Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody's face but their own, which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it. -Jonathan Swift, satirist (1667-1745)
A nurse who was duped by a radio prank caller pretending to be the Queen and looking for information about Kate Middleton's condition has been found dead in what appears to be a suicide. The call and information was puerile and banal but hints at a real tension in the world: nonproductive vs. productive people, trivial jobs vs. significant jobs, silly people vs. people who take themselves very seriously.
Interesting surprise: According to Pew Research, 54% of white voters under 30 voted for Romney and only 41% for Obama. Nearly 20% of black males under 30 voted for Romney, more than three times what McCain got. And Romney got a greater percentage of the white vote than did Reagan.
New York Magizine reports that FOX News has banned Both Morris and Rove from commenting since the election. The reason is that the FOX bosses were angry at the two's defiant and sometimes confrontational insistance that Romney would win. It may be a bit more complicated. I know several people who rely on FOX News who have refused to watch it since the election. FOX may be seeing a loyalty decline and trying to reverse it.
The 3-D printer has offered a new problem in the world: the 3-D plastic (or, I suppose, even bread) gun. Anyone with a 3-D printer can make one.
A15 is 15% alcohol gasoline, the dream-child of the corn lobby and is beginning to make inroads. But no one has a clue about the impact of that concentration of ethanol on the internal combustion engine. According to the AAA, BMW, Chrysler, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen have said that their warranties will not cover fuel-related claims caused by the use of E15. Perhaps it should be AA, not AAA, doing the objecting. Might make a great bumper sticker.
In 2012, Obama won with 2 million votes more than McCain got in 2008 and over 9 million less than his own 2008 numbers. Romney got less than McCain did. You probably want to read that again.
There is a new book out called "The Four Percent Universe" about what we, as observers, can see in space. Most is called "dark" as in unknown for now, and possibly forever. This should not be confused with emptiness. This is real and measurable but undefined. Of the universe, there is a mysterious 23 percent that astronomers call "dark matter", another even more mysterious 73 percent they call "dark energy". Which leaves only 4 percent, the things we can see like stars, solar systems and galaxies. That is the stuff of us. And we used to feel insignificant before.
Earth’s temperature has only been directly measured at enough locations to give a reasonably accurate global average for about the last 150 years, with the greatest accuracy (from satellites) only going back about 30 years. The “reliable” CO2 background level has only been directly continuously measured at one location (Mauna Loa) for about 50 years, and at a much larger number of locations for about 30 years.
Blimps! Discovery Air and Hybrid Air Vehicles is developing a blimp to deliver material to mining sites. What about fire? Didn't we learn this already? The dramatic fire of the Hindenburg was the painted fabric burning, not hydrogen. Hydrogen flames are invisible. A blend of 50% hydrogen in the helium could get more lift for a lower price, and still be safe. Hydrogen can't burn in the presence of Helium.
Is there an optimal CO2 level for the earth? For mankind? Could they be different? If they are different, should one be sacrificed? If so, which one?
I can not get over this quote from Harry Reid. "Now remember, we've already done more than a billion dollars' worth of cuts, so we need to get some credit for that." (Harry Reid speaking about expenditures.) We have a budget with a 1.6 trillion dollars deficit, a debt of 16 trillion dollars and he thinks cutting 1 billion dollars of expenditures is an achievement. It is frighteningly.......what? Stupid? Naive? Does he not know the magnitude of difference between billion and trillion? Or are these people in such a cocoon that everything is of little importance. Certainly an awake media would have jumped on this. Is anyone paying attention?
An individual without a high school degree or GED is more than 4X as likely to be an active lottery player as an individual educated above the high school level. Of individuals with the same level of education, black males are 10X as likely to be regular lottery players than white females.
The efficient markets argument: Like the joke about the economist refusing to pick up a $20 bill he sees on the ground because if it were a real $20 bill someone would have picked it up by now.
The Voyager 1 probe, launched 35 years ago to study the outer planets, is now about 11 billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth. At that distance, it takes radio signals traveling at the speed of light 17 hours to reach Earth. It is leaving the confines of our solar system.
John Hanger, the former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is running for governor.
The Onion recently reported that the premier of North Korea had been voted the sexiest man in the world and a China newspaper, People's Daily, fell for it and printed it as legit. This week the North Koreans announced they had found a "unicorn lair" near a famous archeological site and this is being translated as a joke, sort of in retaliation for the Onion's. This, of course, implies that totalitarian regimes can have a sense of humor. And it also denies the indisputable history of political entities manipulating science and its relatives for political gain.
An upsetting site:
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
You can still apply for a FDIC loan after evidence of serious financial problems. 40% are subprime and you need only 3% down 3 years after a default.
Question of the day: Who was Kennewick Man? And why does he look like Patrick Stewart?
Texas encourages state investments with subsidies and tax breaks that amount to 19 billion dollars. Texas alone accounts for 25% of the $80 billion total of state and local subsidies paid each year around the country in battles for jobs.
