What is being billed as the first successful gene therapy for cancer was recently reported in the prestigious journal *Science*. The CNN report is here.
The Fox News story is here. I agree with the interviewees, not knowing much about the scince; this could be a huge step forward for cancer immunotherapy. Now that something works, we can refine and tailor it into therapies that work better. Until now, the lack of success with immunotherapy has lead to a stab in the dark type approach mostly; hypothesis driven of course, but not building on known therapy successes.

I can't actually find the science article though, so i'll try later.

So Flickr is owned by Yahoo, and I have SBC/yahoo DSL account. So you'd think i'd have premium access to Flickr, a photo-sharing website. Nope, not so. Additionally, the yahoo pictures website that I currently use, really sucks. You can only download individual files, for example. Further, it doesn't support tags, so no one except me knows what the photo really means. Well, I setup a Flickr account and am posting photos to it. Yahoo is supposed to upgrade their photo website soon, but it's been much delayed. So, we'll see what they do. To me it's just stupid to have two photo sharing websites, one which I can use unlimitedly, but it sucks, and the other which is much better, but I can't really use (20 MB per month for the free account)...

I think this is my flickr account.

This is supposed to be my Yahoo account. (and the URL was buried, too, another example of a bad site design).

The 'election reform bill' which was supposed to lead to cleaner elections, actually is making it worse in at least one respect: there is now a ban on broadcast advertisments against candidates in the 60 days before the election.

Charlie at 'From my position' has more

Congress -- acting, of course, only in the interest of "clean" politics -- passed a ban on ads that mention federal candidates' names in the window 60 days before the general election, as part of McCain-Feingold in 2002.

...
Since McCain and Feingold are sure to be reading this blog, I'm going to remind them of something. It goes like this: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Heh.

Does this taste funny to you?
Did your significant other, partner, friend, spouse or otherwise familiar person ever hand you something to eat or drink and asked you "Does this taste funny?"

Why would you try it?

It's like they think they may have poisoned themselves, and want you to die also to confirm their theory.

Not like i would know about that or anything.

So says CNN reporter Ameesh Raman. Key quote:

Iran wants to be the Middle East's superpower, to balance the influence of the United States. And Tehran is eager to solidify its influence. Iran is offering extensive financial support to rebuild Lebanon, across-the-board support for Iraq's government, and Ahmadinejad is emerging as the defining voice for disenfranchised Muslims.

I have Iranian friends, and they're great, very friendly people. They call themselves Persian. But while I respect and admire Persians, I have zero respect for an Iranian govt who's premises include wiping Isreal off the face of the map and supporting people who wish to destroy America. Their govt allowed the storming of our embassey and the kidnapping of Americans, they are actively pursuing nuclear weapons, they are trying to destabilize Iraq to make it it's puppet. Not to mention they completely subsidize Hezbollah and are as responsible for the recent Lebanon conflict as Hezbollah. So, I strongly disagree with this reporter who deems Iran a wonderful place. Yes thats true, but until they stop trying to kill us, i'll treat Iran as hostile.

Ted "Bridge to Nowhere" Stevens is behind the 'secret hold' on the pork tracking bill in the senate. Mr. Pork himself is trying to delay anti-pork legislation. I just hope his constituents are aware of all the shenanigans that he's doing.

Now it's official, Isreal has gained nothing from their Lebanon offensive, except the pounding of Lebanon into dust and the expendature of thousands of Hezbollah rockets. If I was an Isreali, i'd be pretty pissed right now.

This is somewhat scary. Jokes would be in poor taste. I hope the survivors are able to recover. There's a possible anti-Sematic angle.

So I finally got the good picts uploaded to yahoo. The URL is here. You can click on 'view slideshow' in the upper right to see the picts. Unfortunately yahoo picts isn't the best photo website, but it will do.

I just got an email from Volunteer match, ; seems like a good clearinghouse organization for matching volunteers with organizations. They also have a ton of 'virtual' volunteer opportunities. Seems like a good thing.

Frist hasn't completed all of his CME (or any), even though he's required to.

Oh, the horror. But it's a good point, if you are a physician you have to abide by the AMA rules and other legislation. But around here you could get 40 hours of CME in a week I bet (there are always conferences and seminars going on).

Mike Yon has a great post on world jihad by militant muslims.

