SEPTEMBER 2015
ABBOTT
Last month I wrote about Media and Technology
"And the most effective
fighter is media,
where the strategy seems to be "Keep the pollies off balance".
Because politicians who are popular are not so desperate for favourable
press
reviews. They
can
legislate
without
fear
for the good of the
people. Think
Menzies
and
Howard.
It
took a sustained media attack combined
with a union SuperPac spend of more million$ than the combined spend of
both party machines to unseat Howard's brilliant "Work Choices"
legislation.
OTOH
a
pollie
who needs media bytes is easily manipulated
to enact favourable (say) copyright or patent legislation.
(Shades of the TPP!)
Tony Abbott was a leader of men. He inspired trust with
trust. He appeared to be a straight shooter.
Recent polls around the world (e.g. UK) do not seem to accurately
reflect public opinion. And Malcolm used polls as a reason to topple
Abbott. What do we not know? Is polling corrupt?
Abbott was exactly the sort of person that the financial & Media
elites would not want in power. He would not be responsive to the
pressures in which those people trade.
So Malcolm. There is your warning. The elitist forces have
put you in power. They will now work to weaken you. Already
attacking your plebiscite on Gay Marriage. (Takes too long?
Gimme a break!). Refugees are not a problem any more.
VOLKSWAGEN
DEBACLE
Volkswagen has been outed for a neat bit of software which got it's
Diesel engines a low NOX
(Nitrogen-Oxygen gases) rating
with
the US EPA. (I was somewhat surprised to learn that the average
modern car has more lines of software code than the average commercial
jet.)
Any mechanical Engineer worth his pay knows that Diesel engines have a
much higher compression ratio than petrol engines (~18:1 -v-
~9:1). They would further know that as a result the Carnot
Efficiency would be quite a bit higher. (Overall efficiency is
typically ~40% -v- ~30%) and that the maximum operating temperature of
a diesel is much higher.
The higher temperatures of the diesel engine would inevitably produce a
greater average output of NOX.
Given these well known facts, it would be surprising if petrol engine
car manufacturers would not have been aware for some time that the
greater efficiency of Diesel cars probably came at the cost of
heightened NOX pollution.
So it would not surprise me if the US EPA had been given a few
surreptitious pointers about Volkswagen NOX pollution by one of the
(Your guess is as good as mine) petrol engine car manufacturers.
All's fair in Love & Business!
barvennon@hotmail.com