Month: November 2011

Smart People Just Know!

Sunday and I smile at the day….coffee will do that for you……tomorrow I return to the silliness we call politics…..if only it were real politics it would make it a bit more bearable…..but alas…..NO such luck….

Recently a loyal reader, Hansi of Hansi’s Hallucinations made a good point…..anyway I thought this would put a smile on his face……

In an article written by Adam Clark Estes……

With over 40 years of research to support their findings, a team of British scientists was slightly surprised to learn that people with higher IQs are much more prone to drug use. “It’s counterintuitive,” says lead author James White. “It’s not what we thought we would find.” And it’s not for lack of trying either.

The Cardiff University team consulted data from 8,000 people in the 1970 British Cohort Study, a group of human lab rats born in the same week in April 1970 and surveyed approximately once every five years about a broad host of topics. The results found that subjects that tested above average on IQ tests at age 5 were twice as likely to have done hard drugs within the past year, when asked at age 30. The smart kids weren’t just smoking pot, either; the numbers suggest that they prefer cocaine and ecstasy. White doesn’t know exactly what caused the difference but he has a good guess. “The likely mechanism is openness to experience,” he writes, “and, I think, it’s also this idea of having an educated view of risk as well.”

This is hardly the first time scientists have connected high IQ with drug use. Last year, evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa tracked a trend similar to that in the Cardiff study and also found that people with higher IQs were more likely to use drugs. He even took it a step further and offered a hypothesis of why. Kanazawa says that smarter people are attracted to “evolutionary novelties” like chemically processed drugs:

People — scientists and civilians alike — often associate intelligence with positive life outcomes. The fact that more intelligent individuals are more likely to consume alcohol, tobacco, and psychoactive drugs tampers this universally positive view of intelligence and intelligent individuals. Intelligent people don’t always do the right thing, only the evolutionarily novel thing.

Kanazawa’s theory would also support the latest findings. Because they require some basic, cocaine and ecstasy are evolutionarily novel in a way that marijuana is not. The good news for you smart people, however, is that even if you’re more likely to try drugs, you’re also more likely to kick the addiction faster.

Could explain so much!

Just Plain WTF?

Saturday and my mind is in neutral……that slowdown in an effort to keep the cogs from overheating……and this is a draft so that I do not start the overheating process….

Like so many of my fellow bloggers there are times when posts will not come or that more notes were made than posts and we feel that we must get the thoughts out there for others to see and use, if they like….in my case it is the note thingy….I make hundreds a day and very few become actual posts and then I just throw the others out there for comment…….

1–A TV ad for Subaru says that it this one plant is so environmentally friendly that it has said lots of trees….so many that it would add up to 290 million sheets of paper……thinking……if I am not mistaken…..trees must be cut down to make paper…..so what’s the point?

2–Another energy company ad states that that America is in luck because North America has huge resources of oil in the form of oil sands and that mining it would create millions of jobs……thinking…….those sands are in Canada……so why would we Americans want to create millions of jobs for Canada?

3–the “Boner” is a prick!  (pun intended)……..Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s (D-AZ) husband scolded House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) “for failing to visit his wounded wife while she was recovering from injuries sustained in a shooting in his and Giffords’ new book,” according to The Hill.

Boehner was in Houston for a basketball game while Giffords was in rehabilitation in the same city.

Writes Mark Kelly: “Considering that she was a member of Congress and he was the highest-ranking member, we thought he’d ask to visit Gabby or at least give a call to see how she was doing. Our only contact with him had been a simple get-well card he’d sent a few days after Gabby was injured.”

4–You can get 3% back on a card that cost $50-60 a year to have…..how much were you gonna spend a year….pay cash and save money…just a thought!

5– have you seen the ad where the deficit problem is compared to an addiction?  It is put out by some worthless PAC, the Dingoes Looking For Children PAC or something like that…..anyway it is pure BS….the American economy would bottom out if not for credit…spending more than you make…..only the stupid would watch this ad and yell YES at the TV……

6–Has anyone else noticed that there are more red heads on TV now…not that I am bitching…I am partial to red heads……

7–Is Karaoke Japanese for tone deaf?

8–We hear all politicians talk about the way to create jobs is to empower the innovators….thinking…..Steve Jobs was an amazing innovator, btw he is still dead, and most of the jobs he created were in China…..innovation does NOT necessarily create American jobs.

