Perhaps only at MU would somebody deliberately breed lazy rats.
If we think about it, in nature, pointless activity and exertion are generally not adaptive. In the absence of an abundant, ever-present source of calories being "lazy" will keep a creature alive.
Not only is lunch not free, actions have cost. Muscle, in particular, is expensive to feed and maintain. Fat is fuel. Muscle is the engine. My V-twin bike gets a little over 42 mpg. My V-8 truck usually averages a little over 16.
Strength is good. I do bodyweight exercises and lift weights in addition to riding a bike and jumping rope. In bad situations, we need explosive power that cannot be developed by running marathons. But we pay the price in calories burned.
If we find ourselves in a subsistence situation, it is important to invest our efforts where they will produce the most calories for the calories burned. When we have the luxury of cheap fuel and mechanical power, we can afford to be extravagant. If it ever comes down to human and animal power, the equation shifts. That's when we will recognize the value of permaculture, and when grains and beans and potatoes will take priority over lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. I love tomatoes, but if space and resources are limited, growing some kidney, black, or pinto beans would make more sense.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
This Is Your Rifle
I did not watch "60 Minutes" last night, but I did see the promotion for the program's continued attack on gun ownership via Sandy Hook. The left simply cannot believe that it is not going to get its way.
One of the current internet conventions in vogue is that guns are phallic substitutes. This is based on Freudian thinking (also possibly popular culture depiction, e.g., Palahniuk), and Freud is hardly the pinnacle of modern psychological research. Freud was a pioneer in psychology and psychiatry. His sex-centered theories were a valuable starting point but are invalid, for the most part. I'm not saying that sexually frustrated people don't act out using firearms. Rapists act out their frustrations and twisted urges on a fairly regular basis. No one, outside of a few feminists, is suggesting that all males be turned into eunuchs -- not yet anyway. (If I were looking for something that was a phallic symbol, I think I would look at swords and spears. Sword-and-sheath jokes go back, I'm sure, well before Aristophanes, and a bit of ceremonial spear-play is depicted in the opening scenes of Zulu, to the embarrassment of Witt's daughter.) Most of us can tell the difference between a firearm and an appendage. With regard to guns, these speculations are without a scientific basis of any sort but are presented in the typical everybody-intelligent-believes fashion that characterizes left-wing thinking.
Another argument relates to suicides. Firearms are widely used in suicides, and I cannot disagree that they are a convenient and deadly means of ending one's own life. The rationale goes that if people had less access to firearms, they would be less likely to commit suicide. There may even be some validity to the point that if a person could not access a firearm, they would not kill themselves at all.
Here's the problem: no one is proposing laws to eliminate all firearms. The debate is about actions and configurations, magazine capacities, and background checks on individual sales. People who commit suicide are almost invariably people who would pass a background check with flying colors. The main part of the current gun-control push, to ban certain types of firearms and to limit magazine capacity is so totally unrelated to suicide as to be missed by those who present the case. The style or type of firearm available would have no influence on suicide statistics. Hunter Thompson, I believe, used a 1911 (invented more than 100 years ago -- hence the name) with a magazine that holds seven rounds. He could have done just as well with a single-shot. Hemingway blew the top of his head off with a double-barrel shotgun -- a firearm that can be acquired even in places as hoplophobic as England. Old fashioned revolvers are as deadly and often much more so than modern semi-autos. Robert E. Howard used a .380 auto which, with the anemic ammunition available in 1936, guaranteed an immediate end to consciousness but left his heart beating for eight hours.
As I have said before, I grieve with the parents of the children murdered senselessly at Sandy Hook, with the loved ones of those who died in the movie theater in Aurora, of the those left behind by the Tucson shooting. But if you want to stop this sort of thing, you might want to look at the causes rather than at the tools used. That's what a firearm is -- a tool. Not a phallic symbol. Not a substitute for something else. It is a tool that can be employed by a human will. Whether an AK-47 or hatchet or a knife or a golf club is used for good or evil depends entirely on the person using it.
