Covid-19 Political Duopoly Grows Stronger due to Covid Controversy

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The reason we have a bitter Covid-19 controversy is because the political duopoly between the Democratic Party and Republic Party thrives on controversy.  What should be a simple matter of a lifesaving recommendation and gentle tolerance for those who wish to refrain from accepting the gift of vaccination is instead a bitter war between political left and right that has the side effect of generating millions of dollars of revenue for the parties and for media outlets that thrive on controversy.  

A Covid-19 controversy will generate plenty of guaranteed revenue for both sides.  It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful, and the parties will do what is necessary to support it even though the individuals within each party may think that it is a winnable battle.  They have conditioned themselves to do what is necessary to support their party. 

The reader is referred to articles such as "Fixing U.S. Politics:  What business can—and must—do to revitalize democracy" by Katherine M. Gehl and Michael E. Porter from the Harvard Business Review Magazine (July–August 2020).  Their convincing thesis is that the political parties act to promote the interests of the political parties. Is that a shocker?  Needless to say, they do not promote the interests of the country, and they are happiest when there are long standing controversies that divide the nation and result in contributions and advertising revenue to pour in to strengthen both sides.

Hence it is perfectly understandable why we are not going to discuss Covid-19. Instead, we shall bark orders about it, shout about, protest about it, implement draconian policies about it and do everything we can to antagonize people along party lines. These actions result in a healthy political economy, and those involved in the decision making process are making good money and establishing strong career paths. 

So it is with Covid-19.  The pro-vaccination policies are implemented with the most heavy-handed and obnoxious rhetoric possible.  The debate is not civil. The anti-vax dissenters claim that personal freedom and the future of the the Republic are at stake.  They are cloaked in robes of red, white and blue righteousness.  It is emotionally charged on both sides, for no real reason. This makes no sense, unless you ask what sells advertising money on talk radio, facebook, social media and news networks?  Answer: heavy-handed obnoxious rhetoric and un-civil, emotionally charged debate. 

This is not a conspiracy theory, just stating the the obvious, simple fact that this is a good businesss practice within the politics industry. Once you recognize that politics is an industry, rather than a holy, public-serving institution, the principles of making money within the industry are simple and clear.  Hate sells. Mother Teresa of Calcutta could never host an AM talk radio show.

Covid-19 is going to cost America trillions of dollars. However, the political industry will strongly benefit from the Covid-19 controversy. 

Ned Rasor, Oтец термоэмиссионного преобразователь энергии

Поскольку у Nedа всегда было очень много друзей в сообществе термоэмиссий из России, я попытался рассказать его историю на русском языке с помощью «Google Translate». Надеюсь, ты сможешь это прочитать.EK

    Мне было грустно узнать, что Ned Rasor скончался из-за Covid-19 в канун прошлого года. Мне посчастливилось познакомиться с несколькими очень умными людьми в своей жизни, и Ned был поистине гением.

   Ned был известен созданием термоэмиссионного преобразования энергии. Фактически, Thomas Edison первым открыл это, но не знал, что это такое. Он увидел, что стекло возле углеродных нитей его первых лампочек через некоторое время почернело, но не знал почему. Поэтому он назвал это "Edison Effect," естественно, но не объяснил, что это было и как это произошло. Оказывается, его лампочки работали от постоянного напряжения, а отрицательная часть горячей углеродной нити испускала электроны и выделяла ионы углерода, когда на нее воздействовали положительные ионы. Углерод осаждается на стеклянной части колбы. Использование тепла для кипения электронов стало известно как термоэмиссия, и Нед стал одним из величайших мировых экспертов по этому вопросу.

    Ned полагал, что если бы у него была трубка, заполненная радиоактивным ядерным топливом, она бы начала испускать электроны, и он мог бы собирать электроны и производить электричество! Так родился термоэмиссионный ядерный реактор. Каждый раз, когда он придумывал решение, возникала проблема, но он находил встречное решение и другое встречное решение, и через некоторое время эта чертова штука начинала работать. Компании и правительства всего мира стремились создать эти ядерные реакторы для космических кораблей, которые должны были отправиться на Луну, Марс или в дальний космос.

