Egypt Begins Arab Winter

SEARCH BLOG: EGYPT

Four months ago we asked...

Arab Spring, Dignity Revolutions, Or New Tyrannies?

The question may be in the process of being answered.  From BBC:

Egypt's supreme court has caused outrage by calling for the dissolution of the lower house of parliament. 

It has ruled that last year's parliamentary election was unconstitutional, deciding that one third of the seats were "illegitimate". 

The controversial decision, days before Egypt's presidential election run-off, has prompted the ruling military council to hold an emergency meeting. 

The Muslim Brotherhood said it would send Egypt into a "dark tunnel". 

Its Freedom and Justice party won 46% of the vote in the three-month poll and senior Brotherhood figure Essam Al-Arian warned that the decision would leave the incoming president without a parliament or a constitution. [more]

Okay, Mr. President, should the U.S. invade Syrian and Egypt and Iran?  Or is Ron Paul right and we should just watch the old cookie crumble?

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

New HIV Drug Screener Identifies Better Drugs Quickly

SEARCH BLOG: DISEASE

The general media in the U.S. has pushed the subject of HIV/AIDS into the shadows as the other more lurid or contentious subjects arise.  After all, AIDS has been around awhile and there are medicines out there.  People with AIDS can lead a pretty normal life.  When a super-star athlete like Magic Johnson can look as healthy as he does and appear on TV for important sports events showing him laughing and feeling quite-fine-thank-you, then what's the big deal.  Just another disease. [image]

So, when it is announced that a better method of finding drugs to fight HIV has been found... yawn.  Via EurekAlert:

New drug-screening method yields long-sought anti-HIV compounds  The drug candidates act on a target unlikely to mutate.

The first screening test employed a technique known as fluorescence polarization to measure the ability of each compound in the library to displace the binding of the viral genome to the nucleocapsid protein. (The study focused on the virus type HIV-1, which accounts for the vast majority of HIV infections outside West Africa.) The second test, using differential scanning fluorimetry, was applied to the 101 compounds that passed the first test; it identified those that perform the displacement by binding strongly to the nucleocapsid protein rather than to the viral genome. 

After eliminating the weaker and more toxic candidates with further tests, Breuer, Torbett, and their colleagues ended up with 10 compounds. Detailed analyses of these yielded two that were sufficiently powerful at inhibiting viral infectivity in cell culture tests, without being unacceptably toxic. 

"We went very quickly from having a concept to having these two inhibitors with demonstrated anti-HIV activity in cells," said Torbett. [more]

From AIDS.gov:

CDC estimates that more than one million people are living with HIV in the U.S.. One in five (20%) of those people living with HIV is unaware of their infection. 

Despite increases in the total number of people living with HIV in the U.S. in recent years, the annual number of new HIV infections has remained relatively stable. However, new infections continue at far too high a level, with approximately 50,000 Americans becoming infected with HIV each year.

Only 1 million!  That's 1/3 of one percent.  Lots of severe diseases are more common.

While the rampant spread of AIDS in the U.S. has been halted by better education and information and those infected have been able to live relatively normal lives, worldwide the disease has had far more devastating results.  From the World Health Organization:

34 million.  Well, still a small percentage of 7 billion, but not insignificant.  Especially because the disease is not well treated worldwide and causes severe human and economic hardship in some areas. If this new drug testing process successfully identifies a compound that stops HIV in its tracks, it would be the most significant health achievement in the 21st century. [image]

Let's hope that the scientists at Scripps Research Institute are on to something.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Terra-forming Detroit

SEARCH BLOG: DETROIT

Visiting San Francisco gives a distinctly different vision of land use than visiting Detroit.  San Francisco is home to wall-to-wall buildings. Houses often share common walls... a no-no in most cities due to fire hazards.  Those that do not share common walls have virtually no side yards and minuscule front yards.  Million dollar homes have one-car garages... better than street parking.

Detroit, on the other hand has ample room for houses.  At least a quarter of the city land is vacant property or abandoned buildings.

