Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Spending More to Save More...
Only a liberal administration could publish this memo with a straight face: the Inspector General reports that the Census Bureau says it that it hired and trained more workers than it actually needed as a “cost savings measure” – and they were serious. One hardly knows what to say, especially after reading all the details.
Oh, the country is in fine hands!
Are you pissed off yet? Remember that feeling when you vote today. Throw out the trash!!!
Oh, the country is in fine hands!
Are you pissed off yet? Remember that feeling when you vote today. Throw out the trash!!!
Political Orientation vs. Knowledge of Economics...
Interesting article by Daniel Klein over at the WSJ. I'm not surprised at the results: libertarians and conservatives, on average, understand a lot more about basic economics than do progressives and liberals (just look at “Spending More to Save More” nearby)...
North Korea: Tourist Destination?
Well, that's what their tourist bureau thinks. Here's their advertising video to tell you all about it:
My first reaction on viewing this: it reminded me of the grainy black-and-white movies I saw as kid, showing the Soviet's May Day “celebrations” in Moscow...
My first reaction on viewing this: it reminded me of the grainy black-and-white movies I saw as kid, showing the Soviet's May Day “celebrations” in Moscow...
Monday, June 7, 2010
Could Obama be Hoping for a Republican Takeover in the House?
Fred Barnes outlines why this rumor circulating in Washington just might be true...
Laffer on Taxes...
Arthur Laffer has some grim prognostications on future taxes. Gulp. Just what I needed to read on a Monday morning...
Spirit Finds Carbonates...
The Spirit rover has found clear evidence of carbonate rocks on Mars. Carbonate rocks form only in neutral or alkaline water, in conditions conducive to life-as-we-know-it. Actually, Spirit recorded the evidence for the carbonate rocks way back in 2005 – but the evidence was recorded on a sensor that was covered in dust, and the dust distorted the readings. Just recently scientists figured out how to remove the distortion computationally, and thereby found the carbonate rock's “signature”. The same instrument has collected data for about six years, and the same computational technique means that much of that data can now be “cleaned up”, quite likely leading to other “new” discoveries with old data...
Want to Feel Better Everyday?
It's easy: spend time in nature. This is one reason I choose to live out in the boonies – it makes me feel better...
Autochromes...
A fascinating online collection of very early (~1910) color photos, using a technique called “autochrome”...
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Astrology or Science?
Nicola Scaffetta has posted an interesting paper over at Watts Up With That? The paper presents a model for climate change that's driven mainly by a number of cyclical phenomena within the solar system. Some of these phenomena (such as the distance between the sun and the earth) are not controversial; others are considered closer by many scientists to be closer astrology than to astronomy (such as spin-coupling between planets). I don't fully understand the arguments about the controversial bits, and don't have time to dig into them today – but I'm intrigued by how closely his model backfits to measured data...
Fun in the Chaparral...
Yesterday a colleague of mine (Aleck L., a software engineer) visited us. He's a young guy (28) who has spent most of his life in a city environment, so there were lots of surprises for him out here in the country. We had a great time watching him react to various things, such as the personalities and behaviors of our dogs (he spent a lot of time throwing things for Race) and the cats (he really liked Maka Lea's personality, and Halala Pala's magnificent tail), the birds on our feeders, hummingbirds buzzing him, etc., etc. Debbie cooked a feast for us – shrimp, salmon, asparagus, green onions, and mushrooms on the grill, and an apple cobbler for dessert. We were not hungry!
But the best part of all came near the end of the day, when we just casually mentioned to Aleck that we liked to go four-wheeling – something he'd never done. This surprised him (he's often surprised by the things I like to do), and we asked him if he'd like to go with us sometime. An emphatic yes. So then it occurred to us that despite it being 4 pm, we could still make it out to Los Pinos that same day – so we asked if he'd like to go right now, and got another emphatic yes.
So we all piled into the old LandCruiser and took off for Los Pinos. That trip was a whole series of new experiences for Aleck, and lots of fun for us to share them with him. We were surprised at the abundant wildflowers at this late date – we saw several beautiful types that we didn't recognize, plus larkspurs, a lupine that was new to us, huge quantities of penstemmon, and some of the nicest Indian Paintbrush we've seen in San Diego County.
At several points along the Corte Madera road, Aleck broke out his iPhone and took short videos of us traversing some parts of the road that looked challenging to him. That particular road gets more challenging as you go, so we kept running into spots that topped anything he'd seen before – and out came the iPhone again. We all had a grand time, but we didn't get back home until around 9 pm. That's late for us, but Aleck said it was plenty of time for him to go to “his next party” – and I do believe that's exactly what he did. Debbie and I went to bed...
But the best part of all came near the end of the day, when we just casually mentioned to Aleck that we liked to go four-wheeling – something he'd never done. This surprised him (he's often surprised by the things I like to do), and we asked him if he'd like to go with us sometime. An emphatic yes. So then it occurred to us that despite it being 4 pm, we could still make it out to Los Pinos that same day – so we asked if he'd like to go right now, and got another emphatic yes.
So we all piled into the old LandCruiser and took off for Los Pinos. That trip was a whole series of new experiences for Aleck, and lots of fun for us to share them with him. We were surprised at the abundant wildflowers at this late date – we saw several beautiful types that we didn't recognize, plus larkspurs, a lupine that was new to us, huge quantities of penstemmon, and some of the nicest Indian Paintbrush we've seen in San Diego County.
At several points along the Corte Madera road, Aleck broke out his iPhone and took short videos of us traversing some parts of the road that looked challenging to him. That particular road gets more challenging as you go, so we kept running into spots that topped anything he'd seen before – and out came the iPhone again. We all had a grand time, but we didn't get back home until around 9 pm. That's late for us, but Aleck said it was plenty of time for him to go to “his next party” – and I do believe that's exactly what he did. Debbie and I went to bed
Friday, June 4, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Watts Roundup...
In the space of just 24 hours, Watts Up With That? posts about how the Pacific Islands aren't really sinking, the arctic ice isn't really disappearing, and astronaut Harrison Schmitt bridles at the comparison between Apollo 13 and the BP response.
Who Knew?
Steve McIntyre:
Did any of you know that the US supposedly has a National Contingency Plan for dealing with very large oil spills? And that EPA has legal responsibility for maintaining readiness for such an eventuality? Who knew? I’ve watched hours of coverage and this hasn’t been mentioned anywhere.Read all about it.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
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