When Religion Fails

How would Christianity "fail"? I mean, if we don't find Noah's Ark, we could always say, "It's still out there, waiting to be found." How would we prove Christianity false, though? Would someone have to find actual documentation of someone "making it all up"?

How do people act when their religion is proven wrong, like the crazies who believed the Rapture was coming last month? Or what about those who believe the end of times will be in December 2012? How do people react when their religion absolutely, clearly, obviously, fails?

We're about to find out:

Global greenhouse gas emissions have risen even faster during the past decade than predicted by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and other international agencies. According to alarmist groups, this proves global warming is much worse than previously feared. The increase in emissions “should shock even the most jaded negotiators” at international climate talks currently taking place in Bonn, Germany, the UK Guardian reports. But there’s only one problem with this storyline; global temperatures have not increased at all during the past decade.

The evidence is powerful, straightforward, and damning. NASA satellite instruments precisely measuring global temperatures show absolutely no warming during the past the past 10 years. This is the case for the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes, including the United States. This is the case for the Arctic, where the signs of human-caused global warming are supposed to be first and most powerfully felt. This is the case for global sea surface temperatures, which alarmists claim should be sucking up much of the predicted human-induced warming. This is the case for the planet as a whole.

Standards

I received the following email from a maillist of which I am a member, and received permission from the author to repost it here. The maillist is military in nature, and that is the background of this particular email, but it applies to so much of life in general:

It all goes back the Cigarette Butt rule, and it's more general application by soft-hearted and soft-headed "Progressives".

Cigarette Butt rule: if you walk into the barracks, and there's one un-policed butt -- and you make no comment -- that's your new standard.

In general, anytime one sets a standard with a clear dividing line, someone is going to fall just short, and there are people that argue an exception should be made because "they're so close". You've moved (lowered) the standard. But you haven't made anyone better. There will be still be those that "miss it by that much". And now the argument will focus on that group.

Humanity is a bell curve. If you move the center point, you don't get more people doing better, you just move the curve.

I believe in standards, and I believe in holding people to those standards. Of course, it's always appropriate to consider circumstances in extenuation and mitigation when someone fails to meet the standards, but the standards themselves usually should not change.

Sunday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
Kim Il-sung.

Today's question is:
What was the name of the first cloned mammal, a sheep, news of which was released in 1997?

Teachers As A Percentage of the Work Force

Courtesy of the UC Berkeley Visualization Labs comes this graph of teachers. Note the ratio of women to men.

(Other graphs can be found here.)

It's Like I'm 16 Again

On the heels of yesterday's triumph of being able to sit in the front seat of a car, I thought I'd try it again today--only this time in the left front seat. It took over a minute to pull and twist and contort, but eventually I was able to get in and sit with only minimal discomfort due to my immobilizer--which I could remove now, if I really wanted to.

My first true driving in 7 weeks, and where did I go? Best Buy, to get a new microphone for Skyping. The old one had an intermittent open in it, and last night it stopped being intermittent.

Saturday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
July 1, 1997.

Today's question is:
Which North Korean “Great Leader” died in 1994, to be succeeded by his crazy son Kim Jong Il?

How's My Beloved State of California Doing?

We're #48 on the Mercatus Center's State Freedom Rankings:

Executive Summary

This study comprehensively ranks the American states on their public policies that affect individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. It updates, expands, and improves upon our inaugural 2009 Freedom in the 50 States study. For this new edition, we have added more policy variables (such as bans on trans fats and the audio recording of police, Massachusetts’s individual health-insurance mandate, and mandated family leave), improved existing measures (such as those for fiscal policies, workers’ compensation regulations, and asset-forfeiture rules), and developed specific policy prescriptions for each of the 50 states based on our data and a survey of state policy experts. With a consistent time series, we are also able to discover for the first time which states have improved and worsened in regard to freedom recently.

