Sunday, September 03, 2017
Your Bomb Physics Lesson
I have only a low-end bonehead's understanding of this shit. Here's what I think is a fairly reasonable primer:
Today's Tweet
What would you least like to see from a Seismologist, specializing in monitoring underground nuke testing?
oh fuck— Steven J. Gibbons (@stevenjgibbons) September 3, 2017
Small Men, Big Problems
A coupla things about North Korea.
First, it's been less than a full generation since North Korea came relatively close to being wiped out by famine.
Nobody knows for sure what the numbers are - estimates range from 250,000 to 4 million dead N Koreans. That's anywhere from 2% to 18% of the total population. By comparison, what do you suppose happens to this country if somewhere between 3 million and 52 million Americans died over a 5 year period?
Now, some good old fashioned Keynesian Stimulus can do wonders to help you recover from just about anything, so a massive investment in a nationalized push towards (eg) nuclear weapons would definitely boost the economy, but that assumes you have a shitload of credit or the ability to monetize your national debt, neither of which was available to North Korea in the 90s.
One of the big reasons for that famine was the loss of patronage. The Soviet Union cratered and cut their support. China stepped in, but they had their own problems with drought and shortages and lack of hard currency, so they had to bail too.
Anyway, N Korea gets practically nothing done without the help of a Patron State.
Second (to shorten the story), Putin makes out like a bandit if he stirs the shit in SE Asia.
And while he risks creating the monster - a deliverable H-bomb means never having to say, "Yessir, whatever you want, boss" - Uncle Vlad gets a net benefit just by pimping the chaos and looking for the opportunities.
First, it's been less than a full generation since North Korea came relatively close to being wiped out by famine.
Nobody knows for sure what the numbers are - estimates range from 250,000 to 4 million dead N Koreans. That's anywhere from 2% to 18% of the total population. By comparison, what do you suppose happens to this country if somewhere between 3 million and 52 million Americans died over a 5 year period?
Now, some good old fashioned Keynesian Stimulus can do wonders to help you recover from just about anything, so a massive investment in a nationalized push towards (eg) nuclear weapons would definitely boost the economy, but that assumes you have a shitload of credit or the ability to monetize your national debt, neither of which was available to North Korea in the 90s.
One of the big reasons for that famine was the loss of patronage. The Soviet Union cratered and cut their support. China stepped in, but they had their own problems with drought and shortages and lack of hard currency, so they had to bail too.
Anyway, N Korea gets practically nothing done without the help of a Patron State.
Second (to shorten the story), Putin makes out like a bandit if he stirs the shit in SE Asia.
And while he risks creating the monster - a deliverable H-bomb means never having to say, "Yessir, whatever you want, boss" - Uncle Vlad gets a net benefit just by pimping the chaos and looking for the opportunities.
Friday, September 01, 2017
Today's Podcast
No, not The Professional Left. We'll get to that one a little later.
This one is You Are Not So Smart - Episode 108: Pandora's Lab:
20,000 dead Americans every year - because of Opioids.
This one is You Are Not So Smart - Episode 108: Pandora's Lab:
20,000 dead Americans every year - because of Opioids.
And the idiocy of smart people.
So also too - be cautious about being cautious.
Corporatocracy
Lobbyists, Coin-Operated Politicians and self-subjugating citizens.
Newsweek, DAVID SIROTA, ALEX KOTCH, JAY CASSANO AND JOSH KEEFE:
The French company that says its Houston-area chemical plant is spewing "noxious" smoke—and may explode—successfully pressed federal regulators to delay new regulations designed to improve safety procedures at chemical plants, according to federal records reviewed by International Business Times.The rules, which were set to go into effect this year, were halted by the Trump administration after a furious lobbying campaign by plant owner Arkema and its affiliated trade association, the American Chemistry Council, which represents a chemical industry that has poured tens of millions of dollars into federal elections.
