28 July 2008
Celebrate 29July
Today in 1868 Secretary of State William H. Seward officially certified that the 14th Amendment was a part of the Constitution. The 14th is the equal protection amendment, guaranteeing the rights to life, liberty, and property to all citizens. It was passed as a response to the disenfranchisement of blacks in the South following the Civil War, and also to guarantee citizenship to former slaves. It's been through a lot and has been argued over bitterly, but because of this amendment no state can deny to certain of its citizens the rights enjoyed by others. That's cause for celebration.
27 July 2008
Celebrate 27 July
Theatergoers on this day in 1940 were introduced to Bugs Bunny for the first time, in the one-reel short "A Wild Hare." Elmer Fudd costars. Although Warner Bros. had been putting out shorts of a hunter and a rabbit for a year already, this was the first film in which Bugs looked more or less like Bugs, and Elmer looked like Elmer, and the two sounded like they sound. Bugs also greeted Elmer with "What's up, Doc?" for the first time in this short. A toast to the inimitable Bugs. I suggest carrot juice (or carrot wine, if you have it).
25 July 2008
Celebrate 25 July
Today is the 30th birthday of Louise Joy Brown, of Bristol, UK. You don't know who that is, do you? I think she rather prefers it that way. Mrs. Brown was the first baby ever born who was conceived via in vitro fertilization—she was, in the parlance of the time, the first test-tube baby. IVF has come a long way in the last 30 years but regardless of your stance on the issue it has been a source of joy to thousands of couples who would otherwise have been unable to conceive. I don't know how you want to toast Mrs. Brown's birthday, but it's a little late to send a card.
24 July 2008
The Victors
Over the last week I slogged through The Victors, by Stephen E. Ambrose. Slogged is the wrong word, though, because it was actually a good read. Not always easy. Books about war never are. I could write thousands of words about this book. I think we're in danger of forgetting what it used to mean that we lived in America, what it was that differentiated this place from others. I can't see the spirit of World War II in our present conflicts; maybe it's because of our distinctly unenlightened leadership. Whatever it is, reading this book makes clear the difference in time frames; when we went out to fight an evil enemy in WWII, the nation as a whole sacrificed, especially those who went to fight. When we set out to fight the present evil enemy... the nation as a whole was told to go shopping. A sort of review follows the jump.Maybe I'm just crotchety. I don't care. If we were actually in a fight as big our political leaders say it is, I think we'd be doing more than we are as a country. Anyway, I've gotten off topic. Ambrose was cited late in his life for shoddy research and plagiarism, and the proof is there if you wish to see it. He did skimp sometimes on research, and he did plagiarize (and although he never characterized it as such, most serious researchers would). But he still wrote a pretty readable book, and whatever his deficiencies in research, he is responsible for taking down the oral histories of hundreds, literally hundreds if not thousands, of WWII combat veterans, work that would likely never have been done otherwise. This book is in part the fruit of that particular labor, and whatever concerns may exist about plagiarism and such should be levelled at the man and not at the valuable work of recording history that he did.
Citizen Soldiers, the book from which much of this one is cribbed (his own book this time), would be a better in-depth look at the fighting man of WWII, but this book is a great overview. It is in fact one of the best examinations of life for the soldiers of WWII I've seen, certainly the best I've read. If you haven't read any of Ambrose's other works, and if you can get past the man's faults as a writer, it's a very good read.
The Victors
Over the last week I slogged through The Victors, by Stephen E. Ambrose. Slogged is the wrong word, though, because it was actually a good read. Not always easy. Books about war never are. I could write thousands of words about this book. I think we're in danger of forgetting what it used to mean that we lived in America, what it was that differentiated this place from others. I can't see the spirit of World War II in our present conflicts; maybe it's because of our distinctly unenlightened leadership. Whatever it is, reading this book makes clear the difference in time frames; when we went out to fight an evil enemy in WWII, the nation as a whole sacrificed, especially those who went to fight. When we set out to fight the present evil enemy... the nation as a whole was told to go shopping. A sort of review follows the jump.Maybe I'm just crotchety. I don't care. If we were actually in a fight as big our political leaders say it is, I think we'd be doing more than we are as a country. Anyway, I've gotten off topic. Ambrose was cited late in his life for shoddy research and plagiarism, and the proof is there if you wish to see it. He did skimp sometimes on research, and he did plagiarize (and although he never characterized it as such, most serious researchers would). But he still wrote a pretty readable book, and whatever his deficiencies in research, he is responsible for taking down the oral histories of hundreds, literally hundreds if not thousands, of WWII combat veterans, work that would likely never have been done otherwise. This book is in part the fruit of that particular labor, and whatever concerns may exist about plagiarism and such should be levelled at the man and not at the valuable work of recording history that he did.
