Perspective Part II

So how much plutonium have they found in Japan?

Not much.

Thus far.

Neal Stephenson Quotes

Courtesy of Instapundit comes this little historical gem:

The twentieth century was one in which limits on state power were removed in order to let the intellectuals run with the ball, and they screwed everything up and turned the century into an abattoir. . . . We Americans are the only ones who didn’t get creamed at some point during all of this. We are free and prosperous because we have inherited political and value systems fabricated by a particular set of eighteenth-century intellectuals who happened to get it right. But we have lost touch with those intellectuals.

There are folks that claim that anti-intellectualism is all the rage in America.  I think it sort of depends of what one is calling "intellectual" as there are some ideas that can be dressed up in as many pretty university degrees as you like and they still won't be more than the rhetorical equivalent of pig in poop.

Curiousity about Mr. Stephenson led to this quote:

"The difference between stupid and intelligent people -- and this is true whether or not they are well-educated -- is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. They are not baffled by ambigous or even contradictory situations -- in fact, they expect them and are apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward."

Examples are left to the student as an exercise.....

Nuclear Perspective

Perspective - Nuclear Power

I linked on my Facebook page a few days ago to this graphic from XKCD that compared various levels of radioactivity.  Now I'm linking to this graphic that shows the relative number of deaths per kilowatt hour from nuclear, oil, and coal based power respectively. 

While we remain focused on the ongoing Japanese tragedy in the wake of the recent tsunami, I think it is worthwhile to maintain a bit of perspective.  While the NYTimes has done some outstanding reporting on this event, they have also done some miserable reporting.  One example was a story I read last week that referred to the "containment building" in a manner that would lead those without any knowledge about nuclear power to believe that the steel and concrete "containment vessel" had exploded.  Another example has been the casual use of terms like "meltdown" and "radioactivity" without providing any perspective on either topic.  A couple of their online features have provided an outstanding exploration of both nuclear power plant construction and the relative harm or non-harm of various radiation levels.

Similar reports abound, so I'm not just criticizing the NYTimes.  Of course, the dearth of information coming out of Japan has not helped.

A brief disclaimer - I love nuclear power.  I prepared a speech on nuclear power for a persuasive public speaking competition in high school.  Not only did I do a fair amount of reading, my research included interviews with nuclear engineers responsible for nuclear power plants here in Michigan.  This was a few years after the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island.  To this day I will almost automatically buy any science magazine that includes information on nuclear power plant innovations.

As a matter of perspective, it should be remembered that Three Mile Island did experience a partial core meltdown.  As a result, part of the fissionable materials ended up melting and pooling at the bottom of the steel and concrete containment vessel.  That liquid core material ended up melting 5/8 of an inch through the 3 inch thick steel bottom of the vessel.  There have been no measurable increases in deaths due to the Three Mile Island partial meltdown.

As a matter of perspective, the information available thus far suggests that the primary risk group in Japan are those that have been working to regain control of the facility.  Their efforts to cool the used rods as well as the active reactors are nothing short of heroic and some of them may very well pay with their lives. 

But beyond the power plant, radioactive exposure levels have been mostly minimal.  We can survive quite easily at low levels of continuous radiation as well as periodic exposure to modest levels of radiation.  Were it otherwise, we would not know the benefits of X-rays for broken bones, CT scans, and other modern medical marvels.  Nor would we know coast to coast air travel or living at high altitudes such as Denver, CO.

It also appears thus far than most of the radioactivity beyond the immediate area of the power plant is the result of materials that have reasonably short half-lives.  Those materials will be nothing but a bad memory after a month or two.

Of course, things could still get worse.  They could lose total control of the plant, the spent rods could overheat and spit and sputter radioactive materials hundreds of feet into the air.  They may have already.  We shouldn't confuse that condition with anything approaching normal.  Nor should we confuse it with the broad swath of contamination resulting from the openly burning Chernobyl disaster of a few years ago....or with the fission reactions that leveled Hiroshima.

