Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

The Global Test

9 Comments

Are Obama and Kerry passing it? Gee, in the olden days, of Boooosh, having dozens of countries with us, but not France, was “going it alone.” Now, apparently France, and no one else (other than Turkey), is the World United.

And yes, I am back from Alaska, though we didn’t make it to Seward — the weather was too crummy — but we did take a walk in Kincaid Park in Anchorage, and saw a bull moose fifty feet off the trail. But we have relatives visiting for the weekend, so posting will remain spotty.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Modern Parenting

13 Comments

…may hinder brain development.

On Saturday, we took a guided tour of the Denali Park HQ area. The ranger pointed out a rock where the children of the early park officians used to play, a century ago. “We’d never let them do that today,” she said. “Kids today aren’t as tough.”

I spoke up, and told her, “Kids today are just like kids in any other day. It’s the parents that are different.” Several of the (older) people in the group nodded.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space, Technology and Society

The STEM “Crisis”

47 Comments

…is a myth:

“If there was really a STEM labor market crisis, you’d be seeing very different behaviors from companies,” notes Ron Hira, an associate professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in New York state. “You wouldn’t see companies cutting their retirement contributions, or hiring new workers and giving them worse benefits packages. Instead you would see signing bonuses, you’d see wage increases. You would see these companies really training their incumbent workers.”

“None of those things are observable,” Hira says. “In fact, they’re operating in the opposite way.”

And even if there was, the notion that NASA would help it is ludicrous. Particularly if anyone thinks it’s going to do so by building rockets to nowhere.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

Happy Marx Day

10 Comments

So why do we have a Labor Day anyway? What is it about “labor” that deserves a day off (isn’t that ironic) and a three-day weekend, but not (say) Entrepreneurs Day, or “People Who Have To Meet A Payroll” Day?

I know, I know, it was a reaction to some of the brutal labor practices and strikes of the later nineteenth century, particularly Pullman. But as Detroit exemplifies, we went too far in glorifying labor, and we don’t seem to care enough about the people who actually create the jobs, to the point of abuse. It’s not surprising that, in the wake of ridiculous overregulation (capped by ObamaCare) they’re going on strike, and we’re becoming a part-time nation, at best.

Administrative, General Science

Denali

12 Comments

Heading into the park for the day. I’m check back in tonight. If you don’t hear from me, send out a search party. #Joking

[Monday-morning update]

Hope no one sent out a search party. We got in, not that late, but WordPress was playing its little game with me that doesn’t allow me to log in to post or edit comments.

We went all the way to the end of the road in Kantishna. Fall is happening rapidly up here — you can almost see the leaves on the alders and birches turning yellow in real time, and winter will be here very soon — there was a fresh dusting of snow on the lower peaks on Saturday. It didn’t rain on our trip out and back, but it was cloudy. We saw most of the mountain, in terms of mass (everything below about 12,000 feet), but not the upper reaches.

We sighted several bears, one of which — a big blonde grizzly — was right by the roadside, then wandered around the back of the bus over to the other side, too busy eating blueberries and low-bush cranberries to pay much attention to us. It looked pretty plump and ready to hibernate to me, but it obviously had a different opinion. I may post video later.

Also saw ptarmigan, grouse, ducks of several varieties, a golden eagle and falcon, ground squirrels, red squirrel, several caribou. What didn’t we see? What we most expected to — a moose. Except for one that I might have seen running the opposite direction to the bus through the dwarf spruce, that we didn’t have time to look for at the end of the day.

Today we head up to Fairbanks, and then down to Copper Center, where the red salmon are still running, presumably with accompanying bears.

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