    Все это произошло в 1950-х и 1960-х, до меня. Я познакомился с ним около 1980 года. Однажды я представил его коллеге как «дедушку термоэлектроники», и это его немного рассердило.

    «Elliot, я слишком молод, чтобы быть дедушкой!» он протестовал. Так что с тех пор я называл его «дядей термоэмиссии». Казалось, это его удовлетворило. 

    Ned и несколько других ученых, включая меня, разделяли общее видение того, что термоэмиссионная версия должна стать международным усилием ядерных космических держав, во многом подобно термоядерной энергии и International Space Station. Мы должны использовать ядерную энергию для совместной колонизации космического пространства. Крупные державы не должны бороться за право оспаривать незначительные религиозные разногласия на Middle East не имеющие стратегического значения для истории человечества.

    Несмотря на это общее видение, мы с Nedом все время ссорились. На мой взгляд, Термоэмиссия была его дочерью - э-э, племянницей - и по мере того, как она росла, она начала приобретать собственную личность и расти способами, которые он не мог предвидеть. Подобно тому, как родителям трудно отпустить ребенка, изобретателю трудно увидеть, как ребенок формирует новые отношения, в которые не входит папа. Тем не менее, я уверен, что Ned мог бы интерпретировать иначе, и это могло бы не льстить мне.

     Тем не менее технология Nedа имела поразительный успех. Наши коллеги в России объявили в конце 1980-х, что они запустили термоэмиссионный ядерный реактор в космос.

    Это вызвало шок в американском аэрокосмическом истеблишменте. Многие из них не могли поверить, что изобретение Rasorа действительно работает. Другие не могли поверить, что российские ученые так далеко опередили американцев. В этом бизнесе неловко, когда вы говорите, что что-то невозможно сделать, а потом кто-то действительно это делает, а затем запускает это в космос, а вы все еще спорите, почему это невозможно.

    Но Ned действительно не считал это личной победой. Он сказал мне: «Эллиот, я сконструировал эти устройства 25 лет назад. Сейчас они для меня старомодны. Скучно! Теперь мы можем добиться большего. Я хочу увидеть, как используется новое поколение термоэлектронных преобразователей».

   Ned делал и многое другое. Например, однажды он сделал термоэмиссионный кардиостимулятор с ядерным источником энергии и испытал его на собаке по кличке «Tick», которую он в конце концов взял в качестве домашнего питомца. У него было несколько других медицинских устройств, которые просто как бы всплыли в его сознании и стали изобретениями, хотя он на самом деле намеренно не решил стать специалистом по медицинским приборам.

   Расскажу одну глупую историю про Nedа. Однажды мы были на конференции в бывшей Республике Грузия, как раз в то время, когда Советский Союз распадался, и курсы обмена валют были очень благоприятными для американцев. Так что у нас была возможность совершить поездку по местному рынку. Мы наткнулись на местный стенд, где продавали украшения, на мой необразованный взгляд, несколько напоминающие стиль Ближнего Востока. Мы не были экспертами, но могли сказать, что это настоящие драгоценные камни, но продавались по очень низким ценам, например, всего несколько долларов.

   Ned посмотрел на них и сказал: «Ого, это действительно дешево! Может, мне стоит купить немного для Genny».

   Всегда было так ясно, что Ned действительно любит и уважает свою жену Genny. Он всегда думал о ней, когда был в отъезде.

   Я сказал: «Ned, я знаю, что ты гений и знаешь гораздо больше, чем я ... но я считаю, что знаю Дженни достаточно хорошо, чтобы сказать, что если ты найдешь для нее подарок, у него должен быть какой-то другой атрибут, помимо того, что он действительно дешевый. ! "

   Ned засмеялся и согласился, признав, что не имеет никакого эстетического представления о модных украшениях. На этот раз он последовал моему совету.

