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“Fools ignore complexity; pragmatists suffer it; experts avoid it;
geniuses remove it.”
– Alan Perlis
Richard Feynman tells it like it is
Banks own the US government
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In this political environment, the poor might get empathy, but Wall Street gets money, and lots of it. Even when the issue is global warming Wall Street has its hand out. The fees on trading carbon permits could run into the hundreds of billions of dollars in coming decades. A simple carbon tax would have been far more efficient, but efficiency is not the most important value when it comes to making Wall Street richer.
This is why it was so encouraging to see congressman Peter DeFazio’s proposal to tax trades in oil options and futures. DeFazio proposed a tax of 0.02% on trades in oil futures and options as a way to make up a shortfall in the federal government’s highway trust fund. This tax could raise billions of dollars each year in revenue and make speculation in the oil market a more dangerous affair.
The logic is very simple. For someone using these markets to hedge, the tax will be inconsequential. For example, a farmer that hedges a $400,000 wheat crop will pay $80 when selling a future. Similarly, airlines that hedge by buying oil futures will barely notice the higher cost. In fact, because trading costs have fallen so much in recent decades, a tax at this level would just be raising costs back to their levels of two decades ago, a point at which there was already a very vibrant futures and options market.
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This tax can best be thought of as a tax on gambling. Gambling is heavily taxed in every state that allows it. DeFazio’s bill is effectively a tax on gambling in the oil markets. It will not stop it, but it would discourage it, and in the process raise a huge amount of money that could go to productive purposes.
The bill faces an enormous uphill struggle in Congress. As Durbin said, the banks own the place, and they are not going to just step aside and let Congress impose a tax on such a lucrative business. But, it is important that people know about the DeFazio bill. First, DeFazio deserves a place on the honour roll for standing up to Wall Street.
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Teaching a child not to step on a caterpillar is as valuable to the child as it is to the caterpillar.
~ Bradley Millar
Washington Post scraps plans for ’salons’ after uproar
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The Washington Post’s publisher abruptly canceled a series of policy dinners Thursday that were to have been underwritten by lobbyists or corporations willing to pay thousands of dollars to be in the same room as journalists and lawmakers, saying the marketing department had misrepresented the newspaper’s intent.
Lawmakers who had been invited said they were not told the events would make money for the newspaper. But the Post had separately sent fliers seeking sponsors who would pay $25,000 for a single “salon” or $250,000 for 11 events.
The concept raised questions about journalistic ethics.
Quite. It’s bad enough that politics is as corrupt as it is, but when the folks who are supposed to expose said corruption join in, it does more than just “raise questions”.
Cats drifting
Judah does this as well when he’s running – I don’t know if he has more grip as a polydactyl, but it’s fun to watch!
LRO First Light images of the Moon!
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The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has returned its first images from the Moon! Woohoo!
Check. It. Out!
This image, taken in the Mare Nubium region of the Moon, shows a heavily cratered area. The scale here is amazing: the whole image is 1400 meters across, or just under a mile. That’s like looking out your airplane window… if you were over the frakking Moon![..]
the LRO camera has a page where you can see the raw images, and zoom in — WAY in — on the image strips. They have 73 cm resolution, folks. Yikes.
Microsoft distances self from IE 8 puke ads
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Apparently, puking about porn was too much for Microsoft’s delicate sensibilities on Internet Explorer 8.
Microsoft has distanced itself from an ad fronted by TV’s ex-Superman Dean Cain that featured a woman vomiting over her partner after she discovered the porn stash hidden in his browser history.
The ad has been pulled form Microsoft’s official Better Browser web site and its IE 8 channel on YouTube. You can still catch the ad on the rest of YouTube here or below.
Saddam Hussein Said WMD Talk Helped Him Look Strong to Iran
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Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday. The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as “a zealot” and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda.
Hussein, in fact, said he felt so vulnerable to the perceived threat from “fanatic” leaders in Tehran that he would have been prepared to seek a “security agreement with the United States to protect [Iraq] from threats in the region.”
[..]
At one point, Hussein dismissed as a fantasy the many intelligence reports that said he used a body double to elude assassination. “This is movie magic, not reality,” he said with a laugh. Instead, he said, he had used a phone only twice since 1990 and rarely slept in the same location two days in a row.
Hussein’s fear of Iran, which he said he considered a greater threat than the United States, featured prominently in the discussion about weapons of mass destruction. Iran and Iraq had fought a grinding eight-year war in the 1980s, and Hussein said he was convinced that Iran was trying to annex southern Iraq — which is largely Shiite. “Hussein viewed the other countries in the Middle East as weak and could not defend themselves or Iraq from an attack from Iran,” Piro recounted in his summary of a June 11, 2004, conversation.
“The threat from Iran was the major factor as to why he did not allow the return of UN inspectors,” Piro wrote. “Hussein stated he was more concerned about Iran discovering Iraq’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities than the repercussions of the United States for his refusal to allow UN inspectors back into Iraq.”