9–What the Hell is Chicken Fried Chicken?

10-I believe it was Twain that said….”in a country that values physical strength there is so little worth for moral strength”  (a paraphrase)……..

There you have it…. a little mental masturbation to keep the mind from vegetating…..please gimme your thoughts.

Want Proof Of Media Bias?

I have been screaming for years, ever since corporations were allowed to own the news, that the media sets the agenda, especially in the political realm…….and I know….you want some proof, right?

Let us take the last in the never ending dates for GOP debates……the CBS sponsored billed as the “foreign policy” debate…….and here is the time allotted to each candidate….

Rick Perry 7:45

Mitt Romney 6:30

Newt Gingrich 6:00

Herman Cain 5:45

Rick Santorum 5:15

Jon Huntsman 3:30

Michele Bachmann 3:15

Ron Paul 1:30

Take a good look at the list…the top three have a combined average of “ZERO” percent experience in foreign policy….okay I guess we could give Mitt-ster a nod…after all he was the head of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee….but the rest would not know a Sunni if it bit them where the sun don’t shine….my point is that the ONLY person on that stage with real foreign policy experience was ignored….in favor of two absolute novices and a guy that few in the GOP will stand behind……instead of Hunts man, who was the only adult on the stage and the only one that would have adult answers to complex foreign policy issues….

I mean come on!  Santorum got more time than Huntsman….and then there is Cain who cannot tell what he believes about the Libyan situation….that is if he can find it on a map….apparently CBS has chosen the people they want to be in the final battles for the nomination….CBS is NO longer a credible media institution……it has now proven to be irrelevant…this is NOT its first time but it is the last time……In my eyes, CBS can be crossed off the list of organizations to watch for news…their bias is all too familiar in the news world today….they are NO better than FOX and its charge to endorse candidates.

While We Were Asleep

The other day while most of America was sleeping from another of trying to earn a living….the police departments in several cities were attacking the Occupy movement to evict the people that were protesting…..we all, at least those of us that were interested, have seen all the vids and photos of what happened on that early morning raids……but while we were asleep and police were doing the dirty work of the government…..another issue was playing out under the radar thanks to the raids…..

Have I peaked your curiosity?

Congress is the culprit I speak of and here is what they are attempting to do……

We Love Bailouts Bill: HR 1838 (Stivers) would repeal a section of the Dodd-Frank Act that prohibits the Federal Government from bailing out big Wall Street derivatives dealers. What are they thinking? With Merrill Lynch right now attempting to transfer a total of $75 trillion in derivatives bets from its investment arm into Bank of America, its FDIC-insured parent company, why is the GOP eager to facilitate the next giant taxpayer bailout?

Dark Markets are Good for You Bill: HR 2586 (Garrett) would allow big Wall Street derivatives dealers to continue opaque bilateral trading and allow them to avoid price transparency required by the Dodd-Frank bill. Off-book gambling in the derivatives market was a key cause of the 2008 financial crisis, and Dodd-Frank made huge steps forward, requiring the vast majority of derivatives to be traded in open forums where everyone could see what is going on in this $600 trillion dollar market. Similarly, HR 2779 (Stivers) would exempt all transactions between related affiliates from derivatives regulations, creating less, not more, transparency.

Swap Till You Drop Bill for Pension Funds: HR 3045 (Canseco) would permit swaps dealers to get a blanket exemption from any duty to respect the best interests of pension funds when giving any advice on a swaps deal. Just last week, we saw the largest municipal bankruptcy in United States history, in Jefferson County, Alabama, which was caused when JP Morgan Chase bribed local officials into entering a swaps deal to refinance a sewage district.

Go Back to Sleep SEC Bill: HR 2308 (Garrett) would create a series of new hurdles for the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) to jump before the institution can pass a new rule or regulation. SEC is not my favorite regulator and their fines on the big Wall Street banks have not been commensurate with the crimes, but compared to the U.S. Justice Department, SEC regulators have been veritable energizer bunnies, extracting billions in concessions.

AS promised, the Repubs are trying to gut the Frank-Dodd Financial Reform Act…….and as usual they are doing the dirty work for those they really work for….Wall Street and the Banks…….

