How many lines are you going to build to handle the volume?
A quick look on Expedia shows 28 non-stops between LAX and JFK. Say they are all wide-body and 200 passengers a flight, thats 5600 people alone right there on non-stops and 8 more one-stops, for another 1600.
About the Shanghai maglev line.
The Shanghai maglev cost 9.93 billion yuan to build. This total includes infrastructure capital costs such as manufacturing and construction facilities, and operational training. At 50 yuan per passenger and the current 7,000 passengers per day, income from the system is incapable of recouping the capital costs (including interest on financing) over the expected lifetime of the system, even ignoring operating costs[citation needed]. This changes if capacity utilization increases from the current 20%.
It runs four times an hour fifteen hours a day, so it can carry about 120 people a load.
So to replace one 777 from LAX to JFK its going to take two Shanghai maglevs. The LA to LV Maglev would cost $40 billion. So scale that to cross the US, how much would it cost to replace one 777 flight a day?
Materials and planning aren't that cheap. Besides at least half of the tunnel and 2,200 miles of rail and infrastructure would be US and Canadian. Thats not cheap.
Thats here in Alaska - $400 million dollars for a bridge, and thats in an area with some infrastructure. The majority of the route from the end of the Russian rail net to the Bering Straight and then again from Fairbanks Alaska has nothing. No roads there between Fairbanks and the villages. So everything would have to be barged or airfreighted in while the roads parallel to the rail lines are built.
It'd cost a trillion dollars to do the whole route, at least a quarter of that for the bridges or tunnels.
They'd have to build a rail line across Siberia, then cross the Bering Sea, then build a line across Alaska to Fairbanks, than another line across the Yukon and British Columbia to connect Chinese/Russian rail networks to the US and Canadian.
About 4,000 miles of wild country, 90 miles of sea, and then another 2,200 miles to get that rail net hooked up the Canada and the lower 48.
The Bering Straight is three times longer than the Channel is wide and lacks the infrastructure that France and the UK had in place. I'd ballpark 250 billion dollars to tunnel it.
I was wounded and got blood overseas, so I can't donate blood in the US, also I had blood donation before HIV screening so that puts me out there with three strikes;)
You said "staffing", these links talk about spy rings and using former Nazis as intelligence sources for CIA, there is a difference.
At the end of the Second World War all the victorious powers grabbed all the German, Japanese and Italian scientists they could get their hands on. The OSS which became the CIA didn't learn about secrecy and changing corporate culture from the Gestapo, but from the British Intelligence Services.
Just like the rise in paramilitary policing in the US came from LAPD and Delta learning it from the SAS.
Sorry to burst your bubble of understanding, but the Director of Central Intelligence has not always been a Republican, and it didn't start until 1946.
I know, but it seems counter productive for Russia to think of NATO and the EU as the threat. The EU wants to buy Russia's energy, not take it and the EU doesn't need to find a colony for excess population.
China needs the raw materials, energy and living space.
Russia and China have fought some pretty robust battles along their frontiers since China became Communist and the two Communist parties didn't get along during the Cold War.
The Cold War lasted from 1946 to 1991. Yes US weapon sales to clients were very strong from 1965 to 1991, excluding NATO, we aren't going to talk about the NATO sales of F-104 and F-16s.
However from 1945-1970 the Europeans dominated small arms and aircraft sales to developing nations on the NATO side while the Soviets dominated sales to developing nations period.
When you look at events like the Arab-Israeli Wars of the 40s, 50s and 60s the sides used either European or Soviet arms, not American.
The fact is, the European states dominated and destabilized Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia before the US ever got involved in those regions. Sure the US got involved in South and Central American politics but I think that history shows the US didn't mess up those regions near as much as the European powers destroyed western and central Africa.
Did the US get involved in nation-changing in Iran? Sure they did, they inherited the Great Game from the United Kingdom. Who decided the borders in the Middle East that has led to much of the friction of the past 60 years? The United Kingdom and France, not the US. Did the US colonize central Africa and mess up borders which lead to things like Rwanda? Oh hell no.
If one looked at 1955 or 1965 weapon sales you'd see more British and French fighters being exported to the developing world than American. The Arab Israeli Wars were largely fought with Hunters, Metors, Mirages and MiGs until 1967. In '67 the A-4 and F-5 started hitting the export market, by '73 the F-4 joined it. After 1975 the Mirage was long in the tooth and there wasn't much coming out of the UK until the Tornado was developed so the US really took off with the F-4, F-15, F-16.
