Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Cab Thoughts 7/31/13

I have naturally expressed my statements so that I am also right if the opposite thing happens.-- Marx

For every one yen the currency drops in value against the dollar, Toyota estimates that its profits will increase by $340 million. Those profits will come from sales. Other countries' sales.

A scene in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris used a variation on a passage from Requiem for a Nun. In the film, Owen Wilson's character says, "The past is not dead! Actually, it's not even past. You know who said that? Faulkner. And he was right. And I met him, too. I ran into him at a dinner party." The literal Faulkner quote is "The past is never dead. It's not even past." The Faulkner estate actually sued Allen over the use. They lost last week. The judge also added, "The court has viewed Woody Allen's movie, Midnight in Paris, read the book, Requiem for a Nun, and is thankful that the parties did not ask the court to compare The Sound and the Fury with Sharknado."
 

One wonders what circumstances would now disqualify Mr. Weiner from running for office. Is there some unknown, arcane meter of depravity that is tolerable up to some certain point when, suddenly, it tips to intolerable? Is this the downside of open mindedness?
 
30 to 50 percent of bladder cancer is caused by smoking. Development of the disease is related to length of exposure. But smoking cessation causes a 40% decline of the disease in 1 to 4 years and approaches baseline in 20 to 30 years.
There are fewer small businesses starting and more failing right now than at any time in the last 40 years.

This is from a good review of Machiavelli by John Gray in The New Statesman: "...modern law is an artefact of state power. Probably nothing is more important for the protection of freedom than the independence of the judiciary from the executive; but this independence (which can never be complete) is possible only when the state is strong and secure. Western governments blunder around the world gibbering about human rights; but there can be no rights without the rule of law and no rule of law in a fractured or failed state, which is the usual result of western sponsored regime change. In many cases geopolitical calculations may lie behind the decision to intervene; yet it is a fantasy about the nature of rights that is the public rationale, and there is every sign that our leaders take the fantasy for real. The grisly fiasco that has been staged in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya – a larger and more dangerous version of which seems to be unfolding in Syria – testifies to the hold on western leaders of the delusion that law can supplant politics." An artefact of state power!

Jane Austen will be the new face of the 10-pound banknote, replacing Charles Darwin, the Bank of England announced Wednesday. That follows an uproar after the bank said it would replace Elizabeth Fry — the only woman to appear on a banknote other than the queen — with Winston Churchill on the 5-pound note.

The other side of pseudonyms: James Lasdun, a writer and teacher, as a young man working at a publishing house turned down a manuscript written by "Jane Somers" — who was actually the Nobel laureate Doris Lessing writing under a pseudonym.

Recent ratings sweep show tremendous strength at the Spanish language Univision. The age breakdown showed Univision as the youngest with a median age of 37 years old, ABC's average viewer is 55, CBS 58, NBC 54, and FOX 47.

William Caxton was the first printer in England. In his early life, he was a very successful overseas merchant. In 1474, he published "History of Troy" and "The Game of Chess", both printed in Cologne and sold in England. In 1476, he moved his press to Westminster and began printing in England, starting with "The Canterbury Tales." Over 100 extant editions are attributed to him.

Evaluation of risk in gas drilling/fracking has moved from investigation to disinformation. In one particular circumstance, which was prominently featured in Gasland II, a court found activists, who were working with the EPA, had hooked up a garden hose to a gas vent and not a water line and lit it on fire in an effort to give the agency a reason to act.

Robert Morris, the Philadelphia merchant who financed major portions of the Revolutionary War, and Henry "Light-Horse" Lee, the Revolutionary War general and father of Robert E. Lee, were both in debtors prison in their lives.

The kinetic energy of an object is directly proportional to the square of its speed. KE=1/2M x V squared. M=mass, V=velocity. So a car hitting a wall at one speed will have a certain impact, at twice the speed it will have 4x the impact, at 3x the speed 9x the impact. Speed--and kinetic energy-- kills.

According to the highly regarded Hyman Minsky’s financial-instability hypothesis, stability breeds instability. The balance between stability and instability is delicate and instability occurs suddenly, like an avalanche or the proverbial back-breaking straw.

Median real household income is $2,718, or 5%, lower than the $54,218 median in June 2009 when the recession officially ended. Median incomes typically fall during recessions. But the striking fact of the Obama economy is that median real household income has fallen even during the recovery.

Golden Oldies:

France spends roughly 12.5 percent of its gross domestic product on pensions, more than most almost any other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development member. (Germany spends about 11.4 percent of its GDP on pensions, and Japan spends roughly 8.7 percent.) Just 39.7% of those aged 55 to 64 are working, compared with 56.7% in the UK and 57.7% in Germany.

According to State Impact PA, the gas industry is currently repairing 400 miles of roads in three counties in Pennsylvania. So far the gas industry has spent $500 Million to repair roads in the state, for either damage or the prevention of damage related to their drilling.

Who are...the Lords Temporal and Spiritual? (Hint: the Lannisters are not involved.)

A recent book analyzes China's ability to innovate. It sounds much like the heuristic/algorithmic debate: China may accumulate the funding, build the laboratories and staff them, but it might not possess a 'non-hierarchical scientific culture, fertile institutional framework and critical thinking' -- the necessary soft skills... If critical thinking and social stability are seen as opposites in a zero-sum game, China will be the loser.

spoonerism: (SPOO-nuh-riz-em) noun: The transposition of (usually) the initial sounds of words producing a humorous result, after W. A. Spooner (1844–1930), English clergyman noted for such slips. For example: "It is now kisstomary to cuss the bride." (Spooner while officiating at a wedding); "Is the bean dizzy?" (Spooner questioning the secretary of his dean)

Anders Burius, a librarian at the National Library of Sweden, stole more than 50 rare and valuable books and sold them to collectors. Two of these books, worth a combined $255,000 according to the library's lawyers, were returned Wednesday at a ceremony in New York. After the thefts were discovered, Burius confessed to the crime in 2004 and committed suicide soon after. Baltimore bookstore owner Stephan Loewentheil had bought and then sold the two volumes, but he bought them back at his own expense after finding out that they were stolen.

Sunday, July 7, solar produced 20% of Germany's electricity consumption.

IPAs: When the British were colonizing India, the beers they sent down to their troops kept spoiling during the long sea voyage. With an extra healthy dose of hops and alcohol (40-65 IBU and 5% -7.5% ABV respectively), both having great preservative value, their problems were solved, and the world had another distinctive beer style.
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AAaaaaannnnnnndddddddd......a picture of Earth (center and bright) and its moon (between 6 &7 o'clock near Earth) from Saturn
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download  the highest resolution version available.

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