Misery. It's 120 degrees in Iraq this summer and many Iraqis get 6 hours of power a day. After some protests, the Minister has resigned and a new guy is going to try to take care of the problem created by the American invasion seven years ago.
India now hopes to extradite Warren Anderson, in charge of Union Carbide when the Bhopal disaster happened, which eventually killed 15,000 people. From their home in Hamptons his wife said he's sick and he's been haunted by Bhopal. It is possible, although not confirmed, that some homes on the Hamptons wouldn't have him over for parties. No reports on how he has been able to manage the snubs.
The Malaysian government is obviously getting pretty badly corrupt since they've decided to cover their asses by banning published books of cartoons which criticize them. I guess they've never heard of the internet.
LANGUAGE AND THE NEWS: Recently there was a conference between France, Germany, Poland and Russia. One of the first things they thought they could fix was Trans-Dniester. It's an area with Russian speakers inside Moldova. Today Moldova is demanding the Russian troops leave. Not very helpful, that. If it were up to me the Transnistrians, independent for nearly 20 years, would join their neighbors in Ukraine and Moldova would get absorbed into Romania. The Transnistrians seceded back in 1991 because they were worried Moldova would become part of Romania. Moldovans speak Romanian. Part of the issue is that this little "fake country" of Transnistria is rife with all sorts of criminal activity. The Ukrainian authorities, if it were part of the Ukraine, could handle it better.
The major Jamaican drug smuggler, named Coke, is heading for America today, to face trial.
Some strikes in France over plans to increase their retirement age, one of the lowest in Europe. Some strikes in Italy against government austerity measures which, the transport unions say, hurts the poorest workers the most.
2010-06-25
2010-06-24
The Security Agencies in Kyrgyzstan are Lying
If you were going to try to start an Islamist uprising somewhere, would you live in Belarus? The security apparatus of Kyrgyzstan says former Soviet (godless, if you will recall) and former President Bakiyev's relatives are meeting with Taliban and other Islamist and they are behind the recent violence.
It is doubly retarded for the security apparatus to make this claim when you realize that the violence in Kyrgyzstan, which has left 100s of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks homeless, is Muslim on Muslim.
It is triply stupid when you consider that, basically, insurgencies attack governments, not poor people.
I guess they can't control it. So sad.
It is doubly retarded for the security apparatus to make this claim when you realize that the violence in Kyrgyzstan, which has left 100s of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks homeless, is Muslim on Muslim.
It is triply stupid when you consider that, basically, insurgencies attack governments, not poor people.
I guess they can't control it. So sad.
2010-06-17
Except when it is about Food or Survival
If our attitudes about drugs, abortion and politics are really just about sex, then maybe Freud was more correct than I have given him credit for being.
Welcome to the Neo-Freudian age. I just simply assumed that Freud's patients, wealthy women, not having to concern themselves with food or survival, naturally thought about sex a lot.
Welcome to the Neo-Freudian age. I just simply assumed that Freud's patients, wealthy women, not having to concern themselves with food or survival, naturally thought about sex a lot.
2010-06-11
BP and Dividends
Some politicians are saying BP should not pay dividends until the oil is cleaned up. Today, Speaker Pelosi said that BP should use the dividends to fund the cleanup.
The reasonable suggestion would be to take the dividend payments and put them in escrow. We do not know today what the total cleanup costs will be. At such a time as we know, then the money can be released. This sets up good incentives. BP will have an incentive to clean up the oil as quickly as they can. If BP simply didn't pay dividends, they'd just have lots more cash on hand. If they simply use it for cleanup, it doesn't make much sense because we won't really know it will be spent on the cleanup (BP can claim they are spending as much as they can on cleanup, but have constraints).
The reasonable suggestion would be to take the dividend payments and put them in escrow. We do not know today what the total cleanup costs will be. At such a time as we know, then the money can be released. This sets up good incentives. BP will have an incentive to clean up the oil as quickly as they can. If BP simply didn't pay dividends, they'd just have lots more cash on hand. If they simply use it for cleanup, it doesn't make much sense because we won't really know it will be spent on the cleanup (BP can claim they are spending as much as they can on cleanup, but have constraints).
2010-05-29
Bad People Want Religion
This article discusses some relationships some scientists found between clean thoughts and clean minds and moral behavior, but I think the author missed a hum-dinger of a conclusion, namely, that it is bad people who want religion and we can't win with religion.
In the referenced study, people who thought of bad things then fill in the blanks fill them with moral ideas. People who thought of good things had no such tendency. Bad people want religion to clean them of their sins!
