Marcy Kaptur kicks ass on the blank check

In an interview of some astronaut, that I saw a long time ago, the interviewer asked; “Suppose you only had ten seconds of air left.  What would you do?  The right-stuff guy answered; “I’d spend eight seconds thinking and two seconds acting.”

A friend of mine in high school grew up in a logging camp.  He told me; “If I had ten minutes to cut down a tree, I’d spend seven of them sharpening my chain.”

So we’ve got this big hairy financial crisis, and the only solution is to make up some big-assed random amount of money and throw it at the problem and run away screaming.  And it has to be done RIGHT NOW!

Seriously, what’s the rush? The game we’re playing is stacked in favor of fat cats.  Fine-tuning the rules makes some sense, but Rep. Kaptur is pitching a whole new game:

Ohio is lucky to have Marcy Kaptur, kicking ass and taking names.

HT Mike The Mad Biologist

Posted by George on 09/25/08 at 12:27 PM
(3) Comments • Link

Only his makeup artist knows for sure

So it turns out McCain paid a Hollywood makeup artist over $5500 for a makeup job.  I’m thinking maybe, before the 60 Minutes appearance, because there were a lot of closeups, and he looked surprisingly young for a 72-year-old torture and cancer survivor.

Anyway, $5500 is just about the combined value of… both my cars.

Posted by George on 09/24/08 at 08:24 PM
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Barack Obama on the financial crisis

Leadership:

HT: Greg Laden

Posted by George on 09/24/08 at 01:46 PM
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Mechanical geek quiz

I am cleaning out the garage to get ready to make some home repairs.  Before I throw out this old oil pump, tell me…
Which way will the bottom gear have to turn, to move oil from the left chamber to the right chamber?  Clockwise?  Or counterclockwise?
The winner gets to right-click on the picture and download his very own .jpg of an old oil pump.  It’s an extravagant prize, to be sure.

Posted by George on 09/24/08 at 11:51 AM
Geeky • (6) Comments • Link

Sarah Palin calls Hillary Clinton

I’m inclined to laugh at Sarah Palin…

...except ignorance and an anti-freedom agenda are a dangerous mix. (HT Greg Laden)

But maybe she has inner positives we just have not seen yet.  How could we, since the ‘barracuda’ has been kept safe from the press ever since the McCain campaign found out that she, well, isn’t VP material?  Let her out of the cage, man.  FREE SARAH PALIN!

Posted by George on 09/24/08 at 08:59 AM
observations • Humor • (0) Comments • Link

Henri Cartier-Bresson in Chicago Tribune today

It’s incredibly cool that the Chicago Tribune published a full-page article on Five things to know about Henri Cartier-Bresson today, and it is a nifty article as far as it goes.  But never once did they mention ”The Decisive Moment”, the fundamental concept in HCB’s photography.  It would be like writing a full-page article about Ansel Adams and not mentioning the Zone System, or about Eugene Smith and not mentioning his courage as a photojournalist.

But you can see the entire film documentary; The Impassioned Eye online in 10 parts at the Rollfilm blog.  Hear Cartier-Bresson say (in French, with translation) that photographers should “aim well, shoot fast, and scram”.  Hear his comments as he sheafs through his photos.  Learn about him seizing the moment from the stream of events, with his tiny Leica camera. Enjoy! 

Posted by George on 09/21/08 at 11:05 AM
Geeky • Photography • (1) Comments • Link

Fox News, doing what worked before

They don’t have to get everyone to believe this junk, just enough to throw a close election…

It’s the same old xenophobia, anti-intellectualism, hyper-nationalism, and fearmongering.  As a country, can’t we grow past this?

Perhaps by exposing it for what it is: an infomercial


(HT: ***Dave)

Posted by George on 09/21/08 at 08:47 AM
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Rumor: Biden to drop out of race on 05 October

Found this on Cajun’s blog.  He’s a really interesting guy with fascinating knowledge of energy infrastructure and also guns and tanks.  He’s also as conservative politically as you can get, and I know I can say that without worrying that he might take it as anything but a compliment.  Recently the following email landed in his inbox, and he asked “Could this one be true?”

Let me share some info with you that I have gotten from excellent sources within the DNC: On or about October 5th, Biden will excuse himself from the ticket, citing health problems, and he will be replaced by Hillary. This is timed to occur after the VP debate on 10/2.

There have been talks all weekend about how to proceed with this info. generally, the feeling is that we should all go ahead and get it out there to as many blog sites and personal email lists as is possible. I have already seen a few short blurbs about this - the ‘health problem’ cited in those articles was aneurysm. Probably many of you have heard the same rumblings.

However, at this point, with this inside info from the DNC, it looks like this Obama strategy will be a go. Therefore, it seems that the best strategy is to get out in front of this Obama maneuver, spell it out in detail, and thereby expose it for the grand manipulation that it is.

So, let’s start mixing this one up and cut the Obamites off at the pass - send this info out to as many people as you can - post about it on websites and blogs - etc etc

Could it be true? Sure, in the sense that it doesn’t violate any laws of physics or causality.  And Biden had surgery for two aneurysms in the late ‘80’s.  But even if it were true, I’d take Hillary over Palin any day.  At least Hillary knows what the heck she’s doing. I’ve had enough of incompetent government. 

Posted by George on 09/20/08 at 07:25 PM
(13) Comments • Link

Rainbow around the sun

Saw this as I walked out of the building on my way to lunch today

And I mean, I saw exactly this because it was necessary to cover the sun with my hand, to see the rainbow.

