Crotalus ruber...

Crotalus ruber

Otherwise known as the red diamond rattlesnake, the most common species where we live (in the mountains of San Diego County).  I had a slightly unusual experience involving Crotalus ruber yesterday.  The photo at right is not mine, but it looks very much like the rattlesnakes we see most often here.

Rattlesnakes are quite common out here in the summertime.  They need fairly warm weather in order to be active (a consequence of being cold-blooded animals).  From roughly May through October it's not at all unusual for us to find rattlesnakes in our yard.  During the warmest months (July through September) they're most common.  We know they're not particularly dangerous to us, but they certainly are to the two cats we have that live in an outdoor cattery, and to our four dogs.  We keep our dogs vaccinated against the rattlesnake toxin, which mainly buys us time to get a dog (if bitten) to a veterinarian for treatment.  We've never had one of our dogs bitten.

Debbie and I have gotten pretty good at spotting rattlesnakes (they don't always make their signature noise!) and at removing them as a threat to our animals.  Our approaches, though, are completely different: Debbie uses a sharpened hoe to chop them into pieces; I capture them with a snake-stick and relocate them to Cleveland National Forest.  This reflects our different understandings of rattlesnakes: Debbie perceives them as evil incarnate, I see them as an important part of our ecosystem (but not in my yard!).

But back to yesterday...  I was working from home, and around 11 am I wandered out to our living room to watch the orioles feed for a minute.  I heard what sounded sort of like a continuous rattlesnake rattle, but it didn't sound quite right (had an odd sort of warbling going on), and it never stopped (normally the rattling is frequently broken by periods of silence).  From inside the living room, all I could tell about the location was that it was somewhere in the direction of our outdoor cattery.

I ran outside, grabbed the snake-stick from its hanger, and got a five-gallon covered pail.  Then I (carefully!) went out to the cattery.  The first thing I saw was Koa and Kama (the two outdoor kitties) standing right in the middle of their cattery, wide-eyed and carefully watching something to the south side.  They were fine.  I walked around to the south side of the cattery, looking for the rattlesnake – which was still making that odd-sounding rattle.  Usually the rattling lets me locate the snake immediately, but this time I was having trouble – the rattling didn't seem to come from a definite place.  Suddenly the sound changed: it sounded like what we usually hear, and it was coming from a definite location.  WTF?  I spotted the rattlesnake, curled up just outside the cattery.  But then the sound changed again.  By this time I was a little closer, and I figured out what was going on – there were two rattlesnakes there! 

One of them (the one that had been silent) was only about 4 feet away from me.  Their coloring makes them very hard to spot in our soil, and this one was no exception.  It was also curled up just outside the cattery, near the southeast corner.  I picked it up with the snake-stick, at which point it uncurled and I could see that it was a fairly large adult, just under 3 feet long.  After depositing him (not happy at all!) into the pail, I went back and got the other one.  It was bigger – close to 4 feet long – and much thicker.  Into the pail with it!  I closed the lid and tied it down well (wouldn't want it to come open in the truck!), then we took a trip together to a nearby stretch of Cleveland National Forest with no homes anywhere nearby.  There I let them go, and they slithered off in opposite directions, still rattling away like mad.

Two rattlesnakes in the same place at the same time.  That's a first for me...

Nigel Farage...

I could listen to this U.K. politician all day.  Until, that is, I remember that we, tragically, have no politicians quite like him.



Odd factoid: Nigel's last name is the same as the name of a horticultural variety of Ilex opaca (American holly) that my father used to grow and sell on the nursery that I grew up on...

Post Turtle...

Via reader Jim M.:

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, whose hand was caught in the squeeze gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.
Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his role as our president.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle''.

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him, what a 'post turtle' was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'.

The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just Wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with."

Strange...

Your Grace...

The Right Reverend Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter, is not very happy about the adverse public reaction to his idea for raising money for his churches.  He wanted to profit from the erection of a couple of those huge wind turbines.  He expressed his surprise and unhappiness recently in a letter to his congregations.  James Delingpole has responded to him in an open letter.  A sample:

What surprised me about your letter was that a man intelligent enough to have gained two degrees (one from Cambridge) and canny enough to have risen to the not totally immodest heights of the Bishopric of Exeter should yet be puzzled as to why his flock might object to having a hideous pair of bat-chomping, bird-slicing eco-crucifixes plonked next to their tranquil North Devon villages.

You will definitely want to go read the whole thing. But put down your morning beverage first...

Cheap, Accurate Magnetic Field Sensor...

