Evel Knievel has died.

Knievel, a barnstorming motorcycle stuntman who gained as much notoriety from his spectacular crashes as his successes, was indeed a loon, but he was a brave and talented loon. He dressed in red white and blue which he wore like a like a superhero, complete with a cape!  Despite his ostentatious outfits, and the hucksterish nature of his profession, he was a rare dash of sincerity and optimism in a revoltingly cynical and despondent time.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:46 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Your IQ Is 125

Your Logical Intelligence is Below Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Genius Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

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I'm insanely busy right now, but there is a very lengthy post on internet piracy going on over at Colleen Doran's blog,  The discussion has reached 85 posts in the comments and is well worth a read.

The post mainly concerns comic piracy but the subject matter is likely of at least academic interest to many anime fans.

Full Disclosure: I've watched fansubs and bought several DVD series because of them. Every few months I go to a bit torrent party to see the first few episodes of what's new in Anime.

The fansubbers, however, don't stop with the first few episodes, nor do they, as Stephen Den Beste suggested, reduce their video quality to you tube levels.

I have little sympathy  for the video companies who saddled us with region coding specifically to screw Japanese consumers and the new "solutions" to the piracy problem that tend towards things like this.

However, the technology has advanced to the point that I fear we're going to see a "tragedy of the commons" in several artistic industries in a few years.

Well, I'm off to work. Be back in a day or two.

Update:
Suddenly...related posts...lots of them, some quite....special.
It's like Colleen is the hundredth monkey or something.
Actually this flurry of interest is strictly anime related and seems to stem from this editorial at ANN . (HT: Stephen who has further thoughtful screedage here).
Avatar has industry insider perspective here, and points out the unlikelihood of RIAA style crackdowns on fansubbers here. While some may be very happy to hear this, the jist of his argument is that the Anime companies,  because they don't have the financial resources...these are small operations frequently run by people who were fans of this stuff and they don't have the spare change to deal with the lawsuits.  This is unsurprising, in my experience, particularly on campus recently,  "standing up to the man" generally means taking pot shots at those who can't hit back.

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One of the Brickmuppets' crack team of science babes runs the numbers on hydrogen and points us to this recent story about a breakthrough in bacterial hydrogen generation.

The results came as a result of experiments with the sort of microbial fuel cell described here. This design produces electricity in small amounts but its big payoff was in hydrogen, 288 percent the energy in hydrogen that was put in.
This is not quite as impressive as it sounds. For example, if one replaced all the cars with H2 it would require the generation of just over 1/3rd the energy required by all cars to fuel them. However all hydrogen schemes that don't extract the hydrogen from hydrocarbons have high energy costs, if this is scalable it is orders of magnitude more efficient and an energy producer rather than looser. That is big.It is also capable of processing waste and generating its own energy while doing it.

As a waste disposal technique this has real potential to be tremendously helpful (again, if it is scalable).

Hydrogen is unsuited for aircraft or ships but given enough cheap energy a case can be made for H2 fueled fuel cell cars. Their range would suffer,( from what I've read, about 150-200 miles is about the best one could realistically get without turning the fuel tank into a bomb) and that assumes very efficient fuel cells. If there are H2 stations everywhere, this becomes less of a problem.
However, this process, let alone any of the others, would only make sense for hydrogen production for cars if a vast amount of cheap power were available.


So, like a lot of alternate energy proposals, it is pretty much dependent on nuclear power being developed on a very large scale in this country.

Atomic power is  the future.

_{Science babe is actually Maria from Sakura Wars. (Which I should watch at some point)}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:52 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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1 Maria as a science babe? Try Kohran, man... ;p

Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Sat Nov 24 00:57:23 2007 (LMDdY)

2 Show me Kohran conveniently positioned in front of a chalkboard and I'll consider it.

 

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Nov 24 12:19:26 2007 (tFEtx)

3 Have you read what Zubrin wrote about hydrogen?
http://www.thenewatlantis.com/archive/15/zubrin.htm

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Sat Nov 24 14:21:05 2007 (9imyF)

4 One question I've asked repeatedly and still have no answer.  Hydrogen is the leakiest substance in existenence.  If we assume that approximately 20% is lost in shipping in ahndling, what will be the effect on the environment?

