Category Archives: CounterCurrent

Afghan Talibanistan

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Afghanistan is a country that spontaneously generates Taliban like the USA generates bowling leagues. Afghanistan is a country that produces most of the worlds opium (morphine) and depends heavily upon this form of produce. In case you’ve forgotten, heroin is acylated morphine. 

Afghanistan is a tribal confederation. The country has a very complex history of bloody invasion and occupation. Afghanistan is still gripped by fundamentalist religion and fierce tribalism- a fulminate and gunpowder combination. 

The USA exists as a democratic state today only as the result of a lengthy and self-imposed European evolution from medieval monarchy to democratic constitutional government over, say, 7-800 years from the signing of the Magna Carta to the US constitution. This is one metric. 

Afghanistan has not produced what the rest of the world would recognize as modern institutions and democratic ideals. Afghanistan did not produce a Magna Carta nor an intellectual renaissance producing steam power, electricity, metallurgy, or modern concepts of economics. In fact, much of Afghanistan outside of Kabul shows precious little interest in modernism of any sort.

So, the question is this- What do we hope to accomplish by our invasion of Afghanistan? Exterminate Al Qaeda? At its core, Al Qaeda is an idea. You cannot redirect intrenched ideas with an army.

Other than whack-a-mole military operations fighting insurgents who are armed by powers hostile to the US, we are left with trying to instill a sense of national identity by the installation of basic democratic ideals and institutions in what is little more than a tribal confederation. Afghans have no discernable history of gladly adopting western ideals. And the Afghans adhere to a religion that is poorly compatible with western ideals as well. How do US troops know if the bullets flying by are from the Taliban or from Al Qaeda guns? Just like Viet Nam, much of the indigenous population supports the insurgents either naturally or by coercion.

So, realistically, what does minimally acceptable success in Afghanistan look like? Would we recognize it if we saw it? How much residual Talibanism is acceptable to the occupying powers?

Retrocurricular Translocation of Post-Modern Emphasis in Chemical Pedagogy

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I couldn’t resist a sarcastic allusion to post-modernism, whatever the hell that is. What could possibly be under such a bullshit heading? Well, all of my tramping around chemical plants from Europe, Russia, North America, and Asia as well as local mines and mills keeps leading me to an interesting question. Exactly who is being served in the current course of chemistry education? Is it reasonable that everyone coming out of a ACS certified degree program in chemistry is on a scholar track by default? Since I have been in both worlds, this issue of chemistry as a lifetime adventure is never far from my mind.

What are we doing to serve areas outside of the glamor fields of biochemistry and pharmaceuticals? There are thriving industries out there that are not biochemically or pharmaceutically oriented. There is a large and global polymer industry as well as CVD, fuels, silanes, catalysts, diverse additives industries, food chemistry, flavors & fragrances, rubber, paints & pigments, and specialty chemicals. There are highly locallized programs that serve localized demand. But what if you live away from an area with polymer plants? How do you get polymer training? How do you even know if polymer chemistry is what you have been looking for?

Colleges and universities can’t offer everything. They attract faculty who are specialists in areas of topical interest at the time of hire. They try to set up shop and gather a research group in their specialty if funding comes through. Otherwise, they teach X contact hours in one of the 4 pillars of chemistry- Physical, inorganic, organic, and analytical chemistry- and offer the odd upper level class in an area of interest.

Chances are that you’ll find more opportunities to learn polymer chemistry as an undergraduate in Akron, OH, than in Idaho or New Mexico.  Local strengths may be reflected in local chemistry departments. But chances are that in most schools you’ll find faculty who joined after a post-doc or from another teaching appointment. This is how the academy gets inbred. The hiring of pure scholars is inevitable and traditional. But what happens is that the academy gets isolated from the external world and focused on enthusiasms that may serve civilization in distant ways if at all. The question of accountability is dismissed with a sniff and a wave of the hand of academic freedom. Engineering departments avoid this because they are in constant need of real problems to solve. Most importantly, though, engineers understand the concept of scarcity in economics. Chemists will dismiss it as a non-observable.

One often finds that disconnects are bridged by other disciplines because chemistry is so narrowly focused academically. It would be a good thing for industry if more degreed chemists found their way into production environments. I visited a pharmaceutical plant in Taiwan whose production operators were all chemical engineers. Management decided that they required this level of education. But, why didn’t they choose chemists?  Could it be that they assumed that engineers were more mechanically oriented and economically savvy?

