Odd Lots
- Heads up: Today is the last day you can register (for free) to vote for the Dragon Awards, which will be presented at DragonCon next weekend. The Hugo Awards have made their preferences clearly known; for the cast-out Puppy cohort the Dragons are every bit as good and probably better.
- The least affordable American cities, and how much you need to be making to buy a home in them. Do you need to live in Silicon Valley to have a satisfying career? No. Whatever salary you make will go direct to landlords, or to long-time homeowners who will take your million+ and retire. Get Thy Ass Unto Omaha.
- Zerohedge posted a chart showing how much Obamacare premiums are going up in 2017, by state. Carol and I have been paying $20,000 per year for premiums since the ACA killed our pre-ACA policy. (Didn’t somebody important say we could keep our plan if we liked it?) This is starting to make Medicare look good. (Thanks to Charlie Martin for the link.)
- The FTC is going after a large publisher of nominally peer-reviewed scientific journals, claiming that almost no peer review is done on the articles. Also, people named as editors by the publisher were often not affiliated with the firm in any way. Sigh. Peer review is not any sort of gold standard these days. I’m thinking it might be a zinc standard, or perhaps a tin standard.
- People scratch their heads when I say that Woodrow Wilson was the worst US President ever. He is also the most-bleached. The reasons I loathe him begin with his racism but are mostly about his hatred of the US Constitution. He came as close as any President ever did to being a dictator, and that’s precisely what he wanted to be.
- Here’s a map depicting every cargo ship in the world and where it was going at the displayed time. Yes, yes, the map is from 2012, but it’s a good illustration of how goods move around the world. I don’t see any action in the Northwest Passage, but there are ships going up and down the coast of Greenland, and a few crossing under South America through Tierra Del Fuego.
- Here are some photos of more Tarzans and Janes than I’ve ever seen in one place, gathered at LACon in 1975 for the 100th birthday of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
- Heh. I was a big Tarzan fan in grade school. And I actually met Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. In fact, I think she may have been about to ask me down to the bar for a drink. Or maybe not; and I wonder if I missed a chance to make a fascinating new friend that night.
- Friday was International Boron Appreciation Day, and in the excitement of National Dog Day, I missed it. How could you blame me? There wasn’t a mule in sight. (Thanks again to Charlie Martin for the link.)
- Today is Go Topless Day. Why don’t they have a National Ytterbium Appreciation Day? I can go topless any time, but damn, ytterbium gets no respect at all!
Posted in: Odd Lots.
Tagged: fandom · health · humor · media · science · sff
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The difference between Wilson and Obama is, people still know Wilson was president. Not everyone knows Carter was president. If Wilson had such an effect, even if you disagree with him, you must admit he did a job that he is remembered for.
Obama will be shortly forgotten after he leaves office, as all his signature policies are done away with.
We should be so lucky. Much of what Obama has done is baked into regulations, or has already had its desired effect (e.g. the devastation of the coal industry).
Also, the Deep State is packed with Obamists. Even the most determined and energetic President will have immense difficulty changing policy against the Deep State.
And don’t forget the Fourth Estate (the press) – Obamists almost unanimously, as is the Fifth Estate (the academy).
Everything he has done will be praised unless it is too egregiously bad to ignore, in which case it will be blamed on Bush or buried. (How many people today know what the Red Scare was, or the American Protective League?)
If (as seems likely) Obama is succeeded by a Democrat, his malign agenda will be continued, with the enthusiastic support of the Deep State and full cover from the press and academy.
Regarding ships at sea, I use the http://www.marinetraffic.com site to learn about the ships passing my little corner of the Puget Sound. The site tracks ships all over the world. Although military ships are not shown, so I have to pay attention to the Navy tugs that escort the submarines past my place on their way to/from Bremerton.
“The reasons I loathe him […] are mostly about his hatred of the US Constitution. He came as close as any President ever did to being a dictator, and that’s precisely what he wanted to be.”
By that criterion, maybe FDR was even worse?
I think thorium is our least known but potentially most important element especially for sci-fi fans. See this recent talk on using thorium breeder reactors for among other things to power space ships and colonies on other planets and the moon by Dr. Frank Shu at the SETI institute colloquium:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUgAYQc96is
I was lucky enough to attend in person and it was an inspiring talk. One interesting factoid is that fission fragments to propel the space ship are emitted at speeds (~10^7 m/sec) greater than the escape velocity from the solar system so they won’t hang around anywhere near us.
He also shows that plutonium recovered from from spent reactor fuel rods cannot be used to make a bomb because of the buildup of a Pu isotope that is so radioactive it will cause premature fizzles instead of detonation (and also kill anyone who tries to assemble a bomb from it.)
The comments section of the YouTube video has interesting comments from Dr. Shu and others.
20K/yr for health insurance ?
Yes. The one before it was $22K. We shopped harder, paid less, got a lot less.