Albino Squirrels Cut the Budget!

Via my mom, this unexpectedly funny video about the $1.2 trillion budget cut that Congress is allegedly working on.  I wish this guy was running!

Over an Inch!

We've had just over an inch (26mm) of rain in the past couple of days.  Woo hoo!

Photo of the Day...

From BPotD:

Amazing WWII Find...

Archaeologists have found a fourth tunnel at Stalag Luft III...

I Don't Think...

...that I could pull this off:

Correlation vs. Causation...

A funny set of graphs...

Rain!

This is turning out to be a lovely, wet end-of-year for us – we got almost three-quarters of an inch (19mm) of rain yesterday, and there's more in the forecast today.  I captured a snapshot of the NEXRAD radar a few minutes ago; the big yellow blobs to our south and southwest are moving toward us.  Hoorah!

Our yard is greener than we've seen in over 10 years.  Narcissus are in bloom all over the yard, with hundreds of plants in bud.  Daffodils are coming up strong; the first ones will probably be blooming in a week or so.  One thing that's surprising us: bulbs are growing where we've never seen them grow before.  These “surprise” plants are all smaller and later than the ones we're used to seeing.  This makes me wonder if perhaps these surprise plants are from weaker or deeper bulbs that have been dormant for years, just waiting until there was enough water.  I know they're planted, because they appear in the same line of plants that we see growing every year.  Does anybody know the reason why we'd see these surprise plants?

Sculpting with Horseshoes...

Sculptor Tom Hill of Hertfordshire, England is a 26 year old self-taught sculptor who works with recycled horseshoes to make his art.  Example below, much more on his site...

Fraud in Russian Elections...

I'm sure you've heard the news reports concerning the allegations of election fraud in the recent Russian elections.  Here Finnish blogger “Anton” does some statistical analysis that strongly indicates two things:

1.  The elections were indeed fraudulent.

2.  The party that benefited from the fraud was United Russia (Putin's party).

The Rain is on the Way...

Did a quick weather check this morning: barometric pressure is falling fast, humidity is climbing, it drizzled off-and-on last night, and the radar shows squalls approaching (fast!) from the ocean.  It shouldn't be more than a couple of hours before we're being drenched...

Quote of the Day...

Seen on the Intertubes, attributed to the cartoon Maxine (but I wasn't able to verify that):

Minorities

We need to show more sympathy for these people.

They travel miles in the heat.

They risk their lives crossing a border.

They don't get paid enough wages.

They do jobs that others won't do or are afraid to do.

They live in crowded conditions among a people who speak a different language.

They rarely see their families, and they face adversity all day – every day..

I'm not talking about illegal Mexicans – I'm talking about our troops!

Doesn't it seem strange that so many are willing to lavish all kinds of social benefits on illegals, but don't support our troops?

Question of the Day...

Via reader Simi L.:

Q: How do you starve an Obama supporter?

A: Hide their food stamps under their work shoes.

Well, That Was Cool!

Just got back in from watching the total eclipse of the moon, from a beautiful vantage point just a hundred feet or so from my front door.  The moon slipped into totality just as the sky started to significantly lighten from the dawn.  The top part of the moon's disk was into the umbra, and was a nice reddish-orange.  The bottom part was still in the penumbra, and was grayer than the top.  The only eclipse viewing I've ever had that was better than this was decades ago, in the 1970s, when I watched one from the Indian Ocean in the dead of night...

It will be a while before I can watch one of these again...

Mysteries of the Ancients...

No Explanation Required...

Via reader Jim M. (click to enlarge):

West Texas...

Via reader Jim M.:

Northern Nights...

Via reader Rodney R.:

I just got off the phone with a friend living in North Dakota near the Canadian border. He said that since early this morning the snow has been nearly waist high and is still falling. The temperature is dropping way below zero and the north wind is increasing to near gale force. His wife has done nothing but look through the kitchen window and just stare. He says that if it gets much worse, he may have to let her in.

Six Minutes to Management Excellence...