People!  The time has come for us to demand more from our government…….and these moves are no where in the best interests of the average American……speaks volumes on who really runs this government and YOU allowed it to happen…..

What If China………….?

We hear daily from Repubs, Dems, Media hacks and faux economists tell us just how much trouble we are in because of China’s booming economy and their owning of our debt……you know it is so……..we are being preached to using the ever popular “Fear Factor” to push one form of thinking or another towards China…..whether it is their currency, or their manufacturing or their social policies……you have heard it all…in news stories, in debates, yada yada…..but what is the real story on China?

What is the future with China in the wings…..waiting…….

Larry Lang, chair professor of Finance at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said in a lecture that he didn’t think was being recorded that the Chinese regime is in a serious economic crisis—on the brink of bankruptcy. In his memorable formulation: every province in China is Greece.

Lang’s assessment that the regime is bankrupt was based on five conjectures.

Firstly, that the regime’s debt sits at about 36 trillion yuan (US$5.68 trillion). This calculation is arrived at by adding up Chinese local government debt (between 16 trillion and 19.5 trillion yuan, or US$2.5 trillion and US$3 trillion), and the debt owed by state-owned enterprises (another 16 trillion, he said). But with interest of two trillion per year, he thinks things will unravel quickly.

Secondly, that the regime’s officially published inflation rate of 6.2 percent is fabricated. The real inflation rate is 16 percent, according to Lang.

Thirdly, that there is serious excess capacity in the economy, and that private consumption is only 30 percent of economic activity. Lang said that beginning this July, the Purchasing Managers Index, a measure of the manufacturing industry, plunged to a new low of 50.7. This is an indication, in his view, that China’s economy is in recession.

Fourthly, that the regime’s officially published GDP of 9 percent is also fabricated. According to Lang’s data, China’s GDP has decreased 10 percent. He said that the bloated figures come from the dramatic increase in real estate development each year (accounting for up to 70 percent of GDP in 2010).

Fifthly, that taxes are too high. Last year, the taxes on Chinese businesses (including direct and indirect taxes) were at 70 percent of earnings. The individual tax rate sits at 81.6 percent, Lang said.

Once the “economic tsunami” starts, the regime will lose credibility and China will become the poorest country in the world, Lang said.

Professor Frank Xie at the University of South Carolina, Aiken, said that the idea of China going bankrupt isn’t far fetched. Major construction projects have helped inflate the GDP, he says. “On the surface, it is a big number, but inflation is even higher. So in reality, China’s economy is in recession.”

Further, Xie said that official figures shouldn’t be relied on. The regime’s vice premier, Li Keqiang for example, admitted to a U.S. diplomat that he doesn’t believe the statistics produced by lower-level officials, and when he was the governor of Liaoning Province “had to personally see the hard data.”

Cheng Xiaonong, an economist and former aide to ousted Party leader Zhao Ziyang, said that high praise of the “China model” is often made on the basis of the high-visibility construction projects, a big GDP, and much money in foreign reserves. “They pay little attention to things such as whether people’s basic rights are guaranteed, or their living standard has improved or not,” he said.

Behind the fiat control of the economy, which can have the appearance of being efficient, there is enormous waste and corruption, Cheng said. It means that little spending is done on education, welfare, the health system, etc.

Cheng says that for the last decade the Chinese regime has accumulated its wealth primarily by promoting real estate development, buying urban and suburban residential properties at low prices (or simply taking them), and selling them to developers at high prices.

According to Cheng, the goals of regime officials (to enrich themselves and increase their power) are in direct conflict with those of the people–so social injustice expands, and economic propaganda meant to portray the situation as otherwise prevails.

If this report is true…..what is to gained from lying to the American people?

The Real “Opiate Of The Masses”

For those who think this will be a diatribe on the value of Marx’s statement on religion….you would be mistaken.  While I appreciate a lot of the work of Karl Marx I will disagree with him on this one.    While my “opiate” has become a more or less modern phenom….who knows Marx might agree with me it he were alive today…..(wishful thinking on my part, no doubt)…….

My “opiate”, as I have mentioned, is not religion but rather consumerism.

That is right…YOU!  You buy then you have become an addict to the drug that corporate media has created……In capitalism, profit becomes the goal and consumers are considered a means to that end.  Thus the final goal is the creation of more and more consumers.

