Do You Miss Him Yet?

George Bush had many faults, but this is a great illustration of an aspect of him that I greatly admire.  And I miss it, badly. One cannot doubt his sincerity and his caring.  One cannot imagine either in Obama.  Via my mom...

Those Who Do No Remember the Past...

Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.  So said George Santayana once upon a time, and the man had a good point.

In 1934, when FDR was proposing enormous spending programs as the cure for the Great Depression, the Chicago Tribune ran the editorial cartoon at right (click to enlarge).  The parallels with the Obama administration (who considers FDR a hero) are obvious.

The editorial position of the Chicago Tribune today isn't quite so clear.  Obama is a hometown boy, and they've been quite supportive of him, and defensive of his failures.

I've made the comparison between Obama's initiatives and FDR's on quite a few occasions.  By far the most common reaction I get is complete ignorance of FDR's progressive agenda – cue the Santayana quote.  Those few who actually knew about FDR have had basically evenly split reactions, between those who idolize FDR and believe that his spending programs were the reason for the end of the Great Depression, and those who loathe FDR and believe that his spending programs extended the Great Depression.

So it appears that sometimes one can remember the past and still be doomed to repeat it!

Via my mom...

Cat & Owl...

Certainly not what I expected!

Libya...

Things are looking very grim for Gaddafi right now.  The news stories are short on details and confirmation, but it sure looks like Gaddafi's fall (and possibly his demise) is imminent.

But then what?  I've read everything I can find on the rebels, and I've found precious little that gives me confidence that post-Gaddafi Libya will be stable, peaceful, or free of radical Islamists.  It is completely within the realm of possibility that Libya could end up even worse than it was under Gaddafi.  That's still possible in Egypt, too – and in fact, recent events seem to indicate we're headed that way.

I'm hoping for the best, but wondering what our “smart power” administration will do if the worst happens.  At least 2012 isn't all that far away...

Your Visual System...

The human visual system is far more amazing that most people realize.  We can't even come close with modern digital cameras and video processing.  For example: how many megapixels do our eyes have?  The question isn't entirely answerable, but at a rough approximation: 576 megapixels.  My new camera has 12 megapixels.

Much, much more here, by Dr. Roger Clark...

Douglas Crockford JavaScript Talks...

They're all online...

It's Going to be a Long Election Season...

... for the Democrats:




Via reader Simi L.

If PHP Were British...

Quite funny, in a geeky sort of way...and most especially if you know PHP...

5,000 Posts...

The previous post was my 5,000th on this blog, over the course of almost six years of continuous blogging.  Hard to believe I've been doing it for that long, and even harder to believe I actually wrote 5,000 posts!

Can You Imagine?

Can you imagine how much skill and practice went into acquiring this ability?


For this young man's sake, I just hope he can somehow use this in whatever career he's aiming for – if not directly, then at least as practice becoming expert...

Iowa Passion...

A new Sarah Palin video release, excellent as always.




If she's not planning to run for President, then why is she making these videos?

Soft as Pudding...

From a film review by Kyle Smith of the New York Post:

Young adults born in the 1980s and early 1990s leaped out of nicotine- and alcohol-free wombs to be deemed geniuses every time they passed a test, awarded trophies every time they caught a ball and tucked into comfy car seats on the victory ride over to their favorite sushi palace.

They took groovy public-service internships at an age when their grandfathers were sweating on assembly lines or being shot at by Nazis, lived with their parents until they were 28, then proceeded directly to their shrinks for marathon weeping sessions every time they messed up a project at work. They're as soft as pudding, and they know it. The Greatest Generation didn't need triathlons or X-treme skateboarding; every Friday night was a thrill ride after manual labor and eight Schlitzes.

Matches my experience in the city, but not so much out in the country, or on the farms that remain. Just read recently that the Marines and Army have a far higher proportion of farmers than one finds in the general population, reinforcing this notion...

Mimicking Nature Win!

A 13 year old kid discovered something interesting about solar cells, by observing trees.  Both are ways to collect the sun's power.  He observed that the collectors on trees (the leaves) are distributed in many small pieces, and not all are pointed the same way.  Solar cell arrays, generally speaking, are single rectangular arrays pointed in one direction.  By splitting up the solar cells and aiming them in many different directions, he discovered that the average power output was higher than a single array pointed in one direction.  Cool!

He did leave out a few important details, though.  For starters, many conventional solar arrays are mounted on systems that keep them pointed toward the sun.  That technique produces more power than splitting the array up into pieces.  But I think the biggest piece he left out is that many trees (especially temperate and arctic trees) have mechanisms to aim their leaves toward the sun.  This mechanism isn't perfect, but it does greatly improve the efficiency of the collectors.

His idea is still cool, though...

I suspect the results would have been much different had they been seeking the support of those with low GPAs – which is, basically, what our politicians are doing with respect to taxes...

The Final Step...

A parable for our times, via reader Jim M.:

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then - just to loosen up and be a part of the crowd.

Inevitably, though, one thought led to another and soon I was more than just a social thinker.

I began to think alone -- "to relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't help myself.

I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau, Muir, Confucius, Camus and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly that we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!" "But Honey, surely it's not that serious." "It is serious," she said, her lower lip aquiver.

"You think as much as college professors and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a fallacious syllogism," I said impatiently.

She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some John Locke. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors.

They didn't open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

Leaning on the unfeeling glass and whimpering for Emerson, a poster caught my eye, "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster.

This is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker.

I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.

I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.

Today I took the final step... I joined the Democratic Party.

Winning the Future...

Obama's re-election campaign has adopted the slogan Winning the Future.

The acronym for that is WTF.

Excellent.

Donating to a Political Campaign = Treason?

Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert):

I would go so far as to say that donating to a politician or political party in this environment is as close as an ordinary citizen can come to treason. Political contributions broke the government, and a government that stays broken will doom the country. Political donations made perfect sense when the system was working. That time has passed. It's time to try something different. We can start with Howard Schultz idea to stop donating to politicians.

Read the whole thing...

Anniversary Gift...

The little fellow at right – not yet named – is a Savannah Cat.  Debbie picked him out of a litter yesterday afternoon.  He's not quite old enough yet to come home with us, but in about ten days he will be.

Savannahs are a cross between a serval and a domestic cat (i.e., an ordinary house cat), and has some characteristics of both.  This little guy is an F4B, and will grow up to weigh up to 20 pounds.

Debbie seems quite excited about her anniversary gift!

Anniversary...

Thirty years ago today, Debbie and I were married.  It just doesn't seem possible that so much time has gone by, but I'm pretty sure the calendar isn't lying to me...

Barack's Bullshit Bingo...

Via Simi L., a political game that anyone can play:

This will make it easier to listen to Obama. Try it the next time you hear the President speak. It will keep you awake!

Rules for Bullshit Bingo:

1. Before Barack Obama's next televised speech, print your "Bullshit Bingo" card.
2. Check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words/phrases.
3. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout "BULLSHIT!"