April 05, 2008
Lloyd's warns of a lack of natural disasters
No that's not a typo....
It seems they are worried that the lack of natural disasters will increase pressure on them to reduce premiums.
Oh dear...the horror...I'm so vexed and chagrined I fear I shall cry.
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April 04, 2008
Here are some clips....
I'm pleasantly surprised that the film got made, but even more surprised to have found these .gifs on....er....4-chan of all places.
more...
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April 02, 2008
The crews of Healy and the Polar rollers had best make for the paint locker stat!
The article linked in CDR. Salamander piece is quit interesting and brings up a pressing issue facing the USCG.
What to do about the big icebreakers.
The Coast Guard is down to 3 polar capable icebreakers of which only the two Polar Class are really up to dealing with Antarctic conditions.
Designed during the cold war to be readily upgradeable to combat icebreakers for use clearing paths for allied ships in the arctic,the Polar Star class has given sterling service as research ships and tenders supporting the US presence in Antarctica. Even with the many advances in icebreaker design since their commissioning the Polar Rollers have impressive stats. However, while still an excellent design they are very old. More that 30 years of traveling to the antipodes to smash into freshwater ice that has been hardening for eons has taken its toll. Both the vessels are nearing the end of their useful lives.
Designed without any defence considerations and optimized for research, the Healy is a larger vessel with a smaller powerplant and predictably is not as good at crunching centuries old freshwater ice ice as the two older vessels. The ship is, however, capable of "getting by" in Antarctica and is quite adequate for Arctic operations. The ship is an outstanding research vessel.
With the Polar class on their last legs and the Healy really a research ship there has been talk of washing the Coast Guards hands of the whole (expensive) operation and adding Healy to the National Science Foundations Laurence M.Gould and Nathaniel B. Palmer.
This would involve finding a contractor to operate her as the NSF doesn't actually man those icebreakers.
As tempting as this might sound, icebreakers are not just science ships.Icebreaking is a Coast Guard function by statute. Antarctic support is as well and there are other issues that need addressing....
For instance, Healy is seeing a LOT of use, not just hauling scientists around and providing sefvices for the North slope, but simultaneously showing the flag as the US, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia compete to explore the rapidly thawing arctic ocean and lay claim to navigation rights and resource deposits in their overlapping claims. This is an important area on national interest and the CG being a military, but also with civil responsibilities and expertise is probably the best positioned to deal with this.
It gets worse. The arctic is, as mentioned above, becoming far more busy. This means more people that need saving from icy waters, polar bears and killer whales. While Many SAR functions can be done by aircraft, (airships might be a good fit here) nothing compares with the carrying capacity of a big ship. Additionally as commerce increases the Coast Guards statutory icebreaking responsibilities become more important to northern Alaska.
Pollution response in the delicate northern environment may need vessels with large skimming capacity and an incinerator for burning skimmed oil. While contractors handle most spill response today in accordance with federal law, the CG has a responsibility to be ready to respond if the contractor drops the ball, or if, unusual circumstances overwhelm the contractor (as does happen).
This doesn't even get into the Antarctic responsibilities the CG has (the US recently had to contract with the Russians for the use of Krassin) or the fact that sealift, both humanitarian and strategic (and, occasionally, sea control) can on occasion benefit from having an ability to break ice.
The National Academies agree and published this piece in 2006 recommending the construction of 2 full capability icebreakers to replace the Polar class. This is a minimalist approach IMHO. Two and 3/4 icebreakers arent going to cut it. Icebreakers require a lot of yard time (they deliberately run into ice after all).
I have no idea what the cycle times and maintenance requirements for these vessels are but six seems like a good number.
I arrive at this number by the scientific method of looking at the total number of National Security Lemons planned and subtracting the number built or too far along to terminate which is two. The problems with the class seem to be less with the design than with contractor quality control, but they are quite expensive vessels.
Reorder the remaining NSC's as icebreakers.
The NSC's cost as much as the entire defense budget of Ecuador.
