Assorted Links of Curiosity 12.16.10

Another busy day for the BrothersFiasco.  Without much introduction, here is another installment of Assorted for your viewing pleasure.

How long will it take Republicans to demoralize their base?

Traditionally, movement conservatives send Republicans to Congress in great waves to clean everything up and create a glorious new Morning in America, and then about 10 minutes into the new Congress, all the Republicans are divvying up the pork-barrel money with as much gusto as Tammany Hall fat cats in a Thomas Nast cartoon, and no one really cares, because that’s just how things are done. The mainstream political press is too cynical about the entire concept of governance to get outraged and the partisan press is there to get Republicans elected, not punish them for sucking at the public teat.

But there are indications that that’s changing.

Hey, I wasn’t alive for this so I had no idea it ever happened. The day Niagara Falls ran dry: Newly-discovered photos show the moment the iconic waterfall came to a standstill

YESSSS! An expert panel convened by President Barack Obama advised vigilance and self-regulation as scientists seeks ways to create new organisms that could spark useful innovations in clean energy, pollution control and medicine.

Data visualization and all things related continued its ascent this year with projects popping up all over the place. Some were good, and a lot were not so good.

Diane Ravitch Is Making a Number of Interesting Claims

Crimes on the Book of Faces (subtitle: Criminals can be REALLY REALLY STUPID)

No, you didn’t read it wrong. WikiLeaks inspires sanitary pad ad in Pakistan

‘The sea gave her back’: Wonder in Israel as ancient Roman statue buried for centuries is uncovered by powerful winter storm

Does Economic Inequality Cause Crises?

I know, it seems like this one should be getting a little more play, right? Doctors Claim HIV-Positive Man Cured by Stem Cell Transplant

Voyager spacecraft nears exit of solar system

Image of the Day: A Map of Facebook’s World – A Facebook intern named Paul Butler has created a fascinating piece: a map of the world based only on Facebook friendships. There aren’t any lines here from anything but Facebook accounts and their links to friends in other cities.

Why do we let this creepy company called Google spy on our emails?

Free The Military Of Its Bigots – “It would seem to me that the military would be better served by ridding itself of its ignorant bigots than its gays and lesbians.  And the same could be said of the bigots in Congress opposed to the repeal of DADT.  Yes, that would mean you John McCain.”

The Secret Secret – “If you cannot decipher and interpret letters and symbols, you cannot read. If you cannot access letters and symbols, you also cannot read.”

 

Enjoy, friends.  There’s a lot there to get those gears a turnin’.

Assorted Links of Curiosity 12.03

Sorry for the slow posts today.  Lots going on over here (conference calls and new hardware eating up time).  Here is another Assorted Links of Curiosity for you.  Econ, more WikiLeaks analysis, probability theory, video games in law, ineffability, maths and physics…. OH MY!

• Why won’t the jobs just come back?  We Lost 8 Million Jobs. Only 1 Million Came Back.
• WikiLeaks dump good for everyone!
• Are bees more Bayesian?
• Judge in Xbox modding trial berates prosecution, halts trial (I intend to make a full post about digital rights in the future.  Keep your specs on.)
• Effing the Ineffable – How do we express what cannot be said?
• Pi in the Sky – Is mathematics a divine language?
• The Biggest Big Question of All – Why is there something rather than nothing?

Thanks, guys! Enjoy.

Tomorrow I’ll be back for some more WikiLeaks updates, and a new ish series… OH THE EXCITEMENT!

Stop, PANIC TIME!

Anybody catch the BIG BOLD RED Drudge Report headline last night and this morning? It has now all but vanished from Drudge, which is curious in of itself.

Delaying Tax Vote Could Crash Stock Market

Nothing like some Conservative fear mongering to help push through the tax break for those who don’t need it.

From US News & World Reports:

Failure by Congress to extend the Bush tax cuts, especially locking in the 15 percent capital gains tax rate, will spark a stock market sell off starting December 15 as investors move to lock in gains at a lower rate than the 20 percent it would jump to next year, warn analysts.

While it is unclear how bad the sell off could be, it could wipe out the year’s gains, they warn.

“Capital gains tax rate will increase from 15 to 20 percent if the tax cuts are not extended. The last time the capital gains tax rate increased–on Jan. 1, 1987 from 20 to 28 percent–investors realized their gains at the lower tax rate,” said Daniel Clifton at a Washington partner at Strategas Research Partners. “We would expect a similar effect this time around as investors see the tax rate going up and choose to realize their gains and incur the 15 percent tax.”

So the Greediest Generation is willing to risk crashing the stock market and the good of everybody for 5% tax savings.

In March and April, 27 million taxpayers will be facing an additional $70 billion in tax payments. The hit to consumer spending would be particularly significant,” he writes.

Shock Doctrine. Conservative Economic Stupidity Epidemic.  Straight up greed.  Call it what you want but the common denominator in the three is selfishness.  Wish I could rant more, but I am on a conference call.

Assorted Links of Curiosity 12.02

Another batch of links for your curious minds:

• Is the Universe a Holographic Reality?
• Why Are You Here? A New Theory May Hold the Missing Piece
• Straight from Harry Potter… CNN Reports on a ‘Space-time cloak’
• Don’t act like you haven’t wondered this yourself:  What would happen if I drilled a tunnel through the center of the Earth and jumped into it?
• How to Buck Up the Science Ladies, an easy way to boost women’s scores in physics
• Can Eliminating Roads Eliminate Traffic?
• What If Solar Were Subsidized Like Oil? Finally, a useful graphic about fossil fuel versus solar subsidies.
• RCA Airnergy promises usable power generated from Wi-Fi signals. Possible?
• Google’s Flaw, A crime against knowledge.