Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday links
1955 article: Ancient War Machines, with schematics for models.
A few million virtual monkeys are close to re-creating the complete works of Shakespeare.
Pakistani Truck Art.
The Origins of 7 Common Superstitions.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Troop demographics: Who fights for America?
Busting the myth about the "fact" that those who serve in the U.S. military typically have no other career options. "America's soldiers, they said, were poor and black".
Indeed, the Heritage report showed that "low-income families are underrepresented in the military and high-income families are overrepresented. Individuals from the bottom household income quintile make up 20.0 percent of Americans who are age 18-24 years old but only 10.6 percent of the 2006 recruits and 10.7 percent of the 2007 recruits. Individuals in the top two quintiles make up 40.0 percent of the population, but 49.3 percent of the recruits in both years."
What about the charge that our Army is disproportionately black? This too is false, as is clear from data for fiscal 2010 available on the Army's website: Whereas blacks comprise 17% of Americans ages 18-39 with high school degrees, they represent only a slightly larger proportion of enlisted soldiers, at 21%.
Indeed, the Heritage report showed that "low-income families are underrepresented in the military and high-income families are overrepresented. Individuals from the bottom household income quintile make up 20.0 percent of Americans who are age 18-24 years old but only 10.6 percent of the 2006 recruits and 10.7 percent of the 2007 recruits. Individuals in the top two quintiles make up 40.0 percent of the population, but 49.3 percent of the recruits in both years."
What about the charge that our Army is disproportionately black? This too is false, as is clear from data for fiscal 2010 available on the Army's website: Whereas blacks comprise 17% of Americans ages 18-39 with high school degrees, they represent only a slightly larger proportion of enlisted soldiers, at 21%.
Monday, September 26, 2011
EPA: Regulations will require 230K new employees
at a cost of $21 billlion per year. Not countin' the cost of the regs themselves, of course.
Paging Mark Steyn, and Spengler.
The world gets more crowded - with old people.
.
Foreign Policy: Until quite recently, such population growth always came primarily from increases in the numbers of young people. But in the future it will be the exact opposite.
.
Foreign Policy: Until quite recently, such population growth always came primarily from increases in the numbers of young people. But in the future it will be the exact opposite.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
God: Human Body Not Designed To Play Football
The Onion: "O my children, I implore you, look deeply into your hearts, your minds, your extremely fragile and complicated knees—in fact every part of your glorious but mortal bodies—and ask yourselves if I really intended you to collide with one another as hard as you possibly can," God said.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Friday links
Things We Say Today And Owe To Shakespeare.
Reconstruction of an antique Roman road map with internet technology.
The Purpose Of Bird-Egg Coloration. Also, Evolution Explains: Why Dogs Eat Poop.
How Shakespearean are you?
In it you copy and paste some text into the tool, then "your words will be compared with all the words used by Shakespeare in his plays and our verdict will be delivered on its Shakespearean content."
Spengler's new book "How Civilizations Die"
Reviewed at Forbes.
For Goldman demography is almost destiny. He argues that demographics shed light on the rise and fall of nations, tribes, and civilizations... This leads him to one of his “universal laws,” namely, that “The history of the world is the history of humankind’s search for immortality.” A large part of the book is about the intricate ways in which this law interacts with demographic changes, and sheds light on national/tribal destinies from antiquity to our days.
"How Civilizations Die"at Amazon.
For Goldman demography is almost destiny. He argues that demographics shed light on the rise and fall of nations, tribes, and civilizations... This leads him to one of his “universal laws,” namely, that “The history of the world is the history of humankind’s search for immortality.” A large part of the book is about the intricate ways in which this law interacts with demographic changes, and sheds light on national/tribal destinies from antiquity to our days.
"How Civilizations Die"at Amazon.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Ladies: Come to Thailand and get your breasts slapped
The procedures include slapping a women’s breasts to make them larger, as well as buttock- and face-slapping to firm things up.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
How America planned for an attack on Britain in 1930
American military plan for an attack to wipe out a major part of the British Army.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Rainbow Poo sing-along
Rainbow Poo San is the result of eating one color candy at the time, creating rainbow layers in your belly!
Saturday, September 17, 2011
The Death Star: Example Of Bad Defense Contracting
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, another military superpower spent way too much money on massive planet-busting weapons that didn’t work well. Maybe the Defense Department could learn something from this before it finds an X-wing crammed up its thermal-exhaust port.
