Messages

I didn't get into the grad program.

I guess I have a year to sort myself off and try again.

I'm sorry to read your grad school plans have been delayed, Nigel.

The best advice I can give is simple: Don't give up. Review your options. Revise your plans.

For what it's worth, I encountered a delay in completing my formal education too. Today, my biggest regret is not the delay, but that I didn't make better use of my time while I was not in school. But, from what you've written, I'm certain you won't make that mistake.

Relevant: http://www.salon.com/2016/03/03/my_gen_x_hillary_problem_i_know_why_we_dont_like_clinton/

That's an interesting article.

I'm neither female, nor Generation X, but I also have a hard time liking HRC. I say that in spite of admiring her efforts on the Clinton Health Security Act of 1993, and the job she did as Secretary of State. (When compared to her predecessor, political hack Condolezza Rice, HRC's job performance was stellar!) 

I'm not happy about her vote, as a US Senator, in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002. But, I was among the minority of US citizens that opposed the war at the time Dubbya, Cheney, and the rest of the neocons and chickenhawks were busy selling their bill of goods. (Unfortunately, few people cared to listen to, let alone believe, what Hans Blix, the head of the UN's Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, had to say about WMDs.) Here, for what it's worth, is a recent article where the author speculates on the reason for HRC's senate vote:

"The Meeting That Never Was: One UN Weapons Inspector's Effort to Educate Hillary Before Her Iraq Vote"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-ritter/hillary-clinton-iraq-war-vote_b_9350340.html

Nevertheless, the GOP's "Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi!" attacks never impressed me in the least bit. I don't give a damn about her e-mail server, and I know from personal experience that the government's "classified information" process is flawed. (For instance, I've come across manuals for an obsolete military computer system that were classified "Secret". The flaw in the classification process is/was that anyone in the world with a checking account could have openly purchased that particular computer system, or just the system's manuals, directly from the OEM at the time the system was brand new and on the market.) I don't care how much money HRC has made, since leaving office, giving speeches, and I don't particularly care what she said to the Wall Street cabal behind closed doors. 

I expect to be voting for HRC in the fall, and I don't doubt she'll do a respectable job as POTUS. Still, at this point in time, she's one of those people I'd have to meet in person before finally deciding whether I like her or not.

[but actual policies are all about rewarding the donor class]

For those still interested in this US election cycle, here's a recent article by Professor Paul Krugman, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences winner in 2008:

"Clash of Republican Con Artists"

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/04/opinion/clash-of-republican-con-artists.html?smid=tw-share&_r=3

It's a short article, but in explaining the Republican cons Krugman writes, "Establishment Republicans denounce Mr. Trump as a fraud, which he is. But is he more fraudulent than the establishment trying to stop him? Not really."

Further down Krugman writes, "... the Trump phenomenon threatens the con the G.O.P. establishment has been playing on its own base. I'm talking about the bait and switch in which white voters are induced to hate big government by dog whistles about Those People, but actual policies are all about rewarding the donor class." (Bold print mine.)

I'm going to have to start paying more attention to Professor Krugman. 

I am very sorry for your loss, Nigel. Please accept my condolences to you and your family.

Given the suspicious circumstances surrounding Associate Justice Scalia's death, it's not surprising the right-wingers are floating conspiracy theories involving President Obama and Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton.

I am surprised, however, that impartial observers haven't noticed the following:

1. Associate Justice Scalia's suspicious death occurred in Texas.

2. Rafael Cruz, the junior Senator from Texas, is a Presidential Candidate.

3. Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution clearly states:

"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President;"

4. Rafael Cruz was born in the foreign country of Canada.

5. Associate Justice Scalia, was a man with a reputation for strong legal conservatism.

6. A strong legal conservative interpretation of the phrase 'natural born Citizen' is:

"A natural born Citizen is a person born in the United States of America."

(Ample precedents for this strong legal conservative interpretation can be found in English law.)


That's an awful lot of coincidences. Just sayin'.

http://www.sciencealert.com/this-woman-has-illegally-uploaded-millions-of-journal-articles-in-an-attempt-to-open-up-science

From your link:

"If it sounds like a modern day Robin Hood struggle, that's because it kinda is. But in this story, it's not just the poor who don't have access to scientific papers – journal subscriptions have become so expensive that leading universities such as Harvard and Cornell have admitted they can no longer afford them. Researchers have also taken a stand – with 15,000 scientists vowing to boycott publisher Elsevier in part for its excessive paywall fees."

I read another article on the Internet, within the past year, where the author also complained about having to pay to have research papers published in 'for profit' publications, etc.

Since Cornell is specifically mentioned in your link, I would think they could easily take the lead in solving this problem. Cornell University already supports arXiv.org, where there is "Open access to 1,119,580 e-prints in Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Quantitative Biology, Quantitative Finance and Statistics". Perhaps my view of a possible solution is overly simplistic, but I don't see why it would be particularly hard to expand arXiv.org to accept more 'Life Sciences' research papers.

I can't speak for the other fields, but the majority of physicists who submit papers to arXiv.org are by no means lightweights. Here's the link to Cornell's site, if anyone is interested:

http://arxiv.org/

Of course he's going to lose the primary.  Even without the super delegates issue, he is going to meet cold reality in the Southeast.  I'm most definitely not happy with this, but what's crying about SDs - assuming that's even an issue - going to do but hand fuel to the fascists?  We're going to find out.  Because a third of either side's partisans is going to stay home or - even more hilariously - "write Bernie in".

