Stellar Reaches

All I’m waiting for is for the Americans to put boots on the ground in Iran.

At the behest of the Israelis.

I am unsure when the Americans will leave Iran after they come in.

But it’s going to be a very different America that leaves, than the America that went in.

And no one, no one, is going to have any illusions on what the Americans stand for.

The Israelis could not care less, by the way. And why should they?

Americans elected Trump, after all. Twice.
(Some Republicans would argue thrice.)

The Iranian regime has not collapsed and it will not collapse without a total occupation of the country. Whether that happens or not is anyone’s guess at this point, but we will certainly be on the lookout for any indicators that may emerge over the next few days and weeks.

Prediction:

• The Israelis will demand it.
• And the duly elected Trump Administration will do it.

I would not care to be an Israeli — or a Jew — in America, from about 2030 onwards.

And the pro-Israeli Christian Americans who are enabling all of this are going to vanish like a mist, when the butcher’s bill shows up.¹

I am curious to discover how long a Jewish State in the Middle East not backed by the United States will last.

I have a suspicion that, after about five years, I am going to find out.

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1 This whole pre-millennial “The State of Israel is in end-times Biblical prophecy!” business was always predicated on the Jews building a Third Temple, followed by a LOT of Jews dying in the Promised Land at the hands of the Antichrist and his armies… while the Christians escape in the Rapture.

I wish that American support for Israel was build on Christian sympathy/regret regarding the Holocaust.

But it is not.

New knowledge for us laymen!

From Quora: What are the biggest misconceptions about the day-to-day work of engineers with just a bachelor’s or master’s compared to PhD-level physicists and mathematicians?
Steve Heckman ·  Manufacturing Engineer

—<Quote begins>—

There are quite a few, given movies can’t even get the number of rounds that a handgun magazine would have.

So let examine a few common “misconceptions” that people tend to have.

1. “PhDs do harder problems; engineers do simpler ones.” That is simply not true. In reality the problems are not harder, they are simply different (see what I did there?)

Now, physicists/mathematicians are working on deep abstract problems, and are pushing the boundaries of human knowledge, the problems they are trying to solve would be pretty well defined (even if it turns out to be a dead-end)

On the other hand, engineers solve messy, real-world problems. No only do you have to solve the technical challenges, you also have to balance cost, manufacturability, deadlines, regulations, customer needs. In many cases you design is a compromise of various trade-offs.

In other words, while academic research is more open-ended, I literally need to move one of my projects into production over the next two weeks (from the date I’m writing this).

We also go thought a lot of iteration (both design & process) which at the end of the day is a series of experiments. Only we are not trying to coax a new truth about the universe, we are trying to get something useful created. One seminar put it this way…

• Science lives in the discovery space

• Engineering live in the creation space.

At the end of the day, engineering is simply applied science.

2. “Engineers mostly apply formulas; PhDs do real thinking”

While we may apply formulas, engineers in fact perform constant creative problem-solving. And not only in the development of new products, where I currently work I pretty much own every design that has moved into production. So, if an issue occurs, guess who get the call?

And while I’m solving it, production has stopped and people are standing around (or have to be reassigned) so there is that pressure as well! Customers hate late deliveries, my senior management also hate an idle workforce!

But wait, there’s more: Often, we have to work with incomplete data, conflicting requirements, and human factors (managers or production workers who don’t “like” your solution). The irony is scientists should love incomplete date, as its job security. In my case it means give it your best shot.

3. “PhDs are more independent thinkers; engineers follow instructions”

• To quote Franklin Veaux: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha….

Quite frankly, we have a lot more autonomy than one would expect. On my projects, I am the technical leader. So, in most cases your engineers…

• Lead design decisions

• Make judgment calls without full information

• Own outcomes (especially in senior roles)

PhDs (especially early career) would have a narrow research agenda (defined in the grant applications) and are also dependent on funding, advisors, or publication goals.

In one case, I was working with a Virginia Tech professor that created a startup using SBIR grants to blast tumors with a special electrode design. I worked with him closely, and built samples for animal testing. He did not get the second grant approved, and the effort ended right there.

I would also add that as you progress academically, your focus becomes narrower and narrower. If I am going to argue with an PhD level researcher, is never going to be in the area that wrote their dissertation in. But everything else is on the table.

