Earliest Audio Recordings Ever Found...

These recordings were made 20 years before Thomas Alva Edison made his famous recordings. Unlike Edison's, these recordings were never intended to be played back – the original goal was simply to make a “picture” of sounds. They were made by a French inventor, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. The picture at right shows the apparatus he used.

The actual recordings can be heard here.

Hope 'n Change?

Ted Rall is an editorial cartoonist, sometime columnist, and author of the raving liberal lunatic persuasion. He's not someone I'd normally find myself agreeing with. He is someone I'd expect to be a rabid Obama supporter.

So imagine my surprise when I read one of his columns this morning, to find that contained the following (but not out of context!) quotes:

We expected broken promises. But the gap between the soaring expectations that accompanied Barack Obama’s inauguration and his wretched performance is the broadest such chasm in recent historical memory. This guy makes Bill Clinton look like a paragon of integrity and follow-through...

...Obama is useless. Worse than that, he’s dangerous. Which is why, if he has any patriotism left after the thousands of meetings he has sat through with corporate contributors, blood-sucking lobbyists and corrupt politicians, he ought to step down now — before he drags us further into the abyss...

...Obama is cute. He is charming. But there is something rotten inside him...

Whoa, there, lefty. Steady on, there, Ted. And right on!

In my own defense, the reasons behind these quotes are most definitely not the reasons I might use in arriving at the same conclusions.

I guess this is some evidence that Obama is moving toward the “center” (whatever that actually is). Long reviled from the right, he's now starting to be reviled from the “respectable” left...

A Beautiful Idea...

Would eliminating the current state government completely and starting over with a clean slate appeal to you? Until I read this web site, I didn't know such a thing was even possible (at least, not without an actual revolution). The general idea is to call a “Constitutional Convention”, and rewrite the state's constitution from scratch.

Currently California's Constitution requires two thirds of the legistature to vote in favor of placing the question of a Constitutional Convention on the ballot, where it must win a majority of the voters to gain approval. The first part of this is unlikely in the extreme – it's hard to imagine two of the current legislators voting for this, much less two thirds.

However, the voters in California have the power to place propositions on the ballot that would amend the State's Constitution (as we did recently with Proposition 8, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman). So the folks at RepairCalifornia.org propose exactly such an amendment proposition, to amend the State's Constitution to allow the voters to directly call a Constitutional Convention.

This would be like a revolution without the guns and tanks. I want to think about this some more, but on a first pass I'm inclined to agree with Peter Robinson:

Will California default, forcing states and municipalities throughout the nation to pay higher interest rates to bondholders? Will it persuade Washington to bail it out, rewarding the Golden State's political class while punishing the citizens of prudent, solvent states such as Indiana or Texas? Or will California cut its budget so sharply that basic state agencies--the California Highway Patrol, for instance, or the Department of Corrections--will be impaired?

None of the answers are pretty.

Yet this financial crisis has produced one beautiful idea.

Jim Wunderman, president of the Bay Area Council, a business group, has begun calling for a constitutional convention. The current constitution, Wunderman argues, is so long, convoluted and encrusted with amendments that Californians ought to toss it out and start again from scratch.

To keep the political class from taking over the convention, Wunderman wants to choose delegates from the state jury pool. Does that sound like placing trust in chance? If so, you've got the idea. Ordinary Californians, redesigning the entire state government.

William F. Buckley Jr. once said, "I would rather be governed by the first 400 names in the Boston telephone book than by the faculty of Harvard University." Me? I'd rather be governed by a few hundred jurors from Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Irvine, San Diego, Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto and Stockton than by all the lobbyists and union officials in Sacramento.

It is, as I said, a beautiful idea.

A clean slate. A system of government designed by ordinary citizens, not the political in-crowd. A beautiful idea, indeed...

Muslim Extremists Routed by ... Other Muslims!

This is one of the most hopeful developments I've seen in a long time. Similar things are happening in Pakistan, as well. From the Daily Mail:

The Muslim community turned on extremists in their midst yesterday, telling them they were 'sick and tired' of their behaviour.

The angry confrontation came in Luton, where anti-Islamist protesters brandished England flags last Sunday, before clashing with police.

The latest violence erupted as arguments raged between fellow Muslims shortly after Friday morning prayers in the Bury Park area of the town. Passing traffic ground to a halt as the large group of moderates confronted about a dozen extremists.

As the radical Muslims began to set up their stall, they were surrounded by a crowd shouting 'we don't want you here' and 'move on, move on'.

Angry words were exchanged and scuffles broke out between members of both groups, with the extremists shouting 'Shame on you' and 'Get back to your synagogue'.

The moderates chanted 'Out, Out, Out', and after an uneasy stand-off, police officers were able to persuade the extremist group to leave the area.

More like this, please...

Willow Fire Cause...

You may remember the 60+ acre Willow Fire of May 23 (my post here). Well, a report came out today on the cause of the fire. I've read several news stories about this report (including the UT story here), and they're all a bit ambiguous. About the only thing they seem to be clear on is that the fire was started while a group of U.S. Department of Justice (Bureau of Prisons) employees were firing on the target range.

Hmmm... One wonders what they're firing out there – RPGs?

World Health and Wealth...

Absolutely fascinating...

Quote of the Day...

There is a growing tendency to think of man as a rational thinking being, which is absurd. There is simply no evidence of any intelligence on the earth.

Marvin the Martian
(h/t Little Green Footballs)

Remember...

Remember...

... We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate…we cannot consecrate…we cannot hallow…this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced...

Abraham Lincoln, from the Gettysburg Address...

Remember...

From Cox and Forkum.

14%

Of the prisoners that have already been released from Guantanamo Bay, that's the percentage that are known to have returned to terrorism:

The U.S. has revealed, via a leaked report, that 14 percent of the 534 terrorism suspects released from Guantanamo have returned to terrorist activities. This was not a big surprise, except for the extent of the recidivism.

