Monthly Archives: July 2011

 "Officers bust into a home in Sterling Heights, armed with a search warrant. The only problem? The guy they were looking for doesn’t live there. Fox 2 talked to the man who opened the door, and was stunned by what happened next."

Do not worry though because there will be no repercussions for raiding the wrong house, using false information, or not validating it prior to the raid.  Often these types of incidents are easily solved and dealt with by minor surveillance or a knock on the door.  Instead they use it as a projection of force to remind others who actually is superior.  In this case law enforcement has so many protections that they have absolutely nothing to fear.

This is by no means the first incident I have heard like this.  It is much easier for officers to just ride the fallout of a shooting during a raid, even on the incorrect house than actually do their job.  This is yet another example of the reason why the “War on Nouns” needs to end.

This was a lucky incident in that no one was shot on either side.  It doesn’t change the fact that it’s unnecessary or uncalled for, and nothing more than state sponsored violation of a law abiding citizens rights.  The law exists to protect the innocent and some times that means the bad guy gets away.  It’s not a flaw folks, it’s a feature that should not be toyed or taken for granted.

State Sponsored Criminal Count: 12

Because the government protects its own to the point where it’s easier to just kill you and deal with the paperwork than confirm the facts ahead of time.

Well this should probably be titled more of depression by numbers but it should help illustrate how new and additional taxes aren’t going to solve our current problem.  All numbers for this exercise have been obtained from US Debt Clock.

Current Tax Revenue as of Today: $2.2 Trillion

Current Spending As of Today: $3.6 Trillion

Deficit for the Year As of Today: $1.4 Trillion

US Population: 311 Million

Deficit per man woman and child:  $4,500

US Taxpayers: 111 Million

Deficit per taxpayer: $12,612

In order to break even in our spending that’s what’s needed in new taxes.  But remember they are only going to raise taxes on those earning over $200,000.  What does this do to their effective tax rate?

According to Fact Check, places 1 in 50 households making more than $250k a year.  That comes out to 2% of households, which we will for the sake of providing maximum cushion apply it to 2% of the population.

Population making over $250k: 6.22 Million

Deficit per “Taxable Citizen” under their plan: $225080

Given that huge disparity it can be assumed that the effective tax rate for those who earn $250k or more will be 90%.  Remember the population making over 250k in this case is probably grossly exaggerated and I expect the required tax rate to be 100%.  So what incentive will they have to continue working, or running their business who employee others?  Joe did an example of how these cuts are actually looking for a simpler perspective most can understand.  The government needs to learn to spend within it’s means, the rest of us have to.  They have a credit card and own the credit company which keeps issuing new credit.  Eventually you end up so far in over your head there’s no way out but bankruptcy.

It seems that many are willing to listen to this class warfare, and are more than happy to use the force of government to prey upon the efforts of others.  Doesn’t matter if they’re a D or an R, the bottom line is neither really cares about the future of the union and arresting the deficit.  All they care about is their reelection which means giving taxpayer money to voters.  The few that have the balls to stand up and say no more are berated by none other than king RINO McCain.

Hope you have all invested in a plan “B” because it appears that our elected reps have pushed the throttles forward and put the nose straight at the ground.  This is going to leave one hell of a crater.

Another way to look at all of this, every tax payer is a single father with 2.7 children he is providing for.  So in a household that is “DINK”, Dual Income No Kids, they support 5.4 other people.  There is an enormity to the spending situation, it appears that only a few of us are willing to point out the wickedness along with its size.

Today’s entry comes from Sin City.

A police department review found that Officer Derek Colling violated police policies when he used "excessive force" on Mitchell Crooks, reports the Las Vegas Review Journal.

…

Earlier this week, the Internal Affairs Bureau notified Crooks that Colling was found to have violated Las Vegas police policy – a development which pleased Crooks.

He beat up a citizen because he had a video camera.  News flash not just for police but anyone in public.  If you don’t want it on video for the world to see, don’t be doing it in public.  This officer had previously been involved in two fatal shootings and now beat the hell out of someone for having a camera.  It makes me wonder why he was so against having more footage of any police encounter.  If anything as long as an officer is behaving himself within the confines of law and decency, video strongly works to their benefit.

For example see this video involving an open carrier out of California:

Contrast that to Officer Roid Rage.

State Sponsored Criminal Count: 11

Some police are worthy of the badge, some on the other hand shouldn’t be there.  It is the job of the department and public to ensure officers behave at all times in a manner worthy of that badge.

Now Washington Legal.