The proposed Offshore Patrol Cutters are roughly the size of the current Hamilton class...(which are very successful as high endurance cutters after all). 6 If a total of 33 cruising cutters is needed then order 33 OPC's and start building them in the very near future. There are plenty of decent designs for OPV's on the market and I suspect that the requirements for the NSC are rather gold plated. In another rant I mentioned that....
Something as expensive as the LCS is silly. A 45 knot warship with a full ECM suite is not needed for this. Indeed the USCG requires rather heavier scantlings and shell plating to survive in the worst sea states. It should also be lightly ice strengthened.What is needed is an updated version of the 378 foot cutters seen above. Swap the gas turbines for diesels trading speed for fuel economy. 24-27 knots is really enough if the ship has a helicopter and pursuit boats. This sounds very close to the actual characteristics of the new Offshore Patrol Cutters.
Given the cost of the Bertholf class it seems entirely possible that an upgraded commercial icebreaker design could be bought at little or no net loss.
We need icebreakers and we're wearing ours out.
More on this from a Canadian perspective here.
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April 01, 2008
April 2 Update:...actually no....
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March 29, 2008
I hold in my sweaty little palms volume 3 of Welcome to the NHK!
I had just about given up on this given ADV's recent troubles but tonight I look forward to being as offended and appalled by this merciless expose' of dysfunctional otakuism and others at the fringes of society as I was in the first two volumes.
This show is merciless, but strangely touching and funny as hell...
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Over at Colony Worlds, Darnell Clayton wonders if the inflatable Spacehab type modules that Bigelow Aerospace are using can be adapted to artificial gravity.
Now, one of the Brickmuppets crack team of science babes points out that, somewhat surprisingly, the numbers have already been run on this idea and it is quite doable.
The study, in pdf form here, is quite interesting and relevant to human exploration in ways that the ISS simply is not.
Designed as an exercise by a team of students from the University of Maryland (at College Park) the proposed Clarke Station is a manned, variable gravity research facility intended to determine exactly what gravity level is needed to sustain long term human health.
Given that all of the planets and moons with resources that make human settlement possible have substantially less gravity than Earth, this is a nontrivial question. Lunar Gravity can, of course, be tested on an off the shelf satellite...the moon...but it seems prudent to test physiological effects of other gravities at a location no farther than the moon where the bail and scramble back to earth time is measured in days not months (or years in the case of Titan). A variable gravity facility can of course be used for training in say, Martian gravity to learn any tricks and unwelcome surprises of a particular gravity level. It bears remembering that the 1/6th gravity of the moon required some considerable adaptation by the Apollo Astronauts to simply get around.
(boingy boingy boingy..)
We need to find out some very basic things....
Does gravity in the ballpark of the moon have the same long term effects as 0 gravity? If so, what is the lower limit of tolerable gravity? Can we have permanent settlements on the 1/4 g environment of Mars for instance? Can low gravity effects be mitigated by exercise or drugs in ways that actual free-fall cannot? (this seems likely....to a point....but we have no reference for where that point might be). What are the actual maximum rotation rates that a crew can reasonably adapt to? This has a big effect on how wide and therefore big and heavy the centrifuge habitat in a spacecraft needs to be I've see reports that suggest a 30 foot diameter is adequate (Zubrin referring to his Gaiashield mission) and some that say 100 feet or more is necessary....we need to KNOW this stuff.
None of this can be found out on the ISS or current spacecraft because they are in free fall. A proposed gravity deck on the ISS was omited for budgetary reasons (and I'm not sure it would have been useable by people). Manned space exploration is going to require these sorts of questions answered
The station is interesting for another reason. Its choice of radiation protection.
The station is positioned at a Lagrange point (L1) which leaves the crew without the protection of the Van-Allen belts. This is compensated for by filling the walls of the inflatable modules with water. A few trips will pump the water into the walls to give superb protection. The original NASA inflatable concepts (going back to the 80's) had this as a feature so it is well within the design parameters of the materials involved. Water is heavy, but it is easy to handle and is well tested as a radiation shield. Given the existence of an inflatable module, pumping in water is just one more thing that needs to be pumped, simplifying assembly. Outside cislunar space on a mission to another planet or an asteroid, this sort of rad shielding will be a real asset. This is not a new concept at all, and it is elegant in its simplicity but it has never actually been done.