But, in a later study, once given some cleaning, people were less generous. They became mean!
Religion is a sign of badness in the first instance, and a creator of meanness in the second.
For some further reading, try this and this, both from the Not Rocket Science blog.
In the referenced study, people who thought of bad things then fill in the blanks fill them with moral ideas. People who thought of good things had no such tendency. Bad people want religion to clean them of their sins!
But, in a later study, once given some cleaning, people were less generous. They became mean!
Religion is a sign of badness in the first instance, and a creator of meanness in the second.
For some further reading, try this and this, both from the Not Rocket Science blog.
2010-05-17
Don't Drunk Dial Freedom Works 1-888-564-6273
I couldn't get the right size here, so, here is the youtube link.
2010-05-15
Tolkein and Rand
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
2010-04-26
The Catholic Church Inadvertently, I say, Encourages Molesting Little Boys
I believe the abstinence program imposed on officials of the Church is what causes pedophilia, inadvertently. The Church is denying exactly this is the problem, I think, because they know it is the problem.
Priests who are trying to be abstinent don't go to strip clubs. They don't go to night clubs, either. They probably don't go to nude beaches. They probably avoid all the "scenes" where they know they will be tempted.
Priests try to be celibate so they must be on their guard for temptation. Priests are probably closely on their guard when in the presence of women showing a lot of décolletage. They are probably also on their guard even around some men, because they know some men are gay. And they are probably also on their guard around young women, even very young women now that menarche begins as young as 7 or 8.
If you were a rational, heterosexual, attempting-to-be-celibate male Priest you would probably feel safest around young boys.
And yet, the desire to have sex hasn't really gone away, now has it?
Priests who are trying to be abstinent don't go to strip clubs. They don't go to night clubs, either. They probably don't go to nude beaches. They probably avoid all the "scenes" where they know they will be tempted.
Priests try to be celibate so they must be on their guard for temptation. Priests are probably closely on their guard when in the presence of women showing a lot of décolletage. They are probably also on their guard even around some men, because they know some men are gay. And they are probably also on their guard around young women, even very young women now that menarche begins as young as 7 or 8.
If you were a rational, heterosexual, attempting-to-be-celibate male Priest you would probably feel safest around young boys.
And yet, the desire to have sex hasn't really gone away, now has it?
2010-04-20
Is Politics Behind the SEC's timing in charging Goldman Sachs?
Some on Wall St. and some Republicans are saying that the SEC bringing charges against Goldman Sachs now is pure "political theatre" and is designed to help push through financial reform legislation that the Obama administration wants.
The Obama administration denies it.
Goldman Sachs was the largest corporate contributor to President Obama's campaign for the Presidency in 2008. Here are a couple ways to look at what is happening:
The Obama administration denies it.
Goldman Sachs was the largest corporate contributor to President Obama's campaign for the Presidency in 2008. Here are a couple ways to look at what is happening:
- Despite the recommendation of the SEC investigator, the SEC decides not to prosecute, and therefore the Obama administration looks like it is siding with a large contributor.
- The Obama administration is not bought, and is willing to bring charges against its largest contributors (for justice, or for political advantage, I can not say.)
2010-04-05
The WikiLeaks CollateralMurder.com video
One thing to remember is that we, when viewing the video, are not in a vibrating helicopter. It would be nice if we could know, for certain, what the Rules of Engagement were. On MSNBC a Colonel claims they were "You may engage persons who commit hostile acts or show hostile intent by minimum force necessary." and "Do not target or strike anyone who has surrendered or who is out of combat due to sickness or wounds." Wikileaks co-founder notes that the helicopter pilots are hoping the guy picks up a gun so they can shoot him.
Collateral Damage
Collateral Damage
2010-04-01
Legal Hegemony
Shari'a laws are primitive, and I bet if I talked to anyone I know, between them and myself, we'd agree on that point. This agreement, however, in no way, shape or form gives us the right to go and tell any third person that our opinion is right for them.
You might well have read any number of articles about the "rape law" in Afghanistan that would have allowed Shia men to rape their wives, in addition to a number of other backward ideas. You could have read as many articles as you wanted in the US media and none would have mentioned that, in some parts of the United States, that was legal as recently as 1994, when the Violence Against Women Act was passed.