Some would complain about the modifications that make operating the slide easier, given I know the owner I don’t blame him for doing it one bit.  It’s not about looking pretty, it’s about being FUNCTIONAL.

The FBI is investigating a video from a Tennessee police car dashcam that shows police stripping a man naked and then beating and tasing him.

Now evidently he was out of parole, but overall this whole incident speaks of excessive.  None of the officers tried to express any restraint on their fellow officers.  Each was more than willing and complicit in their own actions and that of their fellow officers.

While officer safety is a concern, most certainly a man lying on the ground naked in the snow is not a threat worthy of beating and tasing, especially if you’re the individual responsible for stripping him.

The fact that 3 officers were all involved and all three mutually worked to abuse this individual instead of thinking the problem through given their superior numbers earns all 3 a place on the count.

State Sponsored Criminal Count: 10

Just because a cop has the ability doesn’t mean he should, just like the rest of the civilian populace.

Incase you haven’t seen the video, here it is again.

This is getting a full mention again to be included in the count thanks to the idiotic words of the Canton City Council President Alan Schulman.

There is no question that the actions of that officer are unacceptable and totally irreprehensible.  Some have attempted to justify the actions of the officer as being acceptable including this individual.  I don’t know what planet these individuals live on that they can justify the actions of officer Roid Rage*.  Then again some people have so much blind faith in the government that they fail to remember that they are people as well, subject to the same stresses and emotions as the rest of us.  When they do remember that agents of the law are human they attempt to use it as an excuse, while the rest of us lowly peons are required to exercise self-control and self discipline.  If I exhibited behavior like that at my place of employment, bad day or not, my ass would be fired.  Why as an agent of the law are they granted a reprieve?  If anything they should be held to a higher standard as the trust and privileges they are given, including qualified immunity.

This is obviously a case of State Sponsored Criminal Acts, especially with the City Council President defending the actions of the individual.  An individual with a history of problems:

Canton’s internal affairs unit has investigated 16 complaints involving Harless dating back to 2000.

He was reprimanded in one 2003 case. Harless and another officer were exonerated of using excessive force, but were given a letter of reprimand for not activating the in-car video camera at the scene per department policy.

This man was obviously known to his superiors and department, yet they did absolutely nothing to restrain him or punish him.

State Sponsored Criminal Count : 7

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*The name was coined by Weer’d, I find it a very applicable description of the officer.

H/T to Jay on the background info on the officer.

Time and time again I am hearing about TSA agents stealing from airline passengers.  They’ve been caught stealing cash, electronics, organizing thefts with their coworkers, and some have even busted for child pornography.  Now with the addition of the “Fast and Furious Scandal” we are finding that the government knowingly gave felons a clear background check even though they should have been stopped.  Our government provided arms to disqualified purchasers.  Given all of this information when I received an email today of yet another incident with the TSA I felt it was time to create something similar to the Dead Goblin Count. 

The rules are simple:

1. The person worked for the government, IE: TSA, DHS, FBI, BATFE, or any other part of the government, local, state or federal.
2. The person committed the crime while on duty, or his job provided access to commit the crime under color of law (see the pedophile above).
3. High level incidents such as the “Fast and Furious” incidents count.  Individual incidents involved in the same program can be counted separately.
4. Must have accompanying documentation with the submission.

To submit incidents, please use this form.  You can also recommend any additions or changes to the rules, I may or may not accept them.  Even if you don’t think it will fully meet the requirements above, most likely disqualifying factor is rule #2, send it anyway it will at least get an honorable mention. 

So here’s the first entry in the list goes to the one that finally pushed me to actually do it.

A Transportation Security Administration officer has been accused of stealing $22,000 worth of watches from passengers’ luggage at Los Angeles International Airport.

It’s good to know that the TSA agent was so busy stealing jewelry there is no way anything else could have slipped past him.  Yet another example of A Security Theater.  He joins the list of previously uncounted TSA agents stealing from passengers.

Thank god the TSA is here to protect us, who else would rifle through our luggage, sniffing our underwear and stealing jewelry.

State Sponsored Criminal Count: 1 + 5(examples at top) = 6

In this part of the series I’m going to cover the basics of AC machinery.  More specifically I’m going to focus on synchronous machines, both in motor and generation aspects.  Synchronous generation is important since that is the production method used by most major power plants, from steam to hydro.  Why it’s used with be made more apparent at the end.

Basics of AC Machines:

If you’ve ever played with magnets you know that two magnets will try to turn to line up with one another.  In an AC machine that behavior is leveraged to cause the rotor (the rotating part of the machine) to chase proper alignment with the stator (the stationary part of the machine). 

