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| Why does this have the ring of truth about it??? |
Monday, July 16, 2012
Hope and Change in Foreign Policy...
Our Secretary of State visited Egypt this weekend, where she was greeted by crowds chanting “Monica, Monica”, and tossing rotten tomatoes. The so-called Arab Spring has resulted in a freely-elected Islamist government, unresolved tension between the elected government and the corruptocratic military government, and now ... open mocking of our official government representatives. I'm not arguing that the mocking isn't richly deserved, mind you. Just noting that the government of hope and change has indeed brought us change – though not of a particularly hopeful looking variety...
What's Wrong with the Federal Government: Chapter 39,743...
Spotted in a news report:
The news report is all about the Post Office “rescue bill”, and the discussion is laced with the assumption that rescuing the Post Office is a good idea. I don't know what the hell those politicians are thinking! Could it be that they're so attached to their “franking” privilege (basically, free stamps) that they're willing to stick it to the rest of us to the tune of tens of billions of dollars per year? I'll bet none of them have tried to get service at a post office any time recently.
It's high time (and has been for decades now) to privatize the Post Office and let the marketplace sort this mess out...
Meanwhile, the Postal Service is on pace to lose billions of dollars this fiscal year, and owes $11 billion, in two separate installments, over the next two and a half months in prepayments for retiree health care.Subsidizing the U.S. Post Office at levels like this is sort of like passing a gigantic bill that would put 200,000 people back to work making horse-driving buggies.
The news report is all about the Post Office “rescue bill”, and the discussion is laced with the assumption that rescuing the Post Office is a good idea. I don't know what the hell those politicians are thinking! Could it be that they're so attached to their “franking” privilege (basically, free stamps) that they're willing to stick it to the rest of us to the tune of tens of billions of dollars per year? I'll bet none of them have tried to get service at a post office any time recently.
It's high time (and has been for decades now) to privatize the Post Office and let the marketplace sort this mess out...
NGC 4565: the Needle Galaxy...
As seen by the Hubble telescope:
Just in case it's not obvious: this is a spiral galaxy seen edge-on...
Just in case it's not obvious: this is a spiral galaxy seen edge-on...
Sunday, July 15, 2012
A Lovely Evening Drive in the Cuyamacas...
Yesterday evening, just before sunset, Debbie and I took off to do a little wildlife viewing. We headed for one of our favorite spots: the Stonewall Mine area of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. Several times over the past few months we've seen herds of deer up there numbering in the dozens. This is the first year since the 2007 fires that we've seen the deer in numbers up there, so it's a cheerful sign of recovery for us to see them.
At first we were disappointed. We got to the little valley adjacent to the mine at just about the perfect time: just as the sun was setting. We saw one deer, just one. We did see lots of other things, though – turkeys (a dozen or so), and many other birds of the area. As we were leaving the Stonewall Mine area, we were just a bit disappointed.
That ended just before we reached the main road (state 79), when Debbie spotted a bobcat. This was the very first bobcat we've seen in Cuyamaca since the 2007 fires – prior to that, we saw them frequently. This is another very positive sign of recovery in the area; the bobcats wouldn't return until their prey (rodents, mainly) had returned in numbers. I had two good 15 second or so sightings with binoculars on it; it looked fit and healthy. In my first sighting it appeared be stalking something uphill of it; in the second it was just walking along. We were a bit surprised by its color; more reddish-brown than the bobcats we see around our home, which are overall more grey than brown. It had the trademark spots and stripes, huge feet, ear tufts, and of course the bobbed tail. A handsome animal, indeed.
Well, that made our evening! But there was still more on tap for us. As we drove home, we decided to make a side trip down Japatul Lane. This gravel road follows the bottom of a small valley, mostly farmed for forage, where we've seen deer before many times. It was dusk when we got there, just a half hour or so before dark. Down in the lowest part of the valley, we ran across a herd of 16 deer, including 5 very young fawns (still in spots). A mile or so away, we spotted a magnificent 7-point stag. We were able to park and watch the fawns and their mothers for 20 minutes or so, quite near to us. We loved seeing those fawns...
What a beautiful evening it turned out to be!
At first we were disappointed. We got to the little valley adjacent to the mine at just about the perfect time: just as the sun was setting. We saw one deer, just one. We did see lots of other things, though – turkeys (a dozen or so), and many other birds of the area. As we were leaving the Stonewall Mine area, we were just a bit disappointed.
