Liary

Remember Josh Steiner? He's the young Clinton aide who was said to have "lied to his diary". He allegedly regretted that his diary was not "more accurate".

Now along comes another diary that Hillary Clinton won't like. It seems that one Jerry Zeifman recalls HRC's work on the Watergate investigation and wrote of problems with her. (You have to follow that link - it's not too long).

For instance, she didn't get a recommendation afterwards. Why?

"Because she was a liar," Zeifman said in an interview last week. "She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality."

As shocks go, finding documentation that HRC is a liar doesn't rank too high. But what got me were the details. She took some files from the committee and hid them in her office, then proceeded to work as if they hadn't existed. Hmm, Hillary hiding files? Where have we heard that one before?

Yes, believe it or not the fact that Hillary Clinton lies and hide things is well precedented. But what makes this priceless is that on that particular occasion she was trying to show that there was *no* precedent for something - that Richard Nixon was entitled to counsel during an impeachment proceeding. The files that she hid that time showed how William O. Douglas was granted counsel when he faced an impeachment attempt in 1970. (Of course Douglas was a liberal. He couldn't be held to the same standards as a Republican like Richard Nixon.)

As for her own defense, she might try to cite the case of Steiner. How vast a right-wing conspiracy must be to get a lifelong Democrat to lie about her in his diary over 30 years ago!

Was this pettifoggery? Mr. Zeifman didn't think so -

The brief was so fraudulent and ridiculous, Zeifman believes Hillary would have been disbarred if she had submitted it to a judge.

Hmmm.

I haven't seen a response from the Hillary camp yet. Can she dodge another bullet?

Original link from Powerline.

Medical breakthrough!

Scientists have come up with a method for removing tonsils rectally. They conceded that it might be safer and more effective to do it the usual way, but you know, they just had to show that they could do it.

Believe it or not, the above is a total fabrication. But then there is this headline: Cloned cells treat Parkinson's in mice - Yahoo! News.

All well and good, but then read this passage from it:

But they found that a mouse's own cloned stem cells were far less disruptive to its body than cloned cells taken from other mice.

"It demonstrated what we suspected all along -- that genetically matched tissue works better," said Viviane Tabar of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute in New York, who worked on the study.

Ya think?

But hey, let's suck in lots of federal dollars for more of this. It might not give us any really useful results, but then it gives some researchers something really cool to fool with. We'd be money ahead if we just gave the researchers free phalloplasty.

Advice for politicians

I hate to disagree with Soccer Dad, but I offer some different ideas on how to handle a sex scandal.

For one, Eliot Spitzer should have captured the whole thing on tape. Then he could have said that he was making a porn movie, and you can't bust people for prostitution when they're acting in a porn movie.

What's more, he should have used this opportunity for campaigning. Maybe have him making campaign speeches on a TV in the background or something. He could sell the tapes to raise funds, and no one would dare complain about the campaign messages because everyone knows that only bluenoses could possibly object to mass distribution of porn.

Spitzer's failure to do these things can only be explained as a lapse in judgment. Surely it's not because he wasn't cynical enough.

Random Easter venereal disease post

Overheard back in the early 80's - "you know the difference between true love and herpes? Herpes lasts forever"

It so happens that a few weeks ago I was talking to a pharmacist who was amused by some of the TV ads for pharmaceuticals. She was particularly amused by one for Valtrex, in which one person would say "I have herpes" and their presumptive bedmate said "and I don't" To which our pharmacist said "but you will".

I assume that the people in the commercials were actors, or at least would claim that they were. Even so, we're talking social evolution here. I can't find a link, but I seem to recall that back in the 80's a couple filed suit because their image was used in a public service ad about herpes.

Such innocent times! We hadn't heard of AIDS yet. Once the acronym appeared it was pretty firmly associated with IV drug users, Haitians and especially gays. Some of my less PC coworkers in hard hats said it stood for "another infected..." and the rest will be left as an exercise.

