Trice-cream
A few minutes ago I heard the familiar fake-calliope tune of the ice-cream vendor, always a sure sign of summer. The tune sounded different this year, so I peeked out the door and saw that the ice-cream man is pedaling a tricycle! Has a big cooler box on the back, presumably unrefrigerated. This wouldn't work in seriously hot places but it's probably OK in Spokane where the typical July day hits 85 degrees.

I'll bet he has an edge over the Cushman-driving competition because his overhead will be much lower: no insurance, no gasoline, no engine repairs.

Adds a nice old-timey feel to the neighborhood. Hope he succeeds!
  ¶ 3:32 PM

  "Methane first" proposed
Interesting change of viewpoint in the latest issue of New Superstitionist mag.

In an editorial article, Kirk Smith (Prof of "Global Environmental Health" at Berkeley) proposes tackling methane before CO2. He makes most of the usual wildly false assumptions, but skips the false assumption that CO2 is the sole representative of Satan.

Only about half the warming that has occurred up to now is due to CO2. The rest is caused by other greenhouse gases, particularly methane, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and black carbon particles (soot). Similarly, less than half of the total warming expected over the next 20 years will be caused by CO2. ... Recent modeling shows the way to have the biggest impact ... is to immediately reduce emission of these gases. ... Another important consideration is the impact on human health. Of all the greenhouse gases, CO2 is one of the least damaging.

Yes, idiot, it's the major nutrient for plants in case you hadn't noticed, and humans need plants.

Why, then, are methane and [others] not more prominent in discussions over global warming? One reason is that the official weighting scheme is out of date.

Polistra doubts that this change will happen, because the carbon ball is already rolling too fast to stop; also because the Wall Street Mafia stands to make zillions and quillions of dollars from the next bubble in "offset derivatives"; also because the real money driver behind Gaia is the natural gas industry. And what is natural gas? Methane.

Still, this change would be a vast improvement. Given that the government is bound and determined to do something big to sate the blood fetish of the Gaians, I'd much rather have them working on methane. Much better to reduce an actual poison that really does kill people, instead of reducing a molecule that keeps the earth alive. Best of all, it would force governments to work harder to eliminate termites, since termites are the greatest source of methane!


  ¶ 12:46 PM

  RIP Var
Lots of celebrities dying this week.

This is the most important one. None of those other celebrities saved lives.
  ¶ 8:58 PM

  Madoff goes down
NRO has a good discussion of deterrence in the Madoff sentence. Jonah Goldberg says:

The minds of very smart criminals are probably very complex, if for no other reason than the fact that crime is generally a stupid thing to get caught up in (which is why you very rarely see guys with perfect SAT scores screaming at the camera on "COPS"). Conveying a sense that the system will have no respect for you and your station, that if you get caught the system will be cold to your plight, seems to me a worthwhile message to send, even if it's of only marginal utility. It's also a good message to send to people further down the socioeconomic station who believe that the system is rigged against them.

The last point is important, but the rest shows inadequate understanding of the criminal mind.

Length of sentence is not the major factor in deterrence. Professional criminals, whether white-collar or plain old robbers, have a solid sense of their odds of being caught. The ones who arrogantly believe they're too smart to get caught don't last long. Successful crooks know how to estimate the competence and crookedness of the police, and know how to find the blind spots.

In this case the odds of being caught are still extremely low, because the SEC and other supposed watchdogs are still asleep. Obama hasn't followed FDR's example, hasn't cleaned out the old system from top to bottom. The supposed watchdogs had decades of warnings about Madoff and did nothing. We don't know at this point if they were just asleep, or if Madoff was feeding them tasty treats to keep them sweet. In either case, the same tranquilized hounds are still in place.

= = = = =

Later: I see another NRO commenter finally reached the same point.
  ¶ 2:53 PM

  No green bark
Always harder to notice something that's missing, the dog that doesn't bark. As I'm listening to innumerable political ads from both sides of health care reform, the usual type that ends with "call your congressman", I realized there were NO ADS FROM EITHER SIDE on the cap-n-trade bill. It's the largest government power-grab in decades, and the most atrocious government action in this century; surely the various pressure groups understood its importance. So why no ads?

