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Update to an earlier post and new entry to Blogroll

I had posted earlier about Duke Power and their proposed order of two Westinghouse AP1000 Reactors: Nukes on order

I received this comment from Rod Adams:

The news that you have reported is definitely good, but you have weakened your publication's credibility with the incorrect numbers that you have posted.

The capacity of the AP 1000 is a bit more than 1100 MWe, not 11 MWe.

I am pretty sure that your figure for electric power demands of New York City is also off by a factor of 100.

He is right on both counts. I quoted the Power Output figure from Westinghouse's website with a little rounding but I dropped two orders of magnitude in the rounding process! From the AP1000 website

The AP1000 is an advanced 1117 to 1154 MWe nuclear power plant that uses the forces of nature and simplicity of design to enhance plant safety and operations and reduce construction costs.

Also to address the question of New York City's electrical demand, I did a bit of googling and ran into this excellent paper which starts with 2000 and projects it forward to 2005. For 2000, the Summer Peak Load was 10,340 MW for NYC and 4,564 for Long Island. (The total for the entire state was 30,200 — the city is quite the consumer.)

That makes my error a factor of 295 times off.

Again, I am sorry for my errors — the 35 MW for NYC was stuck in my brain from somewhere and I failed to fact-check myself when quoting it.

As for the new entry to the blogroll — Rod Adams runs this website: Atomic Insights
His blog is here: Atomic Insights Blog

A welcome addition and thanks!

Quick Watson; the game's afoot...

Mark Russinovich is truly a hacker's Hacker for Windows systems.
His primary website SysInternals is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to dig deeply into that convoluted mess of beauty and elegance that is the Windows 2000 and XP Kernel.

His utilities are a great boon to those of us not at his Olympian heights when we try to figure out some strange behaviour with our systems.

He also runs a Blog and today's entry is a wonderful foray into some unmitigated Crap-ware that Sony installed on his system when he went to play an Audio CD:

Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far
Last week when I was testing the latest version of RootkitRevealer (RKR) I ran a scan on one of my systems and was shocked to see evidence of a rootkit. Rootkits are cloaking technologies that hide files, Registry keys, and other system objects from diagnostic and security software, and they are usually employed by malware attempting to keep their implementation hidden (see my “Unearthing Rootkits” article from the June issue of Windows IT Pro Magazine for more information on rootkits). The RKR results window reported a hidden directory, several hidden device drivers, and a hidden application.

He posts a screenshot showing something very very strange and then continues:

Given the fact that I’m careful in my surfing habits and only install software from reputable sources I had no idea how I’d picked up a real rootkit, and if it were not for the suspicious names of the listed files I would have suspected RKR to have a bug. I immediately ran Process Explorer and Autoruns to look for evidence of code that would activate the rootkit each boot, but I came up empty with both tools. I next turned to LiveKd, a tool I wrote for Inside Windows 2000 and that lets you explore the internals of a live system using the Microsoft kernel debugger, to determine what component was responsible for the cloaking.

Mark then goes through the step by step process he went through to figure out exactly what was happening and he tried to delete it. His CD drive disappeared. Mark then outlines just how poorly written and unsafe to the system this software is (and yeah, he gets his CD drive back again). Finishes off with these thoughts:

The entire experience was frustrating and irritating. Not only had Sony put software on my system that uses techniques commonly used by malware to mask its presence, the software is poorly written and provides no means for uninstall. Worse, most users that stumble across the cloaked files with a RKR scan will cripple their computer if they attempt the obvious step of deleting the cloaked files.

While I believe in the media industry’s right to use copy protection mechanisms to prevent illegal copying, I don’t think that we’ve found the right balance of fair use and copy protection, yet. This is a clear case of Sony taking DRM too far.

Cool tech for small computers

I ran into the Gumstix website while researching distributed control systems for a much-down-the-road project.

Very cool little computers — a decent Intel chip, 64MB SDRAM, 16MB Flash, Linux kernal 2.6.11 pre-installed all for about $150. Communication is via Serial but there is a slew of add-on boards that add additional options — $65 gets you one ethernet and one CF-II slot. There are also breakout boards and boards for almost any function you might want.

Oh yeah — the name Gumstix describes the size of these puppies. They are a bit over 3” long and a bit over 0.8” wide. Yes, I know about BASIC Stamps but these puppies have an OS, can multi-task and can use most Linux code out there.

Need more I/O? Get a LabJack which plays well with Linux 2.6.11

WTF? Hurricane Relief effort

Anheuser-Busch has been donating loads of drinking water that they have canned in one of their beer lines (nine million cans so far). They have been trucking these to the southeast for victims of Katrina and Rita.

And then, they meet Pastors from the Southern Baptist Convention who are running a food and supply distribution site.
NBC-2 has the story:

Religious beliefs trump hurricane relief
Hurricane victims who wanted water had some difficulty finding it at a relief station in Clewiston Friday. The volunteer group running a supply center doesn't like the company that donated the water, so they decided not to give it to those in line for help.

Twenty-two pallets of the canned water, distributed free by beer company Anheuser-Busch, bears the company's label – and members of the Southern Baptist Convention refused to hand it out to those in need.

Resident lined up for miles to receive food and water at the distribution point. But the water was left on the sidelines by the Alabama-based group.

“The pastor didn't want to hand out the Budweiser cans to people and that's his prerogative and I back him 100-percent,” said SBC volunteer John Cook.

The SBC felt it was inappropriate to give the donation out, and they weren't happy when NBC2 wanted to know why.

“Why do you want to make that the issue? That's not the issue. The issue is that we're here trying to help people,” Cook said.

No one disagrees with that, but the Red Cross says Anheuser-Busch is also trying to help.

The water has been available all along, but the SBC volunteers set it aside and few people knew it was available.

