Energy from Ocean Waves

This is a lecture by a friend of mine. If you are interested in using ocean waves for power generation, you will find it well worth the investment in time. At the least, you will be able to discuss the issue from a position of science rather than emotion.

Swine Flu and Obama's Health Plan

I'm sure this is what we all expected to happen when the Swine Flu was announced. And it also illustrates how Obama's new health care plan would respond to a pandemic.

Yeah, That'll Help

The news is saying that Obama plans to cut 17 billion dollars from his 3.4 trillion dollar budget. Well, that sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but it's a flea on the tail of the total budget.

It amounts to 1/2 of 1%.

That's 0.5% or 0.005 in decimal form.

It would be like a family that earns $50,000 cutting out $250 from their budget.

Don't get fooled by the all the zeros. It's chump change to the government!

Road Trip and Louisiana Sauna

Made a trip to the field today. Went to a natural gas storage operation a little west of the picturesque town of Krotz Springs. Three hours of windshield time - each way. I'm fixing up some problems (by others) from the original installation. It's not a complicated project but its required by environmental regulations so folks get real anxious. Besides, the client is always happy to see his engineer on site. I also believe that I should show the people who work for me that I am willing to do the same things I ask them to do. So I held the dumb end of the tape while my designer took field measurements. A few hours of walking around the plant in Louisiana humidity was as good as being in a Finnish Sauna. At almost 6 decades, I'm probably getting too old that stuff. But, it was a break from the office and I got to visit my favorite Mexican restaurant, Ninfas, for lunch.

Unintended Consequences

My wife used to own a franchise for a national temporary employment agency. She closed it at the beginning of this year because of the lousy economy and lack of business in the "affected area". But she still keeps in touch with her friends in the business and she heard the other day that company headquarters had cancelled the health insurance plan for their temporary employees.

One of the items in Obama's new budget plan (the one that nobody read) was that health care providers would have to pay 65% of the cost of the COBRA for a laid off employee thereby reducing the employee's cost to 35%. (Previously the employee paid up to 102% of the cost). The idea was to make health care affordable for laid off employees. Unfortunately, the end result seems to be that now nobody will have health insurance benefits.

So, Obama institutes a plan to make health care more affordable to laid off employees but ends up having health insurance cancelled for all employees.

Was this the change you expected?

Swine Flu - History Repeats?

If you are younger than 50, you probably don't recall the Swine Flu epidemic of 1976. For an excellent review of this government lead fiasco, go here.

The short story is that one soldier at Fort Dix died of Swine Flu after a forced 5 mile hike. The CDC found evidence that other soldiers had been infected but recovered. There was great concern about a pandemic which lead to the President's science advisers recommending a nation wide inoculation program. But there were side effects to the serum and 25 people died as a direct result of the program.

To put things in perspective, in America, approximate 36,000 people die each year from "normal" influenza and there about 200,000 people hospitalized.

Given that our President's current science advisor is a global warming alarmist, I would advise that you follow any recommendations coming out of the White House at your own risk and with extreme caution.

Usquaebach

The purist in me prefers single malts but I have to admit that the art of the blend can be interesting. The blender has to keep his mix consistent between distillery runs which has to be a challenge. For that reason, I tried, and liked, Usquaebach.

The distillery was started in 1768 and is now owned by the American company Stone Flagon Whiskey LLC. It is a located in the Western Highlands. Usquaebach means "water of life", which is true of all good whiskeys.

Here are my tasting notes.

Usquaebach Reserve

Color: Medium Amber
Nose: Clean
Palate: Clean, Delicate, Fresh
Body: Medium Soft, Mouth Coating
Finish: Short, Clean,Tingling

Robert Burns said in 1791, "wi Usquaebae we'll face the devil." I don't know if I'd go that far, but this is truly a good whiskey.