Stop and think about that for a moment.  They're going to "write Bernie in" to a general election, when he couldn't beat Clinton in the primary in a two way election. That's a special kind of stupid.

Once Bernie Sanders' time in the national limelight is over, I don't doubt he'll tell his supporters to throw their full support behind HRC. I would also be very surprised if Sanders didn't actively go out and campaign for her, and that has to count for a lot.

The only instance I can recall of a write-in vote having any significance is when Lisa Murkowski beat Joe Miller in the Alaska Senate race of 2010. And even there, Murkowski was the incumbent senator, even though she had officially lost the Republican primary to Joe Miller. (If anyone knows of a case where write-in votes had any real influence in the outcome of a presidential election, I'd genuinely like to hear about it. No sarcasm, etc. intended.) 

The only good news about this is that the GOP is going to split for sure.  Trump has said that the RNC isn't treating him fairly, so his pledge is invalidated.  And they HAVE to crap on him even if it means the election, or they lose control of the party.

You could be right about the RNC continuing to try to bring Trump down. Unfortunately, the next guy in line is Cruz. So, the old boys have to jump over both Trump and Cruz to get to a true establishment candidate.               
   
Personally, I don't think the old boys have the stones to go the distance against Trump, but we shall see.

Personally, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's smug grin may be hard to look at, but it's still not as bad as electing actual Nazis.

Ms. Wasserman-Schultz can grin all she wants, if her Democrats can keep all of these GOP clowns out of the White House. 

"Scientists prove feasibility of 'printing' replacement tissue"

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-02-scientists-feasibility-tissue.html

HRC received a coveted endorsement in Nevada.

Here's the link:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/15/hookers-for-hillary-clinton-nevada-caucuses-bernie-sanders-moonlite-bunny-ranch

Is this faster than dissolving the body in acid?

I don't think Victor "The Cleaner" will be adding this to his in situ disposal supplies inventory, if that's where you're going with this.

General Relativity Alert!

Gravitational waves MAY have been detected oscillating in a space-time continuum near you.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/people-are-getting-excited-after-a-physicist-tweeted-that-gr#.htB9yk66W

Cowabunga!

"It's True: Physicists Announce Discovery Of Gravitational Waves"

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/physicists-announce-discovery-of-gravitational-waves

What is this, a school for ants?  Those gravity waves are AT LEAST TWO times too fast, according to my (questionable) calculations.  I thought they said it took 7ms between readings, should it not be around 14ms? 
4180000 / 299792458 = .0139 (aprox.)
US(width) / speed of light

[b/c I need the exercise]

Two detectors can not triangulate the direction of a signal. Triangulation requires a third detector.

I did not do any calculations. However, you may be assuming the signal was coming in exactly on the straight line connecting the Louisiana and Washington detectors. There is no reason to make that assumption. For instance, if the signal had originated at an equal distance from both detectors, there would have been zero time delay.

This isn't exactly techmology or scientism. I think it's really more technologyish and scienceyish, but here's the article title and link:

"NASA releases even more off its fantastical space tourism posters"

http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/9/10955126/nasa-space-posters-travel-tourism-planets

I'm far from being an expert, but it looks to me like these posters were intentionally done in the 'Art Deco style'.

General Relativity Alert!

Gravitational waves MAY have been detected oscillating in a space-time continuum near you.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/people-are-getting-excited-after-a-physicist-tweeted-that-gr#.htB9yk66W

Cowabunga!

"It's True: Physicists Announce Discovery Of Gravitational Waves"

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/physicists-announce-discovery-of-gravitational-waves

"This $40,000 Robotic Exoskeleton Lets the Paralyzed Walk"



Here's the link:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/546276/this-40000-robotic-exoskeleton-lets-the-paralyzed-walk/

I'm pretty sure he is the worst choice in the field.  Many of the others, Kaisch aside, are pretty bad, but Trump's the only one with a significant Neo-Nazi support base.  If he even only wins the nomination, it paves the way for one of America's major political parties to become a proxy for actual fascism.  Don Black, David Duke, Jared Taylor...they'll all be players. Seats at the table.  "Community leaders".

Oh, the irony! Me, of all people, defending The Trumpster.

Please keep in mind, Trump is an actor who knows his audience. I believe this cartoon sums it up pretty well:



And, it's no accident that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be Trump's replacement on that reality TV show.

If and when Trump wins the Republican Party's nomination, watch how fast and how hard he pivots to the left. The Teabaggers will, of course, howl and cry foul when that happens, but they'll vote for Trump anyway, and The Trumpster knows it.

Those Neo-Nazi's and KKK types have always been lurking there in the shadows. They mostly faded from view along with George Wallace, but quickly coalesced again and morphed themselves into 'The Tea Party' within days of Obama's first inauguration. They talked in code and dog-whistles for a long time, but backed by the Koch brother's money, they grew into a force within the GOP that even the Koch's can no longer control. If it weren't for Trump, those Neo-Nazi's and KKK types would be backing Cruz. They just wouldn't be so open about showing their true colors.