Sunday, April 01, 2012
Wow!
Wow.
Wow again!
Note an earlier "debunking" of the geysers by a theoretician, claiming there was very little sodium. His models "proved" it. Gotcha, theoretician!
Now tell me again why we're spending billions looking for theoretically earth-like planets 1000000000000000000000000 lightyears away, planets that we will never never never never never be able to reach or even communicate with.
Sorry, can't hear you. ¶ 5:59 AM
"More than 90 jets of all sizes near Enceladus's south pole are spraying water vapor, icy particles, and organic compounds all over the place," Carolyn Porco, planetary scientist and leader of the Imaging Science team for Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft told Nasa’s Science News. ... "Cassini has flown several times now through this spray and has tasted it. And we have found that aside from water and organic material, there is salt in the icy particles. The salinity is the same as that of Earth's oceans."
Wow again!
Note an earlier "debunking" of the geysers by a theoretician, claiming there was very little sodium. His models "proved" it. Gotcha, theoretician!
Now tell me again why we're spending billions looking for theoretically earth-like planets 1000000000000000000000000 lightyears away, planets that we will never never never never never be able to reach or even communicate with.
Sorry, can't hear you. ¶ 5:59 AM
Hold em, fold em, AND....
Kenny sings "You got to know when to hold em, when to fold em, and when to walk away."
There's another choice: "Know when to pull an ace from your sleeve."
In cards a sleeve-ace is an excellent way to get shot, and it can also look like cheating in other contexts. But it can be the only way to survive.
The important part of the trick, of course, is thinking ahead and stashing the card. If your lifestyle or mindset doesn't allow you to stash, then there's no point in even thinking about the cheat.
Reprinting the piece about a Little Bit of Luck brought this to mind. In an overall economy of Bets and Debts, where the standard game is desperate Three-Job Monte, a saver who can get away with minimal work may look like a cheater.
Specific example from Nash, which I've often cited as the paragon of commercial frugality. In 1958 a sudden recession caught the American auto industry by surprise. The industry was on a maximally wasteful track, with huge grotesquely ugly cars that were poorly built and hard to handle. Even the Rambler had grown larger and uglier, with a model matching Chevy in size and weight. George Romney had the vision to see this, and his company's longstanding frugality gave him an ace to slap on the table. Nash had kept all the tooling and assembly jigs for the small neat durable economical 1955 Rambler. Romney simply re-installed the tooling, made a couple of small modifications (different grille, mount the same taillights upside down) and presto! The American! An effectively new car with near-zero tooling costs and zero development time. A car that looked mighty fine compared to a '58 Olds or Lincoln, and underpriced everything else without losing money. Frugality saved the company.
In the natural world, seeds and spores are obvious examples. Seeds can keep the tooling intact for thousands of years, waiting for the best opportunity to start manufacturing again. Some small invertebrates can dry up and 'seedify' to last through years of drought. More recently, biologists have found that bacteria can seed up when needed, forming special dormant Persister Cells that don't metabolize or split. They just wait till the antibiotic threat has passed, then turn back into regular growing and reproducing cells. ¶ 3:34 AM
There's another choice: "Know when to pull an ace from your sleeve."
In cards a sleeve-ace is an excellent way to get shot, and it can also look like cheating in other contexts. But it can be the only way to survive.
The important part of the trick, of course, is thinking ahead and stashing the card. If your lifestyle or mindset doesn't allow you to stash, then there's no point in even thinking about the cheat.
Reprinting the piece about a Little Bit of Luck brought this to mind. In an overall economy of Bets and Debts, where the standard game is desperate Three-Job Monte, a saver who can get away with minimal work may look like a cheater.
Specific example from Nash, which I've often cited as the paragon of commercial frugality. In 1958 a sudden recession caught the American auto industry by surprise. The industry was on a maximally wasteful track, with huge grotesquely ugly cars that were poorly built and hard to handle. Even the Rambler had grown larger and uglier, with a model matching Chevy in size and weight. George Romney had the vision to see this, and his company's longstanding frugality gave him an ace to slap on the table. Nash had kept all the tooling and assembly jigs for the small neat durable economical 1955 Rambler. Romney simply re-installed the tooling, made a couple of small modifications (different grille, mount the same taillights upside down) and presto! The American! An effectively new car with near-zero tooling costs and zero development time. A car that looked mighty fine compared to a '58 Olds or Lincoln, and underpriced everything else without losing money. Frugality saved the company.
In the natural world, seeds and spores are obvious examples. Seeds can keep the tooling intact for thousands of years, waiting for the best opportunity to start manufacturing again. Some small invertebrates can dry up and 'seedify' to last through years of drought. More recently, biologists have found that bacteria can seed up when needed, forming special dormant Persister Cells that don't metabolize or split. They just wait till the antibiotic threat has passed, then turn back into regular growing and reproducing cells. ¶ 3:34 AM
Saturday, March 31, 2012
It's Earth Hour again!
Polistra and Happystar celebrate Earth Hour again! This time with a boost from one of Edison's everlasting nickel-iron batteries.
= = = = =
Special salute this year to Canada, the only nation that is officially breaking loose from the all-consuming mass-slaughtering brain-deleting Gaian tyranny. In Canada the lights are truly going ON again, signaling the end of the Green Dark Ages in one place.
If you're not familiar with the strength of Canada's sudden return to sanity, check out this screechy infantile tantrum by a leading Canadian Stalinist. He documents every aspect of the emergence into the light ... as seen through Satan's funhouse mirror, in which light is "dark", cold is "hot", feverish apocalyptic fantasies are "science", and total censorship is "open debate."
