Technology mostly advances in little steps like this: new temperature sensor with much greater stability under long-term exposure to high temperatures.

A nice collection of photos taken through a microscope, like these butterfly eggs on a raspberry plant.

Fox News is reporting that the IPCC report was released yesterday, and that it says:

...finds the threat of man-made global warming to be not only greatly exaggerated but so small as to be “embedded within the background variability of the natural climate system” and not dangerous.

If that's accurate, it's quite a walk-back from their earlier reports. I haven't yet found any other analysis, nor can I find the report online – both a bit odd, as I'd think this would be big news in the climatology world...

The Concordia is upright and floating, now just waiting for calm seas before towing into the port where it will be dismantled for scrap...

Bruce Schneier notes this great article on the NSA revelations by Yochai Benkler, writing at The Guardian.  A sample:

What did we actually know about what we got in exchange for undermining internet security, technology markets, internet social capital, and the American constitutional order? The intelligence establishment grew by billions of dollars; thousands of employees; and power within the executive. And we the people? Not so much. Court documents released this week show that after its first three years of operation, the best the intelligence establishment could show the judge overseeing the program was that it had led to opening "three new preliminary investigations". This showing, noted Judge Walton in his opinion, "does not seem very significant".

If this was the best the intelligence community could put on the table when it faced the risk of judicial sanction, we can assume that all the hand-waving without hard, observable, testable facts is magician's patter, aimed to protect the fruits of a decade's worth of bureaucratic expansionism. Claims that secrecy prevents the priesthood from presenting such testable proof appeal to a doctrine of occult infallibility that we cannot afford to accept.

History doesn't give us very many examples of powerful bureaucracies being successfully reined in.  Let's hope we can make an exception of the NSA...

The power of make-up.  Via my lovely bride...

This is not how science is supposed to work...

Would you be surprised if every faucet in your house, and your shower, suddenly started spouting beer instead of water?  I sure would be!  But if someone wants to pull this prank on me, please make make it a nice Cabernet, ok?

Doesn't this just seem wrong?  Fed announces that they're going to continue to spend $85 billion each month on the “stimulus” plan.  Wall Street reacts with joy.  They're addicted to the corporate welfare...

Swiftboating those who question Benghazi.  Neo-neocon at her finest.

What?  The Navy Yard shooter wasn't a right-wing nut case?  Didn't use an assault rifle?  Drove a Prius?  Liked Obama?  You mean CNN didn't get all that right???

If I were an Oregon resident, I'd be most seriously displeased.  The Oregon state government awarded a $9.9 million contract to a PR firm to publicize its Obamacare healthcare exchange.  Some $2.3 million of it is being used on this ad.  The ad is completely content-free...

“Like walking down the street with a five year old.”  Jon Stewart rips the lamestream media for their error-filled Navy Yard coverage.

Bohemian Rhapsody.  A capella.  Physics.  String theory.  Awesome.

Starbucks: please don't bring your weapons into our stores.  Listen to their CEO here.  I think reaction will fall into two camps: Some people will simply stop going to Starbucks (that would be me, except I never go there anyway!).  Others will think they're being soft, because they're not outright banning guns.

After listening to the video of Starbucks' CEO (Howard Schultz), I think Starbucks shareholders should have another concern: this guy doesn't think his sole responsibility is to increase his company's share price – he thinks Starbucks has other social responsibilities as well.  If I were a Starbucks shareholder, I'd be looking to sell right about now – and wishing I'd done it yesterday...

I've never been to a Whole Foods store.  Friend and reader Simon M. sent me to this article, warning me to put down my drink first.  He's right.  After reading this post (hint: Kelly MacLean really doesn't like Whole foods!), it's a lot less likely that I'll ever go to one.  Sample:

I move on to the next aisle and ask the nearest Whole Foods clerk for help. He's wearing a visor inside and as if that weren't douchey enough, it has one word on it in all caps. Yup, NAMASTE. I ask him where I can find whole wheat bread. He chuckles at me "Oh, we keep the poison in aisle 7." Based solely on the attitudes of people sporting namaste paraphernalia today, I'd think it was Sanskrit for "go fuck yourself."

Namaste is a new word for me (the image at right shows the gesture). 

