Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Grade entries
No, I'm not talking about universities. Well, actually I am, but in a roundabout way.
Brief piece on Marketplace last night about a back-to-the-future trend. Some rich suburbs are starting to make zoning allowance for what they call 'accessory apartments'. In this context, it's a rational adjustment to a distribution problem: some people made the mistake of building over-large houses, and others can't afford to rent or buy in the city where they work or belong.
New name, old concept. The 'accessory apt' has always been around, especially in college towns. It grew hugely with defense workers during WW2, and again with the GI Bill college boom just after WW2.
The key architectural feature that made the basement apartment practical was the Grade Entry.
The main purpose of the Grade Entry was a convenient vestibule for all the services that a middle-class home used in the 1920's. The grocery boy, iceman, milkman, furnace-stoking man and the maid... all used the Grade Entry.
The door and a small landing were at ground level (thus Grade). From the landing you'd go up 3 steps to the kitchen or down 9 steps to the basement. The servicemen could thus reach the furnace or the icebox without traipsing across the parlor carpet; and the maid or the housewife could take laundry to the clothesline with minimal steps. Fancier houses sometimes had a large enough landing to hold the icebox so you could lock the kitchen entirely.
Many homeowners took advantage of the Grade Entry's decoupling effect to set up a basement apartment for GI students or war workers. In some houses the apt is still intact but unused; in others you can spot telltale remnants of a bathroom or kitchenette.
Having students in the basement isn't always fun, but the extra money must have been worth it to the homeowners of the '40s.
Grade Entries disappeared in the '50s, as one-floor open-plan ranchers designed by utopian idiots crammed all the functions and personalities of a house into one undifferentiated space. Spokane seems to have carried on the Grade Entry later, along with the parallel tradition of detached garages. Some late-60s houses have Grade Entries, and detached garages at the back of the lot are still being built now. ¶ 5:57 PM
Brief piece on Marketplace last night about a back-to-the-future trend. Some rich suburbs are starting to make zoning allowance for what they call 'accessory apartments'. In this context, it's a rational adjustment to a distribution problem: some people made the mistake of building over-large houses, and others can't afford to rent or buy in the city where they work or belong.
New name, old concept. The 'accessory apt' has always been around, especially in college towns. It grew hugely with defense workers during WW2, and again with the GI Bill college boom just after WW2.
The key architectural feature that made the basement apartment practical was the Grade Entry.
The main purpose of the Grade Entry was a convenient vestibule for all the services that a middle-class home used in the 1920's. The grocery boy, iceman, milkman, furnace-stoking man and the maid... all used the Grade Entry.
The door and a small landing were at ground level (thus Grade). From the landing you'd go up 3 steps to the kitchen or down 9 steps to the basement. The servicemen could thus reach the furnace or the icebox without traipsing across the parlor carpet; and the maid or the housewife could take laundry to the clothesline with minimal steps. Fancier houses sometimes had a large enough landing to hold the icebox so you could lock the kitchen entirely.
Many homeowners took advantage of the Grade Entry's decoupling effect to set up a basement apartment for GI students or war workers. In some houses the apt is still intact but unused; in others you can spot telltale remnants of a bathroom or kitchenette.
Having students in the basement isn't always fun, but the extra money must have been worth it to the homeowners of the '40s.
Grade Entries disappeared in the '50s, as one-floor open-plan ranchers designed by utopian idiots crammed all the functions and personalities of a house into one undifferentiated space. Spokane seems to have carried on the Grade Entry later, along with the parallel tradition of detached garages. Some late-60s houses have Grade Entries, and detached garages at the back of the lot are still being built now. ¶ 5:57 PM
Time for another fucking reprint.
Today's news:
Second blackout in India in two days leaves 670 million without power
= = = = = START FUCKING REPRINT: = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Lately I've been moving my diet away from canned and processed food and toward fresh and home-cooked. Result has been dramatic: My digestive system is working properly for the first time.
The inspiration for this change was one bowl of chili back in 1960. As I wrote before,I'm pretty sure my mother served canned chili and canned tamales, but she was a terrible cook and everything was the same tasteless mush with different names.
Around 1960 we went out several times to a fairly genuine Mexican restaurant in a little stucco building at Pottawatomie and Manhattan Avenue, next to the Hunter's Island bridge. I'd bet the place had been a just-outside-city-limits roadhouse in earlier times. The interior was dark and grimy, but the food was an absolute epiphany; especially the chili, which was completely unlike anything we had at home. The gustatory equivalent of suddenly seeing in sharp color after a life of blurry B&W.
Why was that one bowl of chili such a revelation? Every ingredient revealed its own taste and texture. Each piece of tomato, each bean, each bit of beef, communicated with my tongue separately, and the pieces combined to make a harmonious whole.
This week I'm trying to get rid of the one remaining canned element, the tomato soup; trying to replace it with fresh tomatoes.
As I was slicing a tomato, I realized that I'm simply following Polistra's main theme. From the start these scribblings have looked at various forms of modern tasteless mush, and pointed out the Pottawatomie Chili alternative. In most cases the mush is a fairly recent development; distinct ingredients were the rule before WW2.
The mushers tell us we can't go back. Nonsense. The old unblended version worked, and the new overcooked puree doesn't work. Humans haven't changed, and Nature hasn't changed. We can go back.
Everything in Nature is highly decentralized. Each cell, each tissue, each organ, each plant and animal, has its own boundaries and its own specific area of expertise and control. The higher levels are happy to let the lower levels run their feedback loops internally.
Engineering and programming teach us the same lesson. Global variables and rigid couplings are bad; keeping the loop, or the stress, or the resonance, inside a module is good.
= = = = =
Start with the Three Horsepersons of the Modern Apocalypse, as embodied in EU above all. Free trade, Die-Versity, and Global Warming pseudoscience.
Free Trade starts with a false assumption that "economic efficiency" is the goal of all economic activity. It then decides that the best way to maximize "efficiency" is to crunch all national economies into one massive economy. Result (and real goal) is massive enrichment of the rich and starvation of the poor.
Die-Versity starts with a wildly false assumption that all humans are identical, then proceeds to mash them together to prove the assumption. This works in a few temporary and unusual situations like a wartime Army, but it leads to chaos in most situations. Result (and real goal) is massive empowerment of the rich and constant violence among the poor.
Global Warming pseudoscience starts with three wildly false assumptions. (1) The earth is one unified blob with one average temperature; (2) This average temperature is solely and rigidly controlled by one minuscule component of the atmosphere; (3) Among the sources of this minuscule component, the only one that counts is industrial output of English-speaking nations. Result (and real goal) is massive enrichment of the rich and starvation of the poor.
And then there's the EU itself, so blazingly obvious that even the mushers are starting to admit it can't work! Rigid coupling makes the whole structure shake and crack when one element moves the wrong way.
= = = = =
Several other specific examples of mush:
Financial system, on many levels. At the institutional level, Too Big To Fail. At the monetary level, securitization. At the regulatory level, rigid coupling of SEC and banks.
Neocon imperialism. All humans are identical, which means they're all identical to the NYC elite. Thus the elite's morals and culture are the ONLY possible set of morals and culture. We must spread them to all benighted nations. We must destroy Afghanistan and Iraq so the identical human units in those identical countries can share the wondrous benefits of Betty Friedan and Manolo Blahnik and Graduate Queer Studies and Kim Kardashian. When Kim loses a fingernail, all must suffer the pain.
Mass media, working in sync with the above two. Every serving of drama, comedy and "news" is the same tasteless mush with different names. The people seen in these servings have different colors and costumes, and they seem to argue, but they all agree on everything important. Gay is good, imperialism is good, The Market is good, EU is good. Everything that tends toward distinct and recognizable pieces (separate sexes, separate religions, bounded trade, separate nations) is bad.
= = = = = END FUCKING REPRINT. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
CASCADING FAILURES. RIGID COUPLINGS.
NATURE IS TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING.
DO YOU SEE THE FUCKING PROBLEM YET?