Polistra and Happystar celebrate Earth Hour again! This time with a boost from one of Edison's everlasting nickel-iron batteries.
= = = = =
Special salute this year to Canada, the only nation that is officially breaking loose from the all-consuming mass-slaughtering brain-deleting Gaian tyranny. In Canada the lights are truly going ON again, signaling the end of the Green Dark Ages in one place.
If you're not familiar with the strength of Canada's sudden return to sanity, check out this screechy infantile tantrum by a leading Canadian Stalinist. He documents every aspect of the emergence into the light ... as seen through Satan's funhouse mirror, in which light is "dark", cold is "hot", feverish apocalyptic fantasies are "science", and total censorship is "open debate."
Labels: Carbon Cult
¶ 5:56 PM
Whoda thunk it? Well, no.
Often when a murder suspect is identified, people say "He was such a polite boy!" or "He just seemed like an ordinary guy."
For some reason nobody is saying those things about these dudes. Wonder why? ¶ 2:16 PM
For some reason nobody is saying those things about these dudes. Wonder why? ¶ 2:16 PM
Canada cuts pennies
Canada eliminates pennies, prepares to cut nickels.
We could easily phase out pennies, nickels and dimes. Quarters probably deserve to stay because they're still used in some vending machines and they're still a halfway meaningful unit of value.
How to make it work: Program cash registers so they round up or down RANDOMLY. Then the customer and the store would each get the advantage half the time, and both would come out even in the long run.
Females would have trouble with this procedure because females don't understand math, but it would be irrelevant because females never pay with cash. Older females pay by check, younger ones with food stamp debit cards. ¶ 4:22 AM
We could easily phase out pennies, nickels and dimes. Quarters probably deserve to stay because they're still used in some vending machines and they're still a halfway meaningful unit of value.
How to make it work: Program cash registers so they round up or down RANDOMLY. Then the customer and the store would each get the advantage half the time, and both would come out even in the long run.
Females would have trouble with this procedure because females don't understand math, but it would be irrelevant because females never pay with cash. Older females pay by check, younger ones with food stamp debit cards. ¶ 4:22 AM
Friday, March 30, 2012
Lottery mania
The idiot mania over MegaBalls or whatever impels me to reprint this thought from a few months ago, leaving off an initial part referring to then-current news.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Since 2006 our economy has been trying to run on the counterfeit Wealth Effect generated by homeowners borrowing against a nonexistent increase in fictional value. At the same time we have completely canceled and deleted the honest Wealth Effect of stability and frugality.
In a civilized economy, storage of value allows people, businesses and governments to feel secure and confident. When you feel secure and confident, you're willing to spend money in sensible ways. You're less likely to gamble.
In a chaotic 'bets and debts' economy, with no storage of anything, you're always on the edge. You're vulnerable to every exigency of nature, to every scam and fraud, to every loss and expense. You're ready to risk it all on one roll of the dice.
The song, of course, expressed the attitude of a working man in Gilded Age Version 1, which we see repeated now in Gilded Age v2. Cynical and utterly realistic. The working man knew damn well that a Little Bit wouldn't help. When you owe your soul to the company store, when every dollar of income has to outgo immediately, only a one-in-a-billion Superball is enough blooming luck.
However: In a civilized economy where jobs are stable, money is constant, storage is secure and saving yields a meaningful return, you only need a Little Bit of luck. When your money goes into savings first, each small bonus, each slight increase in sales, gives you a permanent gain.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Since 2006 our economy has been trying to run on the counterfeit Wealth Effect generated by homeowners borrowing against a nonexistent increase in fictional value. At the same time we have completely canceled and deleted the honest Wealth Effect of stability and frugality.
In a civilized economy, storage of value allows people, businesses and governments to feel secure and confident. When you feel secure and confident, you're willing to spend money in sensible ways. You're less likely to gamble.
In a chaotic 'bets and debts' economy, with no storage of anything, you're always on the edge. You're vulnerable to every exigency of nature, to every scam and fraud, to every loss and expense. You're ready to risk it all on one roll of the dice.
The song, of course, expressed the attitude of a working man in Gilded Age Version 1, which we see repeated now in Gilded Age v2. Cynical and utterly realistic. The working man knew damn well that a Little Bit wouldn't help. When you owe your soul to the company store, when every dollar of income has to outgo immediately, only a one-in-a-billion Superball is enough blooming luck.
However: In a civilized economy where jobs are stable, money is constant, storage is secure and saving yields a meaningful return, you only need a Little Bit of luck. When your money goes into savings first, each small bonus, each slight increase in sales, gives you a permanent gain.
Labels: the broken circle
¶ 5:23 PM
Still roaring downward
Two years ago all English-speaking countries were zooming toward chaos and destruction in lockstep.
Now Canada, Britain and Australia are tentatively creeping toward sanity, and only America is still roaring full speed into Hell.
News from ABC:
Incorrect, fuckheads. Each gigawatt of wind "power" will require a new gigawatt of coal or natural gas generation.
Incorrect, fuckhead. It will create jobs in China, and will have no effect on foreign energy sources. It will, however, increase the profits of utility companies, because the newly built coal plants will enable them to raise rates even more.
Now Canada, Britain and Australia are tentatively creeping toward sanity, and only America is still roaring full speed into Hell.
News from ABC:
The Obama administration and five states have reached an agreement to speed up approval of offshore wind farms in the Great Lakes, which have been delayed by cost concerns and public opposition.
...
