Your leaking thatched hut during the restoration of a pre-Enlightenment state.

 

Hello, my name is Judas Gutenberg and this is my blaag (pronounced as you would the vomit noise "hyroop-bleuach").



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   hissing sound of defeat
Monday, November 5 2007
Today I busied myself with completing the insulating of the the new solar deck plumbing. I also did what I could to purge air bubbles from the pipes. Air bubbles are always a problem after I make alterations to hydronic plumbing, since I have to drain the pipes of fluid before they can be soldered. The solar hydronic system, with its several unpurgeable high spots, is particularly troubled by air bubbles. Eventually the air bubbles purge on their own, but this can take a week, so I always try to hurry the process along. Doing so was particularly important today, because the sun was out strong and the bubbles were slowing circulation, allowing fluid to heat uncontrollably, up to as high as boiling.
As I scampered back and forth between various places, I made a disheartening discovery: one of the solders had failed in my home made panel and now a pin hole leak was allowing a tiny amount of water to escape from the pipe. It was leaking so slowly that I couldn't actually see it spraying out. All I saw was a droplet of fluid and the tell-tale chalky green of evaporated antifreeze. I knew I couldn't let such a leak persist, but there was nothing I could do about it until the sun sank lower and the clouds came out.
In the meantime I did what I could to encourage hydronic circulation. The hydronic fluid's temperature rose as high as 220 degrees Fahrenheit, which is higher than boiling. But because it contained antifreeze and because it was in a pressurized system, it never boiled over and none of the pressure relief valves stepped in to save the day.
In the late afternoon the sun had weakened and I was able to peel back the plastic front of my homemade panel, clean the failed solder joint, drain the fluid down to a few inches beneath it, and then resolder it. Since I didn't want to contaminate the hydronic system with fresh water, I pressure-tested the fix with air instead of water, using a tool I'd made earlier this afternoon that was essentially just a Schrader valve attached to a hose cap. I could cap a hose cock in the affected part of the system, pump in air with a tire inflator, and then listen for the hissing sound of defeat. Happily, no such sound was heard.


Traditionally everyone from progressives to neoconservatives have sung the praises of democracy as a force for good. If only the people have a voice, so the theory goes, they will choose freedom, capitalist markets, humane policies, and open, transparent government. History, of course, teaches us differently. Hitler rose to power in a democratic system, and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas had little trouble winning an election against factions having more moderate inclinations.
It's also clear that democracies can act like vile dictatorships on occasion, particularly when they're stressed. Here in the United States, where the democratic outcome of an election was thwarted by judicial activism, the resulting regime was then able to ride a fortuitous terrorist attack to an election victory having greater democratic legitimacy even as it adopted secrecy, torture, and widespread surveillance as essential tools of state.
Meanwhile our "democracy" hasn't proved particularly responsive to widespread dissatisfaction with the ruling regime. Though enjoying the support of only a third of Americans, a weak-but-entrenched opposition means we're stuck with the current leadership for another fourteen months.
All of this is my way of highlighting an insight about all regimes. They are all essentially democratic in that they must serve the people or risk being overthrown. In the United States we have codified mechanisms to bring this about: elections and impeachment. But should those fail the people can still take advantage of a mechanism available to the citizens of all countries: revolution or (short of this) running riot. (Riots probably played a role in getting both Great Society programs and the various Civil Rights Acts passed.) If there had been widespread disgust with Hitler, the German people could have done something about him no matter how few liberties they enjoyed. The same goes for the people of Rome, the Mongol Empire, or of present-day Saudi Arabia.


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http://asecular.com/blog.php?071105

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