As the graphic at the second link is meant to imply, things could be far worse.  Instead of nuclear power, the Japanese could have built an equivalent capacity in coal fired power plants.  The result would have been more people dead as a result of mining coal as well as from the byproducts of burning coal.

A proper sense of perspective would remind us that there is a significant difference between "none", "some but still safe", "risky", "not safe", "really not safe", "leveling a major city", and "the end of the world".  In my opinion, far too much reporting is of the breathless variety that implies that we are rapidly approaching "the end of the world" when the reality is far less dire.  By focusing to much on the significant challenges posed by the nuclear power plant, we end up ignoring the much larger tragedy caused by the tsunami.  As of today, the count of dead and missing people is rapidly approaching 30,000.  I am certain that the number of people killed by the power plant problems will be easily dwarfed by those killed by the ocean rising out of its rightful place to crash and destroy the people of Japan.

The people of Japan will continue to face a great many challenges in the weeks and months to come.  Those challenges will be compounded by potential risks associated with the meltdown at the nuclear power facility.  The spread of radioactive pollutants will remain a serious concern for the people of Japan and around the world.

But as a matter of perspective, we should recall that there are greater challenges in the world than those being posed by one nuclear power plant that was shaken by the earth and pummeled by an ocean.  And that has still managed to avoid broad scale contamination. 

Thus far. 

Lumberjack Commandos

From Liberty At All Costs

h/t to Blackfive for the image.  Check out their gallery of military motivational images.

Let Him Keep It - He's Finally Earned It

I've been hearing a rising chorus of voices urging....demanding....that Mr. Obama return his Nobel Peace Prize.

I think he should keep it.  He has finally earned it.

There was no peace for the Libyans that were being oppressed by Gaddafi's dictatorial regime.  When they sought to use their individual human right to protest their oppression, a right supposedly guaranteed by the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that regime took what little 'peace' those Libyans had when it took their lives.

By ordering the American armed forces to enter into that conflict, Mr. Obama has moved to secure peace for the defenseless and an opportunity for a better life for any Libyan that did not enjoy Col. Gaddafi's favor.  No person should ever be forced to seek succor via acts of obeisance and obedience to their government.

Yet that was the reality in Libya last week.  Who knows what next week will hold.

But this week Mr. Obama has led this nation to take a stand against oppression.

As we did at Normandy.

As we did at Osan.

As we did at Hue and in the Mekong.

As we did in El Salvador


As we did in Beirut.

As we did on Grenada.


As we did in Panama.

As we did in Kuwait.

As we did in Somalia

And...yes...as we did on the streets of Baghdad and Kabul.

While our tactics have been on rare occasions unworthy, our purpose remains clear.

Freedom for all that desire that opportunity.

Let Mr. Obama keep his Nobel.  And perhaps the Nobel committee could work on awarding one to Mr. Bush for his efforts to extend true peace to those who had none.

Snipers....Men Of Life

Not death.  At least if you are in need of their protection.

On one occasion they killed eight Taliban in two hours, ‘I wasn’t comfortable with it at first,’ said Osmond, ‘you start wondering is it really necessary?’ But the reaction of the locals soon persuaded him. ‘We had people coming up to us afterwards, not scared to talk to us. They felt they were being protected’.

Why We Loathe BIG Government

One of the most frustrating issues in my political life is the apparent lack of appreciation amongst my many leftish friends for the basis of my point of view.  I'm not looking for agreement.  Just an appreciation for why I believe the things I believe.

And "because yer nuts" doesn't count.

Krugman - Erroneous - But I Repeat Myself

In a recent column, Paul Krugman, the NYTimes' Nobel Laureate columnist, attempts to make the point that less government is a bad thing.  To illustrate his point, he suggests that Texas is in deep trouble as indicated by high school drop out rates and child poverty rates.

