Charge of the Light Brigade: Canada style

Charge of the Light Brigade: Canada style

F-35 soars while Canada dithers

The Harper government is now waffling on its commitment and order for F35 jet fighters – under the pressure of misguided and opportunistic political opposition (see the earlier F-35 blog) and now, planned cutbacks to the Defense budget.

Too bad, because the F35 is progressing very well, thank you.

How do I know?  Simple.  I read the readily available COMBAT AIRCRAFT MONTHLY, the premier magazine that has the latest information on military aircraft from around the world;  sold at Chapters/Indigo/Coles bookstore for a mere  $8.50 + HST or on line.  

In its December, 2012 issue, it had two short updates on the F-35. During late 2012, the F-35 had a successful first test of dropping munitions, and the problem with the landing hook for navy carriers seems to have been resolved by a redesign of the grapple hook.

The January 2013 issue is even more informative. It contains full page pictures and three  main articles: on the plane’s already started deployment with the Marines in Yuma, Arizona, which will have 5 squadrons of the plane in active service by 2020 (page 6), an overview of the plane’s recent Utility Evaluation (OUE) -- including a close up photo of an F-35 launching an AIM-120 missile (p.8), and, finally, the arrival of UK, yes, British F-35B planes for pilot and maintenance crew training at Elgin AFB, Florida (pp.14-15.)

Other bits of note in this January 2013 issue are as follows:

·        The US Office of Acquisition, Technology and Logistics has already begun plans for a next generation steal fighter planned for the future dangers of 2030 to 2050

(p. 9)

 

·        China is continuing its stealth fighter development program, recently showing off a new model --  its third stealth prototype – labelled in the west as the J-31. ( The    J-20 was flown in 2010, a different design J-21 was seen thereafter.)  (p.7)

 

·        Japan is moving forward with its own, all-Japanese stealth fighter with its F-3 program. (p.30)

 

With the Russian steal fighter, now referred to as the T-50, about to be deployed,  the race for air supremacy and survivability is getting more intense and a military imperative.

 

So, if I, an ordinary citizen, can have this information – readily available in a major aviation magazine carried in outlets across North America -- why is no one else – including the media -- reporting on the progress of the F-35 and the potential threats from the Russian and Chinese stealth fighter programs?

 

Maybe I should send a subscription to the Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, head of the Canadian Armed Forces, head of the Liberal party, head of the NDP, retired Major-General Lewis MacKenzie, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The National Post, etc. --  so they can better understand what is really going on.

Or, more cheaply, send them this blog post.

 

P.S.:  December’s cover story was on the stealth B2 bomber and January had an extensive history of the F-117 Nighthawk, the first stealth reconnaissance plane – both first flown in the early 1980s!!  Yes, stealth technology is over 30 years old.

YOUR MONEY

Has Bernanke finally got it right?

Over the last 3 weeks the U.S. Federal Reserve has made one announcement and one more recent ‘leak’ that suggests Ben Bernanke and company are finally getting their act together, seeing reality and creating ‘transparency’ for an organization who has lived by secrecy and George Orwell’s doublespeak; only contributing to public, stock market  and government uncertainty and confusion.

 

In early December Bernanke announced that the Federal Reserve will adjust its money (printing) policy to an inflation target of 2.5% and unemployment target of under 6.5%. The inflation target, while a bit above the old 2% target was a reasonable and minor adjustment. The big news --  the good and smart news -- was the addition of an  unemployment target  – publically stated for the first time ever in Federal reserve history and applauded by analysts and pundits everytwhere.

Now, anyone who wishes to see what the Fed will do next only needs to check two readily available statistics – the inflation rates and unemployment rates. Google can find the most recent data from any computer in the world in seconds!

Also helpful is the recent ‘rumour’ – if it proves true -- that the Fed will stop ‘printing money like crazy’ after doing so to the tune of over 2 trillion dollars in the last few years!  If true, it will put an end to the Fed’s shell game antics that have distorted the U.S. marketplace long after the original need for cash during the 2008-2009 sudden money crunch and near collapse of the entire, highly leveraged and dishonest (see my LIBOR article) U.S. and world banking system.