Comforting, isn't it? Fourteen percent of 534 is 75 – that's at least 75 committed terrorists back on the streets. I wonder who they're eager to exact some revenge from?

It's one of the many challenges posed by the war on terror. Instead of fighting a nation (or an alliance of nations), we're fighting an amorphous group that doesn't wear a uniform. The usual rules for dealing with prisoners of war don't really work – there's no country to repatriate these men to (and many of them have no country that will accept them), and no good way to tell when the war is over. It's repugnant to our sense of fair play just to imprison them indefinitely, yet releasing them is unacceptably risky. Those prisoners that have been released are those thought to be the least dangerous – making the release of any more even less conceivable.

Many Congressmen (even many Democrats) think it ill-advised to remand these men to the U.S. prisons and court system. Why? For this very simple reason: the U.S. courts will not allow indefinite incarceration without charges and conviction. If the prosecutors cannot bring a case, then the courts will order these men released – not because the judges are evil, but because the laws they are sworn to uphold require them to.

So what can be done, if repatriation, release, and transfer to U.S. courts are not acceptable? I've only heard two other courses of action put forth: (1) indefinite incarceration outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts (such as Guantanano Bay), or (2) summary execution. I'm a proponent of (1). There are many proponents of (2), though none to my knowledge in national political office.

Obama had a bad problem until his recent very clever maneuver. During his campaign, he repeatedly promised to close Guantanamo Bay and end indefinite detainment. Now that he's in office, that's something he clearly cannot afford to do, politically. But he also can't be seen to be reneging on his campaign promise. So what does he do? He arranges for the Democratic leadership in Congress to stonewall his request for money to shut down Guantanamo. This is win-win for the Democrats – for the Democratic Congressmen would definitely have problems with their electorate should they vote to bring the detainees back to the U.S., and now Obama gets to stand up and proclaim his desire to shut down Guantanamo Bay while regretting that he can't get his request approved by a Congress controlled by his own party.

Slick, that Barack fellow...

North Korea's at it Again...

North Korea has exploded a second nuclear warhead, this time much larger than the previous one (and roughly equivalent to Trinity, the first test done by the U.S. in World War II). This test simply reconfirms (for the umpteenth time) the intransigence of the North Korean regime and the utter futility of the past decade's worth of negotiations, deals, and other elements of diplomacy. From the Wall Street Journal's article:

President Barack Obama, in a statement, called the action a "matter of grave concern to all nations" and said North Korea was undermining stability in northeast Asia. "It will not find international acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery," he said.

The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon New York time to discuss the North's actions.

But it's unclear whether the U.S. and others will be able to muster a response strong enough to move Pyongyang from its stated goal of becoming recognized as a nuclear-weapons state.

Surely I'm not the only one to whom these diplomatic maneuvers seem like some kind of a comedy routine. At the very least, I'm certain the North Korean regime shares my view – they've been spectacularly successful at manipulating the world's diplomats and the U.N., reaping all sorts of goodies for themselves along the way. They must be rolling in the aisles in Pyongyang, clutching their bellies in pain from their howls of laughter at the unbelievably stupid democratic nations of the world.

Somehow I don't think Obama's statement has them even slightly worried, much less considering adjusting their strategic course:

North Korea's nuclear ballistic missile programs pose a great threat to the peace and security of the world and I strongly condemn their reckless action. North Korea's actions endanger the people of Northeast Asia, they are a blatant violation of international law, and they contradict North Korea's own prior commitments.

Now, the United States and the international community must take action in response. The record is clear: North Korea has previously committed to abandoning its nuclear program. Instead of following through on that commitment it has chosen to ignore that commitment. These actions have also flown in the face of United Nations resolutions. As a result North Korea is not only deepening its own isolation, it's also inviting stronger international pressure -- that's evident overnight, as Russia and China, as well a our traditional allies of South Korea and Japan, have all come to the same conclusion: North Korea will not find security and respect through threats and illegal weapons.

We will work with our friends and our allies to stand up to this behavior and we will redouble our efforts toward a more robust international nonproliferation regime that all countries have responsibilities to meet.
In this effort the United States will never waiver from our determination to protect our people and the peace and security of the world.

Not exactly shiver-inducing rhetoric, that.

I'd suggest something slightly more direct, such as:

Either you shut down your nuclear weapons facilities and open them for international verification inspections, or we will start bombing what little viable infrastructure you have. Our bombing objective will be to cause as much pain to the ruling regime as possible. Oh, and that smoking crater where your television studios used to be? That was just to demonstrate our capability.

I can dream, can't I?

They Don't Even Seem to Notice...

Many times when I'm reading recent climatology research, I'll run across a statement that immediately strikes me as contraindicating anthropomorphic (i.e., human-caused) global warming – but somehow the climatologists just ignore it. In an article I read this morning, it happened again:

For example, during the 'Holocene thermal maximum,' the warmest period of the past 10,000 years, the Arctic average temperature was two to three degrees warmer than it is today, while the global average was only a degree or so warmer.

"But based on lake sediments from Baffin Island, our data show that this area of the Arctic experienced temperatures five degrees warmer than today," said Briner.

Let's see now. One thing they neglect to mention above is that the Holocene maximum was a 4,000 year long period, starting 9,000 years ago. So what they're saying is that for almost half of the past 10,000 years, the Arctic temperatures were about 5°C (9°F) warmer than they are today. I don't think those higher temperatures back then were caused by SUVs and private jets!

