Musings of a Technonerd

Yep! It's time for another dose of musings and ruminations from yours truly, so let's get started!


Have you ever seen those commercials on late night TV for tax lawyers? You know, the ones that show people saying "I owed the IRS sixty gazillion dollars, but thanks to Ronnie, I only paid thirty two cents!!!" Well, have you ever thought that it's deadbeats like this who are costing YOU money, as the gummint raises taxes again to make up for losses like this??? PAY YOUR TAX BILLS you effing moe-rons!!!

The average age of a US car is now 9.4 years, according to a study conducted by R.L. Polk & Co., an automotive industry consulting firm. My own car, as noted in a previous post, is now past 200,000 miles and counting. That's amazing, when you consider that cars from the 40's and 50's didn't usually get past 100,000 miles about 70% of the time. Even though people seem to be hanging onto their cars longer, I gotta think that when the economy gets better, a lot of these older cars are going to be replaced by owners who would like something newer and fresher. That'll be fine with me. I've never bought a car brand new, and never will. I buy them when they have about 20k on them. This means I'm not taking the two to five thousand dollar depreciation hit new car buyers take after they sign on the dotted line. I still get as many miles out of the used ones as many do with new ones.

If Carribou Bambi didn't want herself on the cover of Newsweek in shorts, then why the hell did the stupid woman pose for that photo in the first place??? Sheesh. And this truth-challenged air head thinks she's competent enough to be your president.

I see Oprah Winfrey is shutting her show down, after a 25 year run. You may not like her politics or style, but you have to admire her for the empire she built. She started from nothing, and ended up being one of the world's richest women. And after all, isn't that the American dream??

And last, a sad story from up here. Last Friday, a newly minted pilot took off from Airlake Airport in Farmington Minnesota. He left around five pm, heading for a weekend of hunting with family and friends in far northwestern Minnesota. He never made it. They found the wreckage of his plane Wednesday evening, and recovered the body the next day. The thing that caught my attention is the fact he left so late in the day. It's my opinion, based on the ticket, (Instrument rated or night. From what I've read, he was VFR rated only.) it's not a good idea for freshly minted pilots to be making cross country flights at night. At night, it's a whole different environment when it comes to flying. Flying around the city is easy enough because of the sea of lights surrounding you. That gives you a visual reference to maintain your planes orientation. To be sure, flying VFR rules at night is legal. But, as I discovered from my own flying experiences, when you're flying over rural areas at night, you are, for all intents and purposes, on instruments due to the near complete lack of visual ground references. It wouldn't surprise me that when the NTSB comes back with the final report, they'll find he was in a descending turn, and impacted the ground at speed. Pretty sad. From all accounts, the newly-wed man was a decent guy. May he rest in peace.


“Death is a part of all our lives. Whether we like it or not, it is bound to happen. Instead of avoiding thinking about it, it is better to understand its meaning. We all have the same body, the same human flesh, and therefore we will all die. There is a big difference, of course, between natural death and accidental death, but basically death will come sooner or later. If from the beginning your attitude is 'Yes, death is part of our lives,' then it may be easier to face.”

Dalai Lama

Toby came to live with us in October of 2003. He's the puppy you see in my avatar. He's 80lbs of pure love, affection, and loyalty.

I'd never owned a dog before. I'd always owned cats all my life. So this was a new experience for me. We got him from my Son's girl friend. She'd move into living arrangements that didn't accommodate owning a dog. She was kind of desperate to find him a home, and older dogs (He was 10 at the time.) aren't as adoptable as cute puppies. One day my sons, treading lightly, asked if I'd ever consider adopting a dog. This came out of left field. They told me about Toby, and asked if I'd at least considering meeting him. I told them I'd consider it, but reminded them I wasn't much of a "dog person." I'd always considered them kind of dumb, and maintenance intensive. The girlfrend brought him around that weekend. They suggested that perhaps I could take him for a walk and see what I thought. He seemed nice enough, but I was still doubtful. But, eh, "what the hell!" I thought.

When I returned from the walk, they were all sitting on the front steps of the house with looks of doubt, yet hope on their faces. I walked up to the GF and said "You DO realize you're not gonna get him back, right???"

The rest, as they say, is history. He's proven to be a wonderful companion. He always seems to know when I'm in a crappy mood, and has the ability to bring a smile to my face.