Here's California's information in particular:

Contrary to popular perception, California not only taxes and regulates its economy more than most other states, it also aggressively interferes in the personal lives of its citizens. California simply needs to cut government spending. The budgetary categories most out of line with the rest of the country are administration, social services, environment and housing, and “other.” Labor laws are extremely strict, of course; for instance, California is one of only five states to mandate short-term disability insurance. Health-insurance coverage mandates add about 49 percent to the cost of premiums in the state. Eminent-domain reform has been cosmetic, and the state’s liability system almost reaches the abysmal quality of the Deep South’s. On personal freedoms, California does well on same-sex partnerships and marijuana, but it also has the most restrictive gun laws in the country, a highly restrictive policy regime for motorists, and smoking bans. The state’s civil asset-forfeiture regime is arguably the best in the country, apart from North Carolina’s, which has only criminal forfeiture.

And here's part of the reason this is so--our legislature is nuts. A few years ago California voters approved a Citizens Redistricting Commission to redraw legislative district boundaries in an attempt to break the chokehold incumbents have on their seats. Let's see the results of that first effort:

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund said the maps do not provide a fair opportunity to increase the number of legislative and congressional seats held by members of the state's fastest-growing minority.

Steven Ochoa, MALDEF's national redistricting coordinator, said more analysis is needed to determine whether the commissioners' plan would illegally dilute the political power of Latinos. "I think this plan could put them at risk, though," he said.

Eugene Lee, of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, characterized the new maps as a mixed bag.

State Sen. Curren Price, an Inglewood Democrat who chairs the Legislative Black Caucus, gave the maps a thumbs-up, saying they "maintained the integrity of the districts currently represented by African Americans in the state Legislature."

Can you say, Balkanized? I knew you could.

I Don't Agree With This Guy

His talk sounds intellectual, but he's way off base. Language is what separates humans from the other animals!



He presents a couple of examples and pretends that its scalable. It's not. And I find his examples to be more confusing than illucidating; in fact, much like manipulatives, I question whether his "interactive software" learning translates to actual math learning.

I'd be interested to see how these studies he mentions were set up and evaluated.

The biggest problem, though, is this: why do we teach math in the first place? I assert it's so we have tools with which to solve real world problems. And real world problems are usually presented in words! In my thirty-sixteen years of life I've never had to use pictures to help a penguin get across a computer screen (watch the video above!), but I've had plenty of issues arise wherein I needed to use my math abilities. The point of math instruction isn't to solve a math problem, it's to solve a real problem! Math is just the tool, the language, we use to solve the real problem.

Teachers, Here's Where Your Dues Money Goes

I don't know how this in particular is going to benefit me in the way of pay, benefits, or working conditions:

The National Education Association, the largest education union, is preparing for a long, tough fight to re-elect President Obama...

The 3.2 million-member organization has affiliate organizations in every state, and Wilson said it is prepared to spend at least $60 million to reelect Obama.

Friday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's question is:
1996.

Today's question is:
When did Hong Kong revert from British to Chinese sovereignty?

I'm A Big Boy Now

For the first time since my injury, I sat in the front seat of a car and wore a seatbelt. Until today I've had to sit in the back seat, with my back against the rear passenger door, with my left leg up on the seat, with no seat belt on.

Getting closer!

Wear The Appropriate Uniform

You don't get to decide *which* uniform you wear at functions; whoever is putting on the function decides the uniform. And if the uniform for graduation is school cap and gown, then that's what it is--Marine or not:

"Once a Marine, always a Marine" apparently doesn't apply at a Pennsylvania high school where a 17-year-old graduate has been told she cannot wear her uniform when she receives her diploma.

Lindsay Starr told KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh she wanted to wear her dress blues during Friday's graduation ceremony at North Allegheny High School in Pittsburgh, but that school officials denied her request, citing the requirement of wearing only the traditional cap and gown.

I would think that the Marines would have taught her more about being part of the team and less about trying to bring more attention to yourself.

School's Out, Summer Begins

In 12-1/2 hours, this school year will be over. Now I admit, there's a part of me that enjoyed having a 7-week vacation from work, but don't think for a moment that I would willfully pay the price for such a vacation. A few moments on the snow forced that price on me.