San Francisco has some wonderful parks including the wonderful Golden Gate Park.  Detroit has a gem in Belle Isle, but it has come under some neglect in the past.  For example, the fabulous Belle Isle Aquarium is defunct. [image]  There is Palmer Park including the more than 100-year old Detroit Golf Club and ringed by mansions, but there is a distinct lack of other large parks suitable for exploring or "getting away from it all."  San Francisco with a population about 100,000 more than Detroit sits on land about one-third the size of Detroit.  Yet San Francisco has not only numerous small neighborhood parks, but many larger parks devoted to enjoying the outside such as Mt. Davidson, Glen Canyon Park, and John McLaren Park.

Detroit has been reluctant to downsize geographically and now is leaning heavily on the State of Michigan to finance its future.  Perhaps there is something that could be done to make it worthwhile for the state to spend its money that would improve Detroit's physical properties.

With large tracts of land sitting desolate and empty, perhaps that property should revert to the state and be used to create large parks... terra-formed to include lakes and trails and children's areas much the way San Francisco's Golden Gate Park was created.  These might then become the focal points around which areas of the city might be re-formed.  Of course, getting anything done within the city of Detroit is virtually impossible which is why there have been so many posts in this blog recommending the break-up of Detroit.  Then the terra-forming could begin with some hope of success.

As it stands now, there is nothing about Detroit that says "move here."

SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

Detroit - Turn Back The Clock 100 Years

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Oregon State University Fires Scientist For Being An Unbeliever

SEARCH BLOG: CLIMATE and RELIGION

Science is the relentless search for truth that changes with further knowledge.  Religion is the relentless defense of an unchanging truth without the application of further knowledge.  Scientific "truths" are always open to challenge and debate; religious "truths" are never open to challenge and debate.

Nearly 500-years ago, the Catholic Church moved out of the realm of religion and into the realm of science when it forced scientist Galileo Galilei to publicly recant his position that the earth revolved around the sun rather than the other way around and spend the rest of his life in house arrest.  Centuries later, the church apologized for this slight error. [image]

One can only wonder how long it will be before Oregon State University issues a similar apology... if ever... to Nickolas Drapela, PhD.  After all, they changed their minds about a logo.  Perhaps they can take on a real challenge to their thinking. [images]

Dr. Drapela is a well-respected scientist and well-liked teacher who happened to run afoul of the OSU dogma related to climate.  Apparently, the science is "settled" at OSU.  That means there is no room for debate using data, physics, or any other scientific means of challenge.

Some would say that Dr. Drapela was attempting to do the same thing as teaching "intelligent design," but in reality he was not using belief in any form... unlike OSU which was using belief in climate models that have been shown to be severely faulty and based on very questionable manipulation of weather data.  But religious dogma, in any form, cannot tolerate ideas that deviate from the "truth" of the dogma.  Hence, Dr. Drapela's presence was no longer welcome at the Shrine of the Warming Climate.

Read the story HERE.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Flame Virus Commits Suicide

SEARCH BLOG: TECHNOLOGY

Recently, the internet world learn of the existence of the Flame virus.

TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012

New Computer Malware Attacks The Middle East

This new threat appears not to cause physical damage, but to collect huge amounts of sensitive information, said  [Russian security firm] Kaspersky's [Labs] chief malware expert Vitaly Kamluk. 

"Once a system is infected, Flame begins a complex set of operations, including sniffing the network traffic, taking screenshots, recording audio conversations, intercepting the keyboard, and so on," he said. 

Just as suddenly, the threat has disappeared.

From the Herald Sun:

US computer security researchers said overnight that the Flame computer virus that smouldered undetected for years in Middle Eastern energy facilities has gotten orders to vanish, leaving no trace. 

Anti-virus company Symantec said in a blog post that late last week, some Flame "command-and-control servers sent an updated command to several compromised computers." 

"This command was designed to completely remove (Flame) from the compromised computers." 

Flame malicious software (malware) appears to have been "in the wild" for two years or longer and prime targets so far have been energy facilities in the Middle East, especially in Iran. 