Hey, while we're at it why not work in something about syphilis too. I understand that you can get it from blood transfusions. And that apparently this was a problem in Mexico once upon a time.

More social evolution: a few weeks ago I took a pit stop at a convenience store and the men's room was out of service. No problem, they said to use the ladies' room. Ah, they have condom machines in here too. But it's been a while since I've seen one that said "for prevention of disease only".

Ha, good luck with that. They aren't 100% effective as birth control when used as directed by competent adults, much less by horny adolescents. It's hard to see how they'd be any more effective against disease. Of course abstinence is always 100% effective when used. It's not very reliable when it's *not* used, but then neither are condoms. Yes, that's absurd, but then why do some people blame abstinence education programs for problems that occur when they clearly aren't being followed? Are programs that encourage condom use ever blamed for problems that occur when kids don't use condoms?

Clearly I've run out of things to write about, so that will be all.

Protect them from themselves?

Ah yes, someone says that some people need to be protected from their worst instincts.

OK, and I think that one of the worst instincts is to look to the govt for solutions. So let's force politicians and others to quit advocating govt solutions. And if they push big govt anyway, let them avail themselves of govt efficiency and service in a prison.

888-gotta-go

What to say?

As a result of continued and endemic vandalism, the Finnish Road Administration has developed a system which allows travellers to open the doors to roadside toilets only by sending a SMS message to the number given by the Road Administration.

The new system was introduced in January in the rest areas along Highway 1 in Paimio and Salo near Turku, following numerous breakages, arson attempts, and thefts in the buildings housing public conveniences for motorists.

But what if your cellphone battery is dead? The answer is obvious - this.

The ninny state

I'm no fan of the nanny state, but I can see why some think we need them. Good grief, now they're putting padding on lampposts to protect texters who walk into them.

UPDATE: It turns out that this was a hoax.

Goodbye Jeff Healey

When you hear the name Jeff Healey, you might think of a soft radio friendly song called "Angel Eyes" that came out around 1990 or so. I liked the guitar work on the song and liked the rest of the CD even more. That man could play.

Still don't remember him? He was the blind guitarist in "Roadhouse". The blind part wasn't acting - he lost his eyes at an early age to cancer.

Don't go thinking that blindness made him a physically boring performer. I didn't catch him jumping around or duckwalking, but when I saw him live in Peoria in the early 90's he got up and wandered around the stage. It was kind of awkward because he ordinarily played his guitar flat on his lap, and he couldn't find his way back to his seat by himself - the bass player would lead him back.

Now via Colby Cosh I hear that Jeff Healey has died at only 41. What a loss.

Who was Estes Kefauver?

He was a liberal Democrat Senator who kicked serious butt in the primaries yet wound up not getting his party's nomination for the Presidency.

Green oil

Yep, you can replace some petroleum with products made from beef tallow. See one here.

Capacitor powered cars at last?

Some years ago I was a regular on CompuServe forums, and there was a guy who was an utter PITA. Any given thread regardless of topic had to mention his allegedly brilliant idea of an "electronic energy repository", or "EER" as he called it. I think his name was Frank.

It wouldn't do to point out that there were technical complications involved. He seemed to think that he had an idea that had never occurred to anyone else on earth before, and Progress would occur if only he bothered enough people with enough off-topic messages on enough threads back in the days when connect time was expensive.

I suppose he'll be happy to see this, an attempted application of capacitor energy storage to cars. Not that I think it would shut him up - he'd probably just start posting everywhere telling us how he was right all along.

Not so fast - even this application has its shortcomings. Energy density still isn't anywhere near what can be achieved by other means. That's not to say that the technology won't be incredibly useful, just that Frank needn't declare victory yet.

He's not infallible

As he is only too happy to tell you, Richard Dawkins is an atheist.

Of course being an atheist, it may be too much to expect him to know much about more traditional religions. But he writes about them anyway, as in "The God Delusion".

