We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
In media, connectivity is all about getting content out in as many ways possible, as quickly as you can. There is no worrying about how information is processed. When there were limited forms of media outlets, the ability to add discussion (Op/Ed pieces in print, news shows on TV) created some context and helped the information flow. With the myriad resources available today, and the speed at which information arrives, context is being pushed to the side in favor of raw data. The medium is no longer the message. The message predominates.
How is this impacting youth?
It's troubling question, leading researchers to address the different potential outcomes. There are indications that people's brains are becoming 'wired' differently. But whether that wiring is improving decision making or analysis is open to question.
My point of view is that shortened attention spans and more breadth of knowledge (exchanged for less depth) is the likely outcome, which is not necessarily beneficial.
the immersive nature of 24/7 connectedness creates the illusion that Millennials can somehow tap into a form of collective intelligence just by being online, while looking impatiently for messages every three minutes.
At City Journal, The Math of Khan - Not just a YouTube phenomenon, but a model for educational transformation.
I know somebody whose son relies on this in High School. Inspiring and enthusiastic math teachers are rare. In fact, everybody seems to like Khan Academy except Profs of Education. That tells you something.
The best you could say is that he at least defends Limbaugh's right to speak. Beyond that, this is a very pale attempt to sidestep outrage at his otherwise outlandish and clearly misogynist use of language. He claims because he gets a laugh, it's fine to use words that demean a woman. What he's really saying is it's fine to use those words regarding Sarah Palin or any woman on the Right who he dislikes, especially if it gets a laugh.
The bit I did about Palin using the word c-, one of the biggest laughs in my act, I did it all over the country, not one person ever registered disapproval, and believe me, audiences are not afraid to let you know.
The outrage regarding Fluke was about the use of the word, and had little to do with context. That, somehow, just using it was wrong. Limbaugh didn't use it to label all women, it wasn't a misogynistic commentary. He did not show hatred or distrust toward women in general.
Maher was not misogynistic, either (to be fair, my original statement above was meant to be sarcastic). But he cannot distance himself from Limbaugh on this. Both of them utilized language and imagery that is inappropriate. Getting a laugh, I have been told by my Human Relations Department, does not make something okay to say. Now, Maher lacks an HR Department, but common sense is clearly lacking if he thinks that just because people laughed, his jokes were acceptable. And being a "pottymouth" doesn't make it okay, either.
We all use words, from time to time, we wish we hadn't. Limbaugh apologized for using his. Maher tries to rationalize his.
"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story."
Orson Welles
And on where you start it. We may not be professional scientists here on the Farm, but we've all read the classicHow to Lie with Statistics, and I assume we've all studed at least basic calculus.
(And we all also know that computer modeling depends on the parameters you chose, or adjust ex post facto: "With four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk." - John Von Neuman. In science, if data fails to fit models, they adjust the models to fit the data, and keep their jobs and federal grants. In finance, you get fired or lose your bonus.)
Sticking with Orson Welles for today, my point is elementary math: If you select your end point (and your starting point), you can extrapolate out any line from any piece of any graph or curve you want. That's termed "cherry picking." That's why they say that, if you extrapolate the curve of the log graph of the population of Houston from 1950 to 1980, Houston would shortly contain the entire population of the USA.
Climate alarmists are famous for extrapolating from small, selected pieces of data - and also for continual realignment of modeling parameters (which is not science, it's computer gaming).
Let's accept that post-glacial global warming has been going on, with dramatic bumps up and down but generally beneficially for humans (not for Wooly Mammoths), for 10,000 years, with the resulting 120-150 meters of ocean rise. (There are many Neolithic villages underwater in the English Channel and the North Sea, many Indian villages underwater 50-60 miles out from the coast of Virginia, etc.) This will continue until the climate tide changes back to the next glaciation in the next few centuries or millennia. Given recent predictions, we are warned to expect at least several decades of global cooling around now. Will it be the Big One? A warning to go long Key Largo real estate?