The discovery of Flame immediately sparked speculation that it had been created by US and Israeli security services to steal information about Iran's controversial nuclear drive.
Kaspersky Lab, one of the world's biggest producers of anti-virus software, said the Flame virus was "about 20 times larger than Stuxnet," the worm which was discovered in June 2010 and used against the Iranian nuclear program. 

High concentrations of computers compromised by Flame were also found in Lebanon, the West Bank and Hungary. Additional infections have been reported in Austria, Russia, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. 

Compromised computers included many being used from home connections, according to security researchers who were looking into whether reports of infections in some places resulted from workers using laptops while traveling.

Probably just some kids at the local high school. 

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Climate Extremes Not Getting More Extreme

SEARCH BLOG: CLIMATE

From ICECAP [click for the complete post]:

Here by the way is the state all time record highs and lows since 1880s. See any of Cullen or Romm or Meehl’s tipping point runaway warming?

Enlarged

Enlarged

ALSO SEE: Jun 09, 2012
Records and Extremes

Thanks for this update, Joe D'Aleo.

In order to understand better the significance of these charts, I recommend that you read the whole post from 2-years ago at Climate Science.  Here is an excerpt:

1. The data are not adjusted. They are recognized as valid by NOAA and have not been “corrected” by interpolation with data from other weather station data.

2. They represent the climate “boundaries” for statewide geographies. A record either stands on it’s own or is replaced by a subsequent reading that ties or exceeds it. 

3. It allows testing of the tenet that global warming necessarily results it an increased frequency of temperature extremes. 

Anthony Watts has identified other types of "corrected" data that are avoided in the above data.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Detroit Going Broke

SEARCH BLOG: DETROIT

No, Detroit is broken.

Is there no one who can save Detroit?  Yes, but he is busy working on a sequel. [image]

Meanwhile, Detroit will have to struggle by with their present leadership.

Bing administration: Detroit could be broke within a week

• By  Leonard N. Fleming and Darren A. Nichols

• The Detroit News

• 
  

Detroit— The city could run out of cash by next Friday if the dispute over a lawsuit challenging the consent agreement isn't resolved, opening the door to a state takeover, Mayor Dave Bing's administration said today. 

Bing, who spoke this morning flanked by high-ranking members of his administration, said he has urged the city's top lawyer to drop the lawsuit but added he is powerless under the new city charter to force Krystal Crittendon to comply. Political pressure on her would not work, he said. [more]

All the King's horses and all the King's men....

RELATED:

TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2012

Why Detroit Is Doomed

SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

Detroit - Turn Back The Clock 100 Years

All Posts About Detroit

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

National Security Leaks

SEARCH BLOG: GOVERNMENT

From The New York Times:

Obama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against IranWASHINGTON — From his first months in office, President Obama secretly ordered increasingly sophisticated attacks on the computer systems that run Iran’s main nuclear enrichment facilities, significantly expanding America’s first sustained use of cyberweapons, according to participants in the program....

So, do you wonder how The New York Times gets this stuff?  What ever happened to the concepts of treason and sedition?

From Rep. Mike Rogers of the U.S. House of Representatives: 

“I want to be clear about a statement I made earlier today. As I mentioned, it is my understanding that portions of the National Security Division of the Department of Justice have recused themself with respect to at least one investigation regarding disclosures. I did not intend to suggest that this recusal implied that anyone in the division had improperly disclosed any information, but rather that the sorts of issues that can force a recusal show the serious complications facing the Department in investigating these matters.”  - REP. MIKE ROGERS

Of course you didn't intend to suggest anything.  Well, you should be suggesting something.  Isn't the DOJ Chief the same idiot who said:

Attorney General Eric Holder claimed during congressional testimony today that internal Justice Department emails that use the phrase “Fast and Furious” do not refer to the controversial gun-walking operation Fast and Furious. 

Under questioning from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who read excerpts of the emails at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Justice Department oversight, Holder claimed that the phrase “Fast and Furious” did not refer to Fast and Furious but instead referred to another gun-walking operation known as “Wide Receiver.” [source]

Sure... and a "leak" means "going to the bathroom."

