THE ARTISRY OF RUIN

 EXPEDIENCY, EXPEDIENCY

HURRY ME DOWN TO CALAMITY......

FIGHTING

 Animals fight so ferociously because they don't know of death.

Humans fight so ferociously because they know of death.

DIPLOMACY AND WAR

 It has been said, War Is The Last Act Of Diplomacy. Think about that in today's efforts to end wars by imaginative Diplomacy.

ELECTIONS

 It appears that "A Chicken In Every Pot" still wins elections.

THE BON AMI MYSTERY

 I worked at the Naval Avionics Center (NAC) as a design engineer and retold this story of how a system I helped to designed, manufacture, install, and successfully operated for a number of Manufactuing cycles, could, all of a sudden, have a subsystem become unworkable. I relay this story to highlight how seemingly unrelated things in our everyday lives can result in unworkable situations that have always worked before, even in relationship matters.

The Bon Ami Mystery

 

NAC successfully designed and manufactured the AN/SMQ-6 Weather Satellite Receiver Recorder for navy ships and shore installations for a number of years. I was part of the team that achieved that success and we were in the third or fourth round of successful manufacturing when I got an urgent call from the manufacturing assembly floor. The call concerned a sub-assembly of the SMQ-6 called the film transport. The report was that the film transport was failing its acceptance testing and could not be installed into the final SMQ-6 assembly for shipment.

Upon hearing this call for help, I ensured my shirt pocket protector was fully aligned with the appropriate number of pencils and pens and hooked my trusty slid rule to my belt so that all could see that I was fully ready for some serious technical business. Now satisfied I was projecting the proper engineering image, I moseyed out to the assembly area to fix whatever it was that was ailing the failing sub-assembly.

The good people in assembly had a film transport ready for my inspection and quickly demonstrated that, sure enough, the dang thing would not run smoothly. I requested they assemble another film transport assembly that contained all manner of gears, motors, shafts, rollers and associated electronics. The assembler put together another transport under my “expert” watchful eye and we both ensured the assembly instructions were being faithfully followed. To my astonishment, the newly assembled transport would not operate properly even though it had been assembled with my expert engineering presence fully engaged. The assembled assembly personnel, that had gathered to watch the show, immediately wanted to know how I was going to fix the transport so they could get on with their important work.

I answered the call by going into a full blown forensic engineering mode by investigating every component for specification compliance and recalculating tolerances with no luck in finding a cause for failure. I even made a foolhardy trip to receiving inspection to innocently inquire if they really checked each and every incoming component tor specification compliance.  My inquiry was met with some steely eyed glances while other inspectors seemed fixated on my dangling slide rule. One ruffian inspector even suggested that perhaps I should consider purchasing a ticket on the next train to Buffalo.

Well I was stumped. I reluctantly made my way back to assembly after spending futile weeks trying to find the cause of failure and fix the ailing transport that, up to now, had always worked perfectly. When I arrived in assembly, the assembled non-functioning film transports were all lined up like forlorn soldiers with no rifles to shoot and no war to go fight in. Just when I thought all was lost a lady assembler tugged on my white shirt sleeve and said, “Excuse me sir, I know you have been working hard to fix the transport problem but maybe I have some information that could be helpful.” I responded to the good lady with defeated eyes and replied, “I would be grateful for any information you might have,”

The lady said, “Charlie was always the one who assembled the transport but he retired a few months ago and they assigned a new mechanical assembler. The transports that Charlie assembled always worked perfectly. But that’s not surprising because Charlie was a perfectionist who took a great deal of pride in his work. By the way, did you know that Charlie was the last of the old time watch makers that worked at this facility? For some reason, and don’t let on to the new assembler, all of the new guy’s film transports won’t work.”

Fascinated with this new information, I asked the lady if she could show me how Charlie (not his real handle because I have forgotten his name) assembled the transports. She said yes and led me through all that Charlie had done. And she said when Charlie completed assembly, he applied a compound to the gear train, applied power to the transport and let it run for a few days. Charlie then disassembled, cleaned, lubricated and reassembled film transport and then it truly ran like a swiss watch.

