There was a sensational headline today: "Galileo's lost body parts found". Aye!!! What a great day for science!
The same day when the Large Hadron Collider reopened after 14 months, which of course is a headline you'll have to search to find.
Forget the question of why staring at or owning the middle finger of Galileo would give anyone any appreciation of his talents or contributions, why that would make them feel connected to him, as opposed to say, reading his work. Even more basically, why do we fuss about the dead bodies of dead people? I can understand the sentiment immediately following the death, when we still see them as the person we knew. But after they are long gone, is there any meaning to the dead body parts?
Friday, November 20, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
Conversations with a 3 Year Old - #2
Him: I will throw you in the garbage
Me: (Instead of the usual, "that's not right" approach) If you do that, I'll be gone. You'll have no appa.
Him: Oh? I need appa.
Me: What do you need me for?
Him: I need you to play with me.
Me: See, that's why you should not...
Him, interrupting: Amma... do you know how to play cricket?
Me: (Instead of the usual, "that's not right" approach) If you do that, I'll be gone. You'll have no appa.
Him: Oh? I need appa.
Me: What do you need me for?
Him: I need you to play with me.
Me: See, that's why you should not...
Him, interrupting: Amma... do you know how to play cricket?
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Ron Paul's "End The Fed"
Coming from strict constitutionalist and libertarian positions, subscribing to the Austrian school of economic thought with a strong influence of Ayn Rand, Ron Paul makes a passionate case against Fiat money, centralized banking, unlimited government powers in general, and the Federal Reserve in particular. He argues that the Fed's manipulation of value of the dollar, interest rates and, indirectly, prices is immoral, unconstitutional and will lead to economic destruction.
He explains how by creating money out of thin air, the Fed contributes to real inflation and so the debasement of the dollar, and helps funds wars and populist government programs. He vehemently urges a return to gold standard and a true market economy, with out manipulation by the Fed or any other central entity.
Some quotes:
"From April 2008 to April 2009, the adjusted monetary base shot up from $856 billion to an unbelievable $1.749 trillion. Was there any new wealth created? New production? No, this was the Ben Bernanke printing press at work. If you and I did anything similar, we would be called counterfeiters and be sent away for a lifetime in prison."
"The Fed's reports to Congress and hearings are for public consumption. Real information is not available to the public or to Congress, the Financial Services Committee, the Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee, or to me as a member of all three."
"Governments... default by debasing the currency, reducing the value thereof, through inflation. .. This is the plan: massive debt and inflation to bail out friends, pretending to prop up the economy and liquidate debt. It never goes as planned. John Maynard Keynes knew that in a correction it is necessary to lower wages. That's why he supported inflation to force real wages down and do it without confronting labor with the need to lower nominal wages."
"Do the auto executives come to Washington to demand freedom - freedom to contract labor, freedom to retool when they please, freedom to choose the cars they build, freedom from central economic planners regulating their every move, freedom to make profit and keep it, freedom to fail? Do they demand a sound currency that would rectify the international trade imbalances?
No they come to Washington to demand that innocent Americans bail them out and protect a system that deserves no protection. They never come to demand that the government protect contracts rather than insisting on the government rewriting them. They beg to be taken over, nationalized, partnered with, to obey a car czar and sacrifice every bit of self-respect that they might retain."
He explains how by creating money out of thin air, the Fed contributes to real inflation and so the debasement of the dollar, and helps funds wars and populist government programs. He vehemently urges a return to gold standard and a true market economy, with out manipulation by the Fed or any other central entity.
Some quotes:
"From April 2008 to April 2009, the adjusted monetary base shot up from $856 billion to an unbelievable $1.749 trillion. Was there any new wealth created? New production? No, this was the Ben Bernanke printing press at work. If you and I did anything similar, we would be called counterfeiters and be sent away for a lifetime in prison."
"The Fed's reports to Congress and hearings are for public consumption. Real information is not available to the public or to Congress, the Financial Services Committee, the Domestic Monetary Policy Subcommittee, or to me as a member of all three."
"Governments... default by debasing the currency, reducing the value thereof, through inflation. .. This is the plan: massive debt and inflation to bail out friends, pretending to prop up the economy and liquidate debt. It never goes as planned. John Maynard Keynes knew that in a correction it is necessary to lower wages. That's why he supported inflation to force real wages down and do it without confronting labor with the need to lower nominal wages."
"Do the auto executives come to Washington to demand freedom - freedom to contract labor, freedom to retool when they please, freedom to choose the cars they build, freedom from central economic planners regulating their every move, freedom to make profit and keep it, freedom to fail? Do they demand a sound currency that would rectify the international trade imbalances?
No they come to Washington to demand that innocent Americans bail them out and protect a system that deserves no protection. They never come to demand that the government protect contracts rather than insisting on the government rewriting them. They beg to be taken over, nationalized, partnered with, to obey a car czar and sacrifice every bit of self-respect that they might retain."
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