Administration officials said the region's offshore winds could generate more than 700 gigawatts — one-fifth of all potential wind energy nationwide. Each gigawatt of offshore wind could power 300,000 homes while reducing demand for electricity from coal, which emits greenhouse gases and other pollutants, according to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo.
Incorrect, fuckheads. Each gigawatt of wind "power" will require a new gigawatt of coal or natural gas generation.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said developing offshore wind energy would "promote economic development and create jobs, while reducing our dependence on foreign energy sources."
Incorrect, fuckhead. It will create jobs in China, and will have no effect on foreign energy sources. It will, however, increase the profits of utility companies, because the newly built coal plants will enable them to raise rates even more.
Labels: Carbon Cult
¶ 4:36 AM
Thursday, March 29, 2012
That's grim.
Article in the latest Collectible Automobile magazine mentions something I hadn't heard before. The 1918 influenza epidemic killed so many children that baby coffins became a significant industry, and car companies like Studebaker produced special small hearses to carry those coffins.
Brrrr. Sobering. ¶ 8:15 AM
Brrrr. Sobering. ¶ 8:15 AM
First blood!
The newly elected government in the Aussie province of Queensland is getting down to BUSINESS immediately!
DEEEEEEEEEELICIOUS!!!!!!!
First blood. Revenge at last.
It's not jail or death, but this is by fucking god the FIRST PUNISHMENT EVER GIVEN to a genocidal all-slaughtering sadistic Gaian. The first discomfort actually administered by a superior authority, and a sweetly condign discomfort it is.
Especially sweet since Australia has been suffering worst of all the Western countries under the Gaian whips and chains.
By fucking god, why can't America have politicians like Newman?
This is the final final final final proof that our system has utterly totally entirely completely ceased to function in every single imaginable way, and we need to return to a Parliamentary system. Now.
Mr Newman yesterday declared his LNP government would axe seven other green schemes, on the grounds the carbon tax would make them redundant. "We now have a federal government that is imposing a great big carbon tax on us and the rest of the country that is meant to solve all these (environmental) problems," he said.
Mr Newman has given the job of dismantling the programs to the bureaucrat who set them up - Greg Withers, who is married to Ms Bligh.
"We want him to unravel those programs 'cause he's the bloke who set them up," Mr Newman said. "There are rumours going around that he's packed up his office. I want to say very clearly that is news to me; he is, as far as I'm concerned, an employee of the Queensland government, and we would like him to do a few things for us at the moment."
DEEEEEEEEEELICIOUS!!!!!!!
First blood. Revenge at last.
It's not jail or death, but this is by fucking god the FIRST PUNISHMENT EVER GIVEN to a genocidal all-slaughtering sadistic Gaian. The first discomfort actually administered by a superior authority, and a sweetly condign discomfort it is.
Especially sweet since Australia has been suffering worst of all the Western countries under the Gaian whips and chains.
By fucking god, why can't America have politicians like Newman?
This is the final final final final proof that our system has utterly totally entirely completely ceased to function in every single imaginable way, and we need to return to a Parliamentary system. Now.
Labels: Carbon Cult
¶ 3:25 AM
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Mr Broccoli is pissed.
The bottom frame is serious. In the last month I've finally returned to eating lots of veggies, after a couple years of increasing frustration with Campbell's chunky soups. They've been sneaking in more and more onions, and my digestive system was getting more and more stormy.
Back in October I tried to get back to home-cooked combinations, but it didn't come out right; no real decrease in storminess, and seemed wrong somehow. I was trying to focus on programming at that point, so I fell back to Campbell's Chunky.
This spring the onions finally became completely unavoidable, so I sez to myself,
"HEY DUMMY! You're always growling about doing what works. This didn't work because you weren't following your own instructions; you weren't cooking the same veggie combination that had worked well from 1970 to 1990."
So I went back to the exact original.
Recipe, sorta:
Once a week boil up a cup of barley; leave it fairly crunchy and keep it in the fridge. Each day, take a few big spoons of the barley; add fresh broccoli and carrots and various other stuff, but NO DAMN ONIONS. Low boil for 10 minutes, then add a can of Tomato Bisque Soup and cook another 10 minutes.
When you do what works, you'll find that it works.
Perfectly satisfying, and barley and broccoli seem to be performing their proper function. Specifically, the complex nutrients force the digestive system to work for its living, instead of sitting around and grousing as it was doing with the over-processed stuff. Also slightly cheaper than the pre-processed (around $1.90 a day versus $2.25 a day) but that's not the main purpose. ¶ 6:22 PM
The bottom frame is serious. In the last month I've finally returned to eating lots of veggies, after a couple years of increasing frustration with Campbell's chunky soups. They've been sneaking in more and more onions, and my digestive system was getting more and more stormy.
Back in October I tried to get back to home-cooked combinations, but it didn't come out right; no real decrease in storminess, and seemed wrong somehow. I was trying to focus on programming at that point, so I fell back to Campbell's Chunky.
This spring the onions finally became completely unavoidable, so I sez to myself,
"HEY DUMMY! You're always growling about doing what works. This didn't work because you weren't following your own instructions; you weren't cooking the same veggie combination that had worked well from 1970 to 1990."
So I went back to the exact original.
Recipe, sorta:
Once a week boil up a cup of barley; leave it fairly crunchy and keep it in the fridge. Each day, take a few big spoons of the barley; add fresh broccoli and carrots and various other stuff, but NO DAMN ONIONS. Low boil for 10 minutes, then add a can of Tomato Bisque Soup and cook another 10 minutes.
When you do what works, you'll find that it works.