Via my mom:

Six Minute Management Course Lesson 1: A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel.'After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?' 'It was Bob the next door neighbor,' she replies. 'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?' Moral of the story: If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure. Lesson 2: A priest offered a Nun a lift.. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?' The priest removed his hand But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?' The priest apologized 'Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.' Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, 'Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.' Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity. Lesson 3: A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.' 'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.' Puff! She's gone. 'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.' Puff! He's gone. 'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager.. The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.' Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say. Lesson 4 An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?' The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not.' So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it. Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up. Lesson 5 A turkey was chatting with a bull. 'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey, 'but I haven't got the energy.' 'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients.' The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree. Moral of the story: Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there. Lesson 6 A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and crapped on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow crap, he began to realize how warm he was. The crap was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow crap, and promptly dug him out and ate him. Morals of the story: (1) Not everyone who craps on you is your enemy. (2) Not everyone who gets you out of crap is your friend. (3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

Christmas Poem, Brooklyn Style...

This is quite likely the only time you will ever see this blog linking to Imus in the Morning! Via my mom, this audio clip of a Christmas poem, in the style of Brooklyn...

Animal Camouflage...

Can you spot the animal at right? 

Lots more examples of animal camouflage at work in this slide show...

Noonan on Newt...

In today's WSJ.  Her conclusion:

There are many good things to say about Newt Gingrich. He is compelling and unique, and, as Margaret Thatcher once said, he has "tons of guts."

But this is a walk on the wild side.

The UNIX Way vs. Knuth...

Interesting post, with this quote from a review by Doug McIlroy:

Knuth has shown us here how to program intelligibly, but not wisely. I buy the discipline. I do not buy the result. He has fashioned a sort of industrial-strength Fabergé egg—intricate, wonderfully worked, refined beyond all ordinary desires, a museum piece from the start.

As the author of the post says:

Just remember, he’s saying this about Donald Knuth.

Geekly Music...

Love the retro touches, like the EICO Model 460 'scope.  Passed along by reader Doug S.:





I have a couple personal connections to that video. First, the EICO 460 'scope – today the thing is a museum piece.  Around 1969 or 1970, that exact same 'scope was the centerpiece of my little electronics workshop.  I found one broken somewhere, bought it, fixed it, and then paid a metrology shop in Philadelphia $40 to recalibrate it (back then, $40 was a substantial sum for me!).

Then there's the stepper motor noise that forms the main “instrument” in this video (the stepper motor is what's positioning the scanner imager).  Back in the late '70s and early '80s, I made a little money selling a nifty piece of software to computer manufacturers who were making systems that included floppy disk drives.  Those early floppy disks used stepper motor head positioners that made an annoying grinding/whining noise.  My software changed the way the steppers were used: instead of sending step commands at a constant rate, it smoothly accelerated and decelerated it.  The constant rate steps made the motor move and stop on each step, “shaking” it, and making the objectionable noise.  With my software, the motor never shook like that, and there was then almost no noise.

While I was developing that software, I noted that I could make the stepper motor make nearly whatever noise I wanted it to make.  But it never occurred to me to make music with it!

Driverless Cars...

A great, thought-provoking short post on the unintended consequences of driverless cars.

Flight 447: the Rest of the Story...

Popular Mechanics has a great summary of what really happened in the crash of Air France's flight 447 two years ago off the coast of Brazil.  Bottom line: profound pilot error combined with an apparent lack of understanding of how the automated flight systems on board their Airbus 330.  Some of the pilot errors were apparently caused by the pilots expecting the plane's flight control systems to work like older, less automated systems worked.  Said another way, the pilots appeared to be unprepared to handle the complexities of their automated flight controls.

This is a problem familiar to any modern software developer: users, in general, have little idea how the software they use actually works.  It's common – in fact, normal – for the users' mental model of the software package to be badly flawed.  For most kinds of software, the outcome of this is frustrated users and angry tech support calls.  This is not the case for flight control software, as this article makes very clear...

Gypsum on Mars...