The EPA’s Most-Wanted List
At The Corner: "(The EPA) has its own FBI-type list of 18 most-wanted environmental fugitives. Their menacing violations include “multiple counts for the blending of motor fuel” (oh my!), selling “R-12 Freon, an ozone depleting substance” (gadzooks!), importing “automobiles that did not meet” U.S. emissions standards (horrors!), giving “indications that the oil-content monitor downstream of the [freighter] vessel’s oily-water separator had been bypassed” (heavens to Betsy!) and aiding and abetting “false entries into an Oil Record Book” (bring out the guillotine!).
The EPA website presents the entire list of these wily, dangerous criminals, complete with downloadable “Wanted Posters.” (I kid you not.) And the EPA website warns: “Do not attempt to apprehend any of these individuals.” My goodness — one of them might spray you with Freon or put a false entry in the maintenance records you keep for your car on how often you change the oil.
The EPA website presents the entire list of these wily, dangerous criminals, complete with downloadable “Wanted Posters.” (I kid you not.) And the EPA website warns: “Do not attempt to apprehend any of these individuals.” My goodness — one of them might spray you with Freon or put a false entry in the maintenance records you keep for your car on how often you change the oil.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Friday links
BBC Video: How to artificially inseminate a rhino.
World’s funniest analogies. Also, Everyday sayings explained.
Raising Teenagers is Hard — Regardless of Your Species.
Would You Drink Recycled Sewage?
Taxidermy TV commercial of the year.
Medical billing codes go from 18K to 140K
Today, hospitals and doctors use a system of about 18,000 codes to describe medical services in bills they send to insurers. Apparently, that doesn't allow for quite enough nuance. A new federally mandated version will expand the number to around 140,000.
Nine codes for macaw mishaps, twelve for alligators, one for crocheting.
Here are the waterski related codes:
Nine codes for macaw mishaps, twelve for alligators, one for crocheting.
Here are the waterski related codes:
| V9027XA | Drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from burning water-skis, initial encounter |
| V9027XD | Drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from burning water-skis, subsequent encounter |
| V9027XS | Drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from burning water-skis, sequela |
| V9037XA | Drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from crushed water-skis, initial encounter |
| V9037XD | Drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from crushed water-skis, subsequent encounter |
| V9037XS | Drowning and submersion due to falling or jumping from crushed water-skis, sequela |
| V9087XA | Drowning and submersion due to other accident to water-skis, initial encounter |
| V9087XD | Drowning and submersion due to other accident to water-skis, subsequent encounter |
| V9087XS | Drowning and submersion due to other accident to water-skis, sequela |
| V9107XA | Burn due to water-skis on fire, initial encounter |
| V9107XD | Burn due to water-skis on fire, subsequent encounter |
| V9107XS | Burn due to water-skis on fire, sequela |
| V9137XA | Hit or struck by falling object due to accident to water-skis, initial encounter |
| V9137XD | Hit or struck by falling object due to accident to water-skis, subsequent encounter |
| V9137XS | Hit or struck by falling object due to accident to water-skis, sequela |
| V9187XA | Other injury due to other accident to water-skis, initial encounter |
| V9187XD | Other injury due to other accident to water-skis, subsequent encounter |
| V9187XS | Other injury due to other accident to water-skis, sequela |
| V9207XA | Drowning and submersion due to fall off water-skis, initial encounter |
| V9207XD | Drowning and submersion due to fall off water-skis, subsequent encounter |
| V9207XS | Drowning and submersion due to fall off water-skis, sequela |
| V9227XA | Drowning and submersion due to being washed overboard from water-skis, initial encounter |
| V9227XD | Drowning and submersion due to being washed overboard from water-skis, subsequent encounter |
| V9227XS | Drowning and submersion due to being washed overboard from water-skis, sequela |
| V9387XA | Other injury due to other accident on board water-skis, initial encounter |
| V9387XD | Other injury due to other accident on board water-skis, subsequent encounter |
| V9387XS | Other injury due to other accident on board water-skis, sequela |
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Vladamir Putin, action hero
I am not, of course, actually a fan. This is a heck of a set of pictures, though.
He must be a Heinlein admirer (from Time Enough for Love):
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
He must be a Heinlein admirer (from Time Enough for Love):
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
What Terrifies Dems re: NY-9 Loss
Kaus: It’s the possibility that the Democrats favorite issue–Social Security–didn’t work to save them because Obama, too, has embraced cutting Social Security and Medicare in “some undefined ‘everything on the table’ entitlement reform,” as Weigel puts it. Could it be that the differences between Obama’s Medicare cuts and GOP Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare cuts–differences that seem so significant to policy analysts in Washington (and to me)–don’t have much salience in the crude argumentation of direct-mail electioneering? Now that’s scary for a Dem.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Headline of the week
Gordon Ramsey Sex Dwarf Found Dead in Badger Sett.
