All posts by Hutchins AAron

Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport. My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front). Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42. Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
Business/Economics, International

Bike sales Triple

“I was in Tokyo when the earthquake hit, and everything stopped. Trains stopped, buses were in chaos and cars were jammed. Within that, you could just see bicycles swimming through. Some of our stores stayed open until 4 a.m. to meet the surge in demand.”-Susumu Shimoda, Asahi Co. President

Bicycle sales in Tokyo tripled thanks to the March 11 disasters.  People needed a way to get home after all normal modes of transport got shut down.

For the retailer Asahi, sales surged 200%.  It’s not just the disasters that are pedaling bike sales upward: “In addition to the disorder in the public transportation system, rising gasoline prices are also boosting the demand for bicycles.”-Akinori Sato, Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Company

Bike parts maker Shimano also reported increase in sales, as well as Taiwan bike maker Giant Manufacturing Company.


International, Opinion

Coalition/NATO openly violates UNSCR 1973, sending troops to help Libyan Rebels

The United Kingdom (Britain), a member of NATO, and a United Nations coalition member supposedly enforcing UNSCR 1973,  announced they are sending 20 commandos to train Libyan rebels.

UNSCR 1973 states that efforts should be made only to protect civilians.

Recently NATO members (including the United States) announced that their main objective is to get rid of Moammar Gadhafi (Gaddafi), which is also a violation of UNSCR 1973.

The United Kingdom has admitted to sending 1,000 suits of body armor, and satellite phones, to the rebels.  NATO members are also considering sending the rebels electronic counter measure equipment.

The total disregard for UNSCR 1973, by coalition forces, and the lack of condemnation by the United Nations, is proof that any resolution passed by the UN is worthless.

Fukushima, Idaho

Idaho Robots run into trouble in Nuke Plant

Tokyo Electric Power Company says high radiation levels, and high humidity, is slowing up robots being used to inspected the reactor buildings at Fukushima Daiichi.

In Reactor 2 building the humidity was so high it fogged the robot’s camera lens.

In Reactor 3, there is too much debris from the hydrogen gas explosion.  They will use another robot that can clear the debris, some of which weighs 100kg (220 pounds).

 

Idaho, Technology

New tactic to save Idaho Lucky Friday Miner

Officials have decided it’s too dangerous to dig through the caved in roof of the Lucky Friday mine, near Mullan, Idaho.

They will now try digging two new shafts to get to Larry Marek.  He and his brother were working in the mine on Friday, when the roof caved in.

Digging the new shafts could take seven days.  Temperatures inside the mine, at the depth Marek was working, can hit 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius).

 

Business/Economics, International

For the first time since 1959 Cubans can buy & sell homes, get access to Credit

Cuban President Raul Castro announced that Cubans can now sell, and buy homes.  Up ’till now Cubans could only pass on their homes to children, or arrange complicated trades.

Raul Castro warned that Cubans will not be allowed to collected large amounts of property, under the new rules.

Fidel Castro approved of the communist party decision.  The Cuban communist party also agreed to let the general population have access to credit.  Since October 2010 more than 200,000 Cubans have started businesses.

The Cuban communist party also made the revolutionary statement that they will not be involved with the administration of the state government.

U.S.

Fire and Ice in Texas

Fire fighters in one part of Texas are reporting a strange phenomenon in their battle to control wildfires: ‘Ice capping’.

70 miles west of Fort Worth, embers from the fires have gone so high into the atmosphere that they’ve frozen and fallen back to the ground.  It’s an indicator of how hot the fires are, for embers to go that high.

The fires continue, out of control, homes burning.  One family, in the city of Austin, returned from a weekend trip to find their home, and their pet gone.  What makes it worse is they say their home was the only one on their street that burned: “All the other houses got saved except ours … we’re just kind of speechless right now.”-Kris Griffin

Idaho, Technology, U.S.

Still no Luck at the Lucky Friday Mine in Idaho

Rescuers are bringing in more equipment to dig out Larry Marek.  A section of roof caved in on him and his brother last Friday, his brother got out.

The latest info is that a large diamond drill will be used to drill a hole through the debris, to try and determine if Marek is alive.  It could take two days to drill through the 185 feet (56.3 meters) of dirt.

Rescue efforts are slow because the size of the collapse was underestimated.  Rescuers are also waiting for parts, so they can use a bigger drone digger.

The company that owns the Lucky Friday mine, Hecla, has a good safety record going back to 2000.  But there have been accidents at other Idaho mines.  Last June a miner was killed when a slab of rock fell on him, while he was working at the Galena Mine.