Buying And Selling
In a comment on a post about why we need more oil production in the USA a commenter said:
PROTECTIONISM IS BAD BUT OUTSOURCING IS WORSE AND WE MUST PROTECT AGAINST SUCH.OUTSOURCING IS WORSE?
Because buy high and sell higher is a viable economic strategy?
The world economy is rationalizing. Yeah. It sucks. The wages of some are rising and that of others is falling. Think farm labor post 1929. Machines had ruined a whole way of life in what amounts to a blink of an eye.
We are hitting another of those walls. Back then it was gasoline engines, electricity, and radio (free music? the record business will never be the same).
Now it is computers, telecommunications (terabit pipes), and industrial controls. And free music. And we have added the fillip of free porn. The prices of things are changing. The value of things is changing. It will take a while to get things sorted. The worst thing we can do is to implement policies to avoid the pain now. Because when the pain has to be faced (it always does) it will be worse.
H/T Instapundit
And so I thought what better science kit for this week than 
should have even more examples. 
is a beginners guide to all kinds of codes, cyphers and signaling methods. It covers everything from flag codes to World War Two code breakers. It is not very detailed, but it does give an excellent overview. 
should be of interest to those who like American History. Did you know that Thomas Jefferson, our smartest President ever, invented a cipher system that used code wheels? Well you know it now.
by Yardley details American code breaking efforts in World War One. It caused quite a scandal when it came out because it gave away a lot of secrets that our government would have preferred to remain secret, including how breaking the codes of other nations gave Americans a serious advantage in post war diplomacy. You can read more about Yardley in the book 
by David Kahn. 
is as up to date as the headlines in your newspaper. 
Yes they did, frequently. Did you know that the breaking of a diplomatic code by the British helped get the USA into WW1? 
is a classic telling of the tale by Barbra Tuchman. And it is just one example of how spying shaped the history of the world.
covers how to do it for your budding spy. 
Has practical tips on how to apply spying in your daly life. Such as: 
which deals with the breaking of the Japanese codes and how that information was used to defeat Japan and had an influence on the decision to atomic bomb Japan. 
There are lots of books on the subject for those interested in the origins of the modern computer is: 
YouTube has a couple of videos on the subject: 
If you want to watch a DVD about spying may I suggest: 
narrated by Charlton Heston.
that sells for a very reasonable $10.75. Here is another science kit that includes an electric motor and other experiments, 
for $19.99.
That brings us to a very interesting point. The invention of the first electric car. 
and also at 
Now suppose you want to build your own electric vehicle? There is a how to book that will help: 
who was the first to use the electric motor commercially. He used it to power a printing press. Due to the high cost of batteries (tell me about it) his invention was a commercial failure. 
because I actually visited Edison's Menlo Park lab in the summer of 1954 when I was a kid of 10. It was a fascinating experience. The lab was untouched for a number of years and was quite dusty. If you live on the East Coast be sure to visit. 
with Spencer Tracy as Edison, Tesla was called 
for $16.47 which is a very nice price for a deep look into the subject. A number of reviewers suggest that this is not a good book for a beginner. A better book for beginners might be 
Audel's handbooks are oriented to practical use and installation of technology so this might be a good place to start for the technology beginner.
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