...that uses a drop of orange paint as the sensor medium.  Seriously.  Coming soon to a Digi-Key or Mouser near you...

The “Tax” Americans Don't Seem to Know About...

Are you an American citizen?  If so, did you know that we pay about 50% more for our sugar than the rest of the world does?  The reason we do this is so that the federal government can deliver $1.4B in annual subsidies to less than 5,000 sugar cane and sugar beet growers.  That's an average of $280K annually to each and every one of those growers (though the actual distribution is far less even than that – some growers get tens of millions a year). 

For the first time in decades, there's a realistic chance that this piece of obvious corruption will be voted down.  Write your congresscritters...

Avoiding Life's Top 12 “Black Swans”...

The term “Black Swans” comes from Nassim Taleb (and if you haven't read his books, I recommend them highly).  He uses the term mainly in a financial context, to describe unpredictable events that can upset an investment strategy – but the same idea permeates almost anything we do that tries to predict the future (especially if using statistics).

Doug McGruff takes that idea and applies it to life in general, in particular, to surviving.  He's come up with the “top 12” ways to avoid the most common life Black Swans – the things that are most likely to kill you.  A sample:

1. Drive the biggest vehicle you can afford to drive. Your greatest risk of death comes from a motor vehicle accident. Despite all the data from the government on crash test safety, I can say unequivocally that in a 2-car accident, the person in the larger car always fairs better. Force=Mass x Acceleration. The vehicle with larger mass imparts the greater force. Also, purchase the newest large vehicle that you can afford. Crumple zones in newer cars can expand deceleration time from 30 milliseconds to 90 milliseconds which decreases deceleration forces by a factor of 3. I am not a believer in global warming or man’s contribution to it, but if you are and you want to do your part by driving a Smart Car or a Prius you should be commended for potentially standing by your convictions with your life. Also, if your midlife crisis plans include a motorcycle or sports car, realize that you might resolve your midlife crisis by avoiding old age all together. It goes without saying to wear your seatbelts, and you should be engulfed by as many air bags as possible. If we were truly rational about risk, all seat belts would be 5-point restraints and we would wear helmets while driving.

I'm doing pretty well against his list. I drive a great, bit Toyota Tundra pickup (and so does my wife).  No 5-point restraints, but...he's got me thinking about that, especially when I have to drive during rush hour...

Apparently I'm Not Very Smart...

...because I solved all these little puzzles.  Dang. 

Humility: 1  Self-Esteem: 0

On That Idea for a European Union...

Rachel Lucas (an American currently living in Italy) has a post on current events in the European Union/EuroZone.  She concludes:

That idea of a real political union among the countries over here is borderline absurd. They’re too different, period. I cannot remotely imagine it happening, and the only way it can or will happen is if the Germans are in charge of it. It should be fun to watch this play out…I guess.

Meanwhile I’m buying more canned corn and re-teaching myself how to light a fire from scratch.

The rest of her post is even funnier, but I couldn't find a small quote that made sense out of context. Just take a couple minutes to go read the whole thing...

No-Ice, not De-Ice...

What if you could prevent ice from forming in the first place, say, on airplane wings, ship's superstructures, or on pipes?  Then you wouldn't need to use chemicals or manual labor to get rid of the ice – it simply wouldn't form in the first place.  Well, shortly we may be able to do just that!

The Humble Broom: A History...

Something I never stumbled across before: the Shakers were responsible for the flat broom design that's ubiquitous today.  I'd seen drawings of old fashioned brooms that were round in cross-section, but I'd never imagined that the Shakers were responsible for that design improvement – not so very long ago.  On that count and several others, the history of the humble broom is more interesting than I'd expected...

Our Best Friends...

Via my mom:

An old cowboy was riding his trusty horse followed by his faithful dog along an unfamiliar road.

The man was enjoying the new scenery, when he suddenly remembered dying, and realized that the dog beside him had been dead for years, as had his horse.

Confused, he wondered what was happening, and where the trail was leading them.

After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall that looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch topped by a golden letter "H" that glowed in the sunlight.

Standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like gold.

He rode toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. Parched and tired out by his journey, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'

'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered.

'Wow! Would you happen to have some water?' the man asked.

'Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up.'

As the gate began to open, the cowboy asked, 'Can I bring my partners, too?'

'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'

The cowboy thought for a moment, then turned back to the road and continued riding, his dog trotting by his side.

After another long ride, at the top of another hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a ranch gate that looked as if it had never been closed. As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.

'Excuse me,' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'

'Sure, there's a pump right over there. Help yourself.'

'How about my friends here?' the traveler gestured to the dog and his horse.