No, obviously you don't. Even as your vast Unified Empires and Unified Grids and Unified Theories blow up in your fucking face one after another, you still don't fucking GET IT. You apply "fixes" to tighten the chains and speed the cascades. Instead of abolishing the purely criminal Libor, you punish people who manipulate it too openly. Instead of abolishing WTO and restoring bilateral trade treaties, you punish nations that subsidize their trade too openly. Instead of breaking up the Euro, you bail out nations that manipulate it too openly. Instead of deleting the genocidal Global Warming theory, you punish people who reveal the crime.
You're going to continue unifying and centralizing and theorizing and commoditizing and securitizing EVEN FUCKING MORE, because in your fucking "mind" the problem is NOT ENOUGH FUCKING MUSH.
= = = = =
Sidenote after cooling down: I'm NOT saying that all organizations, corporations and systems are bad; NOT saying that every man should be a kingdom unto himself. Civilization obviously needs systems and grids. The modern problem is that we try to make these groupings simultaneously all-inclusive and rock-solid. You can have a large and complicated grid if its joints are loose and sloppy. Animals and plants are built that way. The Ottoman Empire was built that way, and worked well for a long time. And you can have a tight-boned grid if it's small and naturally uniform like Sweden or a municipal water company. But you can't have both at the same time. ¶ 4:04 AM
Second blackout in India in two days leaves 670 million without power
= = = = = START FUCKING REPRINT: = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Lately I've been moving my diet away from canned and processed food and toward fresh and home-cooked. Result has been dramatic: My digestive system is working properly for the first time.
The inspiration for this change was one bowl of chili back in 1960. As I wrote before,I'm pretty sure my mother served canned chili and canned tamales, but she was a terrible cook and everything was the same tasteless mush with different names.
Around 1960 we went out several times to a fairly genuine Mexican restaurant in a little stucco building at Pottawatomie and Manhattan Avenue, next to the Hunter's Island bridge. I'd bet the place had been a just-outside-city-limits roadhouse in earlier times. The interior was dark and grimy, but the food was an absolute epiphany; especially the chili, which was completely unlike anything we had at home. The gustatory equivalent of suddenly seeing in sharp color after a life of blurry B&W.
Why was that one bowl of chili such a revelation? Every ingredient revealed its own taste and texture. Each piece of tomato, each bean, each bit of beef, communicated with my tongue separately, and the pieces combined to make a harmonious whole.
This week I'm trying to get rid of the one remaining canned element, the tomato soup; trying to replace it with fresh tomatoes.
As I was slicing a tomato, I realized that I'm simply following Polistra's main theme. From the start these scribblings have looked at various forms of modern tasteless mush, and pointed out the Pottawatomie Chili alternative. In most cases the mush is a fairly recent development; distinct ingredients were the rule before WW2.
The mushers tell us we can't go back. Nonsense. The old unblended version worked, and the new overcooked puree doesn't work. Humans haven't changed, and Nature hasn't changed. We can go back.
Everything in Nature is highly decentralized. Each cell, each tissue, each organ, each plant and animal, has its own boundaries and its own specific area of expertise and control. The higher levels are happy to let the lower levels run their feedback loops internally.
Engineering and programming teach us the same lesson. Global variables and rigid couplings are bad; keeping the loop, or the stress, or the resonance, inside a module is good.
= = = = =
Start with the Three Horsepersons of the Modern Apocalypse, as embodied in EU above all. Free trade, Die-Versity, and Global Warming pseudoscience.
Free Trade starts with a false assumption that "economic efficiency" is the goal of all economic activity. It then decides that the best way to maximize "efficiency" is to crunch all national economies into one massive economy. Result (and real goal) is massive enrichment of the rich and starvation of the poor.
Die-Versity starts with a wildly false assumption that all humans are identical, then proceeds to mash them together to prove the assumption. This works in a few temporary and unusual situations like a wartime Army, but it leads to chaos in most situations. Result (and real goal) is massive empowerment of the rich and constant violence among the poor.
Global Warming pseudoscience starts with three wildly false assumptions. (1) The earth is one unified blob with one average temperature; (2) This average temperature is solely and rigidly controlled by one minuscule component of the atmosphere; (3) Among the sources of this minuscule component, the only one that counts is industrial output of English-speaking nations. Result (and real goal) is massive enrichment of the rich and starvation of the poor.
And then there's the EU itself, so blazingly obvious that even the mushers are starting to admit it can't work! Rigid coupling makes the whole structure shake and crack when one element moves the wrong way.
= = = = =
Several other specific examples of mush:
Financial system, on many levels. At the institutional level, Too Big To Fail. At the monetary level, securitization. At the regulatory level, rigid coupling of SEC and banks.
Neocon imperialism. All humans are identical, which means they're all identical to the NYC elite. Thus the elite's morals and culture are the ONLY possible set of morals and culture. We must spread them to all benighted nations. We must destroy Afghanistan and Iraq so the identical human units in those identical countries can share the wondrous benefits of Betty Friedan and Manolo Blahnik and Graduate Queer Studies and Kim Kardashian. When Kim loses a fingernail, all must suffer the pain.
Mass media, working in sync with the above two. Every serving of drama, comedy and "news" is the same tasteless mush with different names. The people seen in these servings have different colors and costumes, and they seem to argue, but they all agree on everything important. Gay is good, imperialism is good, The Market is good, EU is good. Everything that tends toward distinct and recognizable pieces (separate sexes, separate religions, bounded trade, separate nations) is bad.
= = = = = END FUCKING REPRINT. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
CASCADING FAILURES. RIGID COUPLINGS.
NATURE IS TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING.
DO YOU SEE THE FUCKING PROBLEM YET?
No, obviously you don't. Even as your vast Unified Empires and Unified Grids and Unified Theories blow up in your fucking face one after another, you still don't fucking GET IT. You apply "fixes" to tighten the chains and speed the cascades. Instead of abolishing the purely criminal Libor, you punish people who manipulate it too openly. Instead of abolishing WTO and restoring bilateral trade treaties, you punish nations that subsidize their trade too openly. Instead of breaking up the Euro, you bail out nations that manipulate it too openly. Instead of deleting the genocidal Global Warming theory, you punish people who reveal the crime.
You're going to continue unifying and centralizing and theorizing and commoditizing and securitizing EVEN FUCKING MORE, because in your fucking "mind" the problem is NOT ENOUGH FUCKING MUSH.
= = = = =
Sidenote after cooling down: I'm NOT saying that all organizations, corporations and systems are bad; NOT saying that every man should be a kingdom unto himself. Civilization obviously needs systems and grids. The modern problem is that we try to make these groupings simultaneously all-inclusive and rock-solid. You can have a large and complicated grid if its joints are loose and sloppy. Animals and plants are built that way. The Ottoman Empire was built that way, and worked well for a long time. And you can have a tight-boned grid if it's small and naturally uniform like Sweden or a municipal water company. But you can't have both at the same time. ¶ 4:04 AM
Monday, July 30, 2012
Hope from the youngsters
Northwest Public Radio did a happy report on Wash state grain conditions. And there's plenty of reason for happiness. Enough snow in the winter to help the red wheat germinate, but not too much freeze; PLENTY of rain in the spring; a brief period of miserable humid weather that wilted humans but didn't bother the grain; and now back to perfectly normal summer. Sunny, warm but not too hot, bone-dry.
On top of that, other parts of the country will have a poor crop this year. So Wash farmers will sell a better-than-usual crop at higher-than-usual prices.
The following was in the broadcast, but isn't in the brief podcast at the above link:
Young reportrix Anna King was talking to a farmer. She asked him how this year's harvest looked. He said simply, "Mama gets a new kitchen." Reportrix King burst out in a fine spontaneous belly-laugh.
Imagine the same interview with a baby-boomer reportrix like Commissar Susan Stamberg, Commissar Andrea Mitchell, or Commissar Linda Ellerbee. The farmer would say "Mama gets a new kitchen", and the Commissar would stalk off in a very loud huff, leaving 30 seconds of very dead air.
Later generations of journalists still recite tired Friedanist cliches, but unlike my generation, they don't bellyfeel Newthink. There's hope.
= = = = =
8/12: King made her national NPR debut in a brief feature on a candy factory. Again her spontaneity came through beautifully. Hope she doesn't 'overthink' and lose the magic.
¶ 4:57 PM
On top of that, other parts of the country will have a poor crop this year. So Wash farmers will sell a better-than-usual crop at higher-than-usual prices.