Citizen Soldiers, the book from which much of this one is cribbed (his own book this time), would be a better in-depth look at the fighting man of WWII, but this book is a great overview. It is in fact one of the best examinations of life for the soldiers of WWII I've seen, certainly the best I've read. If you haven't read any of Ambrose's other works, and if you can get past the man's faults as a writer, it's a very good read.
Celebrate 24 July
Today marks the 58th anniversary of Cape Canaveral's use as a space launch facility; on this day in 1950 the Air Force launched a V-2 rocket from a launch site at the cape. Then they blew it up over the Gulf Stream. I think lighting off a few bottle rockets would be a perfect way to celebrate.
23 July 2008
On The Wealth of Nations
I've been reading a bit lately. Good thing, too. There are a lot of good books out there and at the pace I've been reading this year I'm not going to get read them all (or even very many). Most recently I managed to pick up and finish P.J. O'Rourke's On The Wealth of Nations inside of a week. Woo-hoo! It helps that it's a bit short, and that P.J. is one of the most readable writers working today. 
This book is part of the "Books That Changed the World" series published by Atlantic; other titles so far given the same treatment (by different authors) include Darwin's The Origin of Species, Marx's Das Kapital, and the Quran, and more are planned for Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man, Clausewitz' On War, the Bible, and others. It's an interesting series, and let's go ahead and admit right now that we're not going to read any of these books cover-to-cover in our lifetimes, at least not likely. (Exceptions are made for the Bible and the Quran for people adhering to the relevant faiths, although I'll wager many a Christian goes to his grave never having made it through Isaiah or 2 Chronicles.) On that truth rests the basis for this series (a series that, when I described it to Smittywife, prompted the response, "Who's doing War and Peace," a fair question and one that I wonder whether Atlantic has considered). I have a modest review after the jump.
I actually do own Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, and I even brought it with me on a deployment once on the theory that there is so much downtime on deployments that I might actually read the thing. There is a lot of downtime, but there are a dozen easier ways to kill it than with 900 pages of 18th Century philosophy. Since I haven't read it, P.J. read it for me. I should send a thank you note.
So... do I review this book, or the book that this book is about? Tough to say. The book itself is a quick read, surprisingly light considering the weight of its subject. O'Rourke, I hate to say it, may not have been the best choice for this particular review because he comes to the table with, shall we say, some pretty strong political and economic ideas of his own; he did write a book called Eat the Rich, after all. But sometimes having a slightly biased reviewer is good, as P.J. is willing to recognize when Adam Smith had a failure of imagination (or of wisdom), something which happens to most philosophers.
I could happily sit and discuss some of Smith's precepts, and perhaps I shall, but in another post. This is a book review, and I must say that this is a book that you probably should read, and which thankfully you will also enjoy. Not many things are like that. I know you're not going to read The Wealth of Nations, and you know it, too. But it is a very important work, and rests at the foundation of our entire society. And it is deeply misunderstood, too--just for starters, the whole "invisible hand" thing, Smith himself used the phrase only twice and one of those was sarcasm. But you have to dig into the 900-page tome to figure that out. And who has the time? P.J. was getting paid to read the thing, at least, and his discussion of it is readable, intelligent, and sometimes even fun. Heck, certainly you can devote a couple of weeks' reading time to one of the most important works in modern philosophy, right? I recommend it.