Last point: Engineers are typically at the top of the intellectual food chain in the organizations they work in. Now, some tech companies (Intel or IBM) may have PhD perform applied research, most of the day-to-day work is done with someone with a BS or MS degree (~1/4 of all engineers have a graduate degree)

4. “Most engineering work is technical.” Maybe true, but that would be the same for a physicist, but in either case you would be surprised how much time is spent in communication and coordination activities. I have done so much project management tasks that I went on to earn my PMP

In general, Engineers spend significant time on:

• Meetings

• Writing reports

• Aligning stakeholders

• Translating technical issues into business language

One big difference is engineers need to perform far more cross-functional communication, whereas PhDs write papers intended for other PhDs (discipline-specific communication)

5. “PhDs use more advanced math daily.” But again, this is a captain obvious point, is it not?

I found about 10% of all engineers use “math” on a frequent basis. But even this its not like the classroom. Software does the heavy lifting, but then who writes the software?

Now, it’s true that engineers rarely use advanced math beyond:

• Algebra

• Statistics

• Basic modeling tools

Instead, we use simulation software, standards, and heuristics

STEM PhDs use:

• Advanced calculus

• Linear algebra

• Abstract math structures

Engineering is often tool-driven, not equation-driven. So, this stereotype is largely true. But once I used a simple ration & proportion to solve a new cut length on the factory floor and it greatly impressed the operator. So, you have that.

6. “PhDs are better problem solvers overall.” Again, not true, and probably the reverse is closer to the truth. Engineers solve problems almost daily, where a scientist is looking to solve or answer “one big question” (of course, there many be a series of smaller hurdles along the way, but isn’t that true of almost any problem?)

• I will go out on a limb and say when it comes to troubleshooting, you can’t beat a skilled technician

Engineers also have time limits and constraints (remember the scene from Apollo 13 where a bunch of items were dumped on a table and they were told to find a fix with what was there? That real life for an engineer in a nutshell)

But in reality, they are in different problem environments.

7. “Engineers build things; PhDs just theorize” is also an obsolete idea. Of course, we still have theoretical physics, but we also have experimental physicists who themselves are part scientist and part engineer.

The design experiments, which include many prototypes.

And many engineers work in system architecture, analysis, or validation—not just “building” either. Some just perform data analysis (we have quality engineers who do that)

8. “You need a PhD to work on cutting-edge technology.” And while PhD’s punch above their weight, the shear magnitude of innovations means that many come of us rank-and-file engineers. Many go on to found their own companies.

And don’t forget many teams will have engineers at all levels (PhDs exist even in engineering fields, not just Physics or mathematics).

• Steve Woznick did his industry changing work on the Apple II before he even finished his BS in Engineering (both Woz and Jobs were technicians when they created Apple)

• “Kelly” Johnson had his M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering (1933) and was known for the P-38 Lightning, F-80 Shooting Star, The U-2 spy plane and the A-12/SR-17 Blackbird.

• Jack Kilby had a BS in Electrical Engineering and is considered the co-inventor of the modern integrated circuit (and ended up with a Nobel Prize!).

• Gordon Moore had a BS in Chemistry, and was the co-founder of Intel (and is also known for Moore’s law)

• Burt Rutan had a BS in Aeronautical engineering, and was behind Voyager (non-refueled flight around the world) as well as SpaceShipOne (first private flight into Space) which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004.

• Heck, non-degree engineers include Philo Farnsworth (Television) and Soichiro Honda

Here is a meme from Instagram. I like how it’s inclusive…

For Canada, Hudson’s Bay keeps the interior of the country chilled.

Anti-oil and gas policies keep Alberta in its place, under the Laurentian Elite of Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa. With money earned by Albertan oil redirected to Quebec and Liberal voting banks in the Maritimes.

Question	Main Reasons
Why Siberia is cold	Extreme continental climate, far from oceans, record low temperatures
Why few people live on Russia’s East Coast	Harsh weather, isolation, poor infrastructure, long travel distances
Why Russia is undeveloped (especially Siberia)	Poor geography, weak transport networks, colonial-style resource extraction, Soviet history, and political priorities

That “colonial-style resource extraction” viewpoint — oil money that is extracted from the locals, and redirected to benefit Moscow and St. Petersburg — should sound familiar to Albertans.