There's a consistent pattern amongst these research reports that just doesn't add up:

1. Climatologists doing actual research (as opposed to bulding computer models) consistently find historical data indicating that (a) the Earth's climate has broad long-term natural swings, not caused by human activity, (b) the Earth's climate has smaller short-term swings that correlate well with the sun spot count, and (c) patterns of climate change that don't jibe with the patterns found in the models.
2. Climatologists “back-testing” computer climate models consistently find that the models don't match reality. In back-testing, the researchers take data from some past period (say, 2,000 years ago), feed it into the model, and check to see if the model successfully predicts what happened afterward. If the model did succeed in such predictions, you'd have some reason to believe that by feeding in today's data you could predict what will happen down the road. It's the gold standard used for testing all models that have the ambition to predict the future. Nobody has built a climate model yet that survives back-testing.
3. Climatologists building computer climate models consistently throw out (or arbitrarily “adjust”) data that doesn't produce the results they believe are correct. The two glaring examples I know of are (a) tossing out satellite based atmospheric temperature measurements, and (b) adjusting historical temperature records before feeding them into their models.
   

How on earth can these scientists make statements like the one I highlighted above, and yet go on propounding the notion of impending climate doom caused by anthropomorphic global warming?

I just don't get it...

Remember...

Psalm 2008-2012

Forwarded by reader Simi L.:

PSALM 2008-2012: FIRST BOOK OF DEMOCRAT

Obama is my shepard,
I shall not want.
He leadeth me beside still factories.
He restoreth my faith in the Republican Party.
He guideth me in the path of unemployment.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,
I shall not go hungry.
Obama has anointed my income with taxes.
My expenses runneth over my income,
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life.
The Democrats and I will live forever
in a rented home.
But I am glad I am an American,
I am glad that I am free.
But I wish that I was a dog,
and Obama was a tree.

Remember...

Remember, today, those men and women who have given their lives that we might be free. Sullivan Ballou, killed in the first Battle of Bull Run (in the U.S. Civil War), was one of them...

The Goode Family...

I might have to watch this show!

The Prandtl-Glauert Effect...

I'm sure most of you have seen this photo, or ones like it, showing a cone-shaped cloud of condensation around an aircraft. Some people I've met are skeptical that these photos are real; they suspect photoshopping.

They are most definitely real – they're caused by a well-understood mechanism: the Prandtl-Glauert Effect (sometimes called the Prandtl-Glauert Singularity). I'm lucky enough to have seen this a few times myself, a few times at air shows, and a couple of times while in the U.S. Navy watching exercises involving fighters.

There's a very detailed (but no heavy math) explanation here, and a Wikipedia page here.

But the real reason for this post is to point you to a web site that's chock full of beautiful photos of the Prandtl-Glauert Effect – the best collection I've found...

Al Qaeda Kidnaps Obama's Teleprompter!

In this morning's news:

In an audacious raid Friday, al-Qaeda terrorists managed to slip past White House security and seize President Obama's teleprompter. Their demands were released in a grainy video, which apparently showed the president's teleprompter, bound and blindfolded but unharmed, while heavily armed masked men stood behind it, quoting from the Qur'an. The content of their demands is not being released.

President Obama, visibly shaken, attempted to address the White House press corps on his own. "Words, uh, um, I, uh, heh-heh, well..."

"We need a verb!" shouted David Gregory of MSNBC.

(read the whole thing)

An enjoyable bit of satire, that; courtesy of the folks at The People's Cube. At least, it was until I realized that I wasn't sure it was satire until I remembered what web site it was on...

Willow Fire...

There were an amazing number of news stories yesterday on the small (60 acres) and never very threatening Willow Fire. Even the Associated Press and Fox News picked up the story! I guess it must have been a slow news day.

In the end, there were two minor injuries and no structures damaged or lost. Roughly 60 acres were burned. The news reports are a bit sketchy on concrete information, but based on those reports and a few educated guesses, here's a rough map of the burned area.

Hope Sabers and Obi-Bam...

Mark Steyn at his best (and that's pretty darned good!). Here's just one of many demonstrations of his wit, as he talks about an ad he spotted in a Vermont newspaper, for job openings with a stimulus-funded community organizing group:

Of the eight new positions advertised, the first is:

"ARRA Projects Coordinator."

Gotcha. So the first new job created by the stimulus is a job "coordinating" other programs funded by the stimulus. What's next?

"Grantwriter."

That's how they spell it. Like in "Star Wars" – Luke Grantwriter waving his hope saber as instructed by his mentor Obi-Bam Baracki ("May the Funds be with you!"). The Grantwriter will be responsible for writing grant applications "to augment ARRA funds." So the second new job created by stimulus funding funds someone to petition for additional funding for projects funded by the stimulus.

Deprogramming a Liberal...

Very interesting article at American Thinker, by “Robin of Berkeley”, about the transition of a self-described “rabid liberal” into a conservative. It reminds me of Neo-Neocon's series of articles on changing, but much more condensed. Here's a taste, but do go read the whole thing:

As I educated myself, I started thinking and rethinking. I'd wake up in the middle of the night with the sudden realization that deeply held beliefs made no sense. Take the anti war stance of the left. Noble and sanctimonious and all that. But how easy it is to sit back and preach peace when you have an army defending you; to rail against the U.S. when you are protected by free speech laws; to demonize Israel, when you've never lived through the murderous pogroms of Tsarist Russia or the Holocaust. How hypocritical to lambast Big Business while you are making money from their stocks in your mutual fund portfolio (that is, until Obama took over). And how ludicrous to admire Chavez, Castro and all things socialist, when the closest experience you've had to standing on a bread line is queuing up for goat cheese/arugula pizza at Whole Foods.

And this love affair with Radical Islam -- what's up with that? I had previously thought of Islam as a quaint, folksy religion. But when I started actually reading about it, especially Dr. Phyllis Chesler's illuminating books and web site, I realized extremist Muslims were advocating some seriously scary stuff, like destroying Israel and the West. I had been oblivious of the horrendous treatment of women: the honor killings, beheadings, genital mutilation. It now seemed like the height of naivety, if not masochism, to embrace with open arms people who want to kill you. While as a liberal I was socialized to believe everyone was good, all cultures were the same, and We Are The World, We Are The Children, I began to understand that evil exists. The emergence of evil always offers warnings signs, and we ignore them at our peril.

