Destroying the Earth by Digging Holes

It has been quite some time since I've been motivated to make any blog posts, since I'm, you know, busy doing actual stuff that matters.

Nevertheless, my favorite topic of stupidity is all over the news again, as Congress is preparing to vote on legislation that would regulate the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as a way to combat global warming.

I need not go into all the detail, because you can read all my posts debunking global warming here. Still, this is so dumb that I have to add a bit of fuel to the fire.

You see, one of the last minute changes is that the carbon credit scheme will now be proposed to be overseen by the Dept. of Agriculture rather than the Environmental Protection Agency (both of which are executive branch departments that I see no authorization for in the Constitution, but I digress...)

As it's been reported, this is great news for farming states because (drum roll please), businesses who desire carbon credit can pay farmers to inject seed into the soil, rather than plow the earth, because plowing the soil releases carbon into the atmosphere.

I'm not making this up.

Apparently, digging holes contributes to global warming.

Let me say that again.

Digging holes is going to kill us all.

Whatever scientific genius discovered this has just laid the groundwork for colonization of Mars. Forget terraforming, and atmospheric alteration, and all your other SciFi methods of making the martian atmosphere livable. We can simple have one of the Mars rovers start digging up holes, and given enough time, release greenhouse gasses that trap heat and will allow for human settlements on the red planet.

That's got to be welcome news to all the NASA researchers who were almost certainly thinking of using much more complicated methods of atmospheric engineering, when a simple shovel would do the trick.

If only we could convince people that stupidity caused the brain to leak CO2, perhaps we could get Congress to voluntarily shut itself down for the good of humanity.

Geopolitical question of the day

Been way too busy to update the blog for some time, but in reading some investment/market related news from the weekend, a few thoughts came up I thought I would share. The talk of the world is, of course, the North Korean nuke test -- which was successful and estimated to be the size of the atomic bombs used in WW2 against Japan.

So, the question is: If China were to invade North Korea so as to "secure the peace" -- and in doing so setup a puppet government, or just outright annexed North Korea, would anyone stop them?

No, I don't think anyone would.

I think it's natural to jump to the "what should the USA do?" question -- but really, if this were to play out, the question is what would the USA do in response to a Chinese invasion of North Korea? Probably not a thing. It's hard to imagine we would. The Japanese would not be pleased, and probably not the South Koreans either, but I don't think the USA would do anything more than "urge caution and restraint," and I'm sure the Russians would do nothing.

So if you are the Chinese, what would you do? A North Korean nuke dropped on Seoul or Tokyo would throw a big fat monkey wrench into the world economy and would obviously destroy any semblance of economic stability in Asia. With the Chinese economy on the upswing, and the world already in recession, would you risk letting that happen, on a purely economic basis?

And then what happens? Does this establish precedent that if a country tests a nuke, a bigger country can invade and "keep the peace?" Does the USA invade Iran? Does Israel bomb Iran? India into Pakistan? China into Pakistan? The USA into Pakistan? Russia into Georgia?

Seems like quite a mess, doesn't it? Yet, at the same time, it seems like "hey, free country" for China to take N. Korea if it sees fit. Certainly if this were a game of Risk, you'd do it. The question is, how do the Chinese view it?

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Anti-Capitalism abouds at world economic summit

A couple of quotes from the world economic forum:

"This may be the first Davos where capitalism is widely viewed as a failure, rather than something to be admired," says Ethan Kapstein, professor of economics and political science at French business school Insead, who has been going to Davos since 1994.

or,

"The capitalist myth is lovely and youthful. It kicked off the industrial revolution, but maybe we need a new one," says Richard Olivier.

If this is how the world is starting to think (and it certainly seems like it is), then it's headed down a very dark and dangerous path.

As Ayn Rand would say: Who is John Galt?

"Socialist" is a racial slur

A columnist for the Kansas City star has written an article in which he explains that socialist is really an old-school secret racial slur against blacks.

Seriously.

I know you think I'm making this up, but alas, I am not.  How this guy gets a job as an editor is beyond me, but I assume the pay must be crap otherwise more qualified people might apply.  

The "socialist" label that Sen. John McCain and his GOP presidential running mate Sarah Palin are trying to attach to Sen. Barack Obama actually has long and very ugly historical roots.
...
McCain and Palin have simply reached back in history to use an old code word for black.
...
Shame on McCain and Palin.

Please, sir, tell me you're not serious.

I did a quick google image search for "famous socialists" and this guy came up first:

Meet Mr. (Comrade?) Vasial Glavinov, a black man cleverly disguised as a Macedonian socialist leader... or so I assume.  He was exiled by Bulgarian socialists at some point, I assume because Bulgarian socialists are racist... or... something. 

(What is it with socialists and beards anyway?)

So next time you have a gander at the color wheel, keep in mind that the opposite of "white" is "socialist".  

Stupid Photos

When I see something goofy, I try to take a picture of it with my phone so that I can "blog about it" later. The blogging part seems to seldom happen, but finally I'm clearing out the old iPhone photo bank and I'll put a few shots up here.


This was the sign for the women's restroom at the Chart House where Scott and Kristen held their wedding(ish) reception. The site of the building is next to an old public bathing/swimming house, and thus I assume that's what they are going for here. Nevertheless, it seems this woman is in a suspicious position of sorts.

Next...


Here we have a stuffed gorilla strapped onto the back of a motorcycle. It's just not something you see every day. Should he be wearing a helmet?

Next...

When we made our family vacation trek to Florida, we stayed overnight in Montgomery, Alabama. I took a quick stroll around the hotel area, looking for historical monuments and such, and near the river there was an area formerly used to transport cotton from the South, which now had been renovated into a park and amphitheater. As is the trend, an area was set aside where people could donate money (I presume) and get a brick with their name on it. This one happened to catch my eye. You can see in the lower corner, that Betty J. Piatt is a "Classy Lady", but I would certainly not pick her in a bar fight over Cher Bollinger, the slayer of dragons.

Next...

In a very similar vein, here we have a shot of some of the vanity bricks in front of Lucas Oil Stadium, the new home of the Indianapolis Colts. I decided to try and slip in some props for the Miami Dolphins, and sure enough, they were more interested in taking my money than in ensuring all Colts bricks were, you know, for the Colts. Go Dolphins!

Next...
Not far from our Dolphins-supporting Colts' brick, I spotted this brick in favor of the Chicago Bears. Props to Brian Gajos, who had the cajones to not only buy the brick, but to cleverly disguise the "C" from the Chicago Bears logo as the Colts' horseshoe.

And finally...

This one really takes the cake. Just this week, while in San Diego attending the DEMO conference, we got behind this car with a very special license plate. How this one slipped through I'm not sure, but there it is for the world to see, a la "Assman" from the Seinfeld episode, but I doubt this guy is a proctologist. :)

Gravity treats everyone with fairness and equality...

While I haven't made a post in a while, that shouldn't imply that the world has suddenly become less stupid. Sometimes there's just so much stupidity that it hardly seems worth it to keep up.

But, just when you thought you've seen it all, this little gem pops up from the Dallas Morning News, reporting on a meeting of county commissioners:

A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon.

County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.

Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.

Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."

That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.

Mayfield shot back that it was a figure of speech and a science term.

A white hole? Touché, sir. Touché.

Oh my.

Maybe all of science knowledge has ended up in a black hole. Or a white hole. Whatever.