That ended just before we reached the main road (state 79), when Debbie spotted a bobcat. This was the very first bobcat we've seen in Cuyamaca since the 2007 fires – prior to that, we saw them frequently. This is another very positive sign of recovery in the area; the bobcats wouldn't return until their prey (rodents, mainly) had returned in numbers. I had two good 15 second or so sightings with binoculars on it; it looked fit and healthy. In my first sighting it appeared be stalking something uphill of it; in the second it was just walking along. We were a bit surprised by its color; more reddish-brown than the bobcats we see around our home, which are overall more grey than brown. It had the trademark spots and stripes, huge feet, ear tufts, and of course the bobbed tail. A handsome animal, indeed.
Well, that made our evening! But there was still more on tap for us. As we drove home, we decided to make a side trip down Japatul Lane. This gravel road follows the bottom of a small valley, mostly farmed for forage, where we've seen deer before many times. It was dusk when we got there, just a half hour or so before dark. Down in the lowest part of the valley, we ran across a herd of 16 deer, including 5 very young fawns (still in spots). A mile or so away, we spotted a magnificent 7-point stag. We were able to park and watch the fawns and their mothers for 20 minutes or so, quite near to us. We loved seeing those fawns...
What a beautiful evening it turned out to be!
Oriole Feeder Hack...
The feeders we use are designed to be hung, so we've been hanging them from the same hangers we use for our hummingbird feeders. In general, we're very happy with these feeders – the orioles like them, plus they have a clever little “bee guard” that's very effective at keeping the bees out while letting the orioles in. But the feeders have one attribute we don't like: if you wiggle them in the slightest, the liquid food sloshes right out the holes. The orioles, being fairly large birds, shake the heck out of the feeders when they land and take off. We've had puddles of oriole food (sugar water, basically) collected under the feeders. Our suspicion is that more food spills than is eaten.
So this weekend I embarked on a hack of the oriole feeders – and so far, at least, it seems to have worked very well! The photo above right shows the hack: a 7/8" dowel poking up into a hole in the bottom of the feeder. This hole was already there, though it wasn't 7/8" in diameter – it was somewhere between 3/4" and 7/8". I don't think these holes were intended as a mounting mechanism; I think they're there to strengthen the bottom piece of plastic. I noticed that the holes had three vertical ridges of plastic in them, just 1/32" or so high. I ground them down with a Dremel tool, and voila! – a 7/8" dowel then fit very nicely.
To make the “L”-shaped dowels, I cut each dowel at 45°, then glued the two pieces to make a 90° angle. I used a fast-curing epoxy glue, and clamped them overnight. The clamping was a bit tricky, but I used a simple trick: I nailed a finishing nail into the angled end of each dowel (if you look closely at the photo above, you can see the nail hole just above the bottom). Then I used a small bar clamp to hold the pieces together – the nails kept the clamp from slipping. Then all I had left to do was to drill level holes in the post, to hold the dowels – this was made easy by a convenient level built right into my drill. A little glue, and I was done.
We've already seen that the rate of oriole food consumption has gone down, while the rate of oriole visits has not. Success!
While I was taking the photo above, I was joined by a fearless female hummingbird, drinking from a hummingbird feeder just below the oriole feeder I was photographing. Also, a very frustrated bug landed on the oriole feeder and tried very hard to get in the feeding hole. It failed completely :-) As always, click to enlarge any of the photos...
Who Knew?
Kangaroos have evolved a special response to shopping bags:
Yes, I know this can't possibly be for real. I'll bet they had a lot of fun making this video, while imagining all the Americans who would buy it...
Yes, I know this can't possibly be for real. I'll bet they had a lot of fun making this video, while imagining all the Americans who would buy it...
Welfare Cliffs...
Here's a beautifully simple illustration (click to enlarge) of the problems caused by the “welfare cliffs” (reductions in welfare benefits triggered by earned wages). This is worth studying, as an example of public policy with unintended consequences (at least, I sure hope they were unintended!).
The example on the chart below starts with a single mom earning (through a job) $29,000 a year. She also qualifies for several kinds of welfare payments, which (added to her wages) brings her net income and benefits to over $57,000 a year. Now consider what happens if she gets a raise to $32,000 a year in wages: the welfare payments she qualifies for drop steeply (the “welfare cliff”), and her total income and benefits drop to about $50,000 a year. So...she gets a raise of $3,000 a year, but gets a total income cut of over $7,000 a year. If you were in that single mom's place, would you ask for a raise?