Posted by George on 09/19/08 at 01:12 PM
Geeky • Photography • (4) Comments • Link

Can’t breathe, can’t get comfortable

...other than that, perfect conditions for a restful night.  So this is an open thread.  Anything you want to talk about, have at it.  I’m going to the TED site and watch a Jonathan Haidt video on the differences of moral psychology between liberals and conservatives.  With a view to understanding some of the mysteries of this election cycle.

Update: if you watched the video, what do you think strategically of “Change” as a campaign message?  (Still an open thread, I’m just trying to get the ball rolling)

Posted by George on 09/18/08 at 02:55 AM
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Behold… The PENTOMINIUM!!!

Are both obscenely rich and amazingly stupid?  Do you value pleasure above all else?  If this describes you, then you may be one of the very special marks elites to deserve living in…

The PENTOMINIUM!

The video just goes on and on, getting weirder.  I’m still trying to count the different levels on which this is both funny and sad. 

Posted by George on 09/15/08 at 08:54 PM
observations • (5) Comments • Link

Offshore drilling is the answer

Still working on the question, though…


(HT to Blog Around The Clock)

UPDATE:

Posted by George on 09/14/08 at 01:29 PM
Science & Technology • Energy • (9) Comments • Link

Ike pays a visit to the Land Of Lincoln

Hurricane Ike has settled down to a huge storm system making its way across the heartland, and it’s been on top of us for the last several hours.  I have some water in my basement, an inconvenience the abatement of which is not how I wanted to spend my Sunday.  But check out these pictures… I’d feel silly complaining to the residents of Galveston.  Something tells me a wet-vac and a little profanity isn’t going to fix it for them.

Bloomberg reports that oil production in the area is pretty much shut down.  Joseph at Corpus Callosum points out that we shouldn’t become complacent when the “Ike Spike” in fuel prices finally comes down:

My suggestion: whatever you do to adapt to the shortages, please keep doing that, even after the shortages are alleviated.  There will be a spike in shortages after Ike.  Then things will seem to return to normal.  But it is not really a spike; it’s a preview.

“It is not really a spike, it’s a preview”.  Oil demand is rising worldwide, and production is leveling off.  What’s that old saying?  “A word to the wise is sufficient.”

Posted by George on 09/14/08 at 12:53 PM
Science & Technology • Energy • (2) Comments • Link

The ecological cost of subsidies

The declining condition of our fisheries is in large part due to the floating factories that pass for fishing boats now.  Using unsustainable methods, they “sweep the sea clean”, as The Simpson’s Montgomery Burns likes to say.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Turns out those monster fishing boats depend on subsidies granted for political, rather than economic or ecological reasons.  Shifting Baselines has the story: Funding Priorities: Big Barriers to Small-scale Fisheries…

Small-scale fisheries use much less fuel than industrial fisheries. They also discard fewer fish, convert almost none of their catch into fishmeal (to feed farmed fish, pigs, and chicken), and favor the use of labor over capital. Despite these more ‘sustainable’ traits, small-scale fisheries are disadvantaged by subsidies that go to industrial fishing fleets and keep big boats out on the water. This bias occurs because, as Daniel Pauly says, “small-scale fishers don’t golf.”

The differential in resource efficiency between large and small fisheries is really quite striking - go check it out.

If we stopped all long-term production subsidies tomorrow, corn would still be grown, cars would still be built, oil would still be pumped out of the ground, minerals would still be mined, and fish would still be caught.  If any specific commodity cost more, at least consumers would pay for it directly instead of through taxes.

This would leave short-term subsidies, intended to weather a crisis or jump-start an industry deemed important for whatever reason.  And those subsidies, like a gallon of (subsidized) milk, should have expiration dates on them.

Posted by George on 09/13/08 at 04:42 PM
Science & Technology • Environment • (5) Comments • Link

The Republican narrative

The McCain campaign has admitted that their strategy is about narratives, rather than about issues.  OK, how about this narrative?  The inescapable issue for me is the relative competence of the candidates.  McCain’s decision-making process is characterized by shooting from the hip.  Obama gets information from experts, consults opposing sides, and makes real decisions.  That is what an executive does.

I’ve been watching Obama since long before he became nationally famous, and you could not ask for a more level head in office.  He is not easily provoked, and he stays focused on issues instead of wandering off on demagoguery.  It does not speak well for our nation that any real contest is likely between the two candidates.  Obama is exactly the leader that our country needs.

From Comments From Left Field:

Narratives:
Now* I understand McCain and Palin

I’m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight…..

  • If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you’re “exotic, different.”
  • If you grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you’re a quintessential American story.
  • If your name is Barack, you’re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
  • If you name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you’re a maverick.
  • If you graduate from Harvard law School, you are unstable.
  • If you attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you’re well grounded.
  • If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees, you don’t have any real leadership experience.
  • If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you’re qualified to become the country’s second highest ranking executive.
  • If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you’re not a real Christian.
  • * If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a Christian.
  • If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
  • If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state’s school system, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you’re very responsible.
  • If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family’s values don’t represent America’s.
  • If you’re husband is nicknamed “First Dude”, with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn’t register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.

OK, *much* clearer now.

HT ***Dave

Posted by George on 09/13/08 at 10:21 AM
(3) Comments • Link
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