Yes, they do exist.

From the BBC: John Pennycuick: The British-era colonel revered in Tamil Nadu

Swaminathan Natarajan
BBC World Service

—<Quote begins>—

An Indian state has gifted the bust of a colonial-era British engineer to his hometown of Camberley in England.

The statue of Colonel John Pennycuick – donated by southern Tamil Nadu state – will be unveiled on 10 September at a public park in Camberley, 50km (31 miles) from London.

Pennycuick is a revered figure in Tamil Nadu for designing and building the Mullaperiyar dam, which provides water for drinking and irrigation to five districts in the state.

The 127-year-old dam has long been a source of tension between Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Kerala state, which has often called for its demolition.

But Pennycuick’s legacy remains strong in Tamil Nadu, especially in the five districts which get water from Mullaperiyar. In one of them, Theni, photos of Pennycuick hang in shops, homes and government offices. Many baby boys are named Pennycuick while some have named their daughters Sarah after the engineer’s mother.

“His work has not yet been fully recognised. Only people in our state [Tamil Nadu] knew about him,” says Santhana Ibrahim, a London-based documentary maker who is the driving force behind the project to install the statue.

The making of Mullaperiyar

Pennycuick was born in the western Indian city of Pune in 1841. After receiving military training in London, he returned to India to join the British Indian army as an engineer.

Later, he joined the public works department of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, an administrative subdivision in the south of the country.

There, he worked on designing the Mullaperiyar dam, which would transfer water from the west-flowing Periyar river to the Vaigai river, which ran in the other direction.

In a paper titled The Diversion of the Periyar, written around 1897, Pennycuick says that the idea of building a dam had been mooted much earlier.

“The first recorded expression of it dates from the beginning of the present century, when surveys were made for the purpose of ascertaining how far the proposal was a practical one,” he writes.

But the surveys, which were made “in a somewhat half-hearted manner”, found the idea “impracticable”, according to the paper.

That didn’t dissuade Pennycuick, who set about getting his design approved. Construction began towards the end of 1888.

The chosen site “was in an uninhabited jungle, seven miles from the nearest point of a cart-road, 20 miles from the nearest cultivated land”, he writes.

Construction materials were transported on boats and carts. Work had to be stopped for months in between because of jungle fever, and later, heavy rains and flooding.

Records show between 4,000 and 6,000 labourers worked on the project, which was completed in 1895.

“At the end of the 19th Century we had very few dams in south India,” says K Sivasubramaniyan, a retired professor who has studied water management in Tamil Nadu for decades.

The Mullaperiyar dam, he says, was a “great engineering feat which helped end the water scarcity for people living in five districts in present-day Tamil Nadu”.

‘Like a god’

Desika Thiruvalan, 32, quit her job in a tech company a few years ago to oversee her family’s farms. They own around 20 hectares of land in Theni district.

She says she is able to harvest two crops of rice every year, while her ancestors had to rely on unpredictable rains to irrigate their crops.

“Pennycuick is like a god to us. We are blessed to have plenty of water,” she says, adding that before the dam, there were periodic famines and droughts in the region.

Ms Thiruvalan’s ancestor Peya Thevar was one of the locals who supplied food to the workers who built Mullaperiyar.

“When my husband went to a Hindu temple to perform a memorial service, he mentioned Pennycuick’s name along with those of our ancestors,” she says.

Over the years, many myths have developed around the engineer’s legacy. In 2016, Pennycuick’s great-grandson told Indian newspaper Mint that he had “no evidence” of a popular claim that the engineer used his own resources to build the dam.

While the engineer was a household name in parts of Tamil Nadu irrigated by the dam, elsewhere in the state not everyone had heard of him.

One namesake, now 20 years old, says as a boy he was bullied at school because of his name.

“I felt very awkward and was even angry with my dad for choosing it,” recalls Pennycuick, a student who uses only one name.

Pennycuick’s father Gubendran had moved jobs from Madurai district, where the engineer is celebrated, to central Tamil Nadu where he was less well known. To help his son understand the significance of the name, Gubendran took him when he was 12 to see the dam, and a memorial to the engineer who had built it.

It was a life-changing moment for the young boy.

“There, I saw a statue of John Pennycuick and immediately realised how big his achievements were,” he recalls. “Tears rolled down my cheeks.”