I have to conclude that the fix was completely predetermined. Wall Street wants cap-n-trade, and China wants cap-n-trade. Thus the entire ruling class of this unfortunate land wants it. All present and accounted for. Thus no need for even the pretense of discussion.
  ¶ 9:20 AM

  May Ear, My Ear
Professor Polistra wonders why everyone is pronouncing Sotomayor as "soh-toh-may-ear" or "soh-toh-my-ear".

Dumb pronunciations are forgivable in the case of obscure languages, but most Americans are familiar enough with Spanish to know that O is always pronounced O.

Is this Ear leaking through from a memory of Golda Meir? Unlikely. Meir has been dead and gone for a long time.

= = = = =

Later: The mystery is solved. The last syllable of Sotomayor has traded places with the first syllable of Iran. The "ear" that belongs at the start of Iran is now on the end of Sotomayor, and the "or" that belongs on the end of Sotomayor is now on the start of Iran, making it "Oran". As usual this weirdness appears to be starting at CNN.
  ¶ 9:58 AM

  Pray to Albertus Magnus


Polistra is praying to St Albertus Magnus, the patron saint of science. As our alleged "House of Representatives" goes through its alleged "debate" on the most destructive government action since Lincoln's War, only prayer will help.

Some commentators believe that common sense and economic self-interest will combine to defeat this vast destruction, this Final Solution, this Grand Sacrifice to the Planet Goddess Gaia. Seems highly unlikely, but miracles do sometimes happen.

When the elites of academia and the Wall Street Mafia conspire to create a system that will make both of them (and especially their Chinese masters) even more obscenely powerful and rich, such micro-trivial and hopelessly obsolete considerations as national survival and truth are trodden in the poisonous dust.

= = = = =

Later: BRAVO to John Linder of Georgia. Most of the wimp-ass sissy-ass fag-ass Repooflicans cowered and cringed, saying "Oh please, Marse Obama, don't hit us too hard! We worship Our Lord And Savior Al Gore just like you do, but we hope, for no particular reason except partisanship, that you will only smite us with 99.9% of your force instead of 100%! Please, marse, please!"

Linder showed guts, loudly and firmly declaring the FULL TRUTH about the utter corruption of science.

= = = = =

Later: Well, no miracles. The vote went as you'd expect, partly by geography, mostly by party. 44 courageous Dems voted against the Final Solution To America, and nine wimp-ass sissy-ass fag-ass Chinese-agent Repooflicans voted for the Final Solution To America.

What makes me deeply angry, though, is more than this particular bill. Obama campaigned on this promise, he and his party gained a solid majority, and now he's fulfilling the promise. That's how the system is meant to work.

No, the real heartbreaker (to use Gohmert's appropriate word) is that the Repunklicans had 5 years, from 2001 to 2006, with complete control of Congress and the Executive. During those 5 years they could have turned things around. Immediately after 9/11 there was plenty of momentum for energy independence. Bush could have changed laws to encourage and subsidize nuclear and hydro, could have opened up more offshore zones for drilling, could have repealed the Endangered Species Act, could have regulated speculators, could have imposed tariffs and quotas against China. Nope, none of that. Bush and his party did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING during those 5 years. NOTHING.

If those steps had been taken in 2002, we'd have cheaper and more abundant energy by now; manufacturing would be much stronger; quite possibly the financial collapse wouldn't have occurred because America would have turned back toward self-sufficiency. In that hypothetical universe, there would be no "jobs argument" and no "scarcity argument" for cap-n-trade by now. The only argument for cap-n-trade would be the pure zeal of the genocidal Gaia fanatics, which wouldn't be nearly so persuasive by itself.

And then we had no real choice in 2008. Manchurian Candidate McCain was actually a stronger Gaia nutcase than Obama. His version of cap-n-trade would have been even worse, with more gifts to the Wall Street Mafia and fewer exemptions for honest business ... and the Repooflican hacks would have gone along with him, giving cap-n-trade an easy majority.

