December Treasure Hunt
At that time of year when people wonder: ‘what gifts can I give others or myself that are cheap but of reasonable quality?’ it often helps to create a scenario. For the kind of things you outfit yourself with for depends on your self image. Starting from the assumption that the readers of this site go off each morning to slay the Dragon, what kinds of things might they find useful? Of course by “dragon” is not meant one like Smaug, but the more metaphorical kind. Here are some suggestions, though of course they may not be appropriate for everybody.
To look the part, the well dressed man on a quest might want to buy a pair of a Maui Jim HT shades for about $163. The polarized, high light transmission lenses mean that you can wear them inside an out of doors. They come in a variety of models including the really ritzy titanium framed models, for about $299. Try them at the store counter without buying them and see what you think.
Of course you might actually see a dragon. In which case you might want to buy an el cheapo Kodak waterproof HD pocket video camera to capture the experience. Almost any camcorder will shoot better HD video, especially in low light. And the still camera photography is definitely nothing to write home about.
But the Kodak camera has three major virtues. It is small and light enough to fit in your pocket; waterproof and looks cheesy enough for no one to care if you are using it to capture images. I keep one in my pocket in microfiber pouch and have found that the best video camera of all is the one you always have. The better professional quality model that’s in your closet back home is always second best. Plus it’s cheap enough to lose or risk without getting worked up about.
Pocket cameras like these are favorite with anyone with a reasonable chance of running across something interesting. Typically you can take your capture and upload it straight to YouTube. Or you can edit on a computer.
No modern dragon-slayer should be without a laptop, so you can run Eclipse and spend a relaxing hour or two cutting code checked into the cloud. Or maybe Putty and Vi if you had enough hair growing on your chest.
The problem used to be that any sufficiently powerful laptop might as well be a desktop for all that it weighed or the power it consumed. Or you could buy a Netbook with 1GB of RAM and a pokey processor and be totally mobile, but unless you kept to simple word processing on Notepad there wasn’t much else you could do but browse.
The Tablet craze thrived on the discovery that users connected to their computer multiple times for trivial or serious reasons. To check out an address; to make a call on Skype or search for product. Netbooks and ordinary laptops took too long to do that stuff and so people used phones. But phones were too small so Tablets were born.
But it will be tough trying to write code on a Tablet, even if you have lots of hair on your chest. The Macbook Airs are an adequate answer. But the new Ultrabooks are worth a look. They are seriously powered Windows 7 laptops with SSD drives. They are as small or smaller than the Macbook Airs and light up in seconds and connect very rapidly with a decent battery life. They were designed as tablet killers. Essentially they are full-power laptops with the boot up speed and portability of tablets. This model goes for about $1,100. A Netbook will cost almost half as much without having a fraction of the capability.
But a thousand bucks in these cash strapped days is serious money. And there’ll be those for whom $100 is simply out of the question.
For those who can’t afford the shades, or the super secret pocket Kodak James bond camera and still less the Ultrabook, you can always read about dragons. That only takes imagination and text.
In which case you can buy my No Way In at Amazon Kindle for $3.99 for dragon adventuring of a sort, or get the Hobbit by JRR Tolkien for $8.14 on Kindle, where you can make the acquaintance of the original Smaug himself. You can also give the Kindle books as gifts via button on the Amazon site to anyone that has an email address. This is an extremely economical method of gift giving. You can send ten copies of the Hobbit to friends for about $81 dollars.
Those friends can download the Kindle Reader for free, possibly on their brand new Ultrabooks, if they are gainfully employed, while the rest of toiling mankind makes do with their grubby old CRT monitors just dreaming of crossing lofty peaks and finding secret gates.
Far over the Misty Mountains cold,
To dungeons deep and caverns old,
We must away, ere break of day,
To seek our pale enchanted gold.The pines were roaring on the heights,
The wind was moaning in the night,
The fire was red, it flaming spread,
The trees like torches blazed with light.The king has come unto his hall
Under the Mountain dark and tall.
The Worm of Dread is slain and dead,
And ever so our foes shall fall!Farewell we call to hearth and hall!
Though wind may blow and rain may fall,
We must away, ere break of day
Far over the wood and mountain tall.
Storming the Castle at Amazon Kindle for $3.99
No Way In at Amazon Kindle $3.99, print $9.99
Tip Jar or Subscribe for $5
DRAGON SLAYING 101
A cautionary tale about a knight who went into battle with a dragon woefully unprepared. In limerick form.