Another focus-merge image from Mars, taken by the Curiosity rover.  I'm jealous of the fantastic depth-of-field on these macro photos!

More about Migaloo the white whale.

And everyone who lives in California laughs out loud: “...some of the most marginal habitat in the state: a vacant lot in downtown Bakersfield...”  Spotted in a news story about newly discovered species of legless lizards – it just gets better and better!

Sounds like a Paul Simon song: Diamonds on the Skin of Their Teeth.  Scientists ponder the usefulness of nano-diamonds to promote bone growth or in dental implants...

The Pleiades are my companion each morning this time of year, when I walk the dogs before dawn.  But I can't see them quite like this.  High resolution version here, via APOD, of course...

Maureen is not happy with The One.  It's very entertaining for those of us who never fell under his spell to watch the formerly enchanted awaken from their trance.  Maureen is discovering that The One isn't the fervent progressive she thought she was supporting...

How to buy 1.2 million air miles for about $3,000.  Lots of chocolate pudding is involved.

Faster, please.  Researchers at UC San Diego have come up with a quick, relatively simple test for the mechanism of new antibiotics being investigated.  This has the potential to open the floodgates for the discovery of new antibiotics to counter the drug-resistant bacterial strains that have arisen.  I've been infected with one of these (after a surgery in the mid-'90s), but luckily a “cocktail” of several antibiotics was able to knock it down.  These days, thousands of people each year are dying because no cocktail exists that can knock the resistant strains out.  We need new antibiotics that use a different mechanism, and this new test should help researchers find them...

It's just a gesture.  Joseph Naso was sentenced to death yesterday, but he almost certainly he won't be executed.  He will just join the 725 other inmates on California's death row, where some have been for decades. 

I'd like to see the end of the death penalty, as I don't believe it's been justly applied.  Even one mistake is far too many, and there have been far more than one.  But I am not for leniency, not at all – I'd like to see incarceration be treated as punishment, not as rehabilitation.  Let Joseph Naso crush rocks until he can't crush any more, and let's have a C-Span-like channel that shows people what his life is like.  I'd also like to drastically reduce the number and kinds of crimes for which incarceration is the punishment – I'd especially like to get rid of the “morality” crimes, like drug use...

Transporter, demonstrated.  This would be fun to see in person, even if just for the audience reaction...

Where the good jobs are – and why.  Economist Enrico Moretti, writing in the Wall Street Journal.  A friend works for a company in the midst of relocating to downtown San Francisco, a move that puzzled me.  Now I know a plausible reason...

An apt portrayal, via friend and reader Simon M.

California leads the world – in failed progressive policy examples...

Unicorns and rainbows and flowers, oh my!  On wait but why, an interesting piece titled Why Generation Y Yuppies are Unhappy.  Lots of this rings true to me, and matches experiences I've had managing such folks over the past 20 years.  Note: wait but why is headed to North Korea!

Feminism – is there anything it can't do?  According to some, there's an epidemic of clinical depression in the U.S.   Is feminism the cause of it?

Just a few more tweaks to the blog layout, based on some feedback I've received.  It turns out that the problems people reported that got me started on the new layout were mainly caused by just a couple elements (especially the blog archive index).  Most of the stuff that used to be at the right is back, except for those few elements that caused problems when they're over there.  I appreciate the feedback; please keep it coming!

Heh. So we were on the way home just now, after having some delicious sushi at (the soon-to-be-closed, sob) Yuki Sushi. I was telling Debbie about my desire to avoid giving a friend a certain gift that was likely to cost our friend a bunch of money over time. Debbie said, instantly: “Ah, the California gift – the one that keeps on taking!”  Ah, too true, too true...

Russian police ninjas.  Must not have many donut shops there...

The media managed, as always, to get nearly everything wrong in early reporting on the Navy Yard shootings.

Obama's useful idiots.  It's a wonder to me that more of them haven't figured out that they're being used mercilessly.  Oh, that's right – they're idiots!

I cherish them more as the years go by: the Craftsmanship of Simple Things.

It's a more incremental change to drug policy than the upheaval I'd like to see, but it's certainly better than the status quo.

Frozen lake roulette.  I hope I don't know anyone who would do this...