You are aware that the Federal Government has law enforcement that sometimes search and seize and even no-knock paramilitary attack folks right? Ruby Ridge comes to mind, so does Waco.
Iraq was much more of a French and Soviet client than American. The Republicans, if you remember backed Iran as much or more than they backed Iraq.
When the American and Saudi F-15s are shooting down Mirage and MiGs while American tanks are shooting AMX, T-54s, BMPs and T-62s, its really quite hard to point at them and say "American Client".
You comment about Turkey, but you remember that Turkey did not take part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Are you saying that the Labor Government of Blair, the Howard Government of Australia and the Polish Governments were implanted by the US?
European countries don't stage coups or invade other countries?
Suez Crisis. Allied Force in 1999. Iraq 1990. Iraq 2003. Afghanistan 2001. Algeria.
The very problems in West and Central Africa that have led to wars over minerals and child soldiers are because of European Imperialism in Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The US has had one African colony, if you can even call it a colony, Liberia.
American Imperialism in Central and South America has a fraction of the body count of European Imperialism in Africa.
Europeans countries don't turn other countries upside down for a profit? Since when?
Nestle. Unilever. Airbus. OMV. Eni. Siemens. One can make a list of European companies as active at making profits abroad as long or longer than the US companies.
For every United Fruit the US has had, the Europeans have had a Belgian Congo or British Raj.
And European and Asian companies and countries don't suck up to China? Nice try at going after the US, but the fact is everyone is sucking up to China, even countries who are most threatened by China regionally and strategically, like Russia.
"that the operative clause of the Second Amendment—"the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed"—is controlling and refers to a pre-existing right of individuals to possess and carry personal weapons for self-defense and intrinsically for defense against tyranny, based on the bare meaning of the words, the usage of "the people" elsewhere in the Constitution, and historical materials on the clause's original public meaning;
that the prefatory clause, which announces a purpose of a "well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State", comports with, but does not detract from, the meaning of the operative clause and refers to a well-trained citizen militia, which "comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense", as being necessary to the security of a free polity;
that historical materials support this interpretation, including "analogous arms-bearing rights in state constitutions" at the time, the drafting history of the Second Amendment, and interpretation of the Second Amendment "by scholars, courts, and legislators" through the late nineteenth century;"
Scalia wrote a Dummies Guide to English and American Firearms History in the majority opinion. The opinion made it clear that military grade firearms are not protected by the Second Amendment, nor is body armor.
Slashdot Mirror
How many lines are you going to build to handle the volume?
A quick look on Expedia shows 28 non-stops between LAX and JFK. Say they are all wide-body and 200 passengers a flight, thats 5600 people alone right there on non-stops and 8 more one-stops, for another 1600.
About the Shanghai maglev line.
The Shanghai maglev cost 9.93 billion yuan to build. This total includes infrastructure capital costs such as manufacturing and construction facilities, and operational training. At 50 yuan per passenger and the current 7,000 passengers per day, income from the system is incapable of recouping the capital costs (including interest on financing) over the expected lifetime of the system, even ignoring operating costs[citation needed]. This changes if capacity utilization increases from the current 20%.
It runs four times an hour fifteen hours a day, so it can carry about 120 people a load.
So to replace one 777 from LAX to JFK its going to take two Shanghai maglevs. The LA to LV Maglev would cost $40 billion. So scale that to cross the US, how much would it cost to replace one 777 flight a day?
Materials and planning aren't that cheap. Besides at least half of the tunnel and 2,200 miles of rail and infrastructure would be US and Canadian. Thats not cheap.
Gravina Island Bridge - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge
Thats here in Alaska - $400 million dollars for a bridge, and thats in an area with some infrastructure. The majority of the route from the end of the Russian rail net to the Bering Straight and then again from Fairbanks Alaska has nothing. No roads there between Fairbanks and the villages. So everything would have to be barged or airfreighted in while the roads parallel to the rail lines are built.
It'd cost a trillion dollars to do the whole route, at least a quarter of that for the bridges or tunnels.
