Obama's administration has renewed a call for more school hours, saying "Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than our students here,"[Education Secretary Arne] Duncan told the AP. "I want to just level the playing field." The article states Obama says American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage with other students around the globe.
"Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas," the president said earlier this year. "Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom."
I reported on this previously in April and had discussions about it with people in RL. I was appalled that none of them were the slightest concerned about it. Seems that people would prefer their kids spend additional time with their omni-benevolent nanny. But on this latest article the AP provides a bit more information. Seems that the Asian countries do attend school more days per year, but spend less time each year than we do. From the article: Kids in the U.S. spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the U.S. on math and science tests - Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013). That is despite the fact that Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong have longer school years (190 to 201 days) than does the U.S. (180 days).
Perhaps Rep. Wilson would declare "You Lie" to Duncan and Obama on this. The facts show that 21 more days is only 11.67% longer in terms of days, but that in terms of hours the US has as many as 21.21% more contact hours. Sending our kids to the indoctrinators for more of the same is not going to help our kids be anything but more PC.
And if that wasn't enough, the costs are much higher. Extra time is not cheap. The Massachusetts program costs an extra $1,300 per student, or 12 percent to 15 percent more than regular per-student spending, said Jennifer Davis, a founder of the program. It received more than $17.5 million from the state Legislature last year. I dare say that the extra 12-15% is more than any States economy can bare right now. But no worries, Obama can just start providing bail outs to the States then. And then we can all start singing the latest school approved children's chorus "Joy to the world, Obama has come..."
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Private Sector Unemployment 23%
Thanks to data from the BLS who gives the official unemployment rate of 9.7% we can give an approximation of the private sector under/unemployment rate which sits at 23% (22.978) Of course the data still shows that this is in fact a he-cession giving official rates of 10.1% unemployment for men vs 7.6 for women. Look for those numbers to diverge even more with the end of the construction season.
I found the below table regarding unemployment during the 1st Great Depression. Unemployment peaked at 24.9% in 1933 but was only 3.2% just three years earlier. We haven't seen that low an unemployment rate since 1952. The St. Louis Federal Reserve's "Fred" is kind enough to show that this "recession" is the longest since the Great Depression, and if you have a strong stomach, see the spike on the right hand side which is the increase in the monetary base.
Year -- Unemp. Rate
--------------
1929 -- 3.2%
1930 -- 8.7
1931 -- 15.9
1932 -- 23.6
1933 -- 24.9
1934 -- 21.7
1935 -- 20.1
1936 -- 16.9
1937 -- 14.3
1938 -- 19.0
1939 -- 17.2
Now looking at the above numbers and trying to compare them to our current situation is difficult because I do not have access to the number of public sector jobs at that time. Of course it is a fair assumption that the public sector grew by leaps and bounds at that time and one could make a reasonable assumption that the reason that the unemployment rate went down from its 1933 high is due in part to growth in the government sector. The extent to which that growth affects the unemployment rate is what is not known (to me at least.) But from my viewpoint we are looking at very similar rates of unemployment between the Great Depression and the Obama Depression. The early part of the last century the workforce was almost entirely in the private sector. There was an opportunity at that time to suck up a large amount of un/underemployed and put them to work in the public sector which of course is one of the ways the FedGov responded. But that is not such an easy option anymore as 1 in 3 jobs is a public sector job already. I don't think that it would be possible to get above 50% and even if it could be done it could not possibly be sustainable (without major exportation of natural resources.) Because of this I believe that we are on more fragile footing than we were at that time. There are less "easy" answers available to us since we used them up previously and never bothered to let those public sector people go back to private sector employment, plus not to mention all those who survive upon government money (retirees, social security, medicare, etc.)
For the record, to get to a private sector unemployment rate of 25% we would need to lose another 2.3 million jobs. I can't see that happening this year, but depending upon how christmas turns out we could potentially see that by late spring next year.
