"We are here on Earth to help others. What the others are here for, I've NO idea."--W.H. Auden
Pilots committing suicide include the Japan Airlines Flight 350 on Feb. 9, 1982, Royal Air Maroc Flight 360 on Aug. 21, 1994, Egypt Air crash in 1999, the SilkAir crash in 1997, Air Botswana on Oct. 11, 1999, Mozambique Airlines TM470 on Nov. 29, 2013, and the 911 murders.
Pilots committing suicide include the Japan Airlines Flight 350 on Feb. 9, 1982, Royal Air Maroc Flight 360 on Aug. 21, 1994, Egypt Air crash in 1999, the SilkAir crash in 1997, Air Botswana on Oct. 11, 1999, Mozambique Airlines TM470 on Nov. 29, 2013, and the 911 murders.
The word "democracy" does appear in any of the American founding documents. Madison wrote in the Federalist Papers: "Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority." The Founders intended for us to have a limited republican form of government where human rights precede government and there is rule of law.
Alert to the dangers of majority rule, the Constitution's Framers created several anti-majority rules in the governmental structure. In order to amend the Constitution, it requires a two-thirds vote of both houses, or two-thirds of state legislatures to propose an amendment, and it requires three-fourths of state legislatures for ratification. Election of the president is not done by a majority popular vote, but by the Electoral College.
Part of the reason for having two houses of Congress is that it places an obstacle to majority rule. Fifty-one senators can block the wishes of 435 representatives and 49 senators. The Constitution gives the president a veto to thwart the power of 535 members of Congress. It takes two-thirds of both houses of Congress to override the president's veto.
People who do not understand the danger of the majority, who see "majority rule" as some inherent good, think these cautions are inefficiencies that must be overcome.
Who is ....Colin Sutherland and why is he so fearless?
For 20 years of its almost 248-year(!) orbit, Pluto is closer to the sun than Neptune because of its off-center and highly inclined orbit. For example, from 1979 to 1999, Pluto was the eighth "planet" and Neptune was the ninth. Now Pluto is back to being the ninth "planet" (though dwarf) for the next 228 years. It will be closer to the sun again on April 5, 2231.
Charlie Munger, the Vice-Chairman of Berkshire-Hathaway, is quoted by Bloomberg as telling a gathering in Los Angeles that we should all be prepared for adjusting to a world that is harder…and that we can count on the purchasing power of our money to go down over time. Save.
Charlie Munger, the Vice-Chairman of Berkshire-Hathaway, is quoted by Bloomberg as telling a gathering in Los Angeles that we should all be prepared for adjusting to a world that is harder…and that we can count on the purchasing power of our money to go down over time. Save.
The "Shigir Idol," with its straight nose and high cheekbones, was found preserved in the airless depths of a peat bog deep within the Ural Mountains. This tall larch-wood idol is the oldest piece of timber art known to exist. It is 9500 years old.
Saturnine: adjective 1. Sluggish. 2. Gloomy. 3. Cold. From Latin Saturninus (of Saturn). From the ancient belief in astrology that those born under the planet Saturn’s supposed influence had its characteristics. Since Saturn was the farthest known planet at the time, it was believed to be the slowest and coldest. The planet received its name after the Roman god of agriculture. Earliest documented use: 1433.
China, Qatar, Russia and Saudi Arabia are all members of the UN Human Rights Council.
Tamny: LeBron James could be an adequate NFL tight end, but why subtract time from being a superb basketball player? The lesson, says Tamny, is that individuals — and nations — should do what they do better than others, and let others do other things. So outsourcing is reasonable and productive. (Everyone outsources their own dentistry.)
Millions of jobs, he says, would be created if we banned computers, ATMs and tractors. The mechanization of agriculture destroyed millions of jobs performed with hoes and scythes. Is that unreasonable?
China, Qatar, Russia and Saudi Arabia are all members of the UN Human Rights Council.
Tamny: LeBron James could be an adequate NFL tight end, but why subtract time from being a superb basketball player? The lesson, says Tamny, is that individuals — and nations — should do what they do better than others, and let others do other things. So outsourcing is reasonable and productive. (Everyone outsources their own dentistry.)
Millions of jobs, he says, would be created if we banned computers, ATMs and tractors. The mechanization of agriculture destroyed millions of jobs performed with hoes and scythes. Is that unreasonable?
There’s an old saying: My problems are like leaves in a swimming pool. It means that it makes no sense to be angry or upset about the fact that you have leaves in your swimming pool, because… you have a swimming pool!
Thomas and Ann Farrow were found badly bludgeoned bodies in their home in March, 1905. Thomas was already dead; Ann died four days later without ever having regained consciousness. The brutal crime was solved using the newly developed fingerprinting technique. Only three years earlier, the first English court had admitted fingerprint evidence in a petty theft case. The Farrow case was the first time that the cutting-edge technology was used in a high-profile murder case. In this famous forensic case, The Stratton Brothers, Alfred and Albert, did it.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents stationed abroad attended "sex parties" that were allegedly funded with money from drug cartels, according to a Justice Department report.
People are always looking for economic indicators, general or individual. Annual stockholders meetings are a mixture of specific financial analysis and salesmanship but are informative and often contain these "indicators." ALung is a very old start-up--its been around for more than a decade--with over 70 million dollars invested in it. It is a company with an innovative technology, so innovative it actually must rewrite the norm. As such it has had very slow sledding but is expected to be a great success; a lot of big and knowledgeable money is on board. Last night the CEO was so overwrought with the company's problems that he almost fainted during his presentation. That would be a bad indicator.