The example in the chart below illustrates a slightly different point. That same single mom would have to get a raise from $29,000 to over $69,000 before she saw higher net income and benefits. This happens from a combination of two factors: the previously described “welfare cliffs” and our progressive income tax system that confiscates larger percentages of your income as you make more.
Only the stupid welfare recipients are going to try to earn more, to make a successful career. All the smart ones have the game figured out: you win by making between about $20,000 and $29,000 in wages. Anything more than $29,000, you lose. The winners coast along, taking in those nice, free welfare dollars...
What's the solution? It isn't hard. Design our tax code and welfare system such that no matter what situation someone is in, if they earn a dollar more in wages, an interesting percentage of that goes into their pocket. Better yet: do away with the welfare entitlements altogether, and turn it back into what it was originally intended to be: a safety net. There are many ways to accomplish this, but perhaps the easiest one is what some other countries already do: gradually reduce the amount of welfare over time...
The example on the chart below starts with a single mom earning (through a job) $29,000 a year. She also qualifies for several kinds of welfare payments, which (added to her wages) brings her net income and benefits to over $57,000 a year. Now consider what happens if she gets a raise to $32,000 a year in wages: the welfare payments she qualifies for drop steeply (the “welfare cliff”), and her total income and benefits drop to about $50,000 a year. So...she gets a raise of $3,000 a year, but gets a total income cut of over $7,000 a year. If you were in that single mom's place, would you ask for a raise?
The example in the chart below illustrates a slightly different point. That same single mom would have to get a raise from $29,000 to over $69,000 before she saw higher net income and benefits. This happens from a combination of two factors: the previously described “welfare cliffs” and our progressive income tax system that confiscates larger percentages of your income as you make more.
Only the stupid welfare recipients are going to try to earn more, to make a successful career. All the smart ones have the game figured out: you win by making between about $20,000 and $29,000 in wages. Anything more than $29,000, you lose. The winners coast along, taking in those nice, free welfare dollars...
What's the solution? It isn't hard. Design our tax code and welfare system such that no matter what situation someone is in, if they earn a dollar more in wages, an interesting percentage of that goes into their pocket. Better yet: do away with the welfare entitlements altogether, and turn it back into what it was originally intended to be: a safety net. There are many ways to accomplish this, but perhaps the easiest one is what some other countries already do: gradually reduce the amount of welfare over time...
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Police Report...
From the Saskatoon Police Service (for the geographically challenged, Saskatoon is a city in Saskatchewan, Canada), this report on an incident that happened on Friday, July 13th, 2012:
I've never met a police officer who could have authored this report. I would like to. Awesome!
The Saskatoon Police Service responded to a rather curious single vehicle collision at approximately 8:05 pm July 13th, 2012. A motorcyclist, who had been travelling at an excessive speed, attempted to navigate the curve to travel westbound on Circle Drive from Boychuk Drive. The 27 year old male operator was unsuccessful and subsequently lost control of his bike.There's a lot to love in this report. If forced to pick a favorite sentence, I think it would have to be the last sentence in the third paragraph.
The motorcycle and its operator separated as both left the travel portion of the roadway and became airborne. Witnesses report the two had enough momentum that they landed in a slough some distance from where they had departed the road surface. On attending to the scene Officers did indeed locate a wet motorcyclist and nearly submerged sport motorcycle.
The operator was transported from the scene to hospital by MD Ambulance personnel. He is suffering from injuries reported to be of a minor nature and is expected to make a full recovery. Investigators believe landing in the slough prevented him from being far more seriously injured. The motorcycle, being poorly designed for both flight and marine operation, sustained significant external and internal damage.
Charges of Driving at a Speed Greater Than Reasonable and Safe and Changing Lanes When Unsafe have been laid against the motorcycle operator. The Saskatoon Police Service would like to remind motorists that excessive speed is often a major contributing factor in vehicle collisions and that vehicles should only be utilized in the manner for which they are designed and intended.
I've never met a police officer who could have authored this report. I would like to. Awesome!
Time to Leave...
Well, take a look at what the State of California is now requiring lumber stores to do:
Even in 1890!
Snopes says this is for real. Read the message in the last photo (click to enlarge). Via my lovely bride...