Global warming has raised global sea level about 8 inches since 1880, and the rate of rise is accelerating. Rising seas dramatically increase the odds of damaging floods from storm surges.
As if it all began in 1880. It's probably closer to 6 inches in the past 200 years, but let that pass. The real question is why they picked 1880 instead of saying "Rising seas since 1800 increase the risk of damaging storm surges"? The line would be less scarey. Or better yet, why not say "Rising seas since 15,000 BC increase the risk of damaging storm surges"? Look at this graph. Why not draw your average beginning at 1800?
Aha. they picked a low point and a high point on the curvacious historical graph, and are extrapolating from that teensy piece of it to instill terror. If you picked 1800 as your starting point, your line would look different.
And, as we posted yesterday, if you picked 18,000 years ago, your take on the data would be quite different again. You would relax and turn on the basketball game. Go Huskies - and we may need real Huskies here soon:
Call me paranoid if you want, but my view is that there is an unspoken alliance (not a conscious conspiracy) between greedy scientists and greedy governments of all sorts to make a big deal out of a big nothing. I hope to survive the big chill to see that finally people will have admitted, as they finally admitted about the imminent Ice Age scare of the 1970s - that it is pure hype.
But, what the heck, let's step even further backwards from the frame for the really Big Picture. I'll bet teacher never told you that we remain in a cold spell, historically-speaking. Yes, indeed. Polar ice caps are not normal for planet Earth. The earth doesn't have a fever - it has a very bad cold right now:
According to Monday's CBS/NYTimes Poll, a MAJORITY of Americans believe the President directly controls the price of gas.
The Democrats and the media spent YEARS, and a hundred million dollars in advertising (Free media and other) pimping this to the sheeple, who swallowed it. Now it's biting them in the ass.
NBC Evening News/MSNBC did 37 live gas price reports from the station two blocks away from the White House to illustrate just how high gas prices were in 2008. It was $5.69 for Reg at this station on Monday. I wonder why NBC/MSBC aren't doing live reports from this station now? Anyone know why??
My friend Gerald Robbins is an expert on Turkey, and Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. After reading my post yesterday, Uncertainty Is An Excuse For Obama Inaction In The Middle East, Robbins wrote to me about my comment that “it is Turkey, closest and able, that should bear the weight for now if there is to be armed intervention” in Syria.
I should have added that is unlikely, in addition to my recommendation that at most for now “the US and other Western countries, if they really care about the deaths from Assad’s forces, can supply some arms [I should have italicized for emphasis “some”] to the rebels, to be more effective, to defend against Assad’s onslaughts, and to keep Assad preoccupied while Iran is dealt with” as the priority.
Below, Robbins elaborates on why there is no Turkey likely for Syria:
Catholic and other institutions are forced by the Obama administration to provide for killing the unborn, contrary to their religious doctrine, but the Obama administration just granted the Northern Arapaho tribe permission to kill bald eagles for their religious freedom, even though US law prohibits the killing of bald eagles in almost all cases.
The agency’s decision comes after the Northern Arapaho Tribe filed a federal lawsuit last year contending the refusal to issue such permits violates tribal members’ religious freedom. Although thousands of American Indians apply for eagle feathers and carcasses from a federal repository, permits allowing the killing of bald eagles are exceedingly rare, according to both tribal and legal experts on the matter.
Far rarer than allowing the killing of unborn humans.
Promoted from the Comments: "If their permit is refused, then they should apply to construct a wind farm. Then wait." (The author is Earl. Anyone remember the TV show "My Name Is Earl." I didn't know he is a reader!)
The machinations of the Army Corps of Engineers - levees, water diversions, flood control etc - around New Orleans prevented the maintenance of the Mississippi delta by blocking the flow of the silt down the river.
