Month: December 2011

It’s All In The Taste!

First, let me ask…..after drinking too much wine, have you ever paid toilet tag the morning after?  There may be a good reason….but first……

I admit it….I am a wine snob!  Red wines for red meat and white for white……there is NO white Zin grape…it is a red grape without the skin…..and wines are NOT flavored with peach or raspberry…..

Years ago I attended a wine tasting affair….first of all, in Mississippi, the participants could not grasp the idea of not swallowing the sample….there were some lovely full bodied wines and a couple of the whites were somewhat good….but then I came to the Australian wine expo….I was given a sample of an Australian red….if my brain still works…it was from the Yellow Tail label……I went through the ritual of color, smell (body or nose) and taste……and I was not a popular sampler…..my rating was color was good, nose was that of a wet sheep dog and it had the flavor of dirty dish water……I think I pissed off the Aussies!  Oh well…..they got over it!

I tell my little tale because I saw something recently that made me laugh and after that I realized I finally had my answer of why Australian wines sucked…….

Those with delicate bowels may want to steer clear of wine from the Land Down Under. Winemakers there are now allowed to add sodium carboxymethyl cellulose to wine—a chemical lauded for its laxative powers. But in small quantities it can thicken liquids, and when it comes to wine, adding the chemical can eliminate crystallization and cloudiness from whites, reports California Watch. Dealing with the former is an expensive problem, explains the country’s winemakers, usually achieved using energy-draining methods like cooling and filtration.

Finally!  I have an explanation of why my body had a tremendous reaction when I got back to the house…..

It Is All In The Eyes

Remember back to the Terminator series…..(pause for the gathering of thoughts)…..we saw what the bad guy was looking at and in his eyes were small analytical data processors that did everything from giving the assassin the gender, the weight, the eye blue, everything….even the type of ammo best used to destroy the good guy….all seeing and knowing eye……

Alright, I know some of my post about the techno geeks and their new robotic discoveries have made me a bit more paranoid of the possibility of a SkyNet type take over of the world….it is all making me so schizoid (like I needed more help)…..but I have read another one of those articles…..in The Week…

Imagine having streams of helpful digital information beamed directly to the surface of your contact lenses. That’s the dream on which engineers from the University of Washington are working. They’ve already succeeded in creating a computerized contact lens embedded with a tiny LED that lights up when a wireless signal is sent to it. Here, a brief guide:

How does the prototype work?
This “Terminator-style” accessory is largely made of soft plastic, says Alyssa Danigelis at Discovery. The center of the lens is fitted with a “custom-designed LED” made of sapphire. A circular antenna lines the “inside lip of the lens,” which allows researchers to send radio transmissions and control the single-pixel display on the LED, which flashes on and off when it receives a signal.

I realize that we need technology to move this world forward…..but does it have to be so creepy?

The Keystone(XL) Cops

If you are an old fart like me you will remember the humor that was the Keystone Cops……and today we have another Keystone humor if it were not so sad!

A good friend of mine, a person who truly believes that drilling will break our dependency on oil, ask me why I had not written much about the environment lately…..and I had no good answer other than the silliness of politics is all consuming…..this is a person who in the past has called me an eco-commie….so to make him happy I will now write about the Keystone XL Pipeline……

A little background…..this pipeline will run through the middle of America from Canada’s oil fields to the Gulf of Mexico in Texas…..there are those that protest the pipeline and those that see it as a good thing (especially the oil industry)……of course the con side of the issue is that it would be a polluting problem waiting to happen…then there are those that think this is a good idea because it will create thousands of jobs, relieve our oil dependency are the two big pro side arguments…..

But those jobs created will be temp jobs…..how will it end our dependency on foreign oil….it will be pumped out of Canada.  The last time I checked Canada was not part of the US (you can thank a disastrous attempt in 1812 to invade Canada)…it is still NOT American oil!  And then the one thing that few have mentioned is….national security.  A continuous pipeline that runs for that many miles is a perfect target for a terrorist attack…..any spill will effect a large segment of the water table and water is not something we need to put in jeopardy (kinda like the absurd idea of frakking)……

And then there is the most transparent use of the fear card….T. Boone Pickins was interviewed on the pipeline and being an oil man he is all for it….but his argument is if it is not built all that oil will go to China….would that be one of his companies that sells it to China?