The so called experts are saying that we are now in a "fragile recovery" which I sincerely hope is true. I wouldn't bet on it, but I sure would like to see the economy recover.
Note, the BLS numbers are for August. I will try to post again once the September numbers come out.
I found the below table regarding unemployment during the 1st Great Depression. Unemployment peaked at 24.9% in 1933 but was only 3.2% just three years earlier. We haven't seen that low an unemployment rate since 1952. The St. Louis Federal Reserve's "Fred" is kind enough to show that this "recession" is the longest since the Great Depression, and if you have a strong stomach, see the spike on the right hand side which is the increase in the monetary base.
Year -- Unemp. Rate
--------------
1929 -- 3.2%
1930 -- 8.7
1931 -- 15.9
1932 -- 23.6
1933 -- 24.9
1934 -- 21.7
1935 -- 20.1
1936 -- 16.9
1937 -- 14.3
1938 -- 19.0
1939 -- 17.2
Now looking at the above numbers and trying to compare them to our current situation is difficult because I do not have access to the number of public sector jobs at that time. Of course it is a fair assumption that the public sector grew by leaps and bounds at that time and one could make a reasonable assumption that the reason that the unemployment rate went down from its 1933 high is due in part to growth in the government sector. The extent to which that growth affects the unemployment rate is what is not known (to me at least.) But from my viewpoint we are looking at very similar rates of unemployment between the Great Depression and the Obama Depression. The early part of the last century the workforce was almost entirely in the private sector. There was an opportunity at that time to suck up a large amount of un/underemployed and put them to work in the public sector which of course is one of the ways the FedGov responded. But that is not such an easy option anymore as 1 in 3 jobs is a public sector job already. I don't think that it would be possible to get above 50% and even if it could be done it could not possibly be sustainable (without major exportation of natural resources.) Because of this I believe that we are on more fragile footing than we were at that time. There are less "easy" answers available to us since we used them up previously and never bothered to let those public sector people go back to private sector employment, plus not to mention all those who survive upon government money (retirees, social security, medicare, etc.)
For the record, to get to a private sector unemployment rate of 25% we would need to lose another 2.3 million jobs. I can't see that happening this year, but depending upon how christmas turns out we could potentially see that by late spring next year.
The so called experts are saying that we are now in a "fragile recovery" which I sincerely hope is true. I wouldn't bet on it, but I sure would like to see the economy recover.
Note, the BLS numbers are for August. I will try to post again once the September numbers come out.
Friday, September 25, 2009
It's All About Race Now
Burt Prelutsky writes "But merely as a public service, I thought I'd point out how to recognize if you're a racist. For instance, if you think that Jesse Jackson is an extortionist; that Al Sharpton is a con man; that Louis Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright and Van Jones are three of a kind; and that the Black Congressional Caucus, ACORN, the SEIU, the Black Panthers, Eric Holder and Barack Hussein Obama, present a clear and present danger to our republic, you are what passes for a racist in 2009."
From even a cursory reading of the opinion columnists this is indeed the case. The pundits are calling EVERY disagreement with Obama as being based in racism. Disagree with bailouts? Racist! Disagree with health care "reform"? Racist! Worried about never ending spending/debt? Racist! Its not only tiring, its quickly losing its value as a way of stopping public discussion and will soon lose the social stigma attached to it. The boy who cried wolf comes to mind. Cry about it too many times when its not true and soon the townsfolk will ignore you.
Actually, as painful as the process of hearing the same tired canard ad nauseum is, depowering the word "racist" will actually further the goals of freedom. The sooner these key "conversation enders" become worthless, the sooner public discourse can begin again. But until it does lose its kick, I personally plan to cry racist every time a black person disagrees with a white person. It won't be true, but its been shown that truth need not be considered when painting someone as racist.
Update: Michael Barone writes "American liberals, unused to hearing dissent, have an impulse to shut it down." These are the "conversation enders" I was writing about.
