Morning Drives

You know the idea that you no longer recognize the world around you, the one where it is so topsey turvey that what makes sense before is starting to fade into some semblance of 1984. That novel is one of my favorites. I'm a sucker for dystopian novels, I always have been. What's always drawn me in is this idea that the world has come crumbling down under the weight of something horrible and grotesque. The funny thing about dystopian entertainment is how it always appears to be close enough to be frighting but far enough away to still seem unreachable.
At least I thought it was.

Now, I'm not one that believes that there is some mass conspiracy that shadowy groups like the Bilderburg Group or the Trilateral Comission are able to control the globe. It's not that complicated or covert, it's right in front of our faces.

The part that broke it for me wasn't the proposed assault on the US Constitution by this president, as that's been done since Abraham Lincoln, a man I've written about in prior posts. It wasn't the propositions by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, nor was it the calls to create legislation that would act retroactively and confiscate all semiautomatic wepons or the proposition in which would require background checks before ammunition purchases.

Instead what got me today was news brought forth at this years Consumer Electronics Show(CES). It was the "wonderful" news that automakers Toyota and Audi would be joining Google in the production of self-driving cars. To be fair, the technology is proposed as something that could handle, mundane "stop-and-go" traffic, which isn't really mundane at all and is a greater indication of the American driver and the underfunded and undersized highway system (think 494 eastbound between US 169 and I-35W at 4 PM on a Friday). Now for some and maybe most, the idea of a self-piloted vehicle is probably as close to perfection as it gets. Those who have long commutes or ones with difficult traffic could hop in their car, hit the push-button start and select "Work" and off you'd go while you could catch up on the news, eat breakfast, continue getting dressed or whatever you would do with your time. However, from someone who truly enjoys driving this immediately brought to mind was a story I had read a couple of years ago.

Originally written in 1973 and published in Road & Track magazine the short story "A Nice Morning Drive" must have seemed like an extremely unlikely possibility. The story was even used as inspiration for the song "Little Red Barchetta" by Rush on their "Moving Pictures" album. This news brings this version of reality that much closer.




