Seen Around...

Via my lovely bride.  I don't know if they're real or they're photoshopped, but I like the sentiment:

Seen on the back of a U.S. Marine's Jeep...

At the intersection of Highway 59 and Highway 43 in Hutchinson, Kansas...

Along Highway 61, also in Hutchinson, Kansas...

Race in Action...

A photographer captured this beautiful shot of Race (our border collie who competes in agility) cresting an A-frame obstacle.  Most dogs (in fact, every other dog I've seen) clambers over the A-frame, some more quickly than others.  Race, on the other hand, simply leaps over the top!

Race, leaping over the apex of the A-frame...

Five Stars...

Via my lovely bride:

The kids filed into class Monday morning. They were all very excited. Their weekend assignment was to sell something, then give a talk on salesmanship.

Little Sally led off. "I sold Girl Scout cookies and I made $30" she said proudly, "My sales approach was to appeal to the customer's civil spirit and I credit that approach for my obvious success."

"Very good", said the teacher.

Little Debbie was next. "I sold magazines" she said, "I made $45 and I explained to everyone that magazines would keep them up on current events."

"Very good, Debbie", said the teacher.

Eventually, it was Little Johnny's turn. The teacher held her breath. Little Johnny walked to the front of the classroom and dumped a box full of cash on the teacher's desk. "$2,467", he said.

"$2,467!" cried the teacher, "What in the world were you selling?"

Toothbrushes", said Little Johnny. "Toothbrushes", echoed the teacher, "How could you possibly sell enough tooth brushes to make that much money?"

"I found the busiest corner in town", said Little Johnny, "I set up a Dip &Chip stand and I gave everybody who walked by a free sample." They all said the same thing, "Hey, this tastes like dog poop!" Then I would say, "It is dog poop. Wanna buy a toothbrush?" I used the President Obama method of giving you some crap, dressing it up so it looks good, telling you it's free and then making you pay to get the bad taste out of your mouth."

Little Johnny got five stars for his assignment.

Preconditions for the American Revolution...

Dave Carter over at Ricochet looks at current conditions to see how they map onto the Declaration of Independence.  He concludes with this:

The hour is late, and the moment urgent. Moderates didn't risk their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor by signing the Declaration of Independence. The men who signed that document went, as they say, "all in." The weak of heart didn't storm the beaches at Normandy. There was no compromise at Iwa Jima. Liberty isn't cheap, and can be lost much more easily than earned. Do we have the heart to reclaim liberty in America? The answer lies in the heart of the free man, if there are enough of us left. Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness, …these are the gifts of "Nature's God," and nature has unyielding determination.

Read the whole thing...

Obama's Autobiography...

What does it tell us when we discovery that our President simply made up large and important parts of his autobiography?

Mostly it makes me distrustful of him, and that in turn makes me very uncomfortable.  I'm now even more skeptical of anything he says or any position he takes, than I was before.  In other words, I now assume he's a dishonest man.

Yet another way in which Obama reminds me of Tricky Dick...

Another Posner Apple Patent Spanking...

Groklaw has it...

A Hopeful Sign for America...

In general, businesses and individuals make decisions more rationally than governments do.  An example from current events gives me some hope about U.S. politics, for reasons that will take a bit of explaining.

Airbus (the European aircraft manufacturer and only major competitor to Boeing) recently decided to locate a new plant in the U.S. to help it win future contracts with the U.S. government.  But where would they locate that plant? 

Would it be in Washington state, alongside Boeing, with tens of thousands of appropriately skilled workers nearby?  No. 

Would it be in California, with tens of thousands of high-tech workers readily available?  No.

Where, then?  Why, Alabama, of course.

What?!?  Alabama?  Why would any manufacturer in its right mind locate a plant in a state that epitomizes (to the legions of urban “progressives”, anyway) redneck hicks?

Perhaps for the same reasons that Mercedes and Toyota have already located plants there: business-friendly political environments, large and well-educated workforces eager for jobs, and low taxes.  Alabama is a right-to-work state (translation: unions are constrained), has a top income tax rate of 5%, a sales tax rate of 4%, and some of the lowest property tax rates in the country.

So why does this give me some hope about my country's future?

The fifty states that currently make up our union are in competition with each other, and a significant component of this competition relates to the political environment.  Good ideas in the political environment tend to win the competition.  This has been happening in Texas for the past decade – business-friendly politics has resulted in Texas having a booming economy and being relatively unscathed by the housing bubble.  It also has the largest rate of population growth of any U.S. state – our citizens are voting with their feet. 

