| Monday
April 11, 2011 Mariana Trench mistakes
Greetings and best wishes.
I listened to a recent TWIT pod-cast, and I heard some
things that don't sound right.
This is my understanding: (1) People have been to the
bottom of the Mariana Trench before. (2) Deep submersibles operate at
atmospheric pressure on the inside. They are simply very strong.
Some relevant search keywords are: Bathyscaphe
Trieste, Piccard, Mariana Trench, Challenger Deep
Bert Douglas
This refers to one of the items on the TWIT show
I did yesterday, I defer to Mr. Douglas' familiarity with the subject, and
actually to common sense. There is a good reason why scuba or even hard
helmet divers have a limit to how deep they can go. SCUBA divers do
balance internal pressure and external, which means that gasses dissolve
in the blood stream very rapidly at the elevated pressures, which is what
causes nitrogen narcosis and other such effectd. No one could live in a
bathyscaphe that had an internal pressure of 100 atmospheres, or at least
I don't think they could, and I should have thought of that. Some
instrumented unmanned diving robots are internally pressurized, but
clearly one with a crew aboard can't be. Apologies for being misleading.
I was not aware of previous expeditions to the
bottom of the Marianas Trench, but that's not all that surprising.
Actually I do recall them now, but I had forgotten knowing about them.
One of the neat things about the Internet is that
if you get something wrong you're not stuck with being an uncorrected
idiot. There will be someone out there who knows, and will offer the
correction. My thanks.
==========
Dear Dr. Pournelle,
Best wishes to you and Mrs' Pournelle, You are both in
my prayers,.
A quick heads up that the Federal government spends
100 Billion dollars not every twenty-nine days, but every two point nine
days.
I imagine you slipped putitng in the decimal point. A
typo. After all, you have been busy with important matters.
Hang in there!
Petronius
As an old slide rule man I used to be very
careful of decimal points. I should have checked this one. Thanks for the
correction. Alas, that makes it worse, doesn't it? Trimming a billion
doesn't do too much for the budget. A mere billion.
===========
Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant Hi-Res Photos -
http://cryptome.org/eyeball/
daiichi-npp/daiichi-photos.htm
A reminder that hydrogen leaks / explosions are
serious business!
The drone used to take the shots is pretty slick
looking.
Regards,
Jim Riticher
Very good pictures. I recommend them.
===========
What's Happening in the Space Business
Dr. Pournelle:
In the midst of all the foreign affairs excitement,
our nation's space activities are getting the usual short shrift. The
National Space Society's International Space Development Conference
(Huntsville, Alabama, May 18-22) will be discussing developments in the
private sector as well as what's going on with NASA, space solar power, and
a host of other worthy topics. If you are unable to attend, I would
appreciate it if you could at least inform your readership.
I will re-subscribe to Chaos Manor this evening. Your
wisdom in the midst of turmoil is much appreciated!
Bart D. Leahy Conference Chairman ISDC 2011
http://isdc.nss.org/2011
and Cheer Operations Ninja http://ScienceCheerleader.com
<http://sciencecheerleader.com/>
Since I founded the International Space
Development Conference and was its first chairman in Los Angeles lo these
many years ago, I am pleased to call attention to its continued existence.
I haven't been to one in a while.
Space development remains important to US
development. More important than adventures in Libya.
==========
Global Warming Evidence?,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/
plants-earlier-bloom-times-hurting-some-
creatures/2011/04/08/AF42He4C_story.html
Sue
I am more inclined to accept that as evidence for
global warming than much of the scientific evidence. Growing season
lengths are important and repeated measurement is possible. I have never
doubted that the earth is warmer now than it was in 1776, or that growing
seasons now are longer than they were in 1776 or in 1820. The earth has
steadily warmed since the end of the Little Ice Age, The Little Ice Age
began in about 1320 with a long rainy season. It followed the Medieval
Warm which stretched at least from 800 to 1300, during which Leif the
Lucky discovered Greenland and Nova Scotia,, and established colonies on
both.