That picture in the avatar (Shown larger above.) was taken about ten months after we got him. He's about 16-1/2 now. Really old for a full sized dog. Various calculators put him between 90-95 years, based on his size and breed. (Mixed, black lab and husky) He's doing pretty well, considering. He's just about completely deaf. You really have to holler to get him to hear you, so I've learned to use body language and hand signals to get him to do what I need him to do. If he's excited and distracted by something, the trick is to get his attention first. He's not quite as agile as he used to be. His rear legs aren't quite a strong as they used to be. But he's still basically healthy and alert.

He never was much for playing. He doesn't "fetch" retrieve sticks, play with balls, toys, or anything like that at all. I think he believes that's all "beneath" him. In fact, I think he believes he's a human. He just doesn't have any pockets for his wallet.

Some things he is good at:

Begging for food in the kitchen:


He's pretty good at that alright. He's learned that whenever I'm cooking, he needs to hang around to snap up anything that might fall off of the counter. You've got to be pretty quick to beat him to something that falls. He will eat anything. I mean that. Meat, of course. But also vegetables, including lettuce, carrots, and even onions. And bread. He LOVES bread. He will do ANYTHING for bread. Get a piece of bread out, and he's yours. You own him. It is the one time he will consent to do "tricks." Once you're out of bread, it's over. Since he's good at eating, it would follow he's good at.....

Shitting:

I'll spare your the pictures of that. You get the gist. And, especially lately..........

Napping:

He's been getting better at this the last couple of years. Notice the carefully arranged papers he's laying on. We didn't do that for him. His usual habit is the shuffle around in a circle several times, before flopping down and arranging himself to his liking. After a minute or so, this all is followed up with a contented sigh. We feed him Iams "Active Maturity." I checked to see if they offered "Inert Old Fart." No luck.



We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us.

Maurice_Maeterlinck

A little under a month ago, I managed to get some pictures of the odometer of my car as it was rolling over to 200,000 miles.


Here's one just as it turned to 199,999.




Here, it's just rolled over to 200,000 miles.


Now, the younger people amongst you might thing "So what??"

Modern cars are pretty impressive. At least they are if you're as old as I am. I'm here to tell you that people used to throw parties when their cars made it to 100,000 miles. Now, that's just getting broken in.

In my case, I bought the car in 2003, with 28,000 miles on it. It was a lease return. Since then, it's been rock solid reliable. Other than the usual tires, brakes, spark plugs, etc, the only maintenance I've have to do is replace the serpentine belt idler pulley. It still has the original exhaust system.

The car is not a Toyota, or Nissan, or Mazda. Nope, it's a 2001 Buick Regal.

Now, it's true that in the past, Detroit built some truly gawd awful cars, while the Japanese auto makers were handing them their butts. The bean counters that were in charge at the time figured Americans would keep on buying their crap no matter what. They were wrong. In the process, Detroit pissed a log of people off. Many I know will never set foot in a Detroit showroom again, and I guess I can't blame them. But, don't tell me that Detroit still builds junk. If you do, I'll look you in the eye and tell you flat out you don't know what the hell you're talking about.


"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ..."
Isaac Asimov

Well, my goodness.

My last post was almost a year ago.

Didn't mean to do that but I've been treading water, trying to keep my head above the surface since.

I've been laid off, and rehired several times by the same company that's been pretty skittish when it comes to workforce levels.

I've got more to say, but in the mean time, don't eat this guy's chili, as you'll be sorely dissappointed.


"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ..."
Isaac Asimov

The day after the election, Norm Coleman, with an approx 700 vote lead in the tally, went in front of the cameras to confidently claim victory. He also suggested that Al Franken forgo a recount, saving taxpayers about $90,000. He said that a recount "wouldn't change things much," and that Franken "would do the public a big favor by conceding defeat and would allow me to get back to Washington to concentrate on the people's work."

I expected nothing less from this snake oil salesman, the quintessential carpet bagger. After all, I lived in St. Paul while he was "hizzoner the mayor" and learned first hand what a slight of hand artiste he was.

Al Franken, for his part, said that he thinks a recount is a mighty fine idea, thank you. He also said that when it's completed, if Coleman's still the victor, he'll be the first to offer his congratulations.

BUT WAIT!!!!! THERE'S MORE!!!!!!