This came to mind because I'm reading an AP article on the US backed government of Somalia. This government has 1800 soldiers being paid by the US, since, without a paycheck, many simply defect to the enemy. The US backed government is soon going to start an offensive to try to take back parts of the capital "most of which is held by al-Qaida linked Islamist rebels." At what point does America say that a government which has lost most of its capital city is no longer really there? By the way, the EU is also sending military trainers, but they are going to Uganda to do the training.
You might well have read any number of articles about the "rape law" in Afghanistan that would have allowed Shia men to rape their wives, in addition to a number of other backward ideas. You could have read as many articles as you wanted in the US media and none would have mentioned that, in some parts of the United States, that was legal as recently as 1994, when the Violence Against Women Act was passed.
This came to mind because I'm reading an AP article on the US backed government of Somalia. This government has 1800 soldiers being paid by the US, since, without a paycheck, many simply defect to the enemy. The US backed government is soon going to start an offensive to try to take back parts of the capital "most of which is held by al-Qaida linked Islamist rebels." At what point does America say that a government which has lost most of its capital city is no longer really there? By the way, the EU is also sending military trainers, but they are going to Uganda to do the training.
2010-03-29
Russia Involvement in Chechnya
No, I haven't read Sixty Years of War in the Caucasus, that was about Tsarist Russia's attempts to conquer the place.
I have mostly finished the book Towers of Stone, by Jagielski, about the Chechen Wars (I'll publish some great, long quotes from the book later). It looks to me like Moscow had been stupid when they assassinated Chechen leaders Dudayev and then Mashkadov.
The first Chechen leader Russia killed, Dzhokhar Dudayev, had been a General in command of a Soviet Bomber Wing. He was no terrorist. He had been the only Chechen ever to reach the rank of General in the Soviet military.
The second Chechen leader Russia killed, Aslan Mashkadov, had been an incredibly diligent Soviet Army Colonel. He was no terrorist, although, to be fair, he hardly punished Shamil Basayev for his guerilla tactics.
Some people might think that my statements somehow excuse today's bombings in Moscow. Like most people, I believe that there are better people and that there are worse people, and, if you kill off the better people, all you have left to deal with are the worst people. I'm saying that Russia's tactic, of assassinating Chechen leaders, seems to have backfired.
It's tragic that dozens of people died in Moscow. Far more than 100,000 people die each day, but most of this is due to accident or disease, not because of a stupid war.
I have mostly finished the book Towers of Stone, by Jagielski, about the Chechen Wars (I'll publish some great, long quotes from the book later). It looks to me like Moscow had been stupid when they assassinated Chechen leaders Dudayev and then Mashkadov.
The first Chechen leader Russia killed, Dzhokhar Dudayev, had been a General in command of a Soviet Bomber Wing. He was no terrorist. He had been the only Chechen ever to reach the rank of General in the Soviet military.
The second Chechen leader Russia killed, Aslan Mashkadov, had been an incredibly diligent Soviet Army Colonel. He was no terrorist, although, to be fair, he hardly punished Shamil Basayev for his guerilla tactics.
Some people might think that my statements somehow excuse today's bombings in Moscow. Like most people, I believe that there are better people and that there are worse people, and, if you kill off the better people, all you have left to deal with are the worst people. I'm saying that Russia's tactic, of assassinating Chechen leaders, seems to have backfired.
It's tragic that dozens of people died in Moscow. Far more than 100,000 people die each day, but most of this is due to accident or disease, not because of a stupid war.
Proposed Solutions to the Problems of Maxwell's Demon
Easy) Assume Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is right, then what the demon knows, the precise location and direction of every molecule in both chambers, is impossible to have, so the problem can not exist. This is no criticism of Maxwell, who predates Maxwell.
Easy) The demon's knowledge is infinite information, and therefore impossible to have in a closed box.
2nd) Entropy is the loss of information, which the 2nd law of thermodynamics says can't happen in the box(closed system). The extra information must come from the new locations/direction of all the molecules that the demon is keeping track of.
Easy) The demon's knowledge is infinite information, and therefore impossible to have in a closed box.
2nd) Entropy is the loss of information, which the 2nd law of thermodynamics says can't happen in the box(closed system). The extra information must come from the new locations/direction of all the molecules that the demon is keeping track of.
2010-03-28
HotAir Misses Some History
I don't know who Ed Morrissey is, but it is obvious that HotAir gets 100s of thousands more hits than I do, which is why it isn't at all amusing when Morrissey ignores important parts of history to make a point.