The following was in the broadcast, but isn't in the brief podcast at the above link:
Young reportrix Anna King was talking to a farmer. She asked him how this year's harvest looked. He said simply, "Mama gets a new kitchen." Reportrix King burst out in a fine spontaneous belly-laugh.
Imagine the same interview with a baby-boomer reportrix like Commissar Susan Stamberg, Commissar Andrea Mitchell, or Commissar Linda Ellerbee. The farmer would say "Mama gets a new kitchen", and the Commissar would stalk off in a very loud huff, leaving 30 seconds of very dead air.
Later generations of journalists still recite tired Friedanist cliches, but unlike my generation, they don't bellyfeel Newthink. There's hope.
= = = = =
8/12: King made her national NPR debut in a brief feature on a candy factory. Again her spontaneity came through beautifully. Hope she doesn't 'overthink' and lose the magic.
¶ 4:57 PM
Hand of Providence
I try hard to view Vulture Romney as an evil genius, but I'm coming to the conclusion that he's just really really really really dumb. Probably an IQ of 85 or so.
The "hand of Providence" accounts for Jewish success????
Listen, Mitt, you're supposed to be Christian at least by culture. Jesus told the Jews that their standard behavior was NOT in accord with the Hand of Providence, and he illustrated a new way of following God. That was pretty much his whole point.
Modern Jews have continued behaving in the same ways that Jesus accurately observed. (Still stiff-necked after all these years.) Instead of a moral code, Jews have a MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE-al code. This approach to life unquestionably leads to material success, just as a shark's approach to life leads to eating lots of fish.
If you claim to be a Christian or a Mormon or a Muslim or just about anything other than a Jew, you should be pointing out that infinite wealth and infinite power are SPECIFICALLY NOT the marks of God's grace. Humility, generosity and contentment are more in line with God's purposes.
Obviously Mitt doesn't care about Christianity or God's grace; obviously his own MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE-al code was learned from the Jews of Wall Street. ¶ 10:54 AM
The "hand of Providence" accounts for Jewish success????
Listen, Mitt, you're supposed to be Christian at least by culture. Jesus told the Jews that their standard behavior was NOT in accord with the Hand of Providence, and he illustrated a new way of following God. That was pretty much his whole point.
Modern Jews have continued behaving in the same ways that Jesus accurately observed. (Still stiff-necked after all these years.) Instead of a moral code, Jews have a MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE-al code. This approach to life unquestionably leads to material success, just as a shark's approach to life leads to eating lots of fish.
If you claim to be a Christian or a Mormon or a Muslim or just about anything other than a Jew, you should be pointing out that infinite wealth and infinite power are SPECIFICALLY NOT the marks of God's grace. Humility, generosity and contentment are more in line with God's purposes.
Obviously Mitt doesn't care about Christianity or God's grace; obviously his own MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE-al code was learned from the Jews of Wall Street. ¶ 10:54 AM
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Most destabilizing
Trying to pay no attention to the fake "election" shit, but sometimes it gets too annoying to avoid.
Vulture Romney says: "Iran is the world's most destabilizing power."
Wrong in too many ways to count, but I'll try.
1. Ideally, stability shouldn't be an important variable. A powerful nation should serve the interests of its OWN PEOPLE. Sometimes the best actions lead to stability and sometimes the opposite. It's a side effect, not a goal.
2. Nevertheless, from 1861 to 1980, from Mass-Murdering Madman Lincoln through Helpless Imbecile Carter, stability was a main goal of American foreign policy. We consistently helped brutal tyrants and smashed all efforts toward self-determination. (In Lincoln's case, of course, the brutal tyrant was Lincoln himself; nevertheless, he established the rule that everyone else followed.)
3. Reagan broke the rule and took the pragmatic view. When he collapsed the Soviet Empire, he destabilized the world; but Reagan properly saw that as a side effect.
4. After Reagan, all presidents have specifically worked to destabilize the world even more. Since 1990, America is unquestionably the "world's most destabilizing power." Nobody comes close. Bush The Father destab'd Iraq. Clinton destab'd Yugoslavia. Bush The Son destab'd Afghanistan and Iraq (again). Obama is destab'ing Libya, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Persia. But we do NOT destabilize Yemen or Bahrain or Saudi, because our Israeli and Saudi bosses tell us not to.
5. Persia has done some destab'ing in the past, notably Lebanon in the '80s. They were happy to watch us remove Saddam in 2003, and probably steered us toward that goal. (Remember Ahmed Chalabi?) But in the current situation, Persia is SPECIFICALLY SUPPORTING THE STABLE DICTATORS. The same dictators that we were supporting (much more effectively) back in the pre-Reagan days when we sought stability first.
Good lord, this Romney idiot can't even keep up with his own party's fast-developing idiocy. He's stuck in the Carter era and doesn't even know it.
(FWIW I don't see any problem with his comments about the London Olympics. Simple truth, and his experience gives him the authority to speak on that subject. Pretty much the only time Vulture has made sense.) ¶ 4:56 PM
Vulture Romney says: "Iran is the world's most destabilizing power."
Wrong in too many ways to count, but I'll try.
1. Ideally, stability shouldn't be an important variable. A powerful nation should serve the interests of its OWN PEOPLE. Sometimes the best actions lead to stability and sometimes the opposite. It's a side effect, not a goal.
2. Nevertheless, from 1861 to 1980, from Mass-Murdering Madman Lincoln through Helpless Imbecile Carter, stability was a main goal of American foreign policy. We consistently helped brutal tyrants and smashed all efforts toward self-determination. (In Lincoln's case, of course, the brutal tyrant was Lincoln himself; nevertheless, he established the rule that everyone else followed.)
3. Reagan broke the rule and took the pragmatic view. When he collapsed the Soviet Empire, he destabilized the world; but Reagan properly saw that as a side effect.
4. After Reagan, all presidents have specifically worked to destabilize the world even more. Since 1990, America is unquestionably the "world's most destabilizing power." Nobody comes close. Bush The Father destab'd Iraq. Clinton destab'd Yugoslavia. Bush The Son destab'd Afghanistan and Iraq (again). Obama is destab'ing Libya, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and Persia. But we do NOT destabilize Yemen or Bahrain or Saudi, because our Israeli and Saudi bosses tell us not to.
5. Persia has done some destab'ing in the past, notably Lebanon in the '80s. They were happy to watch us remove Saddam in 2003, and probably steered us toward that goal. (Remember Ahmed Chalabi?) But in the current situation, Persia is SPECIFICALLY SUPPORTING THE STABLE DICTATORS. The same dictators that we were supporting (much more effectively) back in the pre-Reagan days when we sought stability first.
Good lord, this Romney idiot can't even keep up with his own party's fast-developing idiocy. He's stuck in the Carter era and doesn't even know it.
(FWIW I don't see any problem with his comments about the London Olympics. Simple truth, and his experience gives him the authority to speak on that subject. Pretty much the only time Vulture has made sense.) ¶ 4:56 PM
Purely amazing!
The Squid lady has picked up a wonderful observation. It turns out that cuttlefish (related to squid and octopus) not only sleep, they dream. And the dreaming looks just like mammalian dreaming, with twitching arms and eyes.... EXCEPT! Cuttlefish can do one thing we can't. They can communicate by projecting patterns on their skin. And the patterns show up in dreams, just as mammals growl or bark or talk in our sleep.
The original article describes it thusly:
The video contained in the original article is all the convincing I need. The first minute is quiet sleep; the chromatophore pattern was set to match the gravel, so the cuttlefish is hard to see. When the dream starts, there's no doubt what's happening.
= = = = =
This provides another disproof (not that we need any more) of the random-evolution theory. Mollusks and vertebrates diverged a long time ago, and have very little in common. The randomists would tell us that REM sleep, which is dangerous to the individual, developed through a long chain of purely random mutations... and that it developed TWICE, identically, in types of animals that reached intelligence through entirely separate paths.
REM is dangerous? Sure. Sleeping quietly without moving is a good survival helper. You're not providing any motion cues to predators. But when you start wiggling and barking, or wiggling and color-patterning, your attempt at camouflage is all screwed up.
Come on, randomists. Time to give up.