India is overwhelmingly Hindu, though about 150 million Muslims live there, which equals nearly the entire population of Pakistan. Most of these Indian Muslims are peaceful, yet clusters of militants in Pakistan, Kashmir and India keep picking, picking, picking. The subcontinent is one of the most dangerous places on Earth for festering wounds because India and Pakistan both possess nuclear weapons. We don’t have to worry about India, but only a weak thread keeps those weapons out of dangerous hands in Pakistan. One thing is certain: Jews in Israel are not to blame for the murderous rage of militant Muslims in India, and India is at this hour blaming Pakistan.

One of the things about the global war that we are missing is that these issues are largely smoke screens. Isreal, the Kashmir, etc; these are sore points but who really believes that all the trouble in the world is because jews occupy ancient palestine? I'm not a jew, I don't particularly support Isreal except as a right to exist as a nation and a people, but if the country of Isreal no longer existed, there would be another reason to attack western countries and western ideals (liberty, freedom). Sadly the killing will continue and there is nothing we who do not live in the region can do to prevent it.

Mohammed at Iraq the Model:

It is no secret that Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria support extremists of both sects so why not America and other friends of democratic Iraq offer grater, or at least equal, support for the liberals/moderates?

Perhaps this is due to the implicit support of the US govt in establishing Iraq as a model for democracy in the mid east, and the issue of not wanting to support one version of democracy over another (ie with a strong president, with a weak president...). This is the job of the State Dept., so Mohammed should be asking Condi Rice why her dept is not promoting more democratic groups.

CNN actually has a decent report, essentially a 'where are they now' theme. Mike Barnett, ex-Green Beret, who rode it out says he won't come back.

"The politicians were promising a comeback. I knew immediately they were dreaming, and as much as I love the city, I couldn't live there anymore, not the way it was. It was hideous, horrendous," said the 35-year-old freelance economic consultant. "I'll never come back to live in New Orleans. I don't have much hope for the city."

He provided a window into New Orleans, he was one of the only ones with an intact internet connection in New Orleans after Katrina. I think the people of New Orleans need to figure out if they want to come back, and then come back and get the job done. However, the infrastructure needs to be there; streets, power, plumbing, libraries, buses, etc. That's the governments responsibility (state/local), and the state of Louisiana has not done all it could. So while people heap blame on Bush for the lack of help for Katrina, remember it's primarily a local response to make sure the buses run, the libraries are open, etc. Once that happens, people will come back, and businesses will open. Until then...it's going to be a long, long road back.

While thinking about Katrina, I re-read some of my old posts (see post chain); the NOAA very accurately described what was to be expected a day or two early:

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

To me the problem with recovery is the absolute lack of infrastructure to a very large portion of the gulf coast area. Still, probablistic speaking, Katrina will hopefully never occur again in our lifetime. That said, we should be more prepared for hurricanes. Houston is actually pretty well sited to survive a major hurricaine; we are far enough inland that storm surge and the hurricane force winds will not affect us too much. Flooding will be an issue, but the city has undergone extensive work to revamp their flood control. New buildings (like the one i work in now) are now essentially flood proof, equiped with sealed basements and presumedly pumps to remove water. But one of the things I need to do is create a hurricane survival kit; we got most of the stuff on hand, but should put it into a bundle somehow.

Update: Paul at wizbang has an excellent post on the Katrina levees and how in fact water seeped under them for a year before Katrina; and how the levees were destined to fail very soon. In fact, he says, Katrina saved lives. Pretty interesting stuff!

Good news from Iraq: the tribal heads of Iraq have agreed to work with the new government. This is a symbolic measure of course, but still, very encouraging and not indicative of a civil war (actually the opposite). Maybe they have turned the corner.

Amnesty International release a press release stating that Isreal intentially targetted Lebanese civilian infrastructure. Duh. Since Hezbollah used teh same infastructure for resupply and logisitics, and since they couldn't be identified by any markings as a combat force, of course Isreal mercilessly bombed Lebanon into oblivion. That being said, however, even the UN said that civilian casulties appear to be low; only 1100 dead. Compare that to several thousand Iraqis each month recently.