Gypsum is a mineral, the stuff that's in the core of drywall.  It's very common on Earth, and had been previously detected on Mars.  What's new here is that the Mars rover Opportunity spotted a vein of gypsum (at right, click to enlarge) – and the only way anybody knows of that such a vein could be formed requires the presence of liquid water.  In other words, this is the equivalent of an old sign saying “Liquid water was once present here!”  Lots of other things found on Mars were already hinting that liquid water was once present on Mars – but this finding makes it all but certain...

70 Years Ago Today...

The Japanese Imperial Navy attacked Pearl Harbor...

It's a fine day for us all to remember that we (the United States) are always a target for those threatened by our way of life...

The Utterances of the Newt...

Here are 18 things that Newt Gingrich has said:

1. “I’m not a natural leader. I’m too intellectual; I’m too abstract; I think too much.”

2. “If the Soviet empire still existed, I’d be terrified. The fact is, we can afford a fairly ignorant presidency now.”

3. “The idea that a congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument.”

4. “Give the park police more ammo.”

5. “The problem isn’t too little money in political campaigns, but not enough.”

6. “I have enormous personal ambition. I want to shift the entire planet. And I’m doing it. I am now a famous person. I represent real power.”

7. “Gingrich – Primary mission, Advocate of civilization, Definer of civilization, Teacher of the rules of civilization, Leader of the civilizing forces.”

8. “The most serious, systematic revolutionary of modern times.”

9. “It doesn’t matter what I do. People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live.”

10. “This is one of the great tragedies of the Bush administration. The more successful they’ve been at intercepting and stopping bad guys, the less proof there is that we’re in danger… It’s almost like they should every once in a while have allowed an attack to get through just to remind us.”

11. “Now, we don’t get rid of it in round one because we don’t think that that’s politically smart, and we don’t think that’s the right way to go through a transition. But we believe it’s going to wither on the vine because we think people are voluntarily going to leave it — voluntarily.”

12. “She isn’t young enough or pretty enough to be the President’s wife.”

13. “I read Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them and I found frightening pieces that related to…my own life.”

14. “It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in child laws which are truly stupid…These schools should get rid of unionized janitors, have one master janitor, pay local students to take care of the school.”

15. “We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.”

16. “The left-wing Democrats will represent the party of total hedonism, total exhibitionism, total bizarreness, total weirdness, and the total right to cripple innocent people in the name of letting hooligans loose.”

17. “These people are sick. They are so consumed by their own power, by a Mussolini-like ego, that their willingness to run over normal human beings and to destroy honest institutions is unending.”

18. “I think one of the great problems we have in the Republican party is that we don’t encourage you to be nasty. We encourage you to be neat, obedient, and loyal and faithful and all those Boy Scout words.”

Some of these are taken of context in such a way as to deliberately distort their original intent.  Many of these I agree with; some I don't.  Now take a look at how a liberal interprets them...

Yes!

I'm a Developer...

Someone should invest in me!

Where Should You Get Your Mental Healthcare?

Via my mom.  Once again, I'm not certain what message she's really sending:

Ever since I was a child, I've always had a fear of someone under my bed at night.  So I went to a shrink and told him “I've got problems. Every time I go to bed I think there's somebody under it. I'm scared. I think I'm going crazy.”

“Just put yourself in my hands for one year,' said the shrink. “Come talk to me three times a week and we should be able to get rid of those fears..'

“How much do you charge?”

“Eighty dollars per visit,” replied the doctor.

“I'll sleep on it,” I said.

Six months later the doctor met me on the street. “Why didn't you come to see me about those fears you were having?” he asked.

“Well, Eighty bucks a visit three times a week for a year is an awful lot of money! A bartender cured me for $10. I was so happy to have saved all that money that I went and bought me a new pickup!”

“Is that so!' With a bit of an attitude he said, “And how, may I ask, did a bartender cure you?”

“He told me to cut the legs off the bed! Ain't nobody under there now!!!”
 

Forget the shrinks.  Have a drink and talk to a bartender!

No Nativity Scene...

A seasonal oldie-but-goodie, via my mom:

The Supreme Court has ruled that there cannot be a Nativity Scene in the United States' Capital this Christmas season.

This isn't for any religious reason. They simply have not been able to find three Wise Men in the nation's Capitol.

