Epistemic Ingemination

A sort of an odd way to spend a Saturday morning, but if you like beef and have a closet desire to learn more about butchery and the various standard cuts of meat, check out the University of Nebraska Bovine Myology site.

The 3d slices are cool. So are the cut descriptions.

It’s making me hungry; I’m thinking a nice 2″ thick cross section cut of Psoas major, bacon-wrapped, hardwood seared and served rare with a pat of garlic butter on top…

Ahh. The first week of summer.

This is muy great, approaching genius.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Laurel and Hardy. Backed up by the Gap Band.

Physorg has a neat article about a new theory of quantum gravity. (I am certain that this excites you very much, right?) Anyway, it basically postulates that there may be quantum level black holes, and that those may in fact be what our elementary particles are made of.

The reason that I think it’s neat is because I came up with a not-incompatible idea of how the universe works about a quarter century ago. I still use it to visualize the Nature of Things. (I also doubt that it’s a unique idea; it too simple not to have been thought of long ago. But I’ve never run across anything quite like it ’til this morning.)

To really simplify, my idea said that spacetime is actually 5 dimensions, one of time, four of space, and that everything that we can see (and much that we cannot) is simply disturbance in that spacetime. Energy would be kind of like ripples on the surface of a pond; matter would be analogous to whirlpools in the pond, and what we see as the laws of physics are complex mode resonances and cancellations between all of ‘em. (For you physics geeks, it’s not same as the old luminiferous aether thing; in my old visualization, the spacetime is the whole shebang. Energy and matter would be, respectively, 3-D linear and 4-D angular/rotational density disturbances in spacetime.)

Ahh, good times. It would be cool if I used to be on the right track, I suppose. Heh.

Big Magic

The corporate jargon BS generator. Save time preparing for those weekly meetings.

And don’t miss “Buzzword Bingo” down at the bottom of the page, either.

Yep, had to look again, but it is snowing in Austin Texas as of 11:00 PM.

Neato.

A) When you build an entire economy based upon convincing people to buy things that people don’t really need, you run into issues when people stop buying things that they don’t really need.

B) What if most of your jobs involve servicing people buying things that they don’t really need? When people stop buying things that they don’t really need, most of those jobs are going to go away.

C) If people have been buying things that they don’t really need on credit, and then they lose their jobs servicing other people buying things that they don’t really need? That money is not going to get paid back any time soon, if at all.

D) Finally, if you’ve moved all of your manufacturing of things that people do need out of your country in the meantime? You’re going to be pretty screwed to the wall, and for a long time. Because when people buy the things that they do need, that profit leaves your country’s economy, and is unavailable to you for reinvestment.

Let’s close today’s post with an observation: One of the largest companies in the world, Google, was founded about 15 years ago. Starting from zero, it became one of the largest companies in the world in less than two decades through what avenue?

Advertising revenue. Think about it.

“Consumerism.” It makes a fine snack, but it’s an awful dinner.

Buckle up.

We’re not really here.

Well, okay, maybe we’re here. But the matter that we see and measure here has a very nebulous foundation indeed. It would seem that the mass of the baryon particles that make us up is derived from the spontaneous appearance and disappearance of virtual quarks in the quantum vacuum of QCD-scale spacetime.

Put another way, all of this Stuff comes from the interactions of statistical improbabilities that have no finite existence.

Says so right here.

I love it. For a physics nerd like me, these results rock. Better than Metallica and AC/DC combined.

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer.

The bartender says “You’re all idiots”, and pours two beers.

Brand new. The Monty Python Channel On Youtube.

CNN is replaying the debate in about 25 minutes. Since I haven’t seen it yet, I’m going to do an experiment and blog as I watch it. If I turn out to be really lame at it, I can always delete it, and we’ll pretend you never saw this, okay? Oh – and I am going to do it in chronological order, not reverse order like everyone else who does this. Harrumph.

I will say one thing up front. I saw a few moments of the debate last night on a Hi-Def television at Threadgill’s. McCain’s makeup was not only visible, it was obvious that his eyebrows had been slightly darkened and his eyes were pretty well pancaked. I’ve read that Hi-Def is killing the retail pornography industry, which I think is hilarious. I understand why now.

9:00 – Heh. McCain really doesn’t like Obama. The handshake was as stiff as a board and the smile as false as a snake’s.

