One thing I've always been annoyed by is the tendency for liberals who are rich to promote policies that are completely contradictory with their lifestyles. While I understand that everyone has failings and elements of hypocrisy, if you believe that excessive consumption is harming the environment, you should reduce your excessive consumption. The lifestyle of a Hollywood star is not compatible with being an economic liberal or critic of conspicuous consumption, but no one seems to notice.
John Nolte's article hits the nail on the head:Thursday, August 8, 2013
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
The Liberal Vision
Thomas Sowell of the Hoover Institution always comes up with trenchant observations, and this article in National Review Online was no exception. One point in particular resonated with me:
I suspect that even most conservatives would prefer to live in the kind of world conjured up in the liberals’ imagination rather than in the kind of world we are in fact stuck with.
Who wouldn't want to live in such a place? Problems can be solved with the application of money, the economy can be safely managed by experts, and evil is a sickness that can be eliminated with therapy. It's a veritable heaven compared to the real world. It's also similar to the world I remember imagining as a child. Unfortunately, it has almost no relation to the real world.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
The Raw Deal
Much of life is based on compromises and balancing acts. In the safety industry, we balance the gain life expectancy and reduced incidence of health problems associated with eliminating a problem chemical with the negative effects of eliminating a chemical. It is the same in national security. There is a tradeoff between allowing our national security professionals access to communications without tipping our hand to terrorists, and keeping the government out of our private life. Ever since 9-11 changed how I look at terrorism, I have leaned toward national security. I have no interest in surrendering to Islamic Supremacists, and I am willing to let the military and spies fight the war to win it.
What if the government isn't interested in fighting the war? What if the administration likes the powers that were granted to achieve victory, but views Islamic Supremacism as a distraction from its agenda? I had been planning to make this argument here, but David French got it precisely with his most recent columns. Intelligence assets and military might are only useful as long as the leadership has the will to use them:
Those of us in the “national-security Right” (to borrow Mr. McCarthy’s excellent phrase) seek a national defense that is both constitutional and effective, but a defense establishment that lacks the strength of will to act even on the best of intelligence will be utterly ineffective no matter the metadata.Read the whole thing.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane!
I've mentioned Derek Lowe's amazing writing on obnoxious chemicals before, and his articles have continued while my humble blog was on hiatus.
Take this gem, for instance. I'm not going to bother excerpting this one - read it all. The whole category of things I won't work with is worth a read.
As hilarious as these articles are, he also takes aim more serious subjects, such as a recent post demolishing a Buzzfeed posting on 8 toxic foods. I've run across that kind of crazy before, and some of the claims are so ridiculous that they boggle the mind. For example, claiming bromine being present in a compound somehow gives it the unpleasant properties of the pure element is silly. Next they will be calling table salt (Sodium Chloride) a toxic chemical weapon (Chlorine) that explodes on contact with water (Sodium), or worrying about how water is flammable and explosive, because the H in H2O is Hydrogen. I should keep this around in case I ever teach chemistry again - listening in chemistry class will prevent you being taken in by people like the Buzzfeed author.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Justice for All (including Trayvon Martin)
I've been following the story of the tragic death of Trayvon Martin for over a year on Stately McDaniel Manor. Mike McDaniel has been quite diligent in covering the case. Lawyers William Jacobson and Andrew Branca presented live coverage of the trial with legal analysis. While they take a pro-defense slant, they present factual arguments for their case. I followed this case in more detail than I have any other trial, because I have a teenage nephew who is multiracial and identifies as black, and I am interested in issues of self-defense. My heart goes out to the victim's family - I can only imagine the pain they feel. If George Zimmerman had committed murder or in any way acted unlawfully, he should have been punished.
With that in mind, I found myself growing more convinced that George Zimmerman acted fully within the bounds of the law, and was in fact a decent guy facing a nightmare situation. I would feel safer with George Zimmerman meeting my nephew in a dark alley than a randomly selected American. This is based on the evidence I have read, not on a pre-conceived notion. I first thought Zimmerman was a cocky guy with a twitchy trigger finger, but I changed my mind. Read on to see why.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Brett Kimberlin's Lawfare
Brett Kimberlin, convicted terrorist bomber, pathological liar, and all-around psychopath, has decided that the First amendment does not apply to people who talk about him. He has relentlessly sued the excellent blogger Aaron Walker (blogs under Aaron Worthing) and even attempted to frame him for a crime. This all started because he gave minor free legal help to another Kimberlin critic.
Aaron wasn't the only one targeted. For trying to document the funding sources of Kimberlin's non-profit organizations, R. S. McCain was forced to flee to an undisclosed location. Other bloggers like Patterico and Liberty Chick have also been attacked.
This type of legal harassment is outright evil. This isn't about right and left, this is about right and wrong, as a commenter said. Anyone concerned about free speech and the rule of law should stand up against this assault. Thus, I have dusted off my old blog to provide a list of supporters and to show my support.