Oh, ouch!  That's all I'm going to say...

Let's just be glad there isn't one ring to rule them all...  When Jonah Goldberg starts a piece like this:

As a conservative resident of Washington, D.C., where registered Republicans are outnumbered by about 9 to 1 and where truly conservative Republicans are outnumbered on a scale comparable to the predicament faced by Frodo and Sam when they sneaked into orc-infested Mordor, I find such statements hilarious.

You know it's going to be good!

Leftist logic on display.  Robert at Small Dead Animals makes a lovely point...

Our military bases are more vulnerable than most people think.  Here's an analysis that comports with my own experiences in the U.S. Navy.  I saw some crazy security issues back then.  Two come to mind immediately. 

First, I frequently stood watch on the “after brow” (one of the gangplanks used to board the ship) when we were in port.  We were armed with .45s – but we were not issued ammunition.  Apparently the brass were afraid of arming enlisted men :) 

Second, our radio room had a combination lock on the door, intended to keep out people who weren't cleared to see the classified teletype traffic laying about all over the room.  But it was darned inconvenient to remember that frequently-changed combination, so each time it was changed, someone would tape a piece of paper with the new combination on it – directly over the lock. 

Not quite what you might call a “fortress”!

How would you answer this question?

Would you rather have Congress avoid a government shutdown by authorizing spending at existing levels or would you rather have a partial government shutdown until Democrats and Republicans can agree on what spending to cut?

Rasmussen says that 53% of likely voters polled were for the partial shutdown, and just 37% for Obama's preference of continuing spending at current levels.  That smells like hope to me.  Faint, perhaps just barely detectable, but there...

A flying pig moment...  The Detroit Free Press – not exactly known for their conservative bias – has published an excellent analysis of why Detroit went broke.  In particular, it stabs all sorts of Democratic sacred cows in places where it hurts.  It also generally faces up to the fiscal realities in a way you wouldn't expect a liberal rag to do.  Too bad they didn't start behaving this way back when it would have done some good, like back in the '70s...

The progressives call this progress.  I call it indoctrination.  The Second Amendment, as it appears in the actual Constitution:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

A new U.S. history textbook:

The people have the right to keep and bear arms in a state militia.

That is not an accurate description of the Second Amendment, nor does it reflect the way the Supreme Court has interpreted it.  But it does comport with the way progressives would like the Second Amendment to be understood.

The progressives effectively own our public schools and almost all universities.  This has consequences, not a single damned one of which is to my liking...

Ahmed Akkari is sorry.  I sure wish we would see a few more radical Islamic fundamentalists like that.  And when I say “a few more”, I mean like a few million.  Even better would be to throw in a few million radical Christian fundamentalists, too.  Just think how much saner the world would be!

Evil is running for Governor of Massachusetts.  And I don't mean Evil Kneival, either – I mean the real thing.

Jaguar 1, caiman 0.  Dramatic photos and story...

Disney war bonds, from WWII.  I'd never heard of these before, or of Disney's involvement...

Foot-long, inch-wide tubes of earwax.  Scientists collect these from whales.  Turns out they have rings, much like tree rings.  And these rings contains traces of pollutants and other environmental chemicals.  Science never loses its capacity to surprise me!

$1.7 billion dollars in 2013.  That's how much Los Angeles County alone is spending on illegal aliens this year.  Both our immigration system and our welfare system are badly broken.  Where they intersect, it's a disaster...

The Concordia is vertical and floating.  Parbuckling was involved, along with a lot more practical marine engineering.

Pragmatism vs. theorism: the U.S. military gets practical answers to a classic problem...

Most successful chemical weapons attack evah?  Doug Feith, writing in the WSJ:

Bashar Assad may have pulled off the most successful use of chemical weapons in history. For the two years leading up to the Aug. 21 Damascus sarin gas attack, President Obama was saying that the Syrian dictator "must go." No longer. In one month, Assad has risen from outlaw butcher to partner in disarmament.

Why would a company walk away from a $541 million investment, writing it all off?  Two words: Obama's EPA.

WSJ editors observing the House Republicans: “Kamikaze missions rarely turn out well, least of all for the pilots.”  The editors want the House Republicans to start using their majority of 218 votes to accomplish something useful.  Trouble is, very few Republicans have a position that I like much better than the Democrats' positions, so I'm not too excited about the Republicans learning to use their House majority effectively...