Update 2: Had to add this pic
From even a cursory reading of the opinion columnists this is indeed the case. The pundits are calling EVERY disagreement with Obama as being based in racism. Disagree with bailouts? Racist! Disagree with health care "reform"? Racist! Worried about never ending spending/debt? Racist! Its not only tiring, its quickly losing its value as a way of stopping public discussion and will soon lose the social stigma attached to it. The boy who cried wolf comes to mind. Cry about it too many times when its not true and soon the townsfolk will ignore you.
Actually, as painful as the process of hearing the same tired canard ad nauseum is, depowering the word "racist" will actually further the goals of freedom. The sooner these key "conversation enders" become worthless, the sooner public discourse can begin again. But until it does lose its kick, I personally plan to cry racist every time a black person disagrees with a white person. It won't be true, but its been shown that truth need not be considered when painting someone as racist.
Update: Michael Barone writes "American liberals, unused to hearing dissent, have an impulse to shut it down." These are the "conversation enders" I was writing about.
Update 2: Had to add this pic
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Acorn: Symptom of Post-Christianity
I haven't been paying a huge amount of attention to the whole Acorn scandals. I already know it is corrupt, so whats new? But with the latest revelations by two brave souls going undercover to uncover their corruption can't be ignored. Quite frankly, its appalling!
For those not in the know, Acorn has been exposed has helping a pimp to setup prostitution and take the profits for use in an upcoming political campaign. WorldNetDaily has an article with video. The Acorn employee talks about murdering her ex-husband (San Bernardino is currently investigating this woman's claim of homicide) and talks about her past experience running an "escort" business. Worse (and considering the above includes murder that is really hard to do!) she is told that they plan to import underage girls to use as sex slaves and she isn't even fazed by it! She just goes on as if they said they prefer chocolate ice-cream over vanilla. No, nothing objectionable here, unless you are some right wing kook. She also states, in affect, that its only the right-wing that would object to running a brothel. But "Um, cuz if they were liberal they would be helping you" (Transcript here)
So what does this have to do with Post-Christianity? It has to do with something Vox has written about. Women in a Post-Christian society will face the choice of the brothel or the burqah. Of course its important to note that the women will not be given the option of which to choose. Essentially this boils down to women losing the protections and rights that Christianity has afforded them (tho I think its obvious that they don't appreciate it) and that void that it leaves. To paraphrase, society abhors a vacuum. Either a stronger culture will fill the void (e.g. Islam) or baser human instincts. Currently we are experiencing the latter but that is the weaker of the two and will eventually be replaced by a stronger society.
I think it is telling that the women in Acorn have no problem with selling 13 underage foreign girls into sexual slavery. Heck, they'll even help you hide the business and figure out how to get the best tax loops. Will women one day look back at feminism and curse it for destroying the faith that protected them? Or the better question is, just how soon will women have that opportunity to curse it?
For those not in the know, Acorn has been exposed has helping a pimp to setup prostitution and take the profits for use in an upcoming political campaign. WorldNetDaily has an article with video. The Acorn employee talks about murdering her ex-husband (San Bernardino is currently investigating this woman's claim of homicide) and talks about her past experience running an "escort" business. Worse (and considering the above includes murder that is really hard to do!) she is told that they plan to import underage girls to use as sex slaves and she isn't even fazed by it! She just goes on as if they said they prefer chocolate ice-cream over vanilla. No, nothing objectionable here, unless you are some right wing kook. She also states, in affect, that its only the right-wing that would object to running a brothel. But "Um, cuz if they were liberal they would be helping you" (Transcript here)
So what does this have to do with Post-Christianity? It has to do with something Vox has written about. Women in a Post-Christian society will face the choice of the brothel or the burqah. Of course its important to note that the women will not be given the option of which to choose. Essentially this boils down to women losing the protections and rights that Christianity has afforded them (tho I think its obvious that they don't appreciate it) and that void that it leaves. To paraphrase, society abhors a vacuum. Either a stronger culture will fill the void (e.g. Islam) or baser human instincts. Currently we are experiencing the latter but that is the weaker of the two and will eventually be replaced by a stronger society.
