Views (cont'd): Nuclear; military

Controversial though it is, I am in favor of Trident, the UK's submarine-based nuclear deterrent. Perhaps I am colored by my years of working for the US Department of Defense because I am in favor of military spending in general, though perhaps of a more Iranian-style self-sufficient form. I do not trust alliances to last and I expect climate change and other coming stresses to ( make it a bad idea to reduce military capability. )

I consider disarmament a fantasy: ( nobody will be giving up their nuclear weapons. )

This is one reason why I favor space exploration: it may be imprudent for our species to rely on advanced civilization being sustainable on Earth.

Trident is expensive and in general I am in favor of self-sufficiency not only for strategic reasons but to help retain money and expertise within the national economy. As with the American focus on dual-use technologies, ( perhaps benefits to related industries can make self-sufficiency affordable. )

Further, I fear that austerity in UK military spending may unconscionably underresource the armed forces given that so much is and may need to be asked of them.

I have little idea how well these supposed indirect benefits would appreciably assist the domestic economy. I would hope that they go quite some way because I am ( largely against selling weapons systems to other countries. )

In terms of dual-use technologies, while renewable energy is to be encouraged, certainly more than the present Conservative government has, my guess is that the UK needs nuclear power for decades yet. That is another reason to develop domestic capability in nuclear engineering. I thus object to the Hinkley Point C project in which foreign businesses play key roles in the domestic construction of a nuclear power plant of a rather old design.

Feeling warm or cold

Fall does seem to be coming: lately the mornings have been quite cool. The days have been pleasantly sunny though with occasional rainshowers. I was talking with an American who lives locally and recently got back from Greece: they mentioned how nice it had been to experience hot weather. I was reminded of how much I had enjoyed arriving in Michigan a month ago and experiencing that warmth.

At work the air conditioning keeps me feeling cold enough that I positively enjoy taking my time to wash my hands in the restroom because I savor the feeling of real warmth on my skin from the water from the automatic faucet. I have noticed that I feel colder since losing over a quarter of my weight: I mentioned it to somebody else who had lost plenty of weight and they told me that the same happened to them but they adjusted eventually.