Beerology...

I can't stand beer myself (I'm more of a Cabernet kinda guy), but that didn't keep me from enjoying this beer wisdom, forwarded by reader Jim M.:

Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, "It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."

Babe Ruth

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"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day."

Lyndon B. Johnson

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"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading."

Paul Horning

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"24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not."

H. L. Mencken

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"When we drink, we get drunk.. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. So, let's all get drunk and go to heaven!"

George Bernard Shaw

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"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

Benjamin Franklin

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"Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza."

Dave Barry

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Beer: Helping ugly people have sex since 3000 B.C.!

W. C. Fields

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Remember "I" before "E," except in Budweiser.

Professor Irwin Corey

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To some it's a six-pack, to me it's a Support Group - Salvation in a can!

Leo Durocher

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One night at Cheers, Cliff Clavin explained the" Buffalo Theory" to his buddy Norm:

"Well, ya see, Norm, it's like this. A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.

In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine!

That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."

Halelujah!

Via reader Simi L., this pure delight:

It's Toast...

The (very ambitious) Russian Fobos-Grunt Mars mission, that is...

NGC 6302 (Butterfly Nebula)...

Via APOD, of course (click to enlarge)...

Airport Fail...

At Dulles in Washington D.C., this past Tuesday morning, on the departures monitors all over the terminal:

Keep An Eye On This One...

...'cause it's going to be big.  I have spoken.

This is What I Need...

...the next time there's a major fire around here.  Having one of these looking around would give us solid information, whereas current reporting systems produce a chaotic blend of stale and erroneous crapola (that's a technical term)...

This Really Is a Still Image...

Click to enlarge:

Discovery...

My company has an animation out about one of the products I work on:

A Veterans Day for Me to Remember...

For years now, basically since 9/11, I've gone out of my way to honor the men and women who serve in our armed forces.  It's become second nature for me, most especially when I'm traveling.  Just this past week, for instance, I connected through Charlotte, North Carolina – and while in the airport I struck up a conversation with a young man in Army uniform.  Turns out he was headed to a school, and then back to the Middle East.  I invited him to join me for a Starbucks coffee and a little food, and found a good opportunity to say “thanks” in a heartfelt way.

One of the reasons I do this is my own experiences while in the Navy in the '70s; I've blogged about these before.  Suffice it to say that while I was in uniform, I never had the experience of a friendly stranger buying me coffee and saying “thanks” in a way I'd believe sincere.  Quite the opposite.  But I've often wished I'd had that experience.

I'm no longer in uniform; I've been out of the Navy for more than 30 years.  But today – for the first time ever – I had an experience something close to this.  A colleague of mine (whose name I don't have permission to use, and therefore won't) sent an email to myself and another mutual colleague, whom I'll call “J.” (since I don't have permission to use his name, either).  With minor edits to maintain anonymity, here's the email:

J. and Tom,

Just a moment to say thanks to the only two Vietnam War vets that I really know (I think).

We are living at a time of war, the first one that I have first hand witness to in a way that I can understand. I see how the vets are revered and how their work and service is honored. I see the concern and care for the invisible wounds warriors come home with.

My memories of the Vietnam War are vague, I was young. What I know, though, is that what I see now is very different than what I remember seeing, however vaguely, back then. The people that cheered for soldiers; the people that welcomed them home; the people that cared about the invisible wounds were very few and far between and didn't have anywhere near the voice that people that opposed the war did.

But they were there. And my dad was (is) one of them. I learned from him the importance of the work of all who served and the depth of their sacrifices. I learned from him to cheer loudly when vets passed by on Veterans Day. I learned from him to look for and reach out to those who served. I learned from him to have respect.

As time has passed, our country has come to rethink and regret the collective attitude towards Vietnam Vets, though I am afraid for many vets, this was too little too late. But I do believe that it is the lessons learned in that attempt to reconcile that has given way to much of the honor our current warriors are extended. And for that, we all owe Vietnam Vets a certain and very sincere debt of gratitude.