A Philippine village, forsooth
Was besieged by a dragon, in truth
Who appeared from the east
When expected the least
And sped off with a maiden uncouth
The village, in panicky mode
Called a knight, who lived just up the road
Who quickly agreed
But a retainer he’d need
Before he would leave his abode
The weather was crisp, but not cold
The knight neither young nor yet old
He set out with a cry,
“The foul dragon must die!
Or me name is not Wretchard the Bold!”
The enterprise well under way
The knight, with a dragon to slay
On a horse that was keen
Sped right to the scene
And brought that old dragon to bay
Now here’s where the story gets weird
From the dragon lair music he heerd
A waltz, he declared
A weakness he shared
With the dragon, or so it appeared
Much alarmed, toward the music he slipped
Into darkness as black as the crypt
But abruptly he heard
Not a note, not a word
While from stalactites ice water dripped
In great fear now he tried to back out
When from out of the darkness a shout
With a roaring of flame
The beast cried out his name
And rushed forward to settle the bout
The knight drew his sword but too late
The dragon had settled his fate
A swift swing of his paws
And a raking of claws
Made the knight just some more dragon bait
Now the moral is clear as the sun
If you fight the foul beast one on one
A sharp sword or a shiv
Is okay, but to live
It is better to come with a gun
If your dragons happen to be of the Somali pirate variety, a M242 Mk 38 Chain gun might be the perfect gift.
hey, aren’t those somali pirates made in God’s image and likeness, just like the ows protestors?
not that you meant that anyway…
but what I meanto say, wretchard, is that you should add a link to the kindle reader sw. I have no tablet and no plans to get one but sure, would read it as a txt file and so, sure, an etext, why not if I can read it. would just add the reader sw link.
Here is a link to a free download of the Kindle reader.
It is also a free Iphone and Android app among other things. There are free books available, but even if you buy the Kindle books they are typically from 1/2 to 1/3 less than their print equivalents.
If you have got an Iphone or Android smartphone, this works out well as the downloaded book can be read while on the train or subway, or at a cafe.
As the focus of American Foreign Policy and security moves to Asia it would be valuable to get Wretchards perspective on the region–as well as the implications for Australia.
The 3 major religions in Asia are
Christianity–the Philippines and increasingly in China
Hinduism- India and Nepal
Muslim-Indonesia and India
Generally different religions seem to get along better in Asia that in the cesspit of the ME.
The conflict between Pakistan and India is territorial rather than religious
–within India Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs have reached a workable arrangement in the main-also in Indonesia.
Also the Philippines seems a natural place for American business to locate manufacturing, call centers and service industries including tele-medicine, off- shore legal and accounting services etc.
The Philippines is Christian, largely English speaking etc–why is the investment and development not greater?
Another serious issue is the growing sex/slave trade in the Philippines
–how can American, Australian and Philippine etc. Christians help put an end to this demeaning and soul destroying trade in female human beings in the Philippines?
W says:
”At that time of year when people wonder: ‘what gifts can I give others or myself that are cheap but of reasonable quality?’ it often helps to create a scenario.”
simple enough and just copy paste
http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/
and its free as in beer and
for the lady of your choice who likes perfumes …
this lady makes them
http://www.thinkinghousewife.com/wp/2011/12/the-art-of-domestic-frugality/
enjoy W. and Merry XMass. to all BCer
SF
My Blackberry Torch is starting to feel antique.
Are dragons more like Smaug from “The Hobbit” or Chrysophylax Dives in “Farmer Giles of Ham” or the ladies of the DAR or Pelosi and McKinney? Maybe they aren’t dragons but Mewlips.
One day we may get films of kindly old Professor T’s other works such as FGH, or maybe a real 18 episode TV series of the whole canon.
Y’know, on tv today the local station was making poor family’s dreams come true, which in one case meant a new XBox for a family who had to sell theirs recently to pay for groceries.
We are such a rich society these days in terms of material goods that it is hard to comprehend. Even when I was a child, if some holiday gifts turned out to be clothes instead of toys, they were almost always needed and used. Houses were built with modest closets, today’s residential design is entirely different and “public storage” type places thrive all over town to hold more of our junk.
So that, more and more, what I only wish I could deliver to friends, family, and self really is peace on Earth, good will to men.
That remaining hard to slice, dice, wrap, and ship, I tend instead to consumables: food, drink, tickets, and mostly cash for the young folk.