They'd have to build a rail line across Siberia, then cross the Bering Sea, then build a line across Alaska to Fairbanks, than another line across the Yukon and British Columbia to connect Chinese/Russian rail networks to the US and Canadian.
About 4,000 miles of wild country, 90 miles of sea, and then another 2,200 miles to get that rail net hooked up the Canada and the lower 48.
The Bering Straight is three times longer than the Channel is wide and lacks the infrastructure that France and the UK had in place. I'd ballpark 250 billion dollars to tunnel it.
The high speed rail nets in the US are not for freight, but for passengers. The costs and volumes of passengers for the routes don't make sense.
I was wounded and got blood overseas, so I can't donate blood in the US, also I had blood donation before HIV screening so that puts me out there with three strikes ;)
If you've had an illness that makes you decide your organs might be harmful to others.
Like me, three cancers.
Of if you've been overseas and injured or had a blood transfusion that might not be 100% safe.
You said "staffing", these links talk about spy rings and using former Nazis as intelligence sources for CIA, there is a difference.
At the end of the Second World War all the victorious powers grabbed all the German, Japanese and Italian scientists they could get their hands on. The OSS which became the CIA didn't learn about secrecy and changing corporate culture from the Gestapo, but from the British Intelligence Services.
Just like the rise in paramilitary policing in the US came from LAPD and Delta learning it from the SAS.
Gestapo agents?
Really.
Source?
Sorry to burst your bubble of understanding, but the Director of Central Intelligence has not always been a Republican, and it didn't start until 1946.
A couple examples from the list.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_Central_Intelligence
Allen Dulles, Democrat. Richard Helms, Democrat. Stansfield Turner, liberal. Leon Panetta, Democrat.
The CIA generally recruits from private schools like Yale, those are not strictly Republican.
I know, but it seems counter productive for Russia to think of NATO and the EU as the threat. The EU wants to buy Russia's energy, not take it and the EU doesn't need to find a colony for excess population.
China needs the raw materials, energy and living space.
Russia and China have fought some pretty robust battles along their frontiers since China became Communist and the two Communist parties didn't get along during the Cold War.
Cold War was 1945 to 1991.
Truman - Democrat - 1945-1952 - 7
Ike - Republican - 1953-1960 - 8
JFK - Democrat - 1961-1963 - 2
LBJ - Democrat - 1963-1968 - 6
Nixon - Republican - 1969-1974 - 5
Ford - Republican - 1974-1976 - 3
Carter - Democrat - 1977-1980 - 4
Reagan - Republican - 1981-1988 - 8
Bush - Republican - 1989-1992 - 4
Congress
1945-1952 - Democrat
1952-1954 - Republican
1954-1992 - Democrat
So in 46 years of Cold War
2 years of Republican controlled Congress
28 years of Republican President
I guess you don't know about the Belgian Congo huh?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Congo
The fact is, the Europeans did the sort of things that make the US conquest of the American Indian tribes look like walks through the park.
The Cold War lasted from 1946 to 1991. Yes US weapon sales to clients were very strong from 1965 to 1991, excluding NATO, we aren't going to talk about the NATO sales of F-104 and F-16s.
However from 1945-1970 the Europeans dominated small arms and aircraft sales to developing nations on the NATO side while the Soviets dominated sales to developing nations period.
When you look at events like the Arab-Israeli Wars of the 40s, 50s and 60s the sides used either European or Soviet arms, not American.
The fact is, the European states dominated and destabilized Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia before the US ever got involved in those regions. Sure the US got involved in South and Central American politics but I think that history shows the US didn't mess up those regions near as much as the European powers destroyed western and central Africa.
Did the US get involved in nation-changing in Iran? Sure they did, they inherited the Great Game from the United Kingdom. Who decided the borders in the Middle East that has led to much of the friction of the past 60 years? The United Kingdom and France, not the US. Did the US colonize central Africa and mess up borders which lead to things like Rwanda? Oh hell no.
Recent?
They've been sold for the last 35 years.
If one looked at 1955 or 1965 weapon sales you'd see more British and French fighters being exported to the developing world than American. The Arab Israeli Wars were largely fought with Hunters, Metors, Mirages and MiGs until 1967. In '67 the A-4 and F-5 started hitting the export market, by '73 the F-4 joined it. After 1975 the Mirage was long in the tooth and there wasn't much coming out of the UK until the Tornado was developed so the US really took off with the F-4, F-15, F-16.
