Amazon 31 May 2009

The Fourth Way

Logitech S220 2.1 Speaker System (Black)


Bodyguard of Lies: The Extraordinary True Story Behind D-Day

SanDisk SDSDB-4096-A11 4GB SDHC Memory Card (Blue)

MINC

CNBC

Ezek

Economics

Free to Choose: A Personal Statement


The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents--The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek)

Makers vs Takers

I just learned about a book by Jane Jacobs, Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politicswhich was published in 1992, from Duane J. Oldsen. It has a fascinating look at the two major systems of morality that we find in the world. Commercial Morality and Guardian (Political) Morality. Or what I like to call Makers vs Takers. The two are complimentary (neither does well without the other) and yet stand in opposition to each other. Things get really nasty when the spheres of influence are mixed without consideration for consequences.

Let me start with a couple of references. First The Wiki which provides a short look at the major points. Second is this pdf which is much more detailed with many excerpts from the book. However, I must caution that it is somewhat hard to read due to the many typos.

I want to start first with a table of contrasting moral precepts. Which I have modified slightly from the wiki to make the contrasts a little clearer.

Moral Precepts for Systems of Survival

Guardian System	Commercial System
Shun trading	Shun force
Take	Earn
Be obedient and disciplined	Be efficient
Adhere to tradition	Be open to inventiveness and novelty
Respect hierarchy	Use initiative and enterprise
Be loyal	Come to voluntary agreements
Take vengeance	Respect contracts
Deceive for the sake of the task	Dissent for the sake of the task
Make rich use of leisure	Be industrious
Be ostentatious	Be thrifty
Dispense largess	Invest for productive purposes
Be exclusive	Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens
Show fortitude	Promote comfort and convenience
Be fatalistic	Be optimistic
Treasure honor	Be honest

I think the commercial class is rather self explanatory but the political class needs some explanation.

testing columns

This is a strange way to show what happens.

Systems of Survival

Shun trading	Shun force
Take	Earn
Be obedient and disciplined	Be efficient
Adhere to tradition	Be open to inventiveness and novelty
Respect hierarchy	Use initiative and enterprise
Be loyal	Come to voluntary agreements
Take vengeance	Respect contracts
Deceive for the sake of the task	Dissent for the sake of the task
Make rich use of leisure	Be industrious
Be ostentatious	Be thrifty
Dispense largess	Invest for productive purposes
Be exclusive	Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens
Show fortitude	Promote comfort and convenience
Be fatalistic	Be optimistic
Treasure honor	Be honest

nother table test

This is a strange way to show what happens.

Systems of Survival
Shun trading	Shun force
Exert prowess	Come to voluntary agreements
Be obedient and disciplined	Be honest
Adhere to tradition	Collaborate easily with strangers and aliens
Respect hierarchy	Compete
Be loyal	Respect contracts
Take vengeance	Use initiative and enterprise
Deceive for the sake of the task	Be open to inventiveness and novelty

What comes after

Drill Teams

Little Green Footballs put up this excellent video of the US Marines Silent Drill Team. The silent part means that no commands are given to initiate various actions as is done in normal squad manuvers. Commands like "About Face", "Forward, March", "Attention", "Present Arms", etc.

Which of course got me to thinking about my days as a Navy boot.

We drilled with the Springfield M1903. It is a very fine piece to drill with. They never trusted us with bayonets though. LOL (Boot camp for me started 11 Nov '63. NTC San Diego. Right next to Marine Corps Camp Pendelton. We'd be having a smoke next to the fence watching the Marines double timing around the perimiter of the Pendelton. I know we thought "stupid Jar Heads". They probably thought "pussy Sailors". I'm sure the positioning was intentional. Motivation for both sides. LOL.)

BTW I love the way the fittings on the rifles rattle. It sounds like men going to battle since the age of metal weapons began.

Wiki on the 1903:

Due to its balance, it is still popular with various military drill teams and color guards, most notably the U.S. Army Drill Team. M1903 rifles are also common at high school Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) units to teach weapons handling and military drill procedures to the cadets. JROTC units use M1903s for regular and inter-school competition drills, including elaborate exhibition spinning routines similar to a majorette spinning a baton.

A Helpful Bunch

Popular Science looks at Thiago Olson's fusion reactor.

How did he do it? Olson pored over graduate-level physics textbooks, studied vacuum-pump manufacturers’ manuals, and scoured the Web for cheap parts. Though mostly self-taught, he occasionally solicited advice on a fusion Web site. Once, he posted photos of a cheap photomultiplier tube he’d bought online because he had no idea how to rig it up. Another fusioneer on the site who had the same model promptly told him which wires went where. Amateur nuclear engineers are, it seems, a helpful bunch.

Yes we are.

Image Manipulation

Instapundit says that we will need coal, oil, and natural gas for some time even if some one invents Mr. Fusion tomorrow. Which is true.

However, Mr. Fusion was invented yesterday (several years ago actually).

It was invented by Dr Robert Bussard formerly of the AEC fusion office. He did the work under a Naval contract.

The Bussard Fusion Reactor will lower electrical costs at the busbar by at least 10X over coal or fission nuke power plants. Capital cost for electical plants using the Bussard Fusion design will decline by at least 5X mainly because no turbines, condensers, steam generators or electrical generators are required. With such a lowering of costs and simplicity of required equipment, roll out will be very fast.

The reactor is just a big sphere surrounded by electro-magnets. The main cost of the plant is converting the 2 million volts DC output to AC for local use. The direct 2 million volt output would be great for long distance transmission. Although the plants copuld be sited in just about any reasonably sized electrical yard since any required cooling would not requre a water supply. Air cooling would work fine.

The power generator is about 10 to 12 ft across for an output between 100 MW and 1,000 MW. Power output scales as the 7th power of size. Double the size and you get 128X as much power.

No thermal plant is required. Thermal plants - steam generators, turbines etc. - are long lead time items. They can take from 3 to 5 years from start of production to delivery. The Bussard Fusion Reactor output is direct 2 million volts DC. (a very large battery).

Unlike fission plants there is no fuel stored in the reactor core = no Three Mile Island kind of problems. Turn off the electricity or turn off the fuel and the
reaction stops.

It would make a good rocket engine for fast interplanetary travel.

Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion - video plus technical details.

Dr Bussard needs $2 million in start up funds to verify reaction constants. He will need $200 million for a test reactor.

The fuel is Boron 11 which is very abundant. We have 200,000+ years of reserves on the planet if it is used exclusively for power. Most borax is used now for borosilicate glass.

Let me take this time to specifically thank the crew at Classical Values Justin and Eric for giving me a heads up on this.

Duke Video

Just a test

Dissension In The Ranks

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