Cartoons
A Look at the Venezuelan Healthcare System
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During my time in Venezuela, I developed a cough that went on for three weeks and progressively worsened. Finally, after I had become incredibly congested and developed a fever, I decided to attend a Barrio Adentro clinic. The closest one available was a Barrio Adentro II Centro de Diagonostico Integral (CDI) and I headed in without my medical records or calling to make an appointment. Immediately, I was ushered into a small room where Carmen, a friendly Cuban doctor, began questioning me about my symptoms. She listened to my lungs and walked me over to another examination room where, again without waiting, I had x-rays taken. Afterwards, the technician walked me to a chair and apologized profusely that I had to wait for the x-rays to be developed, promising that it would take no more than five minutes. Sure enough, five minutes later he returned with both x-rays developed. Carmen studied the x-rays and informed me that I had pneumonia, showing me the telltale shadows. She sent me away with my x-rays, three medications to treat my pneumonia, congestion, and fever, and made me promise to come back if my conditioned failed to improve or worsened within three days.
I walked out of the clinic with a diagnosis and treatment within twenty-five minutes of entering, without paying a dime. There was no wait, no paperwork, and no questions about my ability to pay, my nationality, or whether, as a foreigner, I was entitled to free comprehensive health care. There was no monetary value connected with my physical well-being; the care I received was not contingent upon my ability to pay. I was treated with dignity, respect, and compassion, my illness was cured and I was able to continue with my journey in Venezuela.
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The Science news cycle
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The indoors windmill
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Conspiracy To Hide Bubble-Formation
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In yet another move to make a mockery of so-called market transparency, and again with mad props to Zerohedge, we have this:
The Exchange has filed with the SEC to implement the decommissioning of the DPTRrequirement following the July 10, 2009 trade date. Accordingly, the last required submission of the DPTR will be on July 14, 2009, which is the second business day after the last trade date for which the DPTR is required.
Go read the entire Zerohedge article; what this means, in short, is that the ability of people (like you and I) to see the fact that a handful of banks, most specifically Goldman Sachs, constitute the majority of NYSE trading volume – and they’re trading for their own book, not for customers, will no longer be disclosed.
This “back and forth trade” between a handful of institutions is nothing more than the old “pump and dump” game that has been played in the OTC market forever – and almost always screws the individual investor.
Parents in faith-healing case never considered calling a doctor
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Carl and Raylene Worthington told detectives that they never considered calling a doctor, even as their 15-month-old daughter deteriorated and died.
“I don’t believe in them,” Carl Worthington said of doctors. “I believe in faith healing.”
Raylene Worthington said that her religious beliefs do not encompass medical care and that she would not have done anything different for her – daughter, who died at home of pneumonia, a blood infection and other complications.
In Clackamas County Circuit Court on Wednesday, prosecutors played videotaped police interviews with the Worthingtons, who are accused of criminal mistreatment and manslaughter for failing to provide medical care for their daughter. Ava Worthington died March 2, 2008, after her parents and other members of the Followers of Christ tried to treat her with faith healing.
Oddly enough, they do believe in lawyers, as they’ve got one defending them. What makes these people reject one type of professionals and not another? Why get a lawyer when he could have just prayed for an acquittal?
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Teen plane crash survivor ‘didn’t feel a thing’
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“She is a very, very shy girl. I would never have thought she would have survived like this. I can’t say that it’s a miracle, I can say that it is God’s will,” he said.
Just like killing the 152 other passengers, right?
Oh, and why is it that shy people are somehow less likely to survive a crash?
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ISS020 Sarychev Peak Eruption
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Animation of the Sarychev Peak volcano eruption, created from 29 still frames taken by astronauts aboard the ISS.
“BOOM!” (More Obfuscation)
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“Someone” paid 7% for overnight money on the Fed Trading system last night (that “someone” was a bank, by the way.)
This will be claimed to be “ordinary” end of quarter distortions for closing the books.
Don’t believe it for a second.
Let’s put this in plain language: The discount window is open for any bank that has good collateral at less than 1/10th of that interest rate.
Therefore there is absolutely no reason for any institution to go into the Fed Funds market for overnight money at 7% unless they have no good collateral to post against it and thus cannot go to the window.
So who is it? No idea. And while the amount borrowed overnight at that rate may be tiny, that’s not the point – the point is that the last time we saw anything that dramatic was just before it all went “boom” last year.
Behind the Mask – Michael Jackson’s rarest recording?
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Michael Jackson penned and recorded lots of songs, many of which remain unreleased. Perhaps the most infamous, and rarest recording, is his version of Behind the Mask. Legend has it that upon hearing Yellow Magic Orchestra’s original track, somewhen around 1979, Quincy Jones fell in love with the track, and he and Michael worked together on their own version. Jackson wrote new lyrics for it – adding to those of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Chris Mosdell – and eventually recorded it during his Off The Wall sessions. For unknown reasons the track never made the final cut of, arguably, Jones’ and Jackson’s greatest work. Not long afterwards Greg Phillinganes, Jackson’s keyboard player, released his own version of the song, which was later taken up and re-recorded by Eric Clapton for his 1986, Phil Collins produced album, August. The track has since been recorded/remixed by Human League, Senor Coconut, Orbital and others. Does an original Jones/Jackson recording of the song even exist? Perhaps, as the world continues to mourn the star’s sad death, someone will finally allow us a listen.