Major exceptions have included electronic items for my folks as they aged, and knew they needed something but were just as happy to watch their old tube tv with one color gun gone, until I had to buy them their first flat-screen – which was my great pleasure, realizing they had bought their first tiny black and white tube tv for themselves and their kids (me and my brother), way back in the day. My father marveled at it slightly, my mother just enjoyed the image. I still look at any modern flat-screen, can’t help but look around back and shake my head at the fact it really, truly is that flat, and I suppose I will for the rest of my days – until we are all Borg’d out and don’t even need screens anymore.
Which is what I said – peace on Earth, peace with the crazy world. Life is, after all, the most precious consumable.
Our host seems to be teetering on the brink of techno-obsession, which was rampant in Silicon Valley during my time there. Many people in the days leading to the bursting of the “dot-com bubble” put an unwholsome premium on possession of the absolute hottest most-current consumer toys.
People sold their souls and friends, trafficked in illicit acts and substances, pimped their daughters and mothers, all to secure the latest gadget, cell-phone with fax and built-in cigar guillotine, wine cooler with internet connection, or bathroom tissue dispenser activated by weblink.
In the DSM IV*, these symptoms fall under the category of “Acute Dissociative Technophilia.”
It just might be time, I would suggest humbly and with as much delicacy as I can muster, that our host consider one of the many excellent 12-step programs that have arisen to help sufferers unfetter themselves.
Of course, that’s all completely moot if Wretchard composes and transmits his excellent essays from remote locations so he’s required by his craft to glom onto all these infernal exotic machines.
*(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – published by the American Psychiatric Association, ISBN-13: 978-0890420256)
no sorry sorry sorry
I made that up. Well, the part about the “technophilia…” I’m sure the headshrinkers have some totally bland terminology, utterly non-judgmental. Maybe Jamie Irons can shed some light.
The truth is a bunch of insane holiday drivers were careering around parking lots and roadways like someone was filming a “Blues Brothers” sequel tonight. At least it made me slow down and pay a lot closer attention.
Saved my ass, too.
Because I was being wary, I managed to stop just shy of a T-Bone collision with some idiot who ran a red light coming off a highway ramp.
I pray the rest of you have a safe holiday, and bask in the beloved company of family and friends.
(by the way, anyone remember the Apple “Newton?”)
If you find yourself challenged in choosing a gift for someone, consider making a donation in their name to Wounded Warriors or the Semper Fi Foundation. You’ll feel good, they’ll feel good, and you’ll let a Marine know we care. (I am partial to Marines.)
Well said, Josh #9. Through a variety of circumstances — mutual agreements, kids growing up, etc — we are giving almost no gifts this year, other than Time. And I think as a result, we feel less stressed, less separated from the true heart of Christmas.
I’ve actually had time to sit and compare versions of Christmas songs on Youtube. And I can tell you, bless his gay heart, Johnny Mathis OWNS “When a Child is Born.”
LOL! In my view, though chest hair is not meaningless, it’s the amount of hair on the chin that seems to correlate more with Vi.
Killing dragons is hungry work, requiring a good breakfast.
Send someone a half-gallon of REAL maple syrup by mail order. Not the light amber, but the grade B dark kind. Not only does it taste more, well, mapley on your breakfast, it is a useful ingredient for everything from brines to barbecue sauce.
For the shooter on your list, you can’t go wrong with a portable Otis universal gun cleaning kit. Small, light, and can be used on just about any weapon. Extra Otis patches are a good stocking stuffer.
Just got the Kindle Fire for Mrs. Spindok and she loves it. She goes to various locations for her job and the wifi connection is seamless. No 3G though which is a disadvantage. She can access her web based system for her job and sign in customers, access facebook, eMail etc. Size is right to fit in a purse where the iPad is too large. The price is very reasonable and there is no monthy fee. The optional stylus is worth it.
For me I always wanted a good pocketknife. Found one at a shop in Hawaii. Scrimshaw on bone handle by local artist (sea turtle to remind me of our snorkeling adventure). High quality 440 steel. Fits right in hand and pocket $60. Should last forever if I dont lose it. Might work on a very small dragon.
6. Victor: The Philippines is Christian, largely English speaking etc–why is the investment and development not greater?
Corruption at every level of society there.