   Ned обладал невероятной энергией и энтузиазмом к науке и исследованиям и смог привлечь к работе на себя самых умных и хороших людей.

   Я продолжал с интересом следить за его последними статьями. Даже на пенсии он создавал новые способы повышения эффективности термоэлектронных преобразователей. Я думаю, что некоторые из них тоже могут сработать.

Ned Rasor, the Father of Thermionic Energy Conversion

 

I was sad to learn that Ned Rasor passed away due to Covid this past New Year's Eve. I have been lucky to know a number of very smart people in my life, and Ned was truly a genius.

Ned was famous for creating thermionic energy conversion.  Actually, Thomas Edison discovered it first, but did not know what it was.  He saw that the glass near the carbon filaments of his early light bulbs turned black after a while, but didn't know why. So he called it the "Edison Effect," naturally enough, but did not really explain what it was or how it happened.  It turns out that his light bulbs operated on DC voltage, and the negative part of the hot carbon filament emitted electrons and gave off carbon ions when positive ions impacted  it.  The carbon would deposit on the glass part of the bulb. The use of heat to boil of electrons came to be known as thermionic emission, and Ned became one of the world's greatest experts on the subject. 

Ned figured, if he had a tube filled with radioactive nuclear fuel, it would start to emit electrons, and he could collect the electrons and make electricity!  So thus was born the thermionic nuclear reactor.  Every time he came up with a solution there was a problem, but he came up with a counter solution, and a counter-counter solution, and after a while the darn thing started to work. Companies and governments around the world stared to actually make these nuclear reactors for spacecraft that were intended to go to the moon or Mars, or deep space.   

All this happened in the 1950s and 1960s, before my time.  I met him around 1980.  I once introduced him to a colleague as the "Granddaddy of thermionics," and that made him a little mad.  

"Elliot, I'm too young to be the Granddaddy!" he protested.  So from then on I called him the Uncle of Thermionics.  That seemed to satisfy him.

Ned and several other scientists including myself shared a common vision that thermionic version should be an international effort among the nuclear spacefaring nations, much like fusion energy and the International Space Station.  

Despite that common vision, Ned and I used to squabble all the time.  As I saw it, Thermionics was his baby--er, niece--and as she grew she started to take on a personality of her own and grow in ways that he could not have predicted. Just as it is tough for a parent to let go of a child, an inventor has a hard time seeing the child form new relationships that do not involve Uncle.  That said, I am certain that Ned would have a different interpretation, and it might not be flattering to me.  

Nevertheless, Ned's technology was an amazing success.  Our colleagues in Russia had announced in in the late 1980s that they had launched a thermionic nuclear reactor into outer space.

This sent shock waves through the American aerospace establishment.  Many of them couldn't believe Rasor's invention actually worked. Others could not believe the Russian scientists were so far ahead of the Americans. It always sucks in this business when you say something can't be done, and then someone hauls off and does it, and then launches it into outer space, while you are still arguing why it is impossible.  

But Ned really, truly did not regard it as a personal victory.  He told me, "Elliot, I designed those devices 25 years ago. They are old fashioned to me now. Boring!  We can do better now.  I want to see a new generation of thermionic converters being used."  

Ned did many other things as well.  For example, once he made a thermionic pacemaker with a nuclear power source, and tested it in a dog named "Tick" that he eventually adopted as a pet. He had several other medical devices that just sort of popped into his consciousness and became inventions, without his really having intentionally set out to be a medical instrumentation specialist.  

I'll tell one silly story about Ned.  One time we were at a conference in the former Republic of Georgia, right at the time when the Soviet Union was dissolving and currency exchange rates were very favorable for Americans. So we had the chance to tour the local marketplace.  We came upon a local stand where they were selling jewelry, to my uneducated eye somewhat similar to a Middle Eastern kind of style. We were not experts, but we could tell, they were real gemstones, but were being sold for prices that made no sense, like only a few dollars.  