The conception of “consumer” is an illusion possible only once production and consumption have been alienated as apparently separate and independent processes.  Every act of consumption is equally an act of production, so the alienation of one from the other is a social construction.  Since wage-workers produce only to earn a living, and are alienated from their own labor, the illusion is created that their only real life is as a consumer.

Theodor Adorno of the Frankfurt School focused on the creation of a global consumer culture.  The mass media has created pop culture, Hollywood, and commercial TV which fuels mass consumption..this encourages celebrity worship, lifestyle worship and yes, Greed……

What can I say….back in the 1920’s, Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci made a very forward looking prediction….he said the the mass media would drive hegemony…..not bad considering that in his day newspapers and a bit of radio were considered mass media……he was saying the the mass media would drive politics, culture and yes, Greed!  Take a look at politics today.  Take a look at our so-called culture today.  It is all drive by the media.

The media drives our consumerism…..we are told what cars to buy, which credit card makes us whole, what political indoctrination we need and what is life all about…..the mass media controls all!

Ben Nicholson said…….”The corruption of the American soul is consumerism.”

There you have it…..consumerism is the “real” opiate of the masses………

The Scary Scenario

Monday and a return to the insanity we call….Politics.

In the last couple of months there has been much criticism of Obama and even to the point where bloggers like myself have written numerous posts on whether President should face a primary challenge…….even some national figures are calling for the prez to face a primary….people like Nader, Smiley/West….granted he has done a bit in the way of his promise of change and even less reason for the American people to have hope….again.  But with all his failings, should Obama real face a primary challenge?  You decide that one.

There have been many that think running an independent would not have a better opportunity than in the election of 2012.

At last polling, which was about 5 minutes before I wrote this piece, no matter what time you are reading it,  the president’s approval rating is sinking and his challengers are even less liked by the American people….now let us say that we want someone to challenge the status quo in Washington and some poor sucker is conned into a third party run….and let us say that they are popular to the middle but only draw about 30% and that would mean that the other two parties would split the remaining 70%…..cool huh?  It would show Washington that the people were fed up and willing to embrace a different way of voting….

Political Wire is reporting….

Pollster Stan Greenberg tells New York magazine that it’s inevitable there will be an independent presidential candidate.

Said Greenberg: “Somebody will run as an independent in 2012. You don’t have 80 percent of voters saying we’re on the wrong track and not have an independent candidate. In 1992, Ross Perot carried 20 percent of the electorate with a pretty well-defined bloc that tended to be younger, white, male, and non-college. But right now, independents are so diverse that it’s not obvious that anyone could capture all of them. Trump might win the ‘fuck you’ vote. Bloomberg might pick up more of the business-oriented suburban segments. I think the ideal candidate is probably a businessperson who’s not from the financial community, who has a strong anti-China current and a strong America-first current.”

Hopefully people know enough about the voting system to know that the candidate needs about 270 electoral votes to win the election…..never mind the popular vote…….it will come down to the electoral vote…….and if the votes are distributed as I have written about….that would mean that the election would be thrown into the House of Representatives for a solution and the electing of a president……

Now think back to the past couple of years……would you trust the Congress to decide who won the election…..an institution that has an 82% disapproval rating?  With that much divisiveness it would be a circus…..want an example….then read about the election of 1824 and how Andrew Jackson was screwed…..and then tell me what a good deal this would be.

Well I would like to see someone challenge this system of cronyism…..I think that we had not want to push the envelope too much until we get our government back from the special interests….sad to say, but the traditional two party election may be the wisest way to choose a president….at least in this partisan world of Washington politics….

SkyNet Is Only A Matter Of Time

Sunday in the park…..cool breezes and a picnic…..mind calm and the demon politics is resting in the old pc……

Some of this techno stuff I write about just gets scarier and scarier…..

I have mentioned several times that the villain from the Terminator series, SkyNet, may not be such a piece of fiction after all….I mentioned the AI that is making independent rational decisions and numerous new steps forward in robotics….all point to an approaching time when robots will play a major role in our lives….and there is another major step forward……

It swings its arms and moves its legs just like the soldiers it is meant to mimic.
The PetMan robot created by Boston Dynamics is designed for military use – but don’t expect to see its human-like gait treading across a war zone any time soon.

For now the robot has been designed to act as a walking mannequin to ensure soldiers’ chemical warfare suits don’t rip.

