More on Spacetime

To recap, Spacetime is the field which governs motion. It is also the field from which all other fields draw their energy. There is a maximum potential energy (purely theoretical inside the universe, of course, as everywhere has something going on), and a minimum of zero. Thus, black holes are hollow, with a shell of maximum density where the spacetime energy drops to zero. (It's all being used up by everything else.) Proper time depends on the available energy of spacetime, and where this is zero, there is no time, and thus no motion. Nothing at all happens inside a black hole, which is profoundly weird. The "time" portion of spacetime has gone to zero, so the "Space" portion essentially is a meaningless "divide by zero error". It is effectively a hole that everything else bunches up against. In the curves of physics, a2 + b2 = c2, where c=1, but only where 0≤a≤1 and 0≤b≤1. You can't have anything less than zero or more than one, so the range of possibilities is limited by the function that defines them. That which cannot exist, does not.

This definition shows that black holes must be hollow, and explains cosmic expansion in the early universe. Think of the space portion of spacetime as the Y axis, and time as the X axis, and the spacetime as the curve. Thus, where there is maximum potential energy (the horizontal limit at the top of quarter circle), time flows freely at its maximum rate where the tangent to the curve is horizontal, and space is not stretched at all. And where potential energy is zero, time does not flow at all where the tangent is vertical, but space is stretched to infinity (divide by zero error). That which cannot exist, does not. So the (quarter) circle formula of the observable universe where the laws of physics hold has limits of 0≤x≤1 and 0≤y≤1. Physics is undefined at the zero energy potential energy level. There can be no change, no motion, no time, no anything inside the hollow shell of a black hole. So where the lower limit must be greater than zero, the upper limit cannot ever truly equal one. So this devolves to 0<x<1 and 0<y<1 for particles with mass. (They would need gain or shed more energy than available to go that extra bit faster or slower.)  So we get back to an effectively hyperbolic definition of physics.

Addendum: The curves used to illustrate Alcubierre drives are good to show how momentum and red/blue shift curves work. Illustration stolen shamelessly from someone who stole it, etc.

Russian Military Performance

Every day the news tells us how terribly the Russians are doing, and how well the Ukrainians are defending their country.  And every day, the map shows the Russians advancing further and further into Ukraine. They now control over a third of Ukraine, and have surrounded the cream of the Ukrainian army. 

Yes, the action around the major cities is relatively slow. Sieges are like that. Sieges are how you keep from pissing your army away in pointless urban assaults. (Please note that with remarkably few exceptions, cities do not grow food, and have vast numbers of bellies to feed. Also note that the Russians have not yet turned off the lights or shut down the water and sewage plants.)

How to understand the lackluster performance of the Russian Army in Ukraine:

The Russian Army has all the flaws of the Soviet system with none of the strengths. They still have the two year, 6 month cycle conscription system, in which raw recruits go straight to their units, which teach their own version of basic training plus individual job training every six months. They then hold a regimental level field exercise at the end of each cycle to put everything together. Once a year the regiments get together to conduct a division level exercise. So, at any give time, at least one quarter of the troops in an average unit have *no idea* what they’re doing.

And it’s only that good in units where the commander doesn’t routinely rent out the conscripts as day laborers.

Their "elite" units, staffed with volunteers, are generally better trained and equipped, in that there is real training and most of the equipment will probably work right. Sort of like our military, but without an NCO corps and with a tiny budget.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of a healthy, robust NCO corps to modern military operations.  (Officers plan, NCOs do.)  That is what really separates the Western militaries from the second tier nations.

Example:  A couple decades ago, the US Army sent an airborne company (SETAF) to a demonstration in Kakakhstan.  All the former Soviet states attended likewise.  (For the purpose of brevity, these will be referred to as [Soviets].)    Grandstands were erected atop a small rise so the generals and officials could observe the festivities.  Each nation dropped their company of paratroopers onto their portion of the field.  They then assembled, moved to the starting line, advanced one kilometer to an objective, which they then assaulted.  

The US unit dropped last, but had taken the objective, reconsolidated, and was requesting further orders before the next fastest unit had finished assembling at the starting line.

This, needless to say, greatly impressed the [Soviet] generals, who asked to meet the officers commanding the Americans.  They were then introduced to the American officers, who were all sitting in the stands with them, observing their NCOs lead the troops through the exercise.  This utterly astonished the [Soviet] officers, as they could not conceive of such a thing.

Oh, and one other little thing.  This reliance upon officers instead of NCOs leads to a bit of rank inflation.  Majors command their companies and Captains their platoons, whereas Captains command our companies and Lieutenants our platoons.  They use Lieutenants as squad leaders, where we use Sergeants.  (And most of our platoons are really led by Sergeants, as well, even if a Lieutenant is nominally in charge.)

Learn from this. Remember what didn't work. Remember what did. This will all be on the test later.

