The Horrible Mess from the BP Oil Spill...

I'm sure you remember all the screaming and hollering from just about everybody, a year or so ago, when the BP oil well was spewing millions of gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico.  It seemed like the ultimate environmental disaster.  Numerous scientists were predicting things like 20 years of tainted, inedible fish and shellfish from the Gulf, or even the complete collapse of the Gulf's food chain and hundreds of years to recover.

But then a funny thing happened.  They lost the oil. That is, the scientists couldn't find the giant blob of oil that should have been left just a few weeks after the well was finally capped.  At first the assumption was that they really had simply lost it – couldn't find it with their instruments.  After all, the Gulf is a biggish place.  Then we heard that the oil must have fallen to the bottom and slithered to the lowest places in the Gulf, the hardest ones to explore.  But when they looked, it wasn't there.  In fact, wherever they looked, there was no oil.  The Gulf's recovery from the oil spill is already nearly complete, just one year later. 

What happened? 

I've been waiting for the first reports to come in from scientists who got past their embarrassment and actually figured it out.  Here's the first I've seen, and it says, basically, the microbes ate the oil.  Much, much faster than anyone predicted.

Mother Nature is an awesome lady...

The Debt-Ceiling Deal...

According to Bill McGurn (the lead):

When it comes to Murphy's Law—the idea that anything that can go wrong, will—we Irish have our corollary: Murphy was an optimist.

Even from this sunny perspective, it's hard to look at the debt-ceiling compromise and see it as anything but a conservative victory. It's not just that Speaker of the House John Boehner succeeded in imposing some conditions in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling. It's that the deal has Democrats, including the president, essentially signing on to the Republican framework for defining the Beltway's budget problem: spending that is too high rather than taxes that are too low.

Dawn at Vesta...

The Dawn spacecraft has been inserted into orbit around the asteroid Vesta, and this is the first (of many!) science photos to be returned (as usual, click to enlarge).  Dawn is the first spacecraft to be completely reliant on a super-efficient ion propulsion system (instead of a chemical rocket) – not so long ago, these could only be found in science fiction.  You could fairly call this mission a proof of the system's viability...

National Creditworthiness...

Thomson-Reuters has an interesting (and, to me, surprising) infographic:

As usual, click to enlarge.  Lots of countries rated on here surprised me, in both directions. 

Standards...

Scott Adams nails it again – most hardware or software engineers will instantly recognize the uncomfortable truths he captures in three succinct frames:

 

Excellent, Mr. Adams...

I Don't Thought So!

That Green Thing...

Via my lovely wife:

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Too Much Truth to This...

Via my mom:

Laugh or cry – you decide...

Congressional Reform...

Our friend Vera S. passed this along:

Congressional Reform Act of 2011

1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

This is one of many variations of Constitutional Amendments running around, all the result of the current anger the public (including me!) feels toward their Senators and Representatives.  Some elements of this proposal I'd happily support; others (like 6) are more problematic – there are good reasons why the founding fathers decided that Congressmen needed protection from some law enforcement.

But... 

I think that such attempts to mandate the behavior of Congresscritters are largely missing the point.  Basically these are an attempt to get back to the “citizen government” that we like to believe is what our founding fathers intended.  But the truth is that we've drifted toward our current situation because of the Congresscritters we've elected, not because of the lack of any laws to control them.  The solution is actually simple, and does not require a Constitutional Amendment: we just have to elect the right people.  The Tea Party's successes in the debt-ceiling debate demonstrate quite graphically the power of the vote.  It's remarkable what they've achieved, despite being a tiny minority.

Imagine what they could achieve if they had the majority!

The 545...

My mom sent me an email containing a column by Charlie Reese, along with a poem and a list of taxes.  While the column was indeed written by Reese, it wasn't something published recently (as the email implied) – it was published in 1995 (and actually written 10 years before that!).  The rest of the email was a mashup someone decided to do.

The Reese column is a famous one, and worth reading if you've never seen it.  What I find most interesting about it is that its observations (like those of Mark Twain or H. L. Mencken) are just as pertinent today as when they were written.  Here's the conclusion of Reese's famous column:

We have annual deficits and a huge federal debt because that's what majorities in Congress and presidents in the White House wanted. We have troops in various Third World rat holes because Congress and the president want them there.

Don't be conned. Don't let them escape responsibility. We simply have to sort through 260 million people until we find 545 who will act responsibly.

Go read the whole thing.

Tea Party Anthem?

The music isn't quite to my taste, but the lyrics are:

Not a Good Idea...

Lost Cat!