While the SBC is standing its ground, the Red Cross says water is water and they're now handing out the supplies.
The vice-president of operations for Anheuser-Busch, Mike Harding, released a statement on the donation Friday reading:

“As we have seen numerous times in recent years, safe drinking water is a critical need following natural disasters such as Hurricane Wilma. At the request of various relief agencies, Anheuser-Busch and its wholesalers have donated more than 9 million cans of drinking water since Hurricane Katrina hit in August, and when called on, we’ll continue to provide water to all victims of Wilma as long as it’s needed.”

“I don't think it makes a difference who gives it out. It's going to a good cause. It's going to help everyone,” said storm victim Lisa Simmons.

And many victims are grateful Anheuser-Busch is stepping in to help.

The article goes on to update that two members of the SBC are now distributing the water alongside the Red Cross.

What part of Charity do these people fail to understand?
There should be a special place in Hell for those people who Meddle…

Ex-President Clinton

Interesting report from NewsBusters:

Clinton Lies Again, Press Misses It Again
Former President Bill Clinton added his comment to the praises for Rosa Parks, now lying in honor at the Rotunda of the US Capitol. In making his statement, he told another lie, like his claim about black churches being burned in his community when he was growing up.

It was many months later that some enterprising reporter bothered to check the facts and found out that there were no black churches burned then in Arkansas. That fact was reported, but it never caught up with the original lie that Clinton told. As Mark Twain correctly observed, “A lie can go around the world before the truth gets its trousers on.”

The latest Clinton lie, however, required no research to expose it. Here is what he said, from the AP story about Rosa Parks:

Clinton said he was 9 years old when Parks refused to give up her seat. and he and his friends “couldn't figure out anything we could do since we couldn't even vote. So we began to sit in the back of the bus when we got on.”

Hellooo. Hope, Arkansas, was a town of less than 9,000 when Bill Clinton was growing up there. Towns that small do not have public bus systems. So, he had to be talking about school buses. At that time, the school system in Hope was racially segregated. There would not have been any black students on the bus, relegated to the back of the bus.

An observant reporter might have included those two facts, about no public buses and the school buses being segregated like the schools were, along side of Clinton’s statement. But, asking AP reporters to be observant is, perhaps, a bit much.

So, Clinton was lying, again. Why did he do it? First, this is a lifelong pattern. The spotlight must always switch back from whatever is the subject at hand, to Bill – his life, his times, his ego, himself. Note that this statement neatly does that.

Plus, as author John Armor says:

We all sat in the back of any bus because it was easier to get away with stuff when you were as far as possible from the view and supervision of the driver. Bill was just taking an ordinary situation and trying to turn it into something that made him look good.

Heh… Backseater here as well growing up.

The new 'president' of Iran on the Iranian Stock Market

Iran's new president — Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — made some waves the other day by saying that Israel should be wiped off the face of this earth. I blogged about it here and here.

And now this — Charles at LGF links to an article at Iran Focus

Iran’s President says 2 or 3 hangings could end market woes
Tehran, Oct. 30 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the latest cabinet meeting in the Iranian capital that “if we were permitted to hang two or three persons, the problems with the stock exchange would be solved for ever”, according to a Tehran-based newspaper.

Ahmadinejad was addressing a cabinet meeting held to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation at the Tehran Stock Exchange, the daily Ruznet reported on Sunday.

Ministers and experts disagreed with all the different views and proposals raised at the meeting, which came to an end without any concrete results. Tempers flew high and participants shouted at each other during the discussion, according to the daily. Frustrated with the inability of his economic advisers and experts to come up with any solution, Ahmadinejad told them that the only way out of the current stock exchange and financial market problems was to “frighten” speculators by hanging two or three of them.

This goes beyond draconian… It will be interesting to see how many companies stay in Iran after the next year or so and how much foreign investment comes in.

And also, the wiping Israel meme seems to be gaining traction in cultured Cambridge, Massachusetts. Charles posts a picture of a sticker that is cropping up all over the city:

Wiping Israel Off the Map at Harvard
Iranian “president” Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s call for Israel to be “wiped off the map” has struck a chord at Harvard. LGF reader JS emailed this photo of a sticker posted all over the place by a leftist group:

(Note: “Gone Baby Gone” is a band, who apparently have nothing to do with the new stickers.)

The price of Gasoline

Very interesting news from the TaxProf Blog:

Gas Taxes Exceed Oil Companies' Profits
With BP, Exxon-Mobil, and Shell reporting record profits, the Tax Foundation reminds us in its latest Fiscal Fact that the biggest beneficiaries of gasoline sales are federal and state governments, not the oil industry:

High gas prices and strong oil company earnings have generated a rash of new tax proposals in recent months. Some lawmakers have called for new “windfall profits” taxes—similar to the one signed into federal law in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter—that would tax the profits of major oil companies at a rate of 50%. Meanwhile, many commentators have voiced support for the idea of increasing gas taxes to keep the price of gasoline at post-Katrina highs, thereby reducing gas consumption. However, often ignored in this debate is the fact that oil industry profits are highly cyclical, making them just as prone to “busts” as to “booms.” Additionally, tax collections on the production and import of gasoline by state and federal governments are already near historic highs. In fact, in recent decades governments have collected far more revenue from gasoline taxes than the largest U.S. oil companies have collectively earned in domestic profits…

Interesting — the Fiscal Fact link has the numbers and references for you to check. For 2004, the Oil Companies made $42.6B and the Government took $58.4B.

Stickies

Very cool tool — free too. From their website:

Stickies for Windows
Stickies for Windows lets you put yellow sticky notes on your Windows desktop, much like the popular MacOS application. It is very simple, very customizable, and completely free!

Fully configurable, the stickies can be emailed to someone else. Fast, small and useful.

The Giant Magellan Telescope

They just cast the first mirror for this and it came out very nicely!