The effort to stop the chemical plant safety rules was backed by top Texas Republican lawmakers, who have received big campaign donations from chemical industry donors.
Representatives from Arkema Americas and the American Chemistry Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Will The Real God Please Stand Up
Joel Osteen took a (mostly) richly deserved slagging this past week because of his ridiculous "response" to the Harvey mess in Houston.
A fellow goddie takes him to task (John Pavolovitz, Stuff That Needs To Be Said):
Dear Joel Osteen,
Over the past few days you’ve faced an unrelenting wave of Internet shaming, and you’ve experienced the wrath of millions of people who watched the week unfold and determined they were witnessing in you and your megachurch’s response to the hurricane—everything they believe is wrong about organized Christianity; its self-serving greed, its callousness, its tone-deafness in the face of a hurting multitude, its lack of something that looks like Jesus.
A fellow goddie takes him to task (John Pavolovitz, Stuff That Needs To Be Said):
Dear Joel Osteen,
Over the past few days you’ve faced an unrelenting wave of Internet shaming, and you’ve experienced the wrath of millions of people who watched the week unfold and determined they were witnessing in you and your megachurch’s response to the hurricane—everything they believe is wrong about organized Christianity; its self-serving greed, its callousness, its tone-deafness in the face of a hurting multitude, its lack of something that looks like Jesus.
They questioned your initial silence and your closed doors.
They watched with disdain as local Mosques and furniture stores rushed to receive newly homeless victims while you waited.
They shook their heads at the conflicting stories of a flooded church and impassable roads.
They lamented you tweeting out that “God was still on his Throne,” while thousands of your neighbors were literally under water.
They saw your social media expressions of “thoughts and prayers” as hollow and disingenuous, knowing the stockpile of other resources at your disposal.
They witnessed with disgust what they deemed as your late and underwhelming act of kindness performed under duress.
They raged at your excuse that Houston didn’t ask you to receive victims—because (whether Christian or not) they realized that Jesus’ life was marked by an overflow of generosity and compassion and sacrifice that rarely required official invitation.
As a result of the pushback and condemnation you received, I imagine you feel like this has been a rough week. It hasn’t. You’ve had the week you probably should have had, all this considered. You’ve had the week that was coming long before rain ever started falling in Houston.
I kinda stepped in my own shit on Facebook a few days ago when I Share-Posted a meme from Occupy Democrats, that got debunked at Snopes:
It sounded about right to me - partly because it confirms my bias. So, as usual, I posted it with the caveat that some of those churches likely had good reasons for not responding.
I was thinking those reasons were all about the flooding, but there was also the point made by FEMA that I missed - sometimes, well-meaning efforts to help can end up making matters worse if they're not done properly.
There are stories about some neighborhood churches taking in the locals without having made adequate provisions for food water sanitation and security.
But none of that makes what Joel Osteen is doing (or not doing) OK.
I have practically no use for anybody who sells nothing as if it were something. Especially when they have a chance to substantiate their baloney in a real-world circumstance and still deliver nothing of substance.
Zoom
It's not just everything in Australia - everything in the whole fucking universe is trying to kill us.
Asteroid 3122 Florence will safely pass by our planet on September 1, 2017 at over 18 times the Earth-moon distance. The asteroid will not be visible to the unaided eye. It will, however, become visible in small amateur telescopes by late August, in the course of what will become the closest encounter to Earth by this asteroid since 1890.
It won’t come this close again until after the year 2500.
Asteroid 3122 Florence will safely pass by our planet on September 1, 2017 at over 18 times the Earth-moon distance. The asteroid will not be visible to the unaided eye. It will, however, become visible in small amateur telescopes by late August, in the course of what will become the closest encounter to Earth by this asteroid since 1890.
It won’t come this close again until after the year 2500.
Today's Tweet
Everything old becomes new again
They should remake Lord of the Flies but with old men so desperate to cut their own taxes and pollute that they fall in with Donald Trump
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) August 31, 2017
— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) August 31, 2017
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