The ME 264, dubbed the Amerika Bomber, was designed to fly 3,600 miles across the Atlantic, bomb New York City, and return to Germany. A prototype was fortunately destroyed in a bombing raid. A few score with incendiaries could have cored the Big Apple. And then started firebombing D.C.
Posted in Science/Engineering, War Without End
Tagged Amerika Bomber, ME 264, Nazi warplanes
Reading a post by J.D. over at Mouth of the Brazos about his hunt for a new stove reminded me of a curious encounter with gender politics last month.
The ice-maker in our 13-year-old fridge started producing not cubes of ice but giant icebergs by apparently leaking water onto cubes already made. After removing several of the bergs with much chopping and cursing, I figured Mrs. C. would insist on a new fridge though we’ve had no other problems with the thing.
She surprised me when she didn’t say any such thing, but went and found the replacement ice-maker online and then, wonder of wonders, installed it by herself. Only the cover was upside down. I knew it wasn’t wise but I couldn’t resist pointing it out. I tried to back-fill by insisting that it was a minor matter and I would never mention it again.
She fixed it. Looks like I’m going to be in complete retirement soon.
“I can hear them slinging pipe on the Flex 5 up the way and when I poke my head out the door, no less than a dozen flare stacks are runnin’ hot out across the pucker brush.”
An oil patch update from gate-guard Andy at My Old RV down well south of the rancho, and that’s without his new solo hearing aid:
“A rattling diesel sounds like they got a clothes dryer with 5 gallon of rock in it running overspeed on the passenger seat next to ‘em. Walking on the caliche rocks sounds like I got feet like a brontosaurus. The generator sounds like a 747 spooling up for take off. It is distinctly unpleasant and near painful.”
Yep. Wait’ll you try the two of ’em at once. You’ll be turning down the volume like I do.
Comments Off on Hot Times In The Oil Patch
Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Texana, The Economy
That makes about as much sense as the garbage purveyed by the usual news media suspects (NPR, cBS, etc.) that this latest example of extreme weather may be caused by global warming.
University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass succinctly puts their reporting where it belongs: among the fairy stories we heard as children. He does have a bit more concern about AGW than the other meteorologists I respect, but he shows that extreme weather is not, in fact, a trend:
“The media needs to stop pushing this unsupported argument.”
Happily, things already are warming up at the rancho, with highs in the 70s expected by the weekend. How sweet it will be. Of course we are pretty far south.
UPDATE: Joe Bastardi at Weather Bell adds this funny: “The cause for the cold this winter so far was outlined long ago. Yet many media outlets are seriously taking the idea that AGW is causing this as something to consider. Its as if every single event that has happened before [’77 & ’85], doesnt count. How the heck did it get so cold before?”
MORE: Wormtongue’s “science” adviser pushes the bogus extreme weather meme. But of course. Gotta grow those taxes.
Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering, Weather, Weather/Climate
So ask Native American groups angry at the White House’s continued push for more wind turbines which despoil natural beauty and kill millions of bats and birds.
“Wind farms must be located where the wind blows fairly constantly, and such locations are prime travel routes for migratory birds, including protected species such as bald eagles and golden eagles. Exacerbating the problem, wind farms act as both bait and executioner—rodents taking shelter at the base of turbines multiply with the protection from raptors, and their greater numbers then attract more raptors to the turbines.”
Meanwhile the turbines are a political shuck, providing only small amounts of intermittent electricity, generally at times when a utility doesn’t need it. Ah, but they fill the pockets of lobbyists, politicians, and wind turbine companies with subsidies, i.e. tax money. That’s the “environmental benefit” the White House really is interested in.
“Wind cannot satisfy the demand requirements of a utility unless it is backed up with fossil fuel plants and/or energy storage projects. This results in duplication of resources and additional costs, with little, if any, carbon mitigation. Further, the steep increases and declines in power delivery of wind put the reliability of the grid in question.”
All in the name of another, bigger shuck: stopping so-called man-made global warming, the warming which hasn’t been occurring for 17 years now. Except in federal press releases. Health insurance isn’t the only thing they lie about.
It’s lose-lose, all around, unless you’re one of Wormtongue’s cronies with your paw in the trough.
“Lasts 11 years!” saving “$202 in energy costs” because its 23 watts deliver the same brightness as a 100 watt incandescent bulb. (The kind to be outlawed Jan. 1 for manufacture by our political overseers, the very best ones that money can buy, you can be sure.)
So says the box of two Sylvania Super Saver, CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp), micro-mini, Soft White, Mrs. Charm bought the other day. The promise is classic sleight-of-hand. Quick, look over here!
Ah, but the fine print on the side of the box says the 11 years is based on just three hours use a day for seven days a week. I can triple that usage even in the daytime in a room with only one (north-facing) window and no skylight.
Howsomeever. The brightness is, indeed, comparable to a 100 watt incandescent. And the light is no harsher than an incandescent. (Soft was in the eye of the copy writer, apparently.)
But it does take a while to get that bright. “Instant On” the box says in big green letters. Most of the box is green. Of course. But “instant on”? That’s no truer than “If you like your health insurance, you can keep it.”
The light comes on surprisingly dim. Takes about 30 seconds to get bright. Not a big problem unless you need the bright light for something important in a hurry. Then you’d be SOL. Maybe you could carry a flashlight, eh?
Don’t bother calling the politicians. They’re busy cashing their checks from Sylvania.
UPDATE: Shoot. I was wrong. It’s not just manufacture of 100-watt bulbs that ends on Wednesday (Jan. 1, 2014) but 60- and 40-watt bulbs, too. There are still some around, of course. And if manufacturers in Mexico are smart (and I’m sure they are) they’ll keep making them for sale here.
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