October, 2010 archive
Quality Construction at a Price That’s Right 0
This is the “entitlement spending” that needs must be controlled (emphasis added):
(snip)
The first ship of its class, the San Antonio has been beset with problems since its commissioning more than four years ago. It cost more than $1.4 billion, 70 percent more than originally budgeted, and came in two years late.
(snip)
The repair bill for the latest fixes will top $39 million, the Navy has said.
The first ship of its class. No doubt its successors will be even classier.
The cost of this one rust bucket would run Amtrak for more than two years or feed thousands of hungry persons or replace dozens of failing bridges and roads.
Instead, we have a crew of sailors with nothing to sail and a hole in the water absorbing endless money.
“Foreclosure Fraud for Dummies” 0
Rortybomb has done an excellent series of posts with that title.
Here’s post number five; it links to the first four.
Afterthought: To the masters of the universe, the concept of fiduciary responsibility is as a tinkling cymbal, signifying nothing.
Ammunition for the Republican War on Science 0
Jen McCreight, grad student and aspiring biologist, thinks she has found part of the reason that scientific information is poorly received. Scientists can’t write, and the conventions of scientific literature accentuate their inability to write:
Most scientists are terrible writers.
And when I say terrible writers, I’m not just talking about English skills – though that certainly is a problem. When I had to read some of my classmates’ papers in undergrad, I was often thankful to find a sentence that wasn’t a fragment or a run-on. I don’t have perfect grammar, especially when informally blogging, but I can usually get general concepts across. And don’t even get me started on the organization of some papers. Your methods are where?
But most science writing is simply impenetrable. Everything seems to be lingo and jargon, to the point where they might as well be speaking another language. This problem gets worse with time, since fields are becoming more specialized, not less.
I think she has a point. Much academic writing is execrable.
I once had a boss who had recently earned a doctorate in an education-related field (not teaching or guidance–he was in business, not in the school system; it was in ed. psych., instructional design, or something like that).
He told me that, when his advisor read the draft of his dissertation, his advisor told him to rewrite it.
He said, “Why? I think it’s very well-written.”
The advisor said, “It’s too well-written. It’s too clear. The sentences are too short. The language is too straightforward. Go back and replace the sort words with long ones.”
Thirty additional pages later, his advisor told him the dissertation was ready to be submitted to the examining committee.
Josh on Teabaggery 0
iGlimpse of Things To Come 0
Darryl Lease discusses the new “Virginia Is for Lovers” iPhone app and foretells the future in today’s local rag. A nugget.
“Yeah, but the tea partiers downgraded him over that whole separation of church and state thing. He’s sort of the Pluto of the Founding Fathers now.”
“But wasn’t George Allen a Jeffersonian Republican?”
“That’s passe.´ I think he’s a Gandhi Republican now. Um, why is there a little icon of a man in a suit in front of Monticello?”
“Oh, that’s the lieutenant governor. It’s part of the app’s ‘Where’s Bill?’ game. It’s kind of fun. There’s also a ‘What’s Cuccinelli Suing the Federal Government for Now?’ game.”
Stray Thought 0
My cat’s not getting fat.
Her legs are just getting too short.
Driving While Brown 0
Now the government is deporting citizens, if they look Mexican.
Emphasis added:
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go (Updated) 0
The foreclosure-based economy (see below) continues its path of job creation:
And more to come:
Addendum, That Same Evening:
Zandar points out that the revised unemployment numbers seem always to be significantly worse than the initial ones.
Thoreau has a suggestion. Please read his entire post for context–it’s worth the two minutes:
QOTD 0
Lenny Bruce, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God.
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
More Republican fear mongering. It says something that they are afraid of voters.
Elections don’t get stolen at the polls. They get stolen at the (these days possibly virtual) counting room.
Cantor’s Cant 0
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Eric Cantor | ||||
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Via TPM.
Mythbusting 0
Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Joel L. Naroff takes a look at economic myths. Here’re two out of the five he discusses:
(snip)
Spending cuts will increase growth and reduce the deficit: Reducing government spending does not increase growth in the short term. A dollar not spent – no matter who doesn’t spend it – is a dollar not spent. This is what economists call contractionary fiscal policy, because it causes the economy to contract.
The Foreclosure-Based Economy: How It Works 0
By piecing together different stories from the news, we can start to see the Big Picture.
Sales create mortgages on which to foreclose:
Foreclosures create jobs:
The increases trickle through the economy:
Leading to a better life for somebody or other:
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
No doubt the gun magically went off by itself.
In an amazing burst of creativity, she initially blamed the fabled “unknown black man.” Fortunately, the cops didn’t fall for it.
QOTD 0
George Carlin, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.