Breibart News has more disturbing details on Brett's ties to large left wing foundations.
Supporters below.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Inside Georgia
Michael Totten is an amazing individual. He comes off as almost a daredevil reporter, going to the hot spots of the world and bringing back the story. In this case, he happened to be nearby Georgia in Azerbaijan, and he headed into the conflict. What he found was shocking.
The conflict has been going on a lot longer than people have thought. The war actually began August 6th, and had less to do with controlling the region and more to do with stopping the Russian advance. This has brought his website under cyber-attack, so be patient if you can't get in right away.
Monday, August 11, 2008
I'm with Georgia
To stand with Vladimir Putin or with the people who just finished helping us in Iraq - not a tough choice. I hope we back the Russians down and get them to hold to their borders. Our F-22s need some target practice, and our allies need a hand. Frankly, he US has a lot to gain from knocking Putin around.
Wretchard is providing excellent strategic analysis at the Belmont Club. He's following the Georgian strategy.
Interestingly, Georgia and other Caucasus republics are a common setting for conflicts in techno-thrillers and video games. The Tom Clancy stealth game Splinter Cell was actually set in Georgia. The reason is a tinderbox akin to the Balkans, and adventurer/journalist Michael Totten is headed there. He just returned from the Balkans, with stories of the most European Muslim country in existence.
Friday, August 1, 2008
A Pro-Nuclear Argument...
...that I hadn't heard before. Something rather rare, to be honest, as I follow the issues quite avidly.
The idea is more efficient use of energy will reduce energy use. Unfortunately, it doesn't work out that way:
And when it comes to arguing the merits of energy efficiency, Lovins’s prime nemesis is a dead guy – William Stanley Jevons – a British economist who in 1865 determined that increased efficiency won’t cut energy use, it will raise it. “It is wholly a confusion of ideas to suppose that the economical use of fuels is equivalent to a diminished consumption. The very contrary is the truth.” And in the 142 years since Jevons put forth that thesis, now commonly known as the Jevons Paradox, he’s yet to be proven wrong.
It makes sense, once you think about it. More discussion of the concept is here at the Nuclear Notes blog. "Negawatts", for all their usefulness, do not yield megawatts. Now conservation, that is a different story. The comment thread discusses the difference between conservation and increased efficiency. I consider the best way to illustrate the distinction to be the resulting effect.
Increased efficiency means you use less energy for the same effect. This is the result of improved systems in the product. Conservation is where less energy is used for a lesser effect. This is the result of changing consumption behaviors. Think of lighting: installing compact fluorescent bulbs increases energy efficiency, while leaving the lights off conserves energy. Conservation can reduce energy usage, but to actually take it to the point of useful reductions, it would need to reduce individual and collective standards of living, That is about as close to a politic sre loser as could exist...
More in the series in defense of nuclear power here.
Elephant House Party
Thanks to Allahpundit at HotAir, I just heard that our GOP representatives decided to stay in the House until they can pass the energy policy bill. Speaker Pelosi appears to be acting like a mother with rambunctious kids, by turning the lights and microphones off. Let's just say the party's just getting started. Heck, they ordered pizza!
Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the dimly lit chamber is a "vision of the future by the Democrat Party: The lights are out, there's no power, and the air conditioning is gonna go off soon."
Good one.
More updates at Redstate
Politico has four parts of coverage here and here.
and the third update, featuring representatives coming back with quips in hand. The atmosphere gets wild in part four.
I'll pass on the chlorine trifluoride
One of the more interesting aspects of safety industry is the tales of danger that you pick up from fellow professionals and experience. I once heard of a response team finding a leaking can of potassium cyanide nearby a growing acid spill. They ran out and got the full self-contained breathing apparatus before going any further.
There are some experiments and chemicals which make that look like a picnic. These include condensing hydrogen cyanide and compounds that explode without much of a reason. And chlorine trifluoride
I have not encountered this fine substance myself, but reading up on its properties immediately gives it a spot on my “no way, no how” list. Let's put it this way: during World War II, the Germans were very interested in using it in self-igniting flamethrowers, but found it too nasty to work with. It is apparently about the most vigorous fluorinating agent known, and is much more difficult to handle than fluorine gas. That’s one of those statements you don’t get to hear very often, and it should be enough to make any sensible chemist turn around smartly and head down the hall in the other direction.
The compound also a stronger oxidizing agent than oxygen itself, which also puts it into rare territory. That means that it can potentially go on to “burn” things that you would normally consider already burnt to hell and gone, and a practical consequence of that is that it’ll start roaring reactions with things like bricks and asbestos tile. It’s been used in the semiconductor industry to clean oxides off of surfaces, at which activity it no doubt excels.
Whoa... (Emphasis mine, taken from here)
You can see more like these here. It is a great little list of nasty substances.
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