A search for a Virgin continues.

There was no problem, however, finding enough asses to fill the stable.

Taken Out the Plane Window...

I didn't take this picture, or any of the 100 out-the-plane-window pictures you'll find in this collection.  I have, however, been to quite a few of those places and seen very similar sights.  The photo of Mt. Ranier at right (note the shadow of the mountain in the clouds), and of the salt ponds in San Francisco Bay that appears in the linked collection, are both things I've seen many times.  Some of these photos are remarkably good considering the usually dirty, scratched, dual-pane windows they were taken through...

Political Correctness vs. Common Sense...

At JFK airport in New York, this past week, TSA agents strip-searched a ticketed passenger going through security. 

Why? Because the passenger didn't want to go through the X-ray equipment, fearing that it might interfere with her defibrillator.  The usual alternative is a pat-down search (something I've had done myself), but in her case, they opted for a strip search. 

Why?  That's a bit unclear, as the passenger didn't fit any threat profile I've ever heard of: she's white, 85 years old, weighs 107 pounds, and uses a walker.

Somehow in the process of doing the humiliating strip search, they managed to injure her as well.

The only reason the TSA would strip-search a passenger like that is in their eagerness to avoid “profiling”.  In an all-too-familiar example of the triumph of multi-culturalist political correctness over common sense, our TSA has decided that we cannot recognize the rather clear fact that terrorists seem to be overwhelmingly (1) Muslim, (2) young men, and (3) Middle Eastern.  Not that there aren't exceptions (though I'm pretty certain that 85 year old Caucasian women are not amongst them), but the preponderance of terrorists do, in fact, fit this profile.  There, I did it: I used the politically-incorrect word.

The good news: Europe, where our “elites” get their cues, seems to have figured out that the multi-culti movement has been a disaster for them.  The first steps to reversing the ravages of multi-culti are underway.  If they can avoid a new Nazi takeover as the pendulum swings the other way, even our “progressives” will wake up and start singing a different, politically-incorrect song.

I can hardly wait!

How Doctors Die...

A thought-provoking piece by Ken Murray, a retired M.D.  The assertions he makes will be a topic the next time I meet with my doctor; I'd like to know whether he agrees with them.  From our own experiences with our animals at the ends of their lives, I find this entirely plausible.  The intro:

Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. This surgeon was one of the best in the country. He had even invented a new procedure for this exact cancer that could triple a patient’s five-year-survival odds—from 5 percent to 15 percent—albeit with a poor quality of life. Charlie was uninterested. He went home the next day, closed his practice, and never set foot in a hospital again. He focused on spending time with family and feeling as good as possible. Several months later, he died at home. He got no chemotherapy, radiation, or surgical treatment. Medicare didn’t spend much on him.

It’s not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don’t die like the rest of us. What’s unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little. For all the time they spend fending off the deaths of others, they tend to be fairly serene when faced with death themselves. They know exactly what is going to happen, they know the choices, and they generally have access to any sort of medical care they could want. But they go gently.

V838 Mon...

Gorgeous astrophotography of a mystery event.  In 2002, the star V838 Mon suddenly brightened to about a million times as bright as our sun (becoming, briefly, the brightest star in the entire Milky Way galaxy).  Just as suddenly, a month or so later, it rapidly dimmed.  The curve of its luminosity over time is unlike any other event astronomers have ever recorded, and there's a great debate and investigation into what the mechanism might have been.

For almost 10 years, that pulse of light (or flash) has been expanding outward from V838 Mon, illuminating an ever-expanding light-month thick “bubble” of interstellar gas and dust.  The Hubble telescope took the photo below in February 2004.  The accompanying description says the bubble at that point is about 6 light-years in diameter, but I think that must be mistaken – it should be 4 light-years in diameter at that point.  Via APOD, of course.

Obama Worshipper – Not!

Reading today's Day-by-Day cartoon strip, you definitely get the feeling that Obama is not a President that cartoonist Chris Muir looks up to.  An excerpt from the character's dialog:

The massive corruption, the transfer of our wealth to themselves and their cronies, the endless vacations, golf trips, parties, a private jet for their dog, the sheer hypocrisy of it all!

