The Grand Puzzle

LAW & ORDER

Stephen G.: “You cite ‘Law and Order’ as an example of good TV? As an actual lawyer, who’s been in courtrooms, and dealt with police and DAs, I have to say that L&A is an insidious, evil, representation of our ‘criminal justice’ system. It portrays a system where evil, brilliant criminals and their powerful and corrupt defense lawyers make it almost impossible to obtain a conviction, and that only the dedication and courage of the overmatched prosecutors and cops saves the day. I hate to resort to arcane legalisms, but THIS IS CRAP, and almost exactly opposite reality. /SIGNED ‘A lawyer in California, home of the life sentence for shoplifting.’”

BOREALIS

Ah, Borealis.

One of the stumbling blocks to my plutocratude has been Boeing’s skepticism that the APU on its airplanes – the “auxiliary power unit” that powers the lights and air conditioning when the aircraft is on the ground – would have enough juice left over to power the WheelTug™ motors we hope to imbed in their nose wheels.

(WheelTug is a subsidiary of Chorus Motors which is a subsidiary of Borealis which I told you, in 1999, was “a stock that’s surely going to zero” even though I had – unable to control my demons – bought a ridiculous lot of shares in it.)

And you would think Boeing would know a little something about this.

But it now turns out there is plenty of power after all. A couple of weeks ago, Delta made available a jet for testing to see just how much juice the APU does have to spare.

The press release begins:

WHEELTUG ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL ELECTRIC LOAD TEST ON BOEING B737NG

February 1, 2010 – WheelTug Limited with partner Co-Operative Industries, reported today the successful completion of an Electrical Load Measurement (ELM) development test on a Boeing B737NG. The tests confirm sufficient power is available to operate a WheelTug®.

The tests were conducted in January at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, GA in the presence of independent observers.

☞ The full release will likely leave you with a lot of obvious questions.

The answers are (in order): “Good question.” “Who knows?” “Wouldn’t you think?” “It’s a mystery!” “I know! I keep asking that myself!” and “Well, it took winglets a ridiculous number of years to be accepted, too, yet now they’re in wide use.”

The stock, symbol BOREF, trades just a few hundred shares on a typical day. Under no circumstances should you enter a “market” order to buy or sell it. You need to enter a “limit” on the price you are willing to pay or accept.

It remains highly speculative; at under $3, it’s about a dollar cheaper than it was in 1999; I still own a ridiculous lot of shares.

THE PRESIDENT AND THE REPUBLICANS

Again I link to Friday’s give-and-take. If you are a history buff or care to take the measure of the man you elected (or voted against) . . . if you are engrossed in the Grand Puzzle . . . how the game of governance can be won for the American people and how we can navigate our way back to prosperity and a modicum of common purpose . . . well, then, you shouldn’t miss this. As one of my friends put it, “The President spent an hour taking questions from House Republicans at their annual retreat. The level of skill, intelligence, expertise and political sophistication he demonstrated throughout was incredible.”

Tomorrow: The Long Road Back to Fiscal Responsibility