Obama has step forward to oppose tying the pipeline to tax cuts extension…but that is a game.  He and his cronies have postponed the decision on the pipeline to after the 2012 election….go figure!  Obama does not want this to be an issue that would alienate the environmentalist until after the election…….and you could almost wager that it will be a done deal in some form after he is re-elected……so his opposition is half-hearted at best.

To me, the only people that would actually benefit from this pipeline is the oil industry.  PERIOD!  It is a bad idea on so many levels.

The Big “O” Speaks

I was recently chastised by an acquaintance about why I am not more vocal on Obama and his presidency……and it is true….I was very vocal in the past about his candidacy but have not been so since…..first, I think the whole system is sick!  Second,  Obama has been a disappointment to me for he has changed NOTHING in the way DC does business….but with that said I will now commence my broadcast day with a review of his most recent speech, economic speech, delivered in Kansas…..what can I say about Kansas?  Thinking……thinking……NOTHING good….but this is not about the state but rather a speech……

Let me begin, most of these types speeches are mind numbing…..and choked full of one liners that can be used for the 20 second sound bite on cable news shows….

Let me begin with the fact that he threw in some historical events is to my liking…..but I think that Obama should have mentioned the Teddy was running on the Progressive Party platform and NOT as a Repub……and that none of the major ideas were Teddy’s or even Republican…………..second almost everything that was on the platform were issues championed by socialists…..but that would not have been a good idea……Rush and that form of bottom feeder would have had a field day…….God forbid give due where due is warranted….

Now on to his speech…..I was impressed, not because it was a good speech but rather that it took forever to get to the point….he did say a few things that were to the point and spot on….like…..

(Applause.)  I’m here in Kansas to reaffirm my deep conviction that we’re greater together than we are on our own.  I believe that this country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, when everyone plays by the same rules.  (Applause.)  These aren’t Democratic values or Republican values.  These aren’t 1 percent values or 99 percent values.  They’re American values.  And we have to reclaim them.  (Applause.)

Obama has seem to acknowledge the OWS Movement with his reference of the 99% thing…..could this be the voice of a candidate realizing that the movement is not going away and trying to co-opt it into the Dems running strategy?

And then there were parts that I do NOT agree with……like this point…..

In today’s innovation economy, we also need a world-class commitment to science and research, the next generation of high-tech manufacturing.  Our factories and our workers shouldn’t be idle.  We should be giving people the chance to get new skills and training at community colleges so they can learn how to make wind turbines and semiconductors and high-powered batteries.  And by the way, if we don’t have an economy that’s built on bubbles and financial speculation, our best and brightest won’t all gravitate towards careers in banking and finance.  (Applause.)   Because if we want an economy that’s built to last, we need more of those young people in science and engineering.  (Applause.)  This country should not be known for bad debt and phony profits. We should be known for creating and selling products all around the world that are stamped with three proud words:  Made in America.  (Applause.)

The part I disagree with is the innovation part…..why?  Well, let’s look at Steve Jobs……a great innovator but almost all the jobs he created were in China….I agree with the parts about speculation and especially the “Made In America”….but innovation is not enough!

And there are the cutesy bumper sticker moments……

This isn’t about class warfare.  This is about the nation’s welfare.  It’s about making choices that benefit not just the people who’ve done fantastically well over the last few decades, but that benefits the middle class, and those fighting to get into the middle class, and the economy as a whole.

He is WRONG!  It is ALL about class warfare….when one class does everything to keep another class immobile….then it is class warfare.  Period!

All in all, as usual, he gave a good speech even if the crowd glazed over at minute number 10….but that is all it was….A SPEECH!  If nothing changes or there is NO advancement toward the future it will have been a waste of a perfectly good afternoon.

Could 2012 Be Another 1968?

I will bet you are asking just what the Hell I am going on about, right?

Well let us see……thinking…..both primaries had a Romney in them……both primary seasons had a ego-centric candidate…..both seasons had question on just how conservative a candidate was…..and both seasons had a Romney!

