Patterico's Pontifications

6/2/2005

Leftist Licentiousness

Filed under: Immigration,Politics — Dafydd @ 3:44 pm



Moments ago, the California state senate passed yet another bill to give drivers licenses to illegal aliens. It now floats to the assembly, which will certainly pass it again; and Governor Schwarzenegger will just as certainly veto it. Again.

Of course, if we elect another Democrat like Gray Davis as governor in 2006, it could become a statewide reality.

Am I too cynical? Or is it possible that the Democratic Party is looking down the pike at the possibility of Congress forcing states to require photo-ID before a voter can vote… and they’re preparing now by giving confusingly official-looking IDs to their natural constituency: non-citizens.

Oh, well; I’m sure there’s no connection. Nothing to see here, folks; just move on!

Words of Wall

Filed under: Politics,Terrorism,War — Dafydd @ 3:08 pm



Over on Power Line, another of my favorite blogs (along with this here one and Captain’s Quarters), Scott, who used to be Big Trunk, posted a lengthy segment from a Ha’aretz interview with Moshe Ya’alon, outgoing chief of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Scott clearly worries that the unilateral pull-out of Israel from Gaza and the West Bank will be disasterous for that country.

Scott’s argument is serious and deserves response. Since nobody else seems to be willing to look at the other side of it from a pro-Israel perspective, I’ll expend whatever “political capital” my recent election as junior sub-altern of the Politically Non-Euclidean Guild affords me.

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The Wishing Ring, part 2

Filed under: Environment,Space — Dafydd @ 4:02 am



High Temperature Ceramic Engines

Despite innovations galore over the past hundred and twenty years or so (depending on what ancestors you’re willing to count), the internal combustion gasoline engine is basically the same today as it was in 1885/1886, when Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz independently invented it. Probably the most notable improvement was electronic fuel injection (1966); fuel injection can improve the power output of similar-sized engines by roughly 40%, and make it impossible to impress your wife by cleaning the carburetor. But even that is just a slightly more efficient way to squirt gasoline into a cylinder and mix it with oxygen to produce an inflammable mixture that burns reasonably well.

The real problem with the classic internal combustion engine is much more basic: to really get full efficiency out of burning fuel, you have to burn it at really hot temperatures, upwards of 5000° Fahrenheit. But at that temperature, steel cylinders, pistons, and the engine block itself will melt like a nervous Republican in a warm filibuster.

Say hello to ceramics.

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Fun Fact

Filed under: General — See Dubya @ 12:32 am



One of the world’s largest makers of both professional-looking, counterfeit Viagra, and fake, knockoff, “herbal” Viagra:

Frickin’ North Korea.

(That’s three links, there, BTW.) When you delete your ten thousand spam e-mails tomorrow, think of Kim Jong Il. And his nuclear arsenal, made possible by US impotence and gullibility.


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