The original article describes it thusly:
REM sleep has been convincingly documented in two vertebrate orders (birds and mammals). ... We find suggestive evidence of a putative analog of avian/mammalian REM sleep in Sepia officinalis. Like birds and mammals, this state is characterized by phasic activation of motor circuits (against a background of quiescence) that appeared endogenous in origin, rather than exogenously driven by external stimuli. This manifests most strikingly as phasic activation of the skin chromatophores, but also includes small movements (twitches) of the arms and eyes. Intriguingly, the chromatophore activation was not random, and is thus reminiscent of the non-random nature of REM sleep motor activity. In cats, for example, brainstem lesions that remove REM sleep atonia result in stereotyped motor activity (stalking, batting at objects) during REM sleep. ... It is therefore possible that the non-random chromatophore activation observed during quiescence might be similar to patterns of activation that can occur during vertebrate REM sleep.
The video contained in the original article is all the convincing I need. The first minute is quiet sleep; the chromatophore pattern was set to match the gravel, so the cuttlefish is hard to see. When the dream starts, there's no doubt what's happening.
= = = = =
This provides another disproof (not that we need any more) of the random-evolution theory. Mollusks and vertebrates diverged a long time ago, and have very little in common. The randomists would tell us that REM sleep, which is dangerous to the individual, developed through a long chain of purely random mutations... and that it developed TWICE, identically, in types of animals that reached intelligence through entirely separate paths.
REM is dangerous? Sure. Sleeping quietly without moving is a good survival helper. You're not providing any motion cues to predators. But when you start wiggling and barking, or wiggling and color-patterning, your attempt at camouflage is all screwed up.
Come on, randomists. Time to give up.
Labels: Grand Blueprint
¶ 2:34 AM
Modern equivalent of Aryanizing
From today's "news":
Every historical figure who counts as 'good' in Leninist eyes must be recast as a fag or a bulldyke. Every historical figure who counts as 'bad' in Leninist eyes must be shown emphatically as a hetero breeder.
Remind you of anything? ¶ 2:12 AM
She might have been one of the world's premier sex symbols, but Marilyn Monroe was plagued with well-documented personal insecurities -- among them the possibility she might be a lesbian, a new book alleges.
Every historical figure who counts as 'good' in Leninist eyes must be recast as a fag or a bulldyke. Every historical figure who counts as 'bad' in Leninist eyes must be shown emphatically as a hetero breeder.
Remind you of anything? ¶ 2:12 AM
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Systems aren't always fun
Writing this piece about the good points of Systems led to a memory....
A well-organized utility requires an immune system to protect it from viruses, hackers and free riders. Electric utilities and city water utilities have strong immune systems; the Bell landline system was the best of all until its 1980's breakup.
The internet fails miserably. You have to pay a separate anti-virus company for your security, or do without. Think public health: when many of the users are unvaccinated, the risk is vastly higher for everyone else.
Really a missed opportunity. Most people would have been willing to pay more for a net with built-in universal security. Would be faster and cheaper overall.
Back in my ham radio days I had a run-in with Ma Bell's immune system. I rigged up a rather nice ham shack in a chicken coop behind the parents' house, and ran an underground cable from the Bell entrance box to a non-standard phone in the shack. (Not as pretty as the Strowger phone that Polistra is using, but equally non-standard!)
After I'd been using the improper extension for a few weeks, we received a visit from the phone company. Since I was a kid, they didn't do anything legalistic, just forced me to disconnect the whole setup.
Wasn't a happy experience at the time, but looking back on it from a wrinkly perspective, I'm glad they had the facilities to detect and reject my 'hacking'. ¶ 3:04 PM
A well-organized utility requires an immune system to protect it from viruses, hackers and free riders. Electric utilities and city water utilities have strong immune systems; the Bell landline system was the best of all until its 1980's breakup.
The internet fails miserably. You have to pay a separate anti-virus company for your security, or do without. Think public health: when many of the users are unvaccinated, the risk is vastly higher for everyone else.
Really a missed opportunity. Most people would have been willing to pay more for a net with built-in universal security. Would be faster and cheaper overall.
Back in my ham radio days I had a run-in with Ma Bell's immune system. I rigged up a rather nice ham shack in a chicken coop behind the parents' house, and ran an underground cable from the Bell entrance box to a non-standard phone in the shack. (Not as pretty as the Strowger phone that Polistra is using, but equally non-standard!)
After I'd been using the improper extension for a few weeks, we received a visit from the phone company. Since I was a kid, they didn't do anything legalistic, just forced me to disconnect the whole setup.
Wasn't a happy experience at the time, but looking back on it from a wrinkly perspective, I'm glad they had the facilities to detect and reject my 'hacking'. ¶ 3:04 PM
Jesse's fine euphemism
Now that Jesse Jackson Junior has provided a new Official Euphemism, many old phrases need to be Rectified.
Being a congressman is not all it's mood disordered up to be.
I got up at the mood disorder of dawn.
Inspector Clouseau mood disordered the case.
Hey, you'd better get mood disorderin' if you wanna keep this job!
WalMart is a good place to see plumber's mood disorders.
Jimmy mood disorder corn and I don't care. ¶ 8:07 AM
Being a congressman is not all it's mood disordered up to be.
I got up at the mood disorder of dawn.
Inspector Clouseau mood disordered the case.
Hey, you'd better get mood disorderin' if you wanna keep this job!
WalMart is a good place to see plumber's mood disorders.
Jimmy mood disorder corn and I don't care. ¶ 8:07 AM
Privacy laws, tool of Satan (partial repeat)
Reprinting something from a couple years ago:
= = = = = START REPRINT:
An interesting coincidence of news stories illustrating the completely fucked-up condition of our concepts and laws relating to privacy.
(1) Spokane story last week: A couple of drunks met in a bar, ended up having sex. Afterward the female drunk decided the male drunk wasn't someone she wanted to hang around with, so she filed "date" "rape" charges against him. The police and media went along with everything the female drunk said, including a charge of Impersonating An Officer, which made it sound like the male drunk had been wearing a uniform. His name was plastered all over the media, and his reputation is now ruined forever. Few days later, the police finally leaked that there was no evidence, no uniform, just her story against his. The charge was dropped down to Lewd Conduct. (I'm not linking this one because I don't want to help spread such tyrannical fraud and prosecutorial crime.)
(2) Much more serious case: Baby beaten to death by boyfriend who is clearly not right in the head. One look at this Cooley dude and you can tell he's a Violent Imbecile in the strict sense of the word; misshapen head, strange partial baldness at age 22. In an earlier time when ACCURATE DISCRIMINATION was not illegal, his condition would have been easily recognized and the mom would have known to avoid this guy, or he would have been in an institution already. Worst part: he has a long record of REAL rape and violence, and at the time when he started living with the mom, he had just been arrested and released for a similar baby-beating that resulted in permanent injury to the baby. None of this was public, for reasons that haven't been discussed yet. I'm guessing that his "mental challenges" placed him into the category of "innocent by insanity", which pulled all of the legalities into the realm of Delicate Privacy.
= = = = =
Privacy is a tool of the devil. Stalinists (eg Blackmun, Friedan, Buckley) have used it with great precision to open some doors and close others. In each case where civilization requires us to be informed about others, Stalinists have closed the door, and in each case where civilization requires curtains, Stalinists have torn the curtains asunder.
= = = = =
Update Sept 2011: A murder at the Univ of Idaho offers the most egregious example of deadly Diversity and deadly Privacy working together. Ernesto Bustamante had the Right Kind Of Name, so his quota-filling qualities took precedence over his obvious and murderous psychopathic tendencies. Everyone knew he was fully crazy, everyone knew he was a killer, but the University needed him for a quota, and most of all the University was ferocious about enforcing privacy laws. A sane employer within a sane country would have placed Bustamante in an insane asylum long ago. But we are not living in a sane country. Bustamante's Diversity and Privacy could not be violated, so a promising young woman no longer has any Diversity or Privacy or Life.
= = = = = END REPRINT.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Now we have another 'update' verifying the beauty of Privacy Laws.
From UK Telegraph:
Nuff said.