You know why people try to come to America? There’s a societal infrastructure here that equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars of value, for each family, but few people realize it. Our court system works. People obey the traffic rules. Our crime rare is actually declining, even in a recession. Cheap imports allow people to have more stuff than anyone could imagine even in the 1980s. Technology is a huge part. Even the poorest among us live like only the richest just a generation ago, with wireless phones, access to the global library, and government subsidized housing and food. This invisible binding network with a real monetary value doesn’t exist in the Philippines.
http://tinyurl.com/72kys95 Fox News – NRC Approves New Reactor Design
“Atlanta-based Southern Co. applied to build the first two AP1000 reactors at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Ga. The $14 billion effort is the pilot project for the new reactor and a major test of whether the industry can build nuclear plants without the endemic delays and cost overruns that plagued earlier rounds of building years ago. President Barack Obama’s administration has offered the project $8 billion in federal loan guarantees as part of its pledge to expand nuclear power.
Close on its heels is SCANA Corp., which is also seeking permission to build two reactors at an existing plant in Jenkinsville, S.C.
Other applications that use the AP1000 design include two plants in Florida, one and South Carolina and another in North Carolina. Each application is for two reactors.
Even with the design certification, it remains unclear when the Vogtle reactors will receive final approval — a major concern for Southern Co. since any delays could increase the cost of the project.
The biggest difference between the AP1000 and existing reactors is its safety systems, including a massive water tank on top of its cylindrical concrete-and-steel shielding building. In case of an accident, water would flow down and cool the steel container that holds critical parts of the reactor — including its hot, radioactive nuclear fuel.”
Santa just dropped a huge Christmas present into the stockings of Americans for Energy Independence!! 2 Southern Co + 2 SCANA + (2 x 2) Florida + 2 SC + 2 NC = 12 brand new reactors moving toward construction.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
“the best video camera of all is the one you always have”
Makes a good case for a 2″ snub nose or a 380 too. Beats a full house when you don’t have any more aces up your sleeve.
I have found that nearly everyone responds well to baked goods. Our family mad a big production of making Christmas cookies every year when I was a child. Half were for household consumption and the other half were just given to friends and neighbors for fun. There may have been a small amount of Martha Stewartesque competition to demonstrate that the family was so well organized that we had tome for shopping and cookies. For one reason or another I have picked up the family cooking standard; not so much for love of baking but for carrying on the tradition.
Anyway, I have found that nearly everyone appreciates home baked goods. It is hard to find the time to make them but a loaf of banana bread, a pound cake, chocolate chip cookies, pies, and yes, Christmas cookies are very useful tools for demonstrating affection for friends and family and establishing alliances / mending fences with difficult neighbors. Seriously, it is probably not in the COIN manual but who does not like butter and sugar?
Merry Christmas.
One idea that has worked out well is giving lottery tickets as stocking stuffers for work, mailman, etc. where you want to give something small to show appreciation.
One or two tickets, instant works well, in a nice envelope with a bow. A little fun and different.
sl @ 12: hey thanks.
yf @ 19: Seriously, it is probably not in the COIN manual but who does not like butter and sugar?
werd!
sd @ 15: Scrimshaw on bone handle by local artist (sea turtle to remind me of our snorkeling adventure). High quality 440 steel. Fits right in hand and pocket $60. Should last forever if I dont lose it. Might work on a very small dragon.
Small collectibles make great gifts, and well-made, fancy knives are right up there. So might jewelry be in 1% circles, I suppose, but I’ve never found much reception for the costume jewelry I could dabble in, even fairly nice stuff, and that’s before gold got *expensive*. At the other end, these little pocket multi-tools are a nice art form, started by the Leatherman series a few years ago, going beyond the old Swiss Army knife.
My cousin a few years ago dabbled in crafts, some outstanding quilts and needlework, but you can’t really expect stuff of that quality on a regular basis!
mp @ 17: Santa just dropped a huge Christmas present into the stockings of Americans for Energy Independence!! 2 Southern Co + 2 SCANA + (2 x 2) Florida + 2 SC + 2 NC = 12 brand new reactors moving toward construction.
All to the good, but I have to have some doubts about using Vogon designs!
–
Merry Christmas.
One idea I’ve used a couple of times is framing some of your own work; this of course only works if your work is worth framing. I have a photo of one of my local beauty spots (Ingleton Falls, Lancashire) taken at a rather unusual time and a somewhat unusual place, which was the middle of winter on a sunny day but right down in the bottom of a rather narrow valley. My name for the pic is “Under Mirkwood”.
