Showing posts with label poltics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poltics. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Friday, January 3, 2014
Predictioning
Back in 1964, science fiction author Isaac Asimov offered some predictions about what the world would look like 50 years hence. He was kind of wrong, but also kind of right about some things.
One of the things I think he was right about was the danger of modern boredom. It has caused any number of societal ills, from Twitter to Justin Bieber to the Obama administration.
Oh well.
One of the things I think he was right about was the danger of modern boredom. It has caused any number of societal ills, from Twitter to Justin Bieber to the Obama administration.
Oh well.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Verrrry Carefully...
The above is the answer to the question, "How do you give an elephant a vasectomy?"
If you would like more detail, RealClearScience's Newton Blog has it here. The headline: "How do you make a raging elephant fire blanks?"
If you're referring to how to perform the same act on a politcial party that uses the elephant as its symbol, the answer is, "Nominate the guy who lost to the guy who lost the last general election." See 2012, 2008 and 1996 for examples.
If you would like more detail, RealClearScience's Newton Blog has it here. The headline: "How do you make a raging elephant fire blanks?"
If you're referring to how to perform the same act on a politcial party that uses the elephant as its symbol, the answer is, "Nominate the guy who lost to the guy who lost the last general election." See 2012, 2008 and 1996 for examples.
Friday, December 14, 2012
A Silly Senate?
The retirement of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint has prompted speculation about whom SC Gov. Nikki Haley will appoint to fill his seat until a special election next year.
Among those requesting consideration is comedian Stephen Colbert (pronounced "Col-bear" now, but "Col-burt" when he was an undergraduate at the Beacon of Truth and Enlightenment of the Known Universe, Northwestern University in Evanston, IL).
Now the initial response might be to dismiss Colbert's request out of hand. His qualifications for the office seem at this point to be that he has created a character mocking loudmouth talk show host Bill O'Reilly, a man whose picture is next to the definition of "self-parody" in the dictionary and who also defines, in this case, the phrase "easy target." When Colbert wanted to testify before Congress about immigration, he did so in character and embarrassed the committee that had invited him. Actually handing over the resources of a Senate office to a fellow who might, just might be tempted to use them in unserious ways is not the best of ideas.
On the other hand, it's not like there aren't already a lot of clowns in the U.S. Senate whom no one takes seriously. And if Colbert were selected, that would be the end of his boring television show, because Comedy Central would have to report it as an in-kind campaign contribution and South Carolinians might expect their Senator to be somewhere near the Capitol building instead of in makeup getting ready to go on set.
That's a temptation that could get out of hand, though. Governors everywhere might decide to help out the television viewing public by appointing the members of the all-heat, no-light brigade to serve out unfinished legislative terms. Senator O'Reilly. Representative Matthews. Representative Sharpton. Senator O'Donnell. Senator Hannity. Lieutenant Governor Olbermann (because seriously, there are some folks even the U.S. Senate shouldn't take). Commissioner of Waste Disposal Behar (a lifetime appointment!) Insurance Commissioner Penn (because I think Spicoli was less of an act than he'd like us to believe and because it would be fun watching the numbers make his widdle eyes scrunch up in confusion).
There are hundreds of offices that could be filled by people whom we would then never have to listen to again. You may say that this would create chaos in state and federal government as all of these underqualified dunderheads were put in positions for which they are in no way qualified and in which they are unlikely to succeed. To which I say, how would we notice?
(For those who might wonder why such a post on a day where we have seen evil made real in Connecticut, I have found the internet to be full of ignorant opinions on that subject and do not believe it needs mine).
Among those requesting consideration is comedian Stephen Colbert (pronounced "Col-bear" now, but "Col-burt" when he was an undergraduate at the Beacon of Truth and Enlightenment of the Known Universe, Northwestern University in Evanston, IL).
Now the initial response might be to dismiss Colbert's request out of hand. His qualifications for the office seem at this point to be that he has created a character mocking loudmouth talk show host Bill O'Reilly, a man whose picture is next to the definition of "self-parody" in the dictionary and who also defines, in this case, the phrase "easy target." When Colbert wanted to testify before Congress about immigration, he did so in character and embarrassed the committee that had invited him. Actually handing over the resources of a Senate office to a fellow who might, just might be tempted to use them in unserious ways is not the best of ideas.
On the other hand, it's not like there aren't already a lot of clowns in the U.S. Senate whom no one takes seriously. And if Colbert were selected, that would be the end of his boring television show, because Comedy Central would have to report it as an in-kind campaign contribution and South Carolinians might expect their Senator to be somewhere near the Capitol building instead of in makeup getting ready to go on set.