Ed writes "Thanks to what amounts to a reversal of 20 years of American policy on settlements in Jerusalem, Obama has given the Palestinians a reason to refuse to come to the table that Israel simply can’t address." 20 years, Ed? I'm pretty sure Ed counts himself as more of a conservative than a liberal, but did he really not know that in 2003 the Bush administration cut 100s of million in loan guarantees because of Israeli settlement activity.
From PDF page 18 of this 2009 Congressional Research Service report (pdf)
Ed writes "Thanks to what amounts to a reversal of 20 years of American policy on settlements in Jerusalem, Obama has given the Palestinians a reason to refuse to come to the table that Israel simply can’t address." 20 years, Ed? I'm pretty sure Ed counts himself as more of a conservative than a liberal, but did he really not know that in 2003 the Bush administration cut 100s of million in loan guarantees because of Israeli settlement activity.
From PDF page 18 of this 2009 Congressional Research Service report (pdf)
On November 26, 2003, the Department of State
announced that the $3 billion loan guarantees for FY2003 were reduced by $289.5 million because Israel continued to build settlements in the occupied territories and continued construction of the security barrier separating Israelis and Palestinians. In FY2005, the U.S. government further reduced the amount available for Israel to borrow by an additional $795.8 million. Since then, no other deductions have been made.
2010-03-25
Federal Health Insurance, Passed into Law in 1798
Paul O'Rourke wrote an article a year ago about a 1798 law for sick and disabled seaman. The Federal government passed the law which forced ship owners to collect out of seaman's salaries and give to tax collectors monies which were to go to hospitals and for caring for these seaman when they get sick or disabled. The article piqued my interest, so I did some more research. Here is the text of the statute.
Some interesting things. Seems like Representative Sewall from Massachusetts didn't like the idea because everyone in Massachusetts already paid into a public health insurance program that covered everyone, including seaman:
Seems like this sort of accusation never goes away:
Some interesting things. Seems like Representative Sewall from Massachusetts didn't like the idea because everyone in Massachusetts already paid into a public health insurance program that covered everyone, including seaman:
Seems like this sort of accusation never goes away:
Language And Peace In The News: Myanmar
The Shan language is part of the Daic (Thai) language family, while Myanma(Burmese) is part of the Sino-Tibetan.
The junta of Myanmar is re-escalating its war with the Shan.
Myanma is the pre-British name the ruling leaders at Ava and Pegu had for themselves.
The junta of Myanmar is re-escalating its war with the Shan.
Myanma is the pre-British name the ruling leaders at Ava and Pegu had for themselves.
Advice for the Lazy College Student
I really like a variation on the Yerkes-Dodson law. If there's no pressure to do something, it won't get done for apathy. If there is too much pressure to do something, it won't get done because one will crack under the pressure. There is an optimal amount of pressure to get anything done.
You aren't feeling that pressure.
There would be two natural reasons for that. Either the pressure isn't there, or your sensitivity to it is out of whack.
Maybe the pressure isn't there. Then keep your powder dry and wait for it.
Maybe the pressure is there. Then you have to ask yourself "What am I doing with my life that desensitizes me to the pressures of the world around me?" Perhaps it is just college life, where you have a roof over your head and a food in your belly without regard for how you proceed. It's not any sort of hell, but heaven, and, for many people, the last time you'll probably ever feel that way.
If you are rich, you probably won't feel the pressure, either.
You aren't feeling that pressure.
There would be two natural reasons for that. Either the pressure isn't there, or your sensitivity to it is out of whack.
Maybe the pressure isn't there. Then keep your powder dry and wait for it.
Maybe the pressure is there. Then you have to ask yourself "What am I doing with my life that desensitizes me to the pressures of the world around me?" Perhaps it is just college life, where you have a roof over your head and a food in your belly without regard for how you proceed. It's not any sort of hell, but heaven, and, for many people, the last time you'll probably ever feel that way.
If you are rich, you probably won't feel the pressure, either.
2010-03-06
Language And Peace In the News: Norwegian
Langauge And Peace in the news: Norwegians propose dropping lesser used Norwegian variant to present a more unified front.
2010-03-03
Questions for Glenn Beck
- If you know the suffix proto-, what features of Theodore Roosevelt's Progressives were the most proto-fascist?
- the most proto-communist?
- What progress of the last 100 years would you see rolled back?
- You, and those who work for you and Fox News have done a fair job linking Progressives to both Nazis and Soviets through the use of the catch phrase "Social Justice." Are you aware of any professional or academic research that attempts to links the Progressives to the fascists? Please do not include any research you, or Fox News, has helped fund or has instigated.
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