My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on July 12, 2012

Google, an avid supporter of the 1st amendment, has decided they are NOT so supportive of the 2nd amendment … as I figured out after a few days of recent search failures for what Google classifies as “non-family safe” products — in this case, firearms.

After using a particular firearm a few months ago, I’ve been searching for availability using Google in hopes to find an M&P Shield (above). It was released by Smith and Wesson early this year and production hasn’t kept up with demand on this good quality and fair priced handgun. The “shopping” search worked fine in April, May and most of June and returned long list of stores selling the product (all out of stock). Then recently I noticed that I couldn’t pull the same searches??? A quick glance at the news page indicated Google had decided to censure items they deemed “non-family safe.” Shame on them for taking a restrictive stand against businesses marketing and a U.S. citizen’s Constitutional right to purchase and own a firearm … or in this case just searching availability and pricing. 

In its shopping service, Google “doesn’t allow the promotion of weapons or devices designed to cause serious harm or injury,” the website said, describing its advertising policies.

The ban includes “guns, gun parts or hardware, ammunition, bombs, knives, throwing stars, and brass knuckles,” it said.

Adsense listing to gun stores with an online business presence: http://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=176077

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Posted By RichC on July 11, 2012

Category: History, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: congress

Posted By RichC on July 10, 2012

A down day for the markets after slowing earning from big companies like Cummins and Alcoa … but it was the day CNBC announces the top states for business. Of course it is no surprise that Texas was the top state for the 3rd time in 6 years. The other states to make the top five are: Virginia, No. 3; North Carolina, No. 4; and North Dakota, No. 5.
Here are the categories that are used to rank the states.

Cost of Doing Business (350 Points)

Cost is a major consideration when a company chooses a state. We looked at the tax burden, including individual income and property taxes, as well as business taxes, particularly as they apply to new investments. Utility costs can add up to a huge expense for business, and they vary widely by state. We also looked at the cost of wages, as well as rental costs for office and industrial space (rental cost information furnished by CoStar Group).

Workforce (350 Points)

Many states point with great pride to the quality and availability of their workers, as well as government-sponsored programs to train them. We rated states based on the education level of their workforce, as well as the numbers of available workers. We also considered union membership. While organized labor contends that a union workforce is a quality workforce, that argument, more often than not, doesn’t resonate with business. We also looked at the relative success of each state’s worker training programs in placing their participants in jobs.

Quality of Life (350 Points)

The best places to do business are also the best places to live. We scored the states on several factors, including local attractions, the crime rate, health care, as well as air and water quality and pollution.

Infrastructure & Transportation (325 Points)

Access to transportation in all its modes is key to getting your products to market and your people on the move. We measured the vitality of each state’s transportation system by the value of goods shipped by air, land and water. We looked at the availability of air travel in each state, the quality of roads, and the time it takes to commute to work.

Economy (325 Points)

A solid economy is good for business. So is a diverse economy, with access to the biggest players in a variety of industries. We looked at basic indicators of economic activity, including growth, unemployment and the health of the real estate market. We measured each state’s fiscal health by looking at their credit ratings and outlook, as well as projected budget gaps (or surpluses) for the coming fiscal year. We also gave credit to states based on the number of major corporations located there.

Education (225 Points)

Education and business go hand in hand. Not only do companies want to draw from an educated pool of workers, they also want to offer their employees a great place to raise a family. Higher education institutions offer companies a source to recruit new talent, as well as a partner in research and development. We looked at traditional measures of K-12 education including test scores, class size and spending. We also considered the number of higher education institutions in each state and long-term trends for funding higher education.

Technology & Innovation (225 Points)

Succeeding in the new economy—or any economy—takes innovation. The top states for business prize innovation, nurture new ideas, and have the infrastructure to support them. We evaluated the states on their support for innovation, the number of patents issued to their residents, the deployment of broadband services, and the record of high tech business formation. We also considered federal health and science research grants to the states.

Business Friendliness (200 Points)

Regulation and litigation are the bane of business. Sure, some of each is inevitable. But we graded the states on the “friendliness” of their legal and regulatory frameworks to business.

Access to Capital (100 Points)

Companies go where the money is, and venture capital flows to some states more than others. We looked at the flow of capital to states in absolute terms as well as in proportion to the size of their economies.

Cost of Living (50 Points)

The cost of living helps drive the cost of doing business. From housing to food and energy, wages go further when the cost of living is low.