Story at Physorg.com:

First Giant Magellan Telescope Mirror Casting is 'Perfect'
“We're very happy to see this one come out looking so gorgeous,” Mirror Lab Technical Director J. Roger Angel said. “We'll see more once the mold is removed, but so far, looking through the front surface, it looks great.”

The mirror is the first of seven 8.4-meter (27-foot) mirrors that the Mirror Lab is making for the Giant Magellan Telescope. The GMT is the world's first extremely large ground-based telescope to start construction.

This part of the article gives you a sense of the scale of this project:

The colossal telescope will feature six giant off-axis mirrors around a seventh on-axis mirror. This arrangement will give it a 22-meter (72-foot) aperture, or 4.5 times the collecting area of any current optical telescope. It will have the resolving power of a 24.5-meter (80-foot) diameter telescope, or 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope. The GMT is slated for completion in 2016 at a site in northern Chile.

And one more excerpt:

For the casting last July, Mirror Lab workers used 40,000 pounds of Ohara E-6 borosilicate glass. The furnace hit peak temperature, 2,150 degrees Fahrenheit (1,178 Celsius) on July 23. As the furnace rotated at 5 revolutions per minute, glass melted around the 1,681 hexagonal cores in the mold. This created a 'honeycomb' mirror blank with a faceplate of the desired curvature. The honeycomb mirror weighs only a fifth as much as would a solid mirror of the same size.

The rotation produces centrifugal force which makes the molten glass slump out toward the rim. It just happens to form a nice parabola — this trick cuts a lot of time from the final grinding and polishing.

Here is a photo:

I had the great pleasure to visit the Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i and that thing is huge. This puppy will be a bit more than twice the diameter (4.5 times mirror area).

The website for the project is here: Giant Magellan Telescope

Here is an artists' rendition of the finished scope:

2005 Darwin Award Winners

This years list of Darwin Award Winners has been posted.

From the website:

Named in honor of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, the Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it.

The winner:

Failed Frame-Up
“Unusual” and “complicated” is how the Missaukee County sheriff described the mysterious death of 19-year-old Christopher, who called 911 at 1:22am and calmly informed the police dispatcher that his neighbor had stabbed him. Suddenly he began screaming and begging for help. A woman was heard shouting in the background, “Why did you do this?” Deputies arrived quickly, only to find that Christopher had bled to death from stab wounds to his chest.

After an evening spent imbibing large quantities of alcohol, Christopher noticed a shortage in his liquor supply that could not be attributed to his own depredations. He concluded that his neighbor had stolen a bottle of booze! He menaced said neighbor with a knife, to no avail, whereupon he retired to his own apartment to brood about revenge.

Finally he figured out the perfect way to get back at that conniving bottle-thief: he would stab himself and blame the neighbor!

A witness saw Christopher enter the bathroom while he called police. When he emerged from the bathroom, he looked perfectly fine, but a moment later he began screaming as gouts of blood spewed from his chest. He ran to the door of the apartment, and collapsed.

The evidence pointed to self-inflicted wounds. Deputies found the knife that killed him in the kitchen, and an autopsy concluded that he had stabbed himself in the chest twice. The first wound may not have looked dangerous enough to him, so he took the knife and tried again, this time plunging it into his left ventricle. This wound was plenty dangerous: he had only two minutes to live.

Christopher died in vain. His deathbed accusation fell on deaf ears, as a witness stated that the neighbor was not in the apartment, and the neighbor offered to take a lie-detector test to demonstrate his innocence. All Christopher got for revenge was an accidental death sentence.

Six more at the website…

Firefly and Serenity Wiki

Just stumbled across a wonderful Wiki for the TV Series Firefly.

FireflyWiki

If you enjoy science fiction with a wild wild west undertone, the follow-up movie Serenity is well worth seeing while it is still in the theaters.

Nukes on order

Finally! From Westinghouse:

Westinghouse Pleased Duke Power to Pursue COL for 2 AP1000s
Duke Power's announcement today that it will prepare a combined construction and operating license (COL) for two Westinghouse AP1000s is a major step forward for nuclear power by a prominent, forward-looking U.S. energy company, Westinghouse Electric Company officials said today.

“Duke's decision is forward looking in that it will further ensure long-term and diverse generating options for Duke and its customers,” said Steve Tritch, Westinghouse President and CEO. “As a result of this action, Duke will be in a position to commence construction of new nuclear plants as early as the 2010 timeframe.”

The Westinghouse AP1000, set to receive Design Certification in December, is the only Generation III+ plant to receive Final Design Approval (FDA) from the U.S. NRC. Competing designs are still in the earliest stages (application or pre-application submittal) of the multi-year FDA process.

Very cool — each reactor is rated for about 11 MWe which is enough to power a good sized city. New York requires about 35 MWe.
Ten Megawatts of coal generated power requires about 90 traincar loads of coal per day to produce.
Ten Megawatts of Nuclear requires about six kilos of fuel/day.
Less environmental impact for the mining and refining and no greenhouse gasses.

Northern Migration

Interesting population shift going on — the Christian Science Monitor has the story:

Mexicans head north for a better life. Way north.
Born, educated, and married in Mexico City, this young, upper-middle class couple turned to one another one day and said, “Let's leave.”

“I could not picture the future or having kids in Mexico,” says Maria Carral, a graphic designer. “We were both really tired of the insecurity, the traffic, the economic ups and downs…. We were ready to move on to a better life.”

Like so many Mexicans, Maria and her husband chose to move north - but in their case, that meant Canada, not the United States.

For a small but growing number of Mexicans the promised land of “El Norte” means life above the 49th parallel. And while the US is fortifying its borders and tightening entry requirements, Canada is putting out the welcome mat.

“Canada has awakened to Mexico and vice versa,” says Mendel Green, an immigration lawyer in Canada. “It's a fit.”