That's a temptation that could get out of hand, though. Governors everywhere might decide to help out the television viewing public by appointing the members of the all-heat, no-light brigade to serve out unfinished legislative terms. Senator O'Reilly. Representative Matthews. Representative Sharpton. Senator O'Donnell. Senator Hannity. Lieutenant Governor Olbermann (because seriously, there are some folks even the U.S. Senate shouldn't take). Commissioner of Waste Disposal Behar (a lifetime appointment!) Insurance Commissioner Penn (because I think Spicoli was less of an act than he'd like us to believe and because it would be fun watching the numbers make his widdle eyes scrunch up in confusion).
There are hundreds of offices that could be filled by people whom we would then never have to listen to again. You may say that this would create chaos in state and federal government as all of these underqualified dunderheads were put in positions for which they are in no way qualified and in which they are unlikely to succeed. To which I say, how would we notice?
(For those who might wonder why such a post on a day where we have seen evil made real in Connecticut, I have found the internet to be full of ignorant opinions on that subject and do not believe it needs mine).
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Of Course!
Scientists think that they've found a link between elevated levels of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and sluggish thinking in people.
We inhale air, which is a mixture of several gases. Our lungs extract the oxygen from that air and what we exhale is heavy in carbon dioxide. This makes plants happy, because they like the CO2 and when they process it, they release oxygen. In fact, this makes everyone happy, and that's good because we all know how much of a bringdown a depressed ficus can be. Not to mention irritable gladiolas.
Well, when there are a lot of people in a room, and they insist on breathing, and the room is one of those new-fangled energy efficient rooms that tries to keep externally-temperatured air on the outside and internally-temperatured air on the inside with tighter and more effective sealing, you get yourself elevated levels of carbon dioxide because it doesn't escape as fast through those effective seals.
Of course, that's just with regular respiration -- the scientists measured the effects in a room where people were working but not very many people were talking. Had the scientists conducted their measurements and experiments in a room where many people talked a lot -- say, the chamber in which any legislative body has met since the day our knuckles left the ground -- they would have probably seen even greater effects.
They wouldn't even have had to conduct their tests to measure cognitive function. Just read the legislation that these bodies produce or listen to some of the speeches that carry the CO2 into the room. Anyone with more than two firing neurons could do that and conclude: "What a bunch of maroons."
We inhale air, which is a mixture of several gases. Our lungs extract the oxygen from that air and what we exhale is heavy in carbon dioxide. This makes plants happy, because they like the CO2 and when they process it, they release oxygen. In fact, this makes everyone happy, and that's good because we all know how much of a bringdown a depressed ficus can be. Not to mention irritable gladiolas.
Well, when there are a lot of people in a room, and they insist on breathing, and the room is one of those new-fangled energy efficient rooms that tries to keep externally-temperatured air on the outside and internally-temperatured air on the inside with tighter and more effective sealing, you get yourself elevated levels of carbon dioxide because it doesn't escape as fast through those effective seals.
Of course, that's just with regular respiration -- the scientists measured the effects in a room where people were working but not very many people were talking. Had the scientists conducted their measurements and experiments in a room where many people talked a lot -- say, the chamber in which any legislative body has met since the day our knuckles left the ground -- they would have probably seen even greater effects.
They wouldn't even have had to conduct their tests to measure cognitive function. Just read the legislation that these bodies produce or listen to some of the speeches that carry the CO2 into the room. Anyone with more than two firing neurons could do that and conclude: "What a bunch of maroons."
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Quelle Stupid!
In the midst of our silliest of silly seasons, a modern election cycle containing a presidential race, it's nice to know that the United States does not stand alone in making certain that the least bright members of its citizenry have adequate representation at all levels of government.
Enter François Hollande, the recently-elected president of France, who has put together a package of educational reform measures that would outlaw homework. President Hollande has not proposed this measure as a way of securing support among the electorate-to-be, banking on the idea that adult voters will remember with gratitude the nice man who kept mean teachers from assigning them work to do (gasp!) after school was out! Of course, they may not be able to read his name on the ballot, but that situation can be remedied with the appropriate pictures.
No, President Hollande wants homework gone because some kids come from homes where parents aren't supportive of their children's schoolwork; i.e., they won't stand over little Pierre and forbid him his wine and foie gras until his math homework and that paper on Napoleon (that foul little Corsican!) are finished. Since some parents (hereinafter referred to as "meanies") do assist with their children's homework and support the need for the extra schoolwork, this creates an imbalance of student achievement. And Monsieur le President being a socialist, he views imbalances as something just this side of a fallen soufflé on the badness scale.