'Of course! They look thirsty, too,' said the man.

The trio went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with buckets beside it. The traveler filled a cup and the buckets with wonderfully cool water and took a long drink, as did his horse and dog.

When they were full, he walked back to the man who was still standing by the tree. 'What do you call this place?' the traveler asked.

'This is Heaven,' he answered.

'That's confusing,' the traveler said. 'The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.'

'Oh, you mean the place with the glitzy, gold street and fake pearly gates? That's hell.'

'Doesn't it, make you angry when they use your name, like that?'

'Not at all. Actually, we're happy they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'

Breakfast With the Family...

Via my mom:

Obama's Big Problem...

I suspect that this is the main reason why Obama finds his re-election for a second term ... challenging.

EPA Fraud...

You've probably seen those claims about all-electric vehicles getting 75, 90, or more “miles per gallon”.  Where do those numbers come from?  Are they actually meaningful?

Short answer: No.

Ode to Trader Joe's...

The anti-Whole Foods...

Why Delaware?

Why is Delaware the state that most companies chose to incorporate in?  Here's a little history...

The F-35 Figher Is Doing OK...

I don't know much about the F-35 fighter program, but most of what I've read about it are negative lamestream media stories wailing about its cost overruns.  This is an interesting counterpoint...

Emily: the Anti-Julia...

This is excellent:

Paw de Deux...

From Frankie T., this video of pure catness:

Castro's Daughter Endorses Obama...

Mary Anastasia O'Grady has a piece this morning in the Wall Street Journal, talking about Ms. Castro's endorsement of Obama (for reelection).  The Obama administration recently granted a visa to Ms. Castro so she could travel to San Francisco to make a speech about homosexual rights.  Given our current relations with Cuba, and their holding of American citizen Alan Gross, the Obama's administration's willingness to accommodate Ms. Castro seems pretty odd.  Ms. O'Grady concludes:

This is the kind of thing that makes U.S. presidents look weak in the eyes of tyrants and that seems to be the way Ms. Castro likes it. If Mr. Obama had more backing from Americans, she speculated in her CNN interview, U.S.-Cuba relations could be "as good or better than we had under President Carter." And isn't every American just pining for the good old days of Carter foreign policy?

That's a very nice touch of sarcasm, Ms. O'Grady.  Carter-style foreign policy...just what we need!

If I Ever Go Live Where It Snows...

...then I gotta get me some of these!

Hmmmm?

Why do we say hmmm?

Transit of Venus...

A nice video compilation of observations of the recent transit of Venus, made by various scientific instruments operated by NASA.  More than anything I've seen recently, this video brings home just how much our solar observing capabilities have improved in just the past few years.  Most of the differences in the various views you'll see have to do with what wavelengths of light are being observed.  From APOD, of course – and when you click over there, don't miss the links to other photos of the transit.  Some of them are amazing!

OMG: Chinese Dogs...

I don't know what to say to this – the animals aren't actually being hurt, but still...this just seems wrong on some profound level.  Debbie likes to put funny hats and reindeer antlers, etc., on our dogs – funny-looking, to be sure, but I have the same basic reaction to both that and these Chinese dogs.  Via my mom, who for some reason thought I should see this.  Of course, now that I have...it can't be unseen...

The Manslater...

It's about frickin' time someone invented this!

You Are Not Special...

What a refreshing message for high school graduates!  Over the past twenty years or so, I've run into so many young Americans who really could have used this message.  Really what they needed was to have been raised and educated in a manner consistent with this message – as so many young people outside America are.

Several readers sent me links to transcripts of this speech, but I was holding out for the video.  In this day and age, one can be pretty much certain that something like this would be videotaped.  Turns out I had four separate videos to choose from :-)

Posner Smacks Down Apple and Google...

... and disses the U.S. patent system while he's at it.  From a news report:

A U.S. judge yesterday threw aside a much-anticipated trial between Apple and Google-owned Motorola Mobility over smartphone patents. The decision and a blog comment by the same judge could prove to be a watershed moment for a U.S. patent system that has spiraled out of control.

In his remarkable ruling, U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner stated that there was no point in holding a trial because it was apparent that neither side could show they had been harmed by the other’s patent infringement. He said he was inclined to dismiss the case with prejudice — meaning the parties can’t come back to fight over the same patents — and that he would enter a more formal opinion confirming this next week.

There's more in this blog post by Posner, in which he calls the patent system “dysfunctional”.  Well, yes it is – but we haven't often seen insider, influential people like Posner admitting that.  Might we actually do something about it?  What a lovely thought!

