Nine Nations, United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Pakistan, India, China and North Korea possess a total of 16,300 Nuclear weapons.
President-elect Trump is proposing a new arms race. To what purpose? What kind of madness propels this man's thinking? Michael Moore has predicted rightly: "This man is gonna get us all killed."
A mind boggling contradiction: Rick Perry, who vowed to eliminate the energy department during a debate, is appointed to head the department by Donald Trump. Nuclear energy is one of the responsibilities of the Energy Department. Go figure.
Saturday, December 24, 2016
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
ELECTION WOES
My Dear Trill,
Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.
Author’s note: Trill is a fictional female acquaintance who makes it possible to write in a style that is comfortable for me.
You feel like screaming? I Understand. An 1893 painting by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, titled “The Scream” comes to mind. Why has the country, in your words, in this election year, taken on the appearance of an upside down wastebasket? I suggest it is because events conspired to allow a populist, ego driven candidate hypnotize enough of the population, though not a majority, into selecting him to become their leader.
Thinking about how he came to power, a single tactical error by Hillary Clinton may
have cost her the presidency when she told the coal industry that it has come to the end of the
road, without telling it why, or expessing sympathy or telling how she will go about achieving
allternative and better ways of earning a living income. So they flocked to the candidate who
promised, without telling them how, the industry will thrive again.
Hillary Clinton failed to explain, as she could have, that the industry is the victim of
changing times, and that every effort will be made to introduce new industries to the coal mining
territories. Much as coal burning locomotives evolved into diesel electrics becasuse they were
more efficient and cheaper to operate, coal burning power plants, the major users of coal, are,
upon being retired, replaced with plants that burn natural gas, which are both cheaper to build
and operate more efficiently. Natural gas is also favored over coal because carbon emissions are
reduced, and so are toxic emissions. In Addition, coal exports are in rapid decline. Canada, for example will no longer use coal after 2030.
She could have explained that in the long run this is good for the physical welfare of the
community, especially for the men who work all day in the mines.
Now, it seems, we have bought the farm.
Samuel Adams wrote to a fellow revolutionary in 1780: “If ever the time should come,
when vain & aspiring Men shall posssess the highest Seats in Government, our country will
stand in need of its experienced Patriots to prevent its Ruin, There may be more Danger of this,
than some, even of our well disposed Citizens may imagine. If the People should grant their
Suffrages to Men, only because they conceive them to have been Friends to the Country, without
regard to the necessary qualifications for the Places they are to fill, the administration of government will become a mere Farce, and our pub-lick Affairs will never be put on the Footing of
solid Security.”
Early warning of what is to come is manifested in the coterie of individuals selected for
important posts in the administration, and the dossiers they bring with them:
A business executive with world wide petroleum interests, whose company funded studies to debunk scientific data on global warming, who has no prior governing experience, who has
made serious end runs around US policy, for Secretary of State
A Neocon war hawk who championed the Iraq war for Assistant Secretary of State
A fast food CEO for Labor Secretary with a record of not being able to keep his employees happy and who opposes increasing the minimum wage.
A neurosurgeon with no governing experience to head HUD.
A mortgage predator as Secretary of the Treasury
A fierce climate change denier to head the EPA.
An anti-women’s rights governor for Vice President
A mortgage predator as Secretary of the Treasury
A fierce climate change denier to head the EPA.
An anti-women’s rights governor for Vice President
A woman who is a vocal proponent of school vouchers and private schools, and who has
contributed heavily to the Trump Foundation, to head the Department of Education.
A hardliner on immigration and other matters for Attorney General.
A controversial retired general as Defense Secretary. (Defense Secretaries by law must be
civilians),
A governor and formerly candidate for the presidency who vowed to abolish the Department of Energy, to head the Department.
(Frightening, since the Department manages nuclear power.)
(Frightening, since the Department manages nuclear power.)