OK, we don't expect Dawkins to be an expert on non-atheist beliefs, but we *do* expect him to know evolutionary biology. But he can't let science stand in the way of his beliefs. See this for more.

Yes, atheism is a faith. Or at least it will be so until someone succeeds in proving that deities don't exist.

Michael Yon in New York Times

Right here.

There may be hope for the NYT yet.

Brain power outage

Some years back (the 70's?) new cars started coming out with an obnoxious alarm that went off when seat belts weren't locked. Fortunately disabling it was a 2 minute job that didn't even require any tools.

Around the same time I worked as a summertime engineering intern for a state govt organization. It was mandated from upon high that in the summer the office could be kept no cooler than 78 degrees. And anyone who ever checked the thermometer in the office would have found us in compliance. But if they looked carefully they'd notice that the little thermometer bulb had been shifted upward against the background markings so that it indicated 78 when it was about 72.

Now we see something like this again - this silly idea of giving the govt an override on your thermostat.

Even if this silliness had gotten off the ground, did anyone think about it at all? Just wait until the first time someone causes a fire trying to stay warm with a disabled heating system, or dies from the heat because the AC doesn't work.

Of course the govt would deny responsibility vehemently, like Ralph Nader groups argued that they couldn't be held responsible for the fact that the airbags they fought so hard for could kill or even decapitate smaller people and children. (Gosh, what could be wrong with having an explosive pointed at your face, anyway? - their hearts were pure!).

Practically speaking such a regulation would probably do little more than cost a few extra bucks and the inconvenience of disabling the old device. Maybe enough suckers good citizens would play along to make it useful for handling peaks.

But there's a far better idea, using price signals, right here.

Nuclear rambling

I suppose it's fortunate that Glenn Reynolds is from Knoxville, TN, which is also the home of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Also, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is nearby, thus assuring that Tennesseeans (notably His Greenness Al Gore) have both awareness of and economic interests in nuclear technology. Anyway, GR links to a Metropulse article here, which has inspired the disjointed ramblings that follow.

TVA has an unequaled record in the nuclear power business - no other US organization has undertaken more nuclear power plants, and no other has abandoned more. Browns Ferry near Athens, AL; Sequoyah, near Chattanooga, TN; Watts Bar*, near Maryville, TN; Bellefonte**, near Scottsboro, AL; Hartsville A** and B**, east of Nashville, TN; Yellow Creek**, near Corinth, MS; and Phipps Bend**, near Surgoinsville, TN. The asterisks denote units started but not (yet?) completed.

Around 1982 TVA recruited at my engineering school. At the time they were looking for people to construct Watts Bar and Bellefonte. They cautioned, however, that Watts Bar would be finishing construction in the near term future and thus there was more work at Bellefonte. Fast forward 25 years - Bellefonte ceased construction sometime around 1985, Watts Bar Unit 1 has not been running for long, and the board has recently voted to finish Watts Bar Unit 2.

The article briefly mentions the Browns Ferry event. A bit of background may be in order here.

It so happens that one of the big issues with fire protection anywhere is compartmentalization - you don't want fires to be able to spread. As it happens, there's not much to burn at any nuclear power plant I've ever worked in (4 different sites, 7 units, 3 different utilities, 1 PWR and 3 BWRs, 2 NSSS suppliers), but then I started in the industry after the Browns Ferry event.

Anyway, compartmentalization means preventing heat, flames, gases and combustion products from leaving the area where they started. This means that penetrations from one compartment to another must be sealed such that they can resist pressure differentials. Such penetrations might be for personnel access, ducts, pipes, wiring and other purposes.

A good way to detect air leaks is by releasing something visible and airborne in the vicinity and watching it - if it moves, then the air is moving too. One such "something" is an open flame from a candle. And one of those open flames caused a fire that demonstrated that the seal wasn't adequate... (if that's not ironic enough for you, wait until you hear how a govt notorious for not being able to manage farms managed to foul up Chernobyl - look for "The aim of this test was to determine whether cooling of the core could continue to be ensured in the event of a loss of power").

