Category: Economy

Yesterday, like millions of Americans, I went to Chick-fil-A to show my support of traditional marriage and the First Amendment. Actually, I bought breakfast there for my whole family and returned about 8 p.m. in hopes of finishing the day with a milkshake. We waited about 50 minutes to get to the counter and place our drink order (by then they were out of many food items including ice-cream). Some friends that we saw in the drive-thru line said it took about an hour and a half to get to the place where they could give their order and almost two hours to complete the whole evolution.

The atmosphere was festive, the people were polite to each other and it was genuinely fun to be there. The line periodically did “the wave” and everyone got along great. No one cared that the place was out of food. I heard people say they would settle for a catsup packet if that was all that was left. They wanted to show their support. I thought of the people voting in Iraq that waited in long lines and earned a purple thumb when they voted. Yesterday we voted and the sound reverberated down the spines of the ruling class.

The message was loud and unmistakable. Barry Obama and his minions have struck a nerve with main street Americans. The people have had enough and are ready to shove the children out of the White House. Political correctness finally crossed the Rubicon.
Yes, Mr. President, the Cathy family did build it without your help. Now get out of our way and let our people grow.

In case you thought Barry Obama was the only one out of touch with the real world…

California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones went against a unified front of labor and employer representatives siding with the insurance industry and the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB) in approving a 8.3% increase mid-year rate hike for California employers. Added to the 37% rate increase he approved for January, July and later renewals are facing an average rate increase of 45.3% over last year at the same time.

from http://wcexec.com/Jones-Approves-45-Workers-Comp-Hike-for-71s.aspx

emphasis added.

High tech jobs going out of state as this vacant Intel facility near Sacramento illustrates.

A few days ago I went to Border’s Books to browse their remaining inventory during their going out of business sale. I had a feeling that sections would be somewhat disorganized. The attached photo is one such example. Since there were several pre-season football games on the TV at the time of my visit, I thought maybe this was a commentary on fantasy football. The photo below is not staged, just strangely random.

Also, I found Charles Dickens classic “A Tale of Two Cities” in the Science Fiction section.

Yeah. Amazon.com is taking the newly imposed tax to the ballot. The California legislature is willing to take a one billion loss just to say they tax Internet sales. California has no way to track these sales taxes except to have complete access to all sales records of Amazon and their California affiliates. Amazon and other online retailers can’t be compelled to give these records to the government. California would lose this fight in Federal Court but it would take years and they would have to go thru the Ninth Circuit to win. The ballot is a better place to start and they have the funds to see this thru to the end.

Today’s mail from the State of California was a lay-off notice (a.k.a. SROA letter). Where is the media on this one?
How can there be a lay-off when there is no budget?
Oh, they spent $5.65 to send a four page letter to each person on the list. The six page resume/application I mailed today cost me $0.65.

I’m sure no managers were harmed in the making of these weighty decisions.

Happy Memorial Day!

By far the most pervasive myth of nuclear power is that the reactor goes critical just before it explodes. This is non-sense and has been a constant source of irritation to people knowledgeable about nuclear power. I don’t care how big a budget the movie has, when characters start talking about nuclear power they always get it wrong. The only description I have ever seen in popular culture that got it right was Tom Clancy.

Simply put when a reactor is critical, it is creating enough power to sustain a nuclear reaction.

A nuclear reaction is controlled by several factors including design of fuel and control rods, degree of enrichment of the uranium, medium used for heat transfer. The two things controlled by nuclear plant operators are position of control rods and coolant.

When a reactor is “scrammed” the control rods are rapidly inserted into the reactor. The rods absorb energy that would otherwise go into the fuel and disrupt the chain reaction from continuing. Thus the reactor is shutdown. Gradual raising and lowering of control rods can increase or decrease the temperature of the reactor. Depending on the design, a reactor will operate at a temperature of 450 – 600 degree Fahrenheit.

