What Caught My Eye Today - Debt Sequestration

Debt Sequestration - In case you had not noticed, the United States is supposed to careen off a fiscal cliff on March 1. Let's recap how we got here, shall we? 

The fiscal cliff was the sharp decline in the federal budget deficit that could have occurred beginning in early January 2013 due to increased taxes and reduced spending as required by previously enacted laws. The previously enacted laws leading to the fiscal cliff had been projected to result in a 19.63% increase in revenue and 0.25% reduction in spending from fiscal years 2012 to 2013. Those laws included the expiration of the 2010 Tax Relief Act and planned spending cuts under the Budget Control Act of 2011. The spending reduction elements of the fiscal cliff are primarily contained within the Budget Control Act of 2011, which directed that both defense and non-defense discretionary spending be reduced by "sequestration" if Congress was unable to agree on other spending cuts of similar size. The scope of the law excludes major mandatory programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Up to now Congress has unable to reach agreement on spending cuts and the sequestration was delayed until March 2013 as part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012.

I'll grant you a moment or two to get over the shock of Congress being unable to agree on pretty much anything. Right then? Let just see what all the commotion is about here.

At last check, the U.S. debt stood at slightly more than $16.6 trillion. The impending doomsday of sequestration amounts to $85 billion in 2013. So much sequestration does that buy you? Not much.  $85 billion represents just over one half of one percent of our national debt. So if we manage to take off $85 billion a year then that debt will be history by the year 2213 (give or take a year or two).  Of course, the government is running a $1.1 trillion deficit so the debt will actually continue to grow more than the $85 billion we are paying back each year. Which means we'll eliminate the debt...never.

A recent news item suggested that one of the outcomes of the debt sequestration could be a delay in tax refunds. Last year, the Internal Revenue Service paid out $300 billion in tax refunds (about $3,000 per household).  Never mind the fact that this money amount to an interest free loan to the government courtesy of the taxpayers. I say keep it for the debt.  In fact, keep those tax refunds for the next 53 years of so. That'll get rid of the debt. Oh, but wait just a second. The government is running a $1.1 trillion deficit so the debt will actually continue to grow more than the $300 billion we are paying back each year. Which means we'll eliminate the debt (yep, you guessed it)...never.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated spending on Social Security and healthcare for 2012 at $2.5 trillion ($1.6 billion for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and $900 billion for healthcare).  And that figure is expected to rise to more than $3.2 trillion over the next 10 years as the rest of the healthcare reform law kicks in. I suppose we could scrap entitlements altogether and we'd have that debt down in no time. Of course there would be no social safety net, but isn't that what churches are for anyway?

You know, we could always just sell off some states to pay down the debt. In 2010, the GDP of all fifty states was $14.7 trillion. That's a wee bit short of $16.6 trillion, but would it really matter?  Who are the debtors going to collect from if there aren't no more United States?

I get that you don't indiscriminately cut $85 billion without the possibility of hitting some bone.  A lot of people are going to get hosed by this deal through no fault of their own.  My point here is that the government seems to be making a real big deal out of something that, in the grander scheme of things, does not make much of an impact on the issue we are supposed to be tackling in the first place, the national debt.

Anyway, I'm off to my homemade bunker to wait things out. Geeze, I thought after the end of days and recent close encounters with asteroids, I wouldn't be going back so soon.

What Caught My Eye Today - Misery, Guam, College Endowments, Flatulence

Fred's Note:  At the risk of stating the obvious, this is one of the more eclectic collections we've had.  