The article also looks at what a Mexican has to do to get a Tourist Visa in Canada and the USA

“Just getting a hearing [for a visa] at the US embassy is a feat,” says Javiar Gomez, a Mexico City house painter who waited four months to hear whether or not he could get a tourist visa to visit his brother in Chicago last year. He didn't get the visa. “You have to pay [a nonrefundable $100 fee] before knowing if you will be accepted or not. Its infuriating,” he says.

Temporary workers who want to go to Canada fill out one form. There's no charge. The same application to the US, according the US Embassy website requires, among other things:

• “A copy of the I-129 petition and the original approved I-797 petition. “
• “A BANAMEX receipt for the 1,150 pesos (adjusted according to exchange rate) application fee. There can be additional fees for individuals obtaining work visas.”
• “Supplementary application form if applicant is male between the ages of 16 and 45.”

Any Mexican can apply for an immigrant visa to Canada. But the US rules say that only Mexicans who have family or a sponsoring employer can apply for the same visa.

I know that the US has a growing population and we need to be careful about who comes in but we could be doing a bit to streamline the processs… The $100 non-refundable fee is a bit much.

Interesting property for sale in England

Looking to get away from it all? Cold War City is for sale.
The Times Online has the story:

For sale: Britain’s underground city
Welcome to Cold War City (population: 4). It covers 240 acres and has 60 miles of roads and its own railway station. It even includes a pub called the Rose and Crown.

The most underpopulated town in Britain is being put on the market. But there will be no estate agent’s blurb extolling the marvellous views of the town for sale: true, it has a Wiltshire address, but it is 120ft underground.

The subterranean complex that was built in the 1950s to house the Conservative prime minister Harold Macmillan’s cabinet and 4,000 civil servants in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack is being thrown open to commercial use. Just four maintenance men are left.

A bit more about the site:

During the war the mine was a munitions dump and a factory for military aircraft engines. It was equipped with what was then the second largest telephone exchange in Britain and a BBC studio from where the prime minister could make broadcasts to what remained of the nation. The telephone directories were last updated in 1989, the year the Berlin Wall came down.

A system of underground power stations would have provided electricity to the 100,000 lamps that lit its streets and guided the way to a pub modelled on the Red Lion in Whitehall.

A spur line was built inside a tunnel on the main London to Bristol railway, linking it to the bunker. It was meant as an escape route for the royal family to flee London in the event of an attack.

Code-named Burlington, it was never used and as the timescale for a perceived Soviet nuclear onslaught shrank to the notorious four-minute warning of armageddon, the whole concept of evacuating the Queen and her government became obsolete.

The bunker’s very existence was meant to be top secret until it was decommissioned last year. The last cabinet records were removed a decade ago.

Fascinating…

Problems in the Alabama government

From CBS News:

Former Alabama Governor Indicted
Former Gov. Don Siegelman was charged Wednesday in a “widespread racketeering conspiracy” that includes allegations he took a bribe from former hospital executive Richard Scrushy for a key state appointment.

Also indicted on federal charges were two members of Siegelman's administration and Scrushy, the former head of the HealthSouth medical-services company who was acquitted earlier this year in a massive accounting-fraud case.

Siegelman, who was governor from 1999 to 2003, was charged with racketeering, fraud, bribery, extortion and obstruction of justice.

Siegelman called the long-running grand jury probe a political witch hunt by Republican prosecutors trying to derail his current Democratic campaign for a second term in 2006.

The MSM is all over Scooter Libby but not a peep over this one.

Hmmmm…

Light posting tonight

Working on a website for a client plus researching CNC Machining

Quoting 'victim' 2,000

Charles at LGF links to an article by Michelle Malkin regarding the reporting by the NY Times of the death of 'victim' 2,000 — a Corporal Jeffrey B. Starr who was on his third term in Iraq (voluntary):

CPL. JEFFREY B. STARR: WHAT THE NYTIMES LEFT OUT
On Wednesday, the NYTimes published a 4,625-word opus on the “2,000 dead” milestone—a “grim mark,” read the headline—on page A2. Among those profiled were Marines from the First Battalion of the Fifth Marine Regiment, including Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr. Here's an excerpt from the Times' passage about Cpl. Starr:

Another member of the 1/5, Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr, rejected a $24,000 bonus to re-enlist. Corporal Starr believed strongly in the war, his father said, but was tired of the harsh life and nearness of death in Iraq. So he enrolled at Everett Community College near his parents' home in Snohomish, Wash., planning to study psychology after his enlistment ended in August.

But he died in a firefight in Ramadi on April 30 during his third tour in Iraq. He was 22.

Sifting through Corporal Starr's laptop computer after his death, his father found a letter to be delivered to the marine's girlfriend. “I kind of predicted this,” Corporal Starr wrote of his own death. “A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances.”

Last night, I received a letter from Corporal Starr's uncle, Timothy Lickness. He wanted you to know the rest of the story—and the parts of Corporal Starr's letter that the Times failed to include:

Yesterday's New York Times on-line edition carried the story of the 2000 Iraq US military death[s]. It grabbed my attention as the picture they used with the headline was that of my nephew, Cpl Jeffrey B. Starr, USMC.

Unfortunately they did not tell Jeffrey's story. Jeffrey believed in what he was doing. He [was] willing put his life on the line for this cause. Just before he left for his third tour of duty in Iraq I asked him what he thought about going back the third time. He said: “If we (Americans) don't do this (free the Iraqi people from tyranny) who will? No one else can.”

Several months after Jeffrey was killed his laptop computer was returned to his parents who found a letter in it that was addressed to his girlfriend and was intended to be found only if he did not return alive. It is a most poignant letter and filled with personal feelings he had for his girlfriend. But of importance to the rest of us was his expression of how he felt about putting his life at risk for this cause. He said it with grace and maturity.

He wrote: “Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this, that is why I'm writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances. I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark.”