I quickly went to the assembly instructions to find the compound that Charlie was using because I could not recall a compound listed in the instructions when a sample transport was assembled for me. I asked the lady where Charlie had gotten the compound he used and she stifled a polite laugh and replied, “Oh Charlie made his own compound.” With a creeping realization about what had happened, I asked the lady if she could show me where Charlie keep his compound. She was happy to assist and she went over to the area where Charlie assembled the transport, reached under the table and handed me a brightly colored round box that cheerfully read “Bon Ami” with a picture of a newly hatched chicken on it with a caption that read “Hasn’t Scratched Yet.”  

I looked at the Bon Ami box, looked back at the lady, and then back at the Bon Ami box as if the box could tell me what was going on. I finally looked up at the lady and asked, “You mean Charlie poured Bon Ami onto the gear train of the transport and then ran it for several days?” The ever-polite lady must have wondered where on earth the facility finds the guys from engineering who could ask such a question, nevertheless answered, “Oh good heavens no. Charlie mix enough water with the Bon Ami to make a paste and then applied the paste to the gear chain for run in.”

Voila, the film transport failure was solved by virtue of a household window glass cleaner/polisher called Bon Ami. Charlie never told anyone of his need for his compound because he didn’t want to embarrass the designers.  Turns out Bon Ami contains mild abrasives (feldspar and limestone) which when applied to the gear train will then gently polish the gears until they ran smoothly after running the gear train for a few days.

But wait. There’s more.

Back in the day of the World War II secret Norton Bombsight that was made here at the facility, the facility hired every watch maker they could find in order to assemble the mechanical computer bomb sight that contained countless precision gears. So, it is very possible that all of those old-time watch makers were secretly using Bon Ami as well to make the bombsight work well enough to bomb the evil Nazis back into the stone age. I’m just saying.

THE FORTH ESTATE

 If the 4th Estate (Establishment Mass Media) would have been around to report on the, Sermon On The Mount, I'm certain that they would report that Jesus had dirty feet. 

SENIOR LIVING

 THE SPIRT IS WILLING,

BUT THE FLESH IS WEAK....

Establishment and Socialist Mantra

 The Establishment and Socialist power and vote getting mantra is identical to the sleazy advertising mantra that promise to cheat the undefined better off person in order to get a better deal for you, to wit:

We cheat the other guy and pass the savings on to you.

Creation's magnificent gifs to Humankind

  God provided three elegant and magnificent gifts to humankind. These gifts were meant to lift his creation from fighting in the dirt into gracious Beings worthy of His creation.

These three gifts are LIFE, LOVE and MUSIC. 

REPUBS and DEMS

 Jack Sprat could eat no fat,

His wife could eat no lean,

And so between the both of them,

They licked the platter clean.

ROCKS IN TREES

 Ronald L Clark is pleased to announce that his 5th book has been published and is available worldwide in all bookstores and of course from Amazon and Barns & Noble. However, for quick response, and as a favor to the author, you are encouraged to buy directly from the publisher. The link to do so is provided below:

iuniverse.bookstore/Rocks In Trees

URBAN FORTIFICATION OF SOCIALISM

 

