Wisconsin Kerfuffle...

I've received several emails over the past few days from people wondering why I'm not commenting on the confrontation between Governor Scott Walker and the public employee unions in Wisconsin.  The reason is very simple: I have little to add to the discussion.  But I'm watching with great interest, because I think the outcome of this confrontation is going to be a foreshadowing of the politics of the next year or two.

This sort of confrontation was, I think, inevitable after the 2010 elections.  I certainly didn't expect the public employee unions to simply roll over – they're going to fight back with every tool at their disposal, as we're seeing in Madison.  They have every right to do so.  The interesting element here isn't so much what the unions are doing – rather it's how Scott Walker and the (Republican majority) Wisconsin legislature react.  If they stick to their principles and pass Governor Walker's reform bill, then the conservatives and the Tea Party will have won an important battle in their war on government spending, and their fellows across the country will take great heart.  On the other hand, if they cave in to the public employee unions, the unions across the country will take great heart.  I don't believe the overall war on government spending hinges on the results in Wisconsin, but I do believe that a convincing victory by either side will greatly aid that side.  So I'm watching with great interest, and cheering for Governor Walker... 

Epic Fails: Technology Forecasts...

An amusing collection of forecasts by the experts and pundits of the past – every one of them an epic fail.  These make very clear something that most people figure out if they live long enough: the experts of today have no particular skill at divining the future.

Just as a sample, here's one from one of my personal heroes: Lee de Forest, one of the pioneers of electronics (he invented the first practical vacuum amplifiers, the triode):

While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.

Heh, as the Instapundit would say...

And Even More Rain!!!

As I write this on Sunday morning, the storm total is just over 4.5 inches (12 cm).  It's quite thoroughly wet outside!

The dogs and I were a little late this morning for our walk; we didn't get outside until about 5 am.  The sky was filled with dark clouds, but there were plenty of places where the starry sky peeked through – including one big hole with a bright moon.  The moonlight lit up all the clouds most beautifully.  Our walk was uneventful; just happy dogs in a freshly washed environment.  Just a few moments after we came back inside, the heavens erupted once more with another brief downpour.  Judging from the radar, we're in for a few hours of that sort of thing...