His energetic ’power walk’ and fitness routines are designed to test new uniforms so they don’t tear when in the presence of chemical warfare agents.

The company claims Petman is the first human-shaped, human-sized robot that walks like a man. It can hit speeds of 4.4 miles per hour.
PetMan can also do jumping jacks, squat thrusts and press-ups, all without losing his balance.

Previous mechanical systems for this testing just stressed the fabric in an unrealistic fashion, rather than moving like a human being does.

He also has a good enough sense of balance that the robot can be shoved hard while running on a treadmill, and won’t topple over.
’Places like the Fukushima reactors could be accessed by PETMAN-like robots, without requiring any human exposure to hazardous materials. Perhaps firefighting inside of buildings or facilities designed for human access, like on board ships designed for human crews,’ said Robert Playter, an engineer at Boston Dynamics.

The robot is part-funded by DARPA – the US military’s ’mad scientist’ division.
’Petman will balance itself and move freely; walking, crawling and doing a variety of suit-stressing calisthenics during exposure to chemical warfare agents,’ says his creator, Boston Dynamics.

’Petman will also simulate human physiology within the protective suit by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating when necessary, all to provide realistic test conditions,’ says the robot company.

Okay, I may be letting my imagination run wild or I could be a bit paranoid because I am an old fart….I am sure that any robots will be constructed with failsafe mechanisms……and then I think back to I, Robot…….

Life Out There

Another Saturday and lots of rest and mental relaxation……

For a year or more I have been writing about stories of ET (may never get on Ancient Aliens)………..there seems to be stories pointing to the possibility of left here started out there…..

A new study from NASA postulates that if life ever existed on Mars, it was probably underground.

Ever since clay minerals were discovered on Mars in 2005, scientists have thought warm and wet conditions that could have supported life may have existed, according to NASA. That’s because clay is formed when water and rock interact with each other.

According to NASA, the study, which is published in the current issue of the journal Nature, backs up a hypothesis that warm water was present only on the planet’s surface for geologically short periods of time.

“If surface habitats were short-term, that doesn’t mean we should be glum about prospects for life on Mars, but it says something about what type of environment we might want to look in,” Bethany Ehlmann, the lead author of the paper and a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement. “The most stable Mars habitats over long durations appear to have been in the subsurface. On Earth, underground geothermal environments have active ecosystems.”

But we can’t rule anything out. Space.com notes that just because the water on the surface was only present for a short time doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been habitable.

There seems to be more and more about Mars…..is it a matter of time until Mars Attacks?  Think Marvin the Martian!

On Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day….when the country pauses to thank our veterans for their sacrifice and their service….

Thank you!  Thank you!

The war in Iraq is soon to be winding down and the rest of our troops will be home, where they belong, ……unfortunately there is still another war going on and they may be needed there…..but that is for another discussion……

As a veteran myself, I wish these brave men and  woman all the luck…..some will have to repair their bodies and minds…..and as usual the government will be little help….I still remember when I returned to my country from Vietnam and the greeting I got…….I do NOT wish that treatment on my fellow vets…….

On this day I would like to air a couple of bitches…….I think organizations like Wounded Warrior Project and many others, that dedicate themselves to helping returning vets and their families should be commended…..with that said….why should we need these organizations?  Is it not the responsibility of the government that used these people to enforce the country’s policies?  Why should vets need to turn to these organizations for help?  Why is the government turning their back on their vets….something they have been doing for 50 years…….instead of wasting time on some silly issue like the country’s motto….would not that time be better spent showing our returning vets that we have their backs and that we CARE?

The country’s treatment of its vets is a disgrace!  Obama has his new vets jobs bill….but I ask …what good is that if there is NO jobs?  If he wants to do something for vets then find a way that they get ALL the help they need to recover from their time in service….this country is treating the vet like a tool….use it up and then discard it…..there is very little acceptable about the treatment of our vets.

Today is Veterans Day……if you encounter a vet….simply say….thank you!

If you encounter a vet……listen to what he/she has to say…..tell your rep in the US Congress that the vets are too important to push to the background…..

On a side note……. on this day let us not forget a fallen hero of OWS….marine vet, Scott Olsen….we owe him and soldiers like him better than to be hit in the head by a tear gas canister….OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU, SCOTT!