Hopefully we'll see more of this as the liberals start seeing the effects of the Obamanations being foisted upon us all. That's my idea of hope and change!

Quote of the Day...

By John Pitney (a political scientist at Claremont McKenna college):

Arnold's governorship was supposed to be an action movie. Now it's a disaster movie.

Truth.

An Adult Speaks...

From a speech Dick Cheney delivered last night to the American Enterprise Institute:

Another term out there that slipped into the discussion is the notion that American interrogation practices were a "recruitment tool" for the enemy. On this theory, by the tough questioning of killers, we have supposedly fallen short of our own values. This recruitment-tool theory has become something of a mantra lately, including from the President himself. And after a familiar fashion, it excuses the violent and blames America for the evil that others do. It's another version of that same old refrain from the Left, "We brought it on ourselves."

It is much closer to the truth that terrorists hate this country precisely because of the values we profess and seek to live by, not by some alleged failure to do so. Nor are terrorists or those who see them as victims exactly the best judges of America's moral standards, one way or the other.

Critics of our policies are given to lecturing on the theme of being consistent with American values. But no moral value held dear by the American people obliges public servants ever to sacrifice innocent lives to spare a captured terrorist from unpleasant things. And when an entire population is targeted by a terror network, nothing is more consistent with American values than to stop them.

As a practical matter, too, terrorists may lack much, but they have never lacked for grievances against the United States. Our belief in freedom of speech and religion … our belief in equal rights for women … our support for Israel … our cultural and political influence in the world - these are the true sources of resentment, all mixed in with the lies and conspiracy theories of the radical clerics. These recruitment tools were in vigorous use throughout the 1990s, and they were sufficient to motivate the 19 recruits who boarded those planes on September 11th, 2001.

The United States of America was a good country before 9/11, just as we are today. List all the things that make us a force for good in the world - for liberty, for human rights, for the rational, peaceful resolution of differences - and what you end up with is a list of the reasons why the terrorists hate America. If fine speech-making, appeals to reason, or pleas for compassion had the power to move them, the terrorists would long ago have abandoned the field. And when they see the American government caught up in arguments about interrogations, or whether foreign terrorists have constitutional rights, they don't stand back in awe of our legal system and wonder whether they had misjudged us all along. Instead the terrorists see just what they were hoping for - our unity gone, our resolve shaken, our leaders distracted. In short, they see weakness and opportunity.

There is more content in this single speech than I've heard in all the fine public words Obama has emitted since taking office. Do read the whole thing – the man is a terrific antidote for the Obama blues...

Obama Man Can...

Just Sayin'...

Some ponders:

Only in America do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

Only in America do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

Only in America do banks leave both doors open and then chain t he pens to the counters.

Only in America do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

Only in America do we buy hot dogs in packag es of ten and buns in packages of eight.

Only in America do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.

Why does the sun lighten our hair, but darken our skin?

Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why don't you ever see the headline 'Psychic Wins Lottery'?

Why is 'abbreviated' such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do 'practice'?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?!

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

The Voters Speak...

...but I sure wish they'd send a coherent message!

A few years ago, California's governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asked the voters to approve a series of propositions that would slash the state's expenditures, mainly by reducing services provided by the state. That series of propositions lost at the ballot box. So Arnie said, very publicly, “The voters have spoken!” – and went on a spending binge that made the recalled Gray Davis look like a miser.

Yesterday, Schwarzenegger asked the voters to approve a series of propositions that would raise the money to pay for this spending binge. These propositions lost by a wide margin (the one winning proposition in the table at right would limit lawmaker's salaries if they couldn't pass a budget).

Now don't get me wrong – I'm absolutely delighted that these propositions went down in flames, and I'm hoping (seriously!) that it leads to a bankruptcy in California. I think that's likely the only path that will lead to some badly needed replacements in the team of loonies up in Sacremento.

But think about the message that “we, the people” have just sent Sacremento. We've said “give us all those expensive benefits and programs”, but “we don't want to pay for them”. Rather a juvenile pair of messages, wouldn't you say?

Which is why I sometimes despair about the long term viability of democracy. Armed anarchy sometimes seems like an attractive alternative...

Jamul Culture...

Both the title and the photo are from Steve K., a fellow Jamulian and reader. He, I, and about a bazillion other Jamulians have been getting a kick for the past few days from this sign. It's along route 94 (map), just north of Jamul.

Extra Senses...

Here's an idea that I've never heard before: use modern technology to give humans more senses. For example, how would you like to be able to simply feel which way was north?

For six weird weeks in the fall of 2004, Udo Wächter had an unerring sense of direction. Every morning after he got out of the shower, Wächter, a sysadmin at the University of Osnabrück in Germany, put on a wide beige belt lined with 13 vibrating pads — the same weight-and-gear modules that make a cell phone judder. On the outside of the belt were a power supply and a sensor that detected Earth's magnetic field. Whichever buzzer was pointing north would go off. Constantly.

"It was slightly strange at first," Wächter says, "though on the bike, it was great." He started to become more aware of the peregrinations he had to make while trying to reach a destination. "I finally understood just how much roads actually wind," he says. He learned to deal with the stares he got in the library, his belt humming like a distant chain saw. Deep into the experiment, Wächter says, "I suddenly realized that my perception had shifted. I had some kind of internal map of the city in my head. I could always find my way home. Eventually, I felt I couldn't get lost, even in a completely new place."

