Friday, December 9, 2011

None of the Above?

Nate Silver at fivethirtyeight.com suggests that "there is a small but nontrivial chance that the Republican nominee could be someone like Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty or Chris Christie."

The theory is that a brokered convention may be necessary to gather support behind a single candidate, allowing for a Republican who is not currently in the race to enter and possibly win the nomination.

"But the odds of a dark-horse candidate or brokered convention will increase to the extent that any of the following conditions hold:

1a. Mr. Gingrich leads the delegate count, but does not have more than about 50 percent of delegates.
1b. Mr. Gingrich holds more than 50 percent of delegates but is involved in a significant gaffe or scandal at some point later in the campaign.
2a. Mr. Romney has performed poorly enough in the early states that he is no longer viable.
2b. Mr. Romney is viable but his unfavorability ratings have considerably increased to the point that he no longer qualifies as a consensus choice.
3. A factional candidate like Ron Paul holds 10 or 15 percent of the delegates.
All of these conditions seem plausible based on what we know right now, which is what leads me to believe that a brokered convention is plausible as well."

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

#Occupy Denver Elects Leader

Defying the national 'Occupy' movement, Occupy Denver has elected a leader. 

They elected the one among them with the fewest fleas, which seems like as good a criterion as any.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Barney Frank fires back at Newt Gingrich

In a GOP debate last month, Newt Gingrich and other GOP candidates criticized the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law.  Gingrich went as far as to suggest that the authors of the law be held accountable:
"If you want to put people in jail," he said, "you ought to start with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and let's look at the politicians who created the environment, the politicians who profited from the environment, and the politicians who put this country in trouble."


 
"Appawently, Newt Gingwich — who considoos himsewf one of the intewectual weaders of the fwee woold — is so embawassed by the fact that he is wunning behind Michewe Bachmann in Wepubwican polls that it has incweased his alweady well-devewoped pwopensity to utter outwandish things."

Occupy Portland: Head and Body Lice Outbreak

I'm sure the irony is lost on this crowd, but the parasites are getting parasites ...



Sunday, October 30, 2011

Occupy Wall Street Gaining Support

The Occupy Wall Street movement has garnered another significant endorsement. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, made a speech in Kermanshah on Wednesday that was broadcast live on Iranian TV. In the speech, Khamenei sympathized with the Occupy Wall Street protestors and its anti-capitalism goals, and proclaimed that the movement, “will grow so that it will bring down the capitalist system and the West.” The message of Occupy Wall Street has been embraced by a number of other prominent figures, including:

1. Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei (link)
2. American Nazi Party (link)
3. Barack Obama (link)
4. Socialist Party USA (link)
5. New Black Panther Party (link)

Monday, October 10, 2011

The difference between the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall St. protesters?

According to Ann Coulter:

"I am not the first to note the vast differences between the Wall Street protesters and the tea partiers. To name three: The tea partiers have jobs, showers and a point"

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

E=mc2? Maybe ... Until Al Gore says 'debate is over'

The scientific method is defined as:
"noun -
a method of research in which a problem is identified, relevant data are gathered, a hypothesis is formulated from these data, and the hypothesis is empirically tested."


This applies to all scientific theories, except one - the theory of anthropogenic global warming.  In this one field, consensus, rather than scientific method, is the primary criterion used to judge the viability of the theory.

In a recent illustration of this double-standard, CERN released findings claiming an exotic particle called a neutrino could possibly move faster than the speed of light.


If true, this contradicts none other than Einstein's theory of special relativity and could upend our understanding of physics.  So -- as happens with the scientific method -- a healthy skepticism has followed the claims.  The findings were published to allow for the physics community to scrutinize the results and to either find flaws with the study or to verify the findings with their own experiments.  That's how science works.

"We wanted to find all possible explanations for this. We wanted to find a mistake, but we didn't," said physicist Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the so-called OPERA experiment, in an interview with the BBC on Thursday.


Because it was such 'a crazy result', the team was releasing its data, based on three years of measurements, so that others in the scientific community could confirm or refute the findings, he added."

So what does this mean?  It means that the physics community is having an open, honest debate about Einstein's theory of special relativity, a theory which has been experimentally verified in a variety of fields for over 100 years.   In other words, even E=mc2 can, in good faith, be questioned.   
Returning to the topic of the scientific method
"Scientific inquiry is generally intended to be as objective as possible, to reduce biased interpretations of results. Another basic expectation is to document, archive and share all data and methodology so they are available for careful scrutiny by other scientists, giving them the opportunity to verify results by attempting to reproduce them ..."


This scientific method of inquiry does not apply when it comes to the debate on global warming.

Those who question this 'consensus theory' of AGW are branded racists, traitors, blasphemers, and as immoral.  AGW believers have called for prosecution, incarceration, and professional decertification of climate change skeptics.

- Research is blocked.
- Skeptical scientists are silenced, or targeted for professional excommunication.
- FOIA requests for climate data are blocked or obstructed.

Mr. Gore repeatedly claims that the "debate is over".  Mr. Gore, methinks thou dost protest too much ... If you have to declare that the "debate is over" (over and over and over again), then - well, maybe the debate isn't really over.  

After all, if a group of scientists can question whether or not E=mc2, then maybe there is some room for debate left on the topic of anthropogenic global warming.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Bill Whittle sets the record straight

In this 'Firewall' episode, the always eloquent Bill Whittle corrects some of the revisionist history that has taken place regarding Bin Laden and the war on terror.


Thursday, September 22, 2011

If he only had more hands ...

How the picture would have looked, if only Obama had more hands ...






(Click image for full-size view.)

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Climate Reality Project

Visit Watts Up With That today, as they pull back the curtain on Al Gore and his 24-hour Climate Reality Project.


They are providing hour-by-hour response and rebuttal to each segment of Gore's CRP.

The Gore Effect ...


Al Gore’s 24 hour Climate Reality Project got started last night, just as low temperatures swept across the US.

The Urban dictionary defines the 'Gore Effect' as:

"The phenomenon that leads to unseasonably cold temperatures, driving rain, hail, or snow whenever Al Gore visits an area to discuss global warming."


Here's the map for today ...

 

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Perry's debate flub

Perry, as the front-runner, was piled on in yesterday's debate on government mandated vaccinations.  

He acknowledged that he shouldn't have used an executive order, but defended the policy with this line:

"We made decisions in Texas to put a $3 billion effort to find [a] cure for cancer. Texas protects life."

We have enough problems with Democrats who don't understand the proper role of government. But, that a Republican - at a "tea party" debate - would claim that government has a role in finding the 'cure for cancer' is remarkable.


Perry lost points in my book on that one. We need a candidate with small government instincts. It doesn't matter whether 'his heart was in the right place'. That's the liberal's excuse. Perry isn't allowed to use it.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Friday, August 19, 2011

Monday, August 8, 2011

Department of "Innovation"

Inspired by Obama's 'Sputnik Moment' speech, the Smithsonian Institute has launched a new blog called the "Department of Innovation".

The purpose of the blog is to:

"... track all things innovative, not just in science and technology, but also in how we live, how we learn, how we entertain ourselves.  The Department of Innovation is about people and ideas that likely will shape the way we will live one day."

Sounds very exciting.  Check out the logo: 

 

I'm not suggesting that a logo needs to be technically perfect, but obviously 3 interlocking gears aren't going to move.  And, are gear wheels really a sign of 'innovation' these days?  Given that sophisticated machines using gear wheels were in use circa 100 B.C. or earlier.

That said, the logo is a perfect representation what 'federalized innovation' would look  like ...




[UPDATE:  The logo has now been changed to a slightly less technically impossible version.]
 
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