Since Coleman's optimistic press conference yesterday, that 700 vote lead that he claimed "wouldn't change much after a recount" has since, after corrections in vote total reporting by outstate counties, dropped to a bit above 230 at last count. When you're talking a vote total that statewide, adds up to millions, this race is a dead heat.

Concede defeat indeed. What a colossal load of self serving bullshit.

After spending Tuesday eve and most of Wed claiming victory and saying that Franken is "just wasting the taxpayer's time and money by not giving up......" Coleman has become mysteriously circumspect and hard to reach.

Methinks many lawyers are going to make a LOT of money off of this situation before all is said and done..........

I think we'll not know how this all shakes out until next Jan, inauguration day.

Then before you know it, it'll be winter.

Been a while since I've posted anything. A LONG while. It's been a busy sommer. Dealing with lots of family issues, and job issues.

After five years, the economy finally caught up with me and I got my walking papers at my last job. Can't complain. It lasted three years longer than I thought it would, and it was a good gig. Found work again pretty quickly, quicker than usual given the miserable economic conditions shrub's put us under. But the pay is good. The only drawback is that it's second shift. And I have to drive 60 miles to get to the job. (OK, TWO things.) Could be worse. Unlike this guy, I still make great chili.

Fall is rapidly approaching up here on the tundra. You can see some of the sumac type trees and bushes starting to get that distinctive red color on the side of the road, and the night time temps have been getting down to the upper thirties lower forties depending on the cloud cover. Last Sunday, I was at my sis-in-law's farm, and was doing the grilling. There was a cold front moving through, finally advancing through after being stalled out by the mega-storm formally known as Ike. I could actually see my breath.

Monday, I drove my son to his college dorm, which is located in Wisconsin, on my way to my new job. It was a wonderful day, bright and sunny. The drive is really nice. It's along two lane roads and very scenic. There are wonderful farms along the way. A couple of roadside vegetable stands too. And in a throwback to the olden days, there was nobody tending them. The veggies were arranged on the table, with the prices displayed. You picked what you wanted, and left the money in a metal box, and took change if you needed it. That kind of honesty is hard to find anymore. This road is not heavily traveled, and is used primarily by the locals, so I figure people are behaving themselves, or the seller simply wouldn't do that any more. It was a refreshing experience.


"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ..."
Isaac Asimov

Today is the 81st anniversary of the legendary flight of the Spirit Of St Louis.

Being the aviation nut that I am, I'd be remiss if I didn't say SOMETHING about it.

Over the course of 33 hours and 30 minutes, Charles Lindbergh piloted the Spirit Of St Louis, a Ryan type NYP monoplane from Roosevelt Field on Long Island N.Y. across the Atlantic, landing at Le Bourget Aerodrome, Paris France at 10:22pm French time to claim the Orteig Prize.

It wasn't the first time that the Atlantic had been crossed by air. But earlier flights utilized intermediate stops, or floatplanes, or lighter than air ships. Several people lost their lives in failed attempts. This was the first time someone managed a non-stop flight from mainland to mainland in a heavier-than-air craft.

Because he'd been reported over land, and the locals knew he was coming, Lindberg arrived to a hero's welcome. In fact, during the hubbub, people started tearing fabric from the fuselage for souvenirs, and there was a real danger that the crowd would tear apart the plane, forcing the French police on hand to move the plane to a secure hanger.

Lindbergh's life had changed forever. Always something of a shy, private person, he found himself thrust onto the world's stage. He went on to live an active life, serving as an aviation consultant, inventing an artificial heart, and becoming something of a lightning rod when advocating non-involvement in what was still a European war. He maintained that stance until the attack on Pearl Harbor. After that, he threw himself into the war effort wholeheartedly, advising the various air arms on such things as long distance flying, and fuel conservation through advanced cruise control techniques. It was through his efforts that American fighter pilots finally began to take advantage of the P38 Lightning's abilities. He flew 50 missions, scoring one kill in the process.

After the war, he withdrew from all public life until the 1960's when he began to publicly campaign for conservation causes. He passed away from cancer at his home on Maui, Ha, in 1974.