Perfectly satisfying, and barley and broccoli seem to be performing their proper function. Specifically, the complex nutrients force the digestive system to work for its living, instead of sitting around and grousing as it was doing with the over-processed stuff. Also slightly cheaper than the pre-processed (around $1.90 a day versus $2.25 a day) but that's not the main purpose. ¶ 6:22 PM
Every now and then
Once a year or so, a Federal judge shows both courage and sanity. It takes special courage to act against the FBI's normal job of creating crimes, and truly heroic courage to defend white people against the FBI's special mission of freeing all blacks and jailing all whites.
Judge Victoria Roberts fully deserves the title of judge!
These 'militia members' were dumb enough to think that white people could still speak and act openly. FBI proved them wrong.
In this special case the dumb folks got amazingly lucky, running across one of the few non-Soviet judges.
Can't count on such rare luck, though. You can be sure the case won't set a precedent. You can also be sure that FBI will never stop creating crimes, never stop stings, never stop pushing gullible white Christians and Muslims into criminal behavior that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
Still, bravo for JUDGE Victoria Roberts! ¶ 6:34 AM
Judge Victoria Roberts fully deserves the title of judge!
These 'militia members' were dumb enough to think that white people could still speak and act openly. FBI proved them wrong.
In this special case the dumb folks got amazingly lucky, running across one of the few non-Soviet judges.
Can't count on such rare luck, though. You can be sure the case won't set a precedent. You can also be sure that FBI will never stop creating crimes, never stop stings, never stop pushing gullible white Christians and Muslims into criminal behavior that wouldn't have happened otherwise.
Still, bravo for JUDGE Victoria Roberts! ¶ 6:34 AM
Is Obama as smart as Clinton?
Random thought: We knew with absolute certainty in 2008 that Misteromney would be the R nominee in 2012. Repooflicans are perfectly predictable. It's his turn. Only an untimely death could change destiny.
Given that hard fact, Bill Clinton might have used it as follows:
(1) Note that Misteromney implemented an awful health-care program in Massachusetts.
(2) Realize that this awful health-care program benefits Wall Street and harms the people.
(3) Implement the same awful health-care program on the whole country, instead of the simple and good "Medicare for all" option that would help the people and hurt Wall Street.
Clinton would see this as a total win.
More monopoly for Wall Street means vastly more money for the party that guaranteed the monopoly.
Best of all, it puts Misteromney in a hopeless wedge position. Either he has to defend the program because it's his own brainchild, or he has to condemn it as an awful program. If he defends it, he loses Repooflican voters. If he condemns it, he's saying "Everything I touch turns to shit. Elect me so you can eat my shit!"
Is Obama shrewd enough to pull this switcheroo? I dunno. He strikes me as plenty smart but not Machiavellian. However, Hillary is in his inner circle, capable of passing along Bill's advice...... ¶ 5:05 AM
Given that hard fact, Bill Clinton might have used it as follows:
(1) Note that Misteromney implemented an awful health-care program in Massachusetts.
(2) Realize that this awful health-care program benefits Wall Street and harms the people.
(3) Implement the same awful health-care program on the whole country, instead of the simple and good "Medicare for all" option that would help the people and hurt Wall Street.
Clinton would see this as a total win.
More monopoly for Wall Street means vastly more money for the party that guaranteed the monopoly.
Best of all, it puts Misteromney in a hopeless wedge position. Either he has to defend the program because it's his own brainchild, or he has to condemn it as an awful program. If he defends it, he loses Repooflican voters. If he condemns it, he's saying "Everything I touch turns to shit. Elect me so you can eat my shit!"
Is Obama shrewd enough to pull this switcheroo? I dunno. He strikes me as plenty smart but not Machiavellian. However, Hillary is in his inner circle, capable of passing along Bill's advice...... ¶ 5:05 AM
Undersea fizzle
James Cameron has returned from his undersea record-breaking voyage with nothing much.
I can't complain about the mission; he's using his own money to satisfy his own ego, and not hurting anyone in the process. That's the way ego is supposed to work! You're not supposed to start Civil Wars or create vast useless tax-supported projects purely for your own fetish fun.
Good for Cameron! He's doing it the right way.
Nevertheless, the expedition shows the pointlessness of manned exploration in extreme places like space and deep ocean. This is one task that robots unquestionably do better. They don't need to carry oxygen and toilets and food; they can be built exclusively for the task with minimum weight and energy usage. Robots can stay in the extreme environment as long as needed to gather the data, and they don't even need to come home.
Ironic, isn't it? We happily replace ordinary people with robots, often doing tasks where humans are superior. But we ferociously insist on using humans for these few extraordinary jobs where humans are wildly impractical. ¶ 4:33 AM
I can't complain about the mission; he's using his own money to satisfy his own ego, and not hurting anyone in the process. That's the way ego is supposed to work! You're not supposed to start Civil Wars or create vast useless tax-supported projects purely for your own fetish fun.
Good for Cameron! He's doing it the right way.
Nevertheless, the expedition shows the pointlessness of manned exploration in extreme places like space and deep ocean. This is one task that robots unquestionably do better. They don't need to carry oxygen and toilets and food; they can be built exclusively for the task with minimum weight and energy usage. Robots can stay in the extreme environment as long as needed to gather the data, and they don't even need to come home.
Ironic, isn't it? We happily replace ordinary people with robots, often doing tasks where humans are superior. But we ferociously insist on using humans for these few extraordinary jobs where humans are wildly impractical. ¶ 4:33 AM
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Nature don't do linear
Back in January when our winter had been typically cold but exceedingly dry, the idiot linear extrapolators were furrowing their idiot brows about the lack of snowpack. Now La Nina has returned to the mean, much more quickly than usual.
