LAW
& ORDER
Stephen
G.: “You cite ‘Law
and Order’ as an example of good TV? As an actual lawyer, who’s
been in courtrooms, and dealt with police and DAs, I have to say that L&A
is an insidious, evil, representation of our ‘criminal justice’
system. It portrays a system where evil, brilliant criminals and their
powerful and corrupt defense lawyers make it almost impossible to obtain a
conviction, and that only the dedication and courage of the overmatched
prosecutors and cops saves the day. I hate to resort to arcane legalisms, but
THIS IS CRAP, and almost exactly opposite reality. /SIGNED ‘A lawyer in
California, home of the life sentence for shoplifting.’”
BOREALIS
Ah,
Borealis.
One
of the stumbling blocks to my plutocratude has been Boeing’s skepticism
that the APU on its airplanes – the “auxiliary power unit”
that powers the lights and air conditioning when the aircraft is on the ground
– would have enough juice left over to power the WheelTug™ motors
we hope to imbed in their nose wheels.
(WheelTug
is a subsidiary of Chorus Motors which is a subsidiary of Borealis which I told
you, in 1999, was “a stock that’s
surely going to zero” even though I had – unable to control my
demons – bought a ridiculous lot of shares in it.)
And
you would think Boeing would know a little something about this.
But
it now turns out there is plenty of power after all. A couple of weeks ago,
Delta made available a jet for testing to see just how much juice the APU does
have to spare.
The press release
begins:
WHEELTUG ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL ELECTRIC LOAD TEST ON
BOEING B737NG
February 1, 2010 - WheelTug Limited with partner Co-Operative Industries, reported today the
successful completion of an Electrical Load Measurement (ELM) development test
on a Boeing B737NG. The tests confirm sufficient power is available to operate
a WheelTug(r).
The tests were conducted in January at
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, GA in the presence of
independent observers.
☞
The full release will likely leave you with a lot of obvious questions.
The
answers are (in order): “Good question.” “Who
knows?” “Wouldn’t you think?” “It’s a
mystery!” “I know! I keep asking that myself!”
and “Well, it took winglets
a ridiculous number of years to be accepted, too, yet now they’re in wide
use.”
The
stock, symbol BOREF, trades just a few hundred shares on a typical day. Under
no circumstances should you enter a “market” order to buy or sell
it. You need to enter a “limit” on the price you
are willing to pay or accept.
It
remains highly speculative; at under $3, it’s about a dollar cheaper than
it was in 1999; I still own a ridiculous lot of shares.
THE PRESIDENT
AND THE REPUBLICANS
Again
I link to Friday’s give-and-take.
If you are a history buff or care to take the measure of the man you elected
(or voted against) . . . if you are engrossed in the Grand Puzzle . . . how the
game of governance can be won for the American people and how we can navigate
our way back to prosperity and a modicum of common purpose . . . well, then, you
shouldn’t miss this. As one of my friends put it, “The President
spent an hour taking questions from House Republicans at their annual retreat.
The level of skill, intelligence, expertise and political sophistication he
demonstrated throughout was incredible.”
Tomorrow: The Long Road Back to Fiscal Responsibility