The effects of the "feelSpace belt" — as its inventor, Osnabrück cognitive scientist Peter König, dubbed the device — became even more profound over time. König says while he wore it he was "intuitively aware of the direction of my home or my office. I'd be waiting in line in the cafeteria and spontaneously think: I live over there." On a visit to Hamburg, about 100 miles away, he noticed that he was conscious of the direction of his hometown. Wächter felt the vibration in his dreams, moving around his waist, just like when he was awake.

I suspect I'd really enjoy that belt...

Read the whole article, it's all very interesting...

Race and the One-Armed Handler...

Debbie is just starting to get back into her agility dog training. Here are a few clips of her working with Race, our border collie puppy...

Hummingbirds!

On the feeders in our front yard:



We're currently using “hummer juice” at the rate of three to four quarts a day. Soon it will be time to make 5 gallon batches!

Hint: if you've got a high-speed Internet connection, try hitting the “HQ” button (lower right on the player above, but only after you've started playing the video) to get the high quality version of the video...

This Is Science?

ScienceDaily published a credulous report yesterday that proclaimed the “troubling hypothesis” that variations in solar radiation (such as the sunspot cycle) affected Earth's weather had been “laid to rest”. Well, that's an article bound to catch my attention, as I've been quite intrigued by the correlations found between the sunspot cycle and historical temperature records here on Earth.

So what is this research that has laid that troubling hypothesis to rest?

A computer model.

I'm not making that up.

That's what passes for research today, apparently. Nobody went out and did anything messy or dirty like, say, measuring temperatures or solar radiation. Nobody showed that the historical correlations were artifacts caused by some other mechanism. No, nothing like that.

Instead, some geek of a climatologist made up a new computer model and proclaimed the case proven!

Hell, I could do that!

Sheesh...

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

Perfect.

Trouble is, his little game is fooling an interesting percentage of the electorate.

It will be interesting – and instructive – to see what happens in the 2010 interim elections...

Temperature Data...

I've mentioned before the web-based efforts of Surface Stations to have volunteers audit and photograph all 1,221 official NOAA surface temperature measurement sites. They're not done yet, but they just passed a milestone: over 70% of those sites have now been audited. The graph at right shows the results.

These are the same sites that the NOAA and Jim Hansen of NASA specifically call out as being more accurate and more reliable that satellite-based temperature measurements. The cumulative errors that Surface Stations has now documented in these stations is approximately the same as the difference between the satellite measurements and the surface measurements.

In other words, the satellites are right.

And global warming isn't nearly as severe as its adherents would have us believe.

If I believed in an afterlife, I'd hope there was a special sort of hell reserved for corrupt scientists...

Empathy...

Last week, after Justice Souter announced his retirement, Obama made some remarks that included this bit:

I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity. I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a case book. It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people's lives -- whether they can make a living and care for their families; whether they feel safe in their homes and welcome in their own nation. I view that quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles as an essential ingredient for arriving as just decisions and outcomes.

I've been stewing on this all week...it's the single most frightening thing I've heard Obama say yet (and that's saying something, as he's made some terrifying utterances). If you parse his words carefully, he's really saying this: he wants Supreme Court justices that ignore the law (including the Constitution), and instead make decisions based on their understanding of people's feelings (that's what “empathy” means).

Am I exaggerating, making too much of his rhetoric? I think not. I believe that he is saying here quite clearly what he wants – justices who won't think of themselves as bound by a musty old Constituition. He really does want justices willing to make decisions even that directly contradict the Constitution, so long as those decisions correspond to where Obama wants the country to go.

We've seen this scenario play out quite recently, and not so far from home. This is exactly what happened in Venezuela, where now the “socialist” (thugalist, really) Hugo Socialist has made the country over in his image.

How are we going to get our country back?

Using Stars as Gravity Wave Telescopes...

Now this is just plain cool!

Scientists have come up with what appears to be a completely practical way to use a special kind of star (millisecond pulsars) to construct a grand telescope for gravity waves. This telescope would be far cheaper to construct than both already-built and proposed Earth-bound gravity wave detectors – and it would actually produce an “image” (something no Earth-bound detector could hope to do). In addition, it would work at some of the most interesting, and very low, frequencies. Read more in Science News and this paper...

Sunspots...

I've posted before about the unusually low number of sunspots we're seeing right now, and about the correlation between the number of sunspots and the overall solar radiation. It may seem a little counterintuitive, but the fact is that the sun radiates more energy when there are more sunspots, and vice versa.

Well, the low number of sunspots continues. At the moment we are experiencing the longest sustained period of low sunspot occurrence since 1928, and there's no end in sight yet. That also means we're experiencing a long and sustained reduction in solar radiation output, and therefore of its heating of the Earth. Historically periods of low sunspot activity have correlated nicely with periods of lower temperatures on the Earth, most famously with the period known as the Maunder Minimum. Naturally, the warmenists loudly proclaim that variations in sunspot activity will have no impact on the Earth's climate – they are certain that the correlations of historical low sunspot activity and low temperatures is entirely coincidental.

Looks like we may have a chance here to find out for sure. If our low sunspot activity continues for another year or so, the warmenists will have a hard time explaining a “coincidental” drop in global temperatures. Which, by the way, we're already seeing.

Baby Ground Squirrels...

In our back yard:


You can see a higher quality version on YouTube.

We Haven't Disappeared!

Sorry for the lack of posts, folks. The past couple of weeks have been somewhat chaotic – I'm currently (a) holding down my job, (b) caring for my wife who broke her arm a couple weeks ago, (c) attending and speaking at the Service-now Knowledge09 user conference, and (d) doing most of the chores at home, as they're impossible for a one-armed wife to do.

The foregoing leaves me with but little time for fun things like my blog.

But I'll be back...

P.S. Debbie's doing fine, though she had a slight setback yesterday. She went to the doctor's office to have a new cast put on, as the old one was causing problems with her elbow (pressure and chafing). The doctor removed the old cast and discovered that her bones weren't in the perfect position – so there was some (very) painful “repositioning” before the new cast was put on. Ouch! But despite that, she's actually doing just fine – her bones are in the right place now, and her new cast doesn't extend over her elbow, so the discomfort caused by her cast is completely gone...