It's too bad Holmes wasn't contemplating something really atrocious and serious, like denying The Eternal Truth Of Global Warming, or advocating Protectionist Trade Policies, or observing that People Are Different. Those horrible unthinkable unspeakable crimes would have been instant Red Flags for the psychiatrist, requiring her to notify the authorities immediately. Oaths and privacy laws be damned, it's Full Speed Ahead when a heretic threatens to speak. ¶ 5:13 AM
= = = = = START REPRINT:
An interesting coincidence of news stories illustrating the completely fucked-up condition of our concepts and laws relating to privacy.
(1) Spokane story last week: A couple of drunks met in a bar, ended up having sex. Afterward the female drunk decided the male drunk wasn't someone she wanted to hang around with, so she filed "date" "rape" charges against him. The police and media went along with everything the female drunk said, including a charge of Impersonating An Officer, which made it sound like the male drunk had been wearing a uniform. His name was plastered all over the media, and his reputation is now ruined forever. Few days later, the police finally leaked that there was no evidence, no uniform, just her story against his. The charge was dropped down to Lewd Conduct. (I'm not linking this one because I don't want to help spread such tyrannical fraud and prosecutorial crime.)
(2) Much more serious case: Baby beaten to death by boyfriend who is clearly not right in the head. One look at this Cooley dude and you can tell he's a Violent Imbecile in the strict sense of the word; misshapen head, strange partial baldness at age 22. In an earlier time when ACCURATE DISCRIMINATION was not illegal, his condition would have been easily recognized and the mom would have known to avoid this guy, or he would have been in an institution already. Worst part: he has a long record of REAL rape and violence, and at the time when he started living with the mom, he had just been arrested and released for a similar baby-beating that resulted in permanent injury to the baby. None of this was public, for reasons that haven't been discussed yet. I'm guessing that his "mental challenges" placed him into the category of "innocent by insanity", which pulled all of the legalities into the realm of Delicate Privacy.
= = = = =
Privacy is a tool of the devil. Stalinists (eg Blackmun, Friedan, Buckley) have used it with great precision to open some doors and close others. In each case where civilization requires us to be informed about others, Stalinists have closed the door, and in each case where civilization requires curtains, Stalinists have torn the curtains asunder.
= = = = =
Update Sept 2011: A murder at the Univ of Idaho offers the most egregious example of deadly Diversity and deadly Privacy working together. Ernesto Bustamante had the Right Kind Of Name, so his quota-filling qualities took precedence over his obvious and murderous psychopathic tendencies. Everyone knew he was fully crazy, everyone knew he was a killer, but the University needed him for a quota, and most of all the University was ferocious about enforcing privacy laws. A sane employer within a sane country would have placed Bustamante in an insane asylum long ago. But we are not living in a sane country. Bustamante's Diversity and Privacy could not be violated, so a promising young woman no longer has any Diversity or Privacy or Life.
= = = = = END REPRINT.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Now we have another 'update' verifying the beauty of Privacy Laws.
From UK Telegraph:
Holmes, 24, had been taking a doctorate in neuroscience at the university medical school, but told officials that he was dropping out early last month.
He had been visiting Lynne Fenton, the medical director of student mental health services. He also sent her a notebook in which he had reportedly drawn images depicting a shooting spree, but package was found unopened in the post room.
Nuff said.
It's too bad Holmes wasn't contemplating something really atrocious and serious, like denying The Eternal Truth Of Global Warming, or advocating Protectionist Trade Policies, or observing that People Are Different. Those horrible unthinkable unspeakable crimes would have been instant Red Flags for the psychiatrist, requiring her to notify the authorities immediately. Oaths and privacy laws be damned, it's Full Speed Ahead when a heretic threatens to speak. ¶ 5:13 AM
Die-versity fools a fool
[sarc on] Boy, I sure do wish those pesky KKKristians hadn't recalled Gayor Jim West back in 2005. He was such a wonderful fellow, and undoubtedly would have been an outstanding Gayor of Spokane if only those pesky KKKristians hadn't run a narrow-minded bigoted nasty KKKampaign to recall him. [sarc off]
Read this whole story, including the sidebars.
The immediate event is just a sad story of a rich lefty who believed everything her television told her about Racial And Sexual Die-Versity. She acted on her television's strong beliefs in Racial And Sexual Die-Versity, and lost all her money.
Justice, I guess. The story doesn't say if the rich lefty learned anything. Probably didn't.
The connection to (now deceased) Gayor West is somewhat incidental, but offers a window into a huge and wildly disgusting world of Repooflican sodomite crime and fraud that we avoided when West was removed from office. ¶ 4:25 AM
Read this whole story, including the sidebars.
The immediate event is just a sad story of a rich lefty who believed everything her television told her about Racial And Sexual Die-Versity. She acted on her television's strong beliefs in Racial And Sexual Die-Versity, and lost all her money.
Justice, I guess. The story doesn't say if the rich lefty learned anything. Probably didn't.
The connection to (now deceased) Gayor West is somewhat incidental, but offers a window into a huge and wildly disgusting world of Repooflican sodomite crime and fraud that we avoided when West was removed from office. ¶ 4:25 AM
For the record
Suspicious occurrence just now. I got up at 3 as usual, started coffee, and sat down at the computer. At 3:15, heard a car pull up in front of the house. Figured it might be the newspaper carrier, who generally shows up around 4. But I didn't hear the usual sound of the paper sliding into the mailbox-type thing, so I opened the door and looked out. Seemed to be a recent small SUV or minivan, red or 'burgundy' in color. From the shape of the headlights and taillights (and a little assist from Google), I'd say it's a Chrysler T&C from 2011 or 2012. It continued to sit there idling. After I appeared at the door, they turned off the headlights and continued idling. I turned on the porch light and stuck my ugly head out the screen door. This seemed to have an effect on them, and they quietly pulled away, still without lights.
= = = = =
Later: the paper guy showed up at 3:45 in his noisy old sedan, thus verifying that the quiet minivan had nothing to do with newspaper delivery. ¶ 3:24 AM
= = = = =
Later: the paper guy showed up at 3:45 in his noisy old sedan, thus verifying that the quiet minivan had nothing to do with newspaper delivery. ¶ 3:24 AM
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Flash drought
NPR says some states had a cold wet spring followed by an unusually dry summer.
If drought means anything at all, it means a PROLONGED PERIOD of dry weather. The official definition is slippery, but emphasizes at least one year, preferably two years, before you start calling it a drought.
If any dry period of any length can be a "flash drought", then let's have Flashmas every day!
A weekend is "flash unemployment."
A missed meal is "flash starvation."
A sleepless night is "flash torture."
Coughing on a swallow of water is "flash drowning."
The bare patch in my yard is "flash desertification."
Cussing when you stub your toe is "flash Tourette's."
Lighting a match is a "flash forest fire."A gunshot is a "flash world war." ¶ 5:06 PM
The unusually hot dry weather that has gripped the nation will not let up its stranglehold over the next few months, federal weather forecasters said Thursday.
And that means the heartland's "flash drought" will linger at least until around Halloween and even spread a bit farther north and east.
If drought means anything at all, it means a PROLONGED PERIOD of dry weather. The official definition is slippery, but emphasizes at least one year, preferably two years, before you start calling it a drought.
If any dry period of any length can be a "flash drought", then let's have Flashmas every day!
A weekend is "flash unemployment."
A missed meal is "flash starvation."
A sleepless night is "flash torture."
Coughing on a swallow of water is "flash drowning."
The bare patch in my yard is "flash desertification."
Cussing when you stub your toe is "flash Tourette's."
Lighting a match is a "flash forest fire."A gunshot is a "flash world war." ¶ 5:06 PM
Ignorance as usual
Always nice to see an admission of bone-solid ignorance by an idiot "journalist".
In this case, Excellent Horse-like Lady Totenberg was interviewing Scalia.
I doubt that "neither of us" was sure. Scalia obviously knows the document and knows just where to look.
This isn't exactly a surprising discovery. Most of us who actually read the document have noticed that "jury of your peers" isn't in there. And it shouldn't be there, since the 1776 revolution eliminated official ranks of nobility.
"Innocent until proven guilty" isn't in there either, nor is "stare decisis", nor "minority rights", nor "independent judiciary", nor "one man, one vote", nor "co-equal branches", nor "judicial review", nor the requirement that guns are only for militias, nor any of the other toxic ratshit that our elites and media claim to be "in the Constitution."
