The Boneyard

Ever wonder where our old military planes go? They get sent to the yard to be preserved. The boneyard is known as AMARC (Aerospace Maintenance And Regeneration Center). Every once in a while, a big company like BAE would regenerate some planes to sell overseas. Check out their site:

http://www.amarcexperience.com/AMARCDescription.asp

 

Imagine the land and maintenance staff wasted to maintain 4200 planes that we don’t use while the military ponies up for JSF planes? It’s a bit of a waste. But is it cheaper than trying to find spare parts on a carrier? Should we replace our computers after 3 years, our 747s after 30? Or should we continue to maintain. I sometimes wonder how much an airplane or ship would cost if we focused on reducing costs instead of improving technology that we don’t really need.

 

members only library

For LA writers, when they aren’t striking, there’s a place to go to pretend you are writing and be watched writing.

http://www.theofficeonline.com/

 

 

give away your stuff

Paul Budnitz, founder of Kid Robot, makes a good point about the weight of
nostalgia:

http://www.core77.com/blog/broadcasts/core77_broadcasts_paul_budnitz_at_core
77_offsite_nyc_8579.asp

NoPoPo

The guys behind the liquid-refillable (aka pee-powered: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/09/04/nopopo/) battery may be one step behind the curve. With ipods and digi cams and cell phones, does anyone really use AA and AAA batteries? Is it that much of a concern to refill? Will new AA and AAA shift consumers products back towards standard batteries?

 

 

Brazil Grafitti

Dude from Strawberry Frog snapped these pictures:

http://scottgoodson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/street-grafitti.html

 

 

 

American culture today as related to the 60s

Here's a special little post to those born out of 100% flower power. We wear our tie-die and corduroy blazers looking because perhaps it will be trendy. We protest the Kyoto agreement by turning off the TV when we leave the room. And we forget about the 60s entirely.

This is a great review on known libertarian Brink Lindsey’s new book The Age of Abundance. The book discuses how the hippies and evangelicals both rose out of the 60s aimlessness to give people a cause and how both movements are still impacting the US today. Knowing these two poles, Lindsey really hopes to draw a theory on why separation of church and state, abortion, and stem cells are news topics, why celebs excess are both abhorred and idolized by the media, and why we so eagerly spend beyond our means.

How America's 'Age of Abundance' Has Paved the Road to the 'Pursuit of Happiness'

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1853