Quote of the Day (Extended Edition)...

Read and absorb this:

And that is why we should not revert to the foreign policy of years gone by, of the world weary, the supposedly sensible practitioners of caution and expediency, who think they see the world for what it is, without the illusions of the idealist who sees what it could be.

We should remember what such expediency led us to, what such caution produced. Here is where I remain adamantly in the same spot, metaphorically as well as actually, of ten years ago, that evening in this city. The statesmanship that went before regarded politics as a Bismarck or Machiavelli regarded it. It's all a power play; a matter, not of right or wrong, but of who's on our side, and our side defined by our interests, not our values. The notion of humanitarian intervention was the meddling of the unwise, untutored and inexperienced.

But was it practical to let Pakistan develop as it did in the last thirty years, without asking what effect the madrassas would have on a generation educated in them? Or wise to employ the Taliban to drive the Russians out of Afghanistan? Or to ask Saddam to halt Iran? Was it really experienced statesmanship that let thousands upon thousands die in Bosnia before we intervened or turned our face from the genocide of Rwanda?

Or to form alliances with any regime, however bad, because they solve 'today' without asking whether they will imperil 'tomorrow'? This isn't statesmanship. It is just politics practiced for the most comfort and the least disturbance in the present moment.

I never thought such politics very sensible or practical. I think it even less so now. We live in the era of interdependence; the idea that if we let a problem fester, it will be contained within its boundaries no longer applies. That is why leaving Africa to the ravages of famine, conflict and disease is not just immoral but immature in its political understanding. Their problems will become ours.

And this struggle we face now cannot be defeated by staying out; but by sticking in, abiding by our values not retreating from them.

It is a cause that must be defeated by a better cause. That cause is one of open, tolerant, outward-looking societies in which people respect diversity and difference in which peaceful co-existence can flourish. It is a cause that has to be fought for; with hearts and minds as well as arms, of course. But fought for, nonetheless with the courage to see it through and the confidence that the cause is just, right and the only way the future of our world can work.

This is from a speech by a politician we would consider quite “liberal”, as that term is used in American politics – spoken by Tony Blair, former British Prime Minister, just the other day in Chicago.

If we had a Democrat who thought this clearly, who communicated with such clarity, who was so direct and specific, and whose view of the existential threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism was so closely aligned with mine – I'd vote for him, regardless of the many other liberal views he held that I disagreed with.

Because this is the most important thing, the threat to our very being.

And this is what scares me the most about Obama. The rest is just details...

Your Eyes Suck at Blue...

The fetching lass at right is Traci, whose entire involvement with this post is as a demonstrater model – for an interesting visual phenomenon that has some real-world implications for how we store and display photographs.

The gist of this notion is that our eyes pick up very little detail in blue. More precisely, our spatial resolution in blue is far worse than it is in green (especially) or red. This means that an image's actual quality in blue isn't very important to our perception of it – and that means there's a compression opportunity.

Check out the all the details in this excellent article.

Snow Rollers...

These are a natural phenomenon I'd never heard of before – the rare “snow roller”. In this particular case they were spotted on the Idaho panhandle.

Check it out!

WTF?

First, absorb this statement concerning Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, the sole surviving pirate of the group that hijacked the Maersk Alabama:

"I think in this particular case, there's a grave question as to whether America was in violation of principles of truce in warfare on the high seas. This man seemed to come onto the Bainbridge under a flag of truce to negotiate. He was then captured. There is a question whether he is lawfully in American custody and serious questions as to whether he can be prosecuted because of his age."

What's your reaction to that?

If you said to yourself “Yeah, why are they prosecuting this poor guy?”, then please leave my website and move to somewhere like, say, France.

If you said to yourself “I need more ammunition and less lawyers”, well, then, you're in the right place.

So far as I'm concerned, the only mistake our military made with the surviving pirate is the word “surviving”.

More SEALs, fewer lawyers.

More direct, substantive and effective action, less arrogant and effete blathering.

Oh, I guess those two statements are more or less equivalent, aren't they?

Quote of the Day (Photo Edition)...

You Go, Girl!

Susan Boyle on Britain Got Talent
by dwarthy

Quote of the Day...

From the Wall Street Journal:

The kidnapped captain of the Maersk Alabama has been rescued and is safe aboard a U.S. Navy ship.

Wonderful. Just plain wonderful.

And I can't help but love the image this projects to the world and to the cursed Somali pirates: you screw around with an American ship, not only do you not have a crew, a ship, and a cargo to ransom – you die at the hands of American warriors.

Feeling lucky, punks?

Guess not, eh?

I don't often agree with Obama on anything at all, but from what I've read he played this exactly right – especially issuing standing orders to the men on the scene to use deadly force if they felt Captain Phillips' life was in danger. No micromanagement like Carter – much to his credit, Obama left this to the pros.

And those pros pulled off something very impressive here. I can tell you from personal experience in the Navy that a lifeboat towed some 80 feet behind a warship is going to be bobbing and weaving all over the place – not an easy shot, even at the relatively short range. The three Somali pirate assholes had guns to the head of Captain Phillips, and the Seals took all three of them out before they could fire a shot. Nice work, guys. And thank you, sirs, for your service to this country.

A Little Advenure...

Debbie and I did a little four-wheeling today, in a beautiful area that was entirely new to us – to our shame, as it's very close to home! We drove through areas between Corte Madera, Skye Valley, and Lake Morena, as you can see on this map. We took a big loop, counter-clockwise from a junction called “Four Corners”.