The rule is simple and universal. When an Expert tells you that X is "unconstitutional", you can be dead certain that X is implicitly encouraged or explicitly required by the Constitution. When an Expert tells you that X is "required" by the Constitution, you can be dead certain that X is implicitly discouraged or explicitly prohibited.
Okay, okay. I'm sorry. ¶ 7:25 AM
In this case, Excellent Horse-like Lady Totenberg was interviewing Scalia.
Excellent Horse-like Lady Totenberg: Covering women under the 14th Amendment?
Scalia: Well, come on. Covering women under the 14th Amendment [laughs]. Women were always covered under the 14th Amendment. What are you talking about? Were they entitled to due process of law? Could you send them to jail without a trial? Without a jury? Come on, women were always covered by the 14th. ...
Excellent Horse-like Lady Totenberg: If they are tried by jury, [it] certainly [was] not a jury by their peers, not when women were not on the jury.
Scalia: Well, where does the Constitution talk about a jury of your peers?
Excellent Horse-like Lady Totenberg: It doesn't talk about it in the Sixth Amendment?
Scalia: It talks about a jury, right to trial by jury. Doesn't talk about peers.
Excellent Horse-like Lady Totenberg: No peers?
Scalia reached for his pocket copy of the Constitution at this point, finding it was not there. Neither of us was 100 percent sure. But I checked when I got back to the office, and he was right.
I doubt that "neither of us" was sure. Scalia obviously knows the document and knows just where to look.
This isn't exactly a surprising discovery. Most of us who actually read the document have noticed that "jury of your peers" isn't in there. And it shouldn't be there, since the 1776 revolution eliminated official ranks of nobility.
"Innocent until proven guilty" isn't in there either, nor is "stare decisis", nor "minority rights", nor "independent judiciary", nor "one man, one vote", nor "co-equal branches", nor "judicial review", nor the requirement that guns are only for militias, nor any of the other toxic ratshit that our elites and media claim to be "in the Constitution."
The rule is simple and universal. When an Expert tells you that X is "unconstitutional", you can be dead certain that X is implicitly encouraged or explicitly required by the Constitution. When an Expert tells you that X is "required" by the Constitution, you can be dead certain that X is implicitly discouraged or explicitly prohibited.
Okay, okay. I'm sorry. ¶ 7:25 AM
iPhones and outHouses
Why does Apple dominate the market for smartphones? Because Apple made a system first. Unlike other phone-makers, Apple had an existing system (iTunes) to distribute content.
Broadly speaking, businesses grow and succeed best when they are more like landlords than merchants ... when the customer has to keep paying something like rent at frequent intervals to stay connected to the system. With a well-organized system, a two-way loop develops. The customer is unwilling or unable to switch to another system, and the business constantly learns about problems or bugs.
Bell Telephone was probably the first big player with an all-rent system. You didn't own your phone or the wires, you just paid Bell every month for the service AND the instrument.
Edison used the same trick: he sold you the electricity, and he also sold or rented the appliances that used the electricity.
At one time grocery stores, dairies, and newspapers had a similar connection through their delivery systems. You had two-way personal communication with the grocery boy or milkman, which kept you tied to the merchant and gave the merchant feedback on the needs of his customers. These systems have nearly disappeared.
Big systems require government collaboration or assistance, which provides a two-way (often unhealthy) communication with the gov't. Railroads, telegraph, telephone, electricity: all need right-of-way or easements. Apple's system depends on the Internet, which was begun by government; more specifically it depends on microwave communication, which is explicitly licensed by FCC. Apple is able to build its system on the backs of these two gov't systems without paying rent or buying easements. It's a free rider. (In other words, "Hey, Steve Jobs! You didn't build that!")
= = = = =
This got me thinking: What was the first system? Easy answer: Water and sewer. More than 2000 years ago, the Romans, Babylonians, and Mayans had fully-formed water and sewer systems with indoor plumbing.
And what was the last system to be completed? Water and sewer, at least in American cities. By 1970, everyone had electricity and everyone who wanted a phone had a phone. Not so with water and sewer. For instance, a large section of Bowling Green was still using pumps and outhouses in 1969. Some of those outhouses still remain, used as garden sheds. The last urban outhouse known to be 'active' was also in Bowling Green, where one stubborn old lady didn't like utility connections. She had somehow acquired an official exemption. After she died in 1988, the last outhouse disappeared.
Septic tanks are less obvious but far more widespread. My house had a septic tank until 2004; the suburb of Spokane Valley (pop 70,000) was all septic until 10 years ago, and is still being sewer-ized.= = = = =Followup here. ¶ 4:02 AM
Broadly speaking, businesses grow and succeed best when they are more like landlords than merchants ... when the customer has to keep paying something like rent at frequent intervals to stay connected to the system. With a well-organized system, a two-way loop develops. The customer is unwilling or unable to switch to another system, and the business constantly learns about problems or bugs.
Bell Telephone was probably the first big player with an all-rent system. You didn't own your phone or the wires, you just paid Bell every month for the service AND the instrument.
Edison used the same trick: he sold you the electricity, and he also sold or rented the appliances that used the electricity.
At one time grocery stores, dairies, and newspapers had a similar connection through their delivery systems. You had two-way personal communication with the grocery boy or milkman, which kept you tied to the merchant and gave the merchant feedback on the needs of his customers. These systems have nearly disappeared.
Big systems require government collaboration or assistance, which provides a two-way (often unhealthy) communication with the gov't. Railroads, telegraph, telephone, electricity: all need right-of-way or easements. Apple's system depends on the Internet, which was begun by government; more specifically it depends on microwave communication, which is explicitly licensed by FCC. Apple is able to build its system on the backs of these two gov't systems without paying rent or buying easements. It's a free rider. (In other words, "Hey, Steve Jobs! You didn't build that!")
= = = = =
This got me thinking: What was the first system? Easy answer: Water and sewer. More than 2000 years ago, the Romans, Babylonians, and Mayans had fully-formed water and sewer systems with indoor plumbing.
And what was the last system to be completed? Water and sewer, at least in American cities. By 1970, everyone had electricity and everyone who wanted a phone had a phone. Not so with water and sewer. For instance, a large section of Bowling Green was still using pumps and outhouses in 1969. Some of those outhouses still remain, used as garden sheds. The last urban outhouse known to be 'active' was also in Bowling Green, where one stubborn old lady didn't like utility connections. She had somehow acquired an official exemption. After she died in 1988, the last outhouse disappeared.
Septic tanks are less obvious but far more widespread. My house had a septic tank until 2004; the suburb of Spokane Valley (pop 70,000) was all septic until 10 years ago, and is still being sewer-ized.= = = = =Followup here. ¶ 4:02 AM
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Satan's sweet little BF
I note that Satan's best boy buddy "Mayor" Bloomberg is sticking to his mass-murdering assault rifles on "sugary drinks", despite protests by large numbers of sane normal humans.
Protests are pointless. Satan's dear darling bedmates always get what they want.
Every scrap of logic and experience runs solidly against Bloomberg. Lots of people have said the same thing already, but I've gotta join the chorus:
Fucking sugar is NOT THE FUCKING PROBLEM.
Our generation consumed TONS of sugar. When I was a kid, I put 5 or 6 teaspoons of sugar on my already-sugary breakfast cereal, added 5 or 6 teaspoons to iced tea, drank lots of Coke and Dr Pepper with supposedly 20 teaspoons per bottle. Most of us did the same. Certainly unhealthy. It ruined our teeth, but it didn't make us fat and it didn't make us diabetic.
Fat kids were rare, maybe two in each classroom. Diabetic kids were exceedingly rare, maybe one in each school. They had to drink a very special type of soda that was only available by prescription. Yes, diet soda was a prescription medication. Does that adequately describe the FUCKING UNIVERSALITY OF FUCKING SUGAR?
I didn't gain a pound. Stayed resolutely scrawny from birth until around age 35. So why did I start to grow a belly at 35, with no change of diet? Male menopause (fading of testosterone) was undoubtedly part of it; but 35 was also the age when I STOPPED RIDING THE FUCKING BICYCLE. Before then, I'd biked every day for transport and fun.
GET IT? GET IT? GET IT? IT'S NOT FUCKING SUGAR. IT'S EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. ¶ 8:47 AM
Protests are pointless. Satan's dear darling bedmates always get what they want.