TVA is easy to pick on - they're big, quasi_govt, and they have a lot of political clout. At one time at least their top executives were not permitted to make any more money than a Congressman does, so it was difficult to recruit and keep good people. Also at one time at least they were governed by a 3 man board, further complicating governance.

And the incomparable Jimmy Carter installed S. David Freeman as one of those governors. We'll see nothing else quite like this until the Pope starts running Planned Parenthood. During his tenure TVA started abandoning the many sites above, and later he moved on to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), which has shut down their Rancho Seco reactor.

I suppose it sounds like I'm ripping on TVA. Well, the truth hurts, but actually I'm rooting for them. The fact is that TVA has had lots of operating and construction experience and for the most part has stayed out of the newspapers outside their territory. Browns Ferry was expensive and embarrassing, but it was about 30 years ago too under a much different regulatory regime.

No, the ones I'd like to rip on are those who use asininities like "Frankenstein construction" (see the Metropulse link above). Often people like this claim to fear global warming too (when they're not denying associations with Nazis, racists and skinheads - diabolical cheap shot,eh?). Here's a hint - any energy/environmental problems we might have will be solved by engineers and those who support them financially, not those who preen and jawbone for a living.

This is a Google satellite map of Bellefonte site. The large round objects casting shadows to the north are the cooling towers. The smaller round-topped objects to the northeast are the reactor buildings. Between the reactors is the auxiliary building, further yet is the turbine building, and beyond that is the switchyard where the power comes in and out. Southeast of the reactors are buildings for construction staff and fab shops, and further yet past the wooded area is the Tennessee River. To the east about halfway up the map is the intake pumping station which draws cooling water from the river for the condenser, HVAC and other cooling loads.

Another thing about Bellefonte. The original nuclear steam supply (NSSS) was a Babcock and Wilcox design. It's sad but true that whatever their other merits, B&W also supplied the NSSS for SMUD and Three Mile Island. Apparently they'll be replaced with Westinghouse equipment. It'll be interesting to see how this will be incorporated into the site. By the time they're through they may be using little of the original plant besides the intake pumping station and the cooling towers.

The article goes on to mention the reduction in suppliers to the industry. I'll note that the concern about the forges, if accurate, only applies if we keep on applying the technologies used in the currently operating generation of plants - other technologies might not need such huge vessels. Long term NWA readers saw this a few years ago noting how it would be difficult to ramp back up to support a growing industry. IMO there's a moral in there for those who would cut the armed services too deeply too.

An aside about Rancho Seco. I don't know much of its history, but I know that at one time in the early 80's they pulled a good one that certainly took a bite out of their low capacity factor. It seems that they connected a backup diesel generator to a live grid before they started it. If you wanted to do something similar at home, you might try running your car at top speed and then slamming it into reverse. Anyway, I wouldn't be me if I didn't grind my favorite axe and note that it was run by a govt organization (Sacramento *Municipal* Utility District).

Enough for now, so this post doesn't suffer a slow death by editing like so many others have lately.

Even dumber than it looks

If I absolutely couldn't help myself and were willing to marry a dog, I'd have to go for Leona Helmsley's.

Just a few million more to go

Behold this article about the brutal murder and dismemberment of a convicted sex offender.

I don't have much use for sex offenders, but I kept reading:

Sorenson was convicted in Tazewell County, Ill., when he was 17 of having sex with a 14-year-old girl, said Northville Township police Lt. Greg Rhodes. His troubled past had nothing to do with the murder, Worthy said.

If 17 on 14 can cause you to be classed as a registered sex offender, I'm guessing we have millions more of them than we think. Dare I suggest that we toss that label around too indiscriminately?

You first

I know that there are recreational drugs that pass almost unchanged through the urine and thus can be recycled. I realize that space travel might require emergency backups. But now there's this

No, I don't believe everything I read.