So while I've had 7 weeks off, in just over half a day all my colleagues will join me in vacation mode. The difference will be that they will be physically able to enjoy their vacations, while my existence will not change. As I just wrote in my journal, my life revolves around three items: the clock, so I know when to take my pills; the crutch, so I can get around; and my cell phone, which I always keep on my person in case something happens and I need to summon help. I hate being this dependent, this fragile, this helpless.

The doctor has instructed me to remove the immobilizer when I'm at home, and without it I feel so exposed. The slightest incorrect movement could erase 7 weeks of healing, so you can bet that I am even more careful now. I'll still wear it when I go out, but at home, for the short distances I walk in the house, it now stays off.

When school gets out tomorrow my son will head up into the mountains to go camping with his mother. The original plan was that I would drive him there, but events have obviously forced a rewrite of that plan. On Tuesday I was to head to Las Vegas and my first stay at the Encore, but that's now cancelled. I will be home, planning and choreographing every move I make so as not to injure myself any further, all so that someday I will be able to walk again, and without a limp.

I had so many plans for this summer. I was going to take my son to Great America, in Silicon Valley, an amusement park I enjoyed as a kid and teenager and young adult. I was going to take him up north so we could drive through the redwood tree at Leggett. I was going to drive to Colorado, camping en route. Iceland was my big trip, and I was going to end the summer with the annual scooter rally, this summer held at the Gold Discovery Site in Coloma. All of this, and so many other not-quite-yet-gelled plans, have all changed. I will stay home and heal, and look to the future when I'll be able to travel.

Heck, I will stay home and heal, and work towards a future in which I'll be able to drive myself somewhere.

Usually I don't fall into this trap of self-pity. At night, though, in the silence of the darkness and the emptiness of the house, I sometimes succumb. I don't know what's so different, why it's easier to resist in daylight than at night, as the only thing different is the time on the clock, but nevertheless it's so. I'll be better tomorrow, though, and look forward to calling my son as soon as school gets out, to hear that excitement in his voice that can only come from a child at that last bell, and I'll smile.

Summer vacation begins.

On What Rational Basis Does This Decision Rest?

Where's the so-called smart diplomacy I've heard about for 2-1/2 years but have yet to see?

President Obama was effusive in his praise for the Special Relationship when he visited London recently, but his administration continues to slap Britain in the face over the highly sensitive Falklands issue. Washington signed on to a “draft declaration on the question of the Malvinas Islands” passed by unanimous consent by the General Assembly of the Organisation of American States (OAS) at its meeting in San Salvador yesterday, an issue which had been heavily pushed by Argentina. In doing so, the United States sided not only with Buenos Aires, but also with a number of anti-American regimes including Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela and Daniel Ortega’s Nicaragua.

This issue has been decided, and enough people died deciding it. And if you believe in self-determination, the Falklands will stay a British dependency.

What possible good does our idiot president expect by putting the United States on the wrong side of history, as well as of decency, in this situation? What does he expect to get by continuing to screw our allies and suck up to our less-than-friends? Sorry, Obamabots, you can't pin this one on President Bush at all. This is entirely an Obama screw-up. Please defend it.

Thursday Trivia

The answer to yesterday's bonus question for 1985 Week is:
Money For Nothing. (I've read it now cannot be played in Britain because of the word "faggot" in it.)

Today's question, the first in 1990-1999 Week, is:
In what year did the Taliban seize control in Afghanistan?

On-Campus Housing At UC Davis

I've often referred to Davis, just across the causeway from Sacramento, as "Berkeley-lite", and some may wonder why. Wonder no more!

And before you lefties get your panties in a bunch: no, there's nothing inherently wrong with this, but even you have to admit that it's somewhat odd.