Every scrap of logic and experience runs solidly against Bloomberg. Lots of people have said the same thing already, but I've gotta join the chorus:
Fucking sugar is NOT THE FUCKING PROBLEM.
Our generation consumed TONS of sugar. When I was a kid, I put 5 or 6 teaspoons of sugar on my already-sugary breakfast cereal, added 5 or 6 teaspoons to iced tea, drank lots of Coke and Dr Pepper with supposedly 20 teaspoons per bottle. Most of us did the same. Certainly unhealthy. It ruined our teeth, but it didn't make us fat and it didn't make us diabetic.
Fat kids were rare, maybe two in each classroom. Diabetic kids were exceedingly rare, maybe one in each school. They had to drink a very special type of soda that was only available by prescription. Yes, diet soda was a prescription medication. Does that adequately describe the FUCKING UNIVERSALITY OF FUCKING SUGAR?
I didn't gain a pound. Stayed resolutely scrawny from birth until around age 35. So why did I start to grow a belly at 35, with no change of diet? Male menopause (fading of testosterone) was undoubtedly part of it; but 35 was also the age when I STOPPED RIDING THE FUCKING BICYCLE. Before then, I'd biked every day for transport and fun.
GET IT? GET IT? GET IT? IT'S NOT FUCKING SUGAR. IT'S EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. EXERCISE. ¶ 8:47 AM
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Refreshing but still misses the main point
NPR has a great interview with Anthony Fauci of CDC, about the recent hoohaw surrounding Bird Flu research.
Why great? Because Fauci skipped the Official Bureaucrat Game. Standard procedure is to prepare one carefully vetted sentence and keep repeating it soporifically over and over and over and over and over and over and over, while the idiot "journalist" asks a series of unrelated pointless idiotic questions.
Fauci actually tried to communicate with the listeners, tried to convey the full picture instead of one carefully vetted soundbyte, and irascibly corrected the idiot "journalist" whenever she made a bad assumption.
Unfortunately, the most important point still didn't get across. Here's the point:
The current "secrecy" hoohaw proves that the earlier "pandemic" hoohaw about Bird Flu was a fraud.
Think.
This virus has been in birds forever. Viruses are the absolute Grand Masters Of Mutation, so it's been running through gene combinations quickly for maybe a million years. Out of that million years, humans have been intimately involved with chickens and ducks for a few thousand. Until 50 years ago, most Americans either kept chickens or lived next door to someone who kept chickens. In many parts of the world, universal proximity is still the default.
Means, motive, and opportunity. Thousands of years, close contact, most of humanity. Yet the "just-right" mutation for human-to-human transmission never happened spontaneously.
It happened after genetics researchers, presumably knowing which genes would be most likely to work, created the mutation artificially. ¶ 7:29 AM
Why great? Because Fauci skipped the Official Bureaucrat Game. Standard procedure is to prepare one carefully vetted sentence and keep repeating it soporifically over and over and over and over and over and over and over, while the idiot "journalist" asks a series of unrelated pointless idiotic questions.
Fauci actually tried to communicate with the listeners, tried to convey the full picture instead of one carefully vetted soundbyte, and irascibly corrected the idiot "journalist" whenever she made a bad assumption.
Unfortunately, the most important point still didn't get across. Here's the point:
The current "secrecy" hoohaw proves that the earlier "pandemic" hoohaw about Bird Flu was a fraud.
Think.
This virus has been in birds forever. Viruses are the absolute Grand Masters Of Mutation, so it's been running through gene combinations quickly for maybe a million years. Out of that million years, humans have been intimately involved with chickens and ducks for a few thousand. Until 50 years ago, most Americans either kept chickens or lived next door to someone who kept chickens. In many parts of the world, universal proximity is still the default.
Means, motive, and opportunity. Thousands of years, close contact, most of humanity. Yet the "just-right" mutation for human-to-human transmission never happened spontaneously.
It happened after genetics researchers, presumably knowing which genes would be most likely to work, created the mutation artificially. ¶ 7:29 AM
Finally a helpful dream
The tricky part of 'working like an author' comes in the intervals between assignments. The publisher always runs in Hurry Up And Wait mode. I've been in Wait phase for two months now, when I could have been getting a jump on the next project. Publisher can't decide which format will be best for online courseware.
This makes my brain itch. Just like the muscles or the immune system or the digestive system, brains start chewing on their own parts when inadequately occupied.
Finally decided to stop waiting, stop chewing, and get a jump anyway. So this week I've been figuring out how to use the combination of HTML5 and Javascript, which is quickly becoming the Only Game In Town for e-learning. Whatever the publisher decides, it's likely to involve some version of this combo.
I'm bothered by the way this system works; seems to require writing a separate bit of code for each page, which strikes me as inefficient. My existing courseware is all in one piece, with a single EXE that contains the necessary code for all the various tricks used in the lessons.
= = = = =
This morning I woke from a strongly plotted dream with lots of interesting locations and one rather sexy character. The plot: I was ordered to design a new automobile with complete modularity. For instance, the engine would begin with two cylinders, but you could easily tack on more cylinder modules to make it a V-32 if you wanted a V-32. I enjoyed this assignment, because modularity is exactly what I'm all about. Nations, religions, businesses and ethnic groups are separate and unique. Let each item express its unique qualities! Don't mush everything together!
Okay, dream. Got the point!
= = = = =
Incidentally: An excellent free learning tool for both HTML5 and JS is provided online by W3Schools. Teaches in the best possible way, with actual examples that you can edit and try.
This makes my brain itch. Just like the muscles or the immune system or the digestive system, brains start chewing on their own parts when inadequately occupied.
Finally decided to stop waiting, stop chewing, and get a jump anyway. So this week I've been figuring out how to use the combination of HTML5 and Javascript, which is quickly becoming the Only Game In Town for e-learning. Whatever the publisher decides, it's likely to involve some version of this combo.
I'm bothered by the way this system works; seems to require writing a separate bit of code for each page, which strikes me as inefficient. My existing courseware is all in one piece, with a single EXE that contains the necessary code for all the various tricks used in the lessons.
= = = = =
This morning I woke from a strongly plotted dream with lots of interesting locations and one rather sexy character. The plot: I was ordered to design a new automobile with complete modularity. For instance, the engine would begin with two cylinders, but you could easily tack on more cylinder modules to make it a V-32 if you wanted a V-32. I enjoyed this assignment, because modularity is exactly what I'm all about. Nations, religions, businesses and ethnic groups are separate and unique. Let each item express its unique qualities! Don't mush everything together!
Okay, dream. Got the point!
= = = = =
Incidentally: An excellent free learning tool for both HTML5 and JS is provided online by W3Schools. Teaches in the best possible way, with actual examples that you can edit and try.
Labels: Experiential education
¶ 3:06 AM
Monday, July 23, 2012
Good time for a reprint
Seems like a good time to reprint this entry from 2010.
START REPRINT = = = = =
New book by Robert Whitaker. A real eye-opener.
Basic theme: Psychiatry has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the drug companies, serving only to sell drugs. This development was not natural or accidental.
Whitaker details the history of the conspiracy, beginning in 1975 (hmm, why does that year sound familiar?). At that point psychiatry was in a crisis, because internal whistle-blowers like Hans Eysenck and Thomas Szasz had publicly and scientifically revealed that the profession was doing absolutely no good. Other therapy systems had grown up in the '70s, some effective and some not, but all functioning without the need of an MD degree. The prosperous priesthood was in danger. Something had to be done.
Their solution was to propagate the theory of "chemical imbalance", which was unproved at the time and still unproved. (Hmm, why does this sound familiar?)
The APA insured that no competing theory could gain credence by de-funding and de-certifying and beating heretics. (Hmm, why etc.)
At this point the shrinks got lucky. L Ron Hubbard's cult of Scientology came along at just the right time; Scientology is weird and fanatical and litigious, but it happens to be correct in its harsh criticism of psychiatric methods. An ideal foil for the APA. (No Hmm here. Though the Warmists use the same techniques to discredit their enemies, they've never been lucky enough to find or create a powerful-and-kooky enemy.)
And the APA then locked its theory into place by addiction. (Not available to the Gaians at all, for which I'm thankful.)