This Final Solution is in fact the Triumph of McCain's Will far more than a triumph for Obama and Pelosi. McCain has been working on cap-n-trade for years, carefully laying the foundation of falsehoods and frauds that enabled Obama to claim the victory.
  ¶ 8:07 AM

  Sanford
Well, at least we know he's heterosexual, which sharply differentiates him from all other Republican leaders. (Or should I call them Repooflicans?)

Seriously, I'm always puzzled by this type of scandal. I understand lookin' for love in all the wrong places; I did some of that before I soured on the whole mess of human relations. And I understand self-sabotage; I did a lot of that in adolescence, then grew out of it. What I don't understand is the high-stakes gambling drive, this compulsion to put yourself in situations where your own defects can bring down lots of other people when you fall. It's irresponsible, and the people who keep such a man afloat are also irresponsible.
  ¶ 12:59 PM

  More edushit
Heard on CNN just now, in a feature on the cost of college education: "Keeping cost down is important because America needs to have XXX% more college graduates to compete with Korea and Japan."

I didn't catch the number, and the number doesn't matter. It could be 1% or 99999%, and the entire statement would still be absolute ratshit from start to finish.

How much ratshit? Let me count the turds.

1. Before the Communist takeover in 1973, America outproduced everyone else. In those years we had fewer college graduates than now. Europe and Russia out-educated us by a long shot, but we did better economically. Our strength in those days was not intelligence as such, but superior organizing ability. We knew how to run a business, how to satisfy customers and employees at the same time. We also knew how to develop a system. Telegraph, telephone, electric power, railroads, highways. That was our secret, not raw intelligence. We've lost the basic culture of business thanks to the dominance of feminists and feral litigation, and thanks to the total emphasis on share price instead of profit; and we've lost our system skills thanks to the deregulation trend which started in 1978.

2. Graduating more BA's and BS's doesn't mean more learning. It means less learning. Except for a few fields like engineering and medicine, the average baccalaureate represents a subtraction of common sense, displaced by huge piles of lunatic lies.

3. Even if all college courses gave positive learning, and even if math and science were really the important determinants, no amount of education would put us ahead of Orientals. They are smarter than we are.

4. Korea, Japan and China have two big advantages that we could replicate: they have public health care, and they are willing to use tariffs and import quotas. In other words, their governments exist to protect their own people, while our government exists to kill our own people.
  ¶ 7:44 AM

  David Warren hits the mark
In his Father's Day editorial, David Warren of Ottawa says it all.

I am fortunate still to enjoy the love of my children, or think I do. But I am vividly aware of so many fathers who do not -- whether through their own fault, or from the fact that their children were turned against them by a calculating mother, working the family law system. So many fathers have been exchanged for cash, and now live alone and in squalor, their income impounded to top up the account of their worst enemy in the world.

Been there, done that, got the ragged T-shirt.

This is a great pity, for women as well as men, for a society in which one of the sexes is casually and consistently depreciated -- men in the West, often women in the East -- becomes a sick and unbalanced society. What has been quietly observed about radical Islam -- the psychopathic cave culture that has emerged in environments where women are not merely reduced to chattels, but made emblematic of sin and corruption -- now has its counterpart here.

...

Indeed, I would argue that men suffer most under Islamist regimes, that women suffer most under feminized ones. Outwardly, the "superior sex" obtains a tyrannical power, but inwardly, their souls are stripped of the moderation, and imaginative empathy, that can come only from respectful interaction between the sexes.

  ¶ 6:30 PM

  Not so hard to understand
CNN, overall doing a wonderful job of boosting moral support for the Persian people, still misses the point at times. This morning they're trying to explain the role of the Supreme Ayatollah to Americans. One "expert" compared Khamenei to Jerry Falwell. That's just dumb, and shows that the "expert" has spent too much time talking to other academics and not enough time with actual Americans.

Falwell never had that kind of power, except in the delusional nightmares of academics. He had influence over a large set of Protestants, but most of the political elite hated him and reflexively disobeyed him. That's the exact opposite of the Ayatollah's influence.

In fact America does have a close equivalent of Khamenei, a man whose power is half-mystical and half-political, a man who is ALMOST ALWAYS OBEYED BY EVERY POLITICIAN, REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT. And in fact his name is rather similar to Persia's Ayatollahs.