Adding trillions by the Fed has not forced healthy companies to invest their trillions of cash reserves nor led foreign investors and sovereign funds – with their multi-trillions -- to use their cash to build companies and create jobs.  Instead, they have been seeking ‘security’ in the face of world volatility – read European Union  about to collapse and the Arab world in chaos - – in 10 year U.S. Treasury bonds yielding as low as 0.10%!!!!

So, if trillions are already available in the public sector, no new Fed trillions are really needed.

What is needed is ‘certainty’ and ‘predictability’ in government monetary policy and the realization that Bernanke’s dollar printing presses are about to end.

 

Put simply, what the U.S. needs to kick start the U.S. economy is to give it a swift kick in the ass, to speak.

 “Sorry, America, I am not bailing you out any more and there will be no more free lunches or money from Uncle Ben (in reality, future generations of taxpayers). Become self-sufficient again!”

Or as Mr. Spock might have put it, “Live long and prosper -- on your own!!!”

TECHNOLOGY

Death of the ultimate classic car

The redesign of the Chevrolet Impala for 2013  marks the end of the ‘ultimate car’, a design that has been the cornerstone and flagship of every North American manufacturer and brand for over a half century -- the full size 4 door sedan.  This most versatile of cars could hold 6 adult male passengers in spacious comfort, with  a trunk large enough to hold all the groceries, sports equipment and luggage any family or group could need – under lock and key and invisible to any prying eyes. (Helpful even when just storing away your car ‘junk’, emergency gear and, in films, one or two bodies – dead or alive.)

Reasons to mourn #1

The redesigned 2013 Chevrolet Impala, copied from the 2012 Buick LaCrosse, offers only 5 seats, a swooping roofline that drops sharply and a short truck hatch.  All features that make me cringe!

The 6 seater Impala, which was still available in 2012 as an ‘option’, was the very last such model in all North America as its last rival, the 6 seater Ford Crown Victoria was discontinued in 2011. All models now have the gear shift on the floor – a trend started in automatic transmission vehicles during the 1970s as an ‘option’.  It was marketed as a sportier, race car interior and Ford went even further and promoted its mini-wall barrier version as your pilot’s cockpit, suggesting you had instantly move up to pilot of a 747 jumbo jet! (The fact that eliminating of the middle front seat saved some $250 on additional mechanical link arms for the gear shift and the cost of a 3^rd front seat belt system were not publically acknowledged.)  

So, with the death of the 2012 Impala and the Ford Crown Victoria the year before, the classic North American 6 seater is no more.

 

Reasons to mourn #2

The swoosh-look roofline style is another and even more important disaster.  Only the Chrysler C300 has maintained the horizontal roofline that was the hallmark of the 4 door sedan.  It allowed full adults to not only easily enter the front but even the back.  Today’s sloping rear roof lines and matching shorter doorways – even on the Ford Taurus which is not as steep as GM’s but with a narrow rear door -make it almost impossible for anyone over 5’9” and not a contortionist to enter the rear without crawling on hands and knees.   

Reasons to mourn #3

Finally, the shorted rear trunk lid -- also found on the C300 and Ford Taurus --  makes putting in bulky items difficult if not impossible,  even if the compartment is still big.  While gangster film bodies can still – if barely – slide in, many regular items cannot.  Old suitcases used to be wide and narrow, but today’s full size models are bulky rectangles that need large hatches, as do pieces of furniture or that newly assembled barbeque.

Solutions???

So, what is one to do?  We used to have, as recently as 2000, over 14 North American models to choose from. Each brand had at least one such 4 door easy access adult sedan with  great trunk doors and some had more than one; under badges such as Plymouth, Dodge, Chrysler, Ford, Mercury,  Lincoln (2), Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile (2), Buick (2) and Cadillac (2).   