One of the current internet conventions in vogue is that guns are phallic substitutes. This is based on Freudian thinking (also possibly popular culture depiction, e.g., Palahniuk), and Freud is hardly the pinnacle of modern psychological research. Freud was a pioneer in psychology and psychiatry. His sex-centered theories were a valuable starting point but are invalid, for the most part. I'm not saying that sexually frustrated people don't act out using firearms. Rapists act out their frustrations and twisted urges on a fairly regular basis. No one, outside of a few feminists, is suggesting that all males be turned into eunuchs -- not yet anyway. (If I were looking for something that was a phallic symbol, I think I would look at swords and spears. Sword-and-sheath jokes go back, I'm sure, well before Aristophanes, and a bit of ceremonial spear-play is depicted in the opening scenes of Zulu, to the embarrassment of Witt's daughter.) Most of us can tell the difference between a firearm and an appendage. With regard to guns, these speculations are without a scientific basis of any sort but are presented in the typical everybody-intelligent-believes fashion that characterizes left-wing thinking.
Another argument relates to suicides. Firearms are widely used in suicides, and I cannot disagree that they are a convenient and deadly means of ending one's own life. The rationale goes that if people had less access to firearms, they would be less likely to commit suicide. There may even be some validity to the point that if a person could not access a firearm, they would not kill themselves at all.
Here's the problem: no one is proposing laws to eliminate all firearms. The debate is about actions and configurations, magazine capacities, and background checks on individual sales. People who commit suicide are almost invariably people who would pass a background check with flying colors. The main part of the current gun-control push, to ban certain types of firearms and to limit magazine capacity is so totally unrelated to suicide as to be missed by those who present the case. The style or type of firearm available would have no influence on suicide statistics. Hunter Thompson, I believe, used a 1911 (invented more than 100 years ago -- hence the name) with a magazine that holds seven rounds. He could have done just as well with a single-shot. Hemingway blew the top of his head off with a double-barrel shotgun -- a firearm that can be acquired even in places as hoplophobic as England. Old fashioned revolvers are as deadly and often much more so than modern semi-autos. Robert E. Howard used a .380 auto which, with the anemic ammunition available in 1936, guaranteed an immediate end to consciousness but left his heart beating for eight hours.
As I have said before, I grieve with the parents of the children murdered senselessly at Sandy Hook, with the loved ones of those who died in the movie theater in Aurora, of the those left behind by the Tucson shooting. But if you want to stop this sort of thing, you might want to look at the causes rather than at the tools used. That's what a firearm is -- a tool. Not a phallic symbol. Not a substitute for something else. It is a tool that can be employed by a human will. Whether an AK-47 or hatchet or a knife or a golf club is used for good or evil depends entirely on the person using it.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
As Montgomery Scott Might Say:
Captain, I don't know how much more emergency power we can take before we start to break up.
Japan thinks it needs to devalue the yen some more. That'll fix 'er.
On the Market Ticker's thread about today's elevated UI claims numbers, there is the following comment:
European and Japanese central bank maneuvers serve to shore up the Fed. The Fed returns the favor by showcasing a crisis whenever the euro or the yen start weakening excessively. I'm sure it's just coincidence and not intentional collusion on the part of the various banking godfathers. And, one could argue -- if one were as stupid as Paul Krugman -- that if Japan or Europe were to crash egregiously, the United States would be pulled down and the same is true of the opposite case. So even if there is some behind-the-scenes colluding going on, it's really in everybody's best interests.
I think it's reasonable and even charitable to assume that the planners and manipulators are trying to engineer a glide path for the ultimate, unavoidable crash that does not resemble that of a brick tossed off the edge of the Grand Canyon. Perhaps they think that, at the very least, we won't pick up too much speed in the last 100 feet or so. By trying to provide a cushion for their banker-buddies, they think it will save civilization from utter destruction.
If you are wondering, the cushion is being made out of the working class.
Anyway, as long as the media misdirections can be timed correctly, the illusion of mere stagnation can be maintained.
Japan thinks it needs to devalue the yen some more. That'll fix 'er.
On the Market Ticker's thread about today's elevated UI claims numbers, there is the following comment:
Since 2010, a pattern has materialized. By some amazing coincidence, the data starts to soften and the Euro boogeyman comes back EVERY time the Treasury market starts to show significant weakness.
Just look at the past few weeks. The 10 year was threatening to break key technical resistance above 2.15, only to be saved by Cyprus, ****ing Cyprus? Are you kidding me?
This thing is being manipulated/rigged beyond the willingness or ability of most observers to comprehend. The US is the ultimate too big to fail, and everyone's in on the game.
The overall downward trajectory on long term money costs has to be sustained to keep the economy above water, and despite popular belief, the Fed cannot do it on its own.