Clinton at least pretended there was any kind of law, but Obama truly is the example of the self-stroking ego of the boomers.

Wow.  Not a fan, Mr. Muir...

Cain Out...

Watching what's happened to him, my constant thought was “Is it any wonder that good, normal folks don't want to run for elected office?”

I have no desire to run for any elective office.  I'm certain I'd make a terrible politician.  But if I did want to run for office, the crap that candidates must endure (whether justified or not) is not something I would ever sign up for.  I don't know about you, but I know about me: my life has been far from perfect, and there are a great many things I've been responsible for that I regret.  They've also made me a better man.  But there's no way I'd offer my life up for the kind of scrutiny (and potentially false accusations, as if the true ones weren't enough!) that a candidate like Herman Cain had to endure.

You have my deepest sympathy, Mr. Cain.  I have no idea what kind of a president you would have made – and our corrupt, low-substance political process has unfortunately ensured that I never will...

On that Drop in the Unemployment Rate...

The “unexpected” drop in the unemployment rate (from 9.0% to 8.6%) isn't quite what it seems like.  More than half of that drop was caused by a drop in the “participation rate”.  What's that?  It's the main fudge factor used by the government to dress up the widely reported overall unemployment statistic – it's one of the “adjustments” they make to the largely unreported raw unemployment number.  This adjustment removes those people the government believes have permanently removed themselves from the ranks of those looking for work – including those who the government believes (or asserts) have permanently given up on the idea that they will ever be able to find a job.  This oh-so-conveniently gives the government a tool to make the widely reported number look better than the raw number.

Me, I think that person who gave up (assuming they really did) is just as much unemployed as the person who hasn't given up – and they should be reported as part of the overall unemployment number.  But I'm a well-known crank about such things...

Accessible ClimateGate 2.0 Summary...

Stephen Hayward (an excellent commentator in general) has a great piece up at the Weekly Standard summarizing his findings upon reading about a third of the ClimateGate 2.0 document trove.  There will be more, but in the meantime this is a very easy to understand summary (even for those not familiar with the ClimateGate brouhaha) of just why ClimateGate 2.0 is so disturbing...

Ode to the Incandescent Lamp...

I detest the light emitted by fluorescent lamps (including the very best CFLs) and by the top-notch LED lamps.  Even more, I detest the loss of freedom that occurs when the government takes away a choice of mine.  I like incandescent lighting, and I'm willing to pay extra to get it.  I just placed an order for a stockpile of 100 watt and 250 watt lamps, and I will use them with pleasure until we run out of them.  By then I'm hoping that either new technology for broad-spectrum lighting will be available, or the nanny statism we're current suffering under will be reversed, or that there will be an established black market for incandescents.  Meanwhile, I can entirely sympathize with the viewpoint expressed here:





By the way, Reason magazine is one of the very few periodicals I still subscribe to. I get the same sort of joy from its arrival that the heroin addict gets when his next nickel bag is in his hands...

Awesome!

Just Disgraceful...

More about the internal bumblings of the Justice Department on the “Fast & Furious” project.  One can't help but observe the silence of the lamestream media on this scandal – compared with the trumpeting that would be happening if it were a Republican administration.  Here we have bureaucratic screw-ups that killed American citizens, and the general public, for the most part, doesn't even know they occurred...

Airless Tires...

Bridgestone is working on them...

Most Popular Tools...

For web designers, that is, in a nice infographic (click the thumbnail below for something you can read).

Mission Impossible: Squirrel Edition...

A Little Maine Humor...

Via my mom, who says:

This actually happened with some guys from Maine.

They dressed the truck up with the guy dummy spread eagle on the roof.

The driver and passenger put on Moose Heads.

Down the Maine Toll interstate they went causing about 16 accidents.

They went to jail.

Personally, I don't think that's an accurate account of events.  The Mainiacs I know would never convict these guys of a crime...

Go, Miki, Go!