US spy in rendition trial: ‘I followed orders’
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A former CIA agent on trial for the alleged kidnapping of a Muslim cleric and terror suspect in Milan acknowledged in an interview published Tuesday that he had a role in the operation but insisted he was only following orders.
Italy’s Il Giornale daily published a rare interview with Robert Seldon Lady, the CIA Milan station chief at the time of the 2003 disappearance of Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a street in the northern city.
“I am not guilty. I am only responsible for following an order I received from my superiors,” Lady was quoted as saying by Il Giornale. “It was not a criminal act. It was a state affair.”
Now where did I hear that excuse before?
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Well played, Microsoft. No, seriously.
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Here’s a great idea. Create an ad in which the name of your product (in this case, your new browser) is placed next to an image of a woman vomiting. Brilliant!
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Cartoons
Gotcha!
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Internet Explorer 8 – Nickelback
I don’t know which is scarier: that they think a Nickelback MP3 will help spread market share or that they have marketing data that shows that a Nickelback MP3 will help spread market share.
I wonder what song people pick… “This is how you remind me of what Microsoft really is” or “Never made it as a mac man”
Paleontologists brought to tears, laughter by Creation Museum
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For a group of paleontologists, a tour of the Creation Museum seemed like a great tongue-in-cheek way to cap off a serious conference.
But while there were a few laughs and some clowning for the camera, most left more offended than amused by the frightening way in which evolution — and their life’s work — was attacked.
“It’s sort of a monument to scientific illiteracy, isn’t it?” said Jerry Lipps, professor of geology, paleontology and evolution at University of California, Berkeley.
[..]
“I think it’s very bad science and even worse theology — and the theology is far more offensive to me,” said Park, a professor of paleontology who is an elder in the Presbyterian Church.
“I think there’s a lot of focus on fear, and I don’t think that’s a very Christian message… I find it a malicious manipulation of the public.”
DING DING we have a winner! It’s all about staying in control of a population by fear…
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Abortion
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A Fox poll is probably a bit skewed to the right.
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What’s going on here is very clear: many Americans are uncomfortable with a pregnancy being terminated purely on account of the mother’s volition, but the vast majority are completely comfortable with terminating a pregnancy due to rape or incest. In fact, more Americans are OK with terminating a pregnancy due to rape or incest, than with terminating a pregnancy involving a fatal birth defect. Even though the product of the rape/incest would produce a probably healthy, viable baby, while the birth defect would not.
This is not concern with “life” or the “fetus”. This is a sick obsession with sex, and with “blame” for sex. Those Americans who would support abortions on account of rape and incest, but not on account of the mother’s volition–much less on account of fatal birth defects–don’t care a whit for the fetus. They simply want to know whether the prospective mother’s sexual activity met their standards for blame and responsibility. If they’ve determined that she’s a slut, they’re not OK with her having an abortion; if they’ve determined she was a poor victim of circumstance, they’re just fine with it.
Pawlenty, Ritchie sign election certificate for Franken
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Certificate of Election for Six-Year Term
To the President of the Senate of the United States:
This is to certify that on the fourth day of November, 2008, Al Franken was duly chosen by the qualified electors of the State of Minnesota a Senator from said State to represent said State in the Senate of the United States for the term of six years, beginning on the 3rd day of January, 2009.
Witness: His excellency our governor Tim Pawlenty, and our seal hereto affixed at Saint Paul, Minnesota this 30th day of June, in the year of our Lord 2009.
Should You Read That Long Sarah Palin Thing In Vanity Fair?
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There’s an article about Sarah Palin in the new Vanity Fair, and the thing’s damn near 10,000 words. But is it worth plowing through writer Todd S. Purdum’s overheated prose (”It was in this environment that her ambition first found an outlet in public office, and where she first tasted the 151-proof Everclear that is power.”) to get the whole story?
Check the above article before you pick up a Vanity Fair!
RIP, Pirate Bay
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So The Pirate Bay has executed the Web 2.0 business plan to perfection: give someone else’s stuff away for free – then find a bigger idiot to buy the company.
It’s actually not so different from the potted history of every media company that rises to popularity on the back of a new medium – take radio, for example – then sells out at the top of the market. Only in the case of Web 2.0, companies go from “pre-revenue” to “post-revenue” without any revenue in between. That’s where you need a bigger idiot.
[..]
So don’t shed too many tears for Pirate Bay. Pirate Bay failed badly at technology, being lazy and unimaginative, and it also failed at business, lacking the courage or smarts to partner with the media owners. Instead, it tried to turn itself into a political crusade. But this ersatz political “movement” depended entirely on the entertainment business not providing us with us a good choice of services – in other words, by not treating us as customers.
No wonder it can’t attract more than a handful of cranks and self-publicists. It was never going to last.
But now can we have the real P2P deal?
“Hitler’s Stealth Fighter” Re-created
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Top stealth-plane experts have re-created a radical, nearly forgotten Nazi aircraft: the Horten 2-29, a retro-futuristic fighter that arrived too late in World War II to make it into mass production.
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So true. Great quote as usual