Thursday, May 3, 2012
Jon Will Turns 40 Today...
...and his father, famous columnist George Will, wrote a beautiful column about him today...
Transit of Venus...
Just a month from now (June 5 or 6, depending on where you are), the planet Venus will move across the face of the sun (as seen from Earth). Astronomers call these events “transits”. This is the last transit of Venus over the sun for over 100 years, so if you want to see one, this would be the time to do it. More information here and here.
Well, Whaddya Know...
An actual news story about how the government's labor statistics are distorted...
Modern Memory Architectures...
Here's a well-done, accessible tutorial on modern computer memory architectures. The great majority of programmers today have no idea of the complexity of today's computer memory (RAM, I'm talking about) systems. When you get to virtual memory systems and the subtle effects of various multi-processor schemes, it's an even larger majority...
It's Not News, Now...
Remember over the last few years how the warmists were crying “Doom! Doom! We're all doomed!” because (they said) the Arctic ice caps were at historically low coverage levels and headed down fast. According to them, our only salvation was to radically cut fossil fuel consumption immediately, and to start spending trillions upon trillions of dollars promoting “renewable” energy use worldwide. Hundreds upon hundreds of news stories pushed this story into our faces from every direction.
Oops.
The ice caps are back to normal total coverage. They've made this swing from low coverage to average coverage to high coverage a few times before. A few thousand times, that is.
After all that doom being forecast the past few years, you'd think that the near-miraculous, totally unexpected recovery of the ice cap coverage would be really big news, something to be splattered all over the news like the original forecasts of doom!, right? Well, don't hold your breath. So far, this news is only being reported in a few science blogs, on the NOAA straight data sites, and (of course) by the global warming skeptics. Nobody else cares. Doesn't fit the narrative, you know. Only doom! does that...
Oops.
The ice caps are back to normal total coverage. They've made this swing from low coverage to average coverage to high coverage a few times before. A few thousand times, that is.
After all that doom being forecast the past few years, you'd think that the near-miraculous, totally unexpected recovery of the ice cap coverage would be really big news, something to be splattered all over the news like the original forecasts of doom!, right? Well, don't hold your breath. So far, this news is only being reported in a few science blogs, on the NOAA straight data sites, and (of course) by the global warming skeptics. Nobody else cares. Doesn't fit the narrative, you know. Only doom! does that...
How Politicians Learn...
“Politicians” and “learn” – seems a little unnatural to see those words together in a sentence, doesn't it?
Here, one hopeful politician (nicknamed “The Sledge”) explains how his competitors learn...
Here, one hopeful politician (nicknamed “The Sledge”) explains how his competitors learn...