The first part of the trip as we left Four Corners was our favorite part – from there up to Los Pinos, down to the saddle between Los Pinos and Corte Madera, and then down Espinoza Creek to the Corte Madera road. This stretch had it all: grand views (especially of Corte Madera itself), pine forests, meadows, and oak forest.

Shortly after the junction with Corte Madera Road (where we start to head down toward about 10 o'clock on our loop) we entered lands that burned in the October 2007 wildfires. While it was interesting to see the recovery, and there were some beautiful wildflowers in there, we still much prefer the unburned areas.

Here are some more photos from today:

Some Casino News...

Though I'm not entirely sure what it means... From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

The Jamul Indian band has dropped a lawsuit in which it was accusing state officials of meddling with its casino plans.

Neither side explained what was behind the joint request to dismiss the lawsuit in San Diego federal court.

A spokesman for the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, said he couldn't talk about the case until the judge agreed to dismiss it.

Repeated calls to tribal officials and their lawyers were not returned.

However, a lawyer for a group of neighbors opposed to the casino said the tribe agreed to submit its plans to a state environmental review.

There are several possibilities here. The one that seems most likely to me (but keep in mind that I am not a lawyer, nor do I have full knowledge of the situation) is that the Jamul Indians no longer have the financial resources to pursue this expensive litigation, and they are probably under some pressure from Lakes Entertainment to resolve the situation in such a way that some kind of profitable casino can be built, so...they reached an accommodation with CalTrans.

So I'm afraid this probably increases the chances of a casino being built...but most likely it would be a casino at a much-reduced scale.

Another Dog Found!

A reader emailed me with news of a dog wandering around the area around Lyons Valley Road and Jamul Highlands Road – near the Mormon Church and just down the street from the middle school. He's a nice-looking dog, but won't let anybody approach. He must be looking for his owner!

My reader isn't sure if the dog has a collar or tags. If this dog looks familiar to you, take a look around that area. If you've got questions or need more information, write me and I can relay your questions to my reader...

Dog Found!

Amber from the Steele Canyon Veterinary clinic writes to say that a male dog has been found near the Jamul Post Office. It's currently at the clinic (behind the 7-11 at the corner of Campo Road and Steele Canyon Road). You can reach them at 619/669-7274.

This dog would like to go home – if your little guy is missing, do give them a jingle...

Criminals Prefer Unarmed Citizens!

I guess we're just counter-cultural and/or primitive out here in the sticks. Any miscreant showing his face at our home will be met with warnings, curses, and supersonic lead. But mostly supersonic lead.

Casino Pessimism...

From Sign On San Diego, an article that sounds a bit pessimistic about the prospects for the Jamul Indian Casino. From the article:

Federal recognition is required for tribes to receive federal aid and participate in government programs. It's also necessary to conduct gaming.

For a tribe like Jamul, the Supreme Court's decision “raises questions about the status of the land,” Indian law expert Kathryn Rand said.

“Those questions might ultimately be decided in favor of the tribe, but . . . they are dependent upon the particular circumstances surrounding the tribe's recognition and the land taken into trust,” said Rand, a law professor who co-founded the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy at the University of North Dakota.

Rand said she would expect state and local officials – who have battled Jamul's plans to build a casino – to raise those issues.

Good. Jamul with a casino would be forever changed for the worse...

Good vs. Evil...

Reader Linda I. sent in this photo of a 3 foot long King snake that's just about finished with his lunch: a smaller rattlesnake. The only part of the rattlesnake that's still visible is the rattles, and I'm sure those didn't last long!

Many people have such a fear of rattlesnakes that they tend to brand all snakes as vermin. The reality is that we have more good snakes (King snakes and gopher snakes, especially) than bad snakes (if you subscribe to the notion that rattlesnakes are bad). Rattlesnakes are especially good at controlling the populations of small rodents, so they're not entirely evil themselves – but if your pets or small children have the run of your yard, you might find it hard to think of rattlesnakes as anything other than a mortal enemy...

Jonny Dallo's Real Sentence...

An anonymous reader sends this word:

I just want to say about the whole Johnny Dallo situation that on your blog it says he got a year and he did but, I just want to say that at the end of it all--he didn't even serve that he barely served 2 1/2 months for killing Jodi and now he's getting married. Well just to let you know the 1 year came down to that. What ever sentence anyone gets it doesn't mean that's the time that there really going to serve it gets cut down.

Assuming this is accurate (I have no way to verify it), it gives the appearance of “justice” being purchased.

If you don't remember the Jonny Dallo case, read my previous posts on the matter. The short version: Jonny Dallo, a repeat traffic offender, was travelling down Campo Road (State 94) at around 100 MPH around 4 am on June 28, 2006. He rear-ended Jodi Burnett's pickup while she was in the left-turn lane, killing her. Jonny Dallo's father is a wealthy local businessman. Jonny was charged, but the case was plea-bargained down to a guilty plea for involuntary manslaughter and he was sentenced to one year in jail (a travesty all by itself).

Now this news.

Somehow I don't believe that I'd end up so lightly punished, were I to find myself in Jonny Dallo's position...

What's UP?

From my mom:

There is a two-letter word in English that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that word is 'UP.' It is listed in the dictionary as being used as an [adv], [prep], [adj], [n] or [v].

It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP?

At a meeting, why does a topic come UP ? Why do we speak UP, and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends and we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car.

At other times the little word has a real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.

To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special.

And this up is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP.

We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP!

To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4 of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions.

If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP , you may wind UP with a hundred or more.

When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets UP the earth. When it does not rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could go on & on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now...my time is UP, so time to shut UP!

It all makes sense to me!

Local Burglaries...

