Ones and Zeros

We’re on our way to Florida. Our first day’s leg ended in a hotel at the southern end of South Carolina off of I-95. We woke up early this morning when our terrier heard sounds outside.

I took the pup outside for a walk while my wife was inside getting ready. The pup and I ran across the motel’s lawn and chased small birds in the pre-light early morning fog. Around us are oaks, a few palms, and some tall long-leaf pine trees each with just a few massive branches. The air has a sort of spicy humid smell that reminds me of the south

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At work we’re cleaning out and recycling a number of older computers. In keeping with good data practices, we want to wipe the disks before we do so. We decided we needed a degausser to do this. But they cost a lot of money. So, I decided to make one. No problem, I’ve made them before for various purposes.

It’s just a coil of wire that line current goes through. Since the line current already switches direction 60 times per second, it does a pretty good job of degaussing.

I wrapped the necessary 30 AWG wire around a cardboard form I made that was the same shape as a disk drive and a little larger in size. I checked the maximum current for 30 AWG wire, and de-rated that some for safety sake. Then I figured the necessary resistance for the line voltage to allow the desired current. I wired a 1/4 W resistor in series with the coil and the power cord.

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US News and World Report has an article saying that the Pentagon is considering paying and arming Afghan militias. Back in the late 1980’s President Carter, of all people, started doing this too. He was concerned (or was influenced by Zbigniew Brzezinski’s concern) about the modern reform socialist government that had overthrown the old king and was running the country. This government had close ties to Russia which justified overthrowing them apparently.

When Reagan took office, he continued that covert program and expanded it sending funds and weapons. (See the movie Charlie Wilson’s War for one side of that story and several “60 minutes” reports for another.) The warlords and their private armies (let’s call them as they are, not militias) succeeded in defeating Russia in Afghanistan with the help of U.S. funds and weapons. But, this also had the side effect of creating the Taliban - a fundamentalist theocracy not noted for its tolerance or friendly attitudes. And Al Queda was created by the Taliban to export that theocracy to the rest of the world.

According to Wikipedia and other sources, the Taliban’s leaders were actually under the pay of the U.S. till sometime in 1999 under Clinton. Of course, in September of 2001 they memorably rejected our support with hijacked transport category aircraft. We are now considering defensive measures for the Stinger missles we gave to the Mujahideen.

We started with some of the least educated and most close-minded of Afghanistan society. We ended up the same way. It’s not a great leap of imagination to see the connection. Although the specifics could not have been clear, the boomerang effect was entirely predictable.

I know it is not traditional but just once, damn it, I would like to see American foreign policy take into account the long-term results of our meddlesome efforts. It is stupid for us to spend each new generation repairing the “misadventures” of the last.

In the WSJ Peggy Noonan writes an opinion piece on Dec 5 where she talks about republican wealth in northern Virginia as a result of government work. She also talks about government being a growth industry through good times and bad. She suggested that Obama change the name of Homeland Security to something less Nazi-sounding - also a pet peeve of mine.

But much of her piece talks about how the republicans have the meme that no matter what you think of Bush at least “he kept us safe” since 9/11. WTF? In what way did he increase our safety?

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