So we just ran “down the hill” to drop off my truck for a smog inspection, at Rancho Jamul Auto Care (where Dave and his crew deliver top-notch auto maintenance at fair prices, with old-fashioned honesty and integrity).  Out here in Lawson Valley, it's wall-to-wall blue sky and bright sunshine – but when we went over the last hill before Jamul town, we entered the fog zone.  Thick fog dropped visibility down to a hundred feet or less, within a quarter mile of topping the hill.  To our astonishment, we saw many cars – perhaps a quarter of everyone we saw – driving in this pea soup with no lights.  Just to be clear: I have no objection at all if someone wants to demonstrate evolution at work by doing something stupid and taking themselves out.  But when they do something stupid that could take us out, I object strenuously!  Turn your damned lights on, you morons!

The erstwhile socialist paradise of Venezuela is falling apart.  Strategy Page leads with:

In Venezuela annual inflation hit 45 percent, the highest it has been in five years. This sort of thing is making the country increasingly unstable. Venezuela is supposed to be a socialist paradise by now. But like every other attempt at this use of centralized economic planning and control it has only resulted in more poverty and growing shortages of basics. Some newspapers have had to stop publishing, or go with much smaller papers, because of a widespread shortage of newsprint. Some states in Venezuela are introducing rationing and more aggressively going after hoarders (and blaming the shortages on them although, if you do the math, hording is obviously a result of the shortages not the cause.) Unemployment is climbing because the attempts at centralized economic control make it very difficult to run a business and create new jobs. Businessmen and entrepreneurs continue to flee the country, many going to neighboring Colombia where the economy is booming. About a third of Venezuelans still believes in the Chavez dream of a socialist paradise and blame the continuing failure of the plan on internal enemies and plots by the United States. But as the economic problems get worse and neighboring nations (like Colombia and Brazil) prosper under free market policies, more and more Venezuelans reluctantly change their minds.

The U.S. has two big potential calamities that are both quite close to home: Venezuela and Cuba.  Both of them are likely to implode, though I wouldn't care to make a prediction other than “within the next 50 years”.  When they do, there will be refugees by the millions, and aid by the billions.  And a lot of liberated people, thoroughly indoctrinated in the failures of socialism...

High speed missile interceptions.  These are amazing feats of engineering.  When President Reagan first proposed developing these systems, he was derided as a deluded, starry-eyed technophile.  Plenty of his detractors are still around, and still pontificating – I'd say some apologies are in order.  I'm not holding my breath, though...

I've long been fascinated by the sense of touch.  Long ago I noticed that I could feel things like the print on a laser-printed page, or the difference in the texture of a piece of wood sanded glass-smooth and a piece of glass.  Researchers are starting to figure out how that sense actually works.  Good vibrations are involved...

Product recommendation: If you're interested in the English language, whether from simple curiosity or from need, then I recommend the computer version of the Oxford English Dictionary, version 4.0 (aka “OED”).  It's listed on Amazon today at $218.50, though I paid considerably less a few months ago when I bought it on sale.

I've been using the OED for many years now.  First I used the enormous printed version found in libraries.  Then I used the one printed in tiny type that comes with a magnifying glass.  Then I used the first computer version (2.0).  The current version beats them all. 

I am addicted to its research capabilities, which are extensive – something you simply can't do with the printed version.  For example, suppose I wanted to know all the English words derived from Estonian words.  I can do that (answer, in 4 seconds: just two words - loaf and rye).  Or suppose I want to know all the words containing “dak” (answer, in 2 seconds: 44 words including didakai, fondak, and pradakshina).

It's a wonderful thing to have this tool on my desktop.  I keep it open all day long...

The earth's core super-rotates eastward.  The main evidence is provided by subtle changes in propagation speed of sonic waves made by earthquakes, a tour de force of scientific measurement.  What's being touted here isn't so much that discovery (which happened a while back), but the successful creation of computer models that match the observations.  That's an example of models being used well in the furtherance of a deeper understanding – unlike their primarily investigative use in climatology, where there seems to be no shame in promoting models that don't even come close to matching those pesky, politically-incorrect, non-grant raining actual observations.  Reality bites, if you're a climatologist like Mann or Hansen...