If my dad had met either of you back then, he would have shook your hand. He would have cheered loudly as you passed by. He would have honored your service. He would have offered you a cup of coffee. He wasn't with you then, but I am here now. And in honor of today as Veteran's day, in honor of the lessons learned from my dad, and in honor of your service to your country - I would very much like to buy you a cup of coffee!

Some things can't be undone. Some things can't be forgotten. But it's my sincerest hope that it is never too late to say thank you.

Thank you so much, for your service. And thank you for what your collective experiences have brought to my life and my career all these years later.

To say I was stunned would be a significant understatement.  All these years later, someone said “thanks!” to me.  It's some hours later as I write this, and I'm still shaken by the experience.  I guess I never expected anyone to just say “thanks” to me...

Just to be clear: I'm a Vietnam-era vet; I wasn't actually in-country in Nam.  Nor was I directly in combat.  I was a sailor on a ship that supported combat air operations in Nam.  I fixed computers (the mainframes of the day).  I was a warrior only in some metaphorical sense.  But I was a member of our armed forces, and served for six years.  And now someone has said “Thanks, Tom”...

Modern Times...

Via Eric W., this joke – which only some of my readers will “get”.  For the geeks, the thing that makes it so funny is that it sounds so much like what we've all experienced.  Setup: an ISP's subscriber is calling a technician at the ISP's help desk:

Subscriber caller: My Internet is down.

Tech: Why do you say that?

Caller: Because When I try to go to Google, it takes 10 minutes to draw the screen.

Tech: Do you have any XBOXs, TVs, or other Computers?

Caller: Yes.

Tech: Go turn the power off on all of them and try again to access Google.

Caller: I can't... My husband is watching a movie on his new NetFlix power big screen, my kids are having an XBOX live tournament, and my daughter is updating her iPod/iTunes songs.

Tech: So you said your Internet isn't working?

Caller: OK, I turned all those things off. Speed is a little better, but still doesn't work.

Tech: OK try rebooting your router.

CAller : (phone disconnects, and she calls back). That's odd, my phone disconnected when I rebooted the router. Internet is still slow.

Tech: Oh so I see you have VOIP also. Do you have Direct TV boxes?

Caller: Yes, I'll go turn that off. I set my DVR to download movies in the background a few days ago. Do you think that had something to do with it?

Tech: Try again now.

Caller: Wow, my Internet sure is fast now! Google loads in 1/10th of a second. What did you do to fix it? You must have changed something on your end, when I was off turning stuff off. By the way, why did you want me to turn the stuff off?

Political Tees...

Via my mom, a nice collection of T-shirts for the coming 2012 elections.  Here's a couple I particularly enjoyed:

Einstein Weighs In...

Via reader Jim M.:

Remember this when you vote next November...

For my readers who are not up on their science: 185,999 miles/second is the approximate speed of light...

There Are Only So Many Cells...

I'm an engineer.  My mother emailed this to me.  Do you think she sent it for the political humor in it?  I'm not so sure...

All babies start out with the same number of raw cells, which over nine months, develop into a complete female baby.

 

The problem occurs when cells are instructed by the little chromosomes to make a male baby instead.

 

Because there are only so many cells to go around, the cell necessary to develop a male's reproductive organs have to come from cells already assigned elsewhere in the female.

 

Recent tests have shown that these cells are removed from the communications center of the brain, migrate lower in the body and develop into male sexual organs. If you visualize a normal brain to be similar to a full deck of cards, this means that males are born a few cards short, so to speak, and some of their cards are in their shorts.

 

This difference between the male and female brain manifests itself in various ways. Little girls will tend to play things like house or learn to read. Little boys, however, will tend to do things like placing a bucket over their heads and running into walls.

 

This basic cognitive difference continues to grow until puberty, when the hormones kick into action and the trouble really begins. After puberty, not only the size of the male and female brains differ, but the center of thought also differs. Women think with their heads. Male thoughts often originate lower in their bodies where their ex-brain cells reside.

Of course, the size of this problem varies from man to man.