Today, the Chrysler C300, which can even hold my 6’6” neighbour front and back, is as close as we get; but it’s a 5 seater with such narrow window slits and huge blind spots (and short trunk)that it has been rejected by North American police forces as a viable substitute for the departed Crown Victoria and 2012 Impala model.

Instead, some police are switching to SUVs (sacrificing large, enclosed trunks for easy 4 door access), and taxi companies are switching, at least in Toronto, to Japanese Toyota Camrys – the next closest design approximation.  In New York City, all new taxis must be the Japanese Nissan NU200 van.

The options for individual new car buyers , unless you can afford a chauffeur style  Mercedes or BMW, or Rolls Royce or Bentley – all of which will set you back over $100,000, is similarly a poor compromise!

Yes, SUVs or Jeeps and mini-vans (which for some illogical reason only Chrysler still makes) have the 4 doors and tall entry style, and can hold 5 or more adults (depending on extra seats), but they all give up the privacy and security of the large, enclosed trunk of the classic sedan – a space that combined key lock security and privacy from outside and passenger eyes.

So while GM, Ford and Chrysler can all still advertise they make full size 4 door sedans, it is really not the same – at least by the standards of that classic design that was the centerpiece and hallmark of the North American industry for over 50 years.

 

TECHNOLOGY

WATCHES THAT ARE NO LONGER WATCHES

This time of year, while perfume is the most promoted seasonal gift for women, it is the wristwatch which dominates male gift advertising.   Most notably fronted by Leonardo DiCaprio and David Beckham.   Sorry, Tiger Woods, your time is up.

Just check Sharp magazine’s Dec 12/Jan 13 issue and its numerous watch ads and extensive main article on the four different watches every upscale male needs – yes, minimum 4.

Unfortunately, if you glance at magazine ads, read expert articles or check the watches in store after store after store, you will find the male wristwatch has now totally lost its way and primary function!

This all came to my attention when I recently had to replace my damaged 15+ year   old Casio watch, a thin all metal rectangular gem that not only told the time but had a small digital screen for day, month and stopwatch features.  The style is prominently displayed by the main character in the British Life on Mars TV series – set in 1973.   

Yes, the design is a classic, and harkens back to Cartier’s WW1 tank watch concept, when men’s wrist watches were first invented. But whether the dial is rectangular, square or more often round, it was designed  to allow a quick check of the hour and minute at a glance.

In contrast, today’s plethora of male wrist watches - from under $10.00 to over $5,000.00 - have morphed almost entirely into fancy jewelry and gaudy bling -- making quick telling of the time very difficult.

What has gone wrong?

Firstly, dials and hour and minute hands are no longer designed for maximum contrast and easy vision.  Dial numbers are often down to just 4 from 12 and sometimes left totally to the imagination.  Multi-coloured backgrounds, pictures, inscriptions and even transparent backgrounds - so you see the mechanism – all hinder visibility. Watch arms that blend in have also become the norm.  Black on black or steel grey on grey is not helpful!

Secondly, the wealth of ‘add ons’, technically and correctly called complications, have run amuck.

A small calendar date window or weekday and date window has long been popular and helpful and cause little distraction from the basic function.  Even my Casio’s tiny digital screen -- so muted when inactive and out of the way—was not a hindrance.

But the addition of 3 mini-dials to track stop watch time – seconds, minutes and hours, or phases of the moon, or 24 hour numerals or naming up to 2 dozen cities on an outer ring – is overly complicated and distracting from the main function – a quick and instant glance at the exact time.

Thirdly, scuba diving specialty watches – extra large, extra thick for waterproofing, and extra heavy (but not an issue under water’s buoyancy) – has become the normal size and weight for nearly all men’s wristwatches.  Face dials are now twice as wide as the traditional norm.

So now your wrist is getting weight training non-stop and your shirt cuff on the watch side needs to be extra wide, left open or is constantly blocking the time if you have large arms.

 

Put briefly, thin, lightweight and easy to read watches is now the rarity. Gaudy and overly complex bling has become the norm.