Thursday, January 16, 2014
Government logic...
Government logic... Megan McArdle notes some government information that is internally inconsistent. Some time ago, Washington D.C. implemented a tax on plastic bags to discourage their use. Recently they declared success, with plastic bag use down to less than half of its former levels. But, Megan notes, the tax revenue from the plastic bag tax is going up. How can that be? If the number of bags being used has been cut in half, shouldn't the tax receipts be half as well? Megan digs in...
Moving the goalposts...
Moving the goalposts... Peter Suderman, writing at Reason, on the administration's transparent attempts to declare success by repeatedly changing the objectives to something they apparently think might actually be achievable. Trouble is, even their modified objectives have yet to be met...
Old temperature data ignored...
Old temperature data ignored... The warmists have been diligent about hiding exactly what they've done to “adjust” the temperature data (direct or proxied) that they've used. Even Freedom of Information Act requests have so far failed to pry that information out of them. But...some of that old data is actually available – and for the most part it does not show the warming trend claimed by the warmists. Here's an outstanding example: meticulous temperature records, made in documented circumstances, from Adelaide, Australia:
There's almost 100 years of data there, and no hockey stick in sight. Jo Nova is all over this, and she has both more details and the backstory...
Flying pig moment, climatology edition...
Flying pig moment, climatology edition... A prominent warmist, writing at Nature, discovers ocean cycles and solar influence – the same two things the skeptic “deniers” have been asking about for years...
Tappi sushi...
Hint for That One...
Quantum brains?
Quantum brains? Orchestrated objective reduction is a highly controversial theory that (amongst other things) posits quantum computation in the brain as a basis for human consciousness. The originators of the theory (Sir Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff) are now claiming that some recent discoveries provide evidentiary support for their theory.
I don't know enough about either their theories or the recent discoveries to make any judgment about the truth of the claims, or their strength. Until some widely accepted evidence appears, I will continue to look at this with skepticism.
There is one part of this theory that I find most satisfying: it's the only theory of consciousness that explains our brain's astounding feats of pattern recognition – feats that are unmatched by any supercomputer. We exercise these feats every day without thought, as they are effortless for us. Reading and comprehending a book is perhaps the canonical example – no computer has ever even come close to doing that, and the biggest reason is that computers are terrible at pattern recognition (but humans are great at it). Another example: human ability to comprehend speech in a room filled with people speaking. Another: human observational skills – we can easily pick the particular elements we're interested in out of our visual field – while we're moving, our eyes are moving, and our target is moving. Computers still can't even come close to that ability. True quantum computing occurring in our brains would provide a plausible mechanism for our pattern-matching abilities...
I don't know enough about either their theories or the recent discoveries to make any judgment about the truth of the claims, or their strength. Until some widely accepted evidence appears, I will continue to look at this with skepticism.
There is one part of this theory that I find most satisfying: it's the only theory of consciousness that explains our brain's astounding feats of pattern recognition – feats that are unmatched by any supercomputer. We exercise these feats every day without thought, as they are effortless for us. Reading and comprehending a book is perhaps the canonical example – no computer has ever even come close to doing that, and the biggest reason is that computers are terrible at pattern recognition (but humans are great at it). Another example: human ability to comprehend speech in a room filled with people speaking. Another: human observational skills – we can easily pick the particular elements we're interested in out of our visual field – while we're moving, our eyes are moving, and our target is moving. Computers still can't even come close to that ability. True quantum computing occurring in our brains would provide a plausible mechanism for our pattern-matching abilities...
Most-photographed places...
“Chronically incapable.”
“Chronically incapable.” That's Sir Hew Strachan, one of the U.K.'s most respected military advisers, on That One. More:
Strachan is currently a member of the United Kingdom's Chief of Defence Staff's Strategic Advisory Panel and claims that the 'crazy' mismanagement of the Syrian crisis at the end of the summer was the worst example of the military planning in evidence since 9/11 and that at least President George W. Bush had a plan and stuck to it.
Stern views: Professor Sir Hew Strachan of Oxford University has been sharply critical of the United States, President Obama and Britain's strategic planning since 9/11 in his new book The Direction of War.
'If anything it’s gone backwards instead of forwards, Obama seems to be almost chronically incapable of doing this,' said Strachan.
'Bush may have had totally fanciful political objectives in terms of trying to fight a global War on Terror, which was inherently astrategic, but at least he had a clear sense of what he wanted to do in the world.
'Obama has no sense of what he wants to do in the world,' he said according to the Daily Beast.
Even worse still, Strachan believes that Western indecision over whether or not to launch limited action against President Bashar al-Assad strengthened the Syrian leader and undermined the United States' power and reputation.
'What he’s done in talking about Red Lines in relation to Syria has actually devalued the deterrent effect of American military capability and it seems to me that creates an unstable situation, because if he were act it would surprise everybody,' he said.
He's got just one word for you...
The immorality of minimum wages...
The immorality of minimum wages... Doug Bandow with an interesting piece at Cato...