Cab Thoughts 6/2/12

The Japanese are going to restart their nuclear program. Fukushima released 17% of the radiation during the Chernobyl disaster that caused substantial illness and increased cancer mortality. That they are restarting implies some significant problems with alternative cost and supply.


One of the characteristics of a culture is the holding of some concepts in common. Some things must be believed by all. If that is true, what is the responsibility of education? How can schools have huge education projects and yet hold no programs in common?

The South Park episode on Mormonism is very funny.

"Europe has been their alibi, their way to redemption since the war." This is Ferguson arguing that it is in Germany's political and financial interest to keep Greece in the E.U. and that they will do anything to accommodate them. Not many believe him.

I'm glad to see the Game of Thrones film pulled the punch on the Imp's injury in the battle. The book's injury is pretty gruesome.
With all the subsidiary products popping up it is looking more and more like Star Trek. Expect withdrawal symptoms throughout the land when the last episode airs this week.

More than 17 percent of Singapore’s households are millionaires.

Ex-President Bush was very funny at the White House installation of his presidential portrait. It was such a relief to have something lighthearted come out of government. The government is in trouble when George Bush is the highlight.

Since 2009, the Obama administration has awarded more than $1 billion to American companies to make advanced batteries for electric vehicles. Halfway to a six-year goal of producing one million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, auto makers are barely at 50,000 cars. (WSJ)

Spain is cutting back on its subsidies of alternative energy. Spain's "investment" in solar photovoltaic alone is headed to skid to as little as $107 million in 2013 from $879 million this year and $1.5 billion last year. For new wind projects, investment should plunge to $963 million in 2013 and $244 million in 2014 from $2 billion this year. A sure-fire way to make something disappear is to make it more expensive than it is worth.

Truman is thought of as a pretty honest guy but, as his biography documents, it is difficult to be clean in a filthy environment. In the thirties, the Prendergast Democrat machine ran Kansas City and the city's votes ruled the state. In his biography of Truman, Robert Ferrell has reported that a single house at 912 Tracy Street managed to produce 141 voters, and a vacant lot at 700 Main Street yielded 112 voters. The Second District, with a population of 18,478, brought in 19,202 votes for Pender­gast's ticket, to 12  for the opposition. The total Kansas City vote  had 200,000 more voters than its actual population. When Truman ran for the Senate, the Second District gave him 15,145 votes, to 24 for his oppo­nent and that district, when combined with the votes of the other two Kansas City districts, accounted for the entire margin by which Tru­man carried the state. 

It makes one wonder what people opposed to voting id are thinking. There was a You Tube a while ago of a local community board interviewing a software guy on how easy it is to hack voting machines. Yet we continue allow the foxes to guard the hen house.
 
Binding of women's feet in China is ancient, over 1000 years old. The bird-like walk it creates is believed to be erotic. It starts at age two when a piece of white cloth about twenty feet long is wrapped around the child's feet, bending all the toes except the big toe inward and under the sole. Then a large stone is placed on top to crush the arch. Screaming and fainting is common. Failure is usually blamed on the mother's lack of strength and fortitude. The process takes several years. The whole procedure was abandoned in the second decade of the 20th century.