A math professor claims that he’s got a simplified way of analyzing triangles. I’d like to see more about this.
Marketing Blunder
Iain Murray notes that:
The New York Times is going to start charging for people to read its oped columns online. Projected annual income: two boxes of crackerjack and a signed photograph of Paul Krugman.
I’m willing to pay for Tierney, but I’d how much of a discount will they give me to have to read Dowd and Krugman? Otherwise, I’ll just pass completely.
Ingrates
Commenter Josh Reiter has some second-hand reporting from the Houston evacuee site:
Many of the people while screaming in anger, spitting, and fist pounding while demanding that they receive better food. Note above that my girlfriend has eaten the food there at the convention center and describes it as the same quality that you’d get at a Chili’s, Fridays, or at worst a Boston Market. They were angrily demanding McDonalds’ value meals to satiate their palates.
One young girl who was pregnant was asked where she was from. She very quietly mumbled something while several people were talking loudly and the buzz of lighting ballasts blared overhead. When asked to repeat herself the girl grabbed the clipboard and pen out of her hand and scribbled a series of indecipherable letters on the form. Then, threw them back down in disgust…
…I understand that anger is one of the natural reponses to a tragic situation. But there is a difference between venting types of anger and those in which someone really shows their true colors. They did nothing but display direct anger at those things and people around them that they truly despise. I think we see here the reason these people are in the situation that they are in for a reason. These people have been giving shelter, comfortable beds, good food, free medical care, free medicine, and money. For which they have little or no consideration for those who are trying to help them or appreciation for what they are being given.
Mark Twain once wrote “…a dog will not bite the hand that feeds him. This is the principal difference between a man and a dog.”
You Thought New Orleans Was A Disaster?
Wait until the next hurricane hits New York. And it’s almost certainly “when,” not “if.”
The Taming Of The Screw
Here’s an interesting (if you’re into mechanical engineering) story about a man who has reinvented the screw. This could have some interesting aerospace fastener applications.
[via Geekpress]
Disappointment
Glenn says that, apparently, the incoming Chief Justice thinks that there’s nothing that the Commerce Clause doesn’t prohibit. Sounds like it’s time for a constitutional amendment.
Blowhards
An article in this week’s Economist says that hurricanes are getting worse. It doesn’t offer any particular support for the theory that this is a result of global warming, though. And the sample that it shows is only over the last third of a century, so it’s entirely possible (and even likely, if one goes back further for data) that this is a periodic phenomenon, not a secular one. We’re simply heading into a near-term period of increased activity. It’s not a propitious time to own real estate near the Florida coast (as we do).
The Six Dumbest Ideas
…in computer security.
An Unfortunate Headline
This Reuters story about a Hubble discovery of a “homeless black hole” provided a lot of grist for the freeper mill:
They realized it was homeless when they noticed a cardboard sign that read “Will suck light for food”…
Give it a government debit card loaded with two grand.
SpaceX Reporting
Defense Industry Daily has a rundown on current plans for SpaceX, and their leap directly from Falcon 1 to Falcon 9. They don’t mention the recent engine test failure, though.
It’s also amusing that they describe Mike Griffin as “…a former NASA exec and president of the venture-capital firm In-Q-Tel.”
I’m pretty sure he has a new job now.