This book is part of the "Books That Changed the World" series published by Atlantic; other titles so far given the same treatment (by different authors) include Darwin's The Origin of Species, Marx's Das Kapital, and the Quran, and more are planned for Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man, Clausewitz' On War, the Bible, and others. It's an interesting series, and let's go ahead and admit right now that we're not going to read any of these books cover-to-cover in our lifetimes, at least not likely. (Exceptions are made for the Bible and the Quran for people adhering to the relevant faiths, although I'll wager many a Christian goes to his grave never having made it through Isaiah or 2 Chronicles.) On that truth rests the basis for this series (a series that, when I described it to Smittywife, prompted the response, "Who's doing War and Peace," a fair question and one that I wonder whether Atlantic has considered). I have a modest review after the jump.
I actually do own Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, and I even brought it with me on a deployment once on the theory that there is so much downtime on deployments that I might actually read the thing. There is a lot of downtime, but there are a dozen easier ways to kill it than with 900 pages of 18th Century philosophy. Since I haven't read it, P.J. read it for me. I should send a thank you note.
So... do I review this book, or the book that this book is about? Tough to say. The book itself is a quick read, surprisingly light considering the weight of its subject. O'Rourke, I hate to say it, may not have been the best choice for this particular review because he comes to the table with, shall we say, some pretty strong political and economic ideas of his own; he did write a book called Eat the Rich, after all. But sometimes having a slightly biased reviewer is good, as P.J. is willing to recognize when Adam Smith had a failure of imagination (or of wisdom), something which happens to most philosophers.
I could happily sit and discuss some of Smith's precepts, and perhaps I shall, but in another post. This is a book review, and I must say that this is a book that you probably should read, and which thankfully you will also enjoy. Not many things are like that. I know you're not going to read The Wealth of Nations, and you know it, too. But it is a very important work, and rests at the foundation of our entire society. And it is deeply misunderstood, too--just for starters, the whole "invisible hand" thing, Smith himself used the phrase only twice and one of those was sarcasm. But you have to dig into the 900-page tome to figure that out. And who has the time? P.J. was getting paid to read the thing, at least, and his discussion of it is readable, intelligent, and sometimes even fun. Heck, certainly you can devote a couple of weeks' reading time to one of the most important works in modern philosophy, right? I recommend it.
On The Wealth of Nations
I've been reading a bit lately. Good thing, too. There are a lot of good books out there and at the pace I've been reading this year I'm not going to get read them all (or even very many). Most recently I managed to pick up and finish P.J. O'Rourke's On The Wealth of Nations inside of a week. Woo-hoo! It helps that it's a bit short, and that P.J. is one of the most readable writers working today.
This book is part of the "Books That Changed the World" series published by Atlantic; other titles so far given the same treatment (by different authors) include Darwin's The Origin of Species, Marx's Das Kapital, and the Quran, and more are planned for Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man, Clausewitz' On War, the Bible, and others. It's an interesting series, and let's go ahead and admit right now that we're not going to read any of these books cover-to-cover in our lifetimes, at least not likely. (Exceptions are made for the Bible and the Quran for people adhering to the relevant faiths, although I'll wager many a Christian goes to his grave never having made it through Isaiah or 2 Chronicles.) On that truth rests the basis for this series (a series that, when I described it to Smittywife, prompted the response, "Who's doing War and Peace," a fair question and one that I wonder whether Atlantic has considered). I have a modest review after the jump.
I actually do own Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, and I even brought it with me on a deployment once on the theory that there is so much downtime on deployments that I might actually read the thing. There is a lot of downtime, but there are a dozen easier ways to kill it than with 900 pages of 18th Century philosophy. Since I haven't read it, P.J. read it for me. I should send a thank you note.
So... do I review this book, or the book that this book is about? Tough to say. The book itself is a quick read, surprisingly light considering the weight of its subject. O'Rourke, I hate to say it, may not have been the best choice for this particular review because he comes to the table with, shall we say, some pretty strong political and economic ideas of his own; he did write a book called Eat the Rich, after all. But sometimes having a slightly biased reviewer is good, as P.J. is willing to recognize when Adam Smith had a failure of imagination (or of wisdom), something which happens to most philosophers.
