Acid Rhine ...

It seems that the sunken tanker still stuck on the Loreley is in danger of breaking up. The emptying of the tanks has had to slow down as the barge is now 'bent like a banana' and threatening to split. In a wide consultation it has now been decided to flush some of the acid directly into the river.

Doing this at a controlled rate means it will be quickly diluted to below harmful levels - and probably a bit of 'reaction' with some of the minerals, mud etc., the river carries - and the salvors hope this will speed up the recovery. The danger, of course, if she breaks up before they can empty the tanks completely is that the acid will not be dispersed effectively. This is what they hope to prevent now with the slow small scale releases.

I wonder how many people know that the most reliable guide to a nations industrial activity and success is the amount of Sulphuric Acid it consumes? Come to that, I wonder how many people realise that most of those juggernaut tankers hurtling around the motorways and autobahns aren't carrying fuel? You got it, a very large number are full of high concentration Sulphuric Acid.

Frankly, they are less at risk of spillage on the railways or on the rivers!

Progress, I think ...

On my text book at least. Not a lot on the language course though I do seem to understand more each day. Problem is when I come to try and speak it myself...

My 'forgettery' works very well.

Late Post

Mausi and the Monk have had a busy day, starting out with our weekly shopping, then we decided to try out our new "Norwegian Walking" sticks. Rather like ski sticks these, but used for walking.

All I will say is that it takes a little getting used to walking with them and it certainly gives one a thorough workout.Watching the news earlier The Monk was amused to see that a wind turbine north of here has suffered in much the same way as the one he posted a link to earlier this week. The wind last night was strong, but only one of the group of turbines seems to have been damaged by it.

The one thing they haven't done - or the Monk hasn't - is do any writing on the text book. Ah well, back to the grindstone.

Pressed for time...

With my German language classes proving quite demanding now as I get to grips with tenses, participles, verbs and cases that I have used without thinking for so long in English, it has required an enormous amount of study just to keep up.

I've now got exercise books, dictionaries, talking books and even 'Intermediate German for Dummies' to help me. It must be making some impact, somewhere, other than in my bank account...

And now I have a deadline looming for the text book I'm writing.

Ce la vie!

I like my wind turbines ...

Preferably flattened ...

See this post at Watt's Up With That. The pictures say it all really, these monstrosities are a waste of public money, require materials to make them that cause massive ecological damage in China, India and several other places the eco-freaks like to patronise and they don't provide anything like the power stability that their supporters claim.

They're not 'green,' they're a hazard to birds and light aircraft, they're an eyesore and a blot on the landscape - and they don't replace any other power stations because we have to keep the turbines in the coal or nuclear station they supplement 'spooling' so we can bring them online when the wind turbine stops producing power. In case you didn't realise it, they shut down if the wind rises to above 35 mph (60 km/h) or falls below around 8 mph (15 km/h) and it takes at least a half hour to bring a normal turbine online from the 'spooling' stage and more than an hour if you have to start it from zero...

There are times ...

There are definitely times when I am convinced that the gap between Whitehall/Westminster and the rest of the civilised world has reached the level of a change in dimensions. I'm no longer sure that the denizens of Whitehall and that Palace of Fantasy called Westminster are even on the same planet as the rest of us.

I learned yesterday that the Home Office has decided to close down the Forensic Science Service. Now you may wonder why I am concerned by that, so I'll explain. The FSS serves the UK Police Forces, providing expert analysis of finger prints, DNA, foot prints, chemical traces and much, much more. It employed over a thousand experts who provided expertise in a wide range of subjects vital to the successful prosecution of murderers, terrorists, drug dealers and other criminal prosecutions. That is, until the Treasury decided that it should be turned into a business and did what they have done to every "Trading Fund Agency". They made them a business on a 'pay your own way' basis, but failed to provide any working capital and made it illegal to obtain an overdraft at the bank. Then, of course, they loaded on a "Capital Debt" - the Treasury's inflated value placed on buildings, equipment etc, and charged a very high rate of interest for the "Notional Loan."

So, as with every other agency they created, the Trading Fund began to operate on Day 1 with a huge deficit, plus a large number of "Administrators" and "Managers" who were all Civil Servants and understood less than nothing about how to run a business, never mind one which had huge debts and no capital. Ah, and then, having made sure that, in order to pay its way - no profit remember, just cover costs - the pricing for every service it provided had to be sky-high. After all, someone has to pay the salaries for all those non-specialist managers and administrators and the Treasury 'Loan.'