But the gripper is punishment AI threatens: they are going to tell the UN that both sides didn't obey the rules of war. Since when did war have rules? I've said before both sides are to blame, both sides purposely attacked civilian structures. For Hezbollah it was a means of terror and intimidations. For Isreal it was a means of issolating your enemy (which is classic tactics, going back to Sun Tzu).
Anyway. If AI wasn't so hateful of the West and if the UN wasn't so feable and anemic, this would be funny. Instead, history will repeat itself, and soon, I bet.

Update: AI and other NGOs (non-govt organizations) such as Human Rights Watch have been 'favorite victims of the right-wing blogosphere' to paraphrase Bill Dalasio
Anyway, others take HRW to task: The Right Coast has discussed the extreme left views of HRW. David Burnstein at the Volokh Conspiracy says basically the same thing as I do above:

I'm no military expert, but every book, movie, documentary, etc., I've ever seen on war assumes that at least bridges [how many WWII movies have a scene focused on taking a bridge?], roads and seaports are important military targets, and in modern times I'd have to put airports on that list, too. The idea that a country at war can't attack the enemy's resupply routes (at least until it has direct evidence that there is a particular military shipment arriving) has nothing to do with human rights or war crimes, and a lot to do with a pacifist attitude that seeks to make war, regardless of the justification for it or the restraint in prosecuting it [at least if it's a Western country doing it], an international "crime."

Kenneth Anderson, former HRW worker himself, has a roundup of others covering the HRW report, and includes his own commentary: "Amnesty International has clearly gone over the cliff; I very much hope that HRW does not - but it will take considerable outside pressure" This is refering to the extreme leftist anti-Western views that they have.
Human rights organizations should look at human rights and be apolitical. When they heap scorn on western govts but let off the worst offenders, they do no-one a service. They should stop being so anti-West, then people in the West, who really listen to them (do you think China or Syria or North Korea takes their reports seriously?) would actually act on their info.

The full AI report is here (Thanks to a Volokh Conspiracy commenter).

Since the new security measures went into place, including the redeployment of the Striker Brigade.

But you wouldn't know it from reading the news.

How do you know we are winning? When there is no news from Iraq via the usual outlets (CNN, WaPo, NYT, etc). And indeed, it's been quiet the last few days.

Update: Gen. Casey and Col. Shields (overall commander of Iraq and of the Styrker brigade in Bagdad, respectively) are saying the same thing; security ops in Bagdad have decreased the death squad activity, drive by murders, and the like. Not so much for suscide bombers though.

The Houston chronicle Science Blog quotes me very briefly. Not sure how i missed this link, but anyway.

Is this a career path you would choose? I know it's one Rob Dejournett has, and as his chronicles attest, its a difficult one. My real concern is that the smart kids will realize early on that the best chance of succeeding professionally and financially these days lies not in medical research, but law or business.

Iraq The Model:

It may sound a bit odd but that's really what I felt in Egypt that I don't feel in my war-torn city; for the first time in 3 years I felt the restrains of government…I told one of my colleagues I feel safe in Baghdad despite the dangers, I may feel afraid of terrorists or random violence but I never fear the government and that's not only how I feel, Iraqis are not afraid of expressing their differences with the authority because we in Iraq have more or les became part of that authority the day we elected our representatives while terrorists and militias are nothing more than temporary phenomenon that unlike constitution and elections have no solid foundations.

From OOTS

"Excuse me sir, if you are done pretending I can't hear because I am a nameless NPC, I'll head off to that tavern there to get utterly drunk in response to my life's apparent meaninglessness."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, whatever, have fun."

That photon/laser/proton/whatever facility that is one of the first in the nation for radiation therapy has made it into a national news article. My friend Jim Cox is prominately featured (he's the radiation guru around here).

Surely there is a lesson here for us....dunno what...

Key quote:

"They're urban raccoons, and they're not afraid."

When will the madness end?

For slain cops.. Two cops struck, one killed. Very sad.

A sad day in Tinsletown. I have yet to see Mission Impossible 3 though, and its because Cruise has been so whacky lately. Is he on drugs? What's the deal? To me, he's always been more personality than actor. He was just okay in the MI series, okay in War of the Worlds. He was good in Color of Money and Top Gun of course. But he's had so many bombs...vanilla sky, eyes wide shut come to mind. But, 35 appearances, most of them principle actors, in 25 years is not bad. Maybe its time for him to stop acting though, or just shut up and act...Why do all A list types think they rule the world?

Of course this would happen after our west coast trip (we could have saved $200). Only twenty cities are offered, and fares only good until Nov 15.