A Nice Morning Drive by Richard S. Foster Road and Track Nov,1973 pp.148-150
It was a fine morning in March 1982. The warm weather and clear sky gave promise of an early spring. Buzz had arisen early that morning, impatiently eaten breakfast and .gone to the garage. Opening the door, he saw the sunshine bounce off the gleaming hood of his I5-year-old MGB roadster. After carefully checking the fluid levels, tire pressures and ignition wires, Buzz slid behind the wheel and cranked the engine, which immediately fired to life. He thought happily of the next few hours he would spend with the car, but his happiness was clouded - it was not as easy as it used to be.
A dozen years ago things had begun changing. First there were a few modest safety and emission improvements required on new cars; gradually these became more comprehensive. The governmental requirements reached an adequate level, but they didn't stop; they continued and became more and more stringent. Now there were very few of the older models left, through natural deterioration and . . . other reasons.
The MG was warmed up now and Buzz left the garage, hoping that this early in the morning there would be no trouble. He kept an eye on the instruments as he made his way down into the valley. The valley roads were no longer used very much: the small farms were all owned by doctors and the roads were somewhat narrow for the MSVs (Modern Safety Vehicles).
The safety crusade had been well done at first. The few harebrained schemes were quickly ruled out and a sense of rationality developed. But in the late Seventies, with no major wars, cancer cured and social welfare straightened out. the politicians needed a new cause and once again they turned toward the automobile. The regulations concerning safety became tougher. Cars became larger, heavier, less efficient. They consumed gasoline so voraciously that the United States had had to become a major ally with the Arabian countries. The new cars were hard to stop or maneuver quickly. but they would save your life (usually) in a 5O-mph crash. With 200 million cars on the road, however, few people ever drove that fast anymore.
Buzz zipped quickly to the valley floor, dodging the frequent potholes which had developed from neglect of the seldom-used roads. The engine sounded spot-on and the entire car had a tight, good feeling about it. He negotiated several quick S-curves and reached 6000 in third gear before backing off for the next turn. He didn't worry about the police down here. No, not the cops . . .
Despite the extent of the safety program. it was essentially a good idea. But unforeseen complications had arisen. People became accustomed to cars which went undamaged in lO-mph collisions. They gave even less thought than before to the possibility of being injured in a crash. As a result, they tended to worry less about clearances and rights-of-way, so that the accident rate went up a steady six percent every year. But the damages and injuries actually decreased, so the government was happy, the insurance industry was happy and most of the car owners were happy. Most of the car ownersi-the owners of the non-MSV cars were kept busy dodging the less careful MSV drivers, and the result of this mismatch left very few of the older cars in existence. If they weren't crushed between two 6000-pound sleds on the highway they were quietly priced into the junkyard by the insurance peddlers. And worst of all, they became targets . . .
Buzz was well into his act now, speeding through the twisting valley roads with all the skill he could muster, to the extent that he had forgotten his earlier worries. Where the road was unbroken he would power around the turns in well controlled oversteer, and where the sections were potholed he saw them as devious chicanes to be mastered. He left the ground briefly going over one of the old wooden bridges and later ascertained that the MG would still hit 110 on the long stretch between the old Hanlin and Grove farms. He was just beginning to wind down when he saw it, there in his mirror, a late-model MSV with hand-painted designs covering most of its body (one of the few modifications allowed on post-1980 cars). Buzz hoped it was a tourist or a wayward driver who got lost looking for a gas station. But now the MSV driver had spotted the MG, and with a whoosh of a well muffled, well cleansed exhaust he started the chase . . .
It hadn't taken long for the less responsible element among drivers to discover that their new MSVs could inflict great damage on an older car and go unscathed themselves. As a result some drivers would go looking for the older cars in secluded areas, bounce them off the road or into a bridge abutment, and then speed off undamaged, relieved of whatever frustrations cause this kind of behavior. Police seldom patrolled these out-of-the-way places, their attentions being required more urgently elsewhere, and so it became a great sport for some drivers.
Buzz wasn't too worried yet. This had happened a few times before, and unless the MSV driver was an exceptionally good one, the MG could be called upon to elude the other driver without too much difficulty. Yet something bothered him about this gaudy MSV in his mirror, but what was it? Planning carefully, Buzz let the other driver catch up to within a dozen yards or so, and then suddenly shot off down a road to the right. The MSV driver stood on his brakes, skidding 400 feet down the road, made a lumbering U-turn and set off once again after the roadster. The MG had gained a quarter mile in this manner and Buzz was thankful for the radial tires and front and rear anti-roll bars he had put on the car a few years back. He was flying along the twisting road, downshifting, cornering, accelerating and all the while planning his route ahead. He was confident that if he couldn't outrun the MSV then he could at least hold it off for another hour or more, at which time the MSV would be quite low on gas. But what was it that kept bothering him about the other car?
They reached a straight section of the road and Buzz opened it up all the way and held it. The MSV was quite a way back but not so far that Buzz couldn't distinguish the tall antenna standing up from the back bumper. Antenna! Not police, but perhaps a Citizen's Band radio in the MSV? He quaked slightly and hoped it was not. The straight stretch was coming to an end now and Buzz put off braking to the last fraction of a second and then sped through a 75-mph right-hander, gaining ten more yards on the MSV. But less than a quarter mile ahead another huge MSV was slowly pulling across the road and to a stop. It was a CB set. The other driver had a cohort in the chase. Now Buzz was in trouble. He stayed on the gas until within a few hundred feet when he banked hard and feinted passing to the left. The MSV crawled in that direction and Buzz slipped by on the right. bouncing heavily over a stone on the shoulder. The two MSVs set off in hot pursuit, almost colliding in the process. Buzz turned right at the first crossroad and then made a quick left, hoping to be out of sight of his pursuers, and in fact he traveled several minutes before spotting one of them on the main road parallel to his lane. At the same time the other appeared in the mirror from around the last comer. By now they were beginning to climb the hills on the far side of the valley and Buzz pressed on for all he was worth, praying that the straining engine would stand up. He lost track of one MSV when the main road turned away, but could see the other one behind him on occasion. Climbing the old Monument Road, Buzz hoped to have time to get over the top and down the old dirt road to the right, which would be too narrow for his pursuers. Climbing, straining, the water temperature rising, using the entire road, flailing the shift lever back and forth from 3rd to 4th, not touching the brakes but scrubbing off the necessary speed in the corners, reaching the peak of the mountain where the lane to the old fire tower went off to the left . . . but coming up the other side of the hill was the second MSV he had lost track of! No time to get to his dirt road. He made a panicked turn left onto the fire tower road but spun on some loose gravel and struck a tree a glancing blow with his right fender. He came to a stop on the opposite side of the road. the engine stalled. Hurriedly he pushed the starter while the overheated engine slowly came back into life. He engaged 1st gear and sped off up the road, just as the first MSV turned the corner. Dazed though he was, Buzz had the advantage of a very narrow road lined on both sides with trees, and he made the most of it. The road twisted constantly and he stayed in 2nd with the engine between 5000 and 5500. The crash hadn't seemed to hurt anything and he was pulling away from the MSV. But to where? It hit him suddenly that the road dead-ended at the fire tower, no place to go but back . . .
Still he pushed on and at the top of the hill drove quickly to the far end of the clearing, turned the MG around and waited. The first MSV came flying into the clearing and aimed itself at the sitting MG. Buzz grabbed reverse gear, backed up slightly to feint, stopped, and then backed up at full speed. The MSV, expecting the MG to change direction, veered the wrong way and slid to a stop up against a tree. Buzz was off again, down the fire tower road, and the undamaged MSV set off in pursuit. Buzz's predicament was unenviable. He was going full tilt down the twisting blacktop with a solid MSV coming up at him. and an equally solid MSV coming down after him. On he went, however, braking hard before each turn and then accelerating back up to 45 in between. Coming down to a particularly tight turn, he saw the MSV coming around it from the other direction and stood on the brakes. The sudden extreme pressure in the brake lines was too much for the rear brake line which had been twisted somewhat in his spin, and it broke. robbing Buzz of his brakes. In sheer desperation he pulled the handbrake as tightly as it would go and rammed the gear lever into 1st, popping the clutch as he did so. The back end locked solid and broke away, spinning him off the side of the road and miraculously into some bushes, which brought the car to a halt. As he was collecting his senses, Buzz saw the two MSVs, unable to stop in time, ram each other head on at over 40 mph.
It was a long time before Buzz had the MG rebuilt to its original pristine condition of before the chase. It was an even longer time before he went back into the valley for a drive. Now it was only in the very early hours of the day when most people were still sleeping off the effects of the good life. And when he saw in the papers that the government would soon be requiring cars to be capable of withstanding 75-mph headon collisions, he stopped driving the MG altogether.