I don’t know, Trill, this is all so surreal, so bizarre. Maybe it will turn out to be handy to
have a neurosurgeon around.
Monday, December 12, 2016
TROUBLING TIMES
It should be troubling to Americans that the president-elect has little use for intelligence briefings, asserting that he is "smart", when within memory, another president chose to ignore a briefing that warned of an imminent attack by terrorists, opting instead to go back to cutting brush on his Texas ranch. He could have said, "Not on my watch," and headed back to Washington. We all know of the horrific misjudgment that followed the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers, unwarranted invasion of Iraq and tremendous cost in lives lost, and dollars misspent.
Sunday, December 4, 2016
FORDSON TRACTOR
A hundred years ago, in 1917, Americas was engaged in World War I, the “War to end all wars,”
While fighting was going on overseas, industriy and transportation advancements within the nation were manifold. led by giants like inventor, engineer and automobile executive Henry Ford, who was busy making the famous Model-T. Upon observing that the Model-T was often adapted to farm chores, Henry Ford decided to produce a dedicated farm tractor, in a move some characterized as “emancipation of the plow horse.” His success was shortly followed by competitors Case, Allis Chalmers, John Deere, Massey Harris and International Harvester.
The fascinating history of the Fordson tractor is in full display on Wikipedia and need not be covered here.
I have a personal aquaintance with the Fordson, as my father purchased one at the going price of $325 in the early 1920’s. It was little used at first except to cut cordwood into smaller pieces with a circular saw that was attached to the front end. My father was not about to part with his fine team of horses.
The Fordson became our sole power source as the horses aged. It was a fearsome machine, hard to start, hard to steer, hard to shift. It had no brakes but relied on its worm gear drive to stop when the clutch was depressed. I spent many hours of my early years on the iron seat, wrestling with the steering wheel.
The tractor was responsible for hundreds of deaths due to its tendency to upend itself and fall on its back, killing the driver. That could occur, for instance, when a plow would strike an immovable obstacle, like a root or a rock. Decades later, Ferguson, a Fordson manufacturer in the UK, developed a three-point hitch that solved the problem and is now standard on all tractors. I encountered the problem in two separate instances, but was nimble enough to kill the throttle and jump free.
The Fordson tractor was hot, odiferous, noisy and dangerous. I cannot say how happy I was when the implement dealer arrived in the farmyard with a shiny new Farmall Tractor, made by International Harvester, equipped with brakes, a muffler and a self starter. Thereupon the Fordson was parked in the rear of the implement shed, where it slouched for years, gathering cobwebs and dust.
While fighting was going on overseas, industriy and transportation advancements within the nation were manifold. led by giants like inventor, engineer and automobile executive Henry Ford, who was busy making the famous Model-T. Upon observing that the Model-T was often adapted to farm chores, Henry Ford decided to produce a dedicated farm tractor, in a move some characterized as “emancipation of the plow horse.” His success was shortly followed by competitors Case, Allis Chalmers, John Deere, Massey Harris and International Harvester.
The fascinating history of the Fordson tractor is in full display on Wikipedia and need not be covered here.
I have a personal aquaintance with the Fordson, as my father purchased one at the going price of $325 in the early 1920’s. It was little used at first except to cut cordwood into smaller pieces with a circular saw that was attached to the front end. My father was not about to part with his fine team of horses.
The Fordson became our sole power source as the horses aged. It was a fearsome machine, hard to start, hard to steer, hard to shift. It had no brakes but relied on its worm gear drive to stop when the clutch was depressed. I spent many hours of my early years on the iron seat, wrestling with the steering wheel.
The tractor was responsible for hundreds of deaths due to its tendency to upend itself and fall on its back, killing the driver. That could occur, for instance, when a plow would strike an immovable obstacle, like a root or a rock. Decades later, Ferguson, a Fordson manufacturer in the UK, developed a three-point hitch that solved the problem and is now standard on all tractors. I encountered the problem in two separate instances, but was nimble enough to kill the throttle and jump free.