I could happily sit and discuss some of Smith's precepts, and perhaps I shall, but in another post. This is a book review, and I must say that this is a book that you probably should read, and which thankfully you will also enjoy. Not many things are like that. I know you're not going to read The Wealth of Nations, and you know it, too. But it is a very important work, and rests at the foundation of our entire society. And it is deeply misunderstood, too--just for starters, the whole "invisible hand" thing, Smith himself used the phrase only twice and one of those was sarcasm. But you have to dig into the 900-page tome to figure that out. And who has the time? P.J. was getting paid to read the thing, at least, and his discussion of it is readable, intelligent, and sometimes even fun. Heck, certainly you can devote a couple of weeks' reading time to one of the most important works in modern philosophy, right? I recommend it.
This book is part of the "Books That Changed the World" series published by Atlantic; other titles so far given the same treatment (by different authors) include Darwin's The Origin of Species, Marx's Das Kapital, and the Quran, and more are planned for Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man, Clausewitz' On War, the Bible, and others. It's an interesting series, and let's go ahead and admit right now that we're not going to read any of these books cover-to-cover in our lifetimes, at least not likely. (Exceptions are made for the Bible and the Quran for people adhering to the relevant faiths, although I'll wager many a Christian goes to his grave never having made it through Isaiah or 2 Chronicles.) On that truth rests the basis for this series (a series that, when I described it to Smittywife, prompted the response, "Who's doing War and Peace," a fair question and one that I wonder whether Atlantic has considered). I have a modest review after the jump.
I actually do own Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, and I even brought it with me on a deployment once on the theory that there is so much downtime on deployments that I might actually read the thing. There is a lot of downtime, but there are a dozen easier ways to kill it than with 900 pages of 18th Century philosophy. Since I haven't read it, P.J. read it for me. I should send a thank you note.
So... do I review this book, or the book that this book is about? Tough to say. The book itself is a quick read, surprisingly light considering the weight of its subject. O'Rourke, I hate to say it, may not have been the best choice for this particular review because he comes to the table with, shall we say, some pretty strong political and economic ideas of his own; he did write a book called Eat the Rich, after all. But sometimes having a slightly biased reviewer is good, as P.J. is willing to recognize when Adam Smith had a failure of imagination (or of wisdom), something which happens to most philosophers.
I could happily sit and discuss some of Smith's precepts, and perhaps I shall, but in another post. This is a book review, and I must say that this is a book that you probably should read, and which thankfully you will also enjoy. Not many things are like that. I know you're not going to read The Wealth of Nations, and you know it, too. But it is a very important work, and rests at the foundation of our entire society. And it is deeply misunderstood, too--just for starters, the whole "invisible hand" thing, Smith himself used the phrase only twice and one of those was sarcasm. But you have to dig into the 900-page tome to figure that out. And who has the time? P.J. was getting paid to read the thing, at least, and his discussion of it is readable, intelligent, and sometimes even fun. Heck, certainly you can devote a couple of weeks' reading time to one of the most important works in modern philosophy, right? I recommend it.
Celebrate 23 July
Today is the 25th anniversary of the famous (in aviation circles, anyway) Gimli Glider incident, the only aviation accident known to be caused by the metric system. Well, partially. I'll tell you now, no one was seriously hurt in this accident, so you can read this as it's intended: for comedy.
The Gimli Glider was a Boeing 767, which departed Montreal on 23 July, 1983, and was supposed to fly to Alberta. But there was a snafu: the fuel gauges weren't working properly, and the flight crew had to go on a dripstick measurement (not really; if they'd pulled a circuit breaker, they'd have seen the proper fuel reading and fixed the problem, but the notes on the matter were unclear), which was made in metric. But Canada had only recently switched to metric and it was common practice among pilots and maintenance personnel to rough-estimate the metric measurements in "real" measurements, a conversion that got fudged that day by multiple people, making it appear that there was more fuel on board than there actually was. Consequently the aircraft took off with far too little fuel to make it all the way to Alberta. They ran out of gas over Ontario and both engines shut down, thus turning the normally well-powered 767 into a wide-bodied glider with beverage service.
