Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Defiled Holy Act

Here's an interesting question.
If a terrorist puts a bomb in his underwear, doesn't that defile it and prevent it from being an act of holy Jihad?  Wouldn't that disqualify his martyrdom?
If anyone knows the pertinent verses from the Quran, I would be interested.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Just How Stupid CAN A Government Be?

     On NPR yesterday, they were discussing the problems that local Social Services have tracking and helping the homeless.  Some people living in shelters have been waiting SEVEN YEARS for Section 8 housing.  Here's the catch:
     Let's say you are homeless.  Let's say you are on the waiting list for Section 8 housing.  They contact you.  You have maybe 30 days to respond.  If you do not respond, they drop you off of the waiting list.  Sounds reasonable, right?
     Hold on.  By Federal regulations, the Social Services office is only allowed to contact you BY MAIL!  If you don't respond to the letter they send you, you will be dropped off of the list!  Where did you receive you letter?  HELLO...  You are HOMELESS!
     The Federal Government has recently realized that the mail requirement was unnecessarily restrictive, so they have relaxed the restrictions on the method of contact.  Social Workers are now allowed to contact potential Section 8 recipients by EMAIL.  !?!
     KA...BOOM!  ...  (That was the sound of my head exploding.)
     These people are homeless.  They don't have a mailing address. But, all they have to do is go to their local Starbucks, log in on their laptops, and check their email.  Sure, that ought to do it.
     Don't you know, the government is going to fix ALL of our problems...  BUT ONLY IF WE ACT NOW, WE CAN'T AFFORD TO WAIT!  (Seems like I heard somebody say that on TV.)

Friday, December 18, 2009

Reality Check: Global Warming

     In engineering, it is often very difficult to clearly define the forces on a particular piece of machinery. To evaluate the integrity of a design in the early stages, it is necessary to make general assumptions about load cases and operating conditions. Even when all of the loads are known exactly, it is frequently very difficult to analyze accurately because of the complexity of the mechanism or the shapes of the components.
     When faced with overwhelming complexity and uncertainty, engineers do what is called a 'Reality Check'.
     Take the most grossly oversimplified case imaginable just to get an idea of the correct order of magnitude of the problem.
     Here is a reality check for Global Warming. This is not intended to be a comprehensive treatment, just a 'reality check' to establish the order of magnitude of the problem. I used Wikipedia's 'Greenhouse Effect' as a reference. All of the 'assumed' values are credited and footnoted there.
     The Black Body Temperature of the Earth is 5.5 degrees C. Based on black body radiation, the mean temperature of the Earth should be -19 degrees C. Instead, it is +14 degrees C. Broadly generalizing, the net Greenhouse Effect causes global warming of 33 degrees C.
     Carbon Dioxide makes up approximately 10% of the total greenhouse gases. Therefore, Carbon Dioxide contributes to global warming of about 3.3 degrees C.
     Pre-industrial Carbon Dioxide content (from ice cores) is about 300PPM (parts per million). The maximum levels of Carbon Dioxide have been measured at about 383PPM. Therefore, man's contribution to Carbon Dioxide production is about 83/383, or about 20%. That sounds like a lot, but wait!
     That 20% is 20% of 10% of the TOTAL greenhouse gases. Man's ENTIRE 'Carbon Footprint' is only 2/10 of 1% of total greenhouse gases (.002).
     0.002 x 33 degrees C = 0.006 degrees C.
     0.006 degrees C = 0.12 degrees F.
     If humans were completely removed from the planet, the global warming would decrease by 0.12 degrees F.
     NOW, how excited can you get about billions of dollars to produce a change that will be too small to even measure - a change that is no change at all.  Do you really want change?

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

1995 F-150 E4OD Transmission Hard Shifting

     I had a very weird and scary situation this week with my truck. Even though it has 360,000 miles on it, it had been running fine.  All of a sudden, it started shifting hard.  I don't even have gas money this week.  I was afraid I would have to find another $1600 for a transmission overhaul.
     Exact symptoms:
     1. Hard shifting in every gear no matter how lightly loaded.
     2. Doesn't shift as hard under heavier load.
     3. Sometimes 'catches' or 'bumps' in reverse - like a delay before engaging or something.
     4. No slipping in any gear or at speed.
     5. A slight whine (I thought it was some other little car nearby).
     I looked at all of the Ford troubleshooting threads without finding anything but horror stories and bad news.  I finally found someone who had exactly my symptoms on a snowplow website!  It seems that I had recently pulled a heavily loaded trailer.  When the computer detected the slippage due to the heavier load, it applied full line pressure to clamp the clutches and bands tighter.  It never reset itself.
     I disconnected the battery for 30 minutes.  The computer reset.  It shifts as smoothly as new now.  Wow!
     Even if I could have found someone honest enough to check it and tell me what is wrong without arbitrarily rebuilding the whole transmission, it would still have cost me $50 to $100 minimum.  More likely, $300 or $400.
     God bless the internet and thank You for the word of knowledge.
     To everyone out there: do your research.  ...and always look one more time.  Good luck!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Everything has a price

The wise man built his house on the rock.  The rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

The foolish man built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.

The wise man continued to make his house payments on time, but the government and the economic times made it more and more difficult.  The burden was great, for great had been the cost of anchoring to the rock.

The foolish man let the bank foreclose and walked away.

And the moral of the story is...  uh...  Hold on, give me a minute...