Worst Job Evah!
The toshers of Victorian England. There are a lot of candidates for the worst job ever. This is certainly amongst the top tier, if not the outright winner...
Modern Olympics Started in ... England?
Read about the father of the modern Olympics: Dr. William Penny Brookes of Much Wenlock, in Shropshire, England...
Intellectually Stimulating Web Sites...
Starting with:
Many more listed in the comments...Videos and Lectures
Learn New Things
Testing Knowledge
Teach Yourself Something
Youtube Channels
EDIT:
Subreddits
Fear...
Via McSweeney's...
Reasons to Fear Canada.
BY Sean Carman
- - - -
Ninety percent of population is massed within 100 miles of northern American border.
Seems not to mind that one of its provinces has turned almost entirely French.
Excessive politeness only makes sense as cover for something truly sinister. But what?
Citizens seem strangely impervious to cold.
Decriminalization of marijuana and acceptance of gay marriage without corresponding collapse of social institutions indicate Canada may, in fact, be indestructible.
Has infiltrated entertainment industry with singers, actors, and comedians practically indistinguishable from their American counterparts.
Consistently stays just below cultural radar yet never quite disappears.
Parliamentary government and common-law judiciary appear to function acceptably yet remain completely inscrutable.
Never had a “disco phase.”
Seemingly endless supply of timber, donuts, and Scotch-plaid hats with earflaps.
Keeps insisting it “has no designs on America” and “only wants peace.”
Plays a mean game of pond hockey.
We Are the Hopeychange!
Mark Steyn at his best:
Thus, in 2008, Barack Obama, being the preferred choice of America's youth, was, by definition, the candidate of progress and the future. In humdrum reality, his idea of the future doesn't seem to be any more futuristic than the pre-Thatcher statist wasteland of Britain in the Seventies, but that didn't stop the massed ranks of fresh-faced youth chanting "We are the Hopeychange!" in adoring if glassy-eyed unison behind him at every campaign rally. Four years later, half of recent graduates can't find full-time employment; Americans' college debt is now larger than credit card debt; the number of young people with summer jobs is at a record low; and men in their late twenties and early thirties trudge upstairs every night to the same bedroom in which they slept as a kindergartner.He goes on to talk about the youth in the “Arabian Spring” – read the whole thing...
And that's before they're permanently buried by interest payments on the multitrillion-dollar debt and unfunded liabilities from Medicare. Yet in 2012 the rubes will still vote for Obama and be congratulated by the media for doing so. Because to be young is to vote for hope and change.
What a Waste!
But the dominance of drug-related “crime” is actually much worse than this chart depicts. Why? Because a significant fraction of the non-drugs crimes at right were committed by drug users to fund their habit. Depending on whose numbers you want to believe, something between 25% and 60% of all property crimes committed in the U.S. are indirectly drug-related. The main reason drug users commit crimes to fund their habit is because of the extraordinarily high price of the drugs they crave. Those drug prices are high only because they are illegal. Precisely the same thing happened with alcohol during Prohibition. It's happening here, too.
Many people aren't aware that drug regulations are a relatively recent “innovation”. The very first law of any kind regulating drugs in the U.S. was passed in 1892, to regulate opium use (restricting it to designated “opium dens”. This was aimed mainly at Chinese immigrants, and driven by widespread American disdain for Chinese culture. Very little else happened in the way of regulation until the 1920s – before that, any American who wanted any drug – coffee, alcohol, opium, cocaine, heroin, hashhish, marijuana – was free to purchase and use it. Drug stores kept opium, cocaine, and heroin on the shelf. Marijuana was readily available, especially in the American south. Alcohol and coffee were available nearly anywhere. There were users of these drugs all across the U.S. Some abused those drugs (like some abuse alcohol today). Most did not. American society didn't fall apart. In fact, one could make persuasive arguments that our high incarceration rates today (10 times what they were 100 years ago) are more damaging to our society than drug abusers were when drugs were completely unregulated.
I'd sure like to see us going back to our former libertarian approach to drugs: let the use of them be by personal choice, and punish only those that through their irresponsible use of drugs cause harm to others. In other words, let's treat all drug use the way we treat alcohol use today. If we did so, we'd “repatriate” tens of thousands of productive citizens, and likely cut our prison populations by two thirds (some think more!).
This is one topic where I'm 100% in agreement with the libertarians (and there aren't many like that!)...
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