Keep your eyes open, I know I will.

Smus

An Open Letter to President Abraham Lincoln...

(Let me preface this all, by stating there will be slightly foul language, for this I will not apologize. If the use of said "foul language" does offend you, then please read on, because chances are you need to be offended. It'll make you feisty, and who doesn't like that?!

Mr. Lincoln,

You good sir, are an asshole. You did a wonderful thing signing the Emancipation Proclamation, and for that I thank you; slavery is a horrible, terrible thing. However, that being said, what you have done to this great nation through your actions in the Civil War against the sovereign States, specifically ending the social compact through which this country was founded allowing States to join and secede from the union in peace was ended. To you it was more important to save this "union".

Mr. President, a union no matter the definition, has the simple requirement of all parties having free choice to join or not. I cannot tell my wife to stop an activity I may detest, force her to pay me for her activity if she chooses to continue, and then if she were to defy my command, and hand me divorce papers hold a gun to her head and beat her senseless until she has no choice but to submit. A union is built on trust, understanding, compromise, and the ability of one party leave if the situation becomes hostile or unlivable. Your use of deadly force to maintain this "union" is no longer a joining of these United States by free and open choice. Instead, you coerced the states by literally putting a gun to the head of each state that rebelled. What you saw as the only choice to keep the young nation together, that doctrine of force, is what is preventing these 50 experiments of representative government to truly reach their full potential. It is through judicial activism, a never ending congress, and a constant growth of the power of the executive branch that we as a nation become less free each and every day. If it is not a mandate to the state using barely intelligible excuses at vague clauses in the Constitution, it is then one of the amendments to the constitution that your war started that is used. You alone have been the catalyst to the growth of government overreach and oversight that in your time had happened only 4 score and 7 years prior to your now famous Gettysburg address.

