My Time to Waste

You might not notice the resemblance (especially if you do not know me!), but that is me in this comic.

It drives me NUTS when I ask for an address and I get directions instead of an address.  Once upon a time this might have made a bit of sense, but no more.  The directions I get off of the internet are stunningly accurate.  I’m sure there are examples of mistakes in such directions, but I’ve been victim to mistakes in the directions from the person who lives at the destination (and I usually fail to see the hydrant painted like a clown….)

OK, the guy in the comic is using GPS and I do not have GPS.  This is just to keep me from suing.

Besides, GPS is not always accurate.  When my son and his wife came to visit at our new house, his GPS announced that they had arrived when they were still a block away.  Good thing they had the address.

Satoshi Kanazawa is a blogger at Psychology Today.  He blogs about evolutionary psychology.  Not everything he has posted has sounded right to me, but some of it seems OK.  But enough is enough.

the fact that Barack Obama’s father was a Muslim Kenyan, descended from a long line of Muslims, will remain true until the day he dies, and nothing he ever does in his life can change half of his genes that he inherited from his father.  His genes are for keeps.  The fact that he has attended Christian church for the past 20 years is not going to change that…Obama is still as (half) Muslim as the day he was born.

It would seem that Mr. Kanazawa confuses ethnicity with religious belief.  And yes, Mr. Kanazawa is talking about religion here…

34% state [Obama] is a Christian (down from 48% in March 2009).  It is disheartening to know that 34% of the population has a dim understanding of human genetics.

This does open a door to an out if and when people become embarrassed about claiming that Obama is Muslim.  Now they can say that they simply meant that his ethnicity is Muslim (although I do not believe that Muslims constitute an ethnicity, but why be concerned with details at this point).

The thought has ever so briefly flittered across my brain on a few occasions over the years.

Where were all these micro breweries when I was growing up?

My family drank a lot of beer.  But it was never a micro brew, it was Bud or Shiltz  or some other major brand.   Years later, as an adult I see or hear about micro brews with regularity.

It turns out that beer drinkers have Jimmy Carter to thank for that!!

Who would of thunk it?!  I’m guess there’s a few people who would have great difficulty reconciling the “Carter is the worst president ever!” belief with this info.

Oh well.  Life is hard sometimes!

While in a shop in Saratoga Springs, New York, I came across this jar of peanut butter.

The label says Peanut Buzz.  And what is the Buzz?

Research suggests peanuts have more protein than any other legume or nut.

I would think that the comparative levels of protein in legumes and nuts is well established, so I find it odd that research only “suggests” peanuts have more protein.  But maybe it is so.*

Next up is

Peanuts may help improve HDL/LDL ratio

Again, I find the “may help” wording oddly vague.  But, again, maybe it is so.  No mention of research here.

Peanut eaters can have leaner bodies

This is most certainly true.   I am certain that peanut eaters can have leaner bodies.  I am equally certain that they can have fat bodies, and medium bodies.

Peanuts have been referred to as Mother Nature’s “multi-vitamin”

Really?  Someone once referred to peanuts as a multi-vitamin?   Here is the nutrition label on this jar of peanut butter:

My apologies for the blur.  Let’s see, we can ignore the fat, cholesterol, sodium, carb, fiber, sugar and protein content since multi-vitamins do not normally supply those items.  That brings us to vitamin A (0% DV), Calcium (2% DV), Vitamin C (0% DV), Iron (4% DV).  If your multi-vitamin label even remotely resembles those numbers, you are getting ripped off.

It is fun how the label begins with claims that may well be true, but states them tentatively.  By the time the last statement comes along, it seems to have as much authority as the preceding claims.    And since it seems a near certainty that sometime, somewhere, someone once said that peanuts are natures multi-vitamin…

I did not buy this product so I have no idea how good or bad it may be.  I have no idea if it is produced by a small Saratoga Springs company or some massive corporation.  But I do know that the label is right there with the worst corporate bs scam crap out there.  Which is why I did not buy the product.

*Note that there are two levels of uncertainty here.

As we drove through New York last week, we came across some road construction.  It is summer after all and this is to be expected.   I do not remember what road we were on, but it is a four lane divided highway.  The left lanes on both sides of the road were closed.  As the picture shows, the temporary concrete barrier was set up and the shoulder converted to the right lane.

Note the sign:

“RIGHT LANE MUST USE SHOULDER”

What else is there?  If a vehicle is not on the shoulder, it is not in the right lane.  If it is in the right lane, it is already on the shoulder.

And this sign is installed every few hundred feet.   Just to the left of the speed limit sign the bottom of the next “Right Lane Must Use Shoulder” sign is visible peeking out from behind the green info sign.

Yesterday I was listening to Performance Today on NPR.  They played a selection performed by a group of female musicians who were all currently incarcerated in a Texas prison.  Along with the performance was a bit of time talking about the program that teaches inmates how to play musical instruments.

Someone from the Texas prison system was being interviewed and he talked about the 60% recidivism rate in Texas and how when an inmate experiences success playing the music this leads to more positive behavior and lowers the recidivism rate.  He called it a win-win.

Now, dear reader, you might be nodding your head and thinking indeed it is a win-win.  The state of Texas experiences less recidivism which really means less crime and less money spent incarcerating people and the inmates win by finding a path to a life inside the law.

Ahh, but that is not what the man meant.  He immediately followed up with a clarification.  The win-win he was talking about was, yes, the state of Texas and the Texas prison system!  Yeah!!!

Well, the umpire blew what should have been the final call of the game and perfection is ruined, at least as far as the record book is concerned.  My question is  does this leave Armando Galarraga with an accomplishment never before achieved?

A perfect game is 27 outs with no one reaching base.  Galarraga and the Tigers retired 28 with no one reaching base (if you ignore the umpire’s error).

Since it seems that instant replay is only a matter of time for baseball, Galarraga’s pluperfect game may “forever” stand as a unique accomplishment.

Al and Tipper Gore are separating.  It was just a couple of weeks ago that Al and Tipper purchased another  home.

I would almost bet (I have a bit of personal experience here) that there is a correlation between buying a house (or seriously looking to buy) and a subsequent separation, divorce, or breakup.  Don’t some couples actually have children to “save” the marriage?  Maybe some buy a house.

I wish the Gores all the best.

It seems that Architect Ginger Krieg Dosier has developed a way to grow “bricks by combining sand, bacteria, calcium chloride and urea, all easy-to-come-by materials.”

According to the link, urine has also been found to be a good source of hydrogen (the battery fuel is not so useful it seems).

Soon plumbers will be making lots of money retrofitting bathrooms to save the urine!!

I have been a bit slow getting my two cents worth in on this, but here it is.

A year ago we really missed our chance to solve the illegal immigration problem when we did what we could to prevent a depression.   A solid 1930′s type depression would have sent all those illegals home!

We missed that chance.

There is nothing that we can do to prevent illegal immigrants from entering this country.   If we walled off the entire border, there is a whole lot of coastline.

Illegal immigration will slow when the economies to the south of us become first world economies.  What can we do to help?   Decriminalize drugs (including legalizing marijuana).  Corruption is a big obstacle between Mexico and a first world economy.  Corruption is fueled by money.  The drug trade supplies a lot of that money.

Mexico is in the grip of gang violence fueled by drugs which I am sure is not all that healthy for the economy.

Also, did you notice that when Arizona residents talk about why they like the new law aimed at illegals, it sounds like their problem has more to do with drugs than with immigrants?