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Tuesday, January 17. 2012

Skyscrapers As Spaceships - The “rampant individualism” and surprising environmentalism of really tall buildings

Dalrymple on hiring criminals: Forgiveness Is a Kind of Wild Justice

Revival Of Iconic California Condor Threatens State's Wind Farm Boom

Tata Motors Mini CAT Air Car to debut in 2012

Group protests MLK Day opening of TD Bank

Supposed to honor the memory of MLK by not working? I worked Monday - all day. That's how I fight inequality.

Inequality: Redistribute Krugman's NYT column

It's not fair that he has a NYT column and I don't. Why not redistribute his Nobel too?

American Political Science Assoc. recommends lowering standards for black grad students

Via Powerline:

As pointed out by Nir Shaviv and others, actual temperatures are significantly diverging from model projections.

"The revelations follow claims that Schettino, from Meta di Sorrento near Naples, had been drinking 'with a beautiful woman' at the ship's bar before he sailed into disaster.

As a frequent ship passenger, I can say that that means nothing. On large ships, it's not like the Captain is at a steering wheel. Departing the ship before all customers are off is another matter. Still, it seems odd to me that they cut so close to shore. As they say in the Navy, "We don't want Captains with bad luck."

Columbia Prez Bollinger preens, argues for racial preferences

Uh-oh… if we don’t watch out, the Taliban won’t like us anymore!

Is the notion of teamwork foolish? The Rise of the New Groupthink (link repaired)

Good news: EPA creates bureaucratic nightmare to prevent farmers from using pesticides!

Scientists want climate change in young minds - Teachings to point to human causes

Plans for high-speed rail are slowing down

How Stimulus Spending Ruined Buffalo - Four decades of subsidies and high taxes haven't arrested the city's decline, but here comes New York's governor with another billion dollars.

All the signs of a government-triggered death spiral

Andrew Sullivan: How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics

Private sector experience? Oh, no!

The Three Rules of Western Discourse and Why The Media Must Always Blame Israel

Ralph Peters: Dumb Marines, Delighted Media - The Left's nostalgia for My Lai is forever

SEIU gears up for thuggery

Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 06:31 | Comments (10) | Trackback (1)

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The Left's nostalgia for My Lai is forever

Yep - stating the obvious.

at the ship's bar before he sailed into disaster.

I'm surprised that there wasn't a "second" Captain onboard. Most cruise ships I've been on have two Captains - Senior and seconded Junior. Seconded Junior meaning "co-pilot". Usually, the second is responsible for ship handling and navigation. The Captain is more of an administrative post.

In any case, dereliction of duty in particular by leaving his command in a crisis. That is just despicable.

Skyscrapers As Spaceships

Beato makes one mistake - these buildings are not "self-sustained". They are dependent on supplies of energy, food, replacement parts - in short everything needed to keep the building working. To be self-sustainable, all that has to be done within the confines of the building.

#1 Tom Francis on 2012-01-17 07:27 (Reply)

The "New Groupthink" link is broken. Could you fix? Sounds interesting and possibly applicable to homeschoolers.

#2 Cheryl (Link) on 2012-01-17 07:40 (Reply)

What are your thoughts related to homeschoolers?

#2.1 DrTorch on 2012-01-17 10:53 (Reply)

Merchant captains are more administrative but that does not relieve them of the responsibilities of operating the ship. They are the final word, they are the ones who must rise when subordinates fall, they are the ones who take the have overall responsibility. As a captain, you must go from deep REM sleep to complete command of a crisis situation in less than 2 minutes from bunk to bridge. You train your officers to call early to avoid that situation. You remain at your post until all those on your ship, passengers and crew, are off and safe as possible. That is your responsibility. It is not transferable, not debatable, there are no exceptions.

This guy apparently liked the privileges of command but not the responsibility.

#3 JKB on 2012-01-17 09:49 (Reply)

General international rules in ships over a certain tonnage (usually 1600 Gross Tons) require two qualified command officers. Now they may be called Co-Captains, Senior/Junior, Captain/First Officer - both have to be qualified for the type of work the vessel does. Individual countries can vary the specific requirements a little bit - there is some leeway, but the general requirements have to be adhered to.

I looked up the Italian Coast Guard requirements and they are almost exactly the same as the USCG requirements - minimum four years as a deck officer (that could include anything by the way - a deck officer isn't just solely restricted to the mechanicals - bursar, security, etc.) as a current license holder at that tonnage - just about the same. Captain Schettino's license is Open Oceans - Any Tonnage (unlimited) so he had to have some experience.

In case you're interested, my license is 100 ton Open Oceans with Near Shore/Inland endorsements. What that means is that I can operate as a Master Mariner a vessel of 100 tons capacity or less anywhere in any waters in the world.

#3.1 Tom Francis on 2012-01-17 13:06 (Reply)

I guess I was under the mistaken impression that cruise lines had 'social' captains that were for show, say at the posher wine & dines at the 'captain's table' and photo ops while strolling on deck so that touristas could be flattered to the max by the 'captain's' solicitude and charm. I supposed there was a real 'skipper' doing the real work.

#4 Bob in VA on 2012-01-17 10:01 (Reply)

Those EPA regs willl do two things:

Rasie food prices

Destroy family farms and promote large-scale corporate farms.

Once again, Dems hurt the poor and the individual, they favor big business.

#5 DrTorch on 2012-01-17 10:18 (Reply)

The article labeled "Scientists want climate change in young minds " is a link to the following one about HSR.

#6 DrTorch on 2012-01-17 11:30 (Reply)

The SEIU is always geared up for thuggery... they have equal parts of slugs and thugs in their corner of society. I'm considering hiring a bodyguard when I go to vote this fall, since I am a] white; b] elderly but still have all my marbles; c] handicapped, which limits my ability to run fast. Fortunately, Texas believes in carry permits. I don't have a carry permit since firing my side arm would be difficult while I'm using a cane, but there are quite a few Texas citizens who do have carry permits, and the great thing is, criminals, and wannabe criminals don't know who is armed and who is not.

Can't remember who said, "an armed society is a more civil society," but he/she was right. And i think that we can thank our present Administration for the revival of thuggery as a solution.

Marianne

#7 Marianne Matthews on 2012-01-18 11:03 (Reply)

Well, of course we should have lower standards for black students! We have lower standards for their schools, their teachers, their parents, so why not the students?

#8 Sam L. on 2012-01-18 11:50 (Reply)

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Tuesday, January 17. 2012

Tuesday morning links