Check out this series of mug shots of the same girl/woman over time. This would be a good “get straight” pamphlet for trouble-makin’ teenage girls.
Could happen, says Wired.
Researchers found a serious security flaw that left core Internet technology vulnerable to hackers, prompting a secretive effort by international governments and industry experts in recent weeks to prevent global disruptions of Web surfing, e-mails and instant messages. … Watson, (who discovered the bug) who runs the Terrorist.net website, predicted that hackers will understand how to begin launching attacks “within five minutes of walking out of that meeting. It’s fairly easy to implement,” Watson said. “Someone walking out of the conference (where he intends to present his findings Thursday) would immediately understand. No matter how vague I am, people will figure it out.”
Not really, but a good bit over at Wired on the first hydrogen fueling station to meet Ahnold’s criteria for availability, accessibility, etc.
The guy on the environmental side that Wired interviews is Joe Romm, from the seemingly sensible Center for Energy and Climate Solutions, who echoes a bunch of criticisms I’ve had about the “hydrogen economy” :
- Romm is concerned that companies and government agencies that are touting hydrogen as an energy panacea may be pulling a bait and switch on the public — priming consumers to support funding for “green” hydrogen while it will more likely be produced using fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal. – The automotive industry will be reshaped during the next 20 years, Romm said — but by hybrid gas/electric cars, not hydrogen vehicles. “The government does not have a good track record at picking winners” in the energy sector, Romm said.
Good read, though. I’m a little curious about Romm’s critique of burning Hydrogen in an internal combustion engine rather than a fuel cell – Anyone know why this is a worse idea than burning gasoline in a Hybrid? My understanding is that burning hydrogen also only releases water vapor. Is he concerned about inherent inefficiencies in IC engines, or is he worried about the need for petrochemical lubricants in IC engines?
Or Tax Theory for Dummies (Not impunging anyone’s intelligence, just taking a quip from a popular series of books).
According to a number of subsequent studies, tax revenues collected from individuals in the higher tax brackets expanded dramatically in the 1980s while tax revenues from people in the normal zone fell, as was to be expected. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the share of total federal income taxes paid by just the top 1 percent of taxpayers (ranked by adjusted gross income) rose from 19 percent to 33 percent between 1980 and 1997. The top 25 percent of taxpayers increased their share from 73 percent to 82 percent.The effective tax rate on those with high incomes is substantially lower today than it was when their share of total income taxes was much smaller. In 1980, the effective tax rate on the top 1 percent of taxpayers was 34.5 percent. In 1990, the rate fell to 23 percent. In other words, lower effective tax rates appear to have produced higher tax revenues.
As I’ve said in the past, I think we are pretty close to optimal taxation (if we insist on sticking with an income tax). IMO, top marginal rates are near the peak of the Laffer curve. Raising top marginal rates will provide disincentives to make more money, ultimately decreasing revenues in general, and the total percentage of taxes paid by folks with high income.
Those McSweeney’s guys are a laugh riot (as usual).
Interrogation commenced: 2000 hours
I told SH that we would be paid a visit by Baghdad’s longest-running improvisational comedy troupe, and that they often ask for audience suggestions. I had one of the players ask SH for the name of something you’d return to a department store. He said “pliers.” They did a quick scene about returning pliers, and then another “player” asked for a geographic location where one might hide WMDs. SH was quiet for a long time, and so I suggested Wal-Mart.
Interrogation terminated: 0122 hours
This is a pretty sweet Shockwave© based pinball game — use your arrow keys for flippers and space bar for the plunger.
GWB – “Are you going to vote for a candidate whose campaign promises would cost America $1.9 trillion over the next decade?” the ad asks. “Of course you aren’t. You aren’t going to vote at all. In the last election, half of you didn’t even show up. So, on Nov. 2, just spend the day right there at your dead-end office job, talking to your coworkers about your new sweater and e-mailing your friends photos of your stupid 2-year-old daughter you shouldn’t have had.”
The ad concludes: “You make me sick.”
JFK – “The Medicare drug bill is a triumph of right-wing ideology masquerading as moderate reform. The pharmaceutical-drug and insurance industries are tickled pink. Guess who’s paying for it? You. Congratulations, moron. I’m John Kerry and I approved this message.”
Today’s reason: secrecy breeds distrust.
Continuing the pattern of decisions made without public input or insight, Bush announced his nomination for the soon-to-be vacated post for the head of NARA and is drawing concern from The Society of American Archivists.
“Prior to the announcement, there was no consultation with professional organizations of archivists or historians,” the Chicago association noted in a statement this month. “This is the first time since the National Archives and Records Administration was established as an independent agency that the process of nominating an archivist of the United States has not been open for public discussion and input.”
Not really politics, more political history.
Turns out that Republican Presidents usually get a majority of the popular vote and Democrat Presidents usually win thanks to a third-party candidate splitting the vote. There’s no links to vote totals, which is a crutch.
DNC, I suggest you get Perot on the phone…