Souter to Retire

Supreme Court Justice Souter To Retire : NPR

Souter is going to retire, Ginsburg's health is tenuous, and Stevens is 89 years old. I'm not sure who is going to be nominated for the seat opening up and those which might soon be vacant, but it sure helps that Obama now has 60 democrats in the senate and control of the house. Hopefully when the confirmation process starts the republicans won't make themselves look like the fools that the democrats did with the last go-around.

Visit to a Wind Farm

On a recent day trip to Manitowoc, Wisconsin I decided to take a closer look at something I had noticed before. Near Fond du Lac, Wisconsin I had seen a wind farm from afar and I had been wanting a closer look. I just drove my car down an access road and parked directly under the spinning blades, mostly to irritate my long-suffering wife who had to look up at the spinning blades of kinetic death through the moon roof. The Blue Sky Green Field Wind Energy Center is an 88-tower complex rated at about 145 MW in generation capacity and covers a very large area.
It was a somewhat windy day and the blades were energetically spinning away, silent as could be. Truthfully I liked their looks; gleaming white towers topped by impressively-large rotors and a generator each. While others, Ted Kennedy et al, don't care for wind farms messing up their yachting and concurrent scenery I don't think I'd mind living near a wind farm. At almost 400 feet from the ground to the tip of the highest blade the turbines are definitely a noticeable element of the man made terrain yet oddly not so obnoxious. Perhaps I just have an unusual aesthetic.
My daughter had a wonderful time running around the base of the tower, pulling on the (locked) door hoping to climb up, and posing for pictures looking for all the world like someone who had the world's largest beanie cap.

Never Waste A Crisis

Or so says Rahm Emanuel. "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste" is the actual quote. I'm glad that the politics of fear have been replaced by those of hope. I wonder what other kind of Hopey-Changey crap is about to be shoved down my throat now.

Minneapolis/St. Paul - City Pages - The Blotter - Bachmann: 'Interesting coincidence' that Dems in power during swine flu outbreak

Yeah, because god hates us when too many vote for the democrat currently in vogue. Perhaps its part of a nefarious plot hatched by the joooos or Trilaterals or even the Skull and Bones crowd.
I despair for conservatism.

White House Apologizes for Air Force Flyover - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

Its great, having a president who believes in a green and sustainable future. Nothing says conservation like taking a 747 from its hangar (wherever that might be) and flying it to NYC to take some pictures. I'm told by WikiAnswers that a 747 consumes about 11 tons of fuel per hour. What a great way to wrap up Earth Day weekend. I'm sure that jet fuel is cheap, too. What was the date, Sept 10th, 2000?

Birthday Coming

My birthday is coming in a few months, so this should serve as adequate notice to save up some pennies and get me one of these. I'll even let you ride along. That is of course, an MD520N if you must know. Think of it as part of a broader stimulus package it that helps.
http://www.mdhelicopters.com/v2/images/product_md_520n_main.jpg

Two killed in Michigan college shooting - CNN.com

Two killed in Michigan college shooting - CNN.com

Allow me to correct this reporter: "One killed in Michigan college shooting." This sad individual killed his (presumed) girlfriend/wife or ex-version of the same then committed suicide. He was not "...killed," rather he killed himself.
Oddly enough, 1/2 of all deaths attributed to guns in this nation are suicides. Research has shown that while the suicidal seem to like using guns they will use what they must to kill themselves. That is, removing guns from the metaphorical reach of the suicidal won't prevent their death just the proximal cause. Put another way, 1/2 of all gun deaths are essentially unavoidable deaths in the sense that the determined suicidal person is somewhat locked into their doom.
Without arguing the merits of various gun-grabbing philosophies, dishonesty doesn't help the cause. Reporters should also learn to be a bit more precise in their language lest they appear both incompetent or ideologically-driven in their work.

Chinese Bias for Baby Boys Creates a Gap of 32 Million - NYTimes.com

Chinese Bias for Baby Boys Creates a Gap of 32 Million - NYTimes.com

I wonder what sociological issues this imbalance will exacerbate in China. While 32 million more boys than girls doesn't seem like much in a population of more than one billion, when those boys and girls all reach puberty together the imbalance will be magnified and the results will be manifest. At the very least it will mean Chinese women coming of marriageable age can be much more choosy. I'm not sure, based on the article, but I'd imagine that the problem is worse in China's rural provinces and the results will be less visible outside their borders. Regardless, too many young men in a population never seems to work out well.

Capitalism v. Socialism

What this report tells me is that few Americans seem to know the difference between the two. A telling passage from the article:

The question posed by Rasmussen Reports did not define either capitalism or socialism. It is interesting to compare the new results to an earlier survey in which 70% of Americans prefer a free-market economy. The fact that a "free-market economy” attracts substantially more support than “capitalism” may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today
relies on free markets.

This suggests that while Americans support what capitalism is, they don't support the term for it.

BLACKFIVE: US Merchant Ship Captured By Somali Pirates?

BLACKFIVE: US Merchant Ship Captured By Somali Pirates?:


"President Obama will enclose a stern message with the Pirates of the Caribbean DVD box set he sends the pirates."

From the comments over at BLACKFIVE discussing the US-flagged container ship seized by pirates, then un-seized by its crew. The commenter was replying to another who was speculating what Pres. Obama's reaction to this attack was going to be. American-flagged vessels are considered to be American territory and their attack would seem to require decisive response by our leadership. Lets hope that the area code on the DVD set allows the Somali pirates to watch the movies on the DVD players they have already stolen.

Another GB Packers Pre-Draft Off-Season Yawns To Conclusion

The GBP, at least under Ted Thompson, have been about as exciting as narcolepsy when it comes to signing big-name free agents. Not even the pretense of seeking after talented but available football players. I suppose though that after last year's fiasco maybe the sounds of crickets chirping isn't so bad . . . but 6-10 leaves a nasty taste in the mouth that just doesn't want to go away. Maybe draft day will be exciting, maybe Thompson will make a deal for Tony Gonzales (just a suggestion). Maybe I'll have to learn to live with Chicago Bears fans sardonic glee again.
Lets hope for the best, as I define it.

Obama/Gates plan to Change the US Military Takes its First Steps

Gates Budget Plan Reshapes Pentagon’s Priorities - NYTimes.com

This really represents a continuation of some of Donald Rumsfeld's policies. In recent years several other largish military systems have been canceled when their outlandish costs have exceeded their likely modest benefits. The XM-2001 Crusader self-propelled howitzer (11 billion $) was cancelled in 2002, the RAH-66 Comanche (~24 billion $) was cancelled in 2004, and the DDG-1000 Zumwalt (6 billion per ship x 30+ ships) appears to be dead in the water as well.
The writing appeared to be on the wall for the FCS years ago and Gates' budget plan seems to formalize what most of us (who care to know about such things) already knew. FCS was a bloated program which would have given the US Army under-armored combat vehicles which were over-reliant upon not-yet invented technology at a seriously high cost without adding capabilities to offset the negatives.
If nothing else, the Iran/Iraq adventures have shown what military weapons systems work well in combat and which don't. That is, in a war against an enemy with vastly inferior firepower, horrible training, nonexistent air power, and poor logistical support. How American doctrine and equipment would fare against Chinese, Russian, or North Korean forces is another question entirely that I can't answer conclusively.
Hopefully what this means is that DOD procurement procedures will become somewhat more rooted in the reality-based world the rest of us live in.