"The life of an aviator seemed to me ideal. It involved skill. It brought adventure. It made use of the latest developments of science. Mechanical engineers were fettered to factories and drafting boards while pilots have the freedom of wind with the expanse of sky. There were times in an aeroplane when it seemed I had escaped mortality to look down on earth like a God."
– Charles A. Lindbergh, 1927

The dust has settled a bit. People who didn't see this coming (In other words, were comatose.) are recovering from the shock of the announcement. The local Daily Blab is starting to run other types of news stories again. I'm referring, of course, to the news of the Northworst+Delta merger.

Some thoughts.......

They're calling this a merger, but in reality it's Delta buying Northworst to get the expanded Asian routes along with the associated hubs (Detroit, NOT Cleveland.) they've been coveting. It just so happens the planes and employees come with the deal. Not that Delta really WANTS them, as we will see in the coming months. I'll guarantee you that the majority of the employees of the merged entity who will be saying bye bye will be former NWA'ers. This will include FA's, pilots, ground workers, and executives. (The execs will get golden parachutes. Everyone else will probably get a kick in the butt while headed out the door.) Here's some reasons why. The whole purpose behind a merger like this of course is to save money. It's the primary reasons Wall Street has been pushing for this move. And how do you save money? Get rid of redundant departments, along with the redundant employees who work in them, that's how. The majority of NWA employees are unionized. The majority of Delta employees aren't. That makes for ugly employee relations. Once again, the best solution for the new Delta is for older NWA employees to go bye bye.

There's been a steady parade of Minnysoder pols on the TV, beating their chests like puffed up gorillas, swearing they're going to hold NWA's feet to the fire and preserve jobs and the hub. The state legislatures are even discussing a special session to "do what they can to protect state interests" in this deal. All of this is nothing more than a show for the good citizens of this "flyover" state, because reality says once this deal gets Justice Dept approval, there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it. Nothing.

Well, I'll take that back. There is ONE thing. Some years ago, the state legislature bailed the then faltering NWA by "loaning" it millions of dollars to get through a rocky post 9/11 period. This was in exchange for a promise to keep the HQ's here, and maintain the hub. We'll deal with the hub status in a minute. As far at the HQ goes, the terms of the deal means that when the HQ goes to Atlanta, the airline will need to immediately come up with approx 245 million Georges to pay back the state. In all of the copy about this merger generated by the local Daily Blab, I read where the combined worth of the two airlines will result in approx 7 billion in cash reserves. I think they should be able to cough up the 245 mil it will take to make the Metropolitan Airports Commission go away. Even if they don't they'll be able to hold any jobs still left here hostage, so they'll probably be able to talk MAC into bending over and grabbing the ankles.

The executives of both companies have been adamant that the MSP airport will remain a key hub in the new system. But, once the deal gets past the Dept Of Justice, and the ink is on the contracts and paperwork, you can expect that almost all of the Asian hub flights that now originate from this fair burgh will immediately be moved to the brand new shiny Detroit terminal recently completed. Why would they do that, you ask? Well, it's not like the Dakotas, Iowa, and all of the departed Fortune 500 companies (Honeywell, Wells Fargo, St Paul/Travelers, Daytons/Marshall Fields/Macy's to name a few former company HQs.) are a huge source of world travelers. Let's see, Detroit has a spanking new terminal building plus a LOT of international businesses including General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler Corp., and Volkswagen of America. Other national and international corporations headquartered there include Kmart (which merged with Chicago-based Sears & Roebuck in 2004), Compuware, The Budd Company, American National Resources, and Federal Mogul. Airlines make a huge percentage of their profit from upper class business travel. Vacationing coach fliers using discounted tickets are considered cargo that happens to be alive. Almost all of the companies I named above are in the process of setting up activities in China and Asia. (Soon to be the 1,000lb gorilla on the world's economic block, in case anyone hadn't noticed.) You tell ME what the natural decision will be. It's a no brainer folks. Once the deal in finalized, we'll have a cadre of grim faced Delta executives, plane to Atlanta idling on the tarmac in the back ground, telling us that "economic conditions have changed and have forced us to make this difficult decision to radically downsize this hub." You heard it here first, folks.