The position of this station at a liberation point is of more significance now than it was when this plan was developed, as we now have as a national goal a return to the moon. As John Goff points out, orbital propellant depots at a Lagrange point have the double advantage of enabling greater payloads to be carried to the moon and learning important, practical hands on lessons about one of the primary technologies for spacefaring....transfering fuel and other fluids between spacecraft. More on this architecture here and here is Boeing's proposal, focusing not just on the nuts and bolts but its commercial viability...in this case of a low earth orbit facility. Things break, so if an orbital propellant depot is built having one of these nearby allows the crew to do double duty as gas station attendants!
It should be noted that the Bigelow-type inflatables are a fairly mature technology,for instance, here is a paper on inflatables from 1988.
Within the limits imposed by my stock disclaimer, this station seems to be a conservative and robust in design with a good fudge factor regards strength (it can sustain 1.2G) and the inflatable modules should simplify construction. It is a modest near term proposal using off the shelf technology that can bring in huge benefits There are certainly some issues not covered by these engineering students but in order to tweak those would only require NASA to send it to Langley or Glenn. All that would require would be for NASA to be looking seriously at this line of research.
And therein lies the rub.....
Science babe is from Intron Depot (I think) and is, of course, by Masamune Shirow, who's art, books and artbooks can be bought here.
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March 28, 2008
This evening my father finally came home and, with some difficulty, my brother in law and I got him upstairs into the hospital bed. He is in the house.
Yay!
With my mother recovering from cancer, my grandmother recovering from a shoulder replacement (due to a fall last year) and my dad very pretty much immobile for a month or more while he recovers from this surgery, I'm pretty much going to be assisting with therapy, cleaning doing yardwork and generally keeping up my folks house for the next few weeks/months.
I'm going to be Super Mister ButlerMan!
...and that always leads to adventure !
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New Zealand man who claimed he was raped by a wombat and that the experience left him speaking with an Australian accent has been found guilty of wasting police time.
I'll bet it curled his hair too.
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March 25, 2008
I was informed during Japanese class that my father had entered surgery and was expected to be awake at 1:30. After class I left the school to run by my parents house to check on my grandmother, who is recovering from shoulder surgery. The plan was to meet my sister, have her take me to the hospital and after meeting dad take the van (which my mom is too short to drive) back to my folks house.
At 3:00 I called my mom to find out if he was awake yet.
He was not.
His blood pressure had collapsed shortly after I had talked to her and they were unable to awaken him. I explained the situation to my grandmother and we prepared to leave for the Hospital. I called my mother again and got no response. 3 more calls and no response.
I called my sister to see where she was. She answered that she had not left the hospital. I asked if there had been any change at all and she said no. I told her to hang tough and that my grandmother and I were coming. My sister then informed me that my dad did not want Granny to come to the hospital. I was antsy about bringing her there myself but if there had been no change and he was still not waking up then I wanted to be by his side and she did too. At this point there was a long silence.....then my sister came back with...."Huh?....Oh yeah! I was supposed to call you when he woke up! Sorry."
Little sisters are such pernicious creatures.
After being relieved at the parents house by my uncle I stopped by the hospital just over an hour ago. I got another start when I arrived. The room was beset with nurses an alarm was going off and his wavy line machine had flatlined....this turned out to be due to a defective piece of electronic equipment. My father kept asking "Does this mean I'm dead?"
He is in good spirits and doing as well as can be expected for a man who has just had his hips deboned and then reboned with stainless steel. My brother was there when I arrived. As I type this we have just left him to sleep. He should be home Friday or Saturday and I can start breathing (and sleeping) again now.
Thanks to everyone who left their good wishes. They were greatly appreciated.
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March 24, 2008
I have a few posts pending concerning my usual uninformed rants.
"Stuff", however, is happening, so aside from a post operation post tomorrow, I'm going to be lying doggo for a bit.