Piano History...

This isn't what you think – just watch and enjoy Victor Borge's performance.  There are only a few notes played in this entire video...

Miki...

Miki is one of our dogs that Debbie is currently running in agility competitions (the other is Race, our Border Collie).  The photo at right is of Miki exiting a tunnel obstacle in a recent competition.  Click on it and check out his expression.  What do you suppose is going through his little dogly brain at that moment?

It worries me :-)

One Hundred Years Ago...

June 10, 1912, in Villisca, Iowa, a family of six plus two other children were killed by an ax-wielding murderer.  At that time and in that area, such crimes were “unheard of” – people didn't even lock their homes.  Nobody was ever convicted of the crime. 

The story of the murder's investigation is fascinating, involving religion, ineptness, crazy people, and more.  Also interesting: this may have been just one of several similar murders by the same murderer – in other words, a serial murderer.

Reading this story reminds me of something I've read several times in serious historical works: as best anyone can tell, the rate of such horrifying murders has not increased over the years (though the lethality certainly has, with modern weapons), despite the nearly-universal believe to the contrary.  Really!  The number of such crimes being reported and solved has definitely increased, but historians believe this is entirely due to increased communications around the world and vastly improved criminal investigations.  Consider a serial murderer in, say, 1800, who traveled for a month or so between murders.  Two towns in the U.S. in 1800 that were a few hundred miles apart would quite likely never even know that each other had experienced a similar murder – and even if they did find out, it would be long after the fact and long after any investigation.  Two and two would simply never have been put together.  The world before about 1920 or so was a much safer place for serial murders...

Venus on the Edge...

A few days ago we had the rare transit of Venus across the sun (as seen from Earth, of course).  This image, captured by the Hinode spacecraft, a joint Japanese/U.S./U.K. mission.  It is in orbit around the Earth, so it saw the transit of Venus just as us surface-dwellers did.

This image shows Venus just as it crossed one edge of the sun.  If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you can clearly see a bright ring all the way around Venus – sunlight refracting through Venus' carbon dioxide rich atmosphere. 

Photo from APOD, of course...

This Sounds Hopeful...

An Alzheimer's vaccine looks good in its first trial. 

As the good Instapundit would say: faster, please!

You Can't Unsee This...

You've been warned: if you watch this, you can't unsee it.  I stumbled across this video quite by accident, watched it, and had the creepiest moment I've had in a long time.  I'd rather wake up to see a tarantula is tickling my nose than to be alone with this girl...

Magic Mirror?

The top mirror at right uses a newly patented technology to make a low-distortion wide-angle mirror for car mirrors (shown at right as the top, handheld mirror).  Basically the patent covers a method for computing the shape of the mirror's surface.

From the descriptions I've seen on the web (which are unfortunately vague), the surface of the mirror is textured at a microscopic level – much like the surface of a high quality Fresnel lens (though not with circular patterns).  I've also been unable to find out anything about how the mirror would be manufactured.  My guess would be through a molding process, much like the high quality Fresnel lenses available today.

In any case, current U.S. regulations require a flat mirror on the driver's side, so it's unclear how long it will be before we could have such mirrors installed as standard equipment.  I suspect that when these new mirrors become available, they'll first be sold as add-ons. 

On the vehicles Debbie and I drive we have old-fashioned convex mirrors installed as add-ons to the standard mirrors, on both the driver and passenger sides.  In my vehicle, I also have a convex mirror for the inside rear-view mirror.  I hate those blind spots left by flat mirrors, and they are particluarly bad in a large pickup truck like mine...

Quote of the Day...

Today's quote is from John Yoo, currently a professor of law at Berkeley, formerly in G. W. Bush's Justice Department:

Candidate Obama campaigned on narrowing presidential wartime power, closing Guantanamo Bay, trying terrorists in civilian courts, ending enhanced interrogation, and moving away from a wartime approach to terrorism toward a criminal-justice approach. Mr. Obama has avoided these vexing detention issues simply by depriving terrorists of all of their rights—by killing them.

This is from an article Mr. Yoo has in today's Wall Street Journal.

My readers will, I think, be unsurprised to learn that I have no problem with executing, assasinating, murdering, vaporizing, or otherwise killing terrorists.  If the methods used are unsavory or inhumane, that also gives me no problem.  None at all, on either count.  I have more concern about the proprieties of killing cockroaches than I do about some asshole who thinks killing innocent people is ok.

