intelex

I had a little time to kill after lunch and wanted to check out a few news stories before heading back to work. Two Yahoo video clips lasting a combined 1:27 came with two inescapable 0:30 ads, meaning 2/5 of the 2:27 I watched was ads.

So I skipped over to text stories and those too came with streaming digital ads and audio content that you couldn't exit out of for 0:15.

Tracking cookies, corporate databases on your behavior, seemingly relentless cross-marketing, and purchasing/selling your online information like pork bellies... Will surfers accept this intrusion as the new norm for internet content or will they push-back against the most egregious abusers and force them to collapse under the weight of their customer's repulsion?

I notice more and more, people write like they are texting or talking. No where is this more evident than the teen to thirty year old crowd. No capitalization, sparse punctuation, and poor sentence structure now seem to be the 'norm.' Is this really the direction we are headed?

Don't even get me into kids asking for answers to their homework on Answers.

This morning I was browsing a Reuters story on Assad and chemical weapons via a Yahoo link/frame in Firefox 14.0.1. As I was getting ready to back out of the article, I noticed that it wasn't my user ID. I had already checked email and my account was active/still open in a separate tab. Instead, the tab said I was logged in as phil_carr@sbcglobal.net. And in place of the Yahoo! designation next to the little house in the very top right corner menu, it said AT&T. I don't know any "Phil"s right now, and this office computer is used only by me.

I took a screen capture because I couldn't believe it. Any ideas as to why/how this happened, and what risk it could pose to other Yahoo users?

(I couldn't attend temple, and instead lived the day with mindfulness. I wrote this as my girls ate lunch.)

Meditation on Grilled Cheese

It started with a big bang,

The universe cooled, hurray!

Floating debris, our planet was formed,

And eventually the first human born.

Evolution moved to civilization,

And pushed our need for cultivation.

Soon wheat from grasses grown high,

And milk from utters coxed dry.

Natural gasses from ancient life,

The toasted product cut by knife,

All these processes give your belly ease,

As I sit in front of you, a grilled cheese.

Many moons ago I had this poem published, but never really had an avenue to get feedback from anyone besides the editor. Thoughts?

It is only in the extremes of our lives,

From the most consuming depressions,

To to the most inspirational highs,

That we leave the drudgery and melancholy,

And realize we are truly alive.

Obama and Congress have been trying to fund some component of a recovery to keep the US from sinking deeper into economic downturn, and the numbers are staggering and hard to digest. But here is what I have found (beyond hyperbolic punditry).

As part of the tax structure under Reagan, the debt increased from $908B in 1980 to $2,600B in 1988. Net, that would be $1,692B increase. Inflation adjusted from 1984 dollars, that would be $3,452B dollars to pull us out of the 82/83 recession and juice the economy.

Under G.H. Bush and his recession, the debt increased from $2,600B to $4,065B in 1992. Net, that would be $1,465B increase. Inflation adjusted from 1990 dollars, $2,417B.

2000-2008, the debt increased from $5,674B to $10,025B. Net, that would be a $4,351B increase recovering from the 9/11 downturn... technically a truly luke-warm, single quarter recession. Inflation adjusted from 2004 dollars, $4,917B.

2009-2010 increase in debt: $3,100B (just checked the debt clock)

2009-2015 increase in debt: $9,575B (based on a Treasury report to Congress) In inflation adjusted dollars, that could be around $8,200B - depending on inflation and dollar valuation changes.

That sounds really big and lots of spending to get us out of the most significant recession since the Great Depression. We also have with the lowest tax rates since WWII.

Deficit spending during the terms of these 4 Presidents in terms of GDP at their mid-term:

Reagan - 44.0% (based on 1984)

G.H. Bush - 23.5% (based on 1990)

G.W. Bush - 37.8% (based on 2004)

Obama (through 2015, using 2013 CBO GPD estimates and $8,200B) - 49.1%

Debt accumulation is projected to be slightly higher, in terms of our economy, than Reagan.

The top nominal tax rate under Reagan, 50%.

The top nominal tax rate under Obama, 35%.

Total federal tax receipts in terms of total US GDP:

Under Reagan (1980-1988), 18.3%

Under Obama (2009-2015), 17.3%

Using the tax structure under Reagan would have meant another $1,120B in revenue through 2015. That would reduce Obama's GDP deficit spending for economic recovery to less than Reagan had for the 82/83 recession and his entire presidency.