The Fordson tractor was hot, odiferous, noisy and dangerous. I cannot say how happy I was when the implement dealer arrived in the farmyard with a shiny new Farmall Tractor, made by International Harvester, equipped with brakes, a muffler and a self starter. Thereupon the Fordson was parked in the rear of the implement shed, where it slouched for years, gathering cobwebs and dust.
Saturday, December 3, 2016
EBONY
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Friday, December 2, 2016
PROMISES TO KEEP
The small segment of the work force that constitutes the coal industry, which includes miners, coal processors, coal transportation and coal burning power plant operators, estimated to be upwards of 166,000 people, together with the service industries that support them. as well as sympathizers with the coal industry, and investors, are in for a big disappointment.
Donald Trump cannot come through on his promise to restore the coal industry. A combination of economics and the imperative for global warming abatement spell the end of the industry. Natural gas power plants are replacing coal fired plants as the latter are rapidly being retired. Most coal fired plants were built before 1980 and are approaching end of life, an average of 58 years. Of 66 proposed coal fired power plants proposed in the 2002-2015 time period, 43 were cancelled. Ninety-four plants were shut down in 2015 and forty-one were scheduled for closure in 2016.
Driving forces for conversion to natural gas are reduced construction and operating cost, low cost of natural gas, 25% better thermodynamic efficiency than coal, reduced carbon emissions and near elimination of toxic emissions. Moreover there is now a general awareness that natural gas is available in prodigious amounts, stored in underground fissures and dissolved in hot brine deposits around the globe. An additional factor is the lowered cost of renewable energy sources. For example, wind energy is getting competitive with building new coal fired plants. Whatever the benefits are of “clean coal,” added cost would rule that out, unless the government engages in massive subsidies to the industry,
All this means means curtains for the coal industry and disappointment and distress for workers who believed a man with a reputation as a con man and arguably provided the critical votes that squeaked him into the White House. The consequences could get severe when jobless workers are left twisting in the wind, forced to face the problem of feeding and sheltering their families. One thing is for sure: not many coal miners will be retrained to operate computers.
Unemployment insurance doesn’t last long. Beyond that, there are few options for coal industry blue collar workers. Perhaps, as some believe, with the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution we are approaching an era when people are provided with a living stipend, eliminating the specter of possible joblessness.
Donald Trump cannot come through on his promise to restore the coal industry. A combination of economics and the imperative for global warming abatement spell the end of the industry. Natural gas power plants are replacing coal fired plants as the latter are rapidly being retired. Most coal fired plants were built before 1980 and are approaching end of life, an average of 58 years. Of 66 proposed coal fired power plants proposed in the 2002-2015 time period, 43 were cancelled. Ninety-four plants were shut down in 2015 and forty-one were scheduled for closure in 2016.
Driving forces for conversion to natural gas are reduced construction and operating cost, low cost of natural gas, 25% better thermodynamic efficiency than coal, reduced carbon emissions and near elimination of toxic emissions. Moreover there is now a general awareness that natural gas is available in prodigious amounts, stored in underground fissures and dissolved in hot brine deposits around the globe. An additional factor is the lowered cost of renewable energy sources. For example, wind energy is getting competitive with building new coal fired plants. Whatever the benefits are of “clean coal,” added cost would rule that out, unless the government engages in massive subsidies to the industry,
All this means means curtains for the coal industry and disappointment and distress for workers who believed a man with a reputation as a con man and arguably provided the critical votes that squeaked him into the White House. The consequences could get severe when jobless workers are left twisting in the wind, forced to face the problem of feeding and sheltering their families. One thing is for sure: not many coal miners will be retrained to operate computers.
Unemployment insurance doesn’t last long. Beyond that, there are few options for coal industry blue collar workers. Perhaps, as some believe, with the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution we are approaching an era when people are provided with a living stipend, eliminating the specter of possible joblessness.
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