 

In some men only a small number of brain cells migrate and they are left with nearly full mental capacity but they tend to be rather dull, sexually speaking. Such men are known in medical terms as "Engineers."

Other men suffer larger brain cell relocation. These men are medically referred to as "Fighter Pilots."

 

A small number of men suffer massive brain cell migration to their groins. These men are usually referred to as..."Mr. President or Mr. Congressman."

Dead Horse Politics...

Reader Simi L. passes along a new variation on an old classic:

The tribal wisdom of the Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that “When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.

5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.

6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.

7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.

10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.

11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

And of course...

13 Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

If you don't understand this theory, you haven't lived long enough!

Classical Muscians Gone Wild...

Miki and Debbie!!!

Here's video of a very nice run that Miki and Debbie made in competition last Sunday.  They did a terrific job...

Proof Positive...

Reader Simi L. sends this comforting thought along...

There is finally conclusive evidence that Osama bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi are dead.

Yesterday, they both registered to vote in Chicago.

Doormats...

Reader Jim M. sends along a collection of photos of doormats.  I liked this one!

Two Parables...

Two readers send me parables about the perils of assuming senior stupidity.  First, from my mom:

A lawyer and a senior citizen are sitting next to each other on a long flight.

The lawyer is thinking that seniors are so dumb that he could get one over on them easily.

So, the lawyer asks if the senior would like to play a fun game.

The senior is tired and just wants to take a nap, so he politely declines and tries to catch a few winks.

The lawyer persists, saying that the game is a lot of fun...."I ask you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me only $5.00. Then you ask me one, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you $500.00," he says.

This catches the senior's attention and, to keep the lawyer quiet, he agrees to play the game.

The lawyer asks the first question. "What's the distance from the Earth to the Moon?"

The senior doesn't say a word, but reaches into his pocket, pulls out a five-dollar bill, and hands it to the lawyer.

Now, it's the senior's turn. He asks the lawyer, "What goes up a hill with three legs, and comes down with four?"

The lawyer uses his laptop to search all references he can find on the Net.

He sends E-mails to all the smart friends he knows; all to no avail. After an hour of searching, he finally gives up.

He wakes the senior and hands him $500.00. The senior pockets the $500.00 and goes right back to sleep.

The lawyer is going nuts not knowing the answer. He wakes the senior up and asks, "Well, so what goes up a hill with three legs and comes down with four?"

The senior reaches into his pocket, hands the lawyer $5.00, and goes back to sleep.

Then from reader Jim M.:

An older, white haired man from Ft. Lauderdale inFlorida , walked into a jewelery store this past Friday evening with a beautiful much younger gal at his side.

He told the jeweler he was looking for a special ring for his girlfriend. The jeweller looked through his stock and brought out a $5,000 ring.

The man said, 'No, I'd like to see something more special.'

At that statement, the jeweller went to his special stock and brought another ring over. 'Here's a stunning ring at only $40,000 the jeweler said. The lady's eyes sparkled and her whole body trembled with excitement.

The old man seeing this said, 'We'll take it.'

The jeweler asked how payment would be made and the man stated, 'by check. I know you need to make sure my check is good, so I'll write it now and you can call the bank Monday to verify the funds and I'll pick the ring up Monday afternoon.'

On Monday morning, the jeweler angrily phoned the old man and said 'There's no money in that account.'

'I know,' said the old man, 'But, MAN! Did I have a GREAT WEEKEND!'

288,000 Jelly Beans...

I'm not a big jelly bean fan.  I can't remember the last time I ate one.  But I love this video!




How it was made.

Borrego Springs...

Borrego Springs is a community in the desert just to the east of our coastal range.  Reader Larry E. was out there this past weekend, and sent along some photos.  Here's just a couple that caught my eye...

The Badlands area - striking, desolate, beautiful...

One of 50 or so sculptures Larry saw...

Piss Power...

This reminds me strongly of an episode in Neil Stephenson's trilogy...

Strange Pairing...

