Monthly Archives: December 2008

“The infrastructure flim-flam”

Posted on December 9, 2008 | Comments Off on “The infrastructure flim-flam”

I’m not so sure that Barry’s idea to throw money at the nation’s sagging infrastructure amounts to no more than one guy digging a hole and another guy filling it in, as some conservatives are suggesting. I see no reason to be that cynical yet.

I agree that it probably won’t do much for recovery from the recession. But there undoubtedly is work to be done–see Minnesota’s bridge disaster of 2007. Some of what the old CCC did survives today in such as state park facilities in Texas. There are going to be lots of ways to ridicule Barry’s presidency, but I don’t think this is going to be one of them.

Via Instapundit.

UPDATE:  Well, it turns out I’m a bit naive. Seems to be more about parks and sports centers than pot-holed roads and falling-apart bridges. It really wouldn’t be like pols to fix the obvious stuff since at best the only thing they could point to would be a little sign with their name on it. Feh! 

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Posted in Obamalot, Scribbles, Texana

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The windmill fiasco

Posted on December 8, 2008 | Comments Off on The windmill fiasco

wind-plants.jpg

This is an obvious photoshop, but it’s a useful image when talking about what a dubious idea proliferation of these things will be. For one thing, they can be dangerous to people as well as to  migrating birds. For another, the hundreds of gallons of oil they use for lubrication can spill and contaminate the environment, or even start a forest fire. Even their Dem champions don’t want them marring the view in their neighborhood. But the worst thing about them, in addition to their noise, is that they are so darned inefficient. They will never replace oil and gas, not to mention coal.

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Posted in Obamalot, Science/Engineering, Scribbles

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Congratulations, Brian Orakpo

Posted on December 8, 2008 | Comments Off on Congratulations, Brian Orakpo

Longhorns defensive end Brian Orakpo has won the Nagurski tophy as the best defensive player in college football. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy or better athlete. The fifth-year senior and son of Nigerian immigrants graduated Saturday.

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Posted in Texas Football

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Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, crunch

Posted on December 8, 2008 | Comments Off on Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, crunch

So Texas, which should have played for the Big Twelve title, doesn’t get to play for the BCS title, despite having a better loss than Florida and a better win than Oklahoma, which Texas also beat by ten points. Just one point shy of the eleven that Florida put up on Alabama.

Instead, Texas gets a bowl (the Fiesta) to play 10th-ranked Ohio State. Huh? It would be more logical for Texas to play 4th-ranked Alabama–as in the top two play each other, then the next two and the next two and so on. But that’s not the way corporate college football wants it: no split title, thank you.

Meanwhile, Texas Tech, which rode the No. 1 ranking for weeks, is unfairly excluded from a BCS bowl altogether. And, once again–and I’m happy to see the daily’s Kirk Bohls join me in decrying this–a power team (Oklahoma) is shamelessly rewarded for humiliating an outclassed opponent (Missouri) by running up the score, 62-21. Wherever this game of college football is headed, it doesn’t look good.  

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Posted in Texas Football

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The fart police

Posted on December 7, 2008 | Comments Off on The fart police

Just when you thought government couldn’t get more ridiculous. So far, the proposed EPA rule only affects cows and hogs, not people. Gotta save the environment, you know. Can’t make PETA mad, either. Wouldn’t be progressive, no no. Get ready for the price of meat to soar. Hope you like tofu.

I’d bet the recently discovered magnetic portals linking us to the sun every eight minutes have a much bigger effect on our climate than AGW or cow farts. But they wouldn’t give the Left a "crisis" to combat.

Via The Fat Guy. 

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Posted in Obamalot

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Enjoy the Beat-By-Texas Bowl

Posted on December 7, 2008 | Comments Off on Enjoy the Beat-By-Texas Bowl

That was the banner flown around last night’s Big Twelve title game before Oklahoma crushed Missouri 62-21. Not only true, but it’s also a claim that the other loser of the three-way tie, Texas Tech, cannot make. Nevertheless, for the honor of the Big Twelve, I hope Bradford & Co. beat the Gators. (Sorry, Diller and nephew.) Fiesta Bowl here we come. Hope it’s against Ohio State.

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Posted in Texas Football

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Conserve Earth, Colonize Space

Posted on December 6, 2008 | Comments Off on Conserve Earth, Colonize Space

Nice sentiment. Makes a great bumper sticker. I used to have one. But the reality? Not so much.

SF author Bruce Sterling: "I’ll believe in people settling Mars at about the same time I see people settling the Gobi Desert. The Gobi Desert is about a thousand times as hospitable as Mars and five hundred times cheaper and easier to reach."

SF author Charles Stross: "Space itself is a very poor environment for humans to live in. A simple pressure failure can kill a spaceship crew in minutes. And that’s not the only threat. Cosmic radiation poses a serious risk to long duration interplanetary missions, and unlike solar radiation and radiation from coronal mass ejections the energies of the particles responsible make shielding astronauts extremely difficult. And finally, there’s the travel time. Two and a half years to Jupiter system; six months to Mars."

Nevertheless, Stross, at least, foresees a Moon base in twenty years and ten years later, one on Mars. I would add that both will probably be Chinese. American pols are too gutless and greedy.

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Posted in Library, Science/Engineering, Space

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