Let's Be Honest

Poor Diogenes (the cynic - 400 - 325 BC), he was a Greek that searched for an honest man and had to do it without the benefit of knowing THE ONE TRUE GOD ______ (please feel free to fill in the blank with your fav). He had to look for honesty within himself without the help of a guy in a shiny suit yelling the truth at him. But perhaps intellectual honesty is distinct from having a "right" god or religion. Perhaps an honest fundamentalist might even admit that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson don’t exactly speak for him. He might admit that these two actually hurt the cause of morality with their hate and schisterism. And so perhaps an honest conservative might admit that G. W. Bush and Dick Chenny didn’t exactly speak for him on the subject of torture and that those two might have set back the cause of justice and the reputation of the USA a few years. Now and honest economist, even a very conservative one, might agree that totally unregulated free market big money wielders don’t speak for them and that they don’t always represent the best interests for society as a whole. They might admit that the deregulation policies of the last few republican administrations had a lot to do with the recent financial melt down. That set us all back a few years. G. W. Bush told NASA that they had to do a 180 degree turn around and plan to land us on the moon again. That set our space program back a few years, and an honest anybody will agree to that. The Exxon corporation spent almost as much money on propaganda against climate scientists as they did on exploring for oil in the newly ice free Arctic. That set back any kind of response to Global Warming that anyone, honest or not might believe is appropriate. That may have even set us back so far that we can’t avoid the positive feedback of melting Arctic, Antarctic and tundra permafrost. I honestly think that the tipping point is past if we're still debating whether it exists or not.  There was that war in Iraq that will always be a waste of American lives, Iraqi lives, and lots of American money. Who knows how far that has set us back. How far back can you be and still set out for a future? I’d say that being honest requires at a minimum, the ability to recognize the lies, false assumptions, and ignorant policies that have put us where we are today. But to rationalize bad decisions, lie about the motives, or context, of those decisions so as to never admit mistakes because that might help the other guy win, isn’t honest. Sorry Diogenes, don’t bother looking here.

The "perfection" of the Spheres

We know that the Solstices and equinoxes move about in the calendar due to the asymmetry of the earth's orbit. Since the velocity of earth increases as it approaches perigee, the fraction of the earth’s orbit completed in one “day” increases (remember that a “day” is from noon to the next noon – and that spot in the sky with the sun in it changes due to the ongoing orbit) and at the equinoxes, the rate of change in day length is maximal due to the increasing rate of change in the apparent angle of the sun…. PHEW!  Anyway, you'll also remember that 12:00 sun noon moves back 14 minutes and forward 16 minutes within the "clock day" between February 10 and November 5.... This causes the ANALEMMA, the figure eight produced by the 365.24 shadows of the sun at precisely 12:00 noon (CLOCK NOON) to be asymmetrical as well. This puts the earliest sunset on the 7th of December and the latest sunrise isn't until January 6th. And this all proves that rationalists, astronomers, scientists, and evolutionists are Devils, as was pointed out to me recently in a letter to the editor in response to my letter in our local newspaper.

Perigee is the part of an asymmetrical orbit where the orbiter (satellite) is closest to the orbitee (sun). Therefore as explained by Kepler's Law, the velocity of the satellite is at it's greatest (in earth's case, approximately 6% faster than at apogee). Therefore, a "clock" day on earth (the satellite in this case) accounts for a greater fraction (more than 1/365.24th) of the orbital distance around the sun (the fraction of the year per day). And you see if you were measuring the length of a day by the clock time between one sun noon and another (the angle up to the sun) that change in "space reference angle" would be greater (and the time shorter) than in any other part of the year. Plus, at the end of a year, they would add up to a single day (that's what we'd have if we didn't rotate on our axis, but continued to orbit the sun).

Anywhere except on the equator, the point ("clock when") the sun sets within the "clock day" is controlled by the tilt of the earth (where the sun encounters the horizon) AND the movement back and forth due to where "sun noon" is within the "Clock day". Simply put, it can't be simply put.

Simply put, things (changes in the season) are happening fastest at the winter solstice due to the rapidity at which the earth is moving through it's yearly cycle (even though the changes due to the tilt of the earth's axis are minimal at this point in the cycle because of the "flat part of the curve where we go from very slightly negative to very slightly positive (think of the rate of change of a sine wave from 0.99 to 1.00 to 0.99 compared to when it's at 0.49, 0.5, and 0.51). The part of the change due to where the earth is within it's orbit is changing most rapidly. At the summer solstice at apogee the curve appears even flatter because the earth is moving more slowly and a single "clock day" encompasses a smaller fraction of the earth year (less that 1/365.24). Man! Kepler was smart. And Copernicus and Galileo... To figure any of this out without really good telescopes and with paper with a pencil (I don't think they even had good erasers) is truly amazing.