But there were more snags. The aircraft, which was so new the seats were still comfortable, had one of those new-fangled electronic flight systems, wherein most of the flight instruments rely on power supplied by the aircraft engines to operate. So once the engines went out, most of the flight instruments did as well and the pilots had to go to backup instruments, among which was not included a vertical speed indicator, which might have been handy to tell them how far they were going to make it before they hit the ground and to help select a best glide airspeed (best-glide not being mentioned in the manual, apparently, as the pilot had to guess at it with a mental wag, which he only knew how to do because he flew gliders recreationally). Not only that, but the aircraft hydraulic system, which moved the flight control surfaces and lowered the flaps and opened the gear doors, was pressurized by the engines. The backup system (at least there was one) involved a small ram air turbine which would drop into the airstream beneath the body of the jet and relied on the aircraft's forward motion to pressurize the hydraulics. Of course, once an airplane becomes a glider it tends to slow down, and at landing it slows down a lot; less forward motion means less hydraulic pressure, and just when you need it most (you want to lower the flaps and landing gear as you slow down and approach the land, and when you're slower you need larger control-surface movements to control the aircraft.)
This comedy of errors finally ended at Gimli, Manitoba (home of the Crown Royal whiskey distillery, so you know which drink to serve at your Gimli Glider party), where the aircraft's first officer had been stationed in the Canadian Air Force. The air force base, however, had been decommissioned, and the runway turned into a drag strip, which at that very moment was hosting a "family day" auto racing event.
The pilots tried to drop the landing gear using gravity (saving limited hydraulic pressure to lower flaps and, you know, fly the damn thing), but while the gear came down the nosewheel failed to lock into place. With the gear down the aircraft slowed dramatically, making it much harder to control, and in order to lose altitude to make the landing (cars and campers having been herded off the runway by local fire and police) the pilot had to slip the aircraft, something you pretty much never do with a plane that big (slip means "make really unaerodynamic so it'll drop out of the sky" and it involves putting the rudder and ailerons at cross-purposes, something that probably required both pilots to have hands on the controls because there was so little pressure to move them with); as the pilots drove into the airfield at very low altitude one passenger reported that he could tell what clubs people were using on the golf course they were flying over.
They did land on the runway, though, which is pretty damn remarkable in and of itself and although the initial problem—running out of fuel—is certainly partially the fault of the crew, they did a good job in dealing with the issue. The captain stood on the brakes—probably literally stood on them since the brakes use hydraulic pressure, too, and there wasn't much of that left—and blew out two tires, and the nosewheel collapsed (it hadn't locked, remember), so the airplane skidded down the runway on its nose and veered into a guardrail. That was actually a good thing; the guardrail absorbed some speed and the airplane stayed on the runway.
There were no injuries to any of the passengers or aircrew during the landing, so bravo to the pilots for that. However, several passengers were injured evacuating from the airplane; they used the slides that go out the rear door, but since the plane was resting on its nose the slides didn't reach all the way to the ground. Fortunately it was little more than scrapes and bruises and everybody was treated at the scene.
So that's the story of the Gimli Glider. The aircraft in question was fixed up and reentered service, flying several thousand hours before retiring in 1999 (and I bet only a few flight crews ever told the passengers they were on the famous Gimli Glider). It's worth pointing out that this was the first significant in-air incident for the 767, occurring just about a year after the aircraft entered service. The hydraulic systems have been upgraded fleetwide, so you needn't worry the next time you board one; should your 767 run out of fuel (if the U.S. adopts the metric system, for example) your glider will have all the controllability it needs to execute a safe landing. And with any luck you'll land near a whiskey distillery.