The Week has summed it up very well……

In 1968, a moderate Republican governor named George Romney was running for president against a vulnerable Democratic incumbent, and Romney’s main argument was that he was electable, say Paul Goldman and Mark J. Rozell in USA Today. In the Michigan governor’s way were the “Goldwaterites,” a group of conservative insurgents who seemed destined to lose — and Richard Nixon, once “the party’s premier political thinker” whose “rising star had crashed.” What happened next should make Romney’s son, Mitt, very nervous. Here, an excerpt:

Despite all the electability hype, one Republican instinctively knew Romney couldn’t win the GOP nomination: Richard Nixon. Dwight Eisenhower’s former veep knew that the Goldwaterites didn’t consider him sufficiently conservative…. So during the run-up to the New Hampshire primary, Nixon plotted his comeback, mending conservative fences in private, content to let the Michigan governor have the spotlight. By the time the candidate whom conservatives always wanted to run — California Gov. Ronald Reagan — entered the race, the clever Nixon had the nomination sewn up….

Fast forward to the 2012 GOP nomination cycle. Once again, a Romney is running as Mr. Electable, stuck at 20-30 percent in the polls…. Enter the Richard Nixon of his era, the old warhorse, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. The Georgian, like Nixon, was a back-bencher in Congress until shrewd conservative politics and good luck propelled them on to the national stage. Each, in turn, became a shooting star, a mixture of personal and political foibles seemingly smashing forever his dreams of becoming president.

Until a Romney showed up.

Sports fans, it looks like a historical repeat waiting to happen….can Gingrich do what Nixon did in 1968?  What are the chances that Newt will be the GOP nominee to face Obama?  Your thoughts, please.

The Man Who Invented Supply Side Economics

Last week the country’s most egocentric person shown just how much he thinks he is far superior to others…………..when he stated……

“I helped Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp develop supply side economics.”

His small attempt to show that he is the man with the big ideas and the forward thinking process……all this may be just the attempt to be more important than he really is or he could very well believe that he is all that…..but the truth is he is delusional….

Supply Side Economics is a school of macroeconomic thought that argues that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering barriers for people to produce (supply) goods and services, such as lowering income tax and capital gains rates, and by allowing greater flexibility by reducing regulation. According to supply-side economics, consumers will then benefit from a greater supply of goods and services at lower prices. Typical policy recommendations of supply-side economics are lower marginal tax rates and less regulation.

The intellectual roots of supply-side economics have also been traced back to various early economic thinkers, such as Ibn Khaldun, Jonathan Swift, David Hume, Adam Smith, and Alexander Hamilton……….the term “supply side” (“supply-side fiscalists”) was first used by Herbert Stein, a former economic adviser to President Nixon, in 1976, and only later that year was this term repeated by Jude Wanniski. Its use connotes the ideas of economists Robert Mundell and Arthur Laffer.

Okay, that is enough….with that short intro to supply side economics did anyone see the names of Ronald Reagan or Jack Kemp or the professed father of supply side, Gingrich mentioned?

Once again we see that the Newt-ster has an over-rated sense of accomplishment……surely the GOP can find someone other than this bloated wind bag to support…..if not, then the Party is truly in a sad state of disarray…….

Now I see why witches use Newt parts in their incantations…..apparently it is the only way to shut one the Hell up!

The Man Who Defeated Communism

I know that I have been a bit mean to the leading GOP candidate, Newt Gingrich,  in the past and I am not proud of it but I wish I could say something kind on his behalf but alas….I CANNOT!

Personally, I think he is an arrogant and demented little toad…..his most recent delusion was that he helped defeat communism…..his exact quote was…..

“I helped Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp develop supply side economics. I helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the Congress.”

I believe that in his own mind he believes exactly what was said….but the facts do not quite confirm his assertion….

One indicator that has been tabulated, if not quantified, to everyone’s satisfaction is that of the Soviet economy. It is know, for example, that in the 60s and 70s Soviet productivity in steel and coal caught up with and even surpassed that of the United States. But declines already had commenced in labor productivity and the quality of machine tools, while advances in science and technology increasingly proved illusory.