Posted by: Jerry in Detroit at Sat Nov 24 17:14:25 2007 (hk49F)

5

Hydrogen is not the leakiest substance, helium is. And losses won't be that great.

But even if it were, it wouldn't have any substantial environmental effect. Hydrogen is so light that released hydrogen rises rapidly. In the upper atmosphere, ultraviolet from the sun would cause molecular breakdown, resulting in production of water vapor. The quantity of new water vapor created in this way would be negligible compared to existing sources.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sat Nov 24 18:01:35 2007 (+rSRq)

6 Regards Zubrin, I have a great deal of respect for him on several issues, but I'm very skeptical of his methanol solution. That said, his problems with hydrogen are quite well founded and I think I touched upon most of them.

This is the first H₂ generating system that produces more energy than it takes in.This is big even if only on an academic level. IF this method is quick enough to allow on demand production then H₂ cars might make sense. The generation has to be on demand because the stuff leaks through solid steel.That IF is indeed a big one.

One neat but dubious idea for using Hydrogen is to blend it with methane to supercharge the methane and improve its energy density. Where the methane come from is, debatable, either natural gas or perhaps millions of daisy chained cows.

The big application for this process (if it has one) may well be in the sewage treatment industry.As to whether it is better than thermal depolymerization for this I can't even guess.

H₂ is utterly unsuited to aircraft or ships in any event.

Personally, for cars, I like biodiesel from algae far better than this. It has good energy density (better than gasoline) and very few handling issues. Even those can be utterly eliminated if small amounts of petro diesel are blended in. Like other kerosenes it can be used in ships and aircraft. Like all biofuels, it requires energy input. Thus we need a powerful cheap source of electricity....we need atomic power.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Nov 24 18:08:18 2007 (tFEtx)

7 Thanks for commenting everybody.

Regards hydrogens environmental effects, I do wonder if any studies have been done on what the inevitable vast quantities of hydrogen leakage reaching the upper atmosphere might do to ozone...

Baring any unwelcome surprises from that, I think Stephen is right, the impact should be close to nil, It should reenter the water cycle or space, there would be long term effects with a component of the planets  total water mass drifting off over centuries, but in centuries we should be able to grab some comets to make up the difference, and will likely have something better by then anyway.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Nov 24 18:15:01 2007 (tFEtx)

8

This is the first H₂ generating system that produces more energy than it takes in.

Unless you're speaking figuratively, then if they're claiming that, it's a scam. Nothing produces more energy than it takes in; that's against the rules. And you don't get to break the rules.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sat Nov 24 22:06:37 2007 (+rSRq)

9 Poor typing....

It generates the hydrogen biologically. There is energy being introduced via the bacteria, that for the purposes of determining the electrical bill  is not counted. It does not violate the rules any more than photosynthesis does.

 It does not violate the rules.

It may not ultimately be practical, but it is guilty of no crime.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Nov 24 23:02:12 2007 (tFEtx)

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The art and science of writing romance novels....explained.

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Here is an interesting bit of nautical history.

The Explorer, a submarine from the civil war era  has been identified on Pearl Island Panama.


The vessel was ahead of its time with lockout chambers to allow divers to leave the vessel while submerged. Unfortunately as this resulted in the whole submarine becoming pressurized to the depth it was at, and because it allowed the crew to stay down far longer than normal, and because dive tables weren't invented until 1910, the entire crew perished after a long dive.

The use of the submarine for civilian applications (in this case pearl diving) was quite unusual a that time.

There seems to be some debate as to the origin of the submarine, some sites say it was built for the US Navy during the Civil War, some have said it was built afterwards for entirely civillian applications. Whichever, it's designer one Julius Herman Kröhl made significant contributions to the USN during the war, and if the Wikipedia entry is accurate was very much the unions answer to Mathew Fontain Maury...at least in underwater explosives.