The Gimli Glider was a Boeing 767, which departed Montreal on 23 July, 1983, and was supposed to fly to Alberta. But there was a snafu: the fuel gauges weren't working properly, and the flight crew had to go on a dripstick measurement (not really; if they'd pulled a circuit breaker, they'd have seen the proper fuel reading and fixed the problem, but the notes on the matter were unclear), which was made in metric. But Canada had only recently switched to metric and it was common practice among pilots and maintenance personnel to rough-estimate the metric measurements in "real" measurements, a conversion that got fudged that day by multiple people, making it appear that there was more fuel on board than there actually was. Consequently the aircraft took off with far too little fuel to make it all the way to Alberta. They ran out of gas over Ontario and both engines shut down, thus turning the normally well-powered 767 into a wide-bodied glider with beverage service.
But there were more snags. The aircraft, which was so new the seats were still comfortable, had one of those new-fangled electronic flight systems, wherein most of the flight instruments rely on power supplied by the aircraft engines to operate. So once the engines went out, most of the flight instruments did as well and the pilots had to go to backup instruments, among which was not included a vertical speed indicator, which might have been handy to tell them how far they were going to make it before they hit the ground and to help select a best glide airspeed (best-glide not being mentioned in the manual, apparently, as the pilot had to guess at it with a mental wag, which he only knew how to do because he flew gliders recreationally). Not only that, but the aircraft hydraulic system, which moved the flight control surfaces and lowered the flaps and opened the gear doors, was pressurized by the engines. The backup system (at least there was one) involved a small ram air turbine which would drop into the airstream beneath the body of the jet and relied on the aircraft's forward motion to pressurize the hydraulics. Of course, once an airplane becomes a glider it tends to slow down, and at landing it slows down a lot; less forward motion means less hydraulic pressure, and just when you need it most (you want to lower the flaps and landing gear as you slow down and approach the land, and when you're slower you need larger control-surface movements to control the aircraft.)
This comedy of errors finally ended at Gimli, Manitoba (home of the Crown Royal whiskey distillery, so you know which drink to serve at your Gimli Glider party), where the aircraft's first officer had been stationed in the Canadian Air Force. The air force base, however, had been decommissioned, and the runway turned into a drag strip, which at that very moment was hosting a "family day" auto racing event.
The pilots tried to drop the landing gear using gravity (saving limited hydraulic pressure to lower flaps and, you know, fly the damn thing), but while the gear came down the nosewheel failed to lock into place. With the gear down the aircraft slowed dramatically, making it much harder to control, and in order to lose altitude to make the landing (cars and campers having been herded off the runway by local fire and police) the pilot had to slip the aircraft, something you pretty much never do with a plane that big (slip means "make really unaerodynamic so it'll drop out of the sky" and it involves putting the rudder and ailerons at cross-purposes, something that probably required both pilots to have hands on the controls because there was so little pressure to move them with); as the pilots drove into the airfield at very low altitude one passenger reported that he could tell what clubs people were using on the golf course they were flying over.
They did land on the runway, though, which is pretty damn remarkable in and of itself and although the initial problem—running out of fuel—is certainly partially the fault of the crew, they did a good job in dealing with the issue. The captain stood on the brakes—probably literally stood on them since the brakes use hydraulic pressure, too, and there wasn't much of that left—and blew out two tires, and the nosewheel collapsed (it hadn't locked, remember), so the airplane skidded down the runway on its nose and veered into a guardrail. That was actually a good thing; the guardrail absorbed some speed and the airplane stayed on the runway.
There were no injuries to any of the passengers or aircrew during the landing, so bravo to the pilots for that. However, several passengers were injured evacuating from the airplane; they used the slides that go out the rear door, but since the plane was resting on its nose the slides didn't reach all the way to the ground. Fortunately it was little more than scrapes and bruises and everybody was treated at the scene.
So that's the story of the Gimli Glider. The aircraft in question was fixed up and reentered service, flying several thousand hours before retiring in 1999 (and I bet only a few flight crews ever told the passengers they were on the famous Gimli Glider). It's worth pointing out that this was the first significant in-air incident for the 767, occurring just about a year after the aircraft entered service. The hydraulic systems have been upgraded fleetwide, so you needn't worry the next time you board one; should your 767 run out of fuel (if the U.S. adopts the metric system, for example) your glider will have all the controllability it needs to execute a safe landing. And with any luck you'll land near a whiskey distillery.
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