Debbie and Miki had six runs in agility competition this past weekend.  This time we go them all on video!

On the Nature of Science...

Daniel Botkin has an interesting piece in today's Wall Street Journal...

Hide the Decline: Even Worse than We Thought!

Steve McIntyre finds some new evidence showing that to enhance the “hockey stick” nature of their temperature graph, Mann et al deleted 20 more years of data than we had previously believed.  Truly this is shameful behavior on the part of these scientists – and arguably even more shameful on the cover-up of it...

The Case of the Missing Ocean Heat...

Yet another well-documented case of the climate models failing to predict measurable phenomena...

Jackbooted Legions Coming to Arrest Us All??

Probably not.  Reader Larry E. points me to a current flap amongst conservatives (check out the update as well).  Larry hadn't read the bill, so wasn't sure just how bad this really was – but certainly didn't like the sound of it.

I found the text of the bill, and below is the language in question (Section 1031 of Senate Bill 1867, the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012).  My reading of this: it authorizes the President to use military force to go after the 9/11 terrorists, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or others associated with them.  Assuming that the last part of that is faithfully followed, I don't have any problem with this.  If a member of the Taliban happens to be an American citizen, I still want the Marines to put a bullet in his heart.  I believe our military is far better equipped to deal with many terrorist attack scenarios than our police forces are.

If I'm interpreting the hyperbolic fire-breathing of those wailing about this correctly, they're afraid that just about anybody could be accused of collaboration with al-Qaeda or the Taliban, and would then become subject to indefinite military detention (or even direct military action).  I understand this fear, but I don't think this bill significantly expands the probability of such a thing.  Both Bush and Obama have unilaterally asserted all sorts of Presidential powers that reasonable men believe were not theirs to grab.  For example, it's not at all clear that Obama actually had the authority to order U.S. troops to fight in Libya.  There has been precious little resistance to any of these power grabs.  Even in the absence of this bill, if Obama decided to incarcerate (let's say) some citizens of Detroit accused of being al-Qaeda funding sources in Guantanamo, do you really thing the absence of clear authority would stop him?  I do not, nor do I think it would have stopped Bush.

So I think this is much overblown...

SEC. 1031. AFFIRMATION OF AUTHORITY OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES TO DETAIN COVERED PERSONS PURSUANT TO THE AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE.

(a) In General- Congress affirms that the authority of the President to use all necessary and appropriate force pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107-40) includes the authority for the Armed Forces of the United States to detain covered persons (as defined in subsection (b)) pending disposition under the law of war.

(b) Covered Persons- A covered person under this section is any person as follows:

(1) A person who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored those responsible for those attacks.

(2) A person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, including any person who has committed a belligerent act or has directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces.

(c) Disposition Under Law of War- The disposition of a person under the law of war as described in subsection (a) may include the following:

(1) Detention under the law of war without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

(2) Trial under chapter 47A of title 10, United States Code (as amended by the Military Commissions Act of 2009 (title XVIII of Public Law 111-84)).

(3) Transfer for trial by an alternative court or competent tribunal having lawful jurisdiction.

(4) Transfer to the custody or control of the person's country of origin, any other foreign country, or any other foreign entity.

(d) Construction- Nothing in this section is intended to limit or expand the authority of the President or the scope of the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

(e) Requirement for Briefings of Congress- The Secretary of Defense shall regularly brief Congress regarding the application of the authority described in this section, including the organizations, entities, and individuals considered to be `covered persons' for purposes of subsection (b)(2).

Evaporated Man...

William Gensert has an interesting piece up on the American Thinker, full of links for citations and additional reading.  A tip 'o the hat to reader Simi L.  An excerpt:

Obama believes himself a good man. Yet, with no depth or breadth, he is victim to the ideology he has been steeped in his entire life, a captive of his conviction that he is on the side of what is right and just. The benevolent hand of Barack Obama has wrought more havoc upon the freedom of our nation than any enemy ever could, for while evil can wreak untold damage, it takes the truly self-righteous to destroy a nation.

