747 which had (after the mid 1970s) excess power and
A/C capacity and thus did not need the help provided by a white top side,
though it still makes economic sense to have it as it provides the same fuel
savings as it did before...
In Re Presidential trips and the number of aircraft
employed therein
Being an aircraft fan and due to the fact that
Montevideo is what at best can be described as a sleepy place, I can say
that in local estimates the total number of planes used in Pres Bush II's
2007 was well over 20, this included several C-5s and C-17s, at least two
E-3s (some press reports said 4, it seems an exaggeration) , additional
KC-135s for air refueling, Air Force One plus a back up, F-16s used as
escort planes, etc. This does not count helicopters carried within the cargo
planes, of which there were several. There was not enough flight line space
to park them all here in Montevideo, they had to be repositioned at other
fields including Punta del Este, Durazno and I believe Ezeiza in Argentina.
On top of that, if memory serves, there was a carrier
battle group about 300 miles out in the Atlantic, it was either returning
from or proceeding to the Indic Ocean.
So I'd guess that a panegyric was due at that time as
well and that the concept holds no matter who's in power.
All the best
-- Ariel Fabius A/S CTS Analisis de Sistemas
=============
: Where do tax dollars go? via Wall Street Journal
An interesting "itemized reciept" via the WSJ for
where taxpayer dollars are going.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014
24052748704506404575592900454547226.html
I added up the "total" military spending, including
veterans benefits and health care, and it jumps to the top of the list at
about 21% of the total . Legions are darned expensive. But, I also I wonder
where our world economy would be with USA weapons procurement and so on.
Would this recession be a depression, or would the money have been spent or
saved elsewhere?
cheers Joe
============
Cap and Trade: A License
Required for your Home,
Jerry
Have you seen this yet?
http://www.nachi.org/forum/f14/
cap-and-trade-license-required-your-home-44750/
"A License Required for your house
"Thinking about selling your house - A look at H.R.
2454 (Cap and trade bill) This is unbelievable!"<snip>
"Beginning 1 year after enactment of the Cap and
Trade Act, you won't be able to sell your home unless you retrofit it to
comply with the energy and water efficiency standards of this Act. H.R.
2454, the "Cap & Trade" bill passed by the House of Representatives, if
also passed by the Senate, will be the largest tax increase any of us has
ever experienced.
"The Congressional Budget Office (supposedly
non-partisan) estimates that in just a few years the average cost to every
family of four will be $6,800 per year.
* No one is excluded.<snip>
* A year from now you won't be able to sell your
house. Yes, you read that right.
"The caveat is (there always is a caveat) that if
you have enough money to make required major upgrades to your home, then
you can sell it. But, if not, then forget it. Even pre-fabricated homes
("mobile homes") are included.
* In effect, this bill prevents you from selling
your home without the permission of the EPA administrator. * To get this
permission, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home
measured. * Then the government will tell you what your new energy
efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to
your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new
energy and water efficiency requirements. * Then you will have to get your
home measured again and get a license (called a "label" in the Act) that
must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency rating is;
sort of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on your refrigerator
or air conditioner. * If you don't get a high enough rating, you can't
sell. And, the EPA administrator is authorized to raise the standards
every year, even above the automatic energy efficiency increases built
into the Act."
Pretty alarmist. Wonder if it's true?
Ed
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