Bear Flag Republic Radio WeblogLiving out on the left coast |
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LIVE webcam Cumbres & Toltec rail yard in Chama, New Mexico.
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Saturday, March 29, 2003
Changing World Technologies. This company is about to open the doors on its first commercial plant. It is working with ConAgra to turn turkey offal (a byproduct of Turkey processing) into light commercial quality oil, natural gas, purified water, and commercially valuable minerals (all at very high quality levels). Amazingly, this same plant can process just about anything (from plastic bottles to sewage) and turn it into commerial materials without any nasty byproducts. Economic analysis indicates that the plant will produce oil at an estimated price of $15 a barrel (which is commercially competitive). The process involves changining the waste products at the molecular level. This could mean that landfills may become valuable sources of raw materials for reprocessing and that recycling will become a thing of the past (no downcycling of plastics for example). Very cool and seemingly credible. If the claims are correct, we should see these plants become ubiquitous in the next ten years. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]
comments < 7:12:50 PM 
>Strategic Armchair Command. Death from the couch. Nice warblog. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] comments < 8:03:02 AM
>The New Yorker. A lesson of humility. An excellent article. Dwight Eisenhower said:
Bush should remember that this is concept he had once espoused. The preening and strutting Bush exiting a helicopter and saluting a Marine is a sight to behold. Another telling blow: [John Robb's Radio Weblog] comments < 8:02:12 AM
>Here are the major arguments for the war. Let's see how they hold up:
My analysis: Weapons of mass destruction. Saddam is likely to have chemical and biological weapons, however, these weapons don't represent any meaningful threat to the US. The only weapon that could result in a catastrophic impact on the US is a nuke. He doesn't own one yet. Containment and destabilization of Iraq could prevent the development of a nuke. Liberation. A war for liberation requires that we arm, train, and support freedom fighters in Iraq. We haven't even tried to do that. We didn't even start serious talks with the Iraqi National Congress until last week. The Kurds have languished in silent obscurity until recently. The propoganda we sent into Iraq doesn't (as far as I have seen) incite people to revolt. Clearly, the US military didn't want to deal with armed freedom fighters in the post Saddam military protectorate. We didn't want their participation. Our inaction means that a popular revolt won't happen. It can't happen. This portion of the US strategy is clearly schizophrenic. We want popular support, but we don't really want it because it can get out of hand. [John Robb's Radio Weblog]comments < 8:00:42 AM
>NYT. Second market attack in two days in Baghdad. I am more than a little skeptical about these "attacks." Here's why. The latest attack occured in a crowded Baghdad marketplace during the day. The vast majority of our attacks on Baghdad have and continue to be at night (example: stealth bombers don't usually operate during the day because they are vulnerable to visual acquisition). Also, nearly 70% of US air attacks made during the same time period that these marketplace attacks were made were on the Republican Guard divisions well outside the city. As a result, the potential that US air strikes caused the damage is extremely low (particularly when contrasted to the high degree of accuracy attained when we were dumping almost all of our munitions on Baghdad). I don't even think this was Iraqi anti-aircraft fire gone astray. It is rather a calculated measure to inflame Arab streets by Saddam. He is staging these explosions and it is working given the "Fox" news quality of Al Jazeera reporting. NOTE: this attack was on a marketplace in a poor Shiite neighborhood -- exactly the people that would likely revolt against Saddam. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] comments < 7:59:48 AM
>BusinessWeek. A very negative report from a reporter with the 3rd Mech division.
However, (unknown to the reporter) this is the historical par for a rapid advance of armor over a long distance. Fatigue, lagging supplies (mostly due to the sand storm), and slight paranoia all feed on each other when you plunge deep into enemy territory. The training carries you through it. On the good side: the absolute paranoia, loses, and dislocation felt by the enemy due to the rapidity of the advance more than makes up for it. There are certainly delays built into the war plan for lagging supply convoys and units to catch up and we are experiencing one of them. Without the potential of a coup de main of Baghdad (it is now considered too heavily defended for a rapid seizure), it makes no sense to push beyond normal limits of caution. It really is unfortunate however, that we don't have the forces on hand (in the appropriate locations outside Baghdad) to press the advance to the outskirts of Baghdad. As a result, I suspect we will have to wait more than the optimal couple of days (the faster the advance the greater the inability of the enemy to recover) necessary for supplies to catch up (maybe as much as a month). We aboslutely need to have everything in place in order to prevent the Republican Guard from slipping away. That fight will require us to punch holes in the Iraqi defenses and get between them and the city. Three or four pincer movements (enhanced by vertical envelopment and ferocious air attacks -- to include carpet bombing) would probably do that. Once in place we will close the vice and eliminate the six divisions of the Guard. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] comments < 7:59:05 AM
>It looks like Macromedia Central and Radio would be a pretty powerful team for rich, Internet-aware, desktop applications. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] comments < 7:57:59 AM
>Review of the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 [Slashdot] comments < 7:56:57 AM
>XP Service Pack Slows Programs [Slashdot] comments < 7:56:34 AM
>Been wondering about those satellite video phones the TV reporters are using? You can buy your own for only $2,200. Welcome to the world of Edison Carter, "Live!" on Max Headroom. [Edward Mitchell: Common Sense Technology] comments < 7:55:27 AM
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