Edmund Burke said that "all that is necessary for evil to triumph, is that good men to do nothing." Yet it is also true that the greatest evil has, just as often as not, been perpetrated by good men seeking to do something.

War Memorial...

Via my mom:

After more than 40 years, the Vietnam Veterans of the United States of America have raised a phenomenal amount of money to memorialize another one of Hollywood ’s loyal American citizens, who went out of her way to aid and abet the enemy and congratulate them on their treatment of U.S. POW's.

Be sure to stop in and pay your “respects!”

Weird Weather...

Just before I went out to walk the dogs this morning, the heavens opened up and it poured – but only for a few minutes.  We got about 1 mm (4 hundredths of an inch) of rain.  The ground is wet, and all the brush was freshly dampened.  As I write this, it's raining again.

That part is only a little odd.  Here's the really weird part: we had a low pressure system move through last night that has our current pressure down to quite a low level.  Usually that means “big storm” is coming.  The temperatures have dropped as well (see instrument graphs at right, click to enlarge).  The forecast calls for Santa Ana-like wind conditions, but with the winds coming from the west instead of the east.  Here's an explanation of this odd phenomenon (called the “Inside Slider”).  We're located in the southern part of a strange local eddy.  Should be an interesting weather day or two!

Number 9 Again...

Same day, we're number 9 on a different list: top 10 tech predictions of 2012, from CIO Magazine.

Weird...

We're Number 9...

On the Forbes “Most Promising Companies” list.

Wow.  It just keeps getting better and better...

Commercial Humor...

Cool commercial (but it won't make any sense unless you watch it all the way through).  Via my lovely wife:

Death of a Religion...

Bret Stephens has a piece in today's Wall Street Journal talking about the death of a religion: anthropogenic global warming.  The intro:

How do religions die? Generally they don't, which probably explains why there's so little literature on the subject. Zoroastrianism, for instance, lost many of its sacred texts when Alexander sacked Persepolis in 330 B.C., and most Zoroastrians converted to Islam over 1,000 years ago. Yet today old Zoroaster still counts as many as 210,000 followers, including 11,000 in the U.S. Christopher Hitchens might say you can't kill what wasn't there to begin with.

Still, Zeus and Apollo are no longer with us, and neither are Odin and Thor. Among the secular gods, Marx is mostly dead and Freud is totally so. Something did away with them, and it's worth asking what.

Consider the case of global warming, another system of doomsaying prophecy and faith in things unseen.

As with religion, it is presided over by a caste of spectacularly unattractive people pretending to an obscure form of knowledge that promises to make the seas retreat and the winds abate. As with religion, it comes with an elaborate list of virtues, vices and indulgences. As with religion, its claims are often non-falsifiable, hence the convenience of the term "climate change" when thermometers don't oblige the expected trend lines. As with religion, it is harsh toward skeptics, heretics and other "deniers." And as with religion, it is susceptible to the earthly temptations of money, power, politics, arrogance and deceit.

Jet Man...

Awesome!

Georgie is Lost!

Georgie (photo at right, click to enlarge) was lost on Friday, near the intersection of Lyons Valley Road and Peg Leg Mine Road.  If you've seen him, please contact Bill (info below).  Here's all the information I have:

Here's the info on Georgie. Lost on Friday November 25th near Lyons Valley and Peg Leg Mine Road. Georgie is Shih tzu three years old, black and white, weighs approximately 15 pounds. Very friendly. Has a very distinct bark, sounds like a much larger dog. Call Bill with information (619) 922-0527.

Landslide on Vesta...

The Dawn robotic explorer is currently orbiting the asteroid Vesta, returning tons of science data and imagery.  At right (click to enlarge) is a section of Vesta's surface showing a large cliff (20 km/12 miles high) and what appear to be landslides.  Via APOD, of course...

A Three-Fer!

James Delingpole (one of my favorite commentators) has a piece about ClimateGate 2.0 (one of my favorite topics) in today's Wall Street Journal (one of my favorite periodicals).  It's a must read.  The money quote:

This is the real significance of the climategate emails. They show that major scientists who inform the IPCC can't be trusted to stick to the science and avoid political activism. This, in turn, has very worrying implications for the major international policy decisions adopted on the basis of their research.