Nevertheless, economic reports drawn by Western experts basically found that the Soviet situation, while somewhat gloomy, was still redeemable. These half-way optimistic measurements were even seized upon by the Soviet leadership to buttress their own traditionally overly optimistic assessment. Consumer goods, meanwhile, increased in number during these years but the distribution system was so broken down that milk rarely got delivered before souring and, though Soviets produced more shoes than anyone else in the world, customers were forced to stand in line time and again to buy several pairs because the sizes were so askew that it was necessary to acquire many pairs to make a fit. Housing meanwhile was atrocious with couples required to wait years before qualifying for a small apartment; the wait for cars also dragged on interminable, and after one finally arrived, it was not unusual for it almost immediately to experience mechanical problems.

Defense costs, furthermore, were eating up an inordinate portion of Soviet expenditures. Because of the difficulty in measuring the Soviet GNP it was not always clear what percentage was being spent to this end. Experts now claim the West routinely underestimated the numbers. It is now believed that in years just prior to 1991 as much as 30 percent of the economy went toward the defense sector putting an enormous burden on the average citizen in terms of delayed consumer satisfaction. Then there were the costs incurred by shoring up overseas adventures such as those in Africa, not to mention the drain of the war in Afghanistan and the expense involved in maintaining Castro’s lifeline.  (Thanx to Tom Lovell for the facts mentioned)

In other words the USSR killed itself….but I guess if you point to the expenditures in the arms race as a major contributor then it is possible to make the connection that Gingrich assisted because all spending bills originate in the House and he was a member to that part of the government…but to say that he helped defeat communism is just as ludicrous as me saying my writings 40 years ago gave birth of the OWS  (although I would like to believe that…I know it is not necessarily true)….

So, with all that said….I still stand by my assertion that Gingrich is an arrogant demented toad….

Coming soon to a blog near you……”The Man Who Invented Supply Side Economics”…….

Gimme That Old Time Religion!

I am not a big supporter of organized religion….I find it a bloated entity that has NO real bearing on the true nature of religion….and I am NOT a supporter of anything racist, although I live in Mississippi and at times is a racist entity in itself…..but I read an article that made me hate both institutions even more…..

From Yahoo……

In order to “promote greater unity,” a Kentucky church has voted to officially ban interracial marriages and prevent mixed-race couples from becoming members after the daughter of a member brought her fiance, who is black, to sing during services.

Stella “Suzie” Harville, a 24-year-old college student in Indiana, told WYMT-TV that she often attends the Gulnare Free Will Baptist Church in Pike County when she’s visiting her parents at home. She grew up in that church and was baptized there but is not a member herself, her father Dean Harville told the Kentucky Herald-Leader. In June, she played the piano while her finance, 29-year-old Ticha Chikuni, a native of Zimbabwe who works at Georgetown College, sang the hymn “I Surrender All.”

If she thought her hometown congregation would welcome her fiance with open arms, she was in for a shock: The chuch’s pastor, Melvin Thompson, told them that they couldn’t sing at the church again. And last weekend the congregation passed a proposal penned by Thompson, voting to refuse membership to interracial couples and prevent them from taking part in services and church functions.

It is NOT racist?  No matter how you cut it…..it is RACIST!  In my state until very recently it was illegal for inter-racial couples to marry……You can quote God, Jesus, Moses or Leno….it is a racist act….clear and simple!

Kill-Bots?

……re-reading…..thinking…..Kilobots!  My bad!

But I am still finding all this robotic technology a bit unsettling….okay….I may be a bit paranoid…..but when is enough enough?  I may have an active imagination…….but so did Hitler……and look where that got us…..

But where did I get kill-bots?

And now, they’ll be manufactured and made available to everyone thanks to K-Team Corporation, a Swiss robotics manufacturer that has signed a deal with the robot’s inventors at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard announced on Monday.

Kilobots share the basic characteristics desirable in a collective-behavior robot, including on-board computers and the ability to sense and communicate with their fellow robots. The collective behavior is inspired by social animals, including ants and bees, according to Harvard.

These features enable Kilobots to perform the most common tasks assigned to robot swarms, such as the ability to find an object and deliver it to a home base. The operation is more complicated than it may seem because, in addition to avoiding collisions with each other, some robots in the swarm must decide to give up the hunt and assume the role of a beacon to guide the others home.