I think it is telling that the women in Acorn have no problem with selling 13 underage foreign girls into sexual slavery. Heck, they'll even help you hide the business and figure out how to get the best tax loops. Will women one day look back at feminism and curse it for destroying the faith that protected them? Or the better question is, just how soon will women have that opportunity to curse it?
Monday, September 21, 2009
Ten Strong Things
Found this and thought I'd share
Ten strong things have been created in the world.
The rock is hard, but the iron cleaves it.
Iron is hard, but the fire softens it.
Fire is strong, but the water quenches it.
Water is strong, but the clouds bear it.
Clouds are strong, but the wind disperses them.
Wind is strong, but the body bears it.
The body is strong, but fear crushes it.
Fear is strong, but wine banishes it.
Wine is strong, but sleep makes one sober.
And death is stronger than all of these.
Tsedeka, however, saves one from death."
--as it is written in Proverbs 10:2--
"Tsedeka (Charity, generosity or righteousness)
delivers from death.
Ten strong things have been created in the world.
The rock is hard, but the iron cleaves it.
Iron is hard, but the fire softens it.
Fire is strong, but the water quenches it.
Water is strong, but the clouds bear it.
Clouds are strong, but the wind disperses them.
Wind is strong, but the body bears it.
The body is strong, but fear crushes it.
Fear is strong, but wine banishes it.
Wine is strong, but sleep makes one sober.
And death is stronger than all of these.
Tsedeka, however, saves one from death."
--as it is written in Proverbs 10:2--
"Tsedeka (Charity, generosity or righteousness)
delivers from death.
Friday, September 18, 2009
US Apportionment
WND is reporting on a lawsuit on behalf of Citizens of several States (website) regarding the discrepancy in representation in the House of Representatives. This is something that I have blogged on in the past, tho it was simply an idea in my head at the time. Perhaps they found my previous post?
Anyways, the suit brings up the fact that the 435 number was fixed in 1911 which was a good year for firearms, but not so much for representation. Since that year the population has increased continuously while the numbers of those represented by a single congressman increased tremendously. In 1910 the census gives us a ration of 212,020:1 Since then it has grown over three times that to nearly 650,000:1. But that isn't the main reason for this suit tho it is a reason.
The main reason is that some states are comparatively "over-represented." WND's article on the suit gives the following quote from the organizations website "In simple terms, it took 1.83 Montana voters to equal just 1 Wyoming voter, which is grossly unfair." They suggest that increasing the number of representatives to 1,761 would decrease that ratio to 1.11:1. This would also reduce the representation ratio to 159,809. Not quite as radical as my plan of 5,000 but I'd settle for this smaller number. It would still have the benefits listed in my previous post and be a sight deal better than what we have today.
Anyways, the suit brings up the fact that the 435 number was fixed in 1911 which was a good year for firearms, but not so much for representation. Since that year the population has increased continuously while the numbers of those represented by a single congressman increased tremendously. In 1910 the census gives us a ration of 212,020:1 Since then it has grown over three times that to nearly 650,000:1. But that isn't the main reason for this suit tho it is a reason.
The main reason is that some states are comparatively "over-represented." WND's article on the suit gives the following quote from the organizations website "In simple terms, it took 1.83 Montana voters to equal just 1 Wyoming voter, which is grossly unfair." They suggest that increasing the number of representatives to 1,761 would decrease that ratio to 1.11:1. This would also reduce the representation ratio to 159,809. Not quite as radical as my plan of 5,000 but I'd settle for this smaller number. It would still have the benefits listed in my previous post and be a sight deal better than what we have today.
Gov Spending Priorities
Most rational people already know that government has screwed-up priorities which are in many cases bought by special interests and paid for by the people. we gave out hundreds of billions to bankers for their part in the bubble, favored the auto unions over everyone involved in the used car market (parts, service, sales, and owners) and giving the lions share of "stimulus" money to female dominated markets during this He-cession. And lets not forget that this administration is championing Cap and Trade which would cost a trillion+ dollars but do nothing but destroy what is left of the American economy.