This is something I would never have predicted: the Zetas (the notoriously violent Mexican drug cartel) and the hacker's group Anonymous are edging toward outright war.  A real war, in which people are likely to die...

Still Working After 40 Years...

Now this is cool – forty years ago, Jerry Lowe built this ring-counter based clock.  This is before microcomputers and before LEDs (and before most of my colleagues were born!).  It's still working.

Nice, Jerry...

New Terrorist Threat...

The Wall Street Journal's commentary pages today prominently feature an article by Andrew Krepinevich, who describes a new and parlous terrorist threat: attacking offshore oil rigs.

Well, maybe.  His whole point, really, is that offshore oil rigs are “soft” targets, meaning easy to attack.  Sure they are.  So are many other targets (dams, water supplies, hydrocarbon storage facilities, mass transit, etc., etc. ad infinitum).  I'm not convinced there's anything special about the offshore oil rigs.  But I have a real problem with those, like Krepinevich, who think that we should try to defend all these things.  To steal someone else's phrasing: we do that, and the terrorists really have won...

Twenty Four Hours at Fukushima...

This is the best summary I've seen yet, from IEEE Spectrum...

Put Down Your Morning Beverage...

...then go read this!

Nuclear Event Detector...

This appears to be for real – here's the data sheet (PDF) right off Maxwell's site.

Awesome...

Spam...

Randy Cassingham's excellent spam (email spam, not the meat product) primer.  You should read this even if you think you know everything about spam...

Echinopsis huascha...

I have no idea how to pronounce that, but I know it's beautiful.  From Botany Photo of the Day, of course.  As usual, click to enlarge...

Groan...

Reader Dave H. passes this along, saying

“If you are in a book store and cannot find the book for which you search, then obviously you are in the...”

Agility Cat...

Via my lovely wife (who competes in dog agility), this video of cat agility.  As someone who has lived with many cats for many years, I must admit that I would not have thought it possible to train a cat to do this...

X-47B UCAS...

This is the U.S. Navy's next-generation UAV, intended for use on carriers.  It's highly stealthy, has quite a large operating radius, and can carry both weapons and sensors.  A task force equipped with a few of these could monitor and control a very large area at sea, and could also project force effectively on land when the task force was 500 miles or more offshore...

Can Our Dogs Do This?

Reader Simon M. asks: can our dogs do this?

Sadly, Simon, they cannot...

Go Home, You Hypocrites!

What could I add to this?

Cepheus Flare...

Awesome.  Click to enlarge.  From APOD, of course.

Time-Lapse Flower Photography...

Via my mom:

Sign Outside a Business in Florida...

Your first reaction to this will likely be similar to mine.

But...

Your reaction might be much different when you realize that the business in question was a funeral home.

Via reader Jim M...

Are You a Democrat, a Republican, or a Southerner?

By this test, I'm somewhere between a Republican and a Southerner.  By most other tests, I'm a long way from either :-).  Via reader Jim M.:

You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children.  Suddenly, a Terrorist with a huge knife comes around the corner, locks eyes with you, screams obscenities, raises the knife, and charges straight at you...

You are carrying a Kimber 1911 cal. 45 ACP with a 7 bullet magazine, and you are an expert shot.  You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family.  What do you do?

Democrat's Answer:

• Well, that's not enough information to answer the question!
• What is a Kimber 1911 cal. 45 ACP?
• Does the man look poor or oppressed?
• Is he really a terrorist? Am I guilty of profiling?
• Have I ever done anything to him that would inspire him to attack?
• Could we run away?
• What does my wife think?
• What about the kids?
• Were the bullets made by unionized labor being paid a living wage?
• Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand?
• What does the law say about this situation?
• Does the pistol have appropriate safety built into it?
• Why am I carrying a loaded gun anyway, and what kind of message does this send to society and to my children?
• Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me?
• Does he definitely want to kill me, or would he be content just to wound me?
• If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me?
• Should I call 9-1-1?
• Why is this street so deserted?
• We need to raise taxes, have paint & weed day.
• Can we make this a happier, healthier street that would discourage such behavior.
• I need to debate this with some friends for a few days and try to come to a consensus.
• This is all so confusing!