I do, however, have a problem with a president setting himself up as the sole arbiter of who we target for such killings.  There are way too many problems with such an arrangement, not least of which are trusting the accuracy of the information made available to the president and trusting the judgement of the president.  Furthermore, it's not farfetched to note that a logical extension of Obama's process is to use drones in the U.S. to assasinate people here whom the president designates as enemies – with no due process at all, justified as required by the emergency situation.  The opacity and lack of accountability in Obama's chosen “kill list” process is, I believe, simply unacceptable – and downright dangerous.

Mr. Yoo has skin in this argument as a member of the previous administration.  Nonetheless, his point about the far greater transparency and accountability in the Bush administration is well taken – especially given the rhetoric of candidate Obama in 2008...

Reactions to Scott Walker's Victory...

Reader (and fellow Jamulian) Aaron B. sends these three videos along.  The second one is yet another mashup of “the Hitler scene” that has been used in hundreds of these things – but I think this one may be the best one yet.  As Aaron noted in his email to me, it's amazing how fast these videos pop up after some event...

San Diego in the News...

On Tuesday, the voters in the city of San Diego overwhelmingly approved drastic reform for public sector workers' pension plans.  Liberals seem to find this absolutely shocking.  Conservatives are saying “Hallelujah!”  The Wall Street Journal took note in a piece today.

My little flame of hope is glowing brighter...

Estonia in the News...

Estonia has been in the news a lot recently, mainly because of its robust economic performance – by far the best in the Euro-zone.  This doesn't sit well with Paul Krugman (New York Times columnist and alledged economist, thought of by many as the world's most publicly exposed lunatic), because Estonia's stellar performance was accomplished by implementing the exact opposite of Krugman's recommendations.  Basically, Krugman thinks the way out of the economic doldrums in both the U.S. and Europe is to spend, spend, spend – and Estonia achieved its little economic miracle through quaint techniques like limited government, carefully controlled debt, flat taxes, and fostering of a pro-business environment.

In recent days, this little spat has been kicked up a notch – because Toomas Ilves (the President of Estonia) has been lambasting Krugman on Twitter.  I've spent quite a bit of time in Estonia (though I haven't been there for almost 10 years now), and I know quite a few Estonians.  I'm not a bit surprised that Mr. Ilves is right in Krugman's face.  If you read through the posts, you'll see that not only is Mr. Ilves feisty, but he's got a quick wit as well.  But many others seem to be very surprised to see Mr. Ilves defending his country, including, I'd bet, Paul Krugman.  It will be interesting to see whether and how Krugman responds to one of his victims fighting back.  My guess: he'll either not respond, or he'll respond with his classic arrogance.

My longtime readers know that I think Estonia is a very special place.  I've visited there many times, and I've explored the entire country.  Many things make it special in my mind.  Just one of them is the importance of singing to them, and the festival held in Tallinn every five years.  This festival played an important role in Estonia gaining their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, in what has become known as “The Singing Revolution”.  This video gives you a small taste of that.  For more, I recommend watching the excellent documentary The Singing Revolution.

Bumper Snicker...

Seen on I-805 south yesterday afternoon, on a Prius:

To re-elect Obama would be like the Titanic backing up and hitting the iceberg again.

DuhBro Gotta Go!

I don't know what the source of these bumper stickers is, but I'd sure like to start seeing them on the road!  Via my lovely bride:

Chicken History...

The Smithsonian has an interesting article about a ubiquitous food animal: the chicken...

I Can't Help Myself...

Scott Walker's convincing win last night fills me with hope.  We shouldn't read too much into it, really – there are many persuasive arguments one could put forward about the special nature of the Wisconsin contest.  But even knowing this, I can't help myself – an American electorate that voted for Obama in 2008 just voted against Big Labor and for sober, business-like, common-sense austerity measures.  That's hopeful!  It's enough to make me dance in the streets.

Let's hope this sobriety continues through November!

Phone Repair...

Via my mom:

A Kansas farm wife called the local phone company to report her telephone failed to ring when her friends called - and that on the few occasions, when it did ring, her dog always moaned right before the phone rang.

The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog or senile lady. He climbed the telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned and the telephone began to ring. Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:

1 . The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire with a steel chain and collar.

2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.

3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the number was called.

4. After a couple of jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate.

5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.

Which demonstrates that some problems CAN be fixed by pissing and moaning. Thought you'd like to know.

Caffeine and Alzheimer's...

An article in Science Daily yesterday starts thusly:

Those cups of coffee that you drink every day to keep alert appear to have an extra perk -- especially if you're an older adult. A recent study monitoring the memory and thinking processes of people older than 65 found that all those with higher blood caffeine levels avoided the onset of Alzheimer's disease in the two-to-four years of study follow-up. Moreover, coffee appeared to be the major or only source of caffeine for these individuals.