His name is Edouard Khennedi.
  ¶ 12:21 PM

  Now thassa some spicy crash!
Spokane is going through some weird weather and (as the diplomats say) I'm not ruling out other weird influences. In the last two weeks we've had a Midwestern pattern of daily thunderstorms while Seattle stays dry. Highly unusual for June. We've also had a two-week run of really bizarre crimes, including an unprovoked machete attack by a berserk loony.

Early this morning a pair of dickheads (well, actually one of the dickheads was female, so we'll call them Dickhead and Cunthead) carjacked a 2001 Acura. Somewhat later the cops spotted Cunthead driving the car, and she led them on a high-speed chase. The chase ended with a spectacular crash: the car mowed down a power pole then split in half; one half ended up riding the splintered remainder of the flattened pole and the other half careened into a nearby house. Both halves then caught fire. The resulting wreckage looks like two random blobs of metal about 50 feet apart. Needless to say, the laws of physics convicted and executed Cunthead, thus sparing our so-called alleged "legal" system the trouble and expense of acquitting her. Fortunately no humans were involved.

Yay physics!

Video here.

Clear picture here.
  ¶ 7:02 AM

  Bush III
Via NRO, an excellent critique of Obama's missed opportunity in Persia:

Among the specific recommendations by Senor and Whiton are these: (a) Mr. Obama should contact Mr. Mousavi to signal his interest in the situation and Mr. Mousavi's security; (b) the president should deliver another taped message to the Iranian people — only this time he should acknowledge the fundamental reality that the regime lacks the consent of its people to govern, which therefore necessitates a channel to the "other Iran"; (c) Obama should direct U.S. ambassadors in Europe and the Gulf to meet with local Iranian anti-regime expatriates; (d) additional funding should be provided immediately for Radio Farda, an effective Persian-language radio, Internet, and satellite property of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; and (e) the administration should take steps — for example, access to the Web and other means of communication — to give Iranian reformers and dissidents a level playing field with the regime in the battle of ideas.

These actions would be parallel to our decades-long campaign against the Soviet dictatorship, which finally paid off. Maintaining a cultural connection and moral support, providing information, steadily countering the dictatorship without direct interference. Obama is unfortunately continuing Bush's realpolitik, apparently following the Kissinger line, ignoring the dissidents and "respecting the election results" because our goal is Democracy.

= = = = =

Canada's David Warren offers a well-thought-out broad perspective. He reminds us that the original purpose of taking down Saddam was to show both Arabia and Persia that their dictators are breakable, that we can destroy you if you give us enough reason. Though Bush totally spoiled the result in Iraq by switching from this original strategic purpose to his Wilsonian Democracy shit, the original message did get through to the people of Persia. Dictators are not immortal; they survive by consent of the majority.

This is a point we have forgotten through our immersion in the fraudulent circus of Democracy. Stalin, Hitler and Saddam were not imposed forcibly on an unwilling people; all ruled with the loyalty and love of the majority, or at least the loyalty of the dominant ethnic group. If Ahmadinejad no longer has the loyalty of most Persians, his fake "election victory" won't help him.
  ¶ 7:40 AM

  The author speaks


Note from the Author, who hasn't appeared lately....

Leaving aside politics and science for a moment and speaking as a plain male human:

CNN's Octavia Nasr is one fine-looking babe.

Smart, too. (Secondary consideration.)
  ¶ 11:18 AM

  Final nail in the carbon-cult coffin


Suppose you've bought a grab-bag of coins advertised to contain all denominations, and you're sorting them out with a sieve that has different-sized holes. After a whole lotta shakin, you see that nothing has come out of the penny slot. You'd then assume that someone had already sieved for pennies, and you'd decide not to waste more time looking for the elusive 1909 SVDB. No matter how much you filter this pile, you won't catch any pennies.



Now suppose you're sorting out the colors of sunlight. This is what you'd expect: an equal intensity of each color.



But if you found that one color was missing, you'd conclude that something between you and the sun was absorbing that color. And if the color was completely black, you'd know that there's no point in further filtering; no matter how much you try to filter out that color, it's already black. Can't get blacker.