So in light of that, I read an AP report of the mercury mines in California that are releasing a tremendous amount of pollution into the water, ground and air. This causes "day-glo orange" streams and rivers to run into the larger waterways contaminating the food supply especially for the poorer residents who fish and hunt those lands. California produced ~90% of the mercury in the US and now there are between 550-2000 open mines that are polluting the water ways and there have been, apparently, only efforts at cleaning up ~10 such mines. But not to worry. Mining only stopped decades ago in California so we know that the gov is getting right on it as evidenced by this quote from Daniel Meer, EPA's assistant Superfund director for the region. "We are here to protect the environment, and sometimes we do it better than other times. We can't start cleaning up everything all at once." Oh, well that means they are working on it tho right? Let's see
what else Meer has to say: "It took a hundred years to occur," said the EPA's Meer. "And it may take a hundred years or more to solve." Well, there you have it. Gov moving with alacrity at protecting the citizenry from existing threats to the environment. With this kind of response I think we can all be proud of how our Gov will be able to solve AGW.
We could have paid off people's mortgages instead of paying bankers for being bankers. We could have spent the "stimulus" money on projects like infrastructure which is needed, and we could be looking at cleaning up real environmental problems rather than the bogey man of global warming. If I wasn't already so cynical about government I'd be appalled at how it pays off its special interests and wants the people to pay for things that do not benefit anyone but those interests. But as things stand, cynicism pays and pays well.
So in light of that, I read an AP report of the mercury mines in California that are releasing a tremendous amount of pollution into the water, ground and air. This causes "day-glo orange" streams and rivers to run into the larger waterways contaminating the food supply especially for the poorer residents who fish and hunt those lands. California produced ~90% of the mercury in the US and now there are between 550-2000 open mines that are polluting the water ways and there have been, apparently, only efforts at cleaning up ~10 such mines. But not to worry. Mining only stopped decades ago in California so we know that the gov is getting right on it as evidenced by this quote from Daniel Meer, EPA's assistant Superfund director for the region. "We are here to protect the environment, and sometimes we do it better than other times. We can't start cleaning up everything all at once." Oh, well that means they are working on it tho right? Let's see
what else Meer has to say: "It took a hundred years to occur," said the EPA's Meer. "And it may take a hundred years or more to solve." Well, there you have it. Gov moving with alacrity at protecting the citizenry from existing threats to the environment. With this kind of response I think we can all be proud of how our Gov will be able to solve AGW.
We could have paid off people's mortgages instead of paying bankers for being bankers. We could have spent the "stimulus" money on projects like infrastructure which is needed, and we could be looking at cleaning up real environmental problems rather than the bogey man of global warming. If I wasn't already so cynical about government I'd be appalled at how it pays off its special interests and wants the people to pay for things that do not benefit anyone but those interests. But as things stand, cynicism pays and pays well.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Microsoft Certified
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Woohoo!
I did get it too late to get a Bill Gates signed certificate. I guess Steve Balmer will just have to do.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Crash Diet Retards
This article about a UK diet plan by LighterLife makes me shake my head and wonder at these people. The LL plan is, simply put, a starvation plan. Its 14 weeks at 530 calories a day. Shockingly, dieters report that they lose weight while starving their bodies of the basic nutrition it needs! And of course after losing all that weight many gain it all back and then some.
The story goes on to describe how some of the dieters end up dead or with numerous health problems, including one lady who lost so much weight that the fat deposits behind her eyes that support the eye muscle were depleted resulting in her inability to see straight and then she had to have her gall bladder removed. And what does she do? She goes on the diet again! Making her problems even worse! If this is not the definition of a retard I don't know what is?