News:
That's Nature.
Always cycling, always balancing, always returning to the same point.
Rerunning an animation from a long time ago:
Here's a little quiz. What do you think will happen to the car at the end of this repeating clip?
(A) Do you think it will go Up like this?
(B) Do you think it will go Down like this?
If you chose Up (A), congratulations! You are either a six-week-old kitten or a Professional Climatologist!
= = = = =
Artistic note: Obviously the standing-wave animation a couple days ago made me remember this older one! ¶ 5:59 PM
News:
The winter season started out mild, but recently the weather has changed. There's been nearly a record amount of rainfall in the valleys during the month of March, but all that precipitation is coming down as snow in the mountains.
In late February, hydrologists with Avista Utilities took a snow survey in the Lolo National Forest. Their measurements showed snow levels to be at 110% the normal average for this time of year.
That's Nature.
Always cycling, always balancing, always returning to the same point.
Rerunning an animation from a long time ago:
Here's a little quiz. What do you think will happen to the car at the end of this repeating clip?
(A) Do you think it will go Up like this?
(B) Do you think it will go Down like this?
If you chose Up (A), congratulations! You are either a six-week-old kitten or a Professional Climatologist!
= = = = =
Artistic note: Obviously the standing-wave animation a couple days ago made me remember this older one! ¶ 5:59 PM
More natural justice
More natural justice. We're seeing this increasingly: The economic collapse resulting from our long adherence to atrociously evil and murderous theories is finally eliminating the budgets needed to "work" on the theories.
In this case:
Love it!
Aside from the whole question of theories, neutrino research is just perfectly useless. It will never yield an improvement in a product or an improvement in human life. Nothing but a peculiar form of masturbation practiced by a peculiar priesthood. If they want to do that with their own money, fine. ¶ 4:38 PM
In this case:
The future of a pioneering project to study the lightest matter particles known was thrown into jeopardy last week, when officials at the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that they were reluctant to fund the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) in its current form.
At a cost of between US$1.2 billion and $1.5 billion, the LBNE was expected to come online in 2022–24, and to have a construction budget peaking at roughly $200 million per year. But that is now considered too great a slice of the DOE’s annual high-energy physics budget, which was cut by $6 million to $757 million in US President Barack Obama’s 2013 budget request.
Love it!
Aside from the whole question of theories, neutrino research is just perfectly useless. It will never yield an improvement in a product or an improvement in human life. Nothing but a peculiar form of masturbation practiced by a peculiar priesthood. If they want to do that with their own money, fine. ¶ 4:38 PM
Monday, March 26, 2012
How many ways can you miss the point?
NPR feature is supposedly about noise bothering trees. Claims to be the first research on this connection. Basically misses every point that could be missed.
First, the research was actually about noise affecting birds, which is unsurprising. Birds are thoroughly sound-oriented critters. The birds changed their habits under different sound exposures, which changed their poop-seed-transfer effects on plants in the neighborhood. So the plants were just indirect 'targets' of the birds.
Second, lots of new-agey research has dealt with effects of music on plants. Far as I know it's inconclusive and meaningless, but that doesn't tell us whether a good experiment would show an effect. I wouldn't be surprised to find an effect; I'm no longer convinced that you can draw a sharp line between plants and animals!
Third, this 'unbiased' research appears to be mainly a weapon against natural gas drilling, so it was dealing with sounds from big drilling apparatus, compressors, and such. Those sounds, along with the sounds from wind turbines, are more seismic than acoustic. Ultra-low-frequency sound wiggles the soil. I'd expect such sounds to affect plants directly by loosening roots, and indirectly by changing the behavior of earthworms, bacteria, fungi, etc within the soil. I'd bet on these influences before I'd bet on a meaningful effect from changing bird poop habits.
= = = = =
Sidenote: One sentence in the feature does make good sense.
"You kind of hit yourself on the forehead and think, why didn't I think of that?"
It's even more forehead-y when you know how much acoustical research already deals with plants as filters for noise. When I worked at PSU, several projects were laid out in forests and cornfields, to find out how highway and industrial noise could be diffused and absorbed by various types of plantings. One of those projects was in a PSU ag dept experimental cornfield, where the growth of the plants was already carefully monitored. If anyone had thought of it, we could have checked the corn's response to the sound without making any extra measurements!
An experiment that might work: Start with a field of uniform crops or grass. Set up a vibration at a frequency that creates a standing wave in the soil. Run the vibration for a couple weeks. Compare the plants along the max-amplitude lines (shown here by Happystar) against the plants along the zero-amplitude lines (shown by Polistra). Since those sets are interspersed, all other variables should be identical.
Probably more practical to place a large flat electrostatic transducer under an area of soil. Setting up and maintaining a standing wave in such a transducer would be much easier than forming a wave in the soil itself.= = = = =Followup thoughts here.
First, the research was actually about noise affecting birds, which is unsurprising. Birds are thoroughly sound-oriented critters. The birds changed their habits under different sound exposures, which changed their poop-seed-transfer effects on plants in the neighborhood. So the plants were just indirect 'targets' of the birds.
Second, lots of new-agey research has dealt with effects of music on plants. Far as I know it's inconclusive and meaningless, but that doesn't tell us whether a good experiment would show an effect. I wouldn't be surprised to find an effect; I'm no longer convinced that you can draw a sharp line between plants and animals!