As to what causes that warming I am less
confident that I know an answer. It seems to have begun before the
industrial revolution and the subsequent rise in CO2. I will repeat
that I find the rapid increase of CO2 a matter of concern, and I think we
should be doing research on industrial techniques to reduce CO2 by
reabsorbing it or growing it into plankton, But that is another
matter.
=========
Letter from England
The next report will be a Letter from Crete!
"We do not understand how a country, for whose
universities and higher education we have the greatest respect, can produce
people who seem to be acting without thinking, let alone making serious
efforts to investigate the consequences of their actions." <http://tinyurl.com/4yf428w>
Reality has a way of trumping policy: <http://tinyurl.com/66yvwuo>
Fees policy descends into chaos as the bottom
universities charge top fees. <http://tinyurl.com/3p84u3p>
My impression over the last ten years is that UK
education is a good deal narrower than US education and not a great deal
deeper. Recently, I was in a meeting with a biotech company. A wide-ranging
technical discussion got going that went completely over the heads of the UK
participants--if you've ever seen Bones, imagine the way the squint discuss
evidence in a case, but this time for real. If your people are too narrowly
trained, they simply can't keep up when the international competition has
broad training to the same depth. That, more than anything else, seems to be
the British disease.
"If academic research is not devoted to finding the
truth, it is a form of propaganda, and not necessarily to be preferred to
other forms, much cheaper and perhaps more persuasive." (Russell 1993) State
plans for humanities research: <http://tinyurl.com/3bpukw9>
Prime Minister launches a new push to convince the
public that the NHS needs reforming. The public remains unconvinced. <http://tinyurl.com/3r2kgm8>
Target culture: <http://tinyurl.com/66495s8>
-- Harry Erwin
==============
CIA, Al Qaeda, Libya
Anyone paying attention knows that CIA and Special
Forces were on the ground before this nonsense happened. I already
mailed--and you published--the video where the CIA officer explained that we
are funding Al Qaeda in Libya against Gadhafi.
Now if that didn't give you the giggles, check this
out:
http://www.miamiherald.com/
2011/03/26/2136063/new-libyan-rebel-leader-spent.html
The new Libyan Rebel Leader lived for the last 20
years in suburban VA and according to a former Military Intelligence
Analyst, the leader is CIA. Even if the leader isn't CIA, it doesn't change
the implications of the data points. I can already hear the nay sayers and
their trade mark slogans, but the reality seems clear.
The Muslim world has been saying that Bin Laden is a
character, like Emmanuel Goldstien, and yeah I understand how intelligence
works. I know there is a "scary world" of "twisted alliances" that "normal
people" cannot grasp, etc. and I get all the spooky, secret squirrel stuff.
All that aside, this situation is out of control and people need to start
recognizing that before it will get better. "They" have lost their touch.
Epic fail!
--------
Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC Percussa Resurgo
I would not entirely sell short the Company.
There are some good people in there. Supervised largely by idiots, but
then there are some bright people at top levels. It's all very strange and
'twas ever thus.
But see below
=========
Incompetence or malice
Jerry,
Mr. Bonaparte notwithstanding, I have reluctantly
reached the same conclusion as your anonymous correspondent: “..Mr. Obama
has as his principal purpose the abject violation of the explicit meaning of
his oath of office….” Unfortunately, I fear your correspondent understates
the case when he says Mr. Obama’s Middle East policies serve this purpose. I
cannot identify any policy from Mr. Obama, foreign or domestic, which
doesn’t serve to undermine the Republic of the United States militarily,
economically, and/or socially.
I’m sure you remember the quip from the seventies: “I
can’t prove Jimmy Carter is a Soviet agent, but if he were, what would he do
differently?” I would be much relieved if you or your highly intelligent
readers posted a few examples for Mr. Obama.
Come to think of it, you had better leave my name off
this if you happen to post it.
A Proud Subscriber
=============
Fukushima NRC report
Hi Jerry,
The NRC report on Fukushima is here:
http://bit.ly/eEDZn1 <http://bit.ly/eEDZn1>
The report indicates the spent fuel pools may have
gotten damaged enough to scatter nuclear fuel around the site, which is not
good, as this is the primary source of airborne emissions.
It also indicates the reactors are in very tenuous
shape and so hot that working near them is not practical.