If you remember that a moving magnetic field induces a current in a wire.  Just the same a current in a wire creates a magnetic field.  Here’s a quick side cut away of a simple 3 phase machine:

In the diagram current flows in the standard letter and out the prime, for example in A and out A’.  The math and details behind the magnetic forces and how it works as a motor isn’t going to be covered in detail.  The only understanding needed is that as a particular pole passes a wire it induces a current in a particular direction, the opposite pole causes current to flow in the opposite direction.  AC current switches direction constantly throughout it’s supply, this is because the poles on the magnet have switched direction for the other half of the cycle. 

The above example is a “2 pole” system displayed by the fact there are only two magnetic poles in use.  The mechanical rotational speed is directly tied to the electrical frequency.  This relationship is described by the following equation:

Which states that the electrical frequency in Hertz is the product of the speed of mechanical rotation in RPM and the number of poles in the rotor, divided by 120.

So for example a 2 pole generator producing a 60Hz signal is spinning at 3600 RPM.  We can increase the number of poles in the rotor to decrease the rotational speed required. In doing so we also increase the number of windings required as well.

The windings when wired together correctly produce a standard 60Hz signal.  The reason you would do this is it allows you to operate at a much lower mechanical frequency.  For instance the 4 pole system above would operate at 1800 RPM instead of the 3600 RPM of the two pole system.

Efficiency

No system is 100% efficient, thermodynamics guarantees this since we are converting energy from one form into another.  You have numerous losses that are caused by the following items:

1. Copper Losses, remember I mentioned that long wires have a voltage drop across  them, well in a generator/motor you have a very long wire that is coiled up.  There are losses that occur due to I²R in the generator.
2. Core losses, These are losses caused by limits of the metals within the motor regarding the magnetic fields.
3. Mechanical Losses: Friction in the machine causes losses, as will as windage which occurs because of air moving within the casing.
4. Stray Losses: Everything else not covered by the previous categories, by convention this is usually about 1% of full load.

Synchronous generators are so popular for generation because their design lends them to be considerably more efficient than any other design for generation.

Synchronous Machines

Synchronous machines are like what was described above, however their rotor contains a set of windings that are energized by a DC current.  IE they use an electro magnet to provide the magnetic field that the rotor uses to generate current in the stator windings.  These two sets of windings are referred to as field windings and armature windings.  Armature windings also referred to as stator windings is where the main voltage is induced, while the field windings produce the main magnetic field within the machine.

This DC current supplied to the field windings can be supplied by an external source through the use of slip rings and brushes, or it can be generated directly on the shaft of the machine. 

Synchronous machines are a very special type of motor as they are locked to the frequency of operation.  When starting a machine you synchronize it to the power system prior closing the circuit. Once locked with the power system it’s frequency is stabilized by the rest of the system.  In order to shift the frequency, it has to shift at ALL the machines, not just that one.  Prior to the machine being actually turned on though you must spin the machine up to speed by external means.

For instance say you were using the machine as a motor, you could NOT just supply power and expect it to spin at synchronous speed.  In the instance of using the machine as a motor, you short the armature winding, once this is done you allow the three phase AC to the field windings.  This will cause the rotor to begin spinning.  Once it is very close to synchronous speed remove the short supply current to the armature winding at which point it will synchronize with the system.

In the case of self starting generation, a pony motor is uses to bring the  generator to synchronous speed.  Once there a small current is applied to the armature winding and it is synchronized with the power system.  Once synchronized it is connected to the grid, at which point the armature windings are fully energized.  If the armature winding is energized prior to being connected to the grid, a very large voltage can be produced on the field windings.  Ultimately when you parallel the system, you want the same magnitude and frequency as the output for your generator.

Other than efficiency though the synchronous machine provides some other benefits in that you can adjust the power factor of the output of the generator.  For instance if you have a load that is leading the generator, you can back the generator off so that the leading load supplies power to other surrounding loads.  This is known as power factor correction.  It is done by altering the excitation current used for the armature.  Operating the generator in an over excited state to deal with a leading power factor, where you have a lagging load, can actually cause the generator to fail eventually due to overheating.

This ability to help correct power factor issues coupled with the high efficiency and constant speed operation leads many facilities to use it for generation.

Review:

So there was a quick run down on the most common AC machine, how it works and why it’s used.  Next week will be induction machines, these are becoming more prevalent in generation thanks to wind power.