What Jeffrey said is important. Americans need to understand that most of those who are or have been there understand what's going on. It would honor Jeffrey's memory if you would publish the rest of his story.

Mr. Lickness also told me: “Even more than a Marine, Jeff was a man of God. At a recent memorial service at Camp Pendleton for the 16 Marines from his unit killed in Iraq we got to meet the men who were with him when he died. They told us of his bravery under fire, his leadership, his humor and his humanity. America lost the best it has, but the family knows he's with his Heavenly Father and we will see him again.”

Now you know what the Times left out. Now you know the rest of Corporal Starr's story.

You can pay proper tribute to Corporal Starr here.

More about Corporal Starr from his uncle here.

Thank God for men like him.

As for the Times, what do I always say? It's always more informative for what it leaves out than for what it puts in.

The “Newspaper of Record” indeed…

And for “Celebrating the 2,000th Death”, check out these photos of happy people.

Finding Me

Very cool tech — hat tip to Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools for the link to this life-saver:

McMurdo Fastfind Plus
Find-me anywhere personal locator

It's not that often you run across a piece of gear that can actually save your life. Whether you're backpacking, backcountry skiing, scuba diving, or flying in the wilderness, the McMurdo Fastfind Plus is a must-have in the event you find yourself in a serious emergency situation. Up here in Seattle every year hikers, mountain climbers, and backcountry skiers get lost and don't return. Whenever I read about them in the paper I kind of sigh and think of how easy it would've been to be rescued.

When a person activates the Fastfind Plus, it uses its integral GPS to provide a 406 MHz alert signal via the COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system. You see a visual indicator of GPS acquisition. Fastfind Plus also transmits on the International Aircraft Emergency Frequency of 121.5 MHz providing a homing signal for the Search And Rescue (SAR) services. With the combination of an integral GPS and satellite transmitter, Search and Rescue authorities can be notified of your emergency along with your pinpoint location within minutes, anywhere in the world.

The Fastfind only weighs 10 oz, which isn't bad considering that it can save your ass. For scuba divers, a waterproof aluminum canister is also available. I might mention that these devices are only to be used in the most dire, life-threatening emergency. It is a violation of Federal Law to misuse the device and is subject to a $250,000 fine.

Very very cool technology. We have had EPIRBs for the last 15 years or so but this is a definite jump in features and technology with about the same sticker-shock as the current crop of EPIRBs ($550)

(EPIRB - Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon — these send out a cry for help but it is the satellite's job to home in on the beacon. Accuracy can be poor as several hundred feet which in a mountainous area or in confused seas can be fatal. This puppy gathers its own location and sends that data as well as hollering on all of the traditional EPIRB frequencies.)

Happy Hallowe'en

From Cox and Forkum:

Click for full-size Image

The Arcata, CA Police Blotter

This is a hoot… The person who writes the Police Blotter column for the local Arcata Eye newspaper has a great sense of humor and it shows. A few entries:

September 3rd - 3:46 a.m.
On somebody's porch, he was prowling
A male type, “banging and growling”
The mixed-up man thinking
(Perhaps 'cause of drinking)
That friends owned the home he was fouling.

3:59 a.m.
Though told to leave, growly returned
To the porch where his presence was spurned
Exceedingly lame
But cops too, know that game
And with handcuffs made sure he adjourned.

October 6 - 6:07 a.m. A traveler holding a help-me sign outside a Valley West restaurant modulated his alcohol-tinged exhalations with verbal abuse, directed at a competing signholder whom he alleged had pushed him out of his “space.” The spaced traveler and the interloper were advised.

Heh…

Iran's statement on Israel / Cox and Forkum's view

Cox and Forkum once again, nail it. This is regarding Iran's new president's statement that Israel should be wiped off the map delivered in a speech at this conference: “The World without Zionism”

Click for full-size Image

Charles at LGF has a link to a Yahoo/AP news item:

Arab States Silent on Iran's Remarks
Arab governments remained silent Thursday as international condemnation grew over a call by Iran's new president for Israel to be destroyed.

The news reporter should realize that Iran is Persia under a new name; it is not an Arab nation. And now, they are transforming themselves into a very large and very loose canon with their fixation on nuclear weaponry. The next few years will be very interesting. Libya is now a nice place to visit.

The 2,000th 'victim' -- Victor Davis Hanson weighs in...

Was reading Maggie's Farm and saw there that Victor Davis Hanson had a column at the NY Times regarding the 2,000th death in Iraq:

2,000 Dead, in Context
As the aggregate number of American military fatalities in Iraq has crept up over the past 13 months - from 1,000 to 1,500 dead, and now to 2,000 - public support for the war has commensurately declined. With the nightly ghoulish news of improvised explosives and suicide bombers, Americans perhaps do not appreciate that the toppling of Saddam Hussein and the effort to establish a democratic government in Iraq have been accomplished at relatively moderate cost - two-thirds of the civilian fatalities incurred four years ago on the first day of the war against terrorism.

He then compares this with some other wars:

Compared with Iraq, America lost almost 17 times more dead in Korea, and 29 times more again in Vietnam - in neither case defeating our enemies nor establishing democracy in a communist north.

Contemporary critics understandably lament our fourth year of war since Sept. 11 in terms of not achieving a victory like World War II in a similar stretch of time. But that is to forget the horrendous nature of such comparison when we remember that America lost 400,000 dead overseas at a time when the country was about half its present size.

An excellent read… 60 years is a long long time ago but the lessons and sacrifices then need to be brought to present times and reflected on. First one being that fascism has not died and that we are dealing with it again.

Updates to the Blogroll

Added three new blogs to the list on the right.

Gates of Vienna
Gun Guy and
Maggie's Farm

Check them out — the level of writing in Maggie's Farm and Gates of Vienna is very high. Gun Guy is al all-out fun read — his mildest essay rant would give most P.C. people gibbering fits of apoplexy.