Gold mines will hire an analyst to do assays, but metallurgists to develop extraction and processing. Are there many inorganic chemistry programs with a mining orientation? Can inorganikkers step into raw material extraction from a BA/BS program or is that left to mining engineers?

In my exploration I am beginning to see a few patterns that stand out. One is the virtual abdication of  US mining operations to foreign companies. If you look at uranium or gold, there are substantial US mining claims held by organizations from Australia, South Africa, and Canada.

So, what if? What if a few college chemistry departments offered a course wherein students learned to extract useful materials from the earth? What if students were presented with a pile of rock and debris and told to pull out some iron or zinc or copper or borax or whatever value may happen to be in the mineral?

What if?? Well, that means that chemistry department faculty would have to be competent to offer such an experience. It also means that there must be a shop and some kilo-scale equipment to handle comminution, leaching, flotation, and calcining/roasting. It’s messy and noisy and the sort of thing that the princes of the academy (Deans) hate.

What could be had from such an experience? First, some hours spent swinging a hammer in the crushing process might be a good thing for students. It would give them a chance to consider the issues associated with the extraction of value from minerals. Secondly, it would inevitably lead to more talent funneling into areas that have suffered from a lack of chemical innovation. Third, it might have the effect of igniting a bit more interest in this necessary industry by American investors. The effect of our de-industrialization of the past few generations has been the wind-down of the American metals extraction industry (coal excluded).

If you doubt the effect on future technologies of our present state of partial de-industrialization, look into the supplies of critical elements like indium, neodymium, cobalt, rhodium, platinum, and lithium. Ask yourself why China has been dumping torrents of money into the mineral rich countries of Africa.

I can say from experience that some of the most useful individuals in a chemical company can be the people who are just as much at home in a shop as in a lab. People with mechanical aptitude and the ability to use shop tools are important players. Having a chemistry degree gives them the ability to work closely with engineers to keep unique process equipment up and running efficiently.

Whatever else we do, and despite protestations from the linear thinkers in the HR department, we need to encourage tinkerers and polymaths.

This kind of experience doesn’t have to be for everyone. God knows we don’t want to inconvenience Grandfather Merck’s or Auntie Lilly’s pill factories. Biochemistry students wouldn’t have to take time away from their lovely gels and analytical students could take a pass lest their slender digits become soiled. Some students are tender shoots who will never have intimate knowledge of how to bring a 1000 gallon reactor full of reactants to reflux, or how to deal with 20 kg of BuLi contaminated filter cake. But I hasten to point out that there are many students with such a future before them and their BA/BS degree in chemistry provides a weak background for industrial life.

A good bit of the world outside the classroom is concerned with making stuff.  I think we need to return to basics and examine the supply chain of elements and feedstocks that we have developed a dependence upon. American industry needs to reinvest in operations in this country and other countries, just like the Canadians, South Africans, and Australians have. And academia should rethink the mission of college chemistry in relation to the needs of the world, rather than clinging to the aesthetic of a familiar curriculum or to the groupthink promulgated by rockstar research groups. We need scholars. But we also need field chemists to solve problems in order to make things happen.

Linkenschmutz

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Links found whilst thrashing about the internets on my computer machine.

RCS Rocket Motor Components supplies, well, rocket motor components for the serious “non-professional”. RCS offers propellants, casting resins (i.e., polybutadiene), bonding agents, tubes, and other pieces-parts for the rocket builder. Good stuff, Maynard.

It turns out that my fellow Iowegian and former US President Herbert Hoover published a translated and annotated version in 1912 of De Re Metallica by Georgius Agricola (1556). Hoover’s translation can be found on the web and a copy is on display at the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum in Leadville, CO. This work by Agricola is nothing short of amazing. A series of images of the text in the original Latin can be found as well.

It is interesting to note that Agricola (1494-1555)  and Paracelsus (1493-1541) were contemporaries in central Europe. Agricola, a Saxon, spent much of his time in Joachimsthal and Chemnitz whereas Paracelsus,  Swiss, is famous for being a bit of a wanderer. While I have not encountered a reference indicating whether these two polymaths had any knowledge of one another, they very much exemplify the meaning of Renaissance.