It’s still on the recipient’s wall three years later, so probably appreciated…
The escalator which Kim Jong-il descended has now become a holy Marxist shrine, watch this video to see the sacred apparatus.
Plus, possible Islamic Halal tourism for Egypt: cover or shroud the “idolatrous” pyramids; segregate the tourist beaches and more.
Not that this is a gift giving idea, but maybe just being well (or well enough) and free (or free enough) is an unappreciated gift.
W – “cover or shroud the “idolatrous” pyramids”
I saw something on TV where they were speculating on the logistics of moving the great Khufu pyramid to Central Park, NYC stone by stone. They figured that it would keep on earning 93 million a year for perpertuity and pay for itself within 25 years. Maybe we can make a deal with the bedoine bed-wetters and take it off their hands for free.
My local library system has had eBooks available online for some time. It did a deal with Amazon and you can now check out Kindle books. There is getting to be a larger and larger supply of reading material for the kindle format and quite a bit of it is free.
I was just thinking if I’d went back in time to the 1950′s or even the 1960′s and showed them my cheap Kindle they’d darn near think it was off planet in origin. Just the number of books that I have stored on it would be like magic.
Merry Christmas to all BCers.
Don’t know if the news has made it to Oz, but the holiday news here in the states is a flash mob of “angels” seems to have appeared in K-Mart and Target stores, among others nationwide, to pay off random layaway accounts, on the grounds that anyone using layaway accounts at K-Mart probaby could use some good news. Stories of anonymous individual showing up and clearing out thousands of dollars worth of accounts. A few camera shots of the shoppers coming in, being told their accounts have been paid off, and some honest surprise and gratitude.
It really is a great idea, and a great holiday story.
Fletcher #22:
One year my Christmas gift to some friends who live a couple of miles from me was a couple of aerial photographs of their home. I made a low altitude pass on an exceptionally clear and sunny day using my Yashica FX-3 35MM film camera and got three very good photos. I picked the best two shots and had them professionally framed and matted.
They were very pleased. Both pictures are still hanging in their home.
From mostly a lurker here on BC, Merry Christmas to all. I’ve enjoyed the Club immensely over the years. Tip jar should be jingling shortly.
I agree with the comment on the camara you have with you being most valuable. I finally got a smart phone about a month ago, Droid X2, for a hundred bucks, plus 2 yr contract. I’m snapping pics and uploading them to Facebook regularly, and the extended family appreciates it. Takes less than a minute to do, once configured.
My (fake) Christmas tree is surrounded by unwrapped Amazon shipping boxes. One wrapped gift. A different time.
#27:
Unfortunately, there is also a story floating around today about gunfire at a store selling the new Nike Air Jordan shoes.
Then there’s the two car bombs in Syria that killed thirty people. An attempt by Assad to undermine support for the opposition? Or an attack on the regime by the opposition? We’ll probably never know for sure.
But such stories should perhaps be put on the back burner for a day or two. There’s always time for the negative and precious few seconds for the positive these days.
Merry Christmas to all!
Re: uploading to FB from a Droid: in my experience, it’s writing the caption that takes most of the time. Thus, if the picture is self-explanatory, the process can take way less than a minute. (My only gripe is that if the upload fails for some reason, there’s no automatic retry.)
wretchard @ 23 said:
“Plus, possible Islamic Halal tourism for Egypt: cover or shroud the “idolatrous” pyramids; segregate the tourist beaches and more.”
This story is extremely depressing. It’s well known that Islamic fascists hate all human culture except what they call “Islamic”. The behavior of the Taliban towards the Buddhas of Bamiyan was more the norm than the exception for Islamic vandals. Supposedly there has been significant cultural vandalism in Iran due to Islamic fanaticism. Egypt under Islam has had a history of destroying pharaonic monuments. The Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt who was also the son of Saladin got it in his crazy head that he needed to demolish the Pyramids of Egypt because they were un-Islamic. All this demented jackass succeeded in doing was visibly damaging the exterior of the smallest pyramid built by King Menkaure before he abandoned his effort. Even with high explosives, the pyramids are difficult to damage due to their enormous size. However the underground tombs in the Valley of the Kings are extremely fragile. Islamic fanaticism could cause horrific damage in the Valley of the Kings.
The irony about Egyptian Islamic violence against mankind’s history is the Islamists can not be bothered to preserve their own history. The Mamluk madrassa mausoleums in Cairo are very beautiful buildings but the modern Egyptians have done a poor job of maintaining them, refer to:
http://islamicture.blogspot.com/2007/08/alsalam-alaikom-this-is-sultan-kaitbay.html
Islam is a curse upon the human race.