The pilots of the two airlines had been in negotiations for over two months to come up with a common contract they could both live with. According to most accounts, they'd agreed on almost everything except the seniority lists. That list has proven to be the major stumbling block. Why is that? The seniority list is critically important to an airline pilot's career. It determines what aircraft the pilots fly, when they fly it, and which seat they'll sit in. (The left seat pays a LOT more than the right seat.) It determines what their pay will be, when they can take vacations, and which routes they fly. The international routes using the big heavies (B747s, B777s, A330's) are the most desired and lucrative. The problem here is that Delta bought out their more senior pilots a few years ago, so their pilots tend to be younger in age, while NWA has older senior pilots in it's workforce. Both sides want to maintain their seniority, for the reasons I list above. The problem is that the younger Delta pilots, who replaced the buyouts don't want to relinquish their new senior status. The older NWA pilots refuse to play second fiddle to the young pups from Delta. Another factor is that while NWA still has their pension plan in place, Delta jettisoned theirs while in bankruptcy, and if the Delta pilots want to get a decent pension, they'll need to keep flying until they're 65. (New recent rule by the FAA extended the mandatory retirement age to 65.) Most of the NWA pilots will need to retire at 60, per the rules of their pension plan. All of this will create a huge "bubble" of older NWA pilots stuck in the middle of a combined list, waiting in vain for younger yet more senior Delta pilots to go away, if the Delta pilots have their way. And they may very well GET their way. At the eleventh hour, the Delta pilots, seeing the handwriting on the wall, came to a last minute agreement with Delta, bypassing the NWA pilots. The NWA pilots are pretty upset about how all of this came down. They've been left twisting in the wind for the most part, upset with both NWA and Delta. I've a feeling once combined, the new Delta will engage in another round of pilot buyouts to get rid of the malcontents. It's the pilots own fault in many ways. Both of the union branches had ample time to get something done, and ended up in a staring contest. The Delta pilots said "screw this" and made their own deal. The NWA pilots are still sitting and staring. At themselves.

Don't hold your breath for better service. They don't call it Northworst for nothing. And Delta's reputation isn't exactly sterling either. Both airlines just went through cutting about 10% of their domestic routes. (They've both ADDED more profitable international routes.) There are more plans in the works to cut more domestic routes. In hubs they completely control expect flight frequencies to diminish Fares will rise to "take it or leave it" levels. Expect to pay more for things you used to get free. I wouldn't be surprised to see things like "cabin cleaning" fees, as they search for more ways to get more out of your wallet.

And the average traveler will put up with all of this. Why? Because the American traveler values cheap tickets above all else. And you get what you pay for.

You fucking academic eggheads! You don't know shit. You can't deregulate this industry. You're going to wreck it. You don't know a goddamn thing!

— Robert L. Crandall, CEO American Airlines, addressing a Senate lawyer prior to airline deregulation, 1977.

# posted by hariseldon67 @ 2:17 PM 2 comments

We've been using flourescent lights for year and years. The very FIRST patent was U.S. patent 889,692 for the first mercury vapor lamp in 1901. The first experimental fluorescent lamp patent was #2,182,732 issued in 1927 to Edmund Germer. A team of GE scientists designed the first practical commercial fluorescent lamp. (Patent #2,259,040) (GE had earlier bought the rights to Germer's patent # 2,182,732.), They went on the market in 1938. That means the traditional fluorescent tube lamp has been available for exactly seventy years.

I remember one day at school, my brother and I found they had dumped a bunch of burned out tubes in the back dumpster and we had an absolute ball smashing them things to smithereens with rocks. I remember a big cloud of white powder rising from the debris.

Later on, in the high school gym locker room, I remember a coulple of the guys started throwing shoes back and forth over the lockers at each other. One of the shoes hit the fluorescent tubes above this guy who was in the middle. Three of them were shattered, and Tony sat there in the middle of this field of glass and white powder. The coach came out, and told him to sit still as he went to get a broom and sweep up the mess. Coach was primarily worried about the glass shards in his hair. No one thought about what might be in the powder. Hell, if that happened today, they'd call out a hazmat team to clean the mess up, and send Tony to the hospital for decontamination, and then Tony would head straight to the nearest shark to file a lawsuit.

My point in all this is that, up until about 25 years ago, no one thought twice about just pitching these damn things. So if people are going to argue that these new bulbs are no good because they contain a trace amount of mercury, well, sorry people. The horse is out of the barn, past the corral, through the pasture, and plum clean over the horizon and into the next county. We gotta start using less energy sometime. We have to begin somewhere. This nation is drunk on lighting and the associated electricity use. We might as well start now. It's easy enough for most people if we're not lazy about it.


"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny ..."
Isaac Asimov