The brothers who gave the world the term “Siamese twins” were born in 1811 in a village near Bangkok. The twins Eng and Chang were joined at the chest and left Thailand for the U.S when they were 17 years old. Each brother married, and between them they had 22 children. In 1873, Eng caught pneumonia and died. Chang died a few hours later.
Golden oldie:
Brady Aiken, whom the Astros selected with the first overall pick in last year's amateur draft, just underwent Tommy John surgery.
Minimum wage in 1963 was five silver quarters. About 17 dollars in today's value. And those 5 quarters would buy you goods that would cost $17 dollars today. It was actually possible for a minimum wage guy to raise a family back then, if he scrimped and saved.
One hour of minimum wage today will get you goods worth $0.27 in 1963.
Minimum wage in 1963 was five silver quarters. About 17 dollars in today's value. And those 5 quarters would buy you goods that would cost $17 dollars today. It was actually possible for a minimum wage guy to raise a family back then, if he scrimped and saved.
One hour of minimum wage today will get you goods worth $0.27 in 1963.
Bordeaux on the "purple finger" obsession of the American press that gets excited when oppressive states pretend to have democratic voting: The myth is that choice in political settings is somehow more real, more noble, more sacred, more meaningful, more civilized, and more genuinely expressive of people’s desires than is choice in markets. The reality is that, compared to choice in markets, choice in political markets is, if not a complete sham, mostly imaginary, largely irresponsible, highly unrevealing of people’s desires, and of virtually no real use to individuals.
Most Roman aqueducts were over 55 feet high. Their great height not only controlled the flow of water but also made it more difficult for someone to steal water and for enemies to put poison in it. The Roman Aqueduct of Segovia was built of stones with no mortar and is still used to carry water today.
Most Roman aqueducts were over 55 feet high. Their great height not only controlled the flow of water but also made it more difficult for someone to steal water and for enemies to put poison in it. The Roman Aqueduct of Segovia was built of stones with no mortar and is still used to carry water today.
Cherry blossom time: Cherry trees have great importance in Japan and their blooming is physically tracked across the country. Japan gave 3,020 cherry blossom trees as a gift to the United States in 1912 to celebrate the nations' then-growing friendship, replacing an earlier gift of 2000 trees which had to be destroyed due to disease in 1910. First Lady Helen Herron Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted two Yoshino cherry trees on the northern bank of the Potomac River Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. The event celebrated the Japanese government's gift of 3,000 trees to the United States. Trees were planted along the Potomac Tidal Basin near the site of the future Jefferson Memorial, in East Potomac Park, and on the White House grounds. Fifty-three years later, the Japanese government made a second gift of 3,800 cherry trees. In 1965, Mrs. Ryuji Takeuchi, wife of Ambassador Takeuchi, and First Lady Lady Bird Johnson participated in the ceremonial planting. This time, the trees were planted on the grounds of the Washington Monument.
Mrs. Taft's husband, William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 – March 8, 1930) was the 27th President of the United States (1909–1913) and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States (1921–1930). He is the only person to have served in both of these offices. Mrs. Taft had a stroke soon after his election and her speech was impaired. Her daughter came home form college to help in the White House entertaining.
Piers Morgan wrote that he feels that people who are depressed, medicated or not, should not be piloting planes. Then he claimed that this opinion was not "insensitive" or "stigmatizing." Is that disclaimer really necessary in this new world?
The so-called paradox of voting, highlighted in a 1957 book by the political scientist Anthony Downs, occurs because the probability that any individual voter can alter the outcome of an election is effectively zero. So if voting imposes any cost, in terms of time or hassle, a perfectly rational person would conclude it’s not worth doing. The problem is that if each person were to reach such a rational conclusion no one would vote, and the system would collapse. Conversely Asimov wrote a short story where the nation's voters were so accurately analyzed that the typical citizen/voter could be identified and the election could be determined by his single vote alone.
1948 was the year that the Israelis drove out some 700,000 Palestinians from the land, creating a nation of permanent refugees who would never be allowed to return to their homes. The Jews have an entire creed devoted not only to the sorrow of being expelled from that very land, but to the obligation not to forget it. "You would think a people who never got over what happened to them two millennia ago—and whose arguments for the land are often based on claims from two millennia ago—would be a little less cavalier about the memory of a people who haven’t gotten over what happened to them less than seven decades ago." (Corey Robin)
The so-called paradox of voting, highlighted in a 1957 book by the political scientist Anthony Downs, occurs because the probability that any individual voter can alter the outcome of an election is effectively zero. So if voting imposes any cost, in terms of time or hassle, a perfectly rational person would conclude it’s not worth doing. The problem is that if each person were to reach such a rational conclusion no one would vote, and the system would collapse. Conversely Asimov wrote a short story where the nation's voters were so accurately analyzed that the typical citizen/voter could be identified and the election could be determined by his single vote alone.
1948 was the year that the Israelis drove out some 700,000 Palestinians from the land, creating a nation of permanent refugees who would never be allowed to return to their homes. The Jews have an entire creed devoted not only to the sorrow of being expelled from that very land, but to the obligation not to forget it. "You would think a people who never got over what happened to them two millennia ago—and whose arguments for the land are often based on claims from two millennia ago—would be a little less cavalier about the memory of a people who haven’t gotten over what happened to them less than seven decades ago." (Corey Robin)
AAAAAaaaaannnnnnddddddd.........a picture of the Shigir Idol:
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