Sabira Woolley has lost Jua Ini, their 7-year old Savannah cat (click to enlarge photo at right).  Here's her message to everyone:

Lost Cat / Gato Perdido
Reward / Recompensa
7 year old female Savannah cat named Jua Ini. Light yellowish tan with deep orange spots.
Missing since 7/1/11, but she has been reported seen very recently in the area of Castle Peak Lane and Beaver Hollow Rd.
If you see or hear of her, please let us know right away!
Please call us at 619-291-1225 or 858-354-1886!
Or email us at islandfever@islandfever.com
We love and miss her! We can't sleep from worrying about her.
Jua Ini is very wary, and runs and hides from strangers. Please do not chase or grab her.
You can gently and slowly offer her food and water, to encourage her to stick around. If you call us to get her, we'll be there in a flash.
If you help us locate her and we get her back safe, you get the reward (money or a Savannah kitten, or excellent live music).

They live on Lawson Valley Road, north of Skyline Truck Trail, a half mile or so from the stop sign.  Please keep an eye out for their beautiful cat, and contact them if you see it!

AGW Skeptics Triumphant?

Several readers (Larry E., Steve W., and Jessi S.) passed this along.  I'm not sure how much to read into it just yet, but if it's verified it's certainly a very interesting piece of data.

The basic notion is a simple one: scientists have known for a long, long time that the heat energy striking the Earth from the Sun is eventually re-radiated back out into space.  This much is obvious from the fact that the Earth hasn't been heated to the point of incandescence (which it certainly would be if the Sun's energy wasn't re-radiated).

The question has always been, basically, how long is that energy “stored” on Earth before being re-radiated?  That time then determines how hot the Earth gets.

The computer models used by the anthropogenic global warming (AGW) proponents makes a lot of assumptions about this critical factor.  The research at the link shows that one of the key assumptions – and one used by every AGW model – is dead wrong.  This means that the model's results are dead wrong.  And it also means that the model's projections of the impact of manmade carbon dioxide are dead wrong.

I want to see this research verified before I'll feel any sense of vindication.  But I am feeling some anticipation...

Shannon's Law Not Inviolable?

This looks very interesting.  I haven't read the white paper yet, and I don't know how practicable the implementation is, even if the underlying theory is sound.  But I do know this: if it really works and if it really can be built, it changes everything...

Your Orange Juice Isn't What You Think It Is...

De-oxygenation, labeling laws, and flavor packs, oh my...

Noonan: He is a Loser...

Peggy Noonan has some interesting observations on The One.  Her conclusion:

He is a loser.  And this is America, where nobody loves a loser.

Go read the whole thing.

Texting...in the 1800s!

Not on mobile devices, of course – but on the telegraph...

Washington Doesn't Speak English...

Despite being somewhat cynical about politics and politicians, I still occasionally get caught by their manipulative language.  It just happened again, in the debt-ceiling debate.  The Republicans are insisting on the need for spending cuts.  I agree, government needs to get smaller.  But “spending cuts” mean something different in Washington than they do to this country boy...

I thought “spending cuts” means that we'd spend less money in the future than we do today.  Oh, silly me.  It turns out that Washington uses a different definition.  To them, “spending cuts” means a smaller increase than would otherwise be planned.  Even with the “spending cuts”, the Boehner plan would spend more each year than in the year before.  Some “cut”!

Can you imagine anywhere other than the loony bin that is Washington where one could get away with this sort of blatant misuse of common English?  In any business environment, you'd be out on your butt before you could blink.

Rope.
Tree.
Politician.
Some assembly required...

The War in Mexico...

It continues to amaze me how little impact the violence in Mexico seems to have on people (citizens or not) in America.  Even the awareness of the violence is low – I've spoken with any number of people here who had no idea how bad things are just a few miles south of here.  From Strategy Page today:

Mexico’s most violent city, Ciudad Juarez, suffered over 3,100 murders last year. That's 238 per 100,000 population. That's far higher than Baghdad during the height of the terrorism violence a few years ago. In New York City, the rate is 6.5. The most violent American city, Camden, New Jersey, has a rate of 40. Meanwhile, Ciudad Juarez has a new police chief, who cleaned up the violence in Tijuana, a city with the same population (1.3 million), and the same problem (out-of-control drug gang violence.)

Ciudad Juarez' new mayor is famous for “cleaning up” Tijuana.  But that is a very, er, flexible term: last year Tijuana had almost 1,000 murders (including dozens of Americans).  More Americans were murdered last year in Tijuana than in all of San Diego County, by a large margin.

And yet very few people seem to even know about this, much less be concerned about it.  Partly this must be the relative inattention paid by the lamestream media.  Thousands of news clips play every year about American casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan; very few on American casualties in Mexico.  But the lamestream media is driven by what they believe people are interested in.  Are they correct on this one?  Are Americans completely disinterested in the chaos and lawlessness just south of the border?  Sadly, my own experience supports that notion...