There is also some debate about the cause of the death of Kröhl and his crew. The reports cited "fever" which likely meant malaria, however, the whole crew being stricken and the vessels dive profile would seem to make the decompression accident a more likely cause.



Much more including schematics  here.
Note that this article claims this was the first case of decompression sickness amongst US citizens. I'm pretty sure this is hooey as diving bells had been in use since the 1500s and hardhat diving was going on in the UK in the 1790s. There was enough interest in the US that an improved helmet was patented in the US in 1834. I'm pretty sure somebody had had a decompression accident before this. The article is quite informative for all that. I'm very upset I missed his recent talk at Nauticus.

This story is particularly sad because the sub worked! It had been tested several times without incident. If dive tables had been available the vessel would have been a success.

Sometimes progress fails for one missed detail or unknown factor.

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Via Eaglespeak comes this humbling post from Commander Salamander.
It's short, read the whole thing.

Fortunes can be won and lost but honor can rarely be regained.

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   Few countries have been as accommodating to immigrants in recent years as the United Kingdom.  However, that is not enough for this asshat.

He moaned: “I miss Algeria. The English people are not helpful, they are so unfriendly and rude.

“I thought I had made friends in Croydon, but when I ask them for money they don’t give me it, so I know they can’t be my friends.”
...............................

Mr Tabet is entitled to return to Algeria at his own expense and admits that he “does not like it here”.

But he refuses to do so and says Britain will have to pay for his travel if it wants him to leave.

He moaned: “I miss Algeria. The English people are not helpful, they are so unfriendly and rude

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Wow thanks!

On the one hand there will be fewer woolly headed loons voting.
On the other hand there will be fewer people to pay for the sort of Ponzi schemes the woolly headed loons expect to pay for their old age.
On the gripping hand...there will be fewer wooly headed loons to vote against ending said Ponzi schemes.



As always, Eric Scheie uses his damnable logic to wipe the grin off my face.

HT both links: Instapundit

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The Canadian Cruise ship Explorer has been stove by a small iceberg off Antarctica! In this photo she is on her beam ends as I type this may already have sunk. More here.



The crew and passengers were rescued by the Norwegian cruise ship Nordnorge which transported them to King George Island. They will be transferred to the Chilean research station there and be flown to Punta Arenas as soon as weather permits.


The National Geographic Society cruise ship Endeavor also raced to the scene and an ABC (US) reporter aboard filed this report with video.

The MV Explorer was an interesting  ship with a unique history. Constructed in 1969 the "little red ship" was an ice strengthened cruise ship ahead of her time in that she was intended for what would later be called "eco-tourism".

 The vessel was the first civilian ship to negotiate the northwest passage unescorted. She had sailed farther north and farther south than any other cruise ship and had been the first cruise ship to sail the full length of the Amazon and the first cruise ship to dock in Iquitos Peru. The vessel had rescued the crew of an Argentinian vessel that had struck a rock off Anvers Island and had been used to conduct relief and medical operations in the Amazon.  She was bought by the Canadian ecotourism company G.A.P. Adventures in 2004.

Some question is being raised over "deficiencies" found by both Lloyds inspectors in the UK and Port State Control inspectors in Chile.

  Deficiencies recorded were: two on fire safety measures; one on life saving appliances; one for ship's certificates and documents, and one deficiency recorded for structural safety. She was seen at the time in Greenock's JWD dock for repair

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Today is the day to give thanks.

For me there is much to be thankful for.

Not landing on the rake when I fell off the roof for one.


But there are many other things both more and less profound that cause me to feel exceptionally blessed.

However, I'm going to take this moment to give thanks for one of the greatest moments of broadcast TV EVAH!!!



UPDATE: Via Murdoc, the outcome.
UPDATE 2: Wonderduck reports that due to rights issues the DVD collection is pretty much unwatchable.

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Here is a PDF on the organization and equipment of the German Sea Rescue Service.

This private organization, which operates on donations is interesting in its own right. It is a very highly regarded Coast Guard, yet is not a branch of the German government. It fulfills the niche of Coast Guard (minus any statutory responsibilities) without taking a cent of taxpayer money (unless said taxpayers donate it).