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Going Nuclear Over Thorium

SEARCH BLOG: NUCLEAR ENERGY

From time to time I receive comments or emails that are interesting enough to serve as the basis for a post.  The following was received from Ben Robbins:

Bruce, 

Love what I have read so far in your blog. In regards to US energy policy, I ran across a type of nuclear energy that uses an entirely different reactor design. It is called a liquid flouride thorium reactor (LFTR). LFTRs are a development of the molten salt reactor (MSR) experiment of the 1960s at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The MSR was designed by Dr. Alvin Weinberg, who was the developer of the light water reactor commonly in use today. He foresaw that their would be a need for a safer reactor that generated very little waste, which is how the MSR was born. The MSR was fueled using plutonium and uranium. The LFTR takes it a step further and uses thorium, which is a very common element in the Earth's crust. It is also almost always found with rare earth elements (REE), which are used in everything from wind turbine generators to pretty much every electronic device. Here's a brief summary of LFTR's benefits: 

-Inherently/passively safe
-Reactor is much less complex as a result of its passive safety, so it is also much cheaper
-Scalable (can be increased in size, or decreased to fit, say, an isolated town or military base)
-Burns up nearly all of its fuel, unlike current reactors which barely burn up any at all
-Can be used to burn up existing high level waste
-Produces useful medical elements
-Produces plutonium 238, which is used by NASA for long-distance space exploration missions
-Thorium is a common element, and therefore inexpensive as a fuel
-Doesn't require a water supply to operate, so can be located anywhere 

I won't take up anymore of your time, but I would suggest you watch about ten minutes of the following Youtube video featuring Kirk Sorensen, who is leading the effort to develop and deploy this technology.

My earliest posts mentioning Thorium reactors were:

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2006

Supporting Global Warming

MONDAY, APRIL 09, 2007

The French Were Correct... And Still Are
Thorium continues to be "just beyond the horizon" in terms of acceptance, but perhaps that horizon is getting closer.  The biggest issue is not so much the technology, but the social and political attitudes toward nuclear power which are grounded in decades old technology.  Those who consider themselves ecologically "green" are unwilling to admit that "renewables" are notoriously unreliable and costly and that the only "climate-friendly" reliable energy source is nuclear.  Of course, you have to have religious conviction that CO2 is "climate-unfriendly" to even worry about such things.

RELATED:

Capitalizing On The Energy Scarcity Myth [MAY BE SLOW LOADING, BUT A VERY GOOD ARTICLE] 

No Nukes - Energy Or Enervation

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Sexual Minorities - Stretching The Definition Of Minority

SEARCH BLOG: SPECIAL INTERESTS

Sometimes the use of a term hits you right between the eyes.  Not that the use isn't legitimate in a technical sense, but once the term takes on political connotations there is a tendency to stretch the boundaries.  Such is the case with "sexual minorities." [image]

Strictly speaking, "minority" can be applied to any metric less than one-half.  So, in the U.S., men are a "minority."  But applying a term in that fashion, while correct, is both meaningless and politically... inappropriate.  We tend to think of "minorities" as similar people who exhibit political or racial characteristics and, in progressive-think, must be protected in one manner or another.

Of course, one could challenge two notions contained therein: 1) superficial characteristics are sufficient to identify a "minority" and 2) the "minority" requires some form of government "protection."  Recently, for example, white [Caucasian] infants were identified as a new "minority."  Technically, any white infant born this year should receive consideration for "minority" political preferences.  That will not happen and reasonably so for two reasons: 1) there is no other "minority" to take its place as the "majority" and 2) there is no logical rationale for providing special preferences for the new "minority."

Now we are faced with the concept of a "sexual minority."  There are men; there are women.  There are no third genders... except maybe the genetic anomaly of both in one body.  There may be individuals who, for one reason or another, are attracted to mates of the same gender, but while they represent a small percentage of all men and women, they are neither men-women or women-men.  They are men and women who have their own preferences.  I prefer beer to wine, but I'm still a man.