Instead, you have killed the only true check these States have against a tyrannical Federal Government. The only recourse that the people had. The government is no longer by the people. You killed that. I hope you're pleased at what has happened over the last nearly 150 years.

Sincerly,

Smus














Keep your eyes open. I know I will.

Is bullying bullying all the time? Or just when we want it to be?

Hey Everyone, its been forever and a half since I posted anything, so I figured I'd give you and update, and give you something that I have been looking at over the last day or so and it's really bothered me, so I figured I'd try and let you see what I think and let you have your say.
First thing's first! My good friend Brian Mason has started a website, and I'll try to contribute to that as faithfully as I can, possibly linking both this site and the wonderful Masmus.com which will have not only my awesome takes on everything that I'm even halfways good at, but also Brian's takes on everything sports and all the great things he knows a lot about. So, my plan is to keep this up and running (I think) and put some stuff on here exclusivly, put stuff up on Masmus.com exclusivly, and have a majority be both here and there. So, now that that is out of the way...lets start off with what's been bothering me as of late...
This image has surfaced on Facebook, circulating throughout my friends list, and for seemingly good reasons...here is said image.
Now, after reading the text on the page, I was bothered right away. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something just didn't sit right with me. There was something about how it was written, what was said, who wrote it and who it was to that just didn't jive with me. After staring at it for a few moments longer, taking a drink of this delicious Simply Orange with Mango, it dawned on me like the light hits the Rockies in the morning. While everyone is applauding this child raised by homosexual fathers for sticking up for the homosexual child being bullied by the implied straight child, I find it rather ironic that the "linebacker with two amazing fathers" is getting as much praise as he is considering the fact that the one thing he is threatening is physical violence. Now, its not a "take my Butterfinger, and I'll knock your teeth out" kind of threat, one that is verbal and has no real recourse or intention. No, this threat was thought of, typed up, printed, and then (again assumed) delivered either by hand or by placing it in an area that "bully" was likely to see it.
Last time I checked, and I'm no legal mind, if you threaten someone with even a vague threat to do bodily harm and have the means to do it, depending on the state statue that could be a fairly serious crime. In the state in which I live, that could be considered harassment, or even a more serious crime as it is a threat to do bodily harm...last time I checked when someone threatened to beat someone else up, they didn't get a "attaboy" for being possibly a bigger bully themselves. What has our world come to when the logical next step for standing up for someone is to threaten someone else with physical damage and to essentially terrorize the other individual with a written warning? Not only is that illogical, its down right wrong.
If the gay student was being pushed around and beat up, then what makes it right for linebacker with 2 dads to do the same thing to bully kid? Two wrongs never make a right, and usually the 2nd wrong is far worse than the first.

Keep your eyes open, I know I will

Smus.

MN State Fair musings, the new cars of the Big 3, and why I really dislike the coverage of "Hurricane Irene"

Today me and the missus headed up to the "Great Minnesota Get-Together", and that it was. The drive up was rather uneventful, had some fun on the 494-35W interchange but other than that the drive both up and back was pretty casual. While at the fair we had some of the great food items which come to your mouth via a sharp wooden dowel, usually less than 1/4 inch in diameter. Of course the customary "about-a-foot-long" hot dog was entirely in order, but as my father pointed out to me at an early age, the only proper hot dog stand are those that have the old-time ketchup and mustard dispensers with the crank operation. Only the crank operated dispensers have the ability to correctly and accurately place the condiments. No if's, and's, or but's about it.

The wife and I dined on the delectable Pronto Pup, consumed a serving of deep fried fruit on a stick (which is delicious by the way, not heavy at all and quite refreshing considering its covered in batter and then cooked in boiling oil). The other food items were all quite good except for the "Chicken Fried Bacon" from the outdoorsy place on Machinery Hill. The bacon was rather flavorless and the dipping sauce tasted like a cheap mix of maple syrup and some white thickening agent that allowed the place to use barely any maple syrup at all. Now I'll honestly say I'm not a huge fan of savory and sweet. I don't dip my sausage in my maple syrup and the thought of bacon and ice cream makes me a little queasy. This was pretty despicable fooding here. Like I stated, the bacon had zero flavor, no smoke, no fat, nothing that would make you think that real bacon was involved. I thought the breading was flavorless as well and rather dry on top of that. I know for a fact that the food had been sitting out for an extended period and that didn't help the cause any, but what ended up coming across was simply some tasteless chewy "meat" product covered in a dry and powdery breading with a rather unpleasant maple sauce. The only thing that saved it for me was my cup of Summit's EPA.