The body needs somewhere between 1200-1500 calories just for an average sized person to lie in bed all day! That's basic maintenance on muscle, organs, brain and even fat that is used up regardless of whether or not you actually move your body around at all. And then on top of that the very food you eat requires calories to process it and turn it into something your body can use. Oh, and if you don't get sufficient calories, especially over a long time period, you send your metabolism into starvation mode and it will do everything it can to pack on weight so that it has stores should you ever again be in a starvation situation aka LighterLife diet.
Want to lose weight?
Eat sensible. Cut out the crap foods like soda, chips, ice-cream, burgers, fries and the megabucks coffees. Replace that with fresh fruits and veggies. Then go get a good nights sleep (7+hours) and do some physical exercise. I recommend starting off with pushups, pull-ups and squats. Oh, and its the weight bearing (aka muscle building) exercises that will burn fat. Cardio is good, but there is a reason for the saying "fat girls do cardio, models lift weights." After all, its muscle that burns fat, even when you are resting. If you build ten pounds of muscle (which is easier than it sounds[for the first ten anyways]) it will burn thru a pound almost every week just in daily maintenance. Transformetrics is a good place to learn simple, effective and low-cost muscle building exercises. I recommend them.
The story goes on to describe how some of the dieters end up dead or with numerous health problems, including one lady who lost so much weight that the fat deposits behind her eyes that support the eye muscle were depleted resulting in her inability to see straight and then she had to have her gall bladder removed. And what does she do? She goes on the diet again! Making her problems even worse! If this is not the definition of a retard I don't know what is?
The body needs somewhere between 1200-1500 calories just for an average sized person to lie in bed all day! That's basic maintenance on muscle, organs, brain and even fat that is used up regardless of whether or not you actually move your body around at all. And then on top of that the very food you eat requires calories to process it and turn it into something your body can use. Oh, and if you don't get sufficient calories, especially over a long time period, you send your metabolism into starvation mode and it will do everything it can to pack on weight so that it has stores should you ever again be in a starvation situation aka LighterLife diet.
Want to lose weight?
Eat sensible. Cut out the crap foods like soda, chips, ice-cream, burgers, fries and the megabucks coffees. Replace that with fresh fruits and veggies. Then go get a good nights sleep (7+hours) and do some physical exercise. I recommend starting off with pushups, pull-ups and squats. Oh, and its the weight bearing (aka muscle building) exercises that will burn fat. Cardio is good, but there is a reason for the saying "fat girls do cardio, models lift weights." After all, its muscle that burns fat, even when you are resting. If you build ten pounds of muscle (which is easier than it sounds[for the first ten anyways]) it will burn thru a pound almost every week just in daily maintenance. Transformetrics is a good place to learn simple, effective and low-cost muscle building exercises. I recommend them.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Kayaking the Nisqually Delta
Today Little Bear and I went to the Nisqually Delta. The delta is near Olympia Washington and abuts the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge which is about 3000 acres. It is used by some 275 species of birds which itself would be a treat for the nature lover.
We started off in the morning and launched in near glass still waters. The tide was coming in but while the current could be seen there were no waves, just a steady inpouring of water. We started of heading up river from the launch site at Luhr Beach and had not been in for even ten minutes when a bald eagle flew overhead. Unfortunately I wasn't able to pull out the camera but as it turns out that eagle is very active there and I was able to get pictures of him later on. After that we came across the first of two families of harbor seals. They all dropped in the water before we got close and despite staying still and quiet (quite the feat for a 3y/o) they wouldn't come out of the water. Worse, if you turned to look at them they would immediately dive so I wasn't able to get good pictures. But then I came across one that while wary was not so worried about us as to stop sunning.
We went in our sit on top kayak of course, a Malibu Two XL, which gives us great stability and lots of open area which I think is great for us, but I can't wait to get a more performance oriented kayak as the Malibu is somewhat of a lumbering beast. Its great for what I am using it for but I look with no small amount of envy at those with sleek kayaks that cut thru the water with little effort and make much better speed than I can.
