Barbarianism vs. American-style justice

Posted on by

Gadhafi sodomized before he was shot

From Eric Dondero:

Even the most diehard Gadhafi haters are having a difficult time stomaching some of the extremely graphic videos of his final moments, at the hands of Libyan rebels.

Eric Odom, co-founder of the Tea Party and current editor of Liberty News expresses a sentiment held by many of us:

First, let me be clear that Gadhafi was an evil man, with evil intentions and lots of evidence stacked against him. But last night while watching graphic video of his last moments, I had to wonder whether or not we are cheering for the right outcome... it's one thing to want Gadhafi brought to justice. As was the case with Saddam Hussein, Gadhafi would have had his day. But to celebrate the fact that he was likely pushed to his knees and shot behind the ear? I'm not so sure that's the kind of people we are.

Odom made these remarks yesterday, before an even more graphic video surfaced of Ghadafi's demise. Shown here, one of the rebels who captured him, sodomizes the Libyan leader, shoving a baton up his anus. WARNING: Very difficult to watch.

Photo credit - Bossip.com

Rick Perry uses salty language in describing last few weeks of campaign

Posted on by

More culturally libertarian than religious conservative?

From Eric Dondero:

Rick Perry ventured inside the Beltway to meet with potential 'K' Street donors. During his remarks, he made the comment that the first few weeks of his campaign were a virtual love fest. Then the proverbial shit hit the fan.

From the Athens Report "My Campaign Took An ‘Ass Kickin’":

A reenergized Rick Perry ventured to Washington today, telling a group of about 50 K Street insiders that he is stepping up his game after taking an “ass kickin’” this fall

Editor's comment - Not exactly the type of language one would expect from someone more often than not identified as a darling of the religious right.

Photo h/t - Austin Governor blog

Cain pulls ahead of Obama in critical swing state of North Carolina

Posted on by

SUPER IMPORTANT!!

From Eric Dondero:

NC is the swingiest of swing states. It's right up there with Ohio, in importance to both 'D' and 'R' camps in Election 2010.

And now this from Civitas Institute polling (h/t Hedgehog):

PRESIDENT – NORTH CAROLINA (Civitas)
Herman Cain (R) 46%
Barack Obama (D-inc) 41%

The pollster comments:

“Just as is happening nationally, we are seeing a swell of support for Herman Cain in North Carolina,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.

New Zealand elections: The final ACT?

Posted on by

by Clifford F. Thies

Suddenly the election in New Zealand is tightening. This tightening, combined with the prospect of NZ First hitting the 5 percent threshold and returning to parliament, has put National into something of a predicament.

Given current projections, National continues to expect an absolute majority of the seats in parliament, albeit a lesser majority than a month ago.

But, National's erstwhile coalition partner ACT, a market-liberal party, does not look as though it will gain representation in parliament either by reason of hitting the 5 percent threshold or finishing first in at least one constituency, without some help.

Crucially, according to one just conducted poll, ACT's candidate for the seat representing Epsom currently trails the National candidate. But, that same poll reveals there would be a dramatic shift if Prime Minister John Key were to asked National supporters to vote for the ACT candidate. In such a case, the ACT candidate would be assured of victory, which would secure at least 3 additional seats for the center-right.

Asked if he would give ACT this lifeline, Prime Minister Key said "not today".

Anti-Libertarian Letter to the Editor of the Week!

Posted on by

Koch-funded Anarcho-Capitalists who support "cancer communities" [that cause] "children with brain tumors"

October 21, 2011 - 09:40pm
Published in the Topeka Capitol-Journal cjonline.com

Letter: On Kochs, Tea Party, Libertarians

Could it be that the basic tenets of the tea party, Libertarian Party and the billionaire Koch brothers are nearly the same? How might this have happened?

The fact is, the Koch brothers have a foundation that has trained thousands of tea party activists and their unlimited monies flow to the tea party candidates.

According to a Bloomberg report, when David Koch ran for vice president on the Libertarian ticket in 1980, he promised to abolish Social Security, minimum wage laws, the Federal Reserve System and the FBI and CIA, along with other federal agencies.

Does this not sound like tea party members when they talk of getting rid of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Education, weakening the power of Food and Drug Administration and FEMA while cutting Social Security and reducing or eliminating all kinds of health care programs?

When you analyze and listen to Libertarian candidates closely, you will realize they are anarchists who want no rules or regulations and no effective government.

With their views on health care for young and old, you can be sure the Libertarians, Koch Brothers and many tea party members have not participated in bake sales for children with brain tumors, nor do they care if wiping out EPA might lead to “cancer communities” like the ones in China.

GERRY SCARDO, CLINTWOOD, VA.