The main key to the kilobot’s low cost is that it operates on an entirely different principle of mobility than typical swarming robots. Rather than using wheels, it carries two tiny vibrating motors. The vibrations travel down stick-thin legs and enable the robot to move in any direction.

Kilobots also power up and down remotely and recharge themselves (they run on lithium-ion batteries) as needed.

Such swarms are already on the horizon, one example being a collective of ocean-exploring robots under development at the University of California-Davis through a National Science Foundation grant. NASA has also been working on a robotic swarm concept leading to the development of miniature robots that link with others to create larger devices that can reassemble themselves to match environmental conditions, perform tasks and even repair themselves.

With the steady increase in the use of military drones, it should be no surprise that the U.S. Army is in the game, with the development of more sophisticated platforms enabling soldiers to interact effectively with robot swarms.

Call me whatever you like but I am finding all this military application a bit hard to swallow….or maybe I should shy away from the SyFy channel for awhile…..whatcha think?

Thoughts On The Occupy Movement

First of all, I do NOT want to take away anything from the Occupy movement….they are finally taking to the streets and bring some attention and light to the whole economic imbalance that is this country….

But being an old cynic and opinionated SOB there are a few things I would like to say….all the major revolutions started small……and by revolution I am NOT in any way meaning the bang bang shootum up…..I am speaking about change……. REAL change……

Before I continue, let us look at other revolutions…..first, the American Revolution, which was not a real revolution but a rather violent disagreement between the family members that ended up very messy….to my point….it started rather small……a bunch of guys dressed up and raided a ship with tea and dumped its cargo into the bay in Boston harbor…..small.

Next came the French Revolution, in 1787 there was a terrible harvest and the populace had to spend more of their disposable income on food and the demand for other items fell…….the rise of social antagonism began to rise and electoral demands became commonplace….this was a small beginning and a very simple explanation of the beginnings of the revolution….and we know all too well that it took very little time before it turn violent and deadly for so many…..

Now the Russian Revolution…..I am sure well all think we know what happens…..and that it was the result that lead to the communist taking over the government…..I could write a Russian novel length volume of the revolution (if you have ever read a Russian novel you will understand)…..but let us talk about the beginnings of the revolution….WW1 had taken a heavy toll on the people of Russia and there had been all types of governments in place but none had been much success…..and then in February a protest led by women in protest of bread prices started a whole new round of protests that included workers, soldiers, etc….but the beginning of what we call the Russian Revolution was the march of women hunger marchers….it started small….with a world to win!

More recently, what is being called the “Tunisian Revolution” which started the whole Arab Spring…..it began with a small incident…..

Twenty-six year old Mohamed Bouazizi had been the sole income earner in his extended family of eight. He operated a purportedly unlicensed vegetable cart for seven years in Sidi Bouzid 190 miles (300 km) south of Tunis. On 17 December 2010 a policewoman confiscated his cart and produce. Bouazizi, who had such an event happen to him before, tried to pay the 10-dinar fine (a day’s wages, equivalent to 7USD). In response the policewoman insulted his deceased father. A humiliated Bouazizi then went to the provincial headquarters in an attempt to complain to local municipality officials. He was refused an audience. Without alerting his family, at 11:30 am and within an hour of the initial confrontation, Bouazizi returned to the headquarters, doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire. Public outrage quickly grew over the incident.  And so it began!

Now to the main point of my post…..the Occupy movement started small, basically a hand full of people protesting Wall Street greed in Zuccotti Park in NYC……it started small and grew into a nationwide and now planet wide protest movement….a difference can be made but not at the expense of the movement…

As an aged long hair hippie, pinko commie I am so proud of the American people that they finally feel empowered enough to take to the streets in demand of justice and equal opportunity….they started small…..it has grown into a worldwide protest against those who exploit and enslave……makes my old heart take flight to know that all my bitching in the past has finally been heard and acted on……

All my years of attempting to educate…..(I was NOT alone, there were countless others)…….have , I hope in some small way, helped the American people to find their courage and their voice……

Remember ALL great seasons of change have started small, with a small group of brave people…..you have NOTHING to fear….but failure!  So, keep your eye on the prize……you have a world to win!