Mr. Krugman apparently lacks the nuance needed to evaluate exactly by Texas has a problem with childhood poverty as he neglects to discuss any factors beyond government spending...such as a porous border and a flood of illegal aliens...that might contribute to childhood poverty.

However, it is true that childhood poverty is a problem in Texas.

Trouble arises when one takes a closer look at the high school drop out data.  Bryan Preston of the PJ Tattler links to a couple of credible data sources to make the point that at least on the subject of high school drop outs, Texas isn't exactly in the worst of conditions.  Mr. Preston is careful to point out that the data is from adjacent years, so the comparison isn't perfect.

However, Mr. Krugman's argument is significantly undermined when you look at actual drop out rates and state spending per pupil.

Beer Pong - Championship Techniques

Courtesy of the Manswers show on the Spike network.

Ladies are involved.....

Some might even detect a hint of misogyny....

A NSFW warning is certainly appropriate....

Don't say I didn't warn you before you click here.

Begging For Equal Time

The Tea Party is allegedly a racist organization funded by billionaires.

What does that make these folks?

Someone wake me when that story hits the front pages of the NYTimes and Washington Post.  'Cause then I'll know that the world is about to be raptured!

The Other Side Of The World

Ever wonder where you would end up if you could tunnel directly down through the earth and out the other side?  If you are in most of the United States, the answer is "water".  Lots of it.  Specifically, the Indian Ocean.

There is one state that is opposite a land mass.  There is a second state that has a small area that is opposite part of another land mass.

You can find out more about it all - here.

They Told Me.....

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame has an ongoing series of "The told me if I voted Republican that....." over at his site.  You fill in the dots with some theoretically pernicious federal policy that some in the media and on the left....but I repeat myself....have expressed regarding voting for Republicans.  Of course, the policies that are mentioned are currently being enacted by Democrats and other presumably left of center organizations.

The most recent edition is about astronomer Martin Gaskell.  He has been denied the position of running the observatory for the University of Kentucky.  Because he is a Christian.

Glenn's observations are great, as always.  One that he bypassed was the concern expressed by the university that Mr. Gaskell might be "potentially evangelical".  Not that he was confirmed to be evangelical.  And no explanation of how being evangelical might make him unsuitable for the position in question.  They had a fear....an irrational and unfounded fear....and acted upon it.

Which is exactly what the left says about pretty much anyone that isn't on the left.  Someone's Freudian slip is showing......

I think diversity training is in order.

A Different Taste

My wife and I are fans of the Food Channel show "Chopped".  There isn't that much emphasis on drawing out the drama between the competitors.  Instead, the show's producers focus on the food prepared by the contestants.

This ain't Survivor.

We recently watch an episode that featured Joshua Stokes.  He has a blog that I found interesting, and thus I thought to share it with you.  Good eating to one and all.

How To Screw Up A Market In One Easy Lesson

Periodically, 'Diversity Lane' will knock one out of the park.  This be it.

Hell Just Froze Over

How do you know that the Devil needs a heater?  When Socialists favor budget cuts!!

Throw your Euro stereotypes out the window: Last weekend, a Greek government that has cut public-sector pay and lowered pensions won a clear victory in local elections. Despite strikes and violence, despite the fact that Greece's debt is still growing and more cuts are coming, there will be a Socialist mayor of Athens for the first time in 24 years. (And, yes, in Greece, the Socialists favor budget cuts, and the conservatives oppose them.)

More seriously, I have maintained for a long time that we have far more government than is healthy for any nation.  Most people here in "flyover" country feel much the same way.  It goes without saying that my idea of a "healthy" level of government is well below almost everyone else's.

The rest of the world has looked over the precipice.  They have seen where the trail of ever growing government leads.  And they are now moving steadily and determinedly back down that trail.

While we march ever forward towards predictable disaster.

We remain, of course, the greatest propagandists for liberty and free markets. Our politicians - even President Obama - can be eloquent in the defense of these ideals. But we haven't practiced what we preach for a long time, much longer than we generally recognize. Americans may be from Mars and Europeans from Venus, but would we re-elect a president who cut government wages in half? I find it hard to imagine.

