Category Archives: Media Criticism

Business, Economics, Mathematics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary

The Antarctic Ice Sheet

19 Comments

OK, there seems to be a Twitter panic going on, so I went and read Alan Boyle’s story about it. That was the first time I heard that (even if the models are valid) the problem is two hundred years off.

Isn’t there anyone out there who understands discount rates?

[Update a while later]

Here’s more detail from John Timmer:

Even in the short term, the new findings should increase our estimates for sea level rise by the end of the century, the scientists suggest. But the ongoing process of retreat and destabilization will mean that the area will contribute to rising oceans for centuries.

Sorry, but I’m not going to worry about “rising oceans for centuries” today. Even the end of the century is effectively discounted to zero. It’s economically insane to reduce economic growth now to prevent something that won’t happen for decades.

[Late afternoon update]

As I noted on Twitter earlier:

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Obama’s Presidency

4 Comments

The day it died:

Let us now return to Parshall’s observation that ”all military failures fall into three basic categories: failure to learn from the past, failure to anticipate what the future may bring, and failure to adapt to the immediate circumstances on the battlefield.” It’s possible that Obama did exactly that on the night of September 11, 2012. He didn’t see the double cross coming; he had no Plan B for Syria, for al-Qaeda, having bet the farm on Plan A and he covered failure up.

He went and committed all three categories of failure. ”Finally, at the apex of failure stand those rare events when all three basic failures occur simultaneously-an event known as catastrophic failure. In such an occurrence, the result is usually a disaster of such scope that recovery is impossible.”

And now he’s living with the consequences of having to pursue a strategic assumption he knows is wrong but does not dare denounce.

It’s going to look worse and worse as time goes on.

Mathematics, Media Criticism, Philosophy, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Technology and Society

A World Without Humans

7 Comments

We don’t worry enough about it.

I think that AI is a much bigger danger than “climate change.” Of course, some people dream of the end of humanity. Many of them are the same ones who worry too much about climate change.

[Update a few minutes later]

Peripherally related: More thoughts on much of the Left’s apparent hatred of humanity:

You know, it’s almost as if, having lost the doctrine of original sin and Christian forgiveness, these poor women are left with nothing but the free-floating, universalized guilt that makes them hate themselves and life. Maybe that’s unfair. I don’t know these ladies. But life hatred — humanity hatred, self-hatred and ultimately God hatred — seem to permeate so much of radical leftism. Feminism and Marxism with their revulsion at human nature, environmentalism with its elevation of greenery over humankind, radical groups like PETA that put the love of animals before the love of neighbor, the sweaty insistence on self-esteem and feeling good about yourself, giving praise, praise, praise for nothing, nothing, nothing, the ceaseless need to define your opposition as hateful… and abortion as a positive. It all smacks of self-hatred, doesn’t it? The love of death over life.

Actually, Bob Zubrin wrote a good book about that.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Rerunning 1998?

4 Comments

I think there’s a flaw in Mickey’s theory:

I’m not suggesting the White House is intentionally provoking Republicans over Benghazi, the better to produce counterproductive overreach. OK, sorry. I’m totally suggesting the White House is intentionally provoking Republicans over Benghazi. It’s not like this is something the White House hasn’t been accused of before. Remember the “birther” controversy, where Obama delayed releasing his birth certificate for years as the conservative fringe wound themselves up in greater and greater knots of paranoia? ’Look, what a bunch of crazies” was Obamas implicit message then. That may be his message again. Sure beats “The debate is over.”

The problem is that (as we were told ad infinitum by Democrat partisans), the Clinton scandal was “just about sex.” Here the lies (and continued stonewalling) are about four dead Americans, killed by administration ineptitude.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Demographic Death Spiral

4 Comments

No, not of people this time, of businesses:

More businesses are failing now than are being created, a first for the American economy since the Carter era, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution. That has become even more true during the Obama “recovery” than during the Great Recession.

Also:

Another nugget in that Brookings paper: “older and larger businesses are doing better relative to younger and smaller ones”

The younger and smaller ones don’t have the financial resources to buy (or, actually) rent the grifters and grafters in DC.

[Update a couple minutes later]

This is probably related; how bad is the job market for 2014 grads? This bad:

Today’s crop of new B.A.s are staring at roughly 8.5 percent unemployment, 16.8 percent underemployment. Close to half of those who land work won’t immediately find a job that requires their degree, and for those stuck in that situation, there are fewer “good” jobs to go around. Welcome to adulthood, class of 2014.

A lot of them wasted borrowed money on their degrees, loans that are currently not dischargeable in bankruptcy. So they have that going for them, too.