@ 19. yankeefifth said:
Almost spilt my coffee over that. My uber-Raider fan teenage grandson, decked out in all his macho low-rider gear, is currently sitting in the kitchen with Mrs. Dweet building his annual gingerbread house. Today he insisted on taking time away from his i-world techie gamer friends and spending time with grandma doing something familiar, something he’s done every year for over a decade. I guess he’s a keeper, after all.
Further, we decided this year to get back to baking specialty bread for our own consumption and family gifts. Now our offspring and mates have caught the bug and each of our households enjoy the simple pleasures of home baking. Yes, I’d like an ultrabook in my stocking, but I’ll settle for a couple of slices of fresh, homemade Poulsbo bread on a plate, instead. Now if only I could find a US source for clotted cream.
KP: the caption is half the fun. “Two figures in motion” for the artistic, or “boy given haircut by sister” to drive interest.
Some more gift ideas:
If your daughters are going to be staring at a computer screen anyway, or you want them to, try the Nancy Drew mysteries. Many are worthwhile, some less so, with puzzles, and good story lines. They are priced according to value, more or less, on Amazon. My boys turned up their noses but secretly enjoyed them, too.
I bought some Bushmills Irish Whiskey for my Dad. Apple Jack Liquor in Denver has a 400 year anniversary edition with commemorative box for $40. Hesitate to share that since I want to get back there for another bottle for meself.
Finally, wish I had known about this here cookin’ gadget when I was a bachelor. Wouldn’t have half-starved. $110. http://www.amazon.com/Ronco-ST5000PLGEN-Showtime-Rotisserie-Platinum/dp/B00004RFQL/ref=pd_sim_k_5
Another Amazon box under the tree.
49er @ 33: Now if only I could find a US source for clotted cream
Seriously? I’ve had it in restaurants (omg!) they either get it somewhere or ‘clot’ it themselves! I know I’ve seen creme fraiche on grocery shelves. Let’s see, … to get it somewhere by mail, … ? Have to heat it to get it to 55% …
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/CremeFraiche2.htm
clotted cream – Traditionally served with tea and scones in England; it is a 55% minimum milk fat product made by heating unpasturized milk to about 82 degrees C., holding them at this temperature for about an hour and then skimming off the yellow wrinkled cream crust that forms (until the cream separates and floats to the surface). It is also known as Devonshire cream. It will last up to four days if refrigerated in a tightly sealed container.
Hmm, gotta go out now, I’ll do some local research …
W @ 23:
Will that happen America when the parasite class realizes the ‘stash’ is empty?
Most everyone is getting toys and gadgets from me as it’s been a popular theme for a few years now. If you’ve never seen a 39-year-old man open an RC helicopter on Christmas morning, you’ve missed something.
Some I missed out on but did put on my future list:
Zamboni Desk Vacuum
Oster 4207 Electric Wine Opener
Roku 2 XS Angry Birds Edition
For the dragonslayers, I thought of this:
Wenger 16999 Giant Swiss Army Knife.
Grab a drink and read the reviews; this knife isn’t for just anyone.
17. MachiasPrivateer
The biggest difference between the AP1000 and existing reactors is its safety systems, including a massive water tank on top of its cylindrical concrete-and-steel shielding building. In case of an accident, water would flow down and cool the steel container that holds critical parts of the reactor — including its hot, radioactive nuclear fuel.”
…………
The problem with uranium is that much of the cost of the plants is involved with mitigating the danger of a meltdown.
One reason the advocates of Thorium reactors give for thorium reactors producing electricity for 1/10th the cost of uranium reactors (& therby transforming the 21st century) is that while thorium packs more energy than uranium–its half life and radioactivity is much less than uranium. Nor does the design allow for an explosion. Nor can thorium be refined into an nuclear device.
As a result, very little shielding is required.
So little shielding in fact, that a portable thorium reactor would be perfect to bring along for a trip to the moon and Mars. Just a fist full of thorium would last a small space colony for as long as they lived–including powering drills if they wanted to drill underground homes.
http://bit.ly/uA5xYd
Another thing, portable thorium reactors would produce electricity so cheaply that they would also make pumping vast quantities of water cheap enough anywhere on earth…like say to the deserts–to make the cost of transporting water to desert farms competitive–for the purposes of farming anywhere.