Kimberlee Quarles, who is a neighbor of ours, wrote to make us aware of some burglaries occuring in the area. An excerpt from her blog post, with recent incidents:

INFORMATION REGARDING SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY AND BURGLARIES IN JAMUL
AS OF MARCH 18, 2009

Prior to March 10

A man was knocking on doors in the neighbor hood asking for work. He gave one of them a flyer that supposedly had his name (James Merson) and contact information. This man spoke with [a resident of Jamul Highlands] for some time and claimed to have worked for a local contractor. When the resident checked with that contractor they were told noone of that name had ever worked there. Both the resident and I called the phone number on the flyer, 619-342-8964, and it is not in service.

The home at 14782 Olive Vista was robbed twice in the week before March 10. Eleven guns, jewelry, tools, etc. were stolen.

There has also been strange activity at the end of Jamul Highlands – men fiddling with the lock on the gate up there, unknown vehicles hanging out, and groups of illegals coming through.

Tuesday, March 10

Our home at 2875 Jamul Highlands was burglarized sometime between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. I have been told there were a total of four burglaries that day, but the only address I have for another home is 3028 Jamul Highlands. The woman at that home told me she was only gone from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and the house was broken into during that time.

Thursday, March 11

A Hispanic male in camouflage clothing and a lime green hat with several large bags obviously full of items was observed hanging around near 3025 Jamul Highlands. I called it in. The deputy responded quickly but the man was gone. I believe the deputy spoke to the woman there.

In the afternoon an attempted burglary occurred at 3191 Jamul Highlands Road .

Friday, March 12

Late in the afternoon two Hispanic males (probably in their 20's) with shaved heads in a white Silverado truck, lowered and with rims, went aft er a young teenage boy who lives on our street, chasing him on his expensive “50" dirt bike (so close they almost ran him down) from the dead end of Jamul Highlands all the way down the road and then chasing him on foot when he went off onto the dirt road near 3025 Jamul Highlands. A young man at a nearby house intervened and asked the men what they were doing, but apparently they did not respond and instead got back into the truck and took off. The young man followed them up Lyons Valley Road and was able to get their license plate number, which is CA 7W49564, and went home. This same truck was seen on Jamul Highlands shortly after but left when they saw they were being observed by the same young man.

I have been told that the Sheriff’s Department checked the plate and the vehicle belongs to someone in Valley Center . I checked with the neighbors at the end of the road and they do not know anyone or have anyone visit their home of this description. There seems to be no reason why these individuals would be in the area (especially several times) or why they would chase a boy, other than possibly to stea l his dirt bike. Someone at the dead end of Jamul Highlands can watch the comings and goings of our neighborhood from that vantage point.

Monday, March 16

I have been told that as of this date, there was a third attempt to break into a home at 14782 Olive Vista.

Read Kimberlee's entire post for all the details.

Command-Line Fu...

Here's a site that any geek will love: Command-line-fu. It lets anyone post their favorite command line hacks, and then the readers vote (up or down) on them, or comment on them. The idea is to organically find the most useful hacks, and to let you find the hack you want very easily.

Cool stuff, in a very geekly way...

Photo Contest Finalists...

From the Sony World Photography Awards. See them all here.

Quote of the Day (II)...

This is a soothing balm for a citizen feeling much abraded by the shenanigans of most of the politicians on the national stage:

We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government. We are not requesting more money for normal day-to-day operations of government as part of this economic stimulus package. In essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government.

Who said that?

Sarah Palin, yesterday, as she rejected over $400M of bailout money targeted for her state of Alaska.

Make all the fun of her you'd like to. In her actions, she continues to make more sense than nearly everyone else, including (most especially) that collection of buffoons and bozos in Washington who are so busy stealing your money to spend it on their favorite porky projects. And she's not at all afraid to take an unpopular position to do the right thing.

You go, girl. If you run again, you'll get my vote...

Quote of the Day (Extended Edition)...

First, the one-liner:

Why do we never hear calls for Hamas leaders to be charged with war crimes?

This is from a most interesting speech by Rupert Murdoch. Here's his conclusion:

My friends, I do not pretend to have all the answers to Gaza this evening. But I do know this: The free world makes a terrible mistake if we deceive ourselves into thinking this is not our fight.

In the end, the Israeli people are fighting the same enemy we are: cold-blooded killers who reject peace, who reject freedom and who rule by the suicide vest, the car bomb and the human shield.

Against such an enemy, I will not second-guess the decisions of a free Israel defending her citizens. And I would ask all those who support peace and freedom to do the same.

And you can (and should!) read the whole thing.

Where Did I Go Wrong?

Reader Larry E. writes:

So, where did I go wrong?

I wonder about this. I know people that try to “live for today” and I always thought they were foolish. I was busily saving for retirement. Saving and investing to provide security for my family rather than buying the next boat or RV.

Clearly I was wrong.

What I should have done was take out a couple hundred k in equity when I refinanced. This way I’d currently be upside down on my loan and maybe get me a little of that bailout. AND have that boat and RV.

What I should have done it take a nice trip to the Bahamas instead of stuffing money in my 401k so it could be stolen while regulators looked the other way.

What I should have done is by a nice motorcycle or that new flat screen instead of putting money in my savings account where it could actually evaporate as the government devalues the dollar (and therefore the value of my labor) by passing out billions like candy.

I've had similar thoughts myself. Trouble is, the largesse is unsustainable if too many people act on such feelings. Printing money (whether we do it, or the government does it) can't create real wealth. Rewarding the idiots and cheaters, whether with freshly printed money or with money stolen from actual producers, can't create real wealth either. These truths are so self-evident that I can't conceive of anyone denying them – and indeed, the Obama administration and their fellow leftists don't deny them with their words.

But they do with their actions...

Tom Paine on YouTube...

From my cousin Mike:


While there's a lot in this rant I don't agree with, it's a great rant.

In recent days my hopes for the political future of America have all boiled down to really just one thing: the hope that the bumbling, radical-left Obama administration will finally jog enough Americans out of their political apathy that we actually can throw the bums out.

I know, I know, I harbor wild fantasies...