TEPCO too is quite open about that issue:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110407006089.htm
Toshiba is speaking of a 10 year cleanup:
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/84098.html <http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/04/84098.html>
It does not seem to be improving much. Meanwhile, the
damage from the emissions is increasing steadily.
Not a satisfactory situation by any means.
Separately, so much agree with your take on our Libya
involvement. Were we not warned from childhood about the pavement of the
road to hell?
Very best regards,
Wolfgang Demisch
Not improving much is a relative term, Actually
it is improving enormously. It will take years, but so far the only
injuries have been to plant workers. This was no disaster other than
financial, and 9.0 earthquakes tend to be financial disasters...
===========
Now for some good news
An Important Announcement from Michael Murray
regarding Jacques Barzun: Portrait of a Mind
I am very happy to give you this message from Michael
Murray, the biographer of Jacques Barzun:
"Dear Leo, my biography of Jacques Barzun is available
as a Kindle book on the amazon.com website. Would you kindly let our fellow
Barzun enthusiasts know? --Michael"
http://amzn.to/grG2yj
Though the book is published for the Kindle e-reader
-- which is probably how Jacques will read it -- you can also read it on
your PC, Mac, iPad, or smart phone with free Kindle software available for
these devices.
lw -- murphywong.net
I have been a fan of Jacques Barzun since high
school when I read his -- still important and readable -- Teacher in
America. He is one of the sanest men in America.
==========
They're Stealing Our Secret Weapons!
Dear Jerry,
While it's the stuff of potboiler novels, always makes
a great tabloid headline, and allows politicians to grandstand, the Other
Side stealing our technology "secrets" is the way of the world. "Secret"
weapons are never (well, hardly ever. See "Greek Fire" which is still a
secret, in that we think we know what it was, but who knows for sure?)
secret for long.
You use your "secret" weapon once, and immediately the
enemy knows its possible. That's ninety per cent of the game right there.
The other ten per cent is some good research, both of the original variety
as well as looking closely through Open Sources such as the technical
literature and popular journals such as Aviation Week and Space Technology
(which is traditionally so useful in this regard it has been referred to as
"Aviation Leak"), and a dash of espionage.
The best successful example of stealing technology is
the Soviet A-Bomb project. But they were working on that well before they
knew about the American Manhattan Project A-weapon effort,. While the data
the Soviets stole with their very successful Atom Spy Ring helped greatly,
it probably amounted to about a year or two in time saved. The biggest
secret of the A-Bomb was that it could be done with current engineering
technology of the nineteen-forties variety. The science had been settled in
Berlin with Hahn and Meissner in 1939.
The best example of a failure in using stolen secrets
\was also Soviet. By 1945 they had two or three B-29 bombers, impounded when
their crews landed in Soviet territory as a last resort when they could not
return to their Pacific island bases after missions over Japan. Stalin
ordered Tupolev, his top heavy bomber designer, to reverse engineer the B-29
and produce a Soviet version.
Tupolev had a superior aircraft already largely
designed, and attempted to persuaded Stalin to develop it rather than copy
the American plane, but Uncle Joe would have none of it. He was convinced
the American's must have designed something far superior to anything a mere
Russian might have, and so Tupoev diverted ten thousand factories, and two
years of effort, to produce the "B-29ski" TU-4 heavy bomber, which first
flew in May of 1947.
So the Russians at the start of the Cold War had the
best bomber of World War two for their strategic air forces, while the US
had moved on to produce the first jet powered strategic bomber, the B-47,
the mainstay of SAC well into the sixties, as well as the all magnesium
super-bomber B-36, the first heavy with the ability to fly from US bases to
Soviet targets non-stop.
The Soviet bomber force never recovered, and was
largely relegated to a naval strike role by the late sixties.
The reason we must have a strategy of technology, why
we need always be at the bleeding edge, well beyond cutting, is because you
never keep your secrets. The best you can hope for is to be The Best There
Is For The Moment.
As the man said, there is nothing so expensive as a
second best military in the world.
Petronius
We covered that in Strategy of Technology which
was a textbook in the service academies at one tome. The river of
technology flows endlessly, and you cannot sit still: You must keep up.