AAAAAAnnnnddddd a graph:
A nurse who was duped by a radio prank caller pretending to be the Queen and looking for information about Kate Middleton's condition has been found dead in what appears to be a suicide. The call and information was puerile and banal but hints at a real tension in the world: nonproductive vs. productive people, trivial jobs vs. significant jobs, silly people vs. people who take themselves very seriously.
Interesting surprise: According to Pew Research, 54% of white voters under 30 voted for Romney and only 41% for Obama. Nearly 20% of black males under 30 voted for Romney, more than three times what McCain got. And Romney got a greater percentage of the white vote than did Reagan.
New York Magizine reports that FOX News has banned Both Morris and Rove from commenting since the election. The reason is that the FOX bosses were angry at the two's defiant and sometimes confrontational insistance that Romney would win. It may be a bit more complicated. I know several people who rely on FOX News who have refused to watch it since the election. FOX may be seeing a loyalty decline and trying to reverse it.
The 3-D printer has offered a new problem in the world: the 3-D plastic (or, I suppose, even bread) gun. Anyone with a 3-D printer can make one.
A15 is 15% alcohol gasoline, the dream-child of the corn lobby and is beginning to make inroads. But no one has a clue about the impact of that concentration of ethanol on the internal combustion engine. According to the AAA, BMW, Chrysler, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen have said that their warranties will not cover fuel-related claims caused by the use of E15. Perhaps it should be AA, not AAA, doing the objecting. Might make a great bumper sticker.
In 2012, Obama won with 2 million votes more than McCain got in 2008 and over 9 million less than his own 2008 numbers. Romney got less than McCain did. You probably want to read that again.
There is a new book out called "The Four Percent Universe" about what we, as observers, can see in space. Most is called "dark" as in unknown for now, and possibly forever. This should not be confused with emptiness. This is real and measurable but undefined. Of the universe, there is a mysterious 23 percent that astronomers call "dark matter", another even more mysterious 73 percent they call "dark energy". Which leaves only 4 percent, the things we can see like stars, solar systems and galaxies. That is the stuff of us. And we used to feel insignificant before.
Earth’s temperature has only been directly measured at enough locations to give a reasonably accurate global average for about the last 150 years, with the greatest accuracy (from satellites) only going back about 30 years. The “reliable” CO2 background level has only been directly continuously measured at one location (Mauna Loa) for about 50 years, and at a much larger number of locations for about 30 years.
Blimps! Discovery Air and Hybrid Air Vehicles is developing a blimp to deliver material to mining sites. What about fire? Didn't we learn this already? The dramatic fire of the Hindenburg was the painted fabric burning, not hydrogen. Hydrogen flames are invisible. A blend of 50% hydrogen in the helium could get more lift for a lower price, and still be safe. Hydrogen can't burn in the presence of Helium.
Is there an optimal CO2 level for the earth? For mankind? Could they be different? If they are different, should one be sacrificed? If so, which one?
I can not get over this quote from Harry Reid. "Now remember, we've already done more than a billion dollars' worth of cuts, so we need to get some credit for that." (Harry Reid speaking about expenditures.) We have a budget with a 1.6 trillion dollars deficit, a debt of 16 trillion dollars and he thinks cutting 1 billion dollars of expenditures is an achievement. It is frighteningly.......what? Stupid? Naive? Does he not know the magnitude of difference between billion and trillion? Or are these people in such a cocoon that everything is of little importance. Certainly an awake media would have jumped on this. Is anyone paying attention?
The efficient markets argument: Like the joke about the economist refusing to pick up a $20 bill he sees on the ground because if it were a real $20 bill someone would have picked it up by now.
The Voyager 1 probe, launched 35 years ago to study the outer planets, is now about 11 billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth. At that distance, it takes radio signals traveling at the speed of light 17 hours to reach Earth. It is leaving the confines of our solar system.
John Hanger, the former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is running for governor.
The Onion recently reported that the premier of North Korea had been voted the sexiest man in the world and a China newspaper, People's Daily, fell for it and printed it as legit. This week the North Koreans announced they had found a "unicorn lair" near a famous archeological site and this is being translated as a joke, sort of in retaliation for the Onion's. This, of course, implies that totalitarian regimes can have a sense of humor. And it also denies the indisputable history of political entities manipulating science and its relatives for political gain.
An upsetting site:
You can still apply for a FDIC loan after evidence of serious financial problems. 40% are subprime and you need only 3% down 3 years after a default.
Question of the day: Who was Kennewick Man? And why does he look like Patrick Stewart?
Texas encourages state investments with subsidies and tax breaks that amount to 19 billion dollars. Texas alone accounts for 25% of the $80 billion total of state and local subsidies paid each year around the country in battles for jobs.
AAAAAAnnnnddddd a graph:
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