10 year low yield of 2.31 in 2010, 1.73 in 2011, 1.43 in 2012. See a pattern?
Coming soon: 1% 10 year money.
European and Japanese central bank maneuvers serve to shore up the Fed. The Fed returns the favor by showcasing a crisis whenever the euro or the yen start weakening excessively. I'm sure it's just coincidence and not intentional collusion on the part of the various banking godfathers. And, one could argue -- if one were as stupid as Paul Krugman -- that if Japan or Europe were to crash egregiously, the United States would be pulled down and the same is true of the opposite case. So even if there is some behind-the-scenes colluding going on, it's really in everybody's best interests.
I think it's reasonable and even charitable to assume that the planners and manipulators are trying to engineer a glide path for the ultimate, unavoidable crash that does not resemble that of a brick tossed off the edge of the Grand Canyon. Perhaps they think that, at the very least, we won't pick up too much speed in the last 100 feet or so. By trying to provide a cushion for their banker-buddies, they think it will save civilization from utter destruction.
If you are wondering, the cushion is being made out of the working class.
Anyway, as long as the media misdirections can be timed correctly, the illusion of mere stagnation can be maintained.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Not Sure What This Means
The copper price chart for the last five days has a rather distinct profile.
We have seen a lot of fluctuation in copper over the last several months. About this time last year, I noted copper had fallen from 3.92 to 3.63. Today, it ended at 3.32. Most likely it will be up some tomorrow, but the overall trend appears to reflect decreasing demand in manufacturing and construction.
A colder than normal Spring across much of the U.S. and in the UK could be depressing construction. If Friday's unemployment numbers turn out to be less than encouraging, there will be lots of excuses, including Sequester! and the weather.
I'm reminded of that disturbing scene in True Grit, especially graphic in the 2010 version, where Rooster rides Little Blackie to a tortured collapse. At least he had a good excuse and was trying to do the right thing.
We have seen a lot of fluctuation in copper over the last several months. About this time last year, I noted copper had fallen from 3.92 to 3.63. Today, it ended at 3.32. Most likely it will be up some tomorrow, but the overall trend appears to reflect decreasing demand in manufacturing and construction.
A colder than normal Spring across much of the U.S. and in the UK could be depressing construction. If Friday's unemployment numbers turn out to be less than encouraging, there will be lots of excuses, including Sequester! and the weather.
I'm reminded of that disturbing scene in True Grit, especially graphic in the 2010 version, where Rooster rides Little Blackie to a tortured collapse. At least he had a good excuse and was trying to do the right thing.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Freedom, or Nothing Left to Lose
Monty Pelerin points us to a map from the Mercatus Center which evaluates and ranks the states in three categories then assigns an overall ranking of the degree of freedom.
The top five states are North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.
My own state of Missouri ranks #7 overall, eighth in personal freedom and ninth in fiscal freedom but is pulled down by its middle-of-the-road regulatory freedom as twenty-sixth. North and South Dakota derive their high overall rankings from regulatory freedom -- being #4 and #6 respectively.
If scripts are enabled in your browser, the map is interactive, and shows the breakdowns in the lower right as you move the cursor over a state.
I like personal freedom, but I have a hard time separating the idea of personal freedom from regulatory freedom. South Dakota is #46 in personal freedom, but #1 in fiscal and, as noted, sixth in regulatory.
Here are the lists and links about what is considered for each category.
Alaska is tops for personal freedom -- unsurprisingly -- followed by Nevada and Maine.
The red/blue correlation with the overall ranking is present but hardly perfect. I believe four of the top five are reliable red states and New Hampshire used to be red. The second tier are red except Virginia which has been polluted by federal government employees crossing the river and voting en bloc for big government and their paychecks.
The bottom five states, Rhode Island, Hawaii, New Jersey, California, and New York, are all dark blue.
The ten states just off the bottom include the usual suspects of Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Connecticut, and Vermont -- even Maine is not too surprising. But we see the red state of Wyoming, along with Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia. Wyoming suffers most in the fiscal sector which includes government employment, while West Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi are regulatory nightmares -- #49, #46, and #45, respectively. Also, Louisiana and Mississippi are shockingly low on personal freedom while Wyoming is only moderately better.