This USB temperature logger is pretty cool. I can hear it calling for me.

Here is a collection of links to monographs on Radiochemistry from LANL.

Missiles of September

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I’m writing to applaud the Obama administration in its decision to stand down the long range anti-missile defense deployment in Poland and the Czech Republic. Naturally that pillar of conservatism, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), lambasted the Obama administration for this decision. Playing to its fearful audience in the military-industrial-congressional complex, it pouted that

“The decision is a slap to America’s Polish and Czech allies, who had braved Russian intimidation in agreeing to host the sites.”  WSJ Sept 20, 2009.

Hmmm. Let’s see. The strutting roosters in the Bush Administration put Poland and the Czech Republic in the awkward position of hosting an American/NATO missile base within spitting distance of mother Russia. And who was surprised when Russia pitched a fit over this?  Irrespective of the stated purpose, real or not, the Russians went ape over the possibility of anti-ballistic missile capability being planted near its borders. Could it be that part of Russia’s strategic defenses include ICBM’s?

What tortured logic was used in coming to the decision that a missile base in former eastern-bloc countries would not set back US-Russian relations to 1960’s era levels of tension? Or did the Bush Administration people take this into account or even care?

“That is only one aspect of Mr. Obama’s mistake, however, because the Third Site was only partly about missile defense. No one ever believed that the basing of radars in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptors in Poland was a masterstroke of defensive strategic geometry … ” [italics by Gaussling]

“Rather, a central purpose of missile defense in Europe, on the doorstep of Russia, was alliance building. Its virtue was that it persuaded America’s allies that our common defense included a global ballistic missile defense system. In the near term it was to demonstrate that when it came to the threat posed by Iran, the U.S. and its NATO allies would stand together: Iran—aided and abetted by Russia—would not hold Europe hostage and the NATO powers would confront the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of a radical Islamic regime. Mr. Obama’s biggest mistake is that, just as the Third Site was meant to build alliances, its cancellation will undermine them.”  WSJ Sept 20, 2009.

I am hearing consistently that the proposed missile shootdown capability is hardly robust or proven effective. So we proposed to put a questionable system on the doorstep of Russia in the hope that the payoff would be better relations with the former eastern bloc states? What if Russia put a similar system in Venezuela or Cuba to protect these states from hostile aggressors? Oops! They tried something like that in Cuba a while back and it went badly.

Notice how the WSJ even admits that the proposed placement of the missiles was less than a master stroke. The fact is that US forces can pound Iranian targets from offshore or other locations if it comes to that.

The WSJ then goes on (below) to tie in strategic questions in Asia, fanning the flames of fear amongst its legions of wealthy and Calvinistic  subscribers. The Iranian issue is a unique European strategic question so the connection with the Chinese power calculus in Asia stretches credulity. The WSJ has chosen to use the issue as a prosthetic with which to assert that this one decision collapses US credibility in general.  US credibility in power projection is afloat 24/7 in the form of the US Naval men-of-war, it’s long range airpower capability, and substantial military intelligence capacity. Nonetheless, the WSJ already extrapolates a US failure to control Asian security.

“The simple reality is that, absent a missile defense that can stop Chinese ballistic missiles, the U.S. will be hard pressed to maintain security commitments in Asia given the advances China has made to its offensive nuclear forces. The U.S. Seventh Fleet, however capable, cannot withstand the kind of nuclear missiles and nuclear-tipped cruise missiles that China could employ against it. And because America lacks adequate conventional military means as well, the U.S. would have to resort to full-scale nuclear war to defend its Asian allies from an attack by China. [italics by Gaussling] While no one would ever envision hostilities rising to this level, no serious policy maker can prefer this state of vulnerability to the kind of stability a robust defensive system provides. And this isn’t even to discuss the threat posed by nuclear weapons in the hands of an unstable, unpredictable regime like Pyongyang.”  WSJ September 20, 2009.

Good lord. What a bunch of cowards.

They’ve already predicted our demise in the Eastern Pacific.  I guess we have to increase military spending.  No wonder we can’t afford to tend to our own sick and infirm citizens. We have to prepare for an inevitable conflict in Asia.  Shit. What was I thinking?