My hope stems from this: in the long term, the political marketplace afforded by the fifty separate states will reward the winners.  And the winners are being chosen by people and businesses as they make decisions about where to live, or where to locate their business.  Alabama looks like one of the winners right now.  California lobbied Airbus hard to get that plant, and failed.  Politicians and citizens alike took note.  The more this happens, the less defensible the progressive economic death spiral becomes.  In the end, we all win.

So...I takes my hopes where I can get them.  And I'll take some here, with this news...

A Holiday Trip...

Debbie and I did a little local four-wheeling today, on a road that was new to us.  This doesn't happen all that often in San Diego County, as we know our local roads fairly well – so this trip was a bit of an adventure for us...

One turn off Pamo Valley Road

Our starting point was toward the north end of Pamo Valley, just north of Ramona.  This valley's floor is occupied by the aptly named Pamo Valley Ranch, an unexpectedly large cattle ranch located surprisingly close to urban areas.  Once you're in the valley, you could easily imagine that you're in some remote part of central California, as you're surrounded by hills, and the landscape is classic California riparian: oak and pasture.  There's not a bit of urburbia or suburbia in sight.  The last public turn off of Pamo Valley Road is on Forest Service road 11S01, otherwise known as the Lusardi Truck Trail.  This “road” is a bit rough, probably too much so for an ordinary car, but easily handled by our LandCruiser.  The photo at right shows 11S01 just after turning off Pamo Valley Road.

Gore-gated again!

We were able to drive about 5.8 miles up the road.  The two side roads that actually went anywhere were gated off, and just before we left the National Forest, we were stopped by a “Gore gate” (so called because rumor has it that Al Gore's cousin in Tennessee got a lucrative contract for these things nationwide) on our road (at left).  It's frustrating to be stopped on public lands by these damned gates that started popping up about 10 years ago – it happens more and more these days.  But the trip we could make was very enjoyable.

Under the oaks...

That stretch of road alternates between lush oak-filled creek valleys (some still running, even in July) and wide-open dry chapparal hillsides with nice views.  Some of the creek valleys were wet enough to support willows, cottonwoods, and what looked like asparagus at a distance (poison oak kept us from getting close to these).  We also saw two beautiful fern-filled glens, alongside a flowing creek and still under the oaks.  There was a lot of bird life, including some cries that we couldn't identify; something new to us.

At one point, not far from the Pamo Valley side of this trip, we ran across a deposit of quartz chips.  We first noticed a bunch of white chips in the road, but then saw an area roughly 6' in diameter that was composed of nothing but these chips...

Since we had to turn around and go back to Pamo Valley (thanks, Al – NOT!), we took another road we knew: Black Mountain Truck Trail.  This leads out of Pamo Valley to its east, and winds up at Lake Sutherland, just north of Ramona.  This approach has you winding around a hill until suddenly you're looking at the downstream side of the large dam that formed Lake Sutherland – quite impressive, and the biggest dam I know of in San Diego County.  Here's a map showing our two routes today.

And of course there were flowers:

Myths of the American Revolution...

One of the things that fascinates me about reading history is the way each historian casts his or her own filters on their telling of the tale.  It's a rare historian who doesn't edit (especially by omission) the story to better fit their own notions and preconceptions.  The omitted bits often relate more of the objective reality of any particular historical event than the celebrated and generally recorded bits.  So I especially cherish those historical accounts whose very purpose is to relate those often omitted bits.  This article is of that genre, though I know (from other reading) that some of the “realities” mentioned are not particularly well documented, and may not actually be true.  It's still interesting reading, and provokes one to reflect about how history gets made...

Independence Day...

July 4th, our Independence Day, is normally a day I would quietly celebrate.  I'm not feeling much like celebrating this year, for complicated reasons of which the recent ObamaCare decision is just part of.  If I was to try to summarize how I'm feeling, it might go like this: it feels like the Progressive movement is destroying the country whose independence I would celebrate.  My country.  It would be a bit like celebrating the birthday of a cherished dog – who was busy gnawing at my leg.  It's hard to celebrate under those circumstances...

But while I don't feel like celebrating, I haven't given up and I'm not feeling desperate.  I want my country back, and I know it's possible to do it.  This November is the big chance – not the last one, but the biggest evident opportunity.

I saw this video from Bill Whittle yesterday.  It's the closest thing I've seen or read to my own position.  I'm with Bill...

Senior Citizen Health Care Solution...