A snide remark involving my parents (both of whom drink caffeinated beverages daily) comes right to mind. But I'll restrain myself, as my mom reads this blog. When she can remember, that is...

Dear Senator Simpson...

Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson once famously called senior citizens the “Greediest Generation”, comparing Social Security to a milk cow with 310 million teats.  This didn't sit well with a citizen from neighboring Montana, who wrote this letter:

Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight..

1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS.

2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).

3 My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud.

4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. NOW, you and your shill commission is proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.

6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you incompetent bastards spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.

To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling "bullshit" on your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU.

1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?

2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?

3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?

4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?

It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called Congress who are the "greedy" ones. It is you and your fellow nutcases who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what? Votes. That's right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it. And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch.

I sense that our Montana citizen is none too pleased with the senior Senator from Wyoming!

Antelope Canyon...

Antelope Canyon is a particularly beautiful example of a “slot canyon”, on Navajo land in north central Arizona.  You can only get to it with a special permit and a Navajo guide. 

I've never been there, but after seeing these photos I'd sure like to!

Obama's Revised Proverb...

Via my lovely bride:

Original Proverb:
“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish… and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Revised Proverb:
“Give a man a welfare check, a cell phone, food stamps, section 8 housing, Medicaid, 100 weeks of unemployment checks, a cell phone, a 40-ounce malt liquor, needles, drugs, contraceptives, and designer Air Jordan shoes … and he will vote Democrat for a lifetime.”

Oops...

Remember all the frightening stories from a few months ago, with environmentalist wackos wringing their hands as they described the polar ice caps disappearing, taking away all polar bear habitat and generally foreseeing the end of the world?

Oops...

Some Flowers in Our Yard...

Our yard has been in bloom for months, but now we're near the end of our “flower season”.  First up: our palo verde tree, which is planted right next to our hummingbird feeders.  The birds love it!

Here's a nice bunch of California poppies, right outside our front door:

And finally, a beautiful monkeyflower bush, on the hill above our house:

Cuyamaca in Bloom...

Debbie and I took a delightful trip today, up to Cuyamaca Mountain and environs.  Our first destination was the Descanso Junction Restaurant, where we had an excellent (and gigantic!) breakfast: country-fried steak and eggs with rye toast for me, and eggs Benedict with chipotle-flavored Hollandaise sauce for Debbie.  Then we went wildflower-hunting!

We first took Boulder Creek Road north up the west face of Cuyamaca, then cut over Tule Springs Road almost all the way to El Capitan Reservoir, then up Eagle Peak Road back to Boulder Creek Road, then up and over the pass on Engineer Road, and finally back toward home through Cuyamaca Rancho State Park.  Along the way we visited altitudes from 1,700' to 4,800' and a dozen or so micro-ecosystems.  This means we saw a huge variety of wildflowers, this being that time of year.  Photos of some of these are below. 

We also ran across something we've seen a few times before: butterflies eating the minerals left by evaporating water.  In this case, we were at the ford over Boulder Creek, along Boulder Creek road.

We had a wonderful time, and so did Race and Miki (they came with us)...

The Transit of Venus...

Unless you've been living under a potted plant for the past month or so, you know that there will be a transit of Venus across the face of the sun next Tuesday evening (in the U.S.).  The next such transit of Venus won't happen until the year 2117 - so this is your last chance (in this lifetime, at least!).  At right is a photo of the last such transit, courtesy of APOD.

With the right equipment (inexpensive and easy to obtain) and some care, you can safely see this yourself.  Or you can watch it online, in real time.

More information about the transit and how to watch it yourself, here, here, and here...

Grade Inflation...

Just one more thing on my long, long list of things that are wrong with American education: grade inflation.

What is grade inflation?  Just look at the red line (percentage of students receiving an “A” grade) on the graph at right.  That's grade inflation.  Today nearly half of all grades given in colleges are an “A”.

This doesn't help the student at all.  People evaluating students on the basis of their grades will know, like I do, about grade inflation.  The same kind of grade inflation is occurring with GPA scores, too.  Grade inflation makes grades (whether letter grades or GPAs) useless as a way to assess a graduate's achievement.  This is precisely the same effect that affirmative action have.

So who is helped by grade inflation?  Short answer: the institutions of higher education.

Here are three articles (one, two, three) discussing both the facts and the impacts of grade inflation. 