The top ten of the lower half -- ranking from 26th to 35th overall -- include the blue states of Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Ohio, the once swing-state, now swung blue, is also below average in fiscal and personal freedom and moderate in regulatory freedom. Red states in this group are Arkansas, Kansas and Kentucky. Kansas suffers from too much fiscal restriction -- probably too many government employees. Arkansas and Kentucky are lower tier when it comes to regulations and their top-twenty ranking of personal freedom is not sufficient to pull them up.
At the bottom of the next tier, 25th overall, is the blue state of Iowa which benefits from being ranked #3 in regulatory freedom. The new blue states of Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico are 19th, 20th, and 21st. All three benefit from high personal freedom rankings -- this would include laws on drugs and prostitution. Colorado will certainly fall lower with their new firearms regulations. Too-often blue Florida is also in this group, ranked 23rd, primarily due to its fiscal freedom.
Indiana is 16th, being #1 in regulatory freedom and an admirable #7 in personal freedom. My great-grandfather moved to Missouri from Indiana in the 1800s. Good to see that all the Scots haven't left. Alabama comes in at 18th overall, buoyed by a fiscal ranking of fifth. Nebraska is #22 and North Carolina is 24th. Nebraska's strength is regulatory freedom (#5) and North Carolina is #14 in both personal and regulatory.
The problem is that these are relative rankings. Yes, Oklahoma is better than New York, but New York is really, really bad. More than half the country is a virtual police state and even the best would likely be deemed tyrannies by our Founders. Still, the states are where we have to start. The federal government is simply too big and too distant with too much power for individuals to effect much change. Fight for freedom in the states and urge your state to stand up to the federal government.
Just because the southern states were wrong about slavery and were overrun by Yankee conscripts 150 years ago does not mean that the states are not sovereign. Shoot, Europe fought two big hot wars and one long, cold one in one 75 year period last century. There's no reason to quit because of what happened at Appomattox in 1865 or what happened in 2012.
The top five states are North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.
My own state of Missouri ranks #7 overall, eighth in personal freedom and ninth in fiscal freedom but is pulled down by its middle-of-the-road regulatory freedom as twenty-sixth. North and South Dakota derive their high overall rankings from regulatory freedom -- being #4 and #6 respectively.
If scripts are enabled in your browser, the map is interactive, and shows the breakdowns in the lower right as you move the cursor over a state.
I like personal freedom, but I have a hard time separating the idea of personal freedom from regulatory freedom. South Dakota is #46 in personal freedom, but #1 in fiscal and, as noted, sixth in regulatory.
Here are the lists and links about what is considered for each category.
Alaska is tops for personal freedom -- unsurprisingly -- followed by Nevada and Maine.
The red/blue correlation with the overall ranking is present but hardly perfect. I believe four of the top five are reliable red states and New Hampshire used to be red. The second tier are red except Virginia which has been polluted by federal government employees crossing the river and voting en bloc for big government and their paychecks.
The bottom five states, Rhode Island, Hawaii, New Jersey, California, and New York, are all dark blue.
The ten states just off the bottom include the usual suspects of Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, Connecticut, and Vermont -- even Maine is not too surprising. But we see the red state of Wyoming, along with Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia. Wyoming suffers most in the fiscal sector which includes government employment, while West Virginia, Louisiana and Mississippi are regulatory nightmares -- #49, #46, and #45, respectively. Also, Louisiana and Mississippi are shockingly low on personal freedom while Wyoming is only moderately better.
The top ten of the lower half -- ranking from 26th to 35th overall -- include the blue states of Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Michigan, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Ohio, the once swing-state, now swung blue, is also below average in fiscal and personal freedom and moderate in regulatory freedom. Red states in this group are Arkansas, Kansas and Kentucky. Kansas suffers from too much fiscal restriction -- probably too many government employees. Arkansas and Kentucky are lower tier when it comes to regulations and their top-twenty ranking of personal freedom is not sufficient to pull them up.
At the bottom of the next tier, 25th overall, is the blue state of Iowa which benefits from being ranked #3 in regulatory freedom. The new blue states of Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico are 19th, 20th, and 21st. All three benefit from high personal freedom rankings -- this would include laws on drugs and prostitution. Colorado will certainly fall lower with their new firearms regulations. Too-often blue Florida is also in this group, ranked 23rd, primarily due to its fiscal freedom.