Well, J & I & IK saw this wonderful flic on Saturday. All I can say is, it's freaking hilarious. But don't go if you are afraid of snakes. Well, maybe go. Okay, all those with ophidiophobia should see this movie, and bring rubber snakes. This will either cure their phobia or cause a heart attack.

Anyway, you know the plot, there's snakes on a plane. Something about mafia hit, something about key witness. But imagine every poisonous snake in the world, or every 'bad' snake (ie boas), in a plane, going berzerk. Imagine every sensitive body part that can be bitten by a snake. Imagine all sorts of stereotypical characters. Imagine most of them dying in rather quick fashion, throughout the movie (for me this was the best part). Imagine bad jokes, imagine Samuel L Jackson saying "I've had it with this #$#$ snakes on this #$)*( plane". Anyway, it's hysterical, if you have a pulse you should see this movie.

Who cares (besides Russians), Americans say. Oh wait, *Children die in fiery plane crash* screams the CNN headline (on their main page - the story lede is *Russian jet crash kills all 170 on board*)
Stop the music! Because about one third of the passengers were children this makes it somehow more of a tragedy?

Also I want to met the person who manages to survive a plane crash. Has it ever happened? No, Bruce Willis doesn't count (he played a super hero character in Unbreakable that was supposedly invulnerable, b/c he survived a plane crash). So, if no one ever survives a plane crash, why bother amping up the emotional lede *All 170 on board die horribly*. To me, CNN is getting increasingly emotional and hysterical, which isn't how a premier news organization should be.

For the record, I'm not arguing this isn't a tragedy; but but the patent and obvious over the top emotional appeal of CNN is too too much.

Further, what's with the stupid airline regs that say 'in case of a water landing, life rafts will deploy. How many times has that happened? Whats that, never you say? Correct! If a jet liner, going 500 mph, hits the ground or the water, nobody will survive. It's pretty simple. So they might as well say, "In case of an unexpected water or ground landing, kiss your ass goodbye." But no, they say, of course everone is going to survive, so here are the instructions when you do...I understand the need to calm the emotions of people, though.

(p.s. airline people, please show "Snakes on a Plane" in flight. I'd want to see that. I'll bring my rubber snakes.)

Now he's making our children fat! Err, if I had any children...
Damn you Bush!

First the huge spike in airfares. Today, J & I booked our thanksgiving trip, the average cost for leaving Wed night and getting back Sunday, from Houston to Phoenix, was $350 or 400 per person. Usually it's $220 or $250. Then we tried to book christmas fares to St. Louis; the cost was $550 on some carriers. Usually it's $200 or $250.

Then, there's stories like this, where passengers who 'smuggle' drinks on board, drinks purchased in the secure area, caused the flight to be delayed an hour (b/c the plane had to be emptied and everyone re-screened). On our recent trip, it was common to get beverage service once or maybe twice on the 2-3 hour trip, and the beverage consisted of maybe 4 oz of water. So instead of drinking a liter or more of water during flight, like you should to avoid dehydration, they are giving you much much less. Either beverage service will have to increase (it won't), or we'll be allowed to take drinks back on the plane (we will in probably 6 months).

It's not reasonable to seek alternatives to trans-continental flights, but for trips less than 1000 miles, i'd seriously consider driving (you waste a day regardless). Other alternatives are to drive to nearby towns to avoid the extra leg which jacks up the airfare cost. For example, not many carriers fly directly from Houston to St. Louis, and those flights are more expensive b/c they are less common. But American Airlines apparently does fly alot between St. Louis and Dallas (4 hours away). Airfare between the two is dirt cheap; so we are considering driving to Dallas and taking that flight to St. Louis, and saving 300 or 400 bucks. I knew the airfare spike had to come, as fuel costs have soared in the last few years but ticket prices haven't, while most airlines are in the red or in bankruptcy. But now that it's here I am less willing to plan major trips b/c they are too expensive.


Here's a travel site, kayak.com, that does the traditional airfare search engine, but it will also do things like finding the most commonly searched flight from a city to anywhere in any month. For example according to it the most common search from houston is to las vegas, for the price of $194. Further, it can tabulate the average cost of a fare between two destinations in the past 90 days; so you could see the cost. This only works for more commonly searched fares; it worked for a query of travel between IAH and PHX during thanksgiving (best fair between $400-450), but not HOU and STL during christmas. Here's a press release describing the features.