Iranian hardline Islamists rise up in support of Occupy Wall Street

Posted on by

Photo of the Day!

Credit - Reuters, via Yahoo News. Description:

Students, who are members of the Basij militia, a part of the Iran Revolutionary Guard, attend a gathering in support of anti-Wall Street demonstrators in front of the U.S. interest section of the Swiss embassy in Tehran October 22, 2011. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS)

Editor's comment - Geez, didn't quite see this sort of thing during the Tea Party protests.

Pro-Capitalist, Anti-Islamist Party on the verge of a Huge Victory in Switzerland!

Posted on by

Preserve Swiss Culture, Protect Swiss Banking, Pro-Gold, and "staunchly Pro-Free Market"

From Eric Dondero:

Today is election day in Switzerland. The libertarian-conservative Swiss Peoples' Party looks to gain an historic victory. Polls indicate that they could cross the all-important 30% mark. The latest polls had the party polling 28% to the Socialists 19%.

From TheAustralian.com:

The SVP's strong campaign follows the party's push to outlaw the burka and expel foreign-born criminals. It echoes last year's SVP-sponsored "yes" vote in a referendum banning the building of minarets in a country counting only a handful of these visible symbols of Muslim worship.

The party has long stoked fears about currency wars and the need to "save Swiss gold".

Indeed, the extremist political group has bulldozed its way into the Swiss political mainstream by cleverly mirroring the prosperous average voter's rich person's anxieties.

The SVP is a party of millionaires and billionaires, such as former leader Christoph Blocher. Its coffers are overflowing and it has spent 7 million Swiss francs ($7.7m) on its election campaign...

In contrast to far-right political groups such as the National Front in France, with protectionist agendas, the SVP remains isolationist but staunchly pro-free market.

On cultural matters:

What concerns the SVP and voters, [SVP candidate Luke] Reimann says, is the "Islamisation of Switzerland".

The SVP does not content itself with mere anti-immigrant messages.... the SVP proposes an end to "integrative" and "multicultural" theories of education

Photos - SVP's flamboyant leader Oskar Freysinger, SVP Party headquarters, and SVP candidate Luke Reinsinger.

That’s That, and This is This

Posted on by

UPDATE:  Solved by Hugo at 12:07 CDT

Are you ready for a quick riddle to get your neurons firing properly this fine Saturday?  I think I have a fun one ready for you… of course, I say that about all the riddles, right?

Anyway, grab that cup of caffeine, and direct your attention to events in the real world.  That’s where you’ll find the answer to this riddle.

The whole ball of wax

The “common name” for this was intended to be derogatory and belittling.

Although it seems like this idea been around a long time, it’s really very new.

Where else are you going to find quark-gluon soup?

boom

There are many interesting things going on when this event gets going, not the least is the temperature of about one billion kelvin.

This has never been a “sure thing”; there have always been detractors.

Where else but here would you find a flatness problem?

crunch

You can have a fine career arguing against this event; many have.

This is big.  In fact, it’s the biggest “big” around.

This works all the way back to the start of the process… where it doesn’t work.

“In the beginning…”

.
And that’s that.  Good luck, and get your guesses in quick.  Remember, if you’ve already solved several riddles this cycle, but still want to play, you can email your guesses to me.  That way, if you solve the riddle it’ll still remain open for someone who hasn’t solved one yet to have a shot at it.

ROSAT’s final hours | Bad Astronomy

Posted on by

[UPDATE 3: ROSAT fell at 01:50 UTC last night (9":50 p.m. Eastern US time), +/- 7 minutes. The track over the Earth during that time is shown here. The center of the track is the most likely re-entry time, and stretches for seven minutes in both directions (the yellow pins mark five minute intervals). It probably fell over the Indian Ocean, though the track stretches into southern China. There are still no reports of debris sightings. Picture courtesy ROSAT_Reentry and Google Earth.]

[UPDATE 2: (03:30 UT) It's official. According to the DLR website, ROSAT de-orbited between 1:45 and 2:15 UTC. It's not known precisely where itfell; no confirmed reports of pieces have been seen yet. During that period of time, ROSAT was traveling across the Indian Ocean and China. Spaceflight 101 has some maps showing the location.]

[UPDATE: Reports are saying ROSAT may re-enter as soon as 01:00 UT (9:00 p.m. Eastern US time), though more likely a bit later. Follow ROSAT_reentry on Twitter for the up-to-the-minute news.]

We’re less than a day away from ROSAT’s final plunge into Earth’s atmosphere. Even this close to its last moments, it’s difficult to know just where it will drop down; it’s orbiting the Earth at 8 km/sec (5 miles/sec), so if predictions are off by just a couple of minutes that translates to a nearly 1000 km (600 miles) in position! And the models are still uncertain by a few hours.