Third, this 'unbiased' research appears to be mainly a weapon against natural gas drilling, so it was dealing with sounds from big drilling apparatus, compressors, and such. Those sounds, along with the sounds from wind turbines, are more seismic than acoustic. Ultra-low-frequency sound wiggles the soil. I'd expect such sounds to affect plants directly by loosening roots, and indirectly by changing the behavior of earthworms, bacteria, fungi, etc within the soil. I'd bet on these influences before I'd bet on a meaningful effect from changing bird poop habits.
= = = = =
Sidenote: One sentence in the feature does make good sense.
"You kind of hit yourself on the forehead and think, why didn't I think of that?"
It's even more forehead-y when you know how much acoustical research already deals with plants as filters for noise. When I worked at PSU, several projects were laid out in forests and cornfields, to find out how highway and industrial noise could be diffused and absorbed by various types of plantings. One of those projects was in a PSU ag dept experimental cornfield, where the growth of the plants was already carefully monitored. If anyone had thought of it, we could have checked the corn's response to the sound without making any extra measurements!
An experiment that might work: Start with a field of uniform crops or grass. Set up a vibration at a frequency that creates a standing wave in the soil. Run the vibration for a couple weeks. Compare the plants along the max-amplitude lines (shown here by Happystar) against the plants along the zero-amplitude lines (shown by Polistra). Since those sets are interspersed, all other variables should be identical.
Probably more practical to place a large flat electrostatic transducer under an area of soil. Setting up and maintaining a standing wave in such a transducer would be much easier than forming a wave in the soil itself.= = = = =Followup thoughts here.
Labels: Grand Blueprint
¶ 9:33 AM
Two chances, two fuckups
Today the Supreme foofaraw over Obama's Worst Of All Possible Medical Worlds Act Of 2010 starts in earnest.
Dammit, dammit, dammit. Complete fuckup.
The solution was remarkably easy:
(1) Kill all the lawyers. If that's too messy and smelly, just invoke Loser Pays for all lawsuits.
(2) Disconnect employers from insurance.
(3) Extend Medicare to everyone and increase Medicare tax accordingly. Wouldn't need any Supreme action, because Medicare is already law.
That's all.
Remember: Something like 70% of all medical expense is already under the supervision of Medicare, so the expansion would be much less than a doubling. Medicare already works in concert with private insurance for those who can afford it.
But no, Obama couldn't do the right thing. He had to do the Goldman thing, the Romney thing. Had to guarantee total monopoly to predatory insurance companies.
Dammit, dammit, dammit TWICE. This man had the opportunity, the political capital, and the intelligence to do TWO hugely important things in his term.
Reimpose FDR's securities regulations, and create a proper single-payer medical system.
He could have cured our biggest problems almost immediately, but he chose not to.
I don't know why. Looks like he's totally enslaved to Goldman, but it might be more weakness than enslavement. ¶ 5:12 AM
Dammit, dammit, dammit. Complete fuckup.
The solution was remarkably easy:
(1) Kill all the lawyers. If that's too messy and smelly, just invoke Loser Pays for all lawsuits.
(2) Disconnect employers from insurance.
(3) Extend Medicare to everyone and increase Medicare tax accordingly. Wouldn't need any Supreme action, because Medicare is already law.
That's all.
Remember: Something like 70% of all medical expense is already under the supervision of Medicare, so the expansion would be much less than a doubling. Medicare already works in concert with private insurance for those who can afford it.
But no, Obama couldn't do the right thing. He had to do the Goldman thing, the Romney thing. Had to guarantee total monopoly to predatory insurance companies.
Dammit, dammit, dammit TWICE. This man had the opportunity, the political capital, and the intelligence to do TWO hugely important things in his term.
Reimpose FDR's securities regulations, and create a proper single-payer medical system.
He could have cured our biggest problems almost immediately, but he chose not to.
I don't know why. Looks like he's totally enslaved to Goldman, but it might be more weakness than enslavement. ¶ 5:12 AM
Old rule
Perfect example of the inviolate and absolute rule:
More money means worse education.
Last week I happily noted a small organic farming project in WSU's agriculture department. The project was initially funded through a grant carried by one grad student. When that student finished, the project made an outstandingly smart decision: Sell the food to people in the community. It thus became a closed-loop arrangement, where the results of the learning are evaluated and paid for by real consumers. You can't get any better than that.
Note: WSU was UNWILLING to fund the project in the usual governmental way, so the project had to escape from academic mediocrity and achieve REAL LEARNING and REAL RESEARCH via monetary feedback from actual consumers.
Today we find out what WSU is WILLING to spend taxpayer money on:
Green shit. Completely useless, serving only to impress vacuum-brained totally indoctrinated Gaia-worshipping kiddies.
Old rule, correct every time. ¶ 3:48 AM
More money means worse education.
Last week I happily noted a small organic farming project in WSU's agriculture department. The project was initially funded through a grant carried by one grad student. When that student finished, the project made an outstandingly smart decision: Sell the food to people in the community. It thus became a closed-loop arrangement, where the results of the learning are evaluated and paid for by real consumers. You can't get any better than that.
Note: WSU was UNWILLING to fund the project in the usual governmental way, so the project had to escape from academic mediocrity and achieve REAL LEARNING and REAL RESEARCH via monetary feedback from actual consumers.
Today we find out what WSU is WILLING to spend taxpayer money on:
Washington State University’s effort to go green got a boost last week with the purchase of three all-electric cars. The vehicles, produced by Global Electric Motorcars, use gel batteries and are capable of speeds to 25 mph, making them suitable for on-campus transportation. One of the cars will be dedicated to providing orientation tours for incoming students.