Now on to the fun stuff...CARS!

Looking at cars for me is quite entertaining. New cars always have little bits of technology built in and seeing the latest and greatest designs from Detroit, Tokyo, and Munich make car shows fun for guys like myself. The downside to a lot of large car shows is the simple fact that it's usually out of the way or in a time that's rather difficult to attend. That's why I love the State Fair. Not only do all three of the Big 3 show off their models, but others had come to play this year...that other player being Kia.

Now I know the plucky little Korean company has a lot to prove, its older sibling Hyundai has broken into the market in recent years with some high quality fieldings taking on the luxury makers with its Genesis sedan, it's sporting Japanese rivals with the Genesis Coupe, and has continued on a pretty strong path taking on the best from Europe and Japan. However, Kia has always been a black sheep between the two. It is the cheaper of the cheap twins. The wonders of the Kia Rio of the turn of the millennium were things of horror. Most people would opt for a used Geo Metro over a new Kia Rio. But with that image in mind the little company that could has decided to aim straight down the sights and try to take out is main competition by not only building a better car, but building cars that people want to own.

The tiniest little tent for a car maker was at the Minnesota State Fair. The tent had one of every model Kia made, and what a busy little tent it was. They had a well colored and optioned Kia Soul, a nicely equipped Kia Forte, and the stunning Kia Optima which was "dressed to the 9's" in its full turbo trim. I have to say this in my own defense, I am a Kia fan. I think that the introduction of the Soul to take on the funky Scion brand and the Nissan Cube is pure brilliance. Offer nearly the same product with a slightly different look that's a little more mainstream at a lower price.

The Kia Forte takes aim again at its Japanese rivals primary. The Forte Sedan and "Koup" do an excellent job at trying to fight against Honda's Civic, and Toyota's Corolla for market share and I think that the Forte does an excellent job at again building a similar product for a lower price. Not only does the Forte look better, but it's cheaper and has a look that people like, especially the Kia Forte Koup.

However the biggest stunner in my mind was the brand new Kia Optima. The model demo'd was the top of the line turbo version with every option available equipped. The seats were beautiful, the look was great, the interior looked superb and as my wife said "This is a really nice car". It was a really nice car. Her parent's Honda Accord is not nearly as nice nor as well set up on the center stack. The car looks fantastic and is one design that will not be lost in the shuffle like most do in the mid-size sedan category that has been dominated by Honda and Toyota for the past decade or more.

Did do some stopping in at the Big 3. Chrysler knocked it out of the park. The entire Jeep lineup looks great, the new Dodge Challenger with it's larger engines still looks as beautiful as ever, and the new Dodge Charger is one that I would love to own personally. The interior of the Charger was extremely well done with lots of soft touch surfaces. The best part is that the Charger is the only rear-wheel drive sedan on the market that isn't from Germany or England here in the US. Not only that but it has an available 6-speed manual transmission and the V8 models have optional all-wheel drive. Not to mention all of Chrysler's stuff looks really, really good. Ford is doing well, and Chevrolet might as well scrap everything they have and try to start fresh. I guess the FIAT ownership of Chrysler has helped in a large way.


Oh, and we got to sit in a Fiat 500 for the first time...let me just say this...and Abarth version will be amazing.



Now for "Hurricane Irene". Lets face it, it was over blown. NYC didn't get wiped off the face of the map, and as I type this the Weather Underground is showing winds in DC at 22 mph and in NYC at 2 mph. That's right...Hurricane Irene is whistling at a whopping 22 mph in DC right now.

Again, the media blows it out of proportion because they need a story for the weekend...when there isn't one, they make it up...like they did here and here

Great job guys...great job.







Keep your eyes open, I know I will

Smus

I love it when grand premises can be dismissed using grade school knowledge.