Oh, but they have no choice in their preference.  Neither do I.  I simply prefer beer to wine and always have.  Does that qualify me as an alcohol minority or majority?  I guess that depends on which country I happen to reside.

Nevertheless, be on the lookout for new "sexual minority" legislation, regulations, studies, and protections.  The progressives need a new victim minority on a regular basis.  That must be the "progress" part of progressives.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Unions To Target Michigan

SEARCH BLOG: ECONOMY and GOVERNMENT

From Reason:

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder followed labor’s preferred course—and labor leaders are not sparing him.

Like Walker, Snyder confronted a massive—$2 billion —shortfall and demanded that public employees pick up 20 percent of the tab for their health care benefits. Like Walker, he reformed teacher tenure laws, giving schools more flexibility to recruit and promote good teachers. And like Walker, he ended automatic union-dues deductions from teacher paychecks. 

Unlike Walker, however, Snyder did not launch a wholesale attack on the collective bargaining powers of all public unions, taking a more conciliatory approach. He even scolded his fellow Republicans who wanted to use their control of all branches of government to make Michigan a Right to Work state, no longer requiring private-sector workers to pay mandatory union dues as a condition of employment.

To better appreciate this issue, you need to understand the tactics that unions are using to fill their coffers at the expense of the State and service providers.  From the Mackinac Center For Public Policy:

MIDLAND — Michigan’s 60,000 home health care aides should no longer have so-called union dues skimmed from their subsidy checks as a result of an informal but binding opinion letter issued today by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. The opinion was issued in response to a request by Rep. Paul Opsommer, R-DeWitt, six weeks after Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation ending the stealth unionization. The Service Employees International Union has taken some $30 million from the state’s most vulnerable residents over the last six years, including more than $680,000 since the scheme was outlawed. 

“This episode demonstrates how government-sector unions often act in ways that benefit themselves at the cost of taxpayers and their shanghaied members,” said Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Director Patrick J. Wright. “The independent contractors and family members who provide aid to the developmentally disabled were never government employees and should not have been paying dues in the first place.” 

The SEIU was able to skim the so-called “dues” under a scheme that was concocted during the administration of Gov. Jennifer Granholm. An interlocal agreement between the Department of Community Health and the Tri-County Aging Consortium allowed for the creation of the Michigan Quality Community Care Council, which served as the shell employer for people who are actually self-employed independent contractors or, overwhelmingly, family members caring for loved ones.

Yup, you got it.  Independent service contractors... self-employed people, not state employees... who received money from the state for services were forced to pay dues to a union through automatic deductions for "representation" that 1) most were not aware of and 2) that did absolutely nothing except skim money off the top.  $30,000,000 worth of skimming for nothing.  And they continued to take the money even after legislation prohibiting such practices was signed into legislation!  Yup, you got it.  The law meant nothing to the "union."

That's the nature of unionism in Michigan.

Before you start to equate the Wisconsin issues with Michigan's, you should remember that Walker's approach was far more heavy-handed and to some extent, as discussed in previous posts, wenT too far.  That has not been the case with Gov. Snyder.

RELATED:

Conservative Principles Or Unprincipled Conservatives

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Willow Glass May Change The Future

SEARCH BLOG: TECHNOLOGY

Last year, I was having a discussion with my daughter-in-law who works for Google.  She enjoys reading books on a Kindle, but I find the notion less appealing than an actual book.  I like to be able to flip back pages quickly.  This bias extends even more for newspapers.  I revealed that I would consider an electronic newspaper if it felt and worked like an actual newspaper.  My vision was of a flexible, full-paged sized device that displayed an entire page of readable text and images.  A device that let you quickly flip back and forth between pages ... like an iPad.

That future may be approaching.  From BBC:

A new type of flexible ultra-thin glass has been unveiled by the firm that developed Gorilla Glass, currently used to make screens of many mobile devices.

Dubbed Willow Glass, the product can be "wrapped" around a device, said the New York-based developer Corning.