Republican's Answer:

• BANG!

Southerner's Answer:

• BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
• Click..... (Sounds of reloading)
• BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
• Click
• Daughter: 'Nice grouping, Daddy!  Were those the Winchester Silver Tips or Hollow Points?!
• Son: 'Can I shoot the next one?!'
• Wife: 'You ain't taking that to the Taxidermist!

Motivation...

Via my colleague Aleck L.:




The video is new to me, though the studies it's reporting on are not.  One of the big mysteries of managing engineers (or other knowledge workers, I'm sure) is how to motivate them to do what you want them to do. 

Much of what this video articulates matches my own experiences – but there are motivations controllable by managements (some of them involving money) that my experience tells me actually do work.  All of these involve two elements not explored by these studies: recognition (that is, letting peers – inside or outside the company – know what good thing you've accomplished) and spot cash (that is, cash bonuses awarded not according to some rules or formulae, but rather at the moment some good behavior needs to be rewarded).  I've also seen the power of negative motivation.  I once used a stuffed monkey with a dunce's cap as a motivational tool.  Whenver someone did something dumb, they got the monkey – and it sat on their desk until the next person did something dumb.  That damned monkey was one of the best tools I ever found for getting engineers to behave the way I wanted them to, and it was negative reinforcement.  I'm pretty sure it only worked because the culture we had at that job was right for it, though...

CRAP = Usability...

Where CRAP = Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity...

Sweet 'n Salty Capacitors!

By Emily Daniels.  Awesome!

Which Talking Head is More Credible - A or B?

This “debate” on (of all places!) Anderson Cooper's show is a nice comparison between two experts: Peter Schiff, accomplished business man on one side, and Cornell West, a leading light of progressive economics.  You be the judge:

Four for Four...

Debbie is running Miki in an agility competition today, downtown at the old NTC.  She just called me, and you could hear the smile: Miki just finished his fourth run for the weekend (two in jumpers, two in standard).  Result: three first place finishes (and one fifth), and he's now in Excellent B in both.  Bonus: he earned his first 19 Mach points.

Woot woot!!!

One other interesting note.  Yesterday she took Miki down by himself, and noted that he seemed a bit stressed by the end of the day.  Today she took Race (who wasn't entered) down with him, to see if having his buddy along would make a difference.  Debbie reports that Miki was distinctly less stressed.  Having his friend along made it all easier...

How to Speak Liberal...

From John Hawkins, the coffee-spurter of the day.  Here are a few choice examples, but do go read the whole thing!

Compassion: Feeling good about yourself for wanting to give away money you didn’t earn to people you hope will vote for your side.

Greed: Wanting to keep money you’ve earned instead of having it spent on Bridges to Nowhere and government loans to people who’ve contributed to Obama’s campaign.

Guns: Vicious weapons that force people to kill each other.

Minorities: People who are too dumb and incompetent to make it without liberal help. 

Our opponents refuse to compromise on this issue: The Republicans refuse to do everything we want.

Racism: A word you cry when you’re losing an argument with a conservative.

Taxes: A limitless supply of free money to be given away to liberal special interests in return for votes.

Tolerance: Something that justifies going on hate-filled rants against people who don’t share your view of the world.

Unfair attack: They quoted me.

Seaside Limestone...

My mom sent this photo along as part of a collection of beautiful landscapes.  I've seen the photo before, though I can't recall where.  For some reason, I'm associating this with Iceland, though I'm not at all sure that's correct.

The limestone against the quiet sea instantly recalls many such scenes I saw while exploring the islands of Estonia (primarily Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, shown in Google Maps below).  It's been over five years now since my last visit to Estonia.  I hope to return one of these fine days, and bring Debbie (who's never been there) with me...




View Larger Map

Geeky Job Posting...

Not really all that difficult, though.  Via reader Jim M.:

Rednecks, Paintball Guns, and Rednecks...