Urban Fortification of Socialism

2000 Census Population Density USA Today 2004 Election Red/Blue Map

I invite you to look very closely at the above two maps. They are profound in their similarity. The left map is the official 2000 Census Population Density Map where the red color indicates where the highest population density is located. Of course, the concentration of red also indicates where the great cities are due to the greater population within the respective counties and so clearly indicates where the great urban centers are located. The map on the right is the USA Today 2004 election results, also down to the county level. Red represents Republican votes and in general indicates a more conservative political area. The Blue represents Democratic votes and in general indicates a more liberal political area. Now, try to overlay each map in your mind. I think you will find that the red high-density areas (urban areas) on the population density map closely correspond to the democratic, or politically liberal, areas of the 2004 red/blue map. The political importance of these maps is profound in that it clearly shows that the urbanization of America is providing an irresistible fortification of socialistic tendencies due to liberal or “progressive” thought within the body politic by virtue of the greater population and thus greater political power of the urban areas. Indeed, those who demand that the US Constitution be treated as a “living document” to support progressive or socialist dogma may well have a viable argument due to the phenomena of urbanization. Think about it. The country was mostly rural when the Constitution was ratified, and rural living peoples are very self-sufficient and fearlessly independent. The Constitution, in general, codifies self-sufficiency and independence of the individual as a way to ensure personal liberty and thus prevent tyranny from gaining a foothold in Government. When people congregate into urban areas, dependence upon one another is more important than self-sufficiency, and personal independence must be moderated in order to foster social conditions that will enhance the opportunity for all to live in peace and harmony with one another. In other words, urban living promotes a more socialistic environment by the necessity of interdependence, not independence, of city dwellers. This socialistic force due to urbanization is irresistible much like a trade wind that blows due to environmental factors, i.e., a socialistic wind is blowing due to urbanization factors, and it will continue to blow stronger and stronger unless a way is found to reverse urbanization, and that is not likely. Indeed, the census bureau reports that the 2000 census indicated that 81% of America’s population is now living within urban areas while the remaining 19% of the population is living in the rural areas of the country. But wait, there’s more. Just this week the United Nations announced that the World population is now 50% rural and 50% urban. What does it mean? Every good sailor will tell you that it is folly to try and change the wind because the wind will blow to wherever the wind will blow. Every good sailor will also tell you that you can set your sail to the wind and go to where you want to go regardless of the way the wind blows. Somehow, we must find a way to maintain personal freedom and liberty within a more and more socialistic environment that the urbanization of America is causing. It’s time for the intellectual sailors of this country to set freedom’s sail to the prevailing socialist wind so that personal liberty will still be the destination of our progeny.

ITS HOW ITS DONE

 The rapidly raising Federal Public debt is confounding to most citizens, and alarming to financial experts. However, if you know how big Government demands more and more power in order to continue to grow and control, then the spending contributing to raising public debt makes perfect sense. Remember, Taxes Are Power, and how do you get the people's representatives to cooperate in raising taxes in order to get more power?

  Well, you use the time-tested Government method of creating a problem that only big Government can solve, like the created problem of Global Warming. And how Government creates the financial problem that only bigger Government can solve is to spend, and spend, and spend until the country is facing certain financial ruin. Spending that is aided and abetted by our feckless elected Representatives, until the Congress must raise taxes in order to save the country from financial ruin. 

Mission accomplished, Taxes Are Power, and more taxes granted, and more power obtained. All at the expense of your personal freedoms and liberty as the Government controls more and more of your life and times by gaining more and more POWER through taxation. 

6 JANUARY

 The occurrence of 6 January brings to mind the ancient Sumerian Poet describing a rebellion by the Anunnaki to force their presumptive Lord to attend to their grievances. To wit,

"My Lord, your house is surrounded,

Battle has come right up to your gate."

PROPERTY TAX

 Property tax is a wealth tax. That is, the current value of your house, particularly if you worked your lifetime to pay off your house, is UNREALIZED WEALTH.  Therefor property tax is, indeed, a wealth tax. 

Self-Sustaining Big Government

 Big Government operational paradigm. 

We cheat the other guy, 

and pass the advantage on to you......

MESOPARALIA

 Mesoparalia, or The Land Between the Sea Coasts, is not only the heartland of the USA, but it may also become the remainder of the great American Experiment begat by our esteemed Founders. The Founders wisdom in establishing a Government of the People, by the People, and for the People, requires a foundational requisite in order for the promise of liberty and justice for all to be viable.  That requisite was best summed up by the Frenchman Tocqueville when he opined, "liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith." The Moral-Equivalency paradigm forced upon us all to define our culture and our freedoms by those who do not dwell in Mesoparalia is causing a great schism to occur. That schism, if not repaired, will surely break apart a once great united country into fragmented hostile Balkanized regions. IMHO.

Down Home Haute Couture

 I am a slave to clothing fashion. I follow the dictates of that fashion Maven, Monsieur LIFO, (Last In First Out,) or I grab what's on top of the pile.

SOCIALIST MODUS OPERANDI

 Today the Socialists, and their many variant Statist Governments and movements, brings to mind the Van Morrison song (The Mystery) lyric, to wit:

"Trust what I say,

And do what you're told,

And surely all your dirt,

Will turn into gold."  

Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End

 First there is the fist and the tooth,

Then there is the stick and the stone,

Then there is the club and the ax,

Then there is the arrow and the sword,

Then there is the bullet and the bomb,

Then there is the biological agent and the chemical agent,

Then there is the energy of the universe let loose,

Then there is utter destruction and death,

Then there is barren land where life once was.