Nigel Farage...

I could listen to this U.K. politician all day.  Until, that is, I remember that we, tragically, have no politicians quite like him.



Odd factoid: Nigel's last name is the same as the name of a horticultural variety of Ilex opaca (American holly) that my father used to grow and sell on the nursery that I grew up on...

Post Turtle...

Via reader Jim M.:

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, whose hand was caught in the squeeze gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.
Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his role as our president.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle''.

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him, what a 'post turtle' was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'.

The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, he's elevated beyond his ability to function, and you just Wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with."

Strange...

Your Grace...

The Right Reverend Michael Langrish, Bishop of Exeter, is not very happy about the adverse public reaction to his idea for raising money for his churches.  He wanted to profit from the erection of a couple of those huge wind turbines.  He expressed his surprise and unhappiness recently in a letter to his congregations.  James Delingpole has responded to him in an open letter.  A sample:

What surprised me about your letter was that a man intelligent enough to have gained two degrees (one from Cambridge) and canny enough to have risen to the not totally immodest heights of the Bishopric of Exeter should yet be puzzled as to why his flock might object to having a hideous pair of bat-chomping, bird-slicing eco-crucifixes plonked next to their tranquil North Devon villages.

You will definitely want to go read the whole thing. But put down your morning beverage first...

Cheap, Accurate Magnetic Field Sensor...

...that uses a drop of orange paint as the sensor medium.  Seriously.  Coming soon to a Digi-Key or Mouser near you...

The “Tax” Americans Don't Seem to Know About...

Are you an American citizen?  If so, did you know that we pay about 50% more for our sugar than the rest of the world does?  The reason we do this is so that the federal government can deliver $1.4B in annual subsidies to less than 5,000 sugar cane and sugar beet growers.  That's an average of $280K annually to each and every one of those growers (though the actual distribution is far less even than that – some growers get tens of millions a year). 

For the first time in decades, there's a realistic chance that this piece of obvious corruption will be voted down.  Write your congresscritters...

Avoiding Life's Top 12 “Black Swans”...

The term “Black Swans” comes from Nassim Taleb (and if you haven't read his books, I recommend them highly).  He uses the term mainly in a financial context, to describe unpredictable events that can upset an investment strategy – but the same idea permeates almost anything we do that tries to predict the future (especially if using statistics).

Doug McGruff takes that idea and applies it to life in general, in particular, to surviving.  He's come up with the “top 12” ways to avoid the most common life Black Swans – the things that are most likely to kill you.  A sample:

1. Drive the biggest vehicle you can afford to drive. Your greatest risk of death comes from a motor vehicle accident. Despite all the data from the government on crash test safety, I can say unequivocally that in a 2-car accident, the person in the larger car always fairs better. Force=Mass x Acceleration. The vehicle with larger mass imparts the greater force. Also, purchase the newest large vehicle that you can afford. Crumple zones in newer cars can expand deceleration time from 30 milliseconds to 90 milliseconds which decreases deceleration forces by a factor of 3. I am not a believer in global warming or man’s contribution to it, but if you are and you want to do your part by driving a Smart Car or a Prius you should be commended for potentially standing by your convictions with your life. Also, if your midlife crisis plans include a motorcycle or sports car, realize that you might resolve your midlife crisis by avoiding old age all together. It goes without saying to wear your seatbelts, and you should be engulfed by as many air bags as possible. If we were truly rational about risk, all seat belts would be 5-point restraints and we would wear helmets while driving.

I'm doing pretty well against his list. I drive a great, bit Toyota Tundra pickup (and so does my wife).  No 5-point restraints, but...he's got me thinking about that, especially when I have to drive during rush hour...

Apparently I'm Not Very Smart...

...because I solved all these little puzzles.  Dang. 

Humility: 1  Self-Esteem: 0

On That Idea for a European Union...

Rachel Lucas (an American currently living in Italy) has a post on current events in the European Union/EuroZone.  She concludes:

That idea of a real political union among the countries over here is borderline absurd. They’re too different, period. I cannot remotely imagine it happening, and the only way it can or will happen is if the Germans are in charge of it. It should be fun to watch this play out…I guess.

Meanwhile I’m buying more canned corn and re-teaching myself how to light a fire from scratch.

The rest of her post is even funnier, but I couldn't find a small quote that made sense out of context. Just take a couple minutes to go read the whole thing...

No-Ice, not De-Ice...

What if you could prevent ice from forming in the first place, say, on airplane wings, ship's superstructures, or on pipes?  Then you wouldn't need to use chemicals or manual labor to get rid of the ice – it simply wouldn't form in the first place.  Well, shortly we may be able to do just that!

The Humble Broom: A History...

Something I never stumbled across before: the Shakers were responsible for the flat broom design that's ubiquitous today.  I'd seen drawings of old fashioned brooms that were round in cross-section, but I'd never imagined that the Shakers were responsible for that design improvement – not so very long ago.  On that count and several others, the history of the humble broom is more interesting than I'd expected...