Emphasis added.

It is the one course of action that might get Mr. Obama re-elected.  And not unlike Mr. Nixon's trip to China, Mr. Obama may be the only person that can sell austerity to an American public that is wary of politics as usual.

Beware The Nipple?

A new anti-jihadist initiative?

Topless Danish girls have come in between the Conservative and Danish People’s (DPP) parties following a DPP call for a new introductory film about Denmark for prospective immigrants to include pictures of bare female breasts.

The Conservative Integration Spokesman Naser Khader, however, says that pictures of topless girls on a Danish beach would hardly scare extremists away from applying to stay in Denmark.

Confused

I do not endorse the theatrics of the Westboro Baptist Church.

I do not endorse the slashing of tires on vehicles owned by WBC members while they are out protesting some soldier's funeral.

But this seems an opportune moment for schadenfreude.  I am so confused.

What A "Party Of No" Really Looks Like

Ross Douthat shares his thoughts on the various responses to President Obama's commission to address our serious budget deficits.  My reading on the right pretty well mirrors his observations that the most vocal conservative critics were single issue advocates, and entertainers.  Otherwise, the criticism has been minimal and usually tempered with an acknowledgment of the difficulties involved along with the need for compromise.

Last week’s media coverage sometimes made it sound as if Bowles and Simpson were taking the same amount of fire from left and right. But the reaction from Republican lawmakers and the conservative intelligentsia was muted, respectful and often favorable; the right-wing griping mostly came from single-issue activists and know-nothing television entertainers.

Leaders on the left simply said "no".

The liberal attacks, on the other hand, came fast and furious, from pundits and leading Democratic politicians alike — starting with the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who pronounced the recommendations “simply unacceptable” almost immediately after their release.


...


Needless to say, none of the liberal lawmakers attacking the Simpson-Bowles proposals offered alternative blueprints for restoring America’s solvency. The Democratic Party has plans for many things, but a balanced budget isn’t one of them.

One of the most frustrating habits of the media, leftish leaders, and leftish commentators,.....but I repeat myself....over the last two years has been their mantra that describes anyone to the right of Joe Lieberman as being part of the "Party of No".  This mis-characterization is intended to suggest that non-Democrats are simply unwilling to compromise on any issue.

Yet from my perspective, the right was very willing to compromise on any number of issues...including health care reform...in order to bring about productive change in our country.  What they were unwilling to do was to compromise where the proposed reforms would have been counter productive to the cause of advancing our nation.

The only rational response to a "progressive" agenda that does not create progress is the absolute refusal of cooperation.  Had the leftish leadership opted for a less leftist/"progressive" agenda over the last two years, I have no doubts that the right would have cooperated to some extent.  Extremists would not have been happy....in either party.

In a word, the leftish leadership committed the political sin of "over-reach" and those on the right were quite reasonable in their opposition to changes that [are] e'en now wracking and wrecking our nation.

Now we know exactly what a "Party of No" looks like.  It is the absolute refusal to evaluate the merits of much needed budgetary reforms that seek to balance those reforms, strengthen our economy, and generally address the many perspectives that exist.

Perhaps the leadership on the left will next engage in bouts of holding their breath until the adults give in to their petulant refusal to compromise.

Too Bad To Be False

Sort of the reverse of "too good to be true".

At a recent candidate's debate/forum in Illinois, a representative of the organizer was offended by the audience.  They had the temerity to think that it was appropriate to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at a debate between candidates that were running for the U.S. Congress.

Sort of makes you wonder what league the League of Women Voters is really in.....

For your reading pleasure....if you can stand it.

Just About Right

 A Veteran's Day Cartoon Worth Noting

 

(click here to view)

Clay Bennett Chattanooga Times Free PressNov 11, 2010 EditorialCartoonists.com