Us Army goes full Stasi

The US Army is now requiring soldiers to log and report their contacts with friends and family, in order to root out "White supremacists".  Army leaders are expected to contact their soldier's friends and families, in order to get them to rat out the troops' "undesirable" behaviors.

This is full-on East German Stasi surveillance.

Please pass on.  Sunlight is the best bleach for this sort of stain.

Here's the form currently in use in 3rd Corps, Fort Hood, Texas.

Social Justice Math

 You can't make this stuff up.  Just look at one chapter title: That’s Not Fair and Why: Developing Social Justice Mathematics Activists in Pre-K.

From the title pages:  The mission of TODOS: Mathematics for ALL is to advocate for equity and high quality mathematics education for all students — in particular, Latina/o students.  Because teaching to one particular group is teaching to all.  And equity, not truth, is the core of mathematics.  Right.

https://www.todos-math.org/assets/documents/TEEM/teem7_final1.pdf

This link was found from Larry Correia's excellent rant about social justice "education" to his local high school council.

The Three S Rule

 Shoot, shovel and shut up.

Once upon a time, on a military base not to be mentioned, we built a great new obstacle course in the woods. Less than a week after construction finished, we got a notice from the EPA about the need to protect an area of ten yards around certain plants beginning October first. This being mid-September, I grabbed a shovel and a tape measure, and spent a profitable day at the new confidence course and along the paths leading to it. 

Come October, there were no protected plants anywhere nearby.

More about me than you really wanted to know

 From the comments to John Wilder's post on fasting for health.

Your comment about weighing less now than you did in HS made me ponder. My BMI as a Senior in high school was under 16. I had to gain weight to join the Army. Never mind the fact that I could back-press 800 pounds or ab-press 600 pounds (the max on the machines) until I got bored. Now I’m in my 50’s, medically retired, with 3 busted discs, and a BMI of, oh, let’s see… 42. No, I’m not diabetic. My total cholesterol is now 86, up from 32 back when I was twenty (oh, how the doctors hated me). Ah, the memories, health and metabolism of youth.

No, I’m not retired for the bad back. That happened later. (I’m a veteran. I’m disabled. I’m not a disabled veteran.) Migraine with brainstem aura and IBS, after one too many high fevers. (I survived 109 degrees with no treatment back when I was 13. I was unconscious for a week on the living room couch. Why yes, my parents were a bit dim and quite willing to let me die, thanks for asking.) I have all the side effects. And I’m resistant to or have serious reactions (some permanent) to every class of medication that might help. The doctor’s experiments were… unpleasant. (The experimental beef blood medicine was really tasty, but did nothing at all.) Some days I can walk. Some days I can talk. Once or twice a week I can do both, and that’s when we get groceries. (Migraines and IBS are related, as both are neurological disorders. The gut has half the neuron count of the brain, and the two communicate constantly. The same medicines are used to treat both.  Most doctors don't know this.)

But anyways, I tried Atkins back when it was popular. It works. But the desire for bread becomes really strong after a couple of weeks. Weight Watchers also works, because any diet plan that boils down to “eat less, work more” will work if you do it every day. It will work better if you lower your carb intake, of course.

Quatloos or Newbucks? The Egg!

So, after the collapse of the USA into Mad Max style anarchy, then the recreation of warring states, then the restoration of continental empire, what shall we call our currency?  My favorite names are Quatloos or Newbucks, but I'm a traditionalist.

But on a more serious topic, on what shall we base our money?  Gold and silver are traditional, but there is only so much, and our growing population (gotta encourage young couples to have more children, 'cause that's how the future happens) should not be restrained by something as arbitrary as the weight of metal in some vault.  I propose:  the egg.  Specifically, the current USDA large egg, grade A (which is a measure of freshness).

No, wait, I'm totally serious.  Okay, laugh, but then keep reading.

 

Eggs cannot be profitably hoarded.  They cannot be faked.  They cannot be digitized.  They have intrinsic value, but only for a little while.  Eggs are produced by farmers, the real backbone of any economy, but are only seriously valuable in the cities, where you can't raise your own chickens.  They must be produced and distributed daily, all year long, or people get hungry, then angry.

Eggs are inflation and deflation resistant.  You cannot sell half an egg.  An egg next year is still an egg.  An egg 50 years from now will still be an egg.  If the demand for eggs goes up, the price of chicken (and corn, etc.) will also rise as farmers adjust their production.  If the demand for eggs goes down, the price of chicken (and corn, etc.) will also go down as farmers adjust their production.

Imagine bankers and stock brokers waiting breathlessly to hear the quarterly farm report.

For reference, looking back a few decades, the retail price of a gross of large eggs correlates fairly well to the price of an ounce of silver.  I have to admit, though, that I think a coin with an egg-shaped hole in the middle would be really cool.