Equally interesting is their kit, for they have some of the most advanced rescue boats on the planet. I've mentioned some of their ships before, but this gives the detailed overview of them that I'd been looking for for some time. Robust and ice strengthened vessels almost exactly the size the Coast Guard is looking for, they certainly bear looking at.

Of course these vessels have limited area of operations and so range and crew accommodations are  less than a Coast Guard cutter would have, but they may have some potential for further growth.

The large rescuee accommodations are a very useful feature  and the helicopter decks, while small, give these vessels an interesting capability for such a small  patrol boat.

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This is deep.
Mabey...

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Over at Gates of Vienna, Dymphna links to this story by Patrick French. French actually went to Pakistan and tracked down "rage boy" (whose real name is  Shakeel Ahmad Bhat) and found a crippled, learning disabled man who was recruited into a terrorist cell at a very young age, However, because of his Suffi upbringing, he found it terribly difficult to kill people.  Now, unemployable both because of his illiteracy and his injuries, his only hobby  is to go march in protests. At some of these his photo was taken (he likes to pose for cameras) and he became a legend.

Note that he claims to have an injured right arm, but has no problem raising it in any of his many photos. However it is possible that the writer reversed the arms as his left arm is never raised, and seems "off" in some photos. Nevertheless, one can certainly be excused for skepticism in this regard.

 Assuming he is telling the truth, his story is indeed a sad one, I can't help but wonder if he's dyslexic or had some treatable learning disability. If so, given different circumstances his Suffi upbringing might well have allowed his life to follow a different path.

Nevertheless, the threat that his fearsome visage so eloquently portrays is real enough.

Make sure you read the Gates of Vienna link too, as Dymphna has some valuble perspective.

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 Via Anonymous PHD comes the Washington Monthly's Golden Wingnut Award!!

  ...In which Kevin Drum gets his loyal readers to vote for the most excrebal examples of lunacy they can find. OK this is fair I suppose but their choices are telling.

   This was the winner...yes ladies and gentlemen this was the most awfulest thing they could find!

   WTF!?

 It's a pretty reasonable if partisan assesment of the value of an actually relevant pollution control agreement (In stark contrast to Kyoto). It's a bit snarky but damn!

THAT WAS WHAT PISSED THEM OFF MORE THAN ANYTHING?!

THAT WAS IT!??

If that was the dumbest thing a righty has written on the internet then we are unstoppable BWAHAHAHA!!!

..all yur senate seetz are bel0ng to us!!1

Alas, no, there is asshattery on the right, as even a partisan wingnut such as me points out occasionally .There is idiocy all about, so it is really bizzare that this is the best they could come up with.

Of course, the winnings post deals with what may turn out to be a considerable foreign policy and environmental step forward. It seems likely that the potential of a success for the President, the hatred of whom has consumed them utterly, is what set them off. I doubt many of the voters got past the mild sarcasm of the initial paragraph.  

Lame.

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Today, my second day back to UPS, the floodgates opened and a tsunami of cardboard chaos consumed the building. We got hit quite a bit harder than anticipated.

Tomorrow is supposed to be vastly worse, and actual Christmas season hell is not set to begin until Monday.  On the up side...Overtime!!! On the down side...Wauuugh!!!

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This is awful!

  The cyclone that hit Bangladesh now appears to have killed at least 2000 people and the death toll is climbing rapidly.

   Via Instapundit is comes this link of charities involved in he relief effort.

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  Back from the Coast Guard. Today was quite busy as we tried to clear as much of the inspection list for the active duty people for next week.

   In about 15 minutes, for the first time in 6 weeks, I'm heading out to work.

   Yay!

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Rand Simberg points out an example of  rather poetic revenge that while technically illegal,  is certainly cathartic.

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Which, being really boring is below the fold.

No more blog tweaking tonight as I've got duty tomorrow and a bit more homework.

But I've gotten 333 comments at Menuvia!

Yay!

 _{Update: 24 hours later I realize I've been demonstrating to the entire interweb my inability to spell "meta" and "at".}

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