Green shit. Completely useless, serving only to impress vacuum-brained totally indoctrinated Gaia-worshipping kiddies.
Old rule, correct every time. ¶ 3:48 AM
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Senegal
BBC mentions a real election in the small West African nation of Senegal. The long-time leader Abdoulaye Wade intended to have his son take over in true dynastic form. But after some public dissatisfaction (not serious riots) he called an actual election, and a younger man named Macky Sall won the election. Wade conceded.
Caught my attention because a real election is a sign of a healthy government, a sign of a functioning nation. Elections DO NOT CREATE healthy governments, just as fevers and vomiting do not create health; but a body that can heat up and puke when necessary is a body with a good immune system. (America has lost this ability. We caught national AIDS in 1989. Death is our destiny.)
What makes Senegal healthy? I know nothing about it except how it looks on a map.
The CIA's 'factbook' for Senegal summarizes:
Sounds like it was doing fairly well (by African standards) under the guidance of various NGOs, but started to deteriorate when IMF stepped in. That's an unfortunately common pattern.
USDA's country page also indicates reasonable competence:
Population: 12.8 million (2008 est.)
GDP per capita: $8,400 (2008 est.)
Agriculture: 17% of GDP
Agricultural Production: groundnut, millet, sorghum,
rice, cotton, mangoes, vegetables, melons, corn and cattle
Major Senegal Agricultural Exports: fish, groundnuts, phosphates, cotton and petroleum products
Major U.S. Agricultural Exports to Senegal: rice, pulses, soybean oil, poultry meat and vegetable oils
Note the GDP per capita, well above most of Africa.
Senegal seems to have been mildly affected by a 2010 West Africa famine, but escaped the serious fate of its neighbors.
Nothing dramatic, but taken together, depicts an African country with some hope for the future. Rare enough to be worth a little celebration! ¶ 5:26 PM
Caught my attention because a real election is a sign of a healthy government, a sign of a functioning nation. Elections DO NOT CREATE healthy governments, just as fevers and vomiting do not create health; but a body that can heat up and puke when necessary is a body with a good immune system. (America has lost this ability. We caught national AIDS in 1989. Death is our destiny.)
What makes Senegal healthy? I know nothing about it except how it looks on a map.
The CIA's 'factbook' for Senegal summarizes:
Senegal relies heavily on donor assistance. The country's key export industries are phosphate mining, fertilizer production, and commercial fishing. The country is also working on iron ore and oil exploration projects. In January 1994, Senegal undertook a bold and ambitious economic reform program with the support of the international donor community. Government price controls and subsidies have been steadily dismantled. After seeing its economy contract by 2.1% in 1993, Senegal made an important turnaround, thanks to the reform program, with real growth in GDP averaging over 5% annually during 1995-2007. Annual inflation had been pushed down to the single digits. The country was adversely affected by the global economic downturn in 2009 and GDP growth fell to 2%. As a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), Senegal is working toward greater regional integration with a unified external tariff and a more stable monetary policy. High unemployment, however, continues to prompt illegal migrants to flee Senegal in search of better job opportunities in Europe. Under the IMF's Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief program, Senegal benefited from eradication of two-thirds of its bilateral, multilateral, and private-sector debt. In 2007, Senegal and the IMF agreed to a new, non-disbursing, Policy Support Initiative program which was completed in 2010. The IMF approved a new three-year policy support instrument in December 2010 to assist with economic reforms. Senegal receives disbursements from the $540 million Millennium Challenge Account compact it signed in September 2009 for infrastructure and agriculture development. In 2010, the Senegalese people protested against frequent power cuts. The government pledged to expand power capacity by 2012 and to promote renewable energy, but until Senegal has more capacity, more protests are likely. Foreign investment in Senegal is retarded by Senegal's unfriendly business environment.
Sounds like it was doing fairly well (by African standards) under the guidance of various NGOs, but started to deteriorate when IMF stepped in. That's an unfortunately common pattern.
USDA's country page also indicates reasonable competence:
Population: 12.8 million (2008 est.)
GDP per capita: $8,400 (2008 est.)
Agriculture: 17% of GDP
Agricultural Production: groundnut, millet, sorghum,
rice, cotton, mangoes, vegetables, melons, corn and cattle
Major Senegal Agricultural Exports: fish, groundnuts, phosphates, cotton and petroleum products
Major U.S. Agricultural Exports to Senegal: rice, pulses, soybean oil, poultry meat and vegetable oils
Note the GDP per capita, well above most of Africa.
Senegal seems to have been mildly affected by a 2010 West Africa famine, but escaped the serious fate of its neighbors.
Nothing dramatic, but taken together, depicts an African country with some hope for the future. Rare enough to be worth a little celebration! ¶ 5:26 PM
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Facts will get you through....
I've been pulling on these strings for a long time, without noticing how they come together.
The strings are a number of truly bad theories that totally control the actions of our governing, business and scientific establishment.
(1) Global warming
(2) Egalitarian views of genetics and behavior
(3) 'Neoclassical' economics
(4) Evolution
(5) Quantum physics
(6) Big bang and multiverse cosmology
= = = = =
They fall into two categories of invalidity:
1,2,3 are absolutely false, can be disproved in one second.
4,5,6 are not quite false. They're poorly designed, vague and untestable, and lead to all sorts of contradictions when you apply them.
= = = = =
And two categories of evil:
1,2,3 have killed millions of innocent people.
4,5,6 have given us a monstrous pile of wasted expense, wasted effort and terrible education.