Here's another website to help travelers. Currently it's in beta (you can only search two airports) but what it's designed to do is show fare history and predict if fares will increase or decrease. Fares fluctuate alot and rapidly for very odd (to me) reasons. For example, from Dallas to Boston for a trip in September, the fares in the last 2 months was between $250 and $350 (for the same city pair and dates). And it predicts that fares will go up $50 in the next week, with 71% confidence, so you better buy now. Here is a press release describing the company.

High praise from a member of the AP.

This is an event. It's a rare example of a film not just living up to the hype, but surpassing it. And it's the best time you'll have at the movies all summer, if not all year.

Mick LaSalle (SF Chronicle) (3.5/4 stars)

...if you can find a better time at the movies this year than this wild comic thriller, let me in on it. I'm there.

Amy Biancholli (Houston Chronicle) (2.5/4 stars)

Most important of all: Is Snakes on a Plane this generation's answer to The Rocky Horror Picture Show?

It may well be.
...
If you must see Snakes on a Plane, and I imagine many moviegoers fall into that self-appointed category, do yourself a favor and see it late at night (the later the better) with a capacity crowd of boisterous college-age kids armed with plastic snakes. Seeing it in that setting, with that company, will bring out the film's loopy parodic bent and give you a nice frisson of communal entertainment. It just might be the instant camp classic it set out to be.

I just think it's a cool, funny, fluff movie. You know it's not going to hold much water, but who cares. It's a fun, summer popcorn movie in a summer that forgot what popcorn movies taste like.

A tool that graphics professionals use. There is a short but excellent tutorial here.

This time it's young boys forced to memorize the entire Koran. Ann Althouse has the scoop.

Key funny quote from the comments section:

But just think of the power these kids will have if they successfully memorize the whole thing. Being able to hand out 10 free passes to Heaven has to give you some clout with your friends and family. I'd be carrying a list around with me everywhere I went and conspicuously adding or crossing out names. "Broccoli Mom? OK, your call." (Pulls out list strokes out Mom's name.)

Incredible story. 9 months, 5,500 miles, living on raw fish and rainwater. So apparently (raw) fish are sufficient in nutritions to keep you alive for 9 months (usually you will get vitamin deficiency disorders if you eat only one type of food for months or years).

This is the ship (Balclutha) that docks near Alcatraz Island, next to Ghirardelli square. The light from the lighthouse on the island is to the right of the ship. Shot at night without flash.



This is Ghirardelli square at night.



This is J enjoying her bread bowl with clam chowder and a glass of wine near Fisherman's wharf.



This is J near the cork cow; yes, its entirely made out of wine corks, in the city of Sonoma during our wine country tour.



This is the Golden Gate Bridge, as shot from the Legion of Honor museum. We saw the Monet exhibition there; it was pretty good (but insanely crowded).



This is J again with the Golden Gate in the distance. We hiked all the way from the Museum to Cliffhouse, this haute restaurant (which, after a 2 or 3 mile walk, was too rich for our blood). It boasts good views though.

I'll post portland picts later.

A few highlights; we stayed 2 days in LA, 3 days in SF, and 2 days in Portland. You can click on the pict to see the full thing (its large, be warned)




This is a sculpture of Jackie Robinson (famous Brooklyn Dodger player), and my friends S & V and my wife are posing.



This is a church J & I went to in LA for mass. (It's St. Andrew's church in Pasadena (thanks J))



This is a view from the Santa Monica Pier near Venice Beach.



This is J & I near the famous Hollywood sign.

I hate airports. I used to love the sense of adventure, but now I just chafe at the delays and money spent. Anyway as others have noted, the security issue isn't that big of a deal as far as time wasted. We got to Portland Intl at 12:30 and were through security in about half an hour. The major issue is that you can't take liquids through the checkpoint, and you can't take liquids on board the aircraft. So, no bottled water, no sodas on those long flights that reward you with peanuts and 4 oz of soda or water every two or three hours. I suppose the worst thing about it was the terrible, expensive food in Portland (horrid hotdog, chips and drink for $8.50), and it was worse in LAX (the cheapest thing there was the two cheeseburger value meal from McD for $6; another shop was selling single sandwhichs for $8.50).
Today I went to Sam's Club, and in the process of getting some good deals, I got a great hot dog for $1.42).