Via my mom, and attributed to the Maxine cartoon strip:

So you're a sick senior citizen and the government says there is no nursing home available for you, what do you do?

Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets. You are allowed to shoot four Senators or Representatives.

Of course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating, air conditioning and all the health care you need! Need new teeth?
No problem. Need glasses? That’s great. Need a new hip, knees, kidney, lungs or heart? They’re all covered. And, as an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now.

And who will be paying for all of this? It’s the same government that just told you that you they cannot afford for you to go into a home.

Plus, because you are a prisoner, you don't have to pay any income taxes anymore.

Is this a great country or what?

It Really Works!

Try this little arithmetic puzzle – it will reveal your favorite movie of all time.  I tried it, and to my absolute amazement, it really works!  Via reader Simi L.:

MATH QUIZ : Reveals your favorite movie


DO NOT cheat and scroll down to the movies . Do YOUR math, THEN compare the results to the list of movies at the bottom.

1. Pick a number from 1-9.

2. Multiply that number by 3.

3. Add 3.

4. Multiply by 3 again.

5. Your total will be a two digit number. Add the first and second digits together to find your favorite movie ( of all time ) in the list of 17 movies below:


Movie List:

1. Gone With the Wind
2. E.T.
3. Blazing Saddles
4. Star Wars
5. Forrest Gump
6. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
7. Jaws
8. Grease
9. The Obama Farewell Speech of 2012
10. Casablanca
11. Jurassic Park
12. Shrek
13. Pirates of the Caribbean
14. Titanic
15. Raiders of the Lost Ark
16. Home Alone
17. Mrs. Doubtfire

Seen in Walmart...

Via my lovely bride:

Garfield Assassination...

A great short article on this bizarre chapter of American History...

Saturn, Titan, and the Rings...

APOD presents this beautiful photo taken by the Cassini probe, still orbiting Saturn and studying the Saturnian system. 

Dinosaur Feathers...

Over the past year or so, more and more scientists are speculating that all dinosaurs had feathers, not just the few that evolved into today's birds.  I'm old enough to have grown up with the “scientific consensus” that the cold-blooded dinosaurs had all gone extinct, with only fossils remaining.  Then came the revelations of the last ten years or so that (a) dinosaurs were actually warm-blooded, and (b) that some dinosaurs had evolved into today's birds.  That was shocking enough!  Now the new “scientific consensus” is edging toward the notion that all dinosaurs had features – a kind of fuzzy thermal coat, much like mammalian fur.  If this is correct, then really the reign of the dinosaurs isn't much different (in evolutionary historical terms) then the much later reign of large mammals (saber-tooth tigers, mammoths, giant beavers, etc.) – the ones we know as fossils were the branches of the family that didn't survive, and the ones we know as birds were the branches that did...

FLIP Ship Turns 50...

Way back in 1962, the FLIP ship first set sail.  I first learned about it from a science newsletter in my school's library in that same year, then later read about it in National Geographic magazine.  I've followed news about it with interest ever since.  This year marks its 50th year of operation.

In the early '70s, when I was in the U.S. Navy and stationed in Long Beach, California, I found out that the FLIP ship was based out of Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego – just a short drive down the coast.  I called and discovered that it was in port, and I was able to arrange a visit through a friendly research assistant (the fellow my call was routed to).  I spent an interesting afternoon going through the ship.  After being used to the USS Long Beach (the nuclear powered cruiser that I was stationed on), the FLIP ship looked positively tiny to my eyes!

These days, the FLIP ship has its own home page on the web.  I also found this short news story on it, with a video of the flipping action.

Guess Who Was President of the Slide Rule Club?

My junior high school (in central New Jersey) had a slide rule club, and I was a member.  As I recall, the other members tolerated me mainly because I knew how to use the log-log scales, which mystified just about everyone else.  I certainly wasn't elected to any exalted position in the club!  But this fellow was: Michael Bloomberg.  Yes, that Michael Bloomberg...

How Unoriginal Mediocrity Is Done...

Rachel Lucas, at your service...

Modern Manufacturing: Yachts...

The short documentary-style ad below gives a fascinating look into a modern manufacturing facility that makes extensive use of industrial robots.  The mix of human and robotic workers is typical, though the robots keep advancing into more and more “skilled” areas.  The benefits of this kind of manufacturing are compelling, and well presented here.  They include: precision, low waste, high speed, the synchronization that enables just-in-time manufacturing inventories, (much) lower labor costs, (much) higher “up-time”, and more.  Watch: