Fortress Update

Another day of fine progress on our safe-house! Davy (the mason) showed up bright and early, with two of his sons (Roberto and Alfredo). As usual for them, they worked hard, straight through the day – from about 8:00 am until about 4:30 pm, right through the hot part of the day (and it was darned hot today!

I learned today from Ruben (my contractor) that Davy has five sons – all of whom are budding masons – and one daughter. I've now met three of his sons, and my reaction could be summed up very simply: as far as I can tell, he's got every reason to be one proud papa. All three boys I've met are courteous, hard-working, and (especially considering their age) remarkably talented. It's a pleasure to watch them all work together; it reminds me of certain times in my childhood working with my father…

The work today, for the most part, was a straightforward continuation of the earlier masonry work I observed. Just a couple of new things to talk about.

Yesterday, as you know if you're following these events, we didn't have quite enough concrete on the truck to complete the grout lift. So this morning Alfredo and Roberto mixed several bags of concrete in a wheelbarrow, and lifted it up by hand about two gallons at a time in a bucket to finish the grout lift. It didn't take them long at all; just a half-hour or so.

Partway through today, Davy finished laying blocks on both sides of the doorway. The next row would go over the cutout for the doorway – so how do you lay blocks in mid-air?

He did it very simply, by building a temporary wooden support for the blocks (you can see it in the photo at right). Then he laid the next row of blocks right over the support. Over these “suspended” blocks, and for several block lengths on either side, several pieces of rebar (as called for in the plan) will be fit into notches. There are three more rows of block going over this one.

If you think about this from the perspective of a mechanical engineer, it's quite a complex system: horizontal rebar near the door cutout to handle the tension created from the weight on the blocks above the doorway (which will be considerable when the roof is poured!), vertical rebar to handle the much lower vertical tensions, and the block plus grout to handle the compressive loads. It would take me quite a while to figure out how to model this system, but with such a mix of materials I know it would be tough to calculate…

And now some photos from the day:

Quote of the Day

John Fund, commenting in today's WSJ Political Diary ($ email), about the decision by every announced Democratic 2008 Presidential candidate to attend (or, as Mr. Fund puts it, “to genuflect before”) the YearlyKos convention in Chicago this weekend:

There's a reason that the Democrats can still lose the 2008 elections even against a Republican Party that has lost much of both its elan and purpose. The party has gone over the ideological guardrails and may once again present a face to the American people that is too extreme. Watch the speeches of the Democratic candidates to the YearlyKos convention this weekend for clues as to just how far they feel compelled to have to bend towards the party's Loony Left.

Mr. Fund is highlighting what I think is the Democratic Party’s single biggest weakness: the lunacy factor. The “Kos Kids” are widely perceived as members of the tin foil hat brigade – they tend to be “truthers” (denying that al Qaida was responsible for 9/11), supporters (or even members of) “Code Pink” (or other similarly radical anti-war organizations, and so on. Ordinary Americans generally get rather queasy upon close examination of Kos and his ilk. I suspect they'll feel a little queasy about voting for candidates closely allied with the loony left as well.

I sure hope that's true, as otherwise I'm not confident of the Republicans fielding a candidate likely to win against Clinton, Edwards, or even Obama…

The Italian Prescription

Writing in today's WSJ ($), Daniele Cappezone (president of the productivity committee of the Italian Chamber of Deputies) writes about what socialized medicine has done in his country:

We live in an age of unprecedented medical innovation. Unfortunately, most of today's cutting-edge research is conducted outside Europe, which was once a pioneer in this field. About 78% of global biotechnology research funds are spent in the U.S., compared to just 16% in Europe. Americans therefore have better access to modern drugs. One result is that in the U.S., the annual death rate from cancer is 196 per 100,000 people, compared to 235 in Britain, 244 in France, 270 in Italy and 273 in Germany.

It is both a tragedy and an embarrassment that Europe hasn't kept up with the U.S. in saving and improving lives. What's to blame? The Continent's misguided policies and state-run health-care systems. The reasons vary from country to country, but broadly speaking, the custodians of public health budgets aren't devoting the necessary resources to get patients the most modern and advanced medicines, and are happier with the status quo. We often see news headlines about promising new cures and vaccines next to headlines about patients who can't get life-saving drugs as politicians impose ever stricter prescription controls on doctors.

The human toll can be measured in deaths and unnecessary suffering. It also costs us a lot of money. Prevention is cheaper than treatment. Modern medicine can prevent many medical complications that would otherwise require hospitalization and other expensive care. For every euro spent on new medicine, national health-care systems could save as much as €3.65 in later treatments, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study.

This situation is especially dire in Italy. The government has capped spending on pharmaceuticals at 13% of total health-care expenditures while letting expenses for infrastructure and staff skyrocket. From 2001 to 2005, general health expenses in Italy grew by 31% while expenditure on medicines increased a mere 1.7%. Italian patients might well have been better off if the reverse was the case, but the state bureaucrats who make these decisions refuse to acknowledge the benefits of advanced drugs.

This is what Hilary, Kennedy, Pelosi, Reid (and their buddy Michael Moore, of course) want for us.

Let's just say “no!”

Pamela Adams Sentenced

Pamela Adams used to be the president of the Friends of Jamul-Dulzura Schools, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing (with volunteers and funding) sports, cultural, and other after-school activities to the students in the area. She was convicted of stealing over $100,000 in donations from the organization she headed. Yesterday she was ordered to pay additional money back to the organization, and she was sentenced to one year in jail (from the San Diego Union-Tribune):

A former president of a nonprofit that raises money for an East County school district was sentenced to one year in jail yesterday for stealing more than $100,000 from the foundation.

Pamela Adams was sentenced to one year in jail for stealing more than $100,000 from the Friends of Jamul-Dulzura Schools nonprofit foundation.
“You violated a position of trust,” Superior Court Judge Patricia Cookson told a weeping Pamela Adams.

Adams, 48, was ordered to pay $55,639 in addition to the $93,000 she has already paid back to the Friends of Jamul-Dulzura Schools.

The bald details of her crime are bad enough – but what makes it even worse is that Ms. Adams is far from impoverished. She didn't even need the money she stole! I'm sure that one year in jail for someone of her age and life experience is going to be pure hell for her – entirely appropriate for the grief and misery she's caused others. I just hope she takes this lesson to heart, and never considers such behavior again after she is released. I hope others with similar inclinations will note the punishment and decide to take a righteous course. And I hope Ms. Adams moves to someplace far away when she is finally released. I recommend Detroit, Michigan, or Camden, New Jersey – or perhaps Washington, D.C.

Revised Casino, Revised

Updated and bumped:

Mike W. (one of my readers) spotted an interesting change on the Lakes Entertainment web site. Here's what it says now:

Casino Highlights

• 1,000 gaming devices, 20 table games and 5 poker tables
• Enclosed parking garage
• 20 minutes to downtown San Diego
• Proven gaming market
• Population - 11 million/100 mile radius

Project Status

• Signed development and financing agreement
• Currently planning to build on existing reservation

They dropped the completion date! I'm not entirely sure what this change means, but it sure is hard to see it as anything other than good news!

Original Post:

The Lakes Entertainment web site is now showing the revised casino plans:

Casino Highlights
- 1,000 gaming devices, 20 table games and 5 poker tables
- Enclosed parking garage
- 20 minutes to downtown San Diego
- Proven gaming market
- Population - 11 million/100 mile radius
Project Status
- Signed development and financing agreement
- Currently planning to build on existing reservation
- Opening estimated January 2009

Assuming those are Class 2 gaming devices (not requiring any agreement with the State), this is a plan for a tiny and far less profitable casino than the proposal we heard last fall. It appears to be either 3 or 4 stories high, versus the 27 or 30 or whatever was really being planned (I’ve heard so many variations that I’m not sure what the reality was).
While I’m sure that the tribe and Lakes Entertainment are completely correct to say there are fewer obstacles in the way of getting this plan implemented, I believe it’s also true that the (much) smaller profit incentive means it’s much less likely that Lakes Entertainment will be willing to fund a prolonged, difficult legal battle. In other words, I think this development means the casino project is now more vulnerable to challenge…

Indian Wisdom

Tip of the hat to my mom for this one:

An Indian walks into a cafe with a shotgun in one hand pulling a male buffalo with the other. He says to the waiter: “Want coffee. ”

The waiter says, “Sure, Chief. Coming right up.” He gets the Indian a tall mug of coffee.

The Indian drinks the coffee down in one gulp, turns and blasts the buffalo with the shotgun, causing parts of the animal to splatter everywhere and then just walks out.

The next morning the Indian returns. He has his shotgun in one hand, pulling another male buffalo with the other. He walks up to the counter and says to the waiter “Want coffee.”

The waiter says “Whoa, Tonto! We're still cleaning up your mess from yesterday. What was all that about, anyway?”

The Indian smiles and proudly says “Training for position in United States Congress: come in, drink coffee, shoot the bull, leave mess for others to clean up, disappear for rest of day.”

As Glenn would say, “Indeed.”