Old Weird Ward
Unless otherwise noted, that which is posted here is opinion, which is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. If you don't like my opinions, go somewhere else. Nobody is forcing you to actually read this drivel.
The presumption exists that you can read at all.
That may be a large assumption.
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Friday, June 11, 2004
- - - - - Reagan, the Cold War, and Saudi Arabia - - - - -
I got this from Jason at Iraq Now.
I can't verify the meetings, but I do remember, vaguely, the chain of events. If true, this was a most astute move by Reagan and Casey.
An even lesser known facet of Reagan's Cold War strategy was implemented early in his first term...'82, I think. Put simply, Reagan set out to substantially reduce the Soviets' income. And the best way to do that, Bill Casey suggested to Reagan, was to depress the price of oil. So Reagan turned to the Saudis.
In a meeting with the Saudi king, Reagan agreed to sell AWACs to the Saudis. He also agreed that the U.S. would defend Saudi borders against invasion. In exchange, the Saudis agreed to defy OPEC limits and vastly increase their oil production. Reagan then browbeat Congress into authorizing the AWACs deal (much to Israel's chagrin). It wasn't long after that that the Saudis started pumping more oil. (At the time, few people noticed the Saudis oil production increase came on the heels of the AWACs sale.) Of course, the glut of oil resulted in a plummeting price.
Since petroleum exports were their chief source of hard currency, the Soviets were faced with a massive loss of income. That was the first punch. The second punch was Reagan's defense build-up. In short, Reagan forced the Soviets to spend money they didn't have. And it destroyed what was left of their economy.
An interesting footnote: Desert Storm was, in large part, a fulfillment of Reagan's promise to defend Saudi borders against invasion. So when critics whine that Desert Storm was just about oil, they are right for the wrong reasons.
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- - - - - Doings at The Swamp - - - - -
Today was One Of Them.
Cut the lawn (3/4 acre) on the ride-on mower. Whack the weeds with the gas-powered weed-whacker. Spread the fertilizer/weed killer combo. Water. Do all this starting at 8:30AM, finish up by 11AM. Start temp = 79F. End Temp = 83F. Humidity = 90%+. Peel off sopping-with-sweat clothing. Shower. Die.
For the last ten years, we've either lived in apartments, or in a townhouse complex that has all the yard care stuff contracted out.
I'm really not used to this yard care stuff.
- - - - - Fast Tennis Serve - - - - -
Andy Roddick has the fastest serve in tennis.
And why do I care? I don't even like tennis. I don't watch tennis. I could care less.
But, assuming no loss of speed due to air friction, by the time the ball gets to the opponent, it is travelling at 224 feet per second. If you assume a 10mph loss due to air friction, and another 10mph loss due to the bounce on the court before the ball gets to the opponent, that is still 195 feet per second. At 195 FPS, your opponent has just about 1/2 second to figure trajectory, bounce, location, AND swing his racquet to hit the ball.
HERE
Oh, the top speed that Roddick served at? 153 miles per hour.
Jeeezus!
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