Drones are the next big thing.  We're going to see a lot of ideas like this one: a drone that can carry a defibrillator (quickly!) to someone who needs it.  Some of the ideas will work, some won't.  Some will make a lot of money, some will lose a lot.  Sounds like the last big thing (can you spell dot com?), doesn't it?

Jamul Casino news: The San Diego Daily Transcript reports:

Improvements along state Route 94 associated with the proposed Jamul Indian Village casino are scheduled to be discussed during a Caltrans-sponsored meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Cottonwood Country Club Tuesday.

The Jamul Band of Mission Indians, which has a six-acre reservation, plans to develop a 203,000-square-foot gaming facility.

The casino building is expected to also include a bank, administrative facilities, food and beverage service, a child-care facility, an arcade area, some retail, a tribal center, a human resources facility and about 2,000 mostly structured parking spaces.

The casino, which will have 2,000 slots along with assorted table games, is projected to employ about 1,800 people. Penn National Gaming will be managing the facility.

The development is also expected to house a new fire station, a wastewater treatment plant and a catch basin system for stormwater.

Proposed highway improvements include widening highway 94 to four lanes between Melody Road and the band's property line and a new traffic signal may be installed at the Highway 94/Lyons Valley Road junction. New turn lanes would be also be added at Highway 94 and Jamacha Boulevard.

Here we go again!

Speeding tickets are for the little people.  Definitely not for Washington politicos...

Not as bad as the press made it look...  Big surprise there, right?  Friend Aleck L. alerted me earlier today to the news reports about “lots of people” making racist tweets about the selection of an Indian-American for Miss America.  Reason's Shikha Dalmia (self-proclaimed “Indian American in residence” at Reason) has a sober and positive take on it.  Big take-away: the “lots of people” reported in the press turns out to be exactly 16 people.  Just 16 tweets out of hundreds of thousands...

Excellent illusion!

You just never know... what you're going to find on Amazon.  They have entire product categories I had no idea existed!  I stumbled across this article and went looking for the product on Amazon to see if it was for real.  I couldn't find it – but I did find this at the top of my search.  My favorite review:

Thanks to this product my anus now actually glows in the dark. It helped me find my way during a black-out, though I had to walk backwards and bent over.

California, boldly going where nobody else is stupid enough to go – enabling illegal immigrants to become licensed lawyers.  As if our lawyers weren't problem enough already!

Strange ghost towns, all around the world.  I'd never heard of most of them...

What's wrong with the NSA, and what we need to do about it.  Bruce Schneier's roll – and leadership – continue...

“Trapped in their porcelain prison.”  I have conflicting responses to watching this.  Part of me wants to roll around on the floor, laughing.  Part of me admires the clever ad.  Part of me wants to claw out my eyes.  Part of me marvels at the entrepreneurial spirit that's obviously still alive.  And yes, it's a real product...

How Obama should have replied to Putin.  But he didn't, so Jim DeMint did it for him.  Thanks, buddy...

For some reason, I'll bet he didn't vote for Obama.  And I'll bet his wife is darned happy about that!

California is at the forefront again.  Of idiocy, that is...

This pretty much sums up the situation, says friend, former colleague, reader, and Idaho real estate mogul Doug S.  Yup, sure does.

A hidden message.  The two graphs at right, from a WSJ article, tell an interesting story about union membership.  On the left, you see that overall union membership has declined to almost half the level it was just 20 years ago.  On the right, you see steep declines in the private sector, while public sector union membership rates are basically flat.  I read this as evidence that unions no longer serve a compelling purpose in the private sector, but in the public sector they've got a very effective racket going – and their members know it.

The future of education.  The story of a Mongolian boy genius who is learning electrical engineering by taking (free) online courses by MIT.  If education is the true goal, this is the way to do it.  Combine this with certification decoupled from university attendance (IOW, prove you know your stuff and you can get a degree without even attending a university) and you've got something industry would slaver over.  Which means, of course, that they'd help pay for it, if someone can figure out how to organize it...