-The spending isn't as rampant as it appear based on the size of our economy, inflation, and the magnitude of the economic problem.

-The accumulation of debt is disturbing should change, but it seems the deficits are also fueled by tax revenue being at it's lowest point since WWII.

All I want for Christmas is the tax structure under Reagan. Would you agree, or should we just panic?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN08846252010060...

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/mspd...

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10014/Appendix...

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafa...

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 28% of Adults believe it is at least somewhat likely that some states will try to leave the United States and form an independent country over the next 25 years or so. Sixty-four percent (64%) say a secession attempt is unlikely.

Would you support division of the US into regional interests? Or perhaps a confederacy like Canada, where any state can leave at any time?

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/pol...

Or is it a correct, cost-saving measure to rely on industry to be able to respond to accidents/emergencies related to it's own work?

With his teary compassion, his desire to do what he thinks is right, his use of chalkboards and 3rd-grade simple logic... Does he see his martyrdom?

"Government is obviously composed of common and unsanctified men, and is thus a legitimate object of criticism and even contempt. If your own party is in power, things may be assumed to be moving safely enough; but if the opposition is in, then clearly all safety and honor have fled the State." Bourne - War is the Health of the State

There is little wrong with America

That jettisoning the South

Wouldn't go a long way toward solving.

I haven't really found anything myself and am hoping someone can point me in a direction. I have seen plenty of graphs comparing CO2 and solar activity, etc... but I haven't found any "professional" scientific analysis comparing above ground nuclear blast and climate observations over the last 100 years.

I have found annual average and rolling average temperature plots for the last 160 years, co-plotted with solar activity and atmospheric CO2.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b...

I have found recent examples of how even volcanic eruptions putting dust/aerosols into the upper atmosphere can significantly alter the global climate very quickly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo

And I can find information about the frequency of above-ground nuclear testing.

http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/nudb/datab15.asp

But I have not seen all this put together in an analysis. It looks to me that global warming was occurring fairly robustly from 1910 to mid-1940s based on the charts I have seen (as above). Then increasing global average temperatures abruptly turned around and headed cooler around 1945 and continued until about 1975. It looks like the slope (delta) of the rolling temperature average resumed back to about the 1910-1945 rate somewhere after 1975. 1974 was the last year that France tested nukes above ground... 9 tests and China performed 1. Only 8 tests were completed from '75 to '80 (the last above ground test) compared to the 520 tests between 1945 and 1975. More than 50% of those tests happened between 1958 and 1962.

I'm a scientist, but no climatologist. It just seems to me that this correlation could explain why the global temperature increases between 1910 and 1945 don't match atmospheric CO2 increases attributed to warming since 1975. I mean... there has to be some analysis or discussion of this correlation somewhere... but I can't find it. I just so doubt this is an original observation of mine that no one has considered.

Fair and Balanced? They fired reporters who refused to give undo airtime to corporate spin and to report inaccurately. A conservative, activist court agreed that insubordination to corporate will is paramount to facts when it comes to "news." Does that surprise you?

http://www.purefood.org/rbgh/akrepart1.cfm

http://vodpod.com/watch/967061-fox-news-investigat...

If conservatives really oppose big government and taxes, why don't we see greater parity regarding receipt of money? Isn't that like a teenager who's parents buy them a used Honda and they complain because it isn't a Mustang?

Does the two minute attention span coincide with the two word culture?

I'm a guy driven by data. What I notice is that:

When you refresh your screen, the number of thumbs up/down changes for your answer and others.

I've noticed that the answer I vote for is sometimes not statistically calculated (i.e. 0% for answer I voted for or the question doesn't even appear).

I'm not sure if this is just very "buggy" or....

We have a single account, the guest account is not activated, we have no password, and we would like to skip the "chose user" screen for log on.

Essentially, we would like to open our laptop and skip straight to an open Outlook calendar (programs stays open during close-top standby) rather than going through the 10-15 second process of re-logging on to the one account.

Is it morally reprehensible that a family can be forced into indentured servitude to the health care delivery machine of this nation? When are we going to reach the point where we refuse to let the government have the authority to command you and your family like an 5 year old by their parents?

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/health/2009/ma...