Misery - With its violent crimes, high unemployment, dwindling population and financial crisis, Detroit was recently named as the most miserable city in the United States. Yeah, yeah. Big surprise, I know. Still, I cannot help but feel a bit sorry for this poor city.  They've had a ridiculous run of bad luck. It toppled Miami, which held the title last year, and surpassed Flint, Michigan, Rockford and Chicago in Illinois and Modesto, California, which rounded out the five most unhappy urban areas. Is it just me or does it strike you as a bit odd that Miami and Chicago rank that high on this list.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning on relocating to either place anytime in the foreseeable future, but I find it rather difficult to compare the likes of Chicago to Modesto (seriously, how many of you even know where Modesto is?). "Detroit's problems are hardly news. It has been in a four-decade decline paralleling the slide in the U.S. auto industry," according to Forbes.com, which compiles the yearly ranking. To compile the list, Forbes looked at 200 of the country's largest urban areas and ranked them on factors including crime rates, foreclosures, taxes, home prices, commute times, weather and decreasing populations. Violent crime, high foreclosure rates and declining home prices pushed Chicago into the fourth spot, along with the high expense of living there. New York, which came in at No. 10, was also cited for its high cost of living. The Big Apple has one of the country's highest income tax rates and longest average commuting time at 36 minutes. Being from California, home to 20% of the nation's population, I gotten used to the fact, that my state will always rank somewhere near the bottom of most rankings for bad stuff.  We have more people for bad stuff to happen to.  Big cities, like Chicago and New York, are always going to get hosed. 

Guam - Fair warning, people. This next item can be summarized in one word --- Eww. Dead mice laced with painkillers are about to rain down on Guam's jungle canopy. I swear that this is a legitimate story. They are scientists' prescription for a headache that has caused the tiny U.S. territory misery for more than 60 years: the brown tree snake. Most of Guam's native bird species are extinct because of the snake, which reached the island's thick jungles by hitching rides from the South Pacific on U.S. military ships shortly after World War II. There may be 2 million of the reptiles on Guam now, decimating wildlife, biting residents and even knocking out electricity by slithering onto power lines. The infestation and the toll it has taken on native wildlife have tarnished Guam's image as a tourism haven, though the snakes are rarely seen outside their jungle habitat. Interestingly, the Guam Visitors Bureau doesn't seem to mention the presence of two million snakes anywhere on its website. Go figure.  The solution to this headache, fittingly enough, is acetaminophen, the active ingredient in painkillers including Tylenol. The strategy takes advantage of the snake's two big weaknesses. Unlike most snakes, brown tree snakes are happy to eat prey they didn't kill themselves, and they are highly vulnerable to acetaminophen, which is harmless to humans. U.S. government scientists have been perfecting the mice-drop strategy for more than a decade with support from the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior. One wonders how something like this actually gets funding and, what with fiscal sequestration a mere two days away, whether or not this funding will continue or not.  To keep the mice bait from dropping all the way to the ground, where it could be eaten by other animals or attract insects as they rot, researchers have developed a flotation device with streamers designed to catch in the branches of the forest foliage, where the snakes live and feed. A 2010 study conducted by the National Wildlife Research Center found brown tree snakes would cause between $593 million and $2.14 billion in economic damage each year if they became established in Hawaii like they are on Guam. So far, Guam's containment seems to be working. Only a few brown tree snakes have ever been found in Hawaii, and none over the past 17 years.

College Endowments - As a proud alumnus of San Jose State University (Class of 1993. Go Spartans!), this story stings a bit.  Read on, you'll see what I mean. Stanford University has set a new record for college fundraising, becoming the first school to collect more than $1 billion in a single year. In the 2012 fiscal year, roughly 3,500 U.S. colleges and universities raised $31 billion, 2.3 percent more than the previous year. The record was set in 2008 when schools took in $31.6 billion before fundraising dropped during the height of the financial crisis. Topping the list was Stanford at $1.035 billion, followed by Harvard University at $650 million, Yale University at $544 million, the University of Southern California at $492 million and Columbia University at $490 million. The top 10 fundraising colleges collected $5.3 billion, or 17 percent, of the $31 billion, even though they represent only 0.3 percent of the 3,500 accredited, nonprofit schools. Isn't it a comforting thought that the income equality gap between the haves and the have nots is just as prevalent in centers of higher learning as it is everyplace else. Of course, logic would follow that you would need to learn the difference being having and not having someplace. Why not at school? The 10-campus University of California system raised $1.56 billion. That sum includes $405 million collected by UC Berkeley, which was the leading fundraiser among all public universities. Stanford's $1.035 billion haul is equal to nearly $56,000 for each of its roughly 18,500 undergraduate and graduate students, though much of the money will be used for research and construction. By contrast, San Jose State University, a public college 20 miles away, raised $14 million, which is equal to $450 for each of its 31,000 students. Twenty years ago, that $450 dollars would have covered most of my tuition for a semester. These days $450 covers less than 10%.  One last thing, and yes I know this will sound like sour grapes, but if you can afford to go to Stanford, do you really need an extra $56,000 to boot? Talk about an embarrassment of riches.