Like you've never seen it before...  Here's a short movie of our moon, rotating so that you can see the entire thing.  You can't see this from Earth (because the same side of the moon always faces us), so NASA made this with images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) satellite.  Make it full screen and you'll get a nice 3D effect.  Via APOD, of course.

You think this would work with politicians???  Man fends off a grizzly bear by punching it.

Summers out, markets up.  I'm writing this 15 minutes before the markets open, and the Dow futures are up over 150 points – mainly on the news from last night that Summers has withdrawn as possible replacement for Ben Bernanke.  Apparently the Wall Street crowd didn't think much of Summers, either!

Ta da!  Martin Kleppe gives us the world, spinning – in ASCII, rendered via JavaScript...

Rope. Tree. Some assembly required.  Emails from Lois Lerner show that she was very involved in targeting Tea Party non-profit applications.  Both the original skulduggery and the subsequent coverup are jail-worthy events – but just think how much more effective my solution would be!

That might just be Obama's desired outcome.  Assad is the big winner in the U.S. – Russia chemical weapons deal...

Bruce Schneier is starting to sound like a leader: Take Back the Internet and How to Remain Secure Against the NSA, both excellent (and classically Schneieresque) pieces.  Bruce is working with the Guardian on the Snowden disclosures, which is somehow quite comforting to me.  I would love to see him take the helm of a non-governmental, well-funded effort to guard our online liberty – that would be even more comforting...

It's a brave new world: a Chicago woman forces a man to have sex with her girlfriend.  They robbed the poor bastard, too.  Is it really that hard for a girl to get laid these days?  Or was that just an added bonus for the ladies, who were primarily robbers?

Obama thinks he's playing chess, but Putin is playing poker.  And winning.  This sounds right to me, but I'd take it one level further: Obama is playing chess poorly, and Putin is playing poker like a champ...

It won't be Summers.  Good.  Unfortunately, that still leaves a lot of room for Obama to make a bad choice to replace Ben Bernanke...

What scares me most is just how many people think this is a good idea...  “Drink up!”, says The One's better half.  I have no plans to change my behavior on her advice.  One would be better off seeking counsel from a retarded dead squirrel than from her...

I wish the leader of my country was half as clever and effective...  An imaginary encounter with “Vlad” (Putin, not the Impaler)...

She's thankful now, but at first she didn't like the idea of having a gun in the house.  Her husband insisted that they get the gun, and that she learn how to use it.  That gun, and her knowledge of how to use it, came in awfully handy when two men broke into her house...

“Listen to me, goddamnit!”  Charles Cook, writing at NRO, has a great piece up on the recent successful Colorado recall elections.  The lead:

Despite the media’s insistence that the Colorado recalls were the first skirmish in a new proxy war between the National Rifle Association and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, the simple truth is that Tuesday’s stunning elections were prompted and won by forces on the ground. At the Stargazers Theatre last night, I sat with those forces as a famous victory unfolded. Speaking after Senator Morse conceded, the recall’s founder, Tim Knight, told the crowd that “you must own your freedom in order to protect and pass it on to your children.” He has spent the last few months doing just that.

Amen, brother.  Indications in Washington are that the progressives are taking careful, if dismayed, note of the events in Colorado...

It's the cycle.  For some people, the traditional seasonal cycles of farming are comforting and attractive.  As an engineer, I'm more into creative destruction :)

Water changes everything.  A photographer finds beauty in the myriad ways that humans have affected our planet using water...

Wings of a Butterfly.  Nice name for a beautiful nebula, officially known as M2-9.  Via APOD, of course...

Tomorrow is the shortest day of the year.  Really!  “High noon” is when the sun (wherever you happen to be) is at its highest point in the sky.  The time between one high noon and the next day's high noon is the “apparent solar day”.  The length of that day varies during the year, depending on where the Earth is in its orbit, and (especially) on how fast the Earth is moving.  Because the Earth is in an elliptical (not circular) orbit around the Sun, these things vary.  And tomorrow is the shortest day of all!

Nobody said Mother Nature was fair.  Some tentative indications that having tooth cavities protects against head and neck cancers...

It's an asymmetrical war, but this asymmetry favors us.  A peek at how al Qaeda sees American UAVs (drones)...

How the world sees Putin and Obama...