Every time something makes me think about American higher education, I'm overcome with a feeling of impending doom.  Damn.  I need a drink...

What Is This?

At right is a photo of downtown Tokyo, Japan, at night.  But there's something odd about the river running across the photo – what's that glowing blue stuff?

I'm going to make you go read the article to find out.  But I'll tell you this: it's really, really cool...

What Does This Mean?

I've been watching the T-bond rate for months now, as it decends to impossibly low interest rates.  From highs of over 15% APR in the early '80s, it has dropped to just over 1.5% APR as of Friday.

This is an absolutely incredibly low interest rate.  These interest rates are set by auction; by definition this means that there are plenty of borrowers (the buyers of the bonds) willing to lend the U.S. billions of dollars at these absurdly low rates.  If 1.5% doesn't really mean that much to me, here's another way to look at it: would you lend the U.S. government $1,000 for ten years, in exchange for $15 a year?  That's exactly what thousands of willing lenders, lending an aggregate of many tens of billions of dollars, are doing.

What on earth is wrong with these people?  Why would they do such a thing?  It especially seems to fly in the face of reason when you see the size (and rate of increase) of the U.S. debt, nicely shown on the graph at right.  In this sort of situation, one might reasonably expect to see inflation – which would make you very reluctant indeed to lend money at such low rates.

I've read dozens of articles claiming to explain this phenomenon.  They all boil down to some combination of two things:

– U.S. Treasury Bonds are the least bad place to park your money right now (in other words, the most likely place to give you your money back).  Because of that, it's a seller's market – lenders trip over each other competing for the chance to buy T-bonds.  The problem I have with this explanation is that 1.5% APR is hardly any better than stuffing money in my mattress.  I don't find this argument particularly persuasive.

– the smart lenders are persuaded there is almost no risk of inflation in the U.S., because of the success of the Fed in managing it.  This is so implausible that I simply cannot believe even the stupid money would believe it, much less the smart money.

So I am left completely puzzled by this phenomenon.  Any of my readers have any ideas?

Stop the Earth, I Want to Get Off...

I stole the title from Doug S., who sent this to me and ruined my whole day...

Quote of the Day...

Dave Carter is a regular poster on Ricochet.  He's also a long-haul truck driver, which gives him quite an unusual perch from which to observe the world.  I always enjoy his posts, so when I see his byline I drop everything to read it.

This time his post is a long story about the great care he got recently in Maryland for a kidney stone.  These are apparently extremely painful.  I've known several people with a tendency to have kidney stones, and the pain of them is the main thing any of them talk about.  Here Dave describes getting the pain medication, but the close of this paragraph had me rolling on the floor laughing.

... In moments it seemed the world slowed down as the pain began to subside, taking with it my capacity to speak coherently, focus on anything, or process any information in a rational way.  I was in a numbed stupor.  I felt like a Congressman. 

Dave, you're my kind of man!  Read the whole thing; you won't be sorry...

Social Security Reform Bill...

The Onion is a national treasure...

How to Live to be 450...

Via my mom:

As I was lying in bed pondering the problems of the world, I rapidly realized that I don't really give a rat's hiney. It's the tortoise life for me!

1 If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal.

2. A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water, and is fat.

3. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years.

4. A tortoise doesn't run and does nothing, yet it lives for 450 years.

And you tell me to exercise?? I don't think so.

I'm retired. Go around me.

In Case of Fire...

Senior humor, via my mom:

I failed the mandatory Health and Safety course at the Senior Center today.

One of the questions was: "In the event of a fire, what steps would you take?"

Big ones" was apparently the wrong answer.

Gender Differences in Brains, Explained...

Have you ever wondered how a woman's brain works? Well, it's finally explained here in one, easy-to-understand illustration:

Everyone of those little balls are a thought about something that needs to be done, a decision to make, or a problem that needs to be solved.

A man has only 2 balls. They consume all his thoughts, and he sleeps like a baby.

Sound Familiar?

Continental Drift...

The geology texts used in my primary schools ('50s and '60s) either never mentioned plate tectonics or continental drift, or devoted a single derisive paragraph to it.  My first real exposure to plate tectonics was in the popular press, in the early '60s – during the period when the plate tectonics theories were being fleshed out and convincing evidence to support them was just being found.  It was still, back then, a revolutionary theory – becoming mainstream, but not quite there yet.  A little earlier than my own experience, the notion of continental drift was considered pseudoscience.  Nowadays, of course, it is as close to “settled science” as anything else is.