9:03: McCain: Fanny & “Freddy Mae?” McCain wants to buy bad mortgages and renegotiate ‘em. Yeh! That’s it! Let’s use the money to eliminate bad decisions. Great.

9:05: Obama’s natural cadence is kind of start-and-stop. You’re going to hear eight years of impersonators taking this to the bank…

9:07: Nice zing by Obama. “We both want to cut taxes. The difference is who we want to cut taxes for.” McCain’s answer? Obama wants to “spread the wealth around.” Socialism!

9:11: McCain: 35% business tax rates! He neglects to mention that the number of deductions brings it down to right around the average world tax rate.

9:15: At least we have two candidates who can pronounce “nuclear.” (Of course, Palin says “nukular.”)

9:17: McCain wants a line-item veto. Obama doesn’t jump on it, and should.
Obama addresses the “earmarks” bugaboo. 1/2 of one percent of the budget. Good perspective.

9:19: Oooo. John-boy gets Snippy. “I am not president Bush. If you wanted to run against Bush, you should’ve run four years ago.” This oughta be good. Obama: If I mistake your policies for George Bush, it’s because you’ve supported them.

Man. McCain is getting mad. He’s blinking two or three times a second and has a pasted on grimace that’s supposed to be a smile…

9:24: McCain still won’t tell Obama anything to his face, even when invited to do so. “We will run a truthful campaign.” Yeah, right.
Obama: (looking McCain in the eye) “100% of your ads have been negative. 100%.” Nice jujitsu. McCain has steam coming out of his ears.

9:29: What is it with Joe the plumber again? If Joe the plumber wants to buy a business, of course he’s going to be exposed to more taxes. He also gets a wheelbarrow full of deductions. Every business owner does. He also gets a chance to make a buttload of money. Let it go, for cripes sake.

9:30: Obama looks at McCain and says “People are saying ‘terrorist’ and ‘kill him’ about me at your running-mates rallies.” Very, very good. McCain completely goes off the tracks, spewing about patriotic veterans at his rallies and how they are being impugned. Obama wisely lets it lay there like the merde that it is and takes it back to issues.

9:35: Obama laughs out loud at McCain’s characterization of ACORN as “voter fraud.” Good. Points out that it is voter registration fraud perpetrated upon ACORN. McCain still pushes it. Bad move. Obama wins this one hands down. McCain: “My campaign is about getting this economy back on track.” Obama laughs again. Seems to work, even if it’s a but disrespectful.

9:42: “Why would your running mate make a better president than your opponents?” This oughta be good. Obama lists Biden’s CV quite nicely.
McCain: “Americans have gotten to know Sarah Palin: she’s a model for the women of America. A reformer through and through.” And she has a kid who has Special Needs. Puhl-eeze.

Heh. Sweet and subtle moment. Schieffer calls time on McCain, but Obama indicates that McCain should be allowed to keep talking. Let him keep on digging deeper, please Bob.

9:50: McCain: 45 New Nuclear Plants will save the country! Drill baby drill! Obama: we have 4% of the reserves and we use 25% of the oil. Gut check. McCain: Drill drill drill. Free trade with Columbia! Obama: labor leaders are being assassinated in Columbia. Let’s stop that first.

9:57: Obama: retool auto plants for fuel efficient vehicles, and help auto makers do that. McCain: Obama doesn’t want free trade with Columbia and wants to kiss Hugo Chavez and North Korea and Iran and everybody bad everywhere….

Man. Every time CNN does a split screen, looking at McCain is like looking at Ilie Năstase play tennis in the old days. You wonder when he’s going to blow. McCain is, quite simply, a schoolyard bully. I feel that I know exactly what this guy is about; that’s the only thing that I see here.

10:02: McCain: Joe the plumber again. Obama: Joe the Plumber — here’s what it costs you: Zero. Nada. Nit. McNăstase blinks at a rate of four times a second. Obama: McCain taxes your health care for the first time, ever. “This is your plan, John.”

BlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlink. McCain says “spread the wealth” again. Right-wing code talking for socialism, I presume. John: a hint — you’re not talking just to the wingnuts here, and ’spreading the wealth’ around looks pretty damned good to the rest of the country right about now.