The 2,000th 'Victim'

Dymphna at Gates of Vienna has a thoughtful essay on the 2,00th victim and the way we look at death. She also has an interesting statistic to think about.

The Valiant and the Victims
What’s the difference between a victim, a fatality, and a dead hero? Let us consider some lives and some deaths. Let us see if there may be a thread that connects them.

Over on The Neighborhood of God I described the bloody death of a 7th century young woman who’d valiantly fought off and escaped her incestuous father, only to die by his sword anyway, far from home. In my view because she refused to submit, Dymphna therefore was not a victim. However, one of my commenters disagreed. Did the simple fact that she failed ultimately to escape her father's sword seal the meaning of her life? I can understand why someone might see it that way, though her death is not how I choose to characterize Saint Dymphna; to me she is defined in her refusal to submit the core of her integrity to another person. Yes, her refusal contained her death warrant, but it was that very defiance which ultimately trumped her father’s rage. Dymphna’s courage and determination resonate down the centuries, bearing a significance she could never have imagined.

And yesterday, I heard about the long awaited, the hoped-for, the tipping point death of the war in Iraq: Staff Sgt. George T. Alexander Jr. was # 2,000 in the line of soldiers who have fallen in Iraq while serving their country and liberating the Iraqis. The meaning of his life was dumped into the total “body count” cauldron that the unscrupulous keep on the fire in aid of an enemy who would see us vanquished and the Iraqis returned to hell.

Last year, there was another death in Iraq, one which stood out from the thousands of victims of this ugly war. Remember Fabrizio Quattrocchi? Remember his defiance? Mr. Quattrocchi didn’t choose death. But when it showed up wearing the visage of evil, he turned and faced valiantly what he could not escape. Attempting to tear off his mask, he yelled his last words: “Now I'll show you how an Italian dies.”

Dymphna then continues with this thought and offers up the tale of 42,000 deaths:

Just three examples: the girl, the sergeant, the contract worker. None of them chose to die, but all of them chose how to face death. One in defense of her integrity, another in the defense of his country, and the last because, like the first, he refused to submit to evil.

Meanwhile, back here at home, in 2003 — the year the war began in Iraq — forty two thousand people victims died in traffic accidents. They died for no reason. 42,643 people are gone and from none of their deaths can we salvage some small shred of consolation. These horrible deaths are merely wasted lives, cut off without reason.

So where is the hue and cry? Where are the headlines? Where are the protestors demanding that something be done about this on-going annual carnage right here in our country? Extrapolating from the figures for 2003, we can reliably estimate a death toll from traffic accidents (in the United States alone) of at least 125,000 men, women, and children dead since the start of the war in Iraq. Where are the Cindy Sheehans to carry on about this ignoble carnage? Where are the placards blaming…blaming whom, precisely? The car manufacturers? The highway engineers? The government for not setting a lower speed limit? The people who exercise their freedom to drive?

Indeed — I am doing a hatchet job excerpting her post, it's worth your time to go there and read the entire thing.

Alternative to Hybrid Automobiles

Hybrids are great for slow traffic and lots of short trips but when you are doing more than 20-30 miles, the advantage wears off and you are back to “normal” gas mileage.

The Detroit News Auto Insider has an interesting article on the new technologies available for Diesel and why they will give Hybrids a good run for their money:

Forget hybrids, America; diesels will provide economy, performance
Technology allows diesels to meet toughest upcoming emissions rules; automakers' hybrid alliances show lack of belief in gas-electric future
Peugeot of France doesn't sell its cars in the U.S., but its new 407 Coupe is powered by an engine that will induce a warm glow in Americans.

The engine is a diesel, and it means that Americans forced by high gas prices to seek alternatives to fuel-guzzling motors can do so without making sacrifices.

The new car, launched here in October, is powered by a 2.7 litre V-6 diesel which is quieter than a gasoline engine, has so much torque that its acceleration is blistering and instantaneous, does an average 27.6 miles per U.S. gallon, and most important of all, the engine is made by Ford and is already used in top-of-the-line Jaguars and Range Rovers. This is no smokey, under-powered, bag-o-nails old diesel rattlebox. It is creamy smooth, quiet, sophisticated, and environmentally friendly.

To be fair, Ford makes this latest technology common rail diesel engine in a joint venture with Peugeot. But the capability of the engines like these in terms of economy and refined performance makes Europeans wonder why Americans are making such a fuss about hybrid engines.

Despite all the hullabaloo about hybrids, experts predict that by 2012 Americans will be buying roughly twice as many diesels as hybrids. By then, diesels will also be able to match the toughest emission regulations set by California.

Expensive Hybrids

The runaway price of gasoline has forced Americans to look for more economical fuel. Sure, the gas-electric hybrid engines powering the Toyota Prius and Lexus RX400h are breathtaking technological achievements. But they are heavy and expensive. And claims by Toyota that the Prius will average 54.7 miles per U.S. gallon have not been borne out in Europe, where you can expect around 42 mpg (35 miles per U.S. gallon). Diesel-powered cars like the VW Passat can easily better that, and can combine frugality with much better performance than the Prius.

You would expect leaders of big European manufacturers to echo this idea, and they do, describing hybrids as an expensive blind alley.

“Despite the big public debate right now, it (hybrids) will just be a niche technology,” German luxury car maker BMW AG chief executive Helmut Panke told Reuters at the Tokyo car show.

“They (hybrids) do not have long-term economic prospects because they are a lot more expensive to produce (than diesels) with the same results,” said Jean-Martin Folz, chief executive of French mass car manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen.

Experts like Peter Schmidt, editor of the pan-European bi-weekly newsletter Automotive Industry Data, reckon that Toyota's hybrid venture, although an impressive engineering program, was more of a public relations exercise.

“Toyota lacks one fundamental element — image - unlike BMW or Mercedes. Toyota cleverly used the environmental theme to boost this,” said Schmidt.