Indiana is 16th, being #1 in regulatory freedom and an admirable #7 in personal freedom. My great-grandfather moved to Missouri from Indiana in the 1800s. Good to see that all the Scots haven't left. Alabama comes in at 18th overall, buoyed by a fiscal ranking of fifth. Nebraska is #22 and North Carolina is 24th. Nebraska's strength is regulatory freedom (#5) and North Carolina is #14 in both personal and regulatory.
The problem is that these are relative rankings. Yes, Oklahoma is better than New York, but New York is really, really bad. More than half the country is a virtual police state and even the best would likely be deemed tyrannies by our Founders. Still, the states are where we have to start. The federal government is simply too big and too distant with too much power for individuals to effect much change. Fight for freedom in the states and urge your state to stand up to the federal government.
Just because the southern states were wrong about slavery and were overrun by Yankee conscripts 150 years ago does not mean that the states are not sovereign. Shoot, Europe fought two big hot wars and one long, cold one in one 75 year period last century. There's no reason to quit because of what happened at Appomattox in 1865 or what happened in 2012.
Monday, April 1, 2013
In a Time of Universal Deceit ...
... an April Fools' joke is a revolutionary act.
So, the University of Missouri -- bastion of journalistic mediocrity -- has a student organ called The Maneater -- 'cause we're Tigers. It was a pathetic excuse for a paper forty years ago; I am now certain it has not improved. Every year, until 2013, the paper did an April Fools' edition. Last year, they did a spoof called The Carpeteater. I'm sure that was just hilarious.
But, instead of being ashamed to ever show their faces in Harpo's or Flat Branch because they were unforgivably lame, the managing editor and editor-in-chief resigned because they should have known better than to try and make fun of a protected class.
Too bad they didn't do a Christeater edition that mocked space gods and Catholic cannibalism. That would have been perfectly acceptable.
In other remarks, an unnamed source added, "Also, thinking and stuff, that's like really hard, and we don't have anybody on the staff that does that well, either. So we decided to just write whatever they tell us and limit our mods to ironic spell-checking and subversive punctuation."
So, the University of Missouri -- bastion of journalistic mediocrity -- has a student organ called The Maneater -- 'cause we're Tigers. It was a pathetic excuse for a paper forty years ago; I am now certain it has not improved. Every year, until 2013, the paper did an April Fools' edition. Last year, they did a spoof called The Carpeteater. I'm sure that was just hilarious.
But, instead of being ashamed to ever show their faces in Harpo's or Flat Branch because they were unforgivably lame, the managing editor and editor-in-chief resigned because they should have known better than to try and make fun of a protected class.
Too bad they didn't do a Christeater edition that mocked space gods and Catholic cannibalism. That would have been perfectly acceptable.
Editor-In-Chief Kelly Olejnik said it takes a lot of time and energy to create a spoof paper, and it shouldn't be done if it can't be done well.
In other remarks, an unnamed source added, "Also, thinking and stuff, that's like really hard, and we don't have anybody on the staff that does that well, either. So we decided to just write whatever they tell us and limit our mods to ironic spell-checking and subversive punctuation."
Better Than on the Economy
Obama shoots 2-for-22 (apparently the hits were not from the freethrow line). Still, this is an improvement over his performance with regard to the American economy which remains at 0-for-50 and counting.
First, who says, "having done a few shots with him" when they are not talking about knocking back tequilas? Probably more like jello shots for this bunch of wusses.
Second, I can certainly understand that all the golf outings cut into NMP's time. It certainly isn't a result of doing any actual work. How did the poseur do on his NCAA brackets this year? Maybe he confused them with the NAACP brackets.
He took several throws, which missed.Of course, White House freakshow Carney has an excuse:
~
Obama moved closer to the net and made a basket.
.... Carney downplayed Obama's misses on the basketball court.
"The president doesn't get to practice probably as much he would like to," he said at the press briefing Monday afternoon, adding that "having done a few shots with him, he's pretty good."
Basketball is one of the president's favorite sports and he's coached his daughter's school teams.
When one reporter pointed out there was a court in Obama's backyard for the president to use, Carney replied: "These are busy times."
First, who says, "having done a few shots with him" when they are not talking about knocking back tequilas? Probably more like jello shots for this bunch of wusses.
Second, I can certainly understand that all the golf outings cut into NMP's time. It certainly isn't a result of doing any actual work. How did the poseur do on his NCAA brackets this year? Maybe he confused them with the NAACP brackets.
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