==========
Bathyscaphe Trieste and Mariana's Trench
Jerry. The Trieste’s trip to the Challenger Deep in
the Mariana’s Trench was in 1960 OVER 50 YEARS AGO. We haven’t been back.
Seems depressingly familiar somehow.
John Hartman
==============
This is ridiculous. How could
the government do this?!
Check your Driver's License
I already removed mine. I suggest you all do the same.
Now you can see anyone's Driver's License on the Internet, including your
own! I just searched for mine and there it was...picture and all!
Thanks, Homeland Security! Go to the web site and
check it out. It's unbelievable!!! Just enter your name, city and state to
see if yours is on file.
After your license comes on the screen, click the box
marked "Please Remove." This will remove it from public viewing, but not
from law enforcement. Please notify all your friends so they can protect
themselves too.
Believe me, they will thank you for it.
http://www.license.shorturl.com/
Shocking. BUT NOTE:
Some believe that this place is collecting names
and emails of people who have driving licenses to build a spam list.
Discussion below. In my case if so they have it, but it is hard to believe
there is anyone who wants to know who don't know I live in Studio City
California, since it's in many of my books. But Fair
Warning.======================
Reid lies. Social Security dies.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/
sen-harry-reid-misleads-social-security
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday
disputed warnings that Social Security is headed for bankruptcy, calling
those assertions an “outright lie.” And he says the huge federal entitlement
program has not added “one penny” to the federal deficit.
but CNS observes
Because there is no cash in the Social Security trust
funds, any deficits the program runs, including the 2010 deficit – and those
projected into the future – must be repaid from current tax revenue.
Steve Chu
Cheer up. We'll have runaway inflation long
before that happens. That will fix everything.
============
Indian outsourcer using
jailed prisoners, including murderers, for call-center customer service
representatives. What could possibly go wrong?
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/
2011/feb/01/call-centre-inside-indian-jail>
--- Roland Dobbins
Sooprise!
===========
Charles Murray
Hi Oh my, the AEI and Charles. Priceless. You
understand that if you accept his thesis we know exactly who to blame for
the coming, soon, disintergration of the USA and it's empire.
poodlemaster
I am not sure I understand this message, but I
gather you do not care for Charles Murray. I suspect that is because you
have not read him. Agree with him or not, no one is more meticulous about
presenting his data and making his reasoning clear.
I am unclear as to which thesis you think
explains just what. I fear I am unrepentant in my recommendation of
Murray's work: I have not said I agree with everything he has said, but I
do think his arguments deserve answer -- or at least a clear statement of
what is disagreed with.
==========
March Temperature
Jerry,
http://www.drroyspencer.com/
April 5th blog entry
March global average temperature -0.099 Celsius
(relative to 30 year average 1981-2010). Monthly global cooling 0.08
Celsius. Biggest change was in the Southern hemisphere with the tropics
effectively unchanged.
www.solarham.com
A significant up tick in sun spot number (40 - 81
averaged for month) and in solar RF flux. However, one of the knowledgeable
amateurs I consult says that some metrics suggest an early and low peak of
solar activity for this cycle, which certainly matches past comparable long
cycles. Time will tell.
Jim
I think it is nearly certain that the temperature
of the earth has been rising since 1776. How much is at issue. I
still fear cooling and the return of the Ice Age far more than the runaway
heating. I am more concerned that we are not trying to find mechanisms for
using up the excess CO2 just in case. It's likely to be biological, of
course.
===========
license.shorturl.com
Web of trust (WOT) (
http://www.mywot.com/en/
scorecard/license.shorturl.com) warned me not to go there. They
indicate it may be a phishing site. Maybe your other readers know more?
Christopher Johnson
MSgt, USAF Retired
I use Firefox with popup blocking. I didn't see
any popups blocked, and I can't think what they are phishing for since
they didn't make me any propositions. I do have Microsoft Security
Essentials installed and keep it updated.
==
I now have a number of messages from people
warning me that this may be a site collecting names for spamming. In my
case I suspect I am on every spam list in captivity, so I doubt I have
told them anything they didn't know, but they do ask for your name, state,
and town. I found it amusing, but I guess I don't advise you to go to that
site.
============d
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