I found this embedded in one of Michael Totten’s essays. It takes awhile for anything to happen, but it is worth waiting for.
This is why I have always been a little skeptical of trying to build mine proof vehicles for the troops. Amour has never managed to win the arms race with modern explosives.
I am always surprised to find out how dangerous certain chemicals can be. In his latest post Derek talks about a chemical so dangerous that it can set metal on fire just from contact. The whole post was fascinating, but the best part was where Derek quoted John Clark as saying….
”It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that’s the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water-with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals-steel, copper, aluminium, etc.-because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride which protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.”
Oakland’s recent gun buyback was especially ridiculous. The police offered up to $250 for a gun “no questions asked, no ID required.” The first people in line? Two gun dealers from Reno with 60 cheap handguns. Fortunately the buyback did manage to get some guns off the street, too bad they were turned in by a bunch of senior citizens from an assisted living facility. Whew, the streets are safe at last.
From the New York Times via Megan McArdle……
African nurses and pharmacists are also sought after by clinics and drug store chains offering better pay and legal assistance with immigration, said the experts, who include the heads of several pharmacy and medicine schools in Africa. “The resulting dilapidation of health infrastructure contributes to a measurable and foreseeable public health crisis,” the article said. “The practice should therefore be viewed as an international crime.”
I would get me some of this Insurance if only it really worked…
What do interesterified fat and prenatal urination have in common? Nothing, except I learned something new about both of them recently. It would be very interesting if they had something more in common than that. As it is, I found what I learned about both to be both educational and interesting. Perhaps you will also […]
This week’s poem of the week is a lament for a fallen culture
Investigator Gadget tells a story that is set in modern day Britain, but could easily be set in the last days of Rome, or any other failing culture.
This story in the New York Times has been told many times over the history of the British and American empires. It will probably happen many times again for as long as there are Anglo Saxons around who want to rule and be loved at the same time.
This from Robert Rapier….
We could still potentially see $4 gasoline by summer, but it is looking increasingly less likely. Inventories should start to come down as turnaround season gets into full gear, but we are starting this year in a more comfortable place than last year. Presuming oil prices don’t go on a big run this spring, unless we have a repeat of last year’s steep draw down I doubt we will get close to $4 before summer.
Read the whole blog post for the supporting information. But the bottom line is that gasoline inventories are unusually high this year. The last time they where this high was back in 94. This should have a moderating impact on the price we pay at the pump.
Of course, there are still high oil prices and a generally inflationary environment working on prices from the other end. Still, we can hope that those who are predicting $4 a gallon gasoline will turn out to be wrong.
Life is too short to eat margarine. Really and truly. One of my indulgences is to drop $3 for a brick of Somerdale English butter at Central Market. It’s too expensive to use for cooking, but spread it on bread and it will knock your socks off. It’s like tasting real farm eggs, or chicken that comes from an actual farm. For people raised on mass-produced food — which is to say, almost all of us — it’s like tasting the Platonic essence of the thing for the first time. If you’re me, there’s very little that can give so much pleasure for $3 than a block of English butter, which makes most commercially available American butters taste pale and watery.