= = = = =
Another thing I've been seeing and saying for a long time: you can live your life quite well without using these theories.
You can do meteorology without believing in Global Warming or an alternative theory. The alternative would be equally bad because it would be an alternative explanation of "global temperature", which is an invalid concept. Just check your forecasts against measured reality and adjust.
You can run a business without macroeconomics. Just measure your customer satisfaction by profit, not by share value.
You can perform every necessary biological or medical task without believing in evolution or creationism.
And so on.
= = = = =
What finally knitted it together was Shepardson, plus one sentence from a book review.
Shepardson wrote in 1901, a quarter century before the bad quantum idea was imagined, but ALSO a few years before the Bohr picture of the atom was well developed. He may have heard news about Thomson's 1899 notion of 'corpuscles', later named 'electrons', but he didn't use that notion. AND HE DIDN'T NEED IT.
His description of the chemical and physical processes of electricity is complete, objective and usable even today, despite terminology ("chip") that seems odd. Atoms and molecules were enough detail. Knowing the exact internal parts of the atom was UNNECESSARY. The Bohr model helped later on, because it was strictly derived from chemical and electrical observation. The quantum model has never helped. [The original bijunction transistor is often cited as an example of quantum guidance, but the original bijunction transistor was just a 20-year detour. The direct line of development, starting with an idea in 1840, would have given us the FET without invoking quantum explanations at any point.]
The final stitch for me came today, from an article pointed via Uncommon Descent.
The author is talking specifically about quantum physics, criticizing the modern tendency to attempt quantum explanations for everything.
Here's the sudden stitch: These bad theories are bad and unnecessary; AND the good theories that "should" replace them are ALSO unnecessary.
= = = = =
A bad theory is a sign that you don't need ANY THEORY at this level of abstraction.
Or in terms of actions and consequences:
Our natural response to a bad theory is to replace it with a testable and valid theory. This is wrong. Instead, we should pull back from the level of generalization where the bad theory grew. We should be happy to function without any theory at that level, because in fact we DO function perfectly well without it! If and when the known facts lead inexorably to a new stage of generality, then we can climb to that step. Until then, keep your theorizing in the realms of fiction or philosophy. Don't try to use it as science.
As the Freak Brothers almost said,
Facts will get you through times of no theory better than theory will get you through times of no facts.
The strings are a number of truly bad theories that totally control the actions of our governing, business and scientific establishment.
(1) Global warming
(2) Egalitarian views of genetics and behavior
(3) 'Neoclassical' economics
(4) Evolution
(5) Quantum physics
(6) Big bang and multiverse cosmology
= = = = =
They fall into two categories of invalidity:
1,2,3 are absolutely false, can be disproved in one second.
4,5,6 are not quite false. They're poorly designed, vague and untestable, and lead to all sorts of contradictions when you apply them.
= = = = =
And two categories of evil:
1,2,3 have killed millions of innocent people.
4,5,6 have given us a monstrous pile of wasted expense, wasted effort and terrible education.
= = = = =
Another thing I've been seeing and saying for a long time: you can live your life quite well without using these theories.
You can do meteorology without believing in Global Warming or an alternative theory. The alternative would be equally bad because it would be an alternative explanation of "global temperature", which is an invalid concept. Just check your forecasts against measured reality and adjust.
You can run a business without macroeconomics. Just measure your customer satisfaction by profit, not by share value.
You can perform every necessary biological or medical task without believing in evolution or creationism.
And so on.
= = = = =
What finally knitted it together was Shepardson, plus one sentence from a book review.
Shepardson wrote in 1901, a quarter century before the bad quantum idea was imagined, but ALSO a few years before the Bohr picture of the atom was well developed. He may have heard news about Thomson's 1899 notion of 'corpuscles', later named 'electrons', but he didn't use that notion. AND HE DIDN'T NEED IT.
His description of the chemical and physical processes of electricity is complete, objective and usable even today, despite terminology ("chip") that seems odd. Atoms and molecules were enough detail. Knowing the exact internal parts of the atom was UNNECESSARY. The Bohr model helped later on, because it was strictly derived from chemical and electrical observation. The quantum model has never helped. [The original bijunction transistor is often cited as an example of quantum guidance, but the original bijunction transistor was just a 20-year detour. The direct line of development, starting with an idea in 1840, would have given us the FET without invoking quantum explanations at any point.]
The final stitch for me came today, from an article pointed via Uncommon Descent.
Although microphysics can help illuminate the chemical bond and the periodic table, very little physics and chemistry can actually be done with its fundamental concepts and methods, and using it to explain life, human behavior or human society is a greater challenge still.
The author is talking specifically about quantum physics, criticizing the modern tendency to attempt quantum explanations for everything.
Here's the sudden stitch: These bad theories are bad and unnecessary; AND the good theories that "should" replace them are ALSO unnecessary.
= = = = =
A bad theory is a sign that you don't need ANY THEORY at this level of abstraction.
Or in terms of actions and consequences:
Our natural response to a bad theory is to replace it with a testable and valid theory. This is wrong. Instead, we should pull back from the level of generalization where the bad theory grew. We should be happy to function without any theory at that level, because in fact we DO function perfectly well without it! If and when the known facts lead inexorably to a new stage of generality, then we can climb to that step. Until then, keep your theorizing in the realms of fiction or philosophy. Don't try to use it as science.
As the Freak Brothers almost said,
Facts will get you through times of no theory better than theory will get you through times of no facts.
Labels: 20th century Dark Age, Carbon Cult, the broken circle
¶ 4:17 PM