But, if you read the article, the LA Times writer repeated brings up "climate change" and how the current situation "left the sinking Mississippi Delta defenseless against the slower but inexorable onslaught of rising seas brought about by climate change." (By the way, it is not "sinking. River deltas are sustained by river silt, or else normal erosion and currents wash them away.)
Thus the author first explains the real mechanics of why the delta has shrunk, and then brings in the irrelevant topic of "climate change" and seal level, converting an interesting article into a propaganda piece. That bugs me.
Sea levels have been slowly rising to a total of around 120 meters since the last Ice Age, recently by an unalarming average of 3 millimeters per year. (Since 2010, they have been dropping, to the dismay of the alarmists.)
and, just for fun, post-glacial climates. Looks like we're trending downward from the optimum, which is not good:
Hundreds of articles analyze whether the US should or not take a stronger stand vis a vis Syria or Iran. The articles usually increase uncertainty among readers. In the absence of complete information as to all the players’ goals and means or perfect knowledge beforehand about the outcomes, the reader is understandably confused or paralyzed by doubts. Indeed, that seems the purpose of many analyses and comments by officials.
It is impossible to know with certainty in advance the effect and outcomes of the many variables and responses possible. So, uncertainty is natural. But, uncertainty does not require indecisiveness nor excuse inaction.
Despite being told for decades that the Israel-Palestinian issues are central to peace or progress in the Middle East, the past year has demonstrated conclusively that is not so. Internal and external ethnic and religious divisions among the Moslem states, and the rise of Iran in its efforts to predominate among all, were distracted from, often purposely, by attacking Israel. That veil has been ripped off in the past year.
A pox on all their houses would be a proper response, if the outcomes among them didn’t have a significant effect on the West.
I guess you could call it "Occupy Sandra," but that sounds a little bit disrespectful of her natural feminine sex drives and desires, and I'd hate to get into a brouhaha like Rush.
It occurred to me that, as an act of charity, caring Americans ought to each mail her a box of condoms from the minimart. She is begging, after all, and she, bravely, heroically, will not be silenced until she gets them. As pictured on the right, they appear to come in three sizes: Tall, Grande, and Venti so maybe one pack of each size, just in case.
Let's all show some compassion for this 30 year-old single law student and bury her Georgetown apartment in ultra-ribbed lubricated Trojans so she can have the fun she deserves as an American citizen.
I am a believer in freedom from government power, a believer in self-governance and self-determination. I am deeply skeptical about the notion of "rights to free stuff" because that always entails government power and usually government coercion by our betters.
We already have seen Obamacare become politicized, and that is just the beginning. It will get much worse, because I need daily cigar aromatherapy to maintain my mental health and count on my fellow citizens to provide it for me for free. Habanos, please.
This whole topic of "positive rights," ie entitlements, is a strange thing, isn't it? Come on, people. Do you want the government in your sex life and your cigar life, or out of it?
(Condoms For Sandra, aka Occupy Sandra, is not a 501(c)3 company, but it is coming soon through your government on your nickel - for Sandra)
New York as a state has been committed to the belief that a high regulation, high cost, big government approach to state and municipal management would pay off in the long run: yes, government in New York would cost more than in Texas or Alabama or other benighted hell holes, but New Yorkers would be better educated and more productive. New York’s infrastructure might be expensive, but it would facilitate business growth. New York’s public sector labor force might be expensive, but it would be competent and motivated so that it would deliver more. New York could make a high cost, high regulation governance model work: that was the big bet.
My blackbirds - mostly Red-wings, Cowbirds, and Grackles - arrived yesterday. It's always between March 12 and March 15. They empty out the bird-feeders and move on. Do they remember my feeders from last fall?
People are annoyed with Grackles because they like to poop in swimming pools. They don't bother me at all.
Here's an autumn migratory flock in Sipp's previous back yard:
Nerf: 
I guess you could call it "Occupy Sandra," but that sounds a little bit disrespectful of her natural feminine sex drives and desires, and I'd hate to get into a brouhaha like Rush.
The Dingo as the Default Dog?