Whitaker shows how it works:
This is a clinical trial of Xanax vs placebo for panic episodes, both accompanied by some real (ie talking) therapy. Unsurprisingly, talk therapy helps with or without the drug. Note that talk+Xanax is only marginally better than talk+placebo. The important difference comes after the pills stop. The talk+Xanax patients immediately get worse than they were at the start, while the talk+placebo patients remain calmer than before. For them, the talk therapy was a real cure.
Here's Whitaker's main point: This curve is typical of all modern psychoactive drugs, and it's the key to modern psychiatry. If you can improve patients permanently by a few weeks of talking, you make a little money and then lose control. But if cessation of therapy makes your patients dramatically worse, you make money for a lifetime and you have permanent control.
Net result of all this: An epidemic of "disorders" which always get worse.
Whitaker sums up in the last chapter:
One point Whitaker doesn't pound heavily enough: Most of this legalized and deadly addiction is directly or indirectly paid by tax dollars. Whether within asylums or paid by SSI or Medicaid, most of the people who are enslaved by the shrinks and the drug companies are not paying for their own services. We're spending hundreds of billions to fight unprescribed drug traffic at the same time we're spending hundreds of billions to create prescribed drug traffic. Loony.
= = = = = END REPRINT
Current comment: Of course it's not really loony. Big Pharma and Big Psych make Big Money, so they engage Big Government to squash the foreign competition. Probably the only industry where we show a healthy degree of protectionism, and naturally it's for evil results. We can't do anything right unless it's wrong. ¶ 1:38 PM
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New book by Robert Whitaker. A real eye-opener.
Basic theme: Psychiatry has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the drug companies, serving only to sell drugs. This development was not natural or accidental.
Whitaker details the history of the conspiracy, beginning in 1975 (hmm, why does that year sound familiar?). At that point psychiatry was in a crisis, because internal whistle-blowers like Hans Eysenck and Thomas Szasz had publicly and scientifically revealed that the profession was doing absolutely no good. Other therapy systems had grown up in the '70s, some effective and some not, but all functioning without the need of an MD degree. The prosperous priesthood was in danger. Something had to be done.
Their solution was to propagate the theory of "chemical imbalance", which was unproved at the time and still unproved. (Hmm, why does this sound familiar?)
The APA insured that no competing theory could gain credence by de-funding and de-certifying and beating heretics. (Hmm, why etc.)
At this point the shrinks got lucky. L Ron Hubbard's cult of Scientology came along at just the right time; Scientology is weird and fanatical and litigious, but it happens to be correct in its harsh criticism of psychiatric methods. An ideal foil for the APA. (No Hmm here. Though the Warmists use the same techniques to discredit their enemies, they've never been lucky enough to find or create a powerful-and-kooky enemy.)
And the APA then locked its theory into place by addiction. (Not available to the Gaians at all, for which I'm thankful.)
Whitaker shows how it works:
This is a clinical trial of Xanax vs placebo for panic episodes, both accompanied by some real (ie talking) therapy. Unsurprisingly, talk therapy helps with or without the drug. Note that talk+Xanax is only marginally better than talk+placebo. The important difference comes after the pills stop. The talk+Xanax patients immediately get worse than they were at the start, while the talk+placebo patients remain calmer than before. For them, the talk therapy was a real cure.
Here's Whitaker's main point: This curve is typical of all modern psychoactive drugs, and it's the key to modern psychiatry. If you can improve patients permanently by a few weeks of talking, you make a little money and then lose control. But if cessation of therapy makes your patients dramatically worse, you make money for a lifetime and you have permanent control.
Net result of all this: An epidemic of "disorders" which always get worse.
David Healy is a prof of psychiatry in North Wales. ... He compared outcomes of the mentally ill in North Wales a century ago with outcomes today. The population of the region hasn't changed in this period [so numerical adjustments aren't needed.] The common belief, Healy notes, is that the old asylums were bulging with lunatics. Yet from 1894 to 1896, there were only 45 people per year admitted to the North Wales Asylum. Furthermore, as long as the patients didn't succumb to TB or some other physical disease, they regularly got better over the course of three months to a year and went home. In addition, the overwhelming majority of patients admitted for a first episode were discharged as "recovered" and never again re-hospitalized.
Today, the assumption is that patients fare much better than they used to, thanks to psychiatric medications. However, in 1996 there were 522 people admitted to the psych ward at the District General Hospital - nearly twelve times the number admitted to the Denbigh asylum a century earlier. Seventy-six percent of the 522 had been there before, part of a large group of "recyclers". Though patients spent a shorter time on each visit than in 1896, only 36 percent were discharged as recovered. Patients today are clearly more chronically ill than a century ago, with modern treatments setting up a "revolving door".
Whitaker sums up in the last chapter:
For the last 25 years the psych establishment has told us a false story. It told us that schizophrenia, depression and bipolar illness are known to be brain diseases, even though it can't direct us to any scientific studies that document this claim. It told us that psychiatric medications fix chemical imbalances in the brain, even though decades of research failed to find this true. It told us that Prozac and the other 2nd-generation psychotropics are safer and better than the 1st-generation drugs, even though the clinical studies had shown no such thing. Most important of all, the psychiatric establishment failed to tell us that the drugs worsen long-term outcomes.
One point Whitaker doesn't pound heavily enough: Most of this legalized and deadly addiction is directly or indirectly paid by tax dollars. Whether within asylums or paid by SSI or Medicaid, most of the people who are enslaved by the shrinks and the drug companies are not paying for their own services. We're spending hundreds of billions to fight unprescribed drug traffic at the same time we're spending hundreds of billions to create prescribed drug traffic. Loony.
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Current comment: Of course it's not really loony. Big Pharma and Big Psych make Big Money, so they engage Big Government to squash the foreign competition. Probably the only industry where we show a healthy degree of protectionism, and naturally it's for evil results. We can't do anything right unless it's wrong. ¶ 1:38 PM
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Wo ist Heimat? Hier.
Yesterday I celebrated the retreat of the invading Midwest air, defeated by native desert air in a fierce battle.
Calling the midwest an unwanted invader caught me by surprise ... the words popped out without planning. Made me realize that my definition of Heimat has changed recently. For 21 years Heimat remained in the Plains, and Spokane was just this place where I happen to reside at the moment.
Yes, 21 years of 'at the moment'.
Now Heimat is right here. Not Spokane as a city, but this neighborhood.
Why? Because I started walking every day.
The cities that previously counted as Home (Ponca and Manhattan) were Home because I walked and biked all the time. Because I knew every block at ground level. Because I knew which sights, sounds and smells were familiar, and which were suspicious. Until this year I didn't have the same cat-like territorial knowledge about the current location. Now I do.
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Artistic note: the orange cat is not generic ... he's a real cat who seems to cover more or less the same territorial range that I do. He often appears in my yard, stalking squirrels and birds. He fails every time. The birds fly away and dive-bomb him, shouting "CAAAAT! CAAAAT! CAAAAT!" The squirrels stand above him on the powerline, indicating his location in multisyllabic squirrelchatter. But he keeps trying, and I suspect he'll catch a critter someday. ¶ 11:08 AM
Calling the midwest an unwanted invader caught me by surprise ... the words popped out without planning. Made me realize that my definition of Heimat has changed recently. For 21 years Heimat remained in the Plains, and Spokane was just this place where I happen to reside at the moment.
Yes, 21 years of 'at the moment'.
Now Heimat is right here. Not Spokane as a city, but this neighborhood.
Why? Because I started walking every day.
The cities that previously counted as Home (Ponca and Manhattan) were Home because I walked and biked all the time. Because I knew every block at ground level. Because I knew which sights, sounds and smells were familiar, and which were suspicious. Until this year I didn't have the same cat-like territorial knowledge about the current location. Now I do.
= = = = =
Artistic note: the orange cat is not generic ... he's a real cat who seems to cover more or less the same territorial range that I do. He often appears in my yard, stalking squirrels and birds. He fails every time. The birds fly away and dive-bomb him, shouting "CAAAAT! CAAAAT! CAAAAT!" The squirrels stand above him on the powerline, indicating his location in multisyllabic squirrelchatter. But he keeps trying, and I suspect he'll catch a critter someday. ¶ 11:08 AM