All in all we were treated to blue heron, canadian geese, numerous species of ducks, a puffin and my first ever sighting of a bald eagle! And somewhere between 16-20 seals. Quite the sightings for a single trip. And with all the deciduous trees its on the list of places to go back to this fall. Well, thats for another day. Anyways, enjoy the pics.
We started off in the morning and launched in near glass still waters. The tide was coming in but while the current could be seen there were no waves, just a steady inpouring of water. We started of heading up river from the launch site at Luhr Beach and had not been in for even ten minutes when a bald eagle flew overhead. Unfortunately I wasn't able to pull out the camera but as it turns out that eagle is very active there and I was able to get pictures of him later on. After that we came across the first of two families of harbor seals. They all dropped in the water before we got close and despite staying still and quiet (quite the feat for a 3y/o) they wouldn't come out of the water. Worse, if you turned to look at them they would immediately dive so I wasn't able to get good pictures. But then I came across one that while wary was not so worried about us as to stop sunning.
We went in our sit on top kayak of course, a Malibu Two XL, which gives us great stability and lots of open area which I think is great for us, but I can't wait to get a more performance oriented kayak as the Malibu is somewhat of a lumbering beast. Its great for what I am using it for but I look with no small amount of envy at those with sleek kayaks that cut thru the water with little effort and make much better speed than I can.
All in all we were treated to blue heron, canadian geese, numerous species of ducks, a puffin and my first ever sighting of a bald eagle! And somewhere between 16-20 seals. Quite the sightings for a single trip. And with all the deciduous trees its on the list of places to go back to this fall. Well, thats for another day. Anyways, enjoy the pics.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
As I noted in a May 1st post, soft tissue had been found in an alleged 65 million year old T-Rex. Well, in the Sept. 4th 2009 issue of Journal of Proteome Research is a report of an independent study of the bone marrow found seven peptides from collagen and apparently traces from hemoglobin.
In similar news, a fossil of a supposedly 150 million year old squid-like creature was found with an intact ink sac. But more than just intact, it was still usable as ink which was used to draw the below picture.
The UK Daily Mail notes that this same area was one of the first in the world to yield fossils of fragile muscle and stomach tissue.
In similar news, a fossil of a supposedly 150 million year old squid-like creature was found with an intact ink sac. But more than just intact, it was still usable as ink which was used to draw the below picture.
The UK Daily Mail notes that this same area was one of the first in the world to yield fossils of fragile muscle and stomach tissue.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
DUH!
I need in on these studies. You know, the type of studies that conclude that water makes things wet. Take for instance this AP study that shows bankruptcies are higher in States that allow wages to be garnished. Is this really a surprise to anyone? Seriously. If a person cannot make their payments to you when they are bringing home the 60-75% or so that the State lets them bring home, how do you expect them to make it when you take 25-50% of the remaining? At that point you are simply asking them to go to extremes to avoid you. Worse for the company, in some States, including Colorado, if a person declares bankruptcy the Court will take the money that was garnished and divvy it up amongst all the creditors so they simply wasted money collecting it.
Monday, July 06, 2009
Drug Warriors Suppress Evidence
Seems that the Drug Warriors only want propagandainformation that supports their viewpoint. Anything else they suppress.
A study done by the WHO 14 years ago states that
If your only response to contrary evidence is to ignore or bury it your position cannot be terribly strong.
A study done by the WHO 14 years ago states that
health problems from "the use of legal substances, particularly alcohol and tobacco, are greater than health problems from cocaine use." If that weren't enough, it states that "few experts describe cocaine as invariably harmful to health," and that problems "are mainly limited to high-dosage users." Indeed, "occasional cocaine use does not typically lead to severe or even minor physical or social problems . . . a minority of people start using cocaine or related products, use casually for a short or long period, and suffer little or no negative consequences, even after years of use."This study was done 14 years ago, but the US pushed to suppress the study as it didn't like the conclusions. As a result is was never published and only came to light because it was leaked out.