Schmidt agrees that diesels are at least the match for hybrids in terms of economy and performance at a cheaper price, but says the crucial element in diesel success in America will be its ability to match tough new laws curbing emissions of soot or particulates, and dangerous nitrogen oxides (NOx)

An interesting look at some very cool technology. Hybrids have their place but it will be interesting to hear from their owners in a couple years when the battery packs start needing replacement…

Dilbert has a blog

Scott Adams has just started a weblog. Dilbert.blog A sample post:

Nerdiest thing ever
What’s the nerdiest thing you ever did?

I’m talking about thoroughly unnecessary nerdiness, i.e. the highest level of achievement. Recently I bought a projector that takes a signal from just about any source and shines a big picture on any flat surface. I hooked it up to my laptop and watched a wall-sized movie on my white office wall while I paid my bills.

You might ask why I bought the projector in the first place. No reason. I just couldn’t resist the urge to project large images on walls. It’s exactly the sort of device you have to acquire first and later figure out why you did it.

I was inspired by some friends who show movies on the side of their house during their annual Halloween party. All they do is hook up an X-Box to the projector, add a couple of portable speakers, and it’s like being at the drive-in.

I watched the movie Alexander on my office wall. It is quite possibly the worst movie ever made. But if you project it large enough on a wall, the nerdish pleasure in doing so actually compensates for the complete lack of cinematic value. I knew I’d enjoy it because my aforementioned friends showed Van Helsing on their house last Halloween and I couldn’t have been happier. The plot of that movie is, if I may summarize: Monsters get killed. That kind of storytelling plus a couple of beers makes for a good time.

Ever since I bought the projector, I spend way too much time looking for random, flat surfaces upon which I can project images should the opportunity ever arise. As I type this, I notice that my neighbor in an apartment across the way has the worst view ever of a big blank wall outside his balcony. Now I want to befriend him so we can sit on his balcony and project movies on the big wall while drinking tasty beverages. But I won’t. I just like thinking about it.

So what’s the nerdiest, unnecessary thing you ever did?

My answer would be my brief foray into PDA world. I bought two of them and have never used them more than a few days. I am using a spiral-bound book of 3X5 note cards for keeping track of stuff and it works a lot better for me.

Miers bows out

Harriet Miers announced that she was withdrawing her nomination for the post of Supreme Court Judge late this afternoon.
MS/NBC has the story:

Miers withdraws Supreme Court nomination
Bush accepts decision 'reluctantly,' promises quick replacement

Under withering attack from conservatives, President Bush abandoned his push to put loyalist Harriet Miers on the Supreme Court and promised a quick replacement Thursday. Democrats accused him of bowing to the “radical right wing of the Republican Party.”

The White House said Miers had withdrawn because of senators’ demands to see internal documents related to her role as counsel to the president. But politics played a larger role: Bush’s conservative backers had doubts about her ideological purity, and Democrats had little incentive to help the nominee or the embattled GOP president.

Roberts was a good choice but I didn't have any thoughts on Miers — word was that she was a very good lawyer but there was no real published record of her opinions on the Constitution.

The mask slips

Iran's new president dropped quite the bomb. The Scotsman has the story:

Iran president: Wipe Israel off map
Iran's ultra-conservative new president has broken his silence on Israel and declared the Jewish state was a “disgraceful blot” that should be “wiped off the map”.

With these words President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad set himself a foreign policy course sharply at odds with that of his moderate predecessor.

Harking back to language used by of the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel, the hard-line president also called Israel a “fabricated” entity.

His fiery words were certain to further heighten tensions over Iran's disputed nuclear programme.

Ahmadinejad also took a slap at some of Iran's Arab neighbours in the Persian Gulf as they seek to break new ground in their relations with Israel.

“Anybody who recognises Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury; any (Islamic leader) who recognises the Zionist regime is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world,” state-run television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

The president was apparently addressing thousands of students during a Tehran conference called The World without Zionism.

“fabricated” entity indeed — “Palestine” has less credibility as a state than Israel. What is it with these people?

Eng-Tips Forums

Great collection of forums for various kinds of Engineering.

• Aeronautic Engineers
  
• Aerospace Engineers
  
• Agricultural Engineers
  
• Automotive Engineers
  
• Bioengineers
  
• Chemical Engineers
  
• Civil / Environmental Engineers
  
• Coastal Engineers
  
• Computer Engineers

Good stuff…

Happy blog-day to me!!!

At 1:14PM on October 27, 2003, I posted this entry:

Hello world!
says it all…

Posted by Dave Halliday at October 27, 2003 01:14 PM

It has been an interesting two years with over 4,000 posts, close to 32,000 visits and no sign of slowing down…

Tolerance

With the new milling machine, I have been exploring some of the internet sites dedicated to machining. One of these sites Industrial Hobbies has a good explanation of the various degrees of tolerance when machining. (How close to the actual design you are — 0.001” is one thousandth of an inch.)

Getting to a higher and higher degree of tolerance is something that comes with work, time, experience and patience.

Here is a brief intro and the examples for Tolerance:

In search of Tolerance
Tolerance is without a doubt one of the most misunderstood terms when people talk about CNC. To be exact tolerance has noting to do with CNC, the proper term is resolution (ability to return to a known location) when discussing CNC. But, tolerance is the work that folks like to use.

Maintaining tolerance is the ability to produce something within specifications, no more no less. In the hobby (and small business) arena this is a loaded question, because for the most part you the “designer”, the “machinist” and the “quality inspector”; the tolerance can be whatever you want +/- 1’ (one foot) +/- 0.000050 (50 millionth) or anywhere in between. It’s your call.

Reasonable Expectations

0.050 With a tolerance of 50 Thou’ you can produce most things that are used around the home and shop, some model projects but nothing too serious. Some of your friends will be amazed with your results, some will not. Basically, you threw the machine on the bench, threw down a few beers (not a good idea) and “fired it up”.