Category: Business, Financial | 1 Comment »
Tags: Business, cnbc, texas

Posted By RichC on July 10, 2012

Unless politicians “create an environment” that encourages risking capital and investing in American businesses, it will continue to be a struggle to grow our economy. I’m seeing more cities and counties running out of tax revenue and many more will be forced to declare bankruptcy unless thing change soon. Out of work and financially stressed taxpayers can’t continue to fund their public sector workers and from what we are seeing in Washington DC, it doesn’t look as if they are close to a solution that encourages growth and business investment. The unknown cost of Obamacare and the recent rhetoric of higher taxes discourages putting money at risk (investing in companies) and oppressive regulations in recent years make it restrictive to start new businesses or expanding old ones … in fact it encourages shutting them down. From what I can see, we’re not any closer to creating private sector jobs or accelerating the economy until we see change in Washington DC.

An article in the WSJ today highlights a growing concern as local governments are finding it impossible to meet payroll … let along fund pension plans for public employees.

SCRANTON, PA

Mayor Chris Doherty, a Democrat, temporarily cut the wages of police, firefighters and others to $7.25 an hour Friday, hours after a judge issued an injunction requested by three unions that represent most of the workers. A lawsuit filed July 2 in Lackawanna County Court on behalf of the unions argued that cutting the salaries unilaterally would violate the workers’ contracts under state laws governing public employees as well as federal law.

Meanwhile, Scranton’s business administrator said the city had just $5,000 in the bank last week after transferring enough money to cover the city’s payroll at $7.25 an hour, the state’s—and the nation’s—minimum wage. Mayor Doherty has said that once the immediate crisis is over, workers will be paid their deferred pay.

LINK

Category: Financial, News, Politics | No Comments »
Tags: economy, government, wsj

Posted By RichC on July 9, 2012

Shark photos trigger the most reposts on my blog and also the most hits … so with the heat of summer and the recent U.S. based “heat of the summer” beach sitings, it is only appropriate to include a great photo.

Erupting out of the sea with its jaws open the monstrous creature can be seen hurtling towards a Cape fur seal at a speed of almost 25mph.The dramatic moment was captured within a split second by famed wildlife photographer, Steve Bloom, who waited a painstaking 16 days for the incredible shot.

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Posted By RichC on July 9, 2012

I’ve struggled with the “teachers are underpaid” debate arguing that we are often talking apples and oranges when comparing teachers, school district employees and management level administrators to the private sector. Those working in small businesses, corporations and the self-employed entrepreneurs make up the states private workforce and their taxes pay public sector and school salaries and they need to know there is some parity in pay and total compensation. Neither side of this debate has done a fair comparison … in my opinion … and each group, private sector, public sector and public education has a different structure for pay, job security, benefits, vacation time and most notably in recent years, retirement pensions.

The Heritage Foundation’s Jason Richwine discusses the issue of total compensation and benefits with Choice Media TV’s Bob Bowdon in this short clip … and has a couple suggestions that make sense (but will never happen) that increases a teachers pay (particularly in their early years) and suggests that we should structure their retirement pensions similar to the private sectors 401Ks.

As I see it, paying educators needs an overhaul. We no longer need to operate schools that operate 9 months a year and are only teaching students 6 hours per day. Our cost per student could be reduced if facilities were used all year and functioning two shifts each day. Teachers could initially be given the option to work more hours per year and their pay, vacation, sick time and benefits adjusted to match private industry. Performance should be measured just as with most other professionals; commonsense tells me that it is not that difficult to know when a teacher is drag on the school (as all those being honest when they graduate from high school can tell you) … maybe even use a varied teacher peer review scale to help weed out weak educators?

When it comes to factoring in retirement benefits, how about each state taking a broad cross section of their business retirement plans (a mix of small and large companies) and create a 401K retirement plan that gives teachers an incentive to contribute with a match tied to the state’s blend of businesses?

I’m amazed our nation moves so slow in making changes that keep our educational system competitive with other countries? With all the money being spent on education here in the United States, our numbers should be much better … this is shameful.

Category: Education, Financial, Video | No Comments »
Tags: Education, reform, teachers

Posted By RichC on July 7, 2012

Oh it has been hot … way too hot to work out in the yard … but with the mid-week July 4th holiday and quirky work schedule, it seemed like a good time to spend some hours on home and yard chores. Taylor and his buddy Michael have been contracted (they need the money) to stain the fence … and I’ve been working on finishing up  the mulching and landscaped beds started by Taylor.