Then comes the next Treasury trick. Competitive Tendering... They call it "Value for Money" but the reality is that it allows anyone on the Treasury's 'Approved Supplier' List to bid against the Agency and undercut it. After all they don't have to operate in the same restricted manner as the Agency or carry the burden of debt it has been loaded with. So, surprise, surprise, the FSS has not made enough to 'Break Even.' Like every agency these liars and buffoons in the Treasury have created in the last thirty years, it has now failed - and the UK Justice system will suffer mistrial after mistrial as a result. Commercial suppliers of the services the FSS provided will be rubbing their hands in delight because now there is no reason to have restraint in their pricing. With the FSS gone their charges and fees will rise exponentially and instead of 'saving' money everything will cost more.

This can be proved by examining the figures for every service once delivered by a Department that was turned into a Agency and then forced to 'compete' on anything but a level playing field.

It used to amaze me that no one in Westminster could spot the fraud, or even seemed to realise that someone in the senior levels of the Civil Service was benefitting from this either in perks or in the Directorships they all seem to get as soon as they 'retire' on pensions the rest of us can only dream of. No longer, they are all in it up to their necks. This isn't about providing a better service or even a more cost effective one, it's about ensuring that they have secure incomes and cushy directorships to fall back on.

The irony? Most people in Britain won't even notice because they have no idea of what has been lost or sacrificed by these venal and self serving parasites.

No limits ...

Sometimes it seems there are no limits to mankind's ability to cause harm or to bring oppression - often under the banner of 'for the greater good."

This morning I read an item on the news that, in itself, was a disturbing account of the violence and unrest seething beneath the surface in many Muslim countries at present. Obviously there is a great determination there to change their situation and to remove ruling classes who are oppressive, play on nepotism and overlook the rampant corruption which is crippling their economies and causing hardship for those not 'on the gravy train' with the privileged. I find it disturbing that already the most fundamentalist factions are seeking to impose their vision of society - one in which their model of religion is the foundation of all moral and legal matters - are making a bid for the organs of power. I say sadly, because, as a man of faith myself, I would have to be the first to acknowledge that history does not provide me with an inspired example of any religious figure whose followers have managed to impose a balanced and equal society anywhere. Combining secular and spiritual authority is always a recipe for abuse.

Reading on in the news though I encountered another item, this time related to the apparent desire in the UK Conservative Party to abolish the current Human Rights Act, presumably replacing it with something with greater balance. I say presumably, because all that is currently being discussed in the news is the abolition aspect. Now I have to admit that I am not a fan of the Human Rights Act. For one thing it restricted and removed more rights than it granted, sweeping away vast swathes of the rights my forebears fought long and hard to win from the ruling classes across the centuries. It is badly drafted, like most of the legislation rammed through Parliament by the last government, and lacks balance. It should be replaced by something that restricts the rampant abuse of it by criminals to further persecute their intended victims and removes the ability of those with ideological intentions unrelated to real 'rights' of the individual, to interfere or impose their ideologies upon the majority.

Reading the 'comments' it quickly became apparent that many of the commentators on this piece are unable to see beyond their ideological prejudices. The Conservative Party was, again and again, referred to as 'Right Wing' and even as 'Extreme Right Wing' when the reality is that the present Conservative Party is so close to being socialist it is barely 'Centerist.' Mind you, one of those making this assertion then went on to declare that Mao Tse Tung was the best example of a socialist who had brought order, 'rights' and 'people power' to the people of China. When another commentator pointed out that Mao had a pretty poor record for deaths, he airily brushed these aside and went into pean of praise about how China was 'made a nation' and 'given back its pride' and a 'few deaths were inevitable' in pursuit of the 'greater good' of the masses.

Call it the fascination of the horrible, but I found myself looking up more of this morons comments and it seems he truly believes that there is such a thing as a truly free and fair 'socialist society' in which everyone and everything is equal. All I can say is that morons like this need to be forced to live in a truly socialist state - preferably at the bottom of that societies pile. When one encounters people like this one is forced to admit that there are indeed, no limits to mankind's stupidity.

The late Sir Winston Churchill KG, a man with many faults of his own, but with an intellect that was little short of astounding summed up Socialism succinctly. A pity his analysis is not more widely taught.

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.