10:11: Roe v Wade. Obama: personal decision, and the constitution has a right to privacy, not subject to state legislation. Ballsy, and very good. McCain: we have to change the culture of America. Another hint for ya, John-boy: No, you need to join the culture of America.

10:15: McCain: Obama voted “present” on abortion in Illinois. Not a bad little hit. Obama: There was already a law on the books, and many republicans and democrats voted against or “present” on that one. I support a ban on late term abortions, except where the mother’s life is endangered and that was the sticking point. That’s why I voted “present.” McCain: I adopted kids.

10:19: Education. Obama: invest in early education. A pennies on the dollar investment. We need an army of new math and science teachers. McCain: BlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlink. McCain: education is the “civil rights issue of the 21st century.” Wow. I agree 100%. Good for him. McCain: vouchers vouchers vouchers. Let ex military people teach in our schools without having to be certified. (What?!?)

10:23: Obama: “No child left behind is a start, but unfortunately they left the money behind.” Nice little zinger there. If teachers can’t hack it, get rid of ‘em. “Youth are not an interest group. They are our future.” Nice. McCain: D.C. parents want vouchers! Reform Head Start! My running mate will fund autism! Obama: McCain wants to increase vouchers in D.C. by 2000. There are fifty other states.

10:29: Closing statements. McCain: America needs a new direction. (Doesn’t he realize that this is an absurd thing to come out of his mouth?) Can you trust Obama? I’ve spent my entire life in public service.

Obama: We have to invest in the people of this country. We all have to come together to tackle this. I ask for your vote. I’ll work on your behalf.

McCain: BlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlink
BlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlinkBlink

…

This was fun; I doubt that I’ll ever do it again. I think Obama not only won; Obama mopped the floor with McCain. I think McCain proved beyond a doubt to more people than me that he does not have the temperament to be President. He is a very angry man.

…

Final thought: Anyone who is an “undecided voter” at this point is an unserious person who should be ignored as unworthy; they certainly don’t deserve any attention whatsoever from the engaged citizens of this nation.

Where are you, all of my pseudo-libertarian free-market capitalist friends? You seem to be awfully quiet this weekend.

I’ve been listening to your Ethically Pure economic drool and spittle for decades. “Let the market determine things! Don’t hamper our brave Capitalists as they Create Wealth for All Of Us! Cutting taxes raises revenue! A rising tide lifts all boats! The only problem with our economy is over-regulation! Anything other than this leads to — dear God — socialism!!”

Where are you now, my deep-thinking brave capitalist dittoheads?

Were you cheering the market on as you watched your 401k lose 20% of its value last week? Were you proudly beaming, holding your copy of the Cliff Notes of “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” to your bosom, as the big five investment banks went to four, and then three, and then two? Do you have tears of joy and unfettered capitalist pride watching your home’s value drop below its mortgage payoff balance?

Or could it be that you’re exactly the kind of person that you’ve always accused others of being on this subject, and now we — the sane ones — are supposed to, once more, bail you out and clean up your messes?

Where’s your copy of Ayn Rand this weekend? You don’t seem to have it with you anymore.

Do you still have enough working independent brain cells to see that in your brand of “capitalism,” you have no problem with keeping your profits — but the minute that your judgement is eclipsed by your greed (as it always will be) you expect that your losses should be — dear God — socialized?

How does it feel to have the “Invisible Hand” slap you upside the head?

I have some better ideas. We can start with something called “regulation.”

Let’s see. How do I illustrate?

I presume that you would refuse to give a loaded handgun and a bottle of tequila to your teenage son along with the car keys on a Saturday night. Because of all of the damage that he could cause to both your interests and, especially, innocents.

Similar to that, but more tailored to your specific insanities.

Cory Doctorow, quoting a conversation with a physicist about the startup of the Large Hadron Collider. (A few uninformed alarmist doomsday fearmongers concerned people think that it’s going to destroy the world.)

“Look, it’s a 10^-19 chance, and you’ve got a 10^-11 chance of suddenly evaporating while shaving.”

Just to comfort: we know of collisions more energetic deriving from cosmic rays, all the time. They just don’t happen where we can study ‘em. The Large Hadron Collider will produce energies approximately equivalent to two mosquitoes colliding head-on. Just in a very small space. Don’t worry too much about it.