16. Teresita
You know why people try to come to America? There’s a societal infrastructure here that equates to hundreds of thousands of dollars of value, for each family, but few people realize it.
…………….
Foreigners quickly realize it. Most services in the USA are largely used by immigrants legal and illegal. I was just hearing on the radio today that in maryland many of the civil lawyers offices are almost 100% used by illegals suing US citizens for one grievance or another.
The system can be overwhelmed if there are too many foreigners tapping into the system and too few Americans maintaining it. This is the trend that VD Hanson describes in some parts of California.
39. Charles
Most services in the USA are largely used by immigrants legal and illegal.
…………
make that read:
Most government subsistence services in the USA are very heavily used by immigrants legal and illegal.
For me, my most useful tool, to slay a dragon or just about anything else, is a Swiss Army knife. I have carried one for the last 46 years and use it at least 15 times a day. I’m now on my third knife.
Charles – Add a supercritical carbon dioxide turbine and we’d have something! http://tinyurl.com/6paymx8 But replacing plants that were built before Three Mile Island is a great place to start and is within the ken of a highly unsophisticated public. Look what a creep Greg Jaczko is!
Amazon has clotted cream! http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_7?url=search-alias%3Dgrocery&field-keywords=clotted+cream&sprefix=clotted
Some gifts will appreciate, especially those that can provide tasty sustenance and potential barter, whether or not things get screwy: Freeze dried fruits; 151 proof rum is great for eggnog, and makes good fuel for a spirit stove in a pinch; The Glenlivet, Laphroaig, Glenfiddich, and other single malt whiskeys more rare can provide many evenings of stimulation and reflection; If you have access to a supplier of good “white lightning” you are rich in many ways; Gin is praised by many as a most efficacious pain reliever, especially when soaked into golden raisins; Look for salves made from arnica, calendula, and St. John’s wort; 1 ounce copper coins from the US mint come in a number of very pretty faces – Liberty, Morgan, etc.
“The Philippines is Christian, largely English speaking etc–why is the investment and development not greater?”
Corruption.
While I haven’t been to the PI since the early 60′s I doubt that it has changed much.
I was on a weekend pass, sitting in a bar in Alongopo, when two guys walked thru the door with a Thompson and opened up. Killed 3 guys at the far end of the bar. Didn’t kill me because I was in my Dress Whites. Election season.
And that’s just the street. The higher up the food chain you go, the bigger and hungrier they get. American business avoids the PI for the same reason pigs avoid Bar-be-Ques.
Calvados if you can get it!
JJRedfan, good suggestions all. I raise my glass to you.
Stoicheion, Glad to hear you were spared. Sounds like you calculate they specifically chose not to aim your direction seeing you were in USNavy uniform. Maybe they had a personal grudge against someone further down the bar…
There are places in Portsmouth, VA and around Wilmington, NC where the local residents are known to be similarly emphatic in settling accounts, without the respect for the uniform.
Dear Ms. Rosset, while you’re getting enthusiastic about a possible Color Revolution in Russia, you need to wake up to the status quo crumbling closer to home.
If you told me six months ago that there was a serious prospect that Vladimir Putin would lose the first round of balloting in Russia’s upcoming presidential vote this March, I would have laughed at you. And that Ron Paul almost beats
Mitt Romney in a Virginia populated by federal employees he’d lay off if given the chance? Well that’s also so improbable as to be laugh out loud funny, but then again, all the candidates PJM’s been backing besides Romney failed spectacularly to get on the Virginia ballot when many also-rans made it in 2008. So either the Establishment wants to hasten the dreadful inevitibility of Romney, or the stars are aligning for Ron Paul to make this an actual fight for the nomination, not a coronation of the latest Establishment ‘keep the money printing and wars going’ Man.
Any candidate, any man, can be ignored, or crushed. But a movement based on an idea whose time has come is invincible. You (and by you I mean The Man) may beat back Ron Paul in 2012. You might even deflect Rand’s rise somehow after Romney goes down to defeat to Obama, because you feared losing the status quo more than losing your freedoms. But the fact that you all seem so incredibly terrified of one not-so-charismatic 76-year-old man says it all. You can beat him. You will not beat his movement. You cannot keep Tea Partyers and Occupy people at each others throats rather than locking arms to take down Corporatism and Too Big to Fail Forever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE30TH6Y7cI
Peace on Earth, good will towards men.