Ned looked them over and said, "Wow, this stuff is really cheap!  Maybe I should buy some for Genny."

It was always so clear that Ned really loved and revered his wife Genny. He was always thinking of her when he was away. 

I said, "Ned, I know you are a genius and know far more than me....but I believe I know Genny well enough to say if you find a present for her, it should have some other attribute besides being really cheap!"

Ned laughed and agreed, and admitted he had no aesthetic sense for what constituted fashionable jewelry.  For once he took my advice.

Ned had unbelievable energy and enthusiasm for science and research, and was able to attract some of the smartest--and nicest--people to work for him.  

I continued to follow his recent papers with interest. Even in his retirement, he was creating new ways to make thermionic converters operate more efficiently.  I think some of them might work, too.  

   

By Any Means Necessary-Malcolm X and Donald Trump Share Some Common Ground

 

What?  Did I just compare 1960's Civil Rights radical Malcolm X to President Trump?  Yes, and Americans,  have never really understood either one.  

Malcolm X had a cause that he believed in passionately and he believed in fighting for that cause passionately, even though he understood that the majority was against him, even within the African-American community.  He regularly feuded with Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and had several pet nicknames for him, some of  which cannot be repeated here because they just do not meet social correctness standards of the present century.  Understand, Malcolm X was not about establishing rules of Democracy. He did not just say, "Gee, I've been outvoted!  Well, golly, I'll pack up and go home now."  No, realizing he was in the minority within a minority, he nevertheless solidiered on, fighting for his cause, by any means necessary. 

Those words have a chilling effect on mainstream society and well they might.  MIght they imply protests? Work stoppages?  Boycotts? Political tampering? Some sort of paramilitary action?  Maybe.  If it is necessary to achieve the goal, yes.  

Now, in my personal opinion, I felt that towards the end of his life Malcolm X, started to moderate his views somewhat, and was not interested in creating chaos for the sake of chaos.   But his assassination curtailed that chapter in his life so we will never know how it might have turned out.  

The liberal left has a great deal of difficulty understanding the appeal that the President had to African Americans in the last election, figuring that that the Biden-Harris ticket should have pocketed all those votes more or less automatically. 

Malcolm X was frequently critical of white liberals, comparing them to foxes, while conservatives were more like scary wolves, and African Americans were compared to sheep.  The foxes might seem cute and appealling, but somehow they are the ones that eat lamb chops every night. That line would get a big laugh at his speeches.  White people may not find it so amusing. 

Hence some African-Americans, especially those who favor self reliance and who are suspicious of over-dependence on white liberals, were willing to vote Republican in the last election, though the majority still sided with the Democrats. Some might even be considered to be on the radical left, but were more comfortable with the wolfish Trump rather than foxy Biden.  

President Trump is like Malcolm X in the sense that he also has a cause that he is passionate about and will fight for. He too will fight to win by any means necessary and is not committed to the democratic process any more than Malcolm X was.  If the election did not work, his only question is whether there are other alternatives through the legislature, the courts, the military or some other mechanism that might be used to stay in power.  All that matters is, will it work?  

Thus, it should not be shocking that the President is seeking to overturn the results of the election.The democratic process is not number one on his agenda. 

It is not insane to support the President, just as it was not insane to support Malcolm X.  Reasonable people can disagree about what is reasonable to support. Definitely the alternative to President Trump--Joe Biden as the lawfully elected representative of the American people--is a very poor candidate, the result of a party that has too much power and was able to successfully exclude younger capable candidates.    However, supporting President Trump's ill-advised attempts to stay in office is incompatible with democracy as with we know it.  Americans will have to choose between Trumpism and the will of the people, because they are simply not the same.  Trump seeks to win by any means necessary, not by vote of the Electoral College.