Via reader Jim M.:

Expectation and Objectivity...

A short article that does a fine job of presenting the slightly subtle ways that our expectations can completely overwhelm our objectivity.  One of my favorite examples of this phenomenon is used in the article: how skilled wine tasters can be (and usually are!) led astray by their expectations being driven by a host of factors that have nothing whatever to do with the wine...

A Couple of Funnies...

At least for the geeks and math buffs amongst you.

The first is courtesy of my colleague Aleck L.:

And the next I found somewhere in the vast confines of the Inter-Tubes:

USA, Inc.

Mary Meeker has an excellent, objective look at the U.S. budget issues – and she's produced a video overview of that look that's understandable by anyone.  Both highly recommended.  The full report is chock full of illuminating data...





USA Inc. - A Basic Summary of America's Financial Statements

Race's Little Relatives...

Double J Border Collies, the breeder from whom we got Race has a couple videos posted of her most recent batch of (adorable and awesomely cute) puppies:

These People Vote...

Peter Schiff takes on the Occupy Wall Street folks.  My overwhelming reaction is sadness at the profound ignorance on display here – and its implications for the future of our country...

Via reader Doug S.:

Obamaspock...

Via reader Simon M.

Cute.  Cold, aloof, unemotional: check.  Rational?  Hmmm...

Fly With the Hawk...

Via reader Jim M.:

Free Online Education Resources...

A nice compendium...

The Divider vs. the Thinker...

Peggy Noonan has another great column up, this one focused on the differences between Obama and Paul Ryan (the thinker, if it wasn't obvious).  The conclusion:

But Republicans, in their desire to defend free economic activity, shouldn't be snookered by unthinking fealty to big business. They should never defend—they should actively oppose—the kind of economic activity that has contributed so heavily to the crisis. Here Mr. Ryan slammed "corporate welfare and crony capitalism."

"Why have we extended an endless supply of taxpayer credit to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, instead of demanding that their government guarantee be wound down and their taxpayer subsidies ended?" Why are tax dollars being wasted on bankrupt, politically connected solar energy firms like Solyndra? "Why is Washington wasting your money on entrenched agribusiness?" 

Rather than raise taxes on individuals, we should "lower the amount of government spending the wealthy now receive." The "true sources of inequity in this country," he continued, are policies "that enriches the powerful, and empty promises that betray the powerless." The real class warfare that threatens us is "a class of bureaucrats and connected crony capitalists trying to rise above the rest of us, call the shots, rig the rules, and preserve their place atop society."

If more Republicans thought—and spoke—like this, the party would flourish. People would be less fearful for the future. And Mr. Obama wouldn't be seeing his numbers go up. 

Go read the whole thing...

Starry Morning...

I got up a little early this morning, around 2.  Out with the dogs before 2:30, out into a gorgeous dark night sky.  My old friend Orion was high and clear in the east, the Pleiades almost straight overhead, and a very bright Jupiter a bit to the southwest of it.  So many stars were visible that some constellations were hard to pick out of the clutter.  Just beautiful...

The dogs, of course, completely ignored all the beauty.  Racer was all about the pine cones, as usual.  The three brown dogs got all focused on one square inch of dirt, down near our gate.  I let them stay as long as they wanted to, and for about two minutes they were continuously deeply inhaling whatever scent it was that was fascinating them.  Their tails were going a mile a minute, and their body language said “We're delighted with something!”  Sure wish they could tell me what it was...

On the walk back up our driveway and back into the house, I got to noticing the artificial lights around our property.  There are quite a few of them, more than I'd have expected.  Before leaving the house, I turned off all the interior lights – at least, I turned off the things we normally think of as lights.  But outside I saw our solar-powered gazebo lights (white LEDs that are quite bright) and a teensy little orange LED high on a mast anchored to the west end of our house.  This was a power light on the radio tranceiver that connects our little place to the Internet, via a repeater on the hill high above me.  Then through our home's windows, I could see a myriad of little lights, every one of them an LED.  There were chargers, switch illuminators, front panels of audio/video gear, our wine cork remover, and on and on.  I counted 25 such lights before I gave it up. 