The glass was showcased at the Society for Information Display's Display Week, an industry trade show in Boston.

Besides smartphones, it could also be used for displays that are not flat, the company said.

But until such "conformable" screens appear on the market, the glass could be used for mobile devices that are constantly becoming slimmer.

"Displays become more pervasive each day and manufacturers strive to make both portable devices and larger displays thinner," said Dipak Chowdhury, Willow Glass programme director at Corning.

The prototype demonstrated in Boston was as thin as a sheet of paper, and the company said that it can be made to be just 0.05mm thick - thinner than the current 0.2mm or 0.5mm displays.

The firm has already started supplying customers developing new display and touch technology with samples of the product.

Next-gen gorilla glass?

The material used to make Willow Glass is the result of the firm's glassmaking process called Fusion.

The technique is melting the ingredients at 500C, and then producing a continuous sheet that can be rolled out in a mechanism similar to a traditional printing press.

Perhaps this could be fused to some polycarbonate film and placed in a thin flexible frame that contained all of the wifi and processors necessary to make it an inexpensive, easily-portable, electronic newspaper or general large display for poster-sized materials.  I'd like that.

iPads are nice, but reading anything on them is a pain in the butt because everything is "drill down" rather than full display.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

The Superfluous Male

SEARCH BLOG: FAMILY

Lately several people close to my grown children have had marriage break-ups.  That's not surprising in today's social environment where half of marriages eventually dissolve.  Imagine that, you have a 50-50 chance of having a successful marriage.  That's like flipping a coin when choosing a mate.  [image]

Can it be that people have such poor judgment these days that the success or failure of their marriage is random?  Or can it be that marriage has become an unnecessary inconvenience?

The most recent occurrences have involved thirties-something, successful, professional women and their beta-men who, as more children appeared and the women moved up the professional food chain, showed signs of depression.  After all, aside from their sperm donation and frequent baby sitting while mom worked late, what did they bring to the marriage?  Their testosterone was useless.  They felt superfluous.  They didn't fit the image held of the strong, providing father.

But some men have adapted to this new arrangement.  In fact, they revel in their superfluosity.  They have adapted by adopting the role of the professional sperm donor.  No, not the kind that bothers with a sperm bank.  They prefer the more direct approach.  Might as well enjoy yourself.

A 33-year-old Knoxville, Tenn. man with 30 children appeared in court this week to ask the state for child-support help, Memphis news station WREG reported Wednesday. 

Desmond Hatchett has fathered 30 children -- which is believed to be the record in Knox county, according to the Los Angeles Times -- with 11 different women. His youngest children are toddlers and his oldest is 14. [source]

Why fight the feminist movement?  Take advantage of it.  Be a man!  Sire as many litters as you can and let the feminists take care of the kids.  Remember: you are superfluous... but you don't have to be irrelevant.

RELATED:

War Against Women; War Against Men

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Economic Shock

SEARCH BLOG: ECONOMY

This is our second opportunity to visit California this year.  We enjoy the state and its different vistas.  But we find the cost of living incredible by Michigan standards.

A million dollars doesn't go very far in the housing market... a nice 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1 car garage mansion can be yours.

We stopped at a local diner for lunch.  $14 hamburgers and fries.  Hmmm.

Gasoline is 80¢ per gallon higher than back home.

A lot of people make a lot of money in the tech industry... but a lot of people don't.  This doesn't seem to be sustainable... and then there are those state taxes.

California... a nice place to visit.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Floating Along

SEARCH BLOG: TRAVEL

We're on the road for awhile as we visit our oldest son's family for the birth of our 4th grandchild.  We'll be in charge of taking care of the 3-year old so mom and dad can focus on the newborn.  That means that posting may be a bit irregular during the visit. [image]

When you get to be our age, chasing around playgrounds and sitting on hardwood floors for a "music class" tend to be exhausting. But the delight of a 3-year old is refreshing.  We'd never spend a day at a "discovery museum" for our own entertainment, but it's quite entertaining watching the little ones run from one "discovery" to another.