I’ve also been working on putting the front porch back together after adding the pavers this spring. That meant a lot of cleaning and de-cobwebbing the painted ceiling and pillars (they need paint too) … as well as powerwashing the bricks and sidewalks.

Besides the actual front porch, I’m repairing, stripping loose paint, priming and spraying two coats of oil based white paint on a wicker chair and loveseat. These are a couple items that Brenda purchased at one of her addictive Everything But The House estate sales to put on the porch. Thankfully the wicker is sturdier than I thought, but I do question the effort it is going to take to keep them clean and looking good. Maybe we should get covers made for them?

Category: Misc, Personal, Shopping | No Comments »
Tags: ebth, furniture, porch, wicker

Posted By RichC on July 6, 2012

Hmm … would be interesting to try this on a VW TDI diesel?

Diesel engines are the perfect recipients of mild engine modifications. They are considerably robust—generally much more so than gasoline engines. Without going into a diesel history lesson, this is what led to the diesel mod craze in the first decade of the 21st century.

Quadruple-digit power numbers were actually obtainable to any diesel owner who was willing to shell out enough dough. But, as many diesel hot rodders will tell you, there is a price. Blown head gaskets, melted pistons, burned-up turbos, and destroyed fuel injectors can be real downers when you have an expensive diesel under the hood. Higher temperatures and increased pressure within the cylinder walls are generated in conjunction with more power, and if you cannot keep the engine cool and together, than you’re going to have either catastrophic failure or at the very least premature wear.

01. The MPG-MAX kit comes with three injectors. One has a small nozzle that is fed by the electric pump as soon the system activates (usually around 6 psi unless programmed otherwise). The other two can be fired at the same time using a T-fitting after the supplied solenoid (which turns on at a higher set boost pressure and fuels the second and third injectors). After consulting the supplied directions and notes in the Snow Performance kit, Xtreme Unlimited in Oceano, California, chose to use only two injectors (only one with a larger nozzle after the solenoid instead of two). For maximum effects, you’ll want to use all three injectors (two after the solenoid).

But you can add a water/methanol mix to a diesel engine to cool the air/fuel mixture and clean up emissions while improving the efficiency of the burn and lowering EGTs. It’s a method that has been used for decades—as far back as fighter planes of the 1940s—and it can benefit your diesel truck, regardless if you have any power/cooling issues or not.

After adding a MPG-MAX water/methanol injection kit to our Florida-based 2011 6.7L Power Stroke Super Duty, we had a few questions on why water/methanol injections seem to work so well. Matt Snow of Snow Performance was the expert with the answers. Check out our insightful Q&A below.
OFF-ROAD: Doesn’t it take more energy to make more power? How can a water/methanol mix make more power? It’s still a fuel, so technically it’s an additional fuel used to make more energy, right?

Matt Snow: Energy is stored in many ways. One way is chemically as a hydrocarbon that is released when it is combusted. Another way is chemically when water changes state from a liquid to a gas creating the “steam effect,” which pushes down on the piston making torque.

More power is attained from methanol due to two factors:

1. The first factor is combustion conditioning. There is evidence in the research journals indicating that during combustion, when methanol (and to a lesser extent water) changes state, each droplet breaks-up creating many “micro-explosions.” These micro-explosions help better atomize the fuel droplets, facilitating more and smaller droplets that are more “ready” to combust. This combustion conditioning results in more of the available diesel fuel in the combustion chamber being burned (less going out the exhaust port burning or unburned) resulting in more power and less emissions (especially particulate matter and NOx).

2. Methanol is a fuel source. Also, the fact that more power is generated on the power stroke (as piston is going down after TDC) resulting in more net positive torque means more power is generated with a given amount of fuel. This also makes it “safe power.”

Many wonder how water alone can increase power since it isn’t a fuel. Water increases power through two main mechanisms. First, it lowers charge air temps, which increases air charge density (more oxygen available for combustion). When water changes state from a liquid to a gas, it absorbs heat. How much heat depends on the total surface area of the droplets, which is why atomization is so important. With constant volume, the more finely atomized the droplets, the more total surface area. Secondly, expansion takes place as the droplets change state during combustion creating the “steam effect” which pushes down on the piston creating additional torque. Also, this is “safe power” in that this torque is predominantly created as the piston is going down during the power stroke after TDC.