What do you suppose someone from, say, the 1700s would have made of all these lights?

Disturbing, Not Particularly Surprising...

James O'Keefe did it again, catching another set of liberals in the act of being arrogant snobs who are absolutely positive they know better than the rest of us.  They are the elites, after all.  On the video below, they actually call themselves that.

What is most disturbing to me in this video is the confirmation of what I have long believed to be true: that the liberal media (in this case, the New York Times) has a deliberate agenda of promoting progressive/liberal causes and politicians.  Insiders in this video, unaware that they are being recorded, are quite frank and open about exactly such an active and deliberate agenda.  It's clear that they see themselves as having a duty to pull the wool over the eyes of all us mouth-breathers...

See for yourself – and remember when you vote a year from now...

Cats and Dolphins?

Via my mom:

China...

Via my colleague Aleck L., a ten minute video about China.  It's full of interesting facts about modern China, some of which were new to me...

This Was NOT Written by a Democrat...

Via my mom, this parable of our (unionized) times...

Robin...

Via my mom:

Yikes!

Via reader Jim M.:

Taken in Alaska.  That whale is a krill feeder, not a killer whale, but still...

Strangeness on Mercury...

The MESSENGER spacecraft has been orbiting Mercury, returning wonderful science data about this little-understood member of our solar system.  Early on the science team spotted strange little “hollows” in numerous places all over the planet's surface.  These hollows appear to indicate relatively recent geologic activity, something nobody really expected.  Their appearances is certainly odd: brightly colored (often bluish), and associated with structures that look a bit like Swiss cheese.  As you might imagine, the science team is working hard to understand exactly what these things might be.  Meanwhile, we can enjoy them for their visual interest (and oddity)...

Copiale Cipher Cracked...

News story here...

Four Moons...

The image at right shows four moons of Saturn in a single frame.  It was, of course, taken by the Cassini spacecraft, still collecting bucketloads of science data way out there in the frigid Saturnian system.  This image comes to us courtesy of APOD.  As always, click to enlarge...

User Interfaces...

The battle between Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) and Command Line Interfaces (CLIs) rages on.  Usually these verbal battles are more like a religious argument than anything else.  Vivek Haldar (a Google developer) tries a different approach, and makes several interesting observations along the way...

A Technology Moment...

Cute story, and an interesting observation...

Two Things at Once...

Sometimes I just don't know what to say...


This is definitely one of those times...

Oracle, RightNow, and ServiceNow...

Yesterday our industry was abuzz with some interesting news: Oracle (long a cloud/SaaS nay-sayer) purchased RightNow – very much a cloud/SaaS company, and very much in competition with Seibel (owned by Oracle).  Naturally, everybody would like to know what this means.  The people at my company (ServiceNow) want to know, in particular, what it means for them.

One commentator (Bob Warfield) has an interesting take on his blog.  From his post on the subject, this colorful conclusion:

For the rest of you SaaS companies, guys, party like it is the late 90′s again. Oracle just put a floor under your valuation. If your growth slows, you can be bought and added to the Red Hoard, or is that the Red Cloud now? Just be alert if there is more than one of you in the space to what it means if one is bought and it isn’t you. I would draw no other conclusions whatsoever. Whatever RightNow has other than revenues and the possibility of a plan to cut unnecessary expense to wildly expand profitability, that’s all that matters. Whatever conspiracy theory you may have about the underlying tech, execs, or whatever–forget it. You’re over thinking it. The Oracle Machine has to be fed on a regular basis to sustain growth. That’s all that’s happening here. It’s not particular about what it eats other than that revenue and cost cutting part. OTOH, if you really don’t want to be bought, you had better be able to keep growing and running fast. Those sounds of flesh being ripped from bones, that crunching of marrow noise, well, that’s what the Machine sounds like when it’s just around the last corner you turned.

The rest of you SaaS companies?  That would be ServiceNow.  Party time?