I leave you with but one request.
Never never never do this....
Promise me....
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March 22, 2008
He has been putting off his hip replacement for nearly a decade and can barely walk. The doctor, upon looking at his X-Rays last year, was astonished that he could walk at all, people are usually restricted to wheelchairs long before they reach his level of deterioration. He has been muddling along in pain for years...first to reach retirement and then to do the myriad things that have cropped up since. He's not that old, only 65, but a perfect storm of injuries and genes have given him the hips of a 90 year old football player.
Monday a spanner was thrown in the works.....a fault was detected in his heart. Essentially, his left ventricle is backfiring. This puts him at some risk from the anesthesia. The past week has been spent in interminable tests to determine if it is even safe to operate. After looking over the results the doctor explained that he faces some real risk. However, he left the decision to my dad due to the pressing fact that my dad is 65 and looking at 30-40 years in a wheelchair in pain without the surgery. So, my father is, understandably, going ahead with it.
Stupidity, circumstances and naivete' put me on the side of a 200 foot cliff with my sweaty palms loosing their grip. I've gotten entangled in debris while diving, found myself surrounded by barracuda and been face to face with a tiger shark as well as a herd of wild pigs. I've been seasick and upside down hanging head first in the bilge of a sinking boat trying to install a spare bilge pump while seas higher than our pilot house dunked me in my own vomit...and I was scared to death each and every time.
.....but I've never been quite as scared as I am tonight......
I'll know something by noon Tuesday.
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March 18, 2008
One of the giants of Sci Fi has passed.
Sir Arthur C Clarke, Royal air force officer, inventor of the communications satellite and the concept of the space elevator, undersea explorer and author has died.
Though it must be said that he led a full and long life, his is a loss dearly felt. He was a renaissance man, and a visionary the likes of which is far too rare.
Big roundup here, Jerry Pournelle, * has thoughts on his old friend here.
*who is himself undergoing treatment for brain cancer (and has a tip jar)
UPDATE MARCH 22:via Instapundit, Clarkes final interview.
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March 17, 2008
Last week was Spring Break.
I spent it alternating between UPS, the Coast Guard and the bug that's been going around.
Why did I go in to the Coast Guard on spring break?
...well... here is some background on that....
more...
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March 13, 2008
"Ooh..kinky...How many arms are you hiding under that dress?"
More at Photoshop Disasters.
via
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March 12, 2008
But Mark Styen does!
OK, this may be a fake, as Wonderduck points out via private communication, the sheriffs name is Mr. Whipple.
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Fallon was the head of CENTCOM and by all accounts a decent, upstanding, and competent guy.
Fallon is very widely respected by just about everybody. The idea that Fallon has left, either because he was forced out or had a serious disagreement is being taken by some as a signal of eminent war with Iran.
The generally reasonable Galhran sums up that view here.
....I really am stunned, I have never really believed the US was going to strike Iran until today.
And indeed, this does not make sense from a civilian political mindset which is what Gahlran's perspective is. I did not find the hyperbole of the Esquire piece particularly helpful especially since it seems to have been rewritten with extra added drama since the resignation.
CDR Salamander has a rather different take on this here. He makes some very good points that have escaped some other people.
I'm a junior enlisted reservist in a different service. So take my stock disclaimer to heart This is so far beyond my paygrade it boggles the mind.
Still...I tend to agree with the Commander on this. The Esquire article was stupid hyperbolic divisive and damaging. I also think there are other things going on. I don't think this is the Rubicon, but pieces like it may lead our enemies to believe that is the case.
How well that works out depends on how our side plays it.
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Dave Stevens, creator of the Rocketeer , pin-up artist extrordinaire and all round nice guy has died.
He is well remembered here .
I did not know him, but I am aware of one particular example of his classiness.
He made some money doing pictures of Betty Paige ( he based a character in the Rocketeer on her) long after she had retired.
No one knew who she was and her image was considered to be in the public domain.
Dave Stevens tracked her down….and paid her royalties.
Nice guy.
Class act.
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