The religious significance of this "less than perfect" geometry I leave to others. Some would say that it is too perfect to be random. While others might say that if you need calculus to explain it (and it's changing on another scale due the precession of the earth's orbit around the sun AND also messing with TIME itself (that "clock" part we need in the equations) due to relativistic effects caused by the acceleration and deceleration of the earth by the sun's gravity - Einstein's Relativity that messes with space, time, mass, and size) then it's too complicated for God.

Asimov is Spinning in His Grave

I was listening to Nation Public Radio yesterday and I heard about the proliferation of drone aircraft in the USA. It's a growth industry, soon lots of folks will be fly their drones around taking pictures and seeing the sights. A caller asked the "experts" whether this might constitute some sort of danger to the public. He was dismissed with the answer:
"Oh no, the drones will be subject to the same FAA regulations that are imposed on the privately owned and operated small planes."
The moderator let this pass completely unchallenged. I was stunned. The "expert" didn't seem to recognize that one of the things that keep privately operated planes from flying into buildings, small dogs, and children is the fact that the pilots would die. Someone sitting on their sofa in front of the TV flying their drone with a Gameboy... not so much. Most of us drive on the right side of the road most of the time because we'd die if we didn't; not because it's the law. Self interest and self preservation are far more effective than all the laws, rules, and regulations in the world. We humans seem to be engaged in a massive experiment on ourselves, one without any control group. Worse of all, we seem to think that if something turns out to be a bad idea, well, then we'll just stop doing that some day in the future. When did that ever happen?
It is proving very hard to disabuse some folks of the idea that it is wise multitasking to back your car up in a crowded parking lot while talking on a cell phone... or that allowing adolescents access to semi automatic weapons is a good idea. Once the tooth paste is squeezed out of the tube it never gets put back in. Let's get a few thousand drone aircraft in the skies above us and see what happens. Why not?
Oh, and by the way; I expect propaganda and garbage from Fox News, and the lawyers at the major networks have them spouting inoffensive pabulum, but I had higher expectations from NPR. When the best sucks, we're all in trouble. This is the second or third time that they have completely dropped the ball on this robotics experiment we're conducting.
(see: http://somelightsomeserious.blogspot.com/2010/04/end-of-war.html)
Didn't anyone see the Terminator movies? You think those were far fetched? Just wait and see what technology comes up with next. Not everybody out there is just doing research on new kinds of pizza and lip stick.

Thoughts on the State of the Union Speech

Far be it for me to criticize President Obama [P O] (especially given the alternatives proffered by the rPUBLICAN pARTY). But I will say: At last. I suppose that P O felt that he had plenty of stuff to occupy him during the those first few weeks. When the GWiraqbush/Cheney administration had totally trashed the economy of the country, wrecked our standing among many of the countries of the rest of the world, [AND, may I add, that there are legions of fOX nEWS assholes that would have ripped him for even being honest about the crap he found left on the table]. He had to the maintain the fiction that the USA and it's transfer of power actually works smoothly. Given what Dumbdumb and the Torturer left him, we may learn that P O has saved the country like George Washington [when I say WE, and "will" I mean; in 50 years. Your children will learn it, not you, not me].
Those weeks turned into months (when he was still trying to get the rEPUBLICANS to agree to ANYTHING!) and then turned into years.... The level of fraud, misrepresentation, lies, tricks, wink wink winking that went on makes the Tea Pot Dome and other super rich guy's shenanigans of the 19th and early 20th centuries pale by comparison. I guess that he was afraid of being too ideologically left (right/correct) of the power bastards that were really running the country then (and may still be now, for all we know). Someday we may learn that P O had to be pragmatic and move in on the $money guy$ gradually...
But please! Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, Boehner, McConnell, Cantor? Did you hear the rebuttal that the rEPUBLICANS used? The term "trickle down"? - (now that trickle down is a bad word and a totally disproven concept) it's something that P O is guilty of. Did you heard about the 1/2 trillion $$$ that we're not spending in Iraq that maybe we could spend on ourselves? Iraq, remember why we invaded? No, me neither. Something Dumbdumb tried to say but English isn't in his repertoire.
I want GWiraqbush to give the key note speech at the Repub. Convention. Let's just pull out tapes of his "orations" at random. Let's remind everybody what we had for a president three years ago.