A meteor burning up in our atmosphere; this is
NOT actually ROSAT but just meant
to give you an idea of what it will look like.

As it stands, right now as I write this the nominal time of re-entry is sometime on October 23 between 06:00 and 13:00 UT (02:00 – 09:00 Eastern US time). The uncertainty means we still are not sure just where on Earth it will come down.

Yesterday, I was on NPR’s Science Friday show talking about ROSAT. Also on was Mark Matney, an Orbital Debris Specialist with NASA, and we talked about what happens when a satellite re-enters. That link goes to the show page, or you can grab the MP3 file directly. You can get a lot of the basic info there. Still, if you prefer old fashioned reading…

ROSAT is an astronomical satellite, designed to observe high-energy X-rays from space. Launched in 1990, it has a mass of about 2.5 tons, much less than the UARS satellite which came down in September. It was shut down in 1999 after some of its hardware failed; during the decade it was operational it provided astronomers with vast amounts of data about supernovae, black holes, neutron stars, and other cool cosmic objects. It’s been in low-Earth orbit ever since. Over time, the very tiny drag it has experienced due to passing through the very thin upper atmosphere of our planet has dropped it into an ever-lower orbit, and now, after several years, it’s about to re-enter for real.

Most of the satellite pieces are fragile and will burn up as they slam into the Earth’s atmosphere. About 30 more durable pieces are expected to survive re-entry and make it all the way down to the ground. The thing is, one of those pieces will be the mirrors, which are heavy. ROSAT’s mirror assembly was designed to withstand a lot of heat (otherwise thermal stress — flexing under temperature changes — would have messed up its ability to see astronomical objects), which means that it will be able to stay intact as ROSAT comes down. The total weight of the mirror assembly is about 1600 kg — well over 1.5 tons. That’s a big chunk of material.

The good news here, as it is with every time space junk returns to Earth, is that our planet is big. 500 million square kilometers (almost 200 million square miles) is a lot of real estate, and the pieces coming down are small. Most of the Earth’s surface is water, and most of the land is unoccupied. That’s why the odds of anyone getting hit are so small; about 1 in 2000. And that’s for anyone getting hit! The odds of you specifically getting hit are more like trillions to one.

Think of it this way. I have a deck a cards, and you pick one at random. What are the odds of you picking the ace of spades? 1 in 52.

Now let me get 52 people and do the same thing until the cards are gone. What are the odds someone picked the ace of spades? 100%. But your odds of getting it are still small.

So the odds of any particular person getting hit by ROSAT are incredibly small, and there’s not much to worry about. In fact, on Science Friday, Mark said that stuff from space burns up over the Earth pretty much every day! Yet you never hear about anyone getting creamed by a fuel tank or an errant wrench. So there you go.

As the time gets closer I’ll post important updates as I hear them. For current news on the situation, I suggest following ROSAT_reentry on Twitter, who has constant updates on the predicted re-entry time, as well as plots and pictures of what’s going on.


Switch Size For Motor

Posted on by

I have a dust collector in my shop; the motor is 2hp, 20amps, 115VAC. I want to wire it for remote operation. What type of switch would I use to turn it on/off? The DC currently uses a rocker type switch. I see in a catalog a rocker switch rated 20amps at 125VAC, 15amps at 250VAC, 3/4 hp at 125/250V

Sound Waves and Water Current

Posted on by

A question has come up with one of my customers:

Considering a source of 'vibration/sound' (from a turning propeller or engine vibration) in the water.....

Do the "waves" travel FASTER with current direction?

My thoughts have always been yes they do. However, I may have made a wrong assumption

Singel Pole vs. Double Pole MCB

Posted on by

I have seen people supplying single phase loads through a single pole MCB with phase going through MCB to the load and neutral connected directly to the load without any MCB. Is this technically OK and safe? should not we use a double pole MCB for single phase loads with phase and neutral both going

Orifice Sizing-

Posted on by

Hi,

For separator application we have an orifice with follwing Conditions

with 75 % BS&W (Brackish sediment and water ) We got density of 1052 Kg/M3 and Viscosity of 1.686 centipoise .

Similarly for BS&W with 90% we have density of 1100 Kg/m3 and viscosity of 1.04 Cp

For sizing bore diam

Pic 16f873 Not Running Code While Simulator Does

Posted on by

hello everybody!

am an instrument student, am doin my final year project, it's a pic based coded security safe,am usin the 16f873,a 3x4 keypad is used to enter a 3 digit code that is displyed on 3 seven segments,when a correct code is enterred,a buzzer sounds and the safe is unlocked... i have writ