Coolant is used to transfer heat from the reactor to heater exchangers (often steam generators) and then the cooler fluid is pumped back to the reactor to be heated again. Usually the coolant is very pure water. However, I have been to an early reactor in Idaho that was cooled by liquid sodium. This closed loop then transferred heat to another closed loop of liquid sodium and then via a heat exchanger, created steam to power a generator. Imagine if this was the design in Japan and they had to resort to cooling their reactors with sea water. (If you didn’t know, sodium reacts violently with water.)

In many water cooled plants, the water not only is used to transfer heat but it actually can help control the nuclear reaction. In water cooled, water moderated nuclear power plants, the water’s ability to expand when heated and contract when cooled is used to help the reactor maintain a constant temperature. When the water is heated, the water molecules get further apart and reflect fewer neutrons back into the fuel, when the temperature decreases, the water becomes denser and will reflect more neutrons back into the reactor.

A normally operating reactor is critical and will maintain a rather constant temperature as long as the heater transfer process is constant.

Next time you see a movie featuring a hero that is desperately trying to prevent the reactor from going critical; please remember that you are witnessing a drama where a Hollywood myth is being presented as fact. Reactors are supposed to go critical. That’s what they are designed to do.

First, I am moved by the destruction and devastation in Japan. My prayers are going out to the folks over there. The loss of life is much greater than the preliminary reports.

In a former life, I worked as a nuclear reactor operator so I think I understand the basics of what is occurring in Japan. Much of what is happening depends on the design of the plant. What is the percentage of enrichment of the fuel? What is the coolant used? (Likely very pure water but nuke plants can run with other types of coolant.) What is the operating temperature and pressure of the plant? What is design and placement of the control rods?

The plants where I worked is in some ways like the typical cooling system in a car. The engine is a heat source, water is pumped thru the engine and is warmed, it passes thru pipes to the radiator and is cooled and then the cooler water returns to the engine to be heated. The whole system is closed with an overflow source to allow for expansion and contraction of the water and this allows for the addition of more water to the system.

If the engine is running, ever just idling, and the water pump breaks, water ceases to circulate in the engine. As it heats—even under pressure—it will turn to steam. In a reactor when this happens the core can become uncovered, the fuel rods will distort and could leak fuel into the reactor. What can happen is an uncontrolled reaction that damages the reactor vessel and/or a steam explosion. The end result is an uncontrolled release of radioactive material.

To prevent such an occurrence, there are emergency generators on the site in case an external source of power is needed to run pumps for cooling during maintenance or emergency. Since the plant is on the coast, a last resort would be salt water. The plant can never be operated again if saltwater is used to cool the reactor compartment.

It appears that this option has been used to cool the reactor. When the water was pumped in and came in contact with the pressure vessel—which contains the nuclear fuel—a brittle fracture resulted, some water flashed to steam and the building which was structurally compromised by the earthquake collapsed. At this point the core is covered and the plant is a multimillion dollar pile of scrap.

• Governments nationalizing their banking and largest industries.
• Government regulating salaries of the businesses that they control.
• Government hiring and firing executives and members of governing boards.
• Government confiscating or depleting the assets of its wealthiest citizens.
• Government trying to spend its way into economic prosperity.

The Cold War Soviet Union? Cuba? China? Venezuela?
NO! It’s the United States of America under Barack Obama.

Reports are surfacing today that the newly elected President will be give the head of General Motors President, Rick Wagoner, as the price of any more federal funds to keep GM afloat. Wagoner has reportedly agreed to step down. Wagoner’s sin according to Obama was that “He is considered responsible for increasing GM’s focus on trucks and SUVs—at the expense of the hybrids and fuel efficient cars that have become more popular in the last couple of years.” – Politico
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20625.html

Translation, GM made the types of vehicles that Americans wanted to buy instead of forcing American consumers into “green” vehicles that the environmentalists said were good for the planet. He has sinned against the planet and assisted in the violation of “Mother Earth” and for this he must be sacrificed.

Obama furthers his fascist aims of controlling the means of production and also furthers the erosion of individual liberty and freedom of choice.