Merry Christmas from your Republican Congress

Did you hear what the Right Wing Nuts (RWNs) did to the Christmas Tree Farmers? You've heard of "Got Milk" and "Cotton, the fabric of our lives"? And "Beef, it's what's for dinner"? Well, the Christmas tree farmers of America tried to do the same voluntary deal(about 90% of them favored it)through the USDA; there are about 50 of these programs currently, not one of which has been seen as controversial in any way. But a RWN "think tank" (oxymoronic?), and elements of the Republican Congress decided to use the issue as a cudgel and brand the program as a "Tax on Christmas by the Obama Administration". Lots of misinformation and outright lies (paid for in ads by the RWNs). End of program. Obama successfully wounded, but the Tree Farmers? Completely screwed by the RWNs, bastions of support for the free market, capitalism, small business, and the true meaning of Christmas. Merry Christmas, Tree Farmers.

Oh! These most important first few primaries!

Oh my! Oh my! I hear the pundits talk about the political landscape. And most explicitly, the up coming primary season; they talk about the important momentum following the early contests... Please indulge me as I laugh so hard that milk come out of my nose.
We are supposed to consider the results of the Iowa Caucus [Caustic?] Where less than 0.3 % of the voters in the United States of America "voted" (the definition of "voting" being attending a tent carnival where your are given free food and entertainment) for Michelle Bachmann, and it was almost 200 votes more than those folks who "chose" Ron Paul? And then, the media declaim that Rick Perry was the "winner" because he garnered almost 02 % of the "votes" that Bachmann and Paul got combined??? Ah, but I digress.
Next we're supposed to pay attention to Nevada (a beautiful state, I love to visit it). But please! At the risk of being considered to be an "*IST " of some kind of other... I'll say that Nevada is the state of miners, ranchers, casinos, gamblers, and whores. Most definitely the exact demographic of the American dream (all you folks from Nevada, feel free to flame me early and often. Ah! but what is a primary campaign if it's not an opportunity to spout unfounded generalizations about folks you don't agree with?)
Then there's New Hampshire, another beautiful state; one that has a total population equal to about half that of the City of Saint Louis (you know where that is right)? And their opinions are really, really relevant to the future leadership of the federal government and appointments to the Supreme Court and all the wars we're fighting around the globe? Right? Yes, they are, but how much? How much?
Then there's South Carolina... I won't waste my time or yours repeating my opinion of the relevance of the opinions of the people of South Carolina about anything; see:

http://somelightsomeserious.blogspot.com/2011/08/why-im-not-going-back-to-south-carolina.html

So here we are, trying to choose an opponent to run against Barack Obama (and please give me credit for wanting an opponent to Barack Obama in the next election). I've heard some folks talk about a "permanent republican majority" but I really do believe in a two party system.
But the system of choosing that opponent seems to be just a little nuts. If a better mix of the American demographic was represented, if a larger portion of the population got into the process a little earlier; it might be OK. As it is, it's crazy. If we allow a few zealots from the Bible Belt, organizers from Sin City, a tiny group of folks from one tiny state, and then, the really, really, out of touch fundamentalists from South Carolina (please don't miss my explanation of THEIR relevance) to define the all important "momentum" of that all important leg up of that process... Well, then we've really got a stupid system.

Garbage in, garbage out. A Priori Errors are impossible to correct later on....

An Economic Recovery Plan

Several times in the last three years a large percentage of the "money" in the stock market has disappeared pretty much overnight. When I say "money" I mean that definition of money that comes from the 2000 year old adage: "Everything is worth what it's purchaser will pay for it." Publilius Syrus, first century BC. Every cent (every one of which is a number written on a piece of paper or some 001110001011's stored in a computer file) invested in the stock market is that kind of money. It has no intrinsic value of it's own; it's only as valuable as you can convince someone it is... IF and when they buy it. The money that the brokers "earn" comes from moving these numbers around and keeping a little (or sometimes a lot) of the numbers for themselves (then they sell it, quick). The numbers go up and down, up and down.
A bubble pops, some mega crook gets exposed, the 100 year old Emperor of Japan dies of natural causes, a mega speculator gets out of the market suddenly; there can be many causes. Recently, we had the idiots in the Tea Party trying to get the U.S. Government to default on it's debt... But I've always said that if someone on the floor of the NYSE just yelled, "The president's been shot!" loudly enough, you could watch the big board spiral down. Is this a great system or what?
A few years ago I got lucky. I bought something with real money a week before the 2008 crash. I might have bought some stock with that money but instead I bought solar panels for my roof. Guess what? They're still up there, 100% as good as they were the day I bought them. The market lost 40% of it's "value" over the next few weeks.
Take your money out of the market now and buy something durable that the bastards can't turn into a valueless piece of paper tomorrow. If everyone with $25K in the market bought an American car tomorrow, the economy would boom and half of the overpaid, under regulated, and under taxed money moving stock brokers would have to get a real job. Maybe even making cars.