A recent article by geophysicist Norm Kalmanovitch points out that the usual description of the greenhouse effect is too broad. Carbon dioxide doesn't just absorb light and emit heat; it is a fairly precise "pigment" that prefers to absorb one particular "color". And the infrared "colors" that emerge from the atmosphere are completely black in the range where CO2 does its absorption.

There is only a single vibration mode of CO2 that resonates within the thermal spectrum radiated by the Earth (and Mars). This bend vibration resonates with a band of energy centred on a wavelength of 14.77 microns (wavenumber 677cm-1) and the width of this band is quite narrow as depicted on the spectra from Earth and Mars.

It only takes a minute amount of CO2 to fully “capture” the energy at the resonant wavelength, and additional CO2 progressively captures energy that is further and further from the peak wavelength. At the 280 ppmv CO2 preindustrial level used as reference [by IPCC], about 95% of the energy bandwidth that could possibly be captured by CO2 had already been captured. There is only 5% of this limited energy available within the confines of this potential “capture” band left to be captured.

So: Even if the carbon cultists were basically right that carbon dioxide were the sole controller of our climate ... which of course they aren't, to put it mildly ... the concentration of CO2 before this century's sharp rise was already processing nearly all the energy it could take. And now we certainly have more CO2 in the atmosphere, but there's no way it can do more "greenhousing" than the pre-industrial level. And no matter how much it rises in the future, it still can't do any more "greenhousing", because it was already maxed out a hundred years ago.


  ¶ 8:49 PM

  Definitions
The enemy-controlled media are "discussing" the three recent assassinations, as usual confusing and conflating all three under the rubric of "hate crimes".

First, there's no such thing as a "hate crime". The 14th Amendment was passed for the SPECIFIC AND EXPLICIT PURPOSE OF REMOVING "HATE CRIME" "LAWS". Any "law" that creates a greater or lesser penalty based on the race or other innate quality of the criminal or victim is prima facie unconstitutional and invalid. It is not a law.

More to the point, these three assassinations need to be treated separately. In an earlier and saner America, commentators would have distinguished them like this:

1. Killing George Tiller was a classic vigilante action. Tiller had been violating both moral and written laws for many years. Several months ago he was finally brought to trial for his mass murders, and the alleged so-called "legal" system failed completely. Thus Roeder was taking the law into his own hands because the law was not in the hands of the alleged so-called "legal" system.

2. The murder of an Army private by a black Mohammedan convert is an act of war by an enemy soldier. Not very large or significant, but still an act of war.

3. The killing of the security guard at the Holocaust Museum is an act of terrorism, intended to produce fear and make some kind of point, though the victim wasn't Jewish and the point is unclear. Needless to say, our enemy-controlled media are making a big splash out of this killing because the assassin is white and "right-wing". Our enemy-controlled media nearly ignored the much larger and much more purposeful slaughter in the Seattle Jewish Community Center two years ago, because the assassin in that case (Naveed Haq) was an actual enemy soldier, on the same side as our media. Incidentally, a retrial of Haq is in preparatory stages right now in Seattle.
  ¶ 7:21 AM

  Mousavi's letter
Reproducing the letter from Mousavi, because it's worth preserving in as many places as possible. I suspect the Rectifiers will be busy; it sounds like our own enemy-controlled media are firmly on Ahmadinejad's side.

Copied from here.

= = = = =

Mousavi Letter

In the Name of God

Honorable people of Iran

The reported results of the 10th Iranians residential Election are appalling. The people who witnessed the mixture of votes in long lineups know who they have voted for and observe the wizardry of I.R.I.B (State run TV and Radio) and election officials. Now more than ever before they want to know how and by which officials this game plan has been designed. I object fully to the current procedures and obvious and abundant deviations from law on the day of election and alert people to not surrender to this dangerous plot. Dishonesty and corruption of officials as we have seen will only result in weakening the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran and empowers lies and dictatorships.

I am obliged, due to my religious and national duties, to expose this dangerous plot and to explain its devastating effects on the future of Iran. I am concerned that the continuation of the current situation will transform all key members of this regime into fabulists in confrontation with the nation and seriously jeopardize them in this world and the next.