Some airports are better; ie Houston Hobby (HOU) has a subway with approximately the same prices; and long term parking was very cheap ($3.50/day). In SF, we paid $15/day to park our rental car and that was a good deal. Some areas had 24 hour valet parking for $40.

Anyway, bottom line is that the new security is a hassle but won't take much time. We found out you can bring chapstick and an empty water bottle through security, and of course aircrafts don't check you (but if they see you drinking something, they'll take it away).

Brannon Denning has some good advice for first year law students. In that vein, i'll summerize and extend for grad school. I just finished a 8 year program getting my MS and PhD.

First, why does it take so long. Well, alot of people end up switching labs after a few years, and get nothing to show for it. I got lucky and got my MS out of it, otherwise I would have been really stuck. Further, alot of people end up with projects that don't go anywhere. This may be due to bad fit of the student and the project, or badly thought of projects by the PI.

Statistics by the National Research Council (I think!) show that time to graduation in most hard sciences is about 7 or 8 years. In 'soft' fields like philosophy, history, english, it's even longer, because those programs are (grossly generalizing) unstructured. At least our school is structured: First two years, coursework and tutorials. Second two years, start project and do candidacy exam. 4+ years, finish PhD project.

So, for incoming students, prepare thyself for the long journey. You won't be out in 3-4 years like law/med students (unless you are really good or come in with a MS). On the other hand, you won't incure a ton of debt (they pay you a small living stipend).

Part of this preparation is what Brannon mentioned; exercise I found to be critical. Outside interests also important, but incredibly frowned upon in science. (what, you are not breathing science 100% of the time?). Some people just can't understand this notion, and they have miserable lives b/c all they do is science. Of course there is a work/life balance. Alot of students and researchers treat it like a job, a low paying hard job. They come in at 9am, and leave at 5pm, five days a week. That won't work in science. You have to be able to put in the hours required; I often come in at night to do time courses (and hate it) due to the necessity of the system. But if you do that, you need to set aside more downtime, ie really take off Sat and Sun, not just part days in the lab. If you are cruising during the week and only putting in 6 hours a day or less, you should probably come in on sat or sun to get stuff done. I feel like I've done my job if I put in at least 40 hours/week here, and that's experiment time, time when experiments are incubating.

So I guess time management is important, but also important is experiment management, asking the right questions, using the right controls, etc. This takes a long long time to develop, but the sooner you start the better you'll be. I've wasted years on bad research tracks that never led to anything useful; that happens alot and you need to be prepared for it. But you should be asking important questions, such as: has this question been addressed in the literature? How will answering this question help extend the field of knowledge? Which gap in knowledge will it fill? What do I need in the experiment to know that it works? Is it possible for the experiment to yield a meaningful, interpretable answer? If so, what would be the next step (or is the expt a dead end?). These are all critical questions, and the sooner you can define your PhD project, and formulate ways to fill a certain, small gap in the field, the sooner you can graduate.

Anyway that's my advice for entering students. How to think like a scientist is the thing you get out of grad school. Yes, you'll know techniques but that's not relavent. Finding good questions to ask, and being able to answer them, is the essence of getting a PhD.

If you are not interested in this, then either get a masters (which basically will make you a well-paid technician), or don't bother to waste 6-8 years of your life, do something you'll enjoy instead. If you don't enjoy science, there is no way you will be able to survive.

Regarding the Iran nuke crisis, which some argue the current Lebanon war is a mask for. (From the Washington Institute)

Some day, it may become necessary to take more direct action against the Iranian nuclear program. To quote IAEA director ElBaradei, "Diplomacy has to be backed up by pressure and, in extreme case, by force. We have rules. We have to do everything possible to uphold the rules through conviction. If not, then you impose them. Of course, this has to be the last resort, but sometimes you have to do it” (Newsweek, January 23, 2006). If force were to be necessary, the options are much broader than an air raid like that which Israel mounted in 1981 against Iraq’s Osiraq reactor. For instance, Israel put a stop to Egypt’s missile program in the early 1960s by arranging the sudden premature death of German scientists working on those missiles in Egypt. Iran’s nuclear program is a series of sophisticated, large industrial plants which could encounter industrial accidents.

