Arquilla Slaps Carriers Around
Excellent rundown on the irrelevance of behemoth carriers –
This plan constitutes a huge waste of taxpayer money and exemplifies the Defense Department’s fixation on preserving legacy systems designed for a kind of war that the U.S. is likely never to fight again.
Why won’t the next Administration get rid of this white elephant? President-elect Obama simply has too little military expertise to take on the carrier champions, even though his senior adviser on strategic affairs, former Navy secretary Richard Danzig, has in the past called for reducing carrier crew sizes. But Danzig did not call for moving away from giant carriers, and he is unlikely to urge Obama to do so anytime soon.
So it appears that the carrier will live on, at great cost to the American people and at increasing risk to our national security.
Monroe Crime Analysis Center
Adrian does some interesting stuff for a living.
Investing In Solar + Declining Economy
Results in solar tech theft.
Beyond California, solar-power markets are comparatively small, so thefts are still rare — but they are spreading. In the last 18 months, Oregon’s highway department has lost a few panels used to power portable traffic message boards.
The Failing Middle Class
Here’s the report:
4 million American households lost economic security between 2000 and 2006, and that a majority of America’s middle class households are either borderline or at high risk of falling out of the middle class altogether
Pentagon Visualization Interview
Generally, military graphics suck. That’s bad for communication and bad for innovation. Here’s an interview on the topic. (The takeaway: Absolutely infant steps being taken, and no real potential in site.)