The idea that the world is overpopulated is total, complete, and utter crap.

Watch, I'll prove it to you using 4th or at most 5th grade math. I'll even use algebra to make it seem neat.

X / Y = Z

Z > A


X is the world population
Y is the area (in square miles) of the state of Texas
Z is the resounding population density if you were to put the entire world into Texas
A is the population density of New York City.

X = 6,775,235,700
Y = 268,581 sq mi
Z = 27,532 people/sq mi
A = ?


Lets run the problem!

6,775,235,700 people/ 268,581 sq mi = 25,226 people/sq mi

25,225 > 27,532

The above inequality is false.

Therefore, the world is not over populated.


Look, one world problem solved by basic math. yay.

Libya, and why I do dislike Sen. John McCain.

Wow, well it's been a while since I blogged, and that's just a crying shame isn't it? I know you were all just pining for me to post up some more political and economic mumbo-jumbo so you can question either my thought process or my sanity. Let not your heart be troubled 'O reader of mine, for I am back and rip-rearing ready to go to set any an all info you've heard or seen in the past two months since I've posted last. That's right, its 2 months to the day that I posted my last little entry.

I believe the last one I posted about was the comparison between the US, China, and a bunch of old countries that are either falling apart with good food, or are falling apart with mediocre food (I'm looking at you Greece). Well not today friends, not today. I think we will start off with a magical little journey to the near east. Well, northern Africa to be exact. The little country of Libya, which has been in the news, has decided to have a little skirmish within it's borders. The UN has decided to intervene. Now normally I'd applaud the UN for having a spine, but let's face it, the only reason that the current president of the United States has told his ambassador to the UN the go-ahead with approval of UN Security Council Resolution 1973 (that's in 2011) to establish a "no-fly zone" over the sovereign nation Libya.

Now, this may not seem like a big deal. I mean, Quadaffi is a brutal thug-dictator, but his impotence is almost embarrassing. I mean in being a standard dictator bad-ass he has failed miserably. No one been shut up as quickly as he was. Granted most didn't need to, but when Reagan decided to bomb Tripoli in '86 for the attack on a night club in Berlin that killed a number of US servicemen in a night club, well you get the picture.

Either way, the problem I have with the UN, the EU, and the USA is quite simple. What has Quadaffi done? Ok, he oppresses his people. So does China, so does Saudi Arabia, so does every other 3rd world shit-hole nation. Hell, even the US oppresses people's rights and freedoms, so who are we to go into Libya and tell the Mad-man Quadaffi that he can't go and stomp out a rebellion? The major problem I have, and this is mainly with the US's foreign policy by both Republicans and Democrats is that they're war happy.

War happy politicians are the closest thing to pure scum on this planet. Maybe its because I'm elligible for the draft, maybe its because I'm a cynic, maybe it's because I'm tired of being yanked around like some rag-doll, but either way when a politician starts talking about military engagements it makes my skin crawl. Like this moron.




Yes, the man I foolishly voted for in the 2008 presidential election is (as I soon after realized to my dismay) a complete and utter fool. When people like Sen. McCain state that we should implement a "no-fly zone" over a sovereign nation, that requires military assets. Now, Libya isn't exactly Bangladesh here, they have a moderatly sophisticated anti-aircraft system composed of Surface-to-Air Missles or "SAM" sites all over the country. Now, the kicker of this "No-fly zone" resolution isn't just a resolution imposed by a global version of the student council, it also allows for full on attacks from both air and sea against Libyan military forces. This is a direct quote from the UN Resolution...

Authorizes Member States that have notified the Secretary-General, acting nationally or through regional organizations or arrangements, and acting in cooperation with the Secretary-General, to take all necessary measures, notwithstanding paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011), to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory...

Know what that means? That mean's we'll be doing this...



for these guys...




We will be doing their dirty work.




I don't like this. I don't mind if France and England and the rest of the "Arab League" get's their hands dirty; as a matter of fact I'd love to see French fighter/bombers fly over Tripoli and bomb the hell out of it. The simple fact is this, the UN loves to start wars, they love to interfere, the love to micromanage and inject their big-government, nanny state ways to become more powerful all while creating even more issues in their own wake. I really hope that President Obama won't commit US forces to this civil war in Libya.