Key phrase: "sudden premature death of German scientists". Yes, if accidents like that were to happen, I imagine their nuke program would stop. I think the Isrealis have much more at stake in this than we do; I forsee any direct action against Iran will be by Isreal.

Why is anti-Semitism much more shunned in todays society than anti-WASPism, anti-Africanism, anti-Muslimism, anti-Christianism (etc etc). This is referring to the Mel Gibson episode, of course. Why does the NY Sun (and many others) insist his career is over? I personally don't care what his beliefs are, as long as they are not too hateful, ie member of the KKK, Nazi, etc. But, for example, I think Tom Cruise is pretty odd now that he is a vocal scientologist (I didn't even see MI:3, yet).

So, the question I have is, is his career over because the public will no longer trust him now that he made a racial slur? Or is his career over because Jews do in fact rule the world and will ensure that he never works again? If the later, then Gibson was right and he didn't utter a slur. If the former, then we Americans are much more sensitive to Jews than any other race. Of course, few other races have been close to being wiped out like the Jews (via the Holocaust). So, sure they deserve some extra weight. But perhaps anti-Semitism goes too far. If you dare utter something that Jews won't like, you are not necessarily the next Hitler.

Took a while, but here is a review by dpreview.

J & I were deciding where to go for vacation; either NY or CA. I'm glad we picked teh west coast, especially b/c of the current heat wave in NY area. We're spending a few days in LA, moving up to SF, then Portland. SF and Portland should be pretty cool (i hope). Anyway its bound to be better than here in Houston.

Predicted temperatures for this saturday: LA mid 80s, SF, mid 60s, Portland, mid 80s. New York high 80s (cooling from teh 100s this week). Houston low 90s. So really, any of these places will be cooler than Houston. low 90s is tolerable, but i'd prefer 70s or 60s (Where in the world is it a constant 60-70 degrees?)

But really regarding the heat, there is little escaping it, unless you move to canada.

Probably not. There are studies on both sides, but many economists think the effect on poor people is likely small.

Why? According to Jane Galt:

Nonetheless, while modest increases in the minimum wage may increase unemployment, the effect doesn't seem to be huge; when the studies tend to point both ways, that's a good sign that whatever change you're looking at is pretty small. Might we not make a dent in poverty by helping a lot of poor workers to higher wages, at a modest cost in employment to the few?

Possibly . . . but the problem is that, as a poverty fighting weapon, the minimum wage is an exceptionally blunt instrument. Only about half of the people earning the minimum wage are adults; the rest are teenagers and young adults, many of whom come from relatively affluent families. According to this paper from the Clinton-era Department of Health and Human Services, only about 30% of the people receiving minimum wage live in families near or below the poverty line . . . a result that is hardly surprising, since the overwhelming majority of minimum wage workers worked less than twenty hours a week--so much less that the average workweek for all minimum wage workers was less than 10 hours in 1998. This would suggest that most people working at minimum wage are supplementing their studies, or their spouse's income, rather than trying to support themselves with such a job. So in order to get to the relatively small number of people who need the money, we provide a subsidy to the 71% who do not. This is not very efficient social policy.

So either people below the poverty line tend to earn above the minimum wage, or are wage exempt (ie restaurant servers), or don't have a job.

Megan McArdle instead supports the Earned Income Tax Credit. It seems to be a beneficial program; single mom's with less than two kids actually make 4% of their income via this program (they don't pay tax, they receive an yearly income stipend from the IRS).


Makes sense to me.

Oh the scandal. Permit me a small amount of hypocracy, but middle-age white men are the backbone of our economy, have been so ever since the nation's founding. However, now woman and minorities are increasing in the job pool. It's still not equal though; everyone knows a middle-age white male will make the most of any group (reference for gender gap). (reference for race gap)

Anyway now the alarming trend is that white men are not working, while their wives are. Scandelous some say. About time, I say. Men are increasingly bearing the burden of child rearing, and when the nest empties, some women go back to work. Conversely, some men stop working.

I think I will always look back on my 3 months of half-time work between grad school and postdoc as one of the happiest in my life. I didn't have to worry about money, since my wives income (barely) support us. I didn't have to take much responsibility in work. And I wasn't not working, so that my skills laid idle for a long time. Further, I was able to start several long term projects which recently have come to fruition (and others will take a year or so). Anyway, if you could not work, it's a great deal; my take. The bread-winner in your house may say otherwise though.