0.020 With a tolerance of 20 Thou’ you’ll be able to do some of the more difficult hobby stuff but still nothing too serious. You did everything as above but without the beers.

0.010 With a tolerance of 10 Thou’ you’ll be able to do most hobby stuff, except engines and extremely complex mechanical projects. You trammed (squared) the machine and played with the gibs (adjustment bolts). You think about machining more than once a week, and look for ways to improve your tolerance.

0.005 With a tolerance of 5 Thou’ you’ll be able to do some simple engines and fairly complex mechanical projects. From time to time you re-tram your machine. You realize that more expensive cutters will more than likely help and you think about popping for a “good” set of gauges. Your CNC code now includes a finish pass. Your friends are impressed.

0.001 With a tolerance of 1 Thou’ you’ll be able to do most model engines, except turbines. You can check the square-ness of you machine in less than 5 minutes and adjust as necessary in another 5. Your code now has “lead in’s and lead out’s” and you know whether you need to use a climb or conventional cut. You’ve lapped, scraped, or re-ground the ways of your machine and know when it doesn’t “feel right”

0.0005 With a tolerance of half Thou’ you’ll be able to complete any model in any book you find new or old. Your CNC code is poetry in motion and you are considering leaving your real job in order to be a machinist. When you read Home Shop Machinist, and say, “I can do it better”

0.0001 With a tolerance of Tenth’ you have left your day job and do this full time. You know what temperature you machine needs to be at to “hold tol” and you adjust your machine accordingly. You are considered a skilled craftsman. Your friends have no idea what you’re talking about anymore.

I love that last line…

And no, I have not trammed the mill yet (building up the workspace for it) but the old Southbend I have works reliably at one to five Thou' when I'm anal about it.

Wonderful optical illusion

Meet Mr. Angry and Mrs. Calm - the image here is reduced, click on the image to open the full-size version for the best effect.

Click for full-size Image

Now move back from your screen… Come closer… Move back…

It works if you print it out too — not a computer artifact.

Hat tip to BoingBoing for the link to this page.

Big Round Numbers

What is it that draws people to Big Round Numbers?
What makes 2,000 fundamentally different than 1970 or 2051?

For some reason, many people have been salivating at the prospect of a 2,000th American Service fatality in Iraq.

Cox and Forkum nail the sentiment exactly and they offer some interesting links:

Click for full-size Image

Charles Johnson at LGF is tracking the responses in his Grim Milestone series here, here, here, here, here, here and here with many more sure to follow in the next few days until something else catches the Lefts attention.

Great product ship notice

Bought a CD online a few days ago and just got this email from the company (CD Baby):

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Tuesday, October 25th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you once again,

Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby

Got to love a company that has fun doing business. This must be an awesome place to work. They have interesting merch and really decent prices. I will be checking here first before heading over to Amazon. (stopped shopping at big-box 'record stores' years ago)

Bringing out the dead

Interesting news from Medgaget on one way the dead are being identified in New Orleans:

Smith and Nephew Part Numbers used to ID NOLA Dead
As has been made abundantly clear, the poor suffered the most from Hurricane Katrina. One unfortunate side effect of that has been the difficulty in identifying their badly decomposed remains. As the Memphis Business Journal reports:

These are the bodies collected block-by-block as New Orleans was drained of flood waters. FBI forensic specialists were able to identify some victims through fingerprints, but most bodies were too deteriorated. It's when they moved on to using dental records that they stumbled on a cultural reality: most of the flood victims were poor, and poor people don't normally go to the dentist; but sometimes they do wind up in a trauma center and leave with a piece of steel or titanium inside.

When medical examiners began removing these implants they noticed an abundance of Smith & Nephew's starburst logos and set upon a new way of identifying the dead.

“We're helping the medical examiners identify bodies using the part number and batch number etched onto each implant,” says Carolyn Shelton, manager of Regulatory Compliance at Smith & Nephew.

Smith and Nephew's website is here.

Light posting today

I posted earlier (here and here) about a new toy coming to our household. This:

I picked it up today and in a three-hour channeling of Newton and Archimedes managed to get it off the trailer, into the shop and off its pallet. 960 pounds so I took things nice and slow.

Cleaned it up (it was covered in grease to prevent rust) and ran a test doing a 1/2” slot into some 1” black iron pipe. As smooth as you could ever wish for.

I grew up around machine tools (my Dad was a physicist and I would come in with him on Saturdays — he would work and I would play in the student shop) but I wound up doing more and more woodworking and outfitting a fairly decent wood-shop.

Lately though, I have been finding that wood doesn't inspire me much as a medium (I sill work with it though and am planning several projects over the winter). Metal on the other hand is opening up all sorts of possibilities and I really like working it. Blacksmithing, welding and now the milling machine. (I already have a nice 6” South Bend lathe with lots of goodies).

A Bad Day

Whoops! Updated — see below… (dang!)

OMG! Take a look at these photos for the definition of “A Bad Day”

The setting is Galway Harbour. Walsh's Recovery Service is the first vehicle sent out. And then Michael Long Truck & Crane Hire is dispatched with their Palfinger Crane.

Here are some thumbnails — full images are available at the link above:

Reminds me of a series of Tugboat—Bridge photos that I'll post tomorrow.
(thought they were already up)

UPDATE: 10-25-2005
Some kind readers were good enough to point out the similarities between the fifth picture and the last one. A link to Snopes on the topic was also included in one comment.

Sorry about that!

R.I.P. -- Rosa Parks

One of the good ones.

From the NY Times:

Rosa Parks, 92, Founding Symbol of Civil Rights Movement, Dies
Rosa Parks, a black seamstress whose refusal to relinquish her seat to a white man on a city bus in Montgomery, Ala., almost 50 years ago grew into a mythic event that helped tou