Marble Madness IV

The first in a series from Eddie Boes of Eddie's Mind.  You can check out his YouTube stream for more.

 

This piece of kinetic art is on display at Columbia Basin Pediatric Dentistry in Kennewick, WA.

How Rich Is Too Rich?

Megan McArdle had a recent post regarding income inequality that is worth reading.  She offers no conclusions, but I think her perspective is worth considering.

The Price Of Discovery

So what is the price for discovering new drugs? 

$43 million?  Probably too low.

$800 million?  Sounds plausible.

Between $4 and 11 billion?  Per drug.

Read the whole thing from Megan McArdle.

Then think about why drugs cost what they do.  Don't forget that all those folks living in countries with nationalized health care systems don't pay anything to cover research costs.  Just production.  Imagine how much less we would be paying if they were paying their fair share.

War Is Ugly

I was reading the news at the gym last week.  They had a story about a reporter that had died in the fighting in one Syrian city.  She only had one eye.  I don't know her name.

The point of her reporting was that the Syrians were pummeling the city and killing indiscriminately.  She said something the the effect that there were no military targets there.  Specifically, she said there was no "base" there.  The stateside reporter reminded her that the Syrian Free Army was in the area.  The reporter in Syria blithely dismissed that and went on protesting that they were killing innocent civilians.  After all, the SFA didn't have a "base".

Why was she surprised?  This is a war.

The wars of the 20th century were truly civilized when compared with the rest of human history.  It was common practice to kill and enslave until all your enemies were dead or enslaved.  The line from the original Conan the Barbarian movie was the rule.

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.

There was no letting up.  There was no avoiding civilians.

This is the sort of war that non-Western, non-democratic cultures routinely practiced.  The stark difference between the two is what should make the practice of war by Western, democratic cultures all the more unique.

Do they not teach history in journalism school any more?

Uniting Citizens

The discussion about funding political campaigns and the recent Citizen's United case contains a couple of important myths.

Myth 1:  The Citizen's United case invalidated the reporting requirement for political contributions.

Those requirements are still in place.

Myth 2:  The Citizen's United case unleased wealthy individuals to give unlimited amounts of money to political groups/campaigns.

Truth:  The Citizen's United case let corporations give unlimited amounts of money to political causes.  That is new.  And I'm not convinced that it is good.

But we ought to have a national discussion that is based on the facts.  Not the myths.

Wishing

A modest check behind the scenes.  I have removed the sailors trying to sail around the world.  Their attempts have been completed and I have yet to find others worth following.  I wish the current batch of sailors all the luck in the world on their travels.

I have added a link to my Amazon wish list.  Hopefully, my family will figure this out soon!

Putting The Pieces Back Together

Just what can a putty made from stem cells do?  Mend broken bones.

In days.

Living with access to modern medicine is truly amazing.

Moving Madness III

I remember watching this one as a kid.  How cool is this!  Everyone love Sesame Street.