If your only response to contrary evidence is to ignore or bury it your position cannot be terribly strong.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Current Unemployment Rate
From an AP article we learn that another 467,000 jobs were cut last month. Whats more is it gives us the current unemployment rate of 9.5% and then gives us a concrete number:
Its good to know that we are in the good hands of a Kenyan after being in the good hands of a "compassionate conservative." Imagine how bad things would be if we had a more libertarian government with a Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin in office.
All told, 14.7 million people were unemployed in June.So what does that mean? It means there are 14.7 million people who are out of a job, but are still looking for a job. This brings up the obvious question... what of those who just give up looking for a job? The simple answer is that they aren't counted. The article continues and gives us the rate that most of us care about:
If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.16.5%?!?! So AP pegs those under or unemployed at 25,457,355. That gives a private sector unemployment rate of 22.27% (private sector being calculated from BLS numbers of all employed in 2008 of 154,287,000 minus approx 40,000,000 public sector employees)
Its good to know that we are in the good hands of a Kenyan after being in the good hands of a "compassionate conservative." Imagine how bad things would be if we had a more libertarian government with a Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin in office.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
The Importance Of Words
One Sunday after his sermon, the pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express praise for answered prayers. A lady stood and walked to the podium.
She said, “I have a praise. Two months ago, my husband, Tom, had a terrible bicycle wreck, and his scrotum was completely crushed. The pain was excruciating, and the doctors didn’t know if they could help him.”
You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagined the pain that poor Tom must have experienced.
“Tom was unable to hold me or the children,” she went on, “and every move caused him terrible pain. We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and it turned out they were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Tom’s scrotum and wrap wire around it to hold it in place.”
Again, the men in the congregation were unnerved and squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Tom.
“Now,” she announced in a quavering voice, “thank the Lord, Tom is out of the hospital, and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should recover completely.”
All the men sighed with relief. The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say.
A man stood up, walked slowly to the podium, and said, “Hi, I’m Tom.”
The entire congregation held its breath.
“I just want to tell my wife that the word is ‘sternum’.”
She said, “I have a praise. Two months ago, my husband, Tom, had a terrible bicycle wreck, and his scrotum was completely crushed. The pain was excruciating, and the doctors didn’t know if they could help him.”
You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagined the pain that poor Tom must have experienced.
“Tom was unable to hold me or the children,” she went on, “and every move caused him terrible pain. We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and it turned out they were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Tom’s scrotum and wrap wire around it to hold it in place.”
Again, the men in the congregation were unnerved and squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Tom.
“Now,” she announced in a quavering voice, “thank the Lord, Tom is out of the hospital, and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should recover completely.”
All the men sighed with relief. The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say.
A man stood up, walked slowly to the podium, and said, “Hi, I’m Tom.”
The entire congregation held its breath.
“I just want to tell my wife that the word is ‘sternum’.”
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Taylor Swift's Gone Gangsta
Taylor Swift, of country music fame, has gone gangsta and put out a track with T-Pain. Will she make it in the Rap Industry? See for yourself.
Ark To Be Revealed?
Yes! According to Abuna Paulos, the patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia, it will be officially revealed at 2pm (Italy time) this friday, which means 8AM EST. I'm not holding my breath, but this would be an incredible thing if it does indeed happen. Might even signal a great time to get things right with Yeshua. No one knows when their time is up so it is always a good time, but now might be better than most.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Gun Safety For Kids
I just had a gun safety talk with my 3 year old. Trying to make sure that he has two rules down whenever seeing guns or bullets. Rule one: DON'T TOUCH. Rule two: Tell an adult, preferably Daddy.
I gave him a short quiz and asked him what should he do if he sees a gun. He replied: "Tell Daddy or an astronaut. Astronauts are people in space!"
I gave him a short quiz and asked him what should he do if he sees a gun. He replied: "Tell Daddy or an astronaut. Astronauts are people in space!"
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