Michael Flynn's Blog, page 90
October 30, 2009
m_francis @ 2009-10-30T16:22:00
How the News Consumers See the News
From a Pew Research poll.
(h/t: Mark Shea)
The percentages do not add up to 100 because of the I don't know responders.
I figure there are about 14% right wingnuts and about the same percentage left wingnuts. How do I know this? Ha! Look at the percentages who think Fox is liberal and the percentage who think the other networks are conservative. You have to be a True Believer way out on the Right to think that Fox is Liberal; and you have to be a red diap...
From a Pew Research poll.
(h/t: Mark Shea)The percentages do not add up to 100 because of the I don't know responders.
I figure there are about 14% right wingnuts and about the same percentage left wingnuts. How do I know this? Ha! Look at the percentages who think Fox is liberal and the percentage who think the other networks are conservative. You have to be a True Believer way out on the Right to think that Fox is Liberal; and you have to be a red diap...
Statisticle Flummery
WHO's on First?
There is a WHO report widely used in today's debate on health care. In it, the US health care system is said to rank 37th. (Unmentioned is that Canada, in the same report, ranked only 30th.) As usual in these ranking spankings, no mention is ever made of the actual metric on which the rankings were based and how many score points separated them. When I moved to New Jersey, some 25 years ago, it was widely stated that NJ ranked first in the nation for statewide auto insuranc...
There is a WHO report widely used in today's debate on health care. In it, the US health care system is said to rank 37th. (Unmentioned is that Canada, in the same report, ranked only 30th.) As usual in these ranking spankings, no mention is ever made of the actual metric on which the rankings were based and how many score points separated them. When I moved to New Jersey, some 25 years ago, it was widely stated that NJ ranked first in the nation for statewide auto insuranc...
October 29, 2009
"The Sun Defines the Climate"
The Year of the Quiet Sun
www.gao.spb.ru/english/astrometr/abduss_nkj_2009.pdf
In an article entitled "The Sun Defines the Climate," Dr. Habibullo Abdussamatov, Head of Space Research Laboratory of the Pulkovo Observatory, gives us this graph of Total Solar Irradiance over the period for which such data are available. The heavy line is the measured irradiance, the spikes up and down are the passage of faculae or sunspot groups across the solar disk.
[image error]
The dashed line is a portion of a 200-year ...
www.gao.spb.ru/english/astrometr/abduss_nkj_2009.pdf
In an article entitled "The Sun Defines the Climate," Dr. Habibullo Abdussamatov, Head of Space Research Laboratory of the Pulkovo Observatory, gives us this graph of Total Solar Irradiance over the period for which such data are available. The heavy line is the measured irradiance, the spikes up and down are the passage of faculae or sunspot groups across the solar disk.
[image error]
The dashed line is a portion of a 200-year ...
October 28, 2009
Moderates Beware
How to Feel Good About Your Own Superiority
And the wonderful you-ness of you.
And the wonderful you-ness of you.
October 27, 2009
Headline of the Day
Surely, Once They've All Exploded They'll Be Gone
"Boca Raton Grapples With Exploding Iguana Population; 'They'll Never Get Rid of Them,' Expert Says"
--headline, Palm Beach Post, Oct. 26
Why We Should Spend More on Schools
"Education Board Calls for Less Cuts to Schools"--headline, Detroit Free Press, Oct. 26
Less?
"Boca Raton Grapples With Exploding Iguana Population; 'They'll Never Get Rid of Them,' Expert Says"
--headline, Palm Beach Post, Oct. 26
Why We Should Spend More on Schools
"Education Board Calls for Less Cuts to Schools"--headline, Detroit Free Press, Oct. 26
Less?
What Will They Think of Next?
The Future is Now
This commercial interestingly aired on the CBS Television Network on 5 February 1956, during a light panel show.
Link h/t Bro Pat
This commercial interestingly aired on the CBS Television Network on 5 February 1956, during a light panel show.
Link h/t Bro Pat
October 24, 2009
Mr. Sandman
Where the Winds Are All Asleep
The Irish Pub story in the October ANALOG featured a friendly rivalry between two patrons over the best rendition of the four-part, close-harmony song "Mr. Sandman."
The song was of course connected to the core story about silicon-based life.
However, YouTube presents the following recording of the song by the Chordettes -- no video -- and a cover of the song by a one-girl close-part harmony rendition:
and the cover by Pomplamoose, which is cutely done. Song en...
The Irish Pub story in the October ANALOG featured a friendly rivalry between two patrons over the best rendition of the four-part, close-harmony song "Mr. Sandman."
The song was of course connected to the core story about silicon-based life.
However, YouTube presents the following recording of the song by the Chordettes -- no video -- and a cover of the song by a one-girl close-part harmony rendition:
and the cover by Pomplamoose, which is cutely done. Song en...
Science Saturday
Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Solar System
That doesn't scan; but this does:
www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/10/16/tech-space-ibex-ribbon.html
NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer satellite, called IBEX, is mapping the edge of the solar system, where charged particles from the sun, the solar wind, meets gas from the rest of the galaxy.
That doesn't scan; but this does:
www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/10/16/tech-space-ibex-ribbon.html
NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer satellite, called IBEX, is mapping the edge of the solar system, where charged particles from the sun, the solar wind, meets gas from the rest of the galaxy.
The boundary where the pressure from the solar wind and the interstellar medium are at the same pressure, 16 billion kilometres from Earth, forms a giant b...
Instrumentalism and dualism
Quote of the Day
Chastek can always be depended upon for something nicely aphorismical. Two for the price of one:
An analysis of language will explain everything about thought in the same way that an exhaustive knowledge of any tool will explain everything about the product.-- James Chastek
Perhaps it is true that knowing all about the hammer tells us all about the cabinet, but I have doubts.
Why does the division of God and nature make a “dualism”? The division of the blacksmith and his...
Chastek can always be depended upon for something nicely aphorismical. Two for the price of one:
An analysis of language will explain everything about thought in the same way that an exhaustive knowledge of any tool will explain everything about the product.-- James Chastek
Perhaps it is true that knowing all about the hammer tells us all about the cabinet, but I have doubts.
Why does the division of God and nature make a “dualism”? The division of the blacksmith and his...
Cue Twilight Zone Music
Soupy Sales, RIP
A couple of days ago, I found myself, out of the blue, explaining to the Family about Soupy Sales and White Fang and the Guy at the Door and the Thought of the Day, and all that stuff.
Then, yesterday, again from the blue, my brother Pat sent me a video of the show, of which it would be kind to say that TV technical production values have changed since then. Nominally, it was a children's show and "Do the Mouse" certainly fills the bill. But when Soupy tells the Man at the ...
A couple of days ago, I found myself, out of the blue, explaining to the Family about Soupy Sales and White Fang and the Guy at the Door and the Thought of the Day, and all that stuff.
Then, yesterday, again from the blue, my brother Pat sent me a video of the show, of which it would be kind to say that TV technical production values have changed since then. Nominally, it was a children's show and "Do the Mouse" certainly fills the bill. But when Soupy tells the Man at the ...
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