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| Two articles tweak some deep subconscious streak: One in the New York Times, A Baffling Contradiction: The first quarter of this year was the worst for the United States economy since the depths of the Great Recession in early 2009. During the same period, employers hired more people than in any quarter over the last six years, signaling gathering strength in the economy. It is hard to imagine how both of those statements could be true, but they are what government statistics indicate.  Must be some kinn'a analog vs. digital thing eh? Consider a barometer, which measures the height of the column of air over your head more-or-less directly, and compare it with any one of a gazillion economic models, which are computer programs embodying someone's assumptions about how things work based upon statistical numbers which you provide.GDP (f'rinstance) seems simple enough until you realize that the effects of a superstorm (or even a natural calamity) increase it. Maybe Adam Zyglis' cartoon makes a bit more sense in light of that eh? And another in The Guardian on the latest revelations around Neonicotinoids (original research described here and here): Water pollution levels of just 20 nanograms of neonicotinoid per litre led to a 30% fall in bird numbers over 10 years, but some water had contamination levels 50 times higher.Makes sense that if you kill off the insects the population of birds will fall, with or without a causal connection as there was with DDT - but the phrase that sticks is "20 nanograms of neonicotinoid per litre." What's that in ppm or ppb (I wonder)? Twenty billionths of a gram in 1,000 grams would make it ... 20 ppt - that's Parts Per (fricken') TRILLION! Keep in mind, 1 ppm is a second in two weeks, 1 ppb is a second in 30 years, so 1 ppt is a second in 30,000 years. And the greed-head scumbags at Syngenta and Bayer and Monsanto and the rest of them are pouring out tons and tens of thousands of tons of this shit. See also: George Monbiot in The Guardian and Another Silent Spring?. The Swallow He has two hearts instead of one. She cried, "Young man, what have ye done?"       Lili, I'm going to give you a massage to lift your spirits. You just want to take advantage of me when I'm vulnerable. ME!? Me take advantage? The massage is free!  We live in dark times. Politics sucks. (?) Happiness is an illusion. We are all already dead. Who laughs last laughs longest: (though laughter may need to be qualified)  February 2014: Judge Barbosa revokes Dirceu's work priviliges.  July 2014: Dirceu's first day of work - "Suck me Barbosa!"    Worst of all is to find out that our soccer is fake [too]:   Ubiquitous: present or appearing everywhere; omnipresent. (From the OED.) So ... hold that pension cheque (or dividend or Savings Bond coupon - or paycheque for that matter) lightly in your fingers and ponder where the money in it comes from; what the money in it represents. And then tell me again about the evil perfidy of the 1%. Not a pleasant meditation. Unless, that is ... you have a Danish pension. :-) |
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