Um, what?
An itty-bitty porn star who hit the big time as a Gordon Ramsay lookalike has been found dead in a BADGER’S SETT!
His tiny corpse was found deep in an underground chamber by Ministry of Agriculture experts ahead of a planned badger-gassing programme near Tregaron, west Wales.
Um, what?
An itty-bitty porn star who hit the big time as a Gordon Ramsay lookalike has been found dead in a BADGER’S SETT!
His tiny corpse was found deep in an underground chamber by Ministry of Agriculture experts ahead of a planned badger-gassing programme near Tregaron, west Wales.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Obama Earns $ For U.S. By Appearing In Japanese Commercial
WASHINGTON—In an effort to obtain badly needed revenue for the ailing U.S. economy, President Barack Obama recently appeared in a 30-second television spot for the popular Japanese snack product Glico Pretz Ham & Cheese, White House sources reported Wednesday.
UK: Postal workers refuse to deliver Bible recordings
after deciding they were ‘offensive material’.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Fannie and Freddie as Victims
WSJ: The toxic twins now blame banks for their losses.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now shocked, shocked to discover they were buying low-quality mortgages during the housing mania.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now shocked, shocked to discover they were buying low-quality mortgages during the housing mania.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Scandal at DoJ as Illegal Guitars End Up With Mexican Drug Lords
Iowahawk: "By putting American guitars in the hands of Mexican gangs, I think we've proven what we've warned all along - that Mexican gangs have access to American guitars. Hopefully this will lead to sane and sensible guitar controls."
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Tuesday links
Panties puzzle – 1700 pairs dropped along the side of Ohio road.
A brief history of the ancient science of sword making.
What Your Groceries Say About You.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Chamberlain's secret bid to reach a deal with Hitler
Newly released documents: British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain held secret talks with Hitler's henchmen to work out ways of making the Nazis look more sympathetic to ordinary Britons, classified documents released last week reveal.
President's approval of the American public slips
President Obama's approval rating of the American public has fallen to an all-time low, according to a new Gallup survey of White House residents and employees.
...
Other results from the poll indicate that Americans are incapable of providing for their own medical care, insist on buying cars that are safe and comfortable instead of cars that get the highest gasoline mileage, smoke too much, harbor too many of the wrong attitudes, fail to volunteer at sufficient rates, are too greedy, do not separate their recyclables enough, and continue to cling to guns and religion despite being lectured to by their betters about the importance of doing otherwise.
via Lucianne.
...
Other results from the poll indicate that Americans are incapable of providing for their own medical care, insist on buying cars that are safe and comfortable instead of cars that get the highest gasoline mileage, smoke too much, harbor too many of the wrong attitudes, fail to volunteer at sufficient rates, are too greedy, do not separate their recyclables enough, and continue to cling to guns and religion despite being lectured to by their betters about the importance of doing otherwise.
via Lucianne.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Video of little Chinese girl driving down the street
She looks 4 or 5 years old. The question of how this young girl’s legs were able to reach the gas and brake pedals is answered at the end of the clip when the girl stops the car and a man comes around and appears to remove some sort of extension pedals from beneath the driver’s area.
Friday links
Batman Villains Psychoanalyzed By Mental Health Experts.
Crop field art.
10 Products Discovered By Accident.
The speech Obama should give
Jonah Goldberg: “My fellow Americans, I’ve said many times I believe that government can do amazing things. I still believe that. But after more than two years of bold, persistent experimentation, it has become clear that in this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”
Thursday, September 1, 2011
How ObamaCare Plays Games with Your Life
Dr. Paul Hsieh: Under the new system, the sickest patients will be viewed as the biggest burden on the ACO.
Are you overweight, out of shape, or arthritic? Do you smoke, drink alcohol, or do drugs? Do you have any chronic medical problems? Are you old, have poor eyesight, losing your hearing or memory? Are you at risk of falling?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you are the 2011 definition of a leper. Face it, if I am accountable for how well you handle an illness, and for what your outcome is, I cannot afford to treat you unless you are highly compliant, have no other risk factors, and stand a 99% chance of getting well.
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