Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Proofs

A new trailer which proves that not only is LOTR a chick flick--but Led Zeppelin is soft rock.
A rather beautiful instrumental reinterpretation of one of my favorites.

Reality Dares to Poke Up Its Head

One of the 2 or 3 premier scientific journals in the world published an audacious editorial discussed on Steve Sailer's blog:
Note the label at the article's end. This ought to throw the commy-pinko-fags into a fine fit.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Solar's Future

It seems that Washington state (otherwise known as the cloudiest state) has decided to subsidize some large solar installations within its borders. Unfortunately, because solar power initiatives are still the province of state government subsidies, the efficiencies that could be gleaned from the operation of competitive advantages among the states are being wasted. If there were federal subsidies instead, Washington state would not be building solar power installations at current prices: it would focus on its strengths, hydro and wind. The solar power build-out would commence in the most cost-effective locations first (the Southwest), and then gradually radiate out across the country as solar prices fell. If prices stopped falling before the nation was thus blanketed, the electical grid could be expanded utilizing DC current to provide low loss, long distance transmission from cheap producers of renewable energy of all kinds to areas that cannot produce such energy cheaply.
 
Another interesting fact is that PV solar has consistently fallen in price by about 5% per year since it was invented in the 50s. At this rate, in SoCal, with low cost financing (like an unsubsidized home equity loan) and without subsidies, PV solar should become market competitive around 2020.
 
An article on solar's future from an economic perspective (second article on the page): http://entropyproduction.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html
The key is the third graph.

Liberal Fascism

A word about a recent book titled Liberal Fascism (which I do not recommend actually reading--I agree with its basic argument, but its quality is sub-par). The book's thesis is that "progressives" have sought since Wilson to create soft fascism in this country, otherwise known as the nanny state. This consists in the government gradually depriving the people of their liberties in return for (politically selective) welfare cushioning, (mandatory) regulatory guidance, and the general relief of the populace from the terrible burden of personal responsibility. And this leads to the end of capitalist meritocracy as the ruling principle of socioeconomic selection. The unmitigated triumph of political manouevring takes its place.  Of course, those who do not benefit from meritocratic competition tend instinctively to support this fascistic program--and many who sympathize with the uncompetitive underclass emotionally support the program without rational consideration of its effects--only thinking through the lens of their emotionalized vision of its effects. Is it surprising that blacks have become the "moral core" of the Democratic party?

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Faster

The cost of getting into space remains the largest obstacle. This helps with that problem by reducing fuel and supplies for interplanetary journeys.  
The second largest obstacle is survival time in space given the excessive radiation exposure. Again speed helps here.
This falls short of a "paradigm shift," but rates as perhaps more than incremental.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Criminal Psychology

The competition in Europe today is to determine which nation is the most passive/submissive. The Muslims think this fits well with their competition to determine who is the most dominant.