Last night, I got a reminder that I'm not quite as young as I used to be.  An annoying "floater" appeared in my eye.  It's like a wispy tendril of black smoke that moves in an out of my central vision.  Anyone have a solution?

Regardless, we are all awaiting the little one... due in a couple of days.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Thaddeus McCotter Says No Write-In Campaign

SEARCH BLOG: POLITICS

The announcement from Rep. Thaddeus McCotter showed up on Facebook yesterday.  It wasn't that unexpected, but it was disappointing.  I've always liked the representative from Livonia, even though he is not my congressman.  There is even a spot in the right column of this blog... McCotter's Corner... that I reserved for his pithy comments.

June 2, 2012 

“I have ended my write-in campaign in Michigan’s 11th Congressional District,” announced McCotter. 

“One can’t clean up a mess multitasking. Honoring my promise to the sovereign people of our community only allows me to finish the official duties of my present Congressional term; and aid the State Attorney General criminal investigation that I requested into identifying the person or persons who concocted the fraudulent petitions that have cost me so dearly. 

“Honoring this promise does not allow me to continue a political write-in campaign. This decision is final, regardless of how swiftly the investigation is concluded.” 

“To those who unhappy at this news, I’m sorry; to those happy at this news, you’re welcome,” McCotter concluded.

It's an unfortunate end for Rep. McCotter's run in Congress, but I'd be surprised if he didn't show up again in 2014.  Some people thought he was too conservative; some thought he was too liberal.  Personally, I thought he did a pretty good job representing his constituents and whoever takes his seat in Michigan's 11 Congressional District will find they have a tough act to follow.

Good luck in whatever follows your current term in Congress, Thaddeaus.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Double Dipping Bad For The Economy

SEARCH BLOG: ECONOMY

There are some who view double dipping as a social faux pas punishable by banishment. [image]

Popular TV shows have explored the subject.  [click here to view video]

But double-dipping can be a very serious problem if not prevented early on.

Slap those double-dipping hands before it's too late.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

Nothing Ever Happens On June 1

SEARCH BLOG: HISTORY

Actually, there is a lot more here.


"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana.

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..

War Against Women; War Against Men

SEARCH BLOG: ECONOMY

We hear it everyday.  The "War Against Women."  Women earn less, on average, than men.  Women pay more for health insurance than men.  But we don't hear about the "War Against Men."

Young women, on average better drivers, pay less for car insurance than young men.  Older women, on average with longer life spans, pay less for life insurance than older men.  Fewer men are graduating from college than women... and  lower educated men have riskier jobs than lower educated women. [image]

So, why is it supposed to "fair" that men pay higher health insurance premiums so that women can pay less?  Shouldn't it also follow that women should pay higher automobile insurance so that men can pay less?  Same thing for life insurance.

But wait, you say, men can afford to pay more for insurance because they earn more.  That's correct, if you disregard the work being done, the years on the job, and the qualifications brought to the job.  All things being equal, women tend to earn somewhat more than men.  So, those women should pay more than men, right?  Maybe give some of their earnings back so men can receive them?

This points to the absurdity of the phrase "War Against... ".  But if you still feel that it's wrong for men and women to earn differently and pay differently, then here is a good project for you: convince the NFL that cheerleaders should make as much as football players.  Hey, they are all entertainers working in the same stadium.  Part of the big theater.

Okay, men don't have to pay $9 per month for birth control pills.  But they may have to keep a supply of condoms handy.  That's gotta run at least $9 per month for a healthy 23-year old male.  Some war....

No amount of government threatening or screaming crowds can ever make everything equal... unless every risk, every cost, every effort, every qualification, every capability is equal.  The closest you can get to that is the military... that's where real wars are waged.

Be careful what you ask for... you may get it.

[image]

2012 IS HERE

• GO TO TOP OF BLOG
• GO TO BLOG'S COMPLETE ARCHIVE
• GO TO BLOG LABELS
• GO TO LIST OF OTHER BLOGGERS

..