They aren't?
You are aware that the Federal Government has law enforcement that sometimes search and seize and even no-knock paramilitary attack folks right? Ruby Ridge comes to mind, so does Waco.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-knock_warrant
Federal Judges and Magistrates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_and_seizure#United_States
Protected by the Fourth Amendment, so yea, thats Federal.
The BLM owns the bulk of the lands here in the West where those dangerous animals live.
http://www.adn.com/2010/03/09/1175725/wolf-blamed-in-death-of-villager.html
If the US population is dangerously armed, do you feel the same way about Israel, Finland and Switzerland too?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_ownership#European_Union
Weapon sales pathetic?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_industry#World.27s_largest_arms_exporters
US is there, strong at 4-7 billion a year. Most of those are aircraft, F-16, F-15, and support aircraft like C-17, AWACS.
French sales have more than doubled, from 1 to 2.6 billion a year. So have Germany's.
Take the big three European countries. UK, France and Germany in 2005, before the Euro took off and the dollar fell.
US - 7.026 billion
Germany - 1.017
France - 2.267
UK - 1.143
With the EU member states lacking AWACS and major cargo systems for export at the time, those numbers are not "pathetic".
In 2007, with the weak dollar, strong Euro and export sales of A400, the A-320 tanker and Eurofighter, the numbers change alot.
US - 7.454
Germany - 3.395
France - 2.690
UK - 1.151
and new to the billion dollar a year club
Holland - 1.355
In regards to links, you never put any in this sub-thread.
Iraq was much more of a French and Soviet client than American. The Republicans, if you remember backed Iran as much or more than they backed Iraq.
When the American and Saudi F-15s are shooting down Mirage and MiGs while American tanks are shooting AMX, T-54s, BMPs and T-62s, its really quite hard to point at them and say "American Client".
You comment about Turkey, but you remember that Turkey did not take part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Are you saying that the Labor Government of Blair, the Howard Government of Australia and the Polish Governments were implanted by the US?
European countries don't stage coups or invade other countries?
Suez Crisis. Allied Force in 1999. Iraq 1990. Iraq 2003. Afghanistan 2001. Algeria.
The very problems in West and Central Africa that have led to wars over minerals and child soldiers are because of European Imperialism in Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The US has had one African colony, if you can even call it a colony, Liberia.
American Imperialism in Central and South America has a fraction of the body count of European Imperialism in Africa.
So get off your high horse.
Europeans countries don't turn other countries upside down for a profit? Since when?
Nestle. Unilever. Airbus. OMV. Eni. Siemens. One can make a list of European companies as active at making profits abroad as long or longer than the US companies.
For every United Fruit the US has had, the Europeans have had a Belgian Congo or British Raj.
And European and Asian companies and countries don't suck up to China? Nice try at going after the US, but the fact is everyone is sucking up to China, even countries who are most threatened by China regionally and strategically, like Russia.
Why did you pick the year with the most firearms deaths in the US?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ushomicidesbyweapon.svg
DC v Heller spelled it all out really clearly in the majority opinion. The people have a right to keep arms and defend themselves.
FTW
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller#Supreme_Court
"that the operative clause of the Second Amendment—"the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed"—is controlling and refers to a pre-existing right of individuals to possess and carry personal weapons for self-defense and intrinsically for defense against tyranny, based on the bare meaning of the words, the usage of "the people" elsewhere in the Constitution, and historical materials on the clause's original public meaning;
that the prefatory clause, which announces a purpose of a "well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State", comports with, but does not detract from, the meaning of the operative clause and refers to a well-trained citizen militia, which "comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense", as being necessary to the security of a free polity;
that historical materials support this interpretation, including "analogous arms-bearing rights in state constitutions" at the time, the drafting history of the Second Amendment, and interpretation of the Second Amendment "by scholars, courts, and legislators" through the late nineteenth century;"
Scalia wrote a Dummies Guide to English and American Firearms History in the majority opinion. The opinion made it clear that military grade firearms are not protected by the Second Amendment, nor is body armor.
Thanks, I didn't know about that.
Good to know.
Pink Floyd songs are "unbundled" when they are played on the radio as singles.