The emergence and acceptance of plate tectonics was the first time I personally witnessed science (in any field) evolving.  I was fascinated by the way the heroes of plate tectonics metaphorically fought their way through platoons of doubters to win out in the end.  Years later, after much more reading on the topic, I realized just how heroic some of those folks actually were – having your career dashed on the altar of truth can't be very much fun...

Fractal Gears...

I had to examine this animated image closely to figure out how the artist did it – quite clever!  Note that the image is a gigantic (3.9mb) animated GIF; you have to give it a bit of time to download...

Flickers on the Wall...

I got up this morning at my usual 3 am, and wandered, bleary-eyed, into the bathroom for my morning shower (I'm only truly awake after this).  Just as I was reaching for the light switch, I noticed a distinct flicker in the shadows on the wall near the switch.  My slightly paranoid chaparral-trained mind immediately translated “flicker” into “fire” – but the color (a lovely blueish-white) was all wrong for that.  There are no artificial lights of any kind in our bathroom other than the main incandescent lights, so I had no ready explanation for the flickering.  As I watched, the flickering repeated.  Where was it coming from?

With a little investigation, I figured it out.  Looking out our small, high bathroom window, I could see a clear, moonless sky with a high horizon defined by the surrounding hills and our pine trees.  Then I noticed that one particularly bright star (I couldn't see enough of the sky to tell which star it was) was placed right at the edge of the pine silhouette – and the pines were moving about because of a light wind.  The star provided a nice point source of light, which made the pine tree shadows on my bathroom wall reasonably well-defined even though the pines were over 100 feet from my window.  And my eyes were sufficiently dark-adapted to let me see those shadows produced by the light of a single star.  Amazing imaging instruments we have in our head!

Home...

After a marathon day of travel from Newark, New Jersey (involving getting up at midnight to taxi to the airport, 6 hours in Newark airport, oversleeping pilots, broken airplanes, and missed standbys), I finally made it home to San Diego.  From that point on, things were just wonderful: a smiling Debbie picking me up from the airport, four ecstatic dogs bowling me over when I walked in the door, and innumerable cats saying “Yeah, I remember you.  I'll let you live.  For now...”  Then early this morning, the dog walk – under a spectacularly clear, moonless desert sky, the Milky Way a splash from north to south, directly overhead, in cool, crisp, dry desert air with all the wonderful aromas of the desert wafting about.  Beautiful.  Just beautiful.

And now, dang it, I'm on my way into work at the office.  What I'd really like to do right now is take about a month off :-)

Memorial Day Roundup...

Some links for you on this day that we honor our veterans:

My blog-girl Rachel Lucas on her visit to Normandy.  Her experience echoes my own nearly exactly – the folks from Normandy treat Americans so differently than other French people that they seem like another country...

A nice collection of Memorial Day videos...

My all-time favorite quote for Memorial Day, from General George S. Patton:

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.

And finally, Tim McGraw's classic song for Memorial Day:

Palate Cleanser of the Day...

Sit down in a nice, comfortable chair with a box of Kleenex at hand.  If your smile wrinkles are underused, grease 'em up with a little ointment.  Then just watch...

Religion and Population Growth...

Here's an excellent TED talk about the influence of religions on population growth.  It's an excellent counterpoint to the theories of Mark Steyn et al, and also a great example of the intellectual dangers of trying to establish causation by correlation.  By that last comment, I don't mean that I think either this talk or Mark Steyn's theories are either right or wrong – I'm just observing that starting with essentially the same data, both parties have arrived at very different conclusions.  This is true even though both of them are inferring causes by observing correlations in basically the same data set.  This stuff is complicated and hard.  But even if one ignores their stated conclusions, their observations are very interesting indeed...

Hide the Decline...

Steve McIntyre, despite his earlier claims that he'd be slowing down his blogging, is back in force.  This post of his is a classic takedown of the hypocritical defenders of the “consensus science”.  You'd think they'd have figured out by now that it's a bad idea to keep digging their intellectual hole when Steve is on their track...

Quote of the Day...

Rachel Lucas cracks me up:

...and she already knew I was an overachiever in social awkwardness.

Haunting Memorial Day Images...

And an excellent essay to go along with them (in the New York Times, of all places).  Also, see this piece by Tom Manion: Why They Serve.

I think of our fallen soldiers often; it's an occupational hazard of anyone with a keen interest in history.  This weekend I will remember them in order to honor them; I hope you'll join me...

Back in the USA...

Your blogger is back in the USA, and even had a day of rest (at my parents' home in Virginia).  I'm not sure what time zone my body is occupying; I'm still a little fuzzy even after my morning cup of tea.

As always, it's very good to be back home...