Of course, a lack of support in the home for children's education is a real problem, and not just in France. Scratch a low-performing student, find parents who either don't have the time to help Junior with his schoolwork or parents whose give-a-darn about Junior's care is pegged way at the low end of the scale.
So the solution inside the flickeringly-lit mind of President Hollande is not to try to create the conditions to exert social and peer pressure to get maman et papa to do some of their freaking job as parents. No, it's to take the places where the system actually produces something that works -- students performing better academically -- and ensure that it doesn't.
Ask a teacher and they'll tell you that while there really are almost no actually stupid students, there are plenty who don't try very hard and so give an excellent impression of one. Correcting that is not an easy, ten week seminar course. It's hard to make stupid people smart.
But as President Hollande so helpfully points out, it is not at all hard to make smart people stupid.
Enter François Hollande, the recently-elected president of France, who has put together a package of educational reform measures that would outlaw homework. President Hollande has not proposed this measure as a way of securing support among the electorate-to-be, banking on the idea that adult voters will remember with gratitude the nice man who kept mean teachers from assigning them work to do (gasp!) after school was out! Of course, they may not be able to read his name on the ballot, but that situation can be remedied with the appropriate pictures.
No, President Hollande wants homework gone because some kids come from homes where parents aren't supportive of their children's schoolwork; i.e., they won't stand over little Pierre and forbid him his wine and foie gras until his math homework and that paper on Napoleon (that foul little Corsican!) are finished. Since some parents (hereinafter referred to as "meanies") do assist with their children's homework and support the need for the extra schoolwork, this creates an imbalance of student achievement. And Monsieur le President being a socialist, he views imbalances as something just this side of a fallen soufflé on the badness scale.
Of course, a lack of support in the home for children's education is a real problem, and not just in France. Scratch a low-performing student, find parents who either don't have the time to help Junior with his schoolwork or parents whose give-a-darn about Junior's care is pegged way at the low end of the scale.
So the solution inside the flickeringly-lit mind of President Hollande is not to try to create the conditions to exert social and peer pressure to get maman et papa to do some of their freaking job as parents. No, it's to take the places where the system actually produces something that works -- students performing better academically -- and ensure that it doesn't.
Ask a teacher and they'll tell you that while there really are almost no actually stupid students, there are plenty who don't try very hard and so give an excellent impression of one. Correcting that is not an easy, ten week seminar course. It's hard to make stupid people smart.
But as President Hollande so helpfully points out, it is not at all hard to make smart people stupid.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Speeches and Spoken
Given the political. Party conventions of last week. And now going on. I thought I would. Write this entry. In the manner. Of those speeches. Apparently achieving. Political office. Removes the ability. To speak. In complete. Sentences!
Having now listened. And watched! Enough of these. Speeches. To have made fun. Of them. I will no longer. Pay any attention. To them. And I will get. My news. And information! From the written word. Because. Reading about. The speeches. Is so much easier. Than trying. To listen. To these. Morons talk.
And I don't. Just mean. Joe Biden.
Having now listened. And watched! Enough of these. Speeches. To have made fun. Of them. I will no longer. Pay any attention. To them. And I will get. My news. And information! From the written word. Because. Reading about. The speeches. Is so much easier. Than trying. To listen. To these. Morons talk.
And I don't. Just mean. Joe Biden.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
This Could Be Trouble
So it seems eBay has decided it will stop listing things like curses, magic spells, spirits and other "intangible" items that some people claim to be selling.
This move may not be well-received in Washington, as eBay may have been many political officials' last chance to obtain a clue.
Despite the picture on the Wired.com story, the new policy will not actually affect the sale of voodoo dolls, which are physical objects that can be appraised and have prices set. You may no longer advertise your ability to cast a voodoo spell on the doll, however.
That's probably good news, because if voodoo dolls were banned, voodoo bargain hunters would be left ordering Barbie dolls for their spells, and those would probably prove to be of limited effect on persons outside of Hollywood or the Playboy Mansion.
This move may not be well-received in Washington, as eBay may have been many political officials' last chance to obtain a clue.
Despite the picture on the Wired.com story, the new policy will not actually affect the sale of voodoo dolls, which are physical objects that can be appraised and have prices set. You may no longer advertise your ability to cast a voodoo spell on the doll, however.
That's probably good news, because if voodoo dolls were banned, voodoo bargain hunters would be left ordering Barbie dolls for their spells, and those would probably prove to be of limited effect on persons outside of Hollywood or the Playboy Mansion.
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