The New Confederacy

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I’m beginning to understand how a northern citizen might have felt in the years leading the the American Civil War. It must have been a time of realization. A time when it became apparent that within the geographic boundaries of the United States there were two incompatible nations. A nation is defined by more than geography- it is a unity of history and cultural attributes. The southern states who would eventually form the Confederacy were united in a way of life, a particular view of states rights, and an economic system that relied upon slave labor for favorable economics.

North and south fought a brutal war that finally ground the Confederacy into submission. The north prevailed by virtue of the ability to project sustained force. The south remained in the union, but latent anger and attitudes on racial dominance remain to this day.

Obviously, the electonic media have amplified the 9/12 march on Washington DC in the freakshow manner they are known for. But I sense that our country is experiencing a kind of phase transition in this period. The GOP is allowing itself to be represented by show business clowns like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. These and other entertainers are taking the GOP propaganda battle to our livingrooms and to drive-time broadcasting. But they are merely contractors. The media market is financially rewarding them for their performances. The greater the exaggeration and outrageous claims, the greater the audience share and value to the advertisers.

But these guys are not just obnoxious gasbags. They are very canny. Fans who listen with rapt attention as Limbaugh referred to Jimmy Carter as a hemorrhoid will dwell longer and for the same reason as gawkers will stare at the two headed snake or Eddie, the dog faced boy. This is a benchmark of our civilization.

I really thought that the GOP was more of a class act than the freakshow hawkers they have proven to be. The GOP has shown more aptitude for War Lord tactics than statesmanship. Conservatives respect power.  The democrats have proven to be mere cows who stand immobilized while the mongrel dogs orchestrating GOP maneuvers have their way with large sections of the electorate.

If the Dems understood GOP-style power, they would have been hosting boot parties to kick GOPers while they are down. Instead, they tried the silly strategy of compromise. It is not in the nature of the contemporary GOP to accept that the voters put dems in power. It is just not in their radar.

While the current political freakshow entertains while it disappoints, the important lesson remains unspoken. The USA is not the advanced and enlightened civilization that it fancies itself to be. Insead, we appear to be naked and obese  apes with too many weapons and imbibing too much high fructose corn syrup. Rather than buckle down and work hard at building civilization, we get arrogant and strut around with our hearts on our sleeves.

It seems to me that there is a kind embryonic New Confederacy movement stirring about now. The confederate disdain for taxes and centralized, federal government is alive and well. It’s just that nobody has actually said it in the open yet. But that may happen as disaffected middle aged, tea bagging WASP’s continue to get organized. Something is up.

Chinchilla Bubble

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During the Kennedy years, our modest farm in central Iowa was visited by a chinchilla salesman. I was a young child then and was intrigued by the topic of discussion at the kitchen table. The smooth talking slickster from the city made a presentation to my parents about the ever expanding fur coat market and how farmers could hitch their wagons to this opportunity.

I do not recall what kind of deal was reached, but I do know that soon thereafter we had a dozen south American rodents chinchillas in cages in our basement.  These fluffy creatures were not friendly in the manner of a cat or a dog. They were silent, skittish, and capable of sinking their teeth into you.  Of course kids are irresistably attracted to animals, especially those of the unusual and mysterious variety, and we were no exception.

The chinchillas (chinchillae? chinchillacea?) were constantly rolling in dust and gnawing at stones placed in their cages. We would watch this activity, captivated by the thick furred critters.  Eventually we were allowed to pet them a bit, but always with the admonition that they were going to be made into fur coats. Except for horses, my father was rarely sentimental about animals. They were raised for just one purpose- to fatten and take to market. Cats and dogs were just a form of inedible and unmarketable livestock. To pull a 4-bottom plow, you needed maybe 1000 cats- a real nightmare if ever there was one.

The chinchillas eventually disappeared the following spring. Turns out that the traveling salesman fibbed to us. The lucrative market for chinchilla fur didn’t develop at the right time in the life cycle of our herd of chinchillas. Or ever, for that matter. The real opportunity in chinchilla farming was in selling animals and equipment to the unwary. I have no doubt that they were unceremoniously dispatched out in the field with the very Ruger .22 cal Single Six revolver that I inherited from my father. Caveat emptor.