I advise all officials to halt this agenda at once before it is too late, return to the rule of law and protect the nation’s vote and know that deviation from law renders them illegitimate. They are aware better than anyone else that this country has been through a grand Islamic revolution and the least message of this revolution is that our nation is alert and will oppose anyone who aims to seize the power against the law.

I use this chance to honor the emotions of the nation of Iran and remind them that Iran, this sacred being, belongs to them and not to the fraudulent. It is you who should stay alert. The traitors to the nation’s vote have no fear if this house of Persians burns in flames. We will continue with our green wave of rationality that is inspired by our religious learnings and our love for prophet Mohammad and will confront the rampage of lies that has appeared and marked the image of our nation. However we will not allow our movement to become blind one.

I thank every citizen who took part in spreading this green message by becoming a campaigner and all official and self organized campaigns, I insist that their presence is essential until we achieve results deserving of our country.

[ verse from in Quran: Why not trust in God, who has shown us our ways. We are patient in face of what disturbs us. Our resilience is in god. ]

Mir Hossein Mousavi
  ¶ 6:06 AM

  Eastaugh: the right argument for once!
This guy, Dr Steven Eastaugh, does know how to sell nationalized health care. He lays out the facts and uses effective arguments, all presented in a lively fashion.

He's an adviser to Obama, which is a positive indicator... but why isn't he speaking to a wider audience?

If I were in Obama's position I'd call a Special Joint Session of Congress in prime time, have Eastaugh give the same lecture he gives in the video linked above, and require each member of Congress to take notes and recite the main points of the speech afterward. Any idiot who doesn't pick up the main points would then be publicly named as Persona Non Grata, never to receive any pork or favors. Idiots would still be free to vote against the proposal, but the people would know who's an idiot.
  ¶ 5:44 PM

  Sidekicks
The late-night TV shows have been in the news lately, what with Conan taking over from Jay, and Dave making crude jokes about Palin's kids. I started thinking about these shows in general, comparing them with their radio ancestors, and noticed something.



Nearly all the radio variety shows in the '30s and '40s were husband-wife teams. Fibber & Molly, Jack Benny & Mary Livingston, George & Gracie, Fred Allen & Portland Hoffa. Their on-air characters weren't always married, but the real people were. And those shows pivoted on the bond of man and woman. Wouldn't have worked without it.

All the modern TV variety shows are ALL-MALE. It's been that way since the start of TV. No female sidekicks at all. The shows pivot on a male-male connection, which often takes on a homosexual flavor.

And the same happens in talk radio. The sidekick isn't always well-defined -- some shows have a set of anonymous assistants -- but in each case where you can name a single sidekick, he's male.

Think about the influence on the host. When your wife is part of the act, you're less likely to tell crude locker-room jokes. And think about the influence on the audience. Modern entertainment gives us no illustrations, no role models, of healthy and humorous conversation between man and woman.
  ¶ 7:53 AM

  Same old edushit
Obama's Education Secretary gave a brief interview on CNN just now. Supposedly the interview was a sort of progress report on how the stimulus money is helping education. Pretty good idea for a news piece, but that isn't how it went. The interview actually went like this:

Interviewer: Do we need to pay teachers more?

Duncan: Oh yes, we need to pay teachers much more.

Interviewer: How much more?

Duncan: Oh, lots and lots and lots.

Interviewer: Six figures?

Duncan: Oh yes, six figures. Especially the math and science teachers.

[Rinse and repeat 5 times]

= = = = =

Okay, so I'm stretching it a little. Still, the CNN guy never asked any meaningful questions and Duncan never gave any meaningful answers. Nothing about charter schools, nothing about changing the curriculum or teaching methods. Nothing about giving teachers more authority and less fear of lawsuits. Nothing about relieving federal special-ed requirements that completely distort the whole system. Nope, just the same old shit about more more more more more more money money money money.

The statistics have been obvious for 30 years. Money makes education worse. It's that simple. Admittedly there was a time, say before 1970, when improving school buildings and increasing teacher pay actually helped the kids learn better. But since that minimum threshold was reached, more money just adds more administrators, who then make more idiotic rules, requiring more money to work around the idiotic rules.

Labels: Experiential education

  ¶ 6:29 AM