Plant Photos...

This is new to me: a site with a large collection of plant photographs, many of excellent quality.  Of course it doesn't have all plants, but it does have thousands of them, very conveniently organized by plant species and by source...

Totally Awesome Roller Coaster...

It's in the Alps, dang it – otherwise I'd be on my way there for a ride!

JVM Programmer's Reading List...

A nice reading list for programmers who work with the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).  There were several on here new to me...

What Are Those Spots?

Via my mom, this shot of the Diga del Cingino dam in Northern Italy. See the little spots on it? Scroll down to see what they are...

Alpine Ibex!

Adele Vasquez and Her Band of Siblings...

I'd say these kids have a future in music.  Even if this song isn't your cup of tea, listen to this 10 year old belt out the refrain.  Awesome!

Mutually Beneficial Arrangements...

I just ran across an advertisement for this web site, which appears to be soliciting young women willing to have paid “relationships” with older men. The ad was on an otherwise completely respectable web site.  The text of the site isn't explicit, but seems pretty clear that the relationship includes (a) sex, and (b) money being paid to the woman. From the site:

When you date someone, if you find them attractive and have a good time with them, things naturally progress. This might happen in one date or it might take a couple, but the point is that this is what happens. Also, as you’re dating someone, you develop a relationship of sorts with them, so if you’re short on your rent, they help you out. If you’re struggling to pay for school, they help you out.

If the person you’re dating likes you and they have extra money, they buy you gifts. This, folks, is dating. So, then, wouldn’t all dating be mutually beneficial? Now, when you actually plan a mutually beneficial arrangement, you should know that you’re dating, but you’re kind of laying out the terms of dating. You want gifts, you make sure that the person you’re planning your arrangement with will want to give them to you.

I'm no lawyer, but that sure looks dangerously close to solicitation to me!

I'm way past being shocked (or even surprised) by this sort of activity.  Six years in the Navy, visiting practically every port in the Pacific and Indian Oceans (and a few others as well) cured me of any lingering innocence concerning the intersection of money and sex.  But I was surprised to see this ad on an otherwise fairly conservative and straight-laced site...

Quote of the Day...

From Clive Crook at The Atlantic, commenting on the ClimateGate 2.0 emails:

“The stink of intellectual corruption is overpowering.”

Cited in this article in the London Daily Mail.

Awesome.  This time, the lamestream media is paying attention...

Curiosity Ready To Go...

The Curiosity Mars Rover is on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, scheduled to lift off about an hour from this post...

Pelican Nebula...

The Pelican Nebula (IC 5070), seen with an amateur 17" telescope in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  From APOD, of course:

Ode to the Welfare State...

Note the date.  Via my mom:

ClimateGate 2.0: the Deluge...

Since the release of more than 5,000 additional “insider” emails two days ago, the blogosphere and (this time) the news media have gotten to work analyzing the trove.  It isn't pretty.  A summary from one news article (Forbes):

Three themes are emerging from the newly released emails: (1) prominent scientists central to the global warming debate are taking measures to conceal rather than disseminate underlying data and discussions; (2) these scientists view global warming as a political “cause” rather than a balanced scientific inquiry and (3) many of these scientists frankly admit to each other that much of the science is weak and dependent on deliberate manipulation of facts and data.

Ouch.  That's gotta hurt!

Some additional goodies:

Les Jones is amused.

A nice search engine to let you research the new trove.

One of the recent studies suggesting that the CO2 multiplier might not be quite as large as early “research” suggested.  

The scare quotes are there because both the older studies and the new studies are still based on computer models, not something quaint like, say, actual observation or repeatable experiments or proven causation.  Those notions are so 1980!

Lost Dog in Lawson Valley...

Neighbors of ours found this very friendly guy along Lawson Valley Road, between Montiel Truck Trail and Hilary Drive.  He's obviously well-taken care of – and he looks like he needs to be back home!

If he's your lost dog, or if you know who he belongs to, please drop me a line at slightlyloony@jamulblog.com.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!