About that same time, around the same kitchen table, a family friend sat and told us about the sailing boat he bought after selling his farm. He was going to spend his time sailing out of Jamaica, fishing and enjoying the lifestyle. We never heard from him again, but years later we eventually heard about him. He disappeared. The authorities concluded that he was the victim of pirates. Ex-pat Iowegian killed at sea and his boat taken. Caveat emptor.

Thoughts on rehearsal

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We finished rehearsal for the play last night. Full dress rehearsal with lights, sound, props, etc. Tonight we have paying guests.  This is my second production this year. I have to say that I have not been yelled at this much since third grade (or grad school). But rather than being thin skinned about it, I have taken it fairly well. It has been a positive personal growth experience, which is the point of it all.

The best advice yet has been “be a better listener” on stage. If you are present in the moment on stage, you can better cope with the inevitable slip ups and mangled or omitted lines.  Rather than spending your time thinking about your next line, try to be part of the flow. If somebody drops a cue line, you’re better able to improvise a line to steer the dialog back on track.

This is good advice in general. Like many people, in conversation I find myself thinking about what I’m going to say next rather than really listening to the person I’m conversing with. This is a bad habit and reduces conversation to a comingled set of monologs or pronouncements of opinion.

The other bad habit that seems to get worse with age and education is the tendency to answer the question you wished someone had asked rather than the one actually asked. This is an irksome and possibly incurable condition of mine that those around me suffer from. Participating in staged dialog has had the effect of causing me to be more aware of this.

Thursdays Link-O-Rama

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Need/want cheap terabytes?  Backblaze details how they put together 67-terabyte mass storage units for $7,867 each, or $117,000 per petabyte. This is what I like to see: do it yourself, shade tree engineering. Damned skippy!

The trouble with economics.  Caveats aplenty.

Religion. The divine misogyny.

Fareed Zakaria suggests greed is good, sort of.

What do the Russians really want?

Question to Democrats: WTF??

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I really do not understand the manner in which the Democrats are responding to the outrageous lies and fascist propaganda that the Republicans are dealing out. Democrats- WTF??

Democrats should deal with Republicans in the same manner that they were treated in the days of DeLay and Armie.  The Republicans of congress are egg sucking dogs who only understand one thing- the sharp crack of a 2×4 between the eyes. The ruthless application of blunt power. Rough ’em up while they’re down – metaphorically at least. Because the inglourious basterds will certainly not offer bipartisanship when they are the majority again.

American politics is disgusting sometimes.  Especially now.

Health Care and the Bell Curve

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In watching the political turmoil associated with health care, I’m reminded of how populations fall into bell-shaped curves. Some attribute sorted into some kind of frequency is represented as a distribution having a small population of outliers on either side of a larger population representing the mean.  There are normal distributions and distorted distributions. As you might imagine, the details and nuances require a good bit of coursework to comprehend.

So from between our bare feet on the Lazyboy recliner we can passively view on high definition television the spectacle of a kind of replay of The Empire Strikes Back. We can watch as a small cadre of elite influence workers (lobbyists) practice the art of propaganda upon a group of lazy thinkers. Dick Armey is still with us, but now he is stirring up the muck behind the curtains.

Some have cynically observed that what we are witnessing is one group of dumbshits rattling another group of dumbshits. A more polite description might be that it is a matter of the sly and conniving having their way with the analytically challenged. 

People who are vehemently against big government somehow find it acceptable to be shills for big business in this battle.  All in the name of marketplace economics. But the fact is that the medical industry “marketplace” is deeply distorted and is itself far from being a system that can respond to consumer demand. The supply and demand balance is not sensitive to the needs of the patient- supply and demand is a battle fought between insurance carriers (the economic consumer) and medical organizations (the supplier).  

Consumers of medical services have few real choices- be sick or plug into a complex, gold plated system. In order for the medical system to be a functioning marketplace, there must be lower octane choices for the consumer.

That part of the affluence bell curve that cannot pay for modern, high tech, and expensive health services really must have access to a form of care that they can afford. The health care “debate” should focus on new forms of affordable medical services rather than simply new mechanisms of payment for a system that is economically distorted and inaccesible to significant numbers of people.

Medical school needs to be cheaper so that more universities can train more doctors to feed into the market. This is a supply & demand question that we seem to be unable to even define. The professional and business elitism of medicine must be toned down a bit. It is not sustainable.