Reviving a legacy

While the dam is in Kerala, Tamil Nadu operates it under a 999-year lease agreement to irrigate farmland on its side of the state border.

The dam has seen its share of controversies. In the late 1990s, Kerala expressed fears over its condition, triggering years of political and legal wrangling.

In 2014, India’s Supreme Court ruled that the dam was safe, based on the findings of an expert panel, but its water storage level was reduced – and Kerala is still pursuing legal options.

“The dam helped irrigate about 340,000 acres [134,000 hectares] of land, but that has now halved,” says Prof Sivasubramaniyan.

The controversy over the dam has only burnished Pennycuick’s legacy in Tamil Nadu.

“It was only about 15 years ago that people started celebrating his birthday in public places,” Ms Thiruvalan says.

His supporters, however, add that celebrating Pennycuick does not mean endorsing British colonialism.

“Pennycuick, due to his sheer determination, was able to build a dam which is still standing and providing water to us. We are just saying thanks to him,” Ms Thiruvalan says.

After retirement, Pennycuick returned to England. He died in 1911 at Camberley, where he was buried. In 2019, a senior Tamil Nadu police official donated a bust of Pennycuick which was installed in the garden where the engineer was buried.

Mr Ibrahim, the film maker, hopes the new statue he’s helped to organise will interest local residents in Tamil Nadu and its culture.

As for Pennycuick the student, he is content with his name and now has a dream.

“One day I will go and see the statue of Pennycuick in England.”

—<Quote ends>—

I wouldn’t call it a scout ship, although the point can be argued.

It’s more of a light patrol ship to project national sovereignty in disputed, environmentally hostile waters.

“If you can’t hold it, you don’t get to keep it.”

Being able to prove routine presence with your armed forces, even lightly armed forces — two .50 machine guns and a 25mm naval gun — means that Canada shows up, and showing up is a big part of holding territory and demonstrating ownership.

And the older video.

The Royal Navy has fallen greatly from even 30 years ago, in the 1990s.

Never mind the Falkland task force of Thatcher’s time, 1983.

At that time, there were still some men in uniform who saw action against the Germans and the Japanese on behalf of the British Empire, four decades earlier.

Days long gone.

All Empires fall, by war and violence, or by debt and bankruptcy.

If the Americans are blessed, they will go with debt and bankruptcy.

The original video is above.

Avoid trusting the Chinese.

If you must work with them, make them go through stringent checks, and never place a big order you can’t recover from.

(Unless you are a big boy like Apple, who can pressure the Party to put pressure on the scammers.)

The second-hand source who told me the news.

From the comments in the first video, the original complaint:

@megablast
Sorry to hear that Roman. Trade with China always have risks. As a long time international sales manager & GM doing business with China I highly recommend you to use L/C (Letter Of Credit) as payment next time. 30% in advance you can wire them rest must be L/C.. And in L/C terms you should add inspection before shipment. For inspection Intertek and Bureau Veritas will help you. Bank and inspection fees are not high. If supplier is reliable they will accept these terms.

@vinstaal0
In my experience in NL, most people who order from china as a business pay 10 to 30% in advance and pay the rest after the shipment has been checked fully in Europe.

@AECFXI
The shame felt by scam victims, which you describe feeling quite strongly, has an enabling effect on scam perpetrators owing to tendency for victims not to share their experience with others out of a sense of humiliation, leaving others unaware. Shouting your experience from rooftop like this, on the other hand, is the strongest action you can take to disrupt scam perpetrators. It might not get you your euros back, but your scammer may now find fewer victims in the future because of your strength to share this and your calm, factual delivery. Hopefully others can find the bravery to share and warn others of their own experiences, and the online communities they might share to will have the good sense not to harass, degrade or blame victims who do attempt to share their experiences.

@williamfoster4268
The company I used to work for in the USA had this same EXACT problem with Chinese metal suppliers. We would have to send our own people there to inspect the shipment and verify it is what we ordered. This was about eight years ago and it was a common occurrence when talking with other people in the industry.

@aaronmoore3050
China is crazy, we can’t tell which guys are cool and which ones are theives.

@wasd____
@aaronmoore3050  They’re all thieves once the opportunity presents itself. To do business in China, you have to eliminate those opportunities through verification every step of the way. “Trust me bro” doesn’t work over there.