OR: Does water-meth injection into a diesel engine cut emissions? Wasn’t this used as far back as the early 20th century?

Snow: Water/methanol injection has big advantages with emissions. Specifically, NOx is reduced up to 70 percent and particulate matter (PM) is reduced up to 50 percent. This is significant because these are the two emissions that the EPA is most concerned about.

In the late 1800s to early 1900s, Rudolf Diesel recognized the benefits of water injection in diesel combustion as a way to get more useable work out of the heat of combustion. Just as turbocharging is a way to scavenge normally wasted energy, water injection is used for the “steam effect” in combustion where additional torque is produced as the water droplets go from liquid to vapor.

• 
  04.5 The red high-pressure tubing meets a quick-connect fitting that threads into the sid
  OR: Is it legal? If not, why not?

  Snow: The key to California Air Resource Board (CARB) certification and getting an executive order number for a product is proving that it doesn’t make emissions worse. Since water and water/methanol injection in a diesel reduces emissions significantly, it is just a matter of proving it with a CARB-approved testing protocol at a CARB-approved lab. This unfortunately takes a fair amount of time and money. We are in the process of getting the necessary certifications to satisfy CARB (and thusly the EPA) with a water/methanol injection kit. In certain states, emissions testing is not yet done on diesels, so diesel owners in those areas do not need to worry about emissions exemptions.
  After doing some towing with our MPG-MAX system engaged, we can definitely tell the power difference and we can see a definite EGT drop coming up steeper grades. We’ll need to do some more testing before we can give you accurate fuel economy changes with the Snow Performance kit (and maybe even find a dyno to see the rear-wheel power differences), so look for a future report in our Long-Term Updates column.

  Sources

  Snow Performance
  1017-A East Highway 24
  Woodland Park
  CO  80863
  866-365-2762
  www.snowperformance.netXtreme Unlimited
  1210 Pike Lane #2
  Oceano
  CA  93445
  805-474-1312
  http://www.xtremeunlimited.com/http://www.off-roadweb.com/tech/1208or_injecting_more_power_diesel_water_methanol_injection/viewall.html
  

Category: Automotive | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, trucks, vw

Posted By RichC on July 6, 2012

This content is restricted.

Category: Music, Video | 1 Comment »
Tags: mp3, mungo jerry, Music, one hit wonder

Posted By RichC on July 6, 2012

After reading a little more about finding the dead pilots and Turkish military jet in the Mediterranean Sea that was shot down in Syrian airspace, I was curious where this occurred and started searching on Google Maps, etc. Eventually I ran across a few border towns along the Syrian and Israel line and eventually noticed the Lebanon-Israel border town of Ouanzzani and Ghajar and thought, “it must be challenging to travel back and forth?”  Dangerous too.

From Wikipedia

In 2000, following the campaign promise and election of Ehud Barak as Prime Minister, Israel withdrew their troops from Lebanon. In an attempt to demarcate permanent borders between Israel and Lebanon, the United Nations drew up what became known as the Blue Line. Due to Ghajar’s location, wedged between Lebanon and the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, the northern half of the village came under Lebanese control and the southern part remained under Israeli control.^[2] This arrangement created much resentment among the residents, who see themselves as Syrian.^[2]

Despite the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, tension mounted as Hezbollah made repeated attempts to kidnap Israel soldiers in the Ghajar area.^[7] In 2005, Hezbollah launched a rocket attack on Ghajar and infiltrated it, but withdrew after being repelled by the Israelis.^[3] Following another attack in July 2006, Israel invaded southern Lebanon and re-occupied the northern half of Ghajar during the 2006 Lebanon War. Following a month of intense fighting, UNSC Resolution 1701 was unanimously approved to resolve the conflict, and it was accepted by combatants on both sides. Among other things, the resolution demanded the full cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the disarming of Hezbollah, the deployment of Lebanese and UNIFIL soldiers, and the establishment of full control by the government of Lebanon.

 

Citizenship

Residents on both sides of the village have Israeli citizenship; those in the northern half often hold passports from both Lebanon and Israel.^[8] They work and travel freely within Israel, but those living on the Lebanese side have difficulties receiving services from Israel. There is an Israel Defense Forces checkpoint at the entrance to the village, and a fence surrounding the entire village, but no fence or barrier dividing the Israeli and Lebanese sides of the village.

Category: History, Misc | No Comments »
Tags: israel, lebanon, syria, turkey