Keep your eyes and ear's open, I know I will.


Smus

Is America really Rome? I don't think so...

Well with a new year comes new challenges and new thoughts. As I was working today, this thought crossed my mind, "Is America in 2011 destined for the same fate as that of ancient Rome of the middle of the 400's AD? Would the collapse of the US economy bring around another proverbial dark age?" My thoughts lent me to this conclusion, and a mildly startling one at that. I don't believe were Rome. I think were Greece.

Now, this is the Greece of yore, the one that was unified against the threat of Persia, the one that was ultimately conquered first by Phillip II of Macedonia, and then continued by Alexander the Great until his untimely death. How is America like Greece? And if were Greece, then who's Rome?

I'll answer the last question first, and explain later in this posting why I feel this way. The short and simple answer is China. China is Rome. Anyone who thinks otherwise is foolish.


Ok, on to the serious business of trying to link the USA with ancient Greece.

First and foremost, lets compare Greece to the US, versus Rome and China in terms of expansion. To begin, before Greece was unified under Phillip II, it was a land that was simply ruled by different kings, constantly squabbling and fighting over territory (much like our own states). Now, prior to Alexander the Great, the Greeks never had massive expansion campaigns, nothing major anyways. Similarly, the United States has held its own borders fairly well, only expanding when the price was right (a la Louisiana Purchase) or when the fight was worth the gain (Mexican-American Wars). This is dramatically unlike that of ancient Rome, which expanded at any given opportunity to grab resources and land (much like China is doing in Africa) which some argue was the primary reason for Rome falling. An empire so large was hard to control and its borders became very porous, leading to rebellions and marauding barbarians (arguably, the United States has more issues with that than China).

The second difference is technology. The biggest reason the Romans were so successful is the simple fact that they copied every single good idea the Greeks came up with. Everything from Art to Science was copied from the Greeks by the Romans and used to their own advantage. A perfect example of this is the introduction of private property ownership in China, a former "Communist" regime that is more of an authoritarian fascist government than one of true "Communism". Another example was allegedly leaked on the internet as photographs of a new Chinese stealth fighter they're developing. That's right, the Chinese are developing a brand new stealth fighter, ironic,it looks like a cross between the older F-22 Raptor and the brand spanking new F-35 Lighting II (or Joint Strike Fighter). Again, a pretty dramatic copy of a successful level of technology being implemented for their own use.


The third difference, and I think the most important one, and possibly the last one I touch on tonight, is a simple matter really and that matter is size. China is essentially tied with the US for overall size, but that size does include Alaska, subtract that and we are surely smaller. Now, on top of that factor in the incredibly rich resource area of northern China known as Manchuria, similarly sized coal reserves and an abundant mountainous region in the south known as the Himalayas which as far as I know have not yet been fully explored for their natural resources, and that's just minerals. The region of southeast Asia is fairly full of possible oil reserves, not to mention the closeness to Russia (a massive petroleum monster), its cozy relationship with the entire Middle East (it doesn't have any issues with Islam, and it kindly keeps its nose out of other peoples business, none of that Christian values of trying to help others ruining their plans) for petroleum products, it's booming industry's and its increasingly powerful technological and financial sectors and you have the possibilities of a very strong country, and empire if you will. This doesn't even include the most important factor, and that's population. China's population dwarf's that of the United States by just over 4 to 1.


Ancient Rome was not only larger than Greece in size, but in population. It took the technology that it gained and used it to it's advantage. It's power was unmatched, but that was its eventual downfall. To much power to control, to much land, and a constant barrage of marauders and opposing army's like Hannibal or Attila eventually lead to the crushing defeat of Rome.

So, does that mean we must stem the tide of power? To be honest, in my personal opinion, I don't think we could if we tried, nor should we. The power of Rome was unmatched, but not unquestioned. It's shear weight crushed itself, as we are seeing now. Without a blistering rate of growth the poor who moved from the countryside have began to become restless, tired of a lack of freedom. But, much like ancient Rome, the government knew how to stem the tide of discontent. I say we watch and wait to see what happens.




Keep your eyes open, I know I will.

Smus.






The F-22

The F-35

New Chinese stealth fighter