What Caught My Eye Today

Haiti (Part I) - At last check the estimated death toll from the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti 11 days ago stood at 111,000. As this next item points out, Haitians are no strangers to natural disasters. Last week's earthquake came in the wake of 4 hurricanes and tropical storms in 2008 that killed hundreds. The earthquake is officially the 15th natural disaster to hit Haiti since 2001. That just ain't right.. Prior to the earthquake, more than 3,000 Haitians had died in natural disasters since the turn of the century and hundreds of thousands had been displaced. The island has the misfortune of being located directly in a geological fault zone, making it susceptible to earthquakes, and its location in the Caribbean makes it a sitting duck for hurricanes. And if that isn't bad enough, the country has endured 33 coups since its inception back in 1804. So not only are Haitians getting no sympathy from Mother Nature, but they have no competent government to help them "weather the storm".

Haiti (Part II) - If this has not come up before, let me go on the record by stating Pat Robertson is an ass. Last week on the Christian Broadcasting Network, Pat Robertson, the TV evangelist said the earthquake that hit Haiti and claimed over 100,000 lives is the Haitians own fault, presumably for practicing voodoo. In his narrow fundamentalist view, Robertson is making a First Commandment argument: When the God of Israel thunders from his mountaintop that "you shall have no other gods before me," he means it. This God rains down disaster on those who disobey. I don't know about you, but one of these days, God is going to rain down of morons like Robertson, and I, for one, won't be shedding a single tear when that day comes.

Canada - As you read this item, substitute your own nation in whenever you see the word "Canada" and your version of the legislative branch of government whenever you see the word "Parliament". Canada does not need its Parliament, according to a Maclean's editorialist. Two week ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared that Parliament should that a two month recess. The editorialist wonders "Would 3 months be any worse? Or 4? Or even 6 months?". The real work of governing is done by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The legislature's votes on the governments proposed laws are always along party lines anyways, so really, all that is really needed is for the party leads to vote. With Parliament abolished, we would just vote for a party instead of individual legislators, and the party that won the most votes would form the government, saving the nations millions of dollars a year. Dude poses any interesting hypothesis, doesn't he. Of course, once you step back and realize that he is effectively advocating the type of government that Russia has, his suggestion seems a bit more serious.

Movies - This is a topic of frequent conversation between the missus and me whenever all time movie box office tallies make the news. At $504.9 million (in domestic gross, so far), "Avatar" may well be on track to pass "Titanic" as the top grossing film of all time. But that picture looks very different when you adjust box office numbers for ticket price inflation. By that measure, "Avatar" ranks 34th, just ahead of Disney's animated classic, "Pinocchio". Adjusted for inflation, these are the top ten grossing films of all time:

1. Gone with the Wind - $1.49 billion
2. Star Wars - $1.31 billion
3. The Sound of Music - $1.05 billion
4. E.T. - $1.04 billion
5. The Ten Commandments - $$963 million
6. Titanic - $943 million
7. Jaws - $941 million
8. Doctor Zhivago - $912 million
9. The Exorcist - $813 million
10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - $801 million

Potpourri - In this edition, one of my favorite subjects--statistical trivia

• Space Transportation - Want your very own space shuttle? NASA has cut the price on the '70s era spaceships, which will go out of service late this year, from $42 million to $28.8 million apiece.
  Speaking strictly for myself, I'm holding out for them to show up on eBay before I put my bid in.
• Football - In the 174 minutes of the average football game telecast, viewers see 60 minutes of commercials, 75 minutes of players milling around, 17 minutes of replays, and 11 minutes of actual football.
  So if my math is correct, you could watch an entire season of "actual football" for your favorite team on your DVR in just two minutes longer than a single telecast. Better hope the missus doesn't figure this out, or your Sunday afternoons will be hosed next season.
• Twitter - 32 of the nation's 50 governors use Twitter. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has the most followers with 1,609,285. In second place is Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal with 37,147.
  The state economy may be in tatters, but to heck with that. This is something that all Californians can take pride in.