Losing A Supporter of Public Education

Zombie, probably the best photoessayist of our time, has had a rough time figuring out what to do with all those "State of Emergency" pictures he had from last month's CTA rallies. He's always been a fan of public education, but something in these pictures drove him away:

But as I walked around the rally in San Francisco, and later scanned the pictures taken by Ringo at the L.A. rally, I found myself thinking uncharitable thoughts about the protesting teachers: I hope your funding gets cut even more! Your demands are futile because the state is bankrupt anyway and there’s no more money to give; but even if the economy were to eventually recover, I would still want to see funding for public education slashed to a minimum.

Horrors! I was taken aback by my own thoughts. How could I be so cruel? What evil right-wing influence was making me think this way?

And then I looked around me and realized: It isn’t the right-wingers who are making me think these awful thoughts: It’s the teachers themselves at this very rally who have forced me into it!

If you don't have the time or the inclination to go read the whole thing, I'll cut to the chase for you:

And then it hit me why I had such an adverse reaction to the whole thing:

The very act of them asking for money is what made me not want to give them money, because it revealed their political bias.

And here’s why:

• As you can see in the many photos illustrating this essay, their demands for more money were accompanied by many ancillary leftist slogans like “Tax the Rich!” and “Workers’ Power!” and “Cutting Education Is Class War” and so on. So this wasn’t just about requesting more funding for education: The content of the rally itself revealed that increasing school funding is just a component of a larger leftist agenda — school funding is being used as a lever to penalize the rich, increase power for unions, and so forth.

• The demand that unwilling taxpayers fund more government services is in and of itself a cornerstone of liberal ideology.

• The very act of having a street protest demanding handouts is essentially a leftist tactic, so the simple existence of teachers at the rally means that they embrace leftist ideology.

• As at other union rallies documented in earlier essays, socialist and communist groups mingled freely on May 13 with the teachers’ unions, their messages blending into a unified ethos.

• And the clincher: At both rallies, teachers brought entire classes of their students (this was held on a Friday, a school day, remember) to join in this overtly leftist behavior.

It’s this last point that really turned me sour on the whole thing. Dudes, are you seriously bringing your students from public schools to a leftism-soaked political rally? You’re supposed to be their teachers, not their indoctrinators.

Good job, idiots.

What's Wrong With College, In One Book Review

Just about everything that's wrong with higher education is identified in this one short review of The Faculty Lounges: And Other Reasons Why You Won't Get The College Education You Pay For:

Tenure isn't the only reason that American higher education is losing quality, productivity and intellectual freedom. (Think unionization, price inflation, political correctness, academic faddism, bureaucratization, lengthening weekends, shortening semesters, nonexistent counseling, low completion rates.) But our universities and their students would be better off without it--and in this valuable and timely book Naomi Schaefer Riley does a brilliant job of explaining why. --Chester E. Finn, Jr., senior fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University; president, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Today's Retirement Picnic

Two of our math teachers retire at the end of this week, and neither of them wanted a big to-do for a send-off. I convinced them not to think of themselves, but to consider that a proper send-off was something they could do for us. I suggested a staff picnic, and they agreed.

And then the planning began. Because of my injury I've done a bit of coordination here at home while three others at school did the lion's share of the work.

Today the potluck picnic went off without a hitch. After a week of rain and dreariness, today the sky was crystal clear--and the temperature was probably in the mid-70s. We had tables set up under a big tree, and plenty of our colleagues came and commiserated, broke bread, and in general, had a good time.

Picnics are my favorite way of saying good-bye to retirees. They're relatively easy to organize, they don't cost anything, and everyone has a good time!

Is It True? Is This Small Battle Over?

If so, it's a great victory for conservative views and especially for individual freedom:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said his agency will remove the Fairness Doctrine from the rulebooks in response to a recent request from House Republicans.

"I fully support deleting the Fairness Doctrine and related provisions from the Code of Federal Regulations, so that there can be no mistake that what has been a dead letter is truly dead," Genachowski wrote in a letter Monday to House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.)...

The commission stopped enforcing the rule in 1987 after concluding it was unconstitutional, but in recent years some Democrats have suggested reviving the policy in response to the increasingly partisan nature of cable news.

Hat tip to NewsAlert.