Flatulence - I had to check the archives on this, but I'm pretty sure this  is the first time flatulence has made the list. Yeah, I was a bit surprised myself. I've been doing this for a pretty long time (767 postings and counting) and you'd think that I would have covered this sort of thing well before now. Scientists say physics can explain why you feel gassier when you fly. As an airplane increases in altitude, pressure decreases. And according to what's known as the ideal gas law, when pressure decreases, volume increases. Cabin pressure tries to compensate for these changes, but it can only do so much and your intestines end up expanding with volume. Speaking strictly from a 'good for your health' standpoint health professionals recommend you release the volume from your intestines. Flatulence may be inconvenient, but it serves a purpose. And if it really is good for your health, I'm sure the poor schmuck sitting next to you (or behind you ) will completely understand and sympathize with your situation. If you don't pass gas when you need to, you may develop abdominal discomfort. Researchers suggest being as discreet as possible and even wearing activated charcoal underwear liners to absorb the odor. Seriously, who actually owns a charcoal underwear liner? For that matter, where would you even buy one? (Yes, I checked. It seems you have to go online to such sites as flat-d.com or myshreddies.com to procure such on item, but they do offer free shipping.).  Let's say you are mindful of your fellow passenger and decide to don said charcoal underwear liner after that  visit to the taco truck before coming to the airport.  Do you really think you are going to make it through TSA screening without incident. I got felt up by security once because I forgot I was wearing a ThermaCare heat wrap on my back.

Did You Know? #19

How many popes have there been?

There have been 266 popes according to the Annuario Pontificio under the heading "I Sommi Pontefici Romani" (The Supreme Pontiffs of Rome). Published every year by the Roman Curia, the Annuario Pontificio attaches no consecutive numbers to the popes, stating that it is impossible to decide which side represented at various times the legitimate succession.

What Caught My Eye Today - Contagion, Universe, Mississippi, Bourbon

Contagion - As if flu season isn't bad enough, now there's...well, we're not quite sure, but it's kind of bad. A British man infected with a new virus from the same family as SARS has died, bringing the worldwide death toll from the previously unknown disease to six. Is it just me or does the phrase unknown disease scare the bejeezus out of you? The virus, called novel coronavirus or NCoV, was unknown in humans until it emerged in the Middle East last year. Usually you expect these sorts of things to come out of Africa or Asia.  Way to step it up, Middle East. There have been 12 confirmed cases worldwide - including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain, and so far 6 patients have died. If I did my math correctly (and I'm pretty sure I did) that makes for a 50% mortality rate.  Again, unknown disease...yikes.  NCoV was identified when the World Health Organisation issued an international alert in September 2012, saying a completely new virus had infected a Qatari man in Britain who had recently been in Saudi Arabia. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that includes those that cause the common cold as well as the one that caused SARS, which emerged in China in 2002 and killed about a 10th of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.

Universe - Scientists are still sorting out the details of last year's discovery of the Higgs boson particle, but add up the numbers and it's not looking good for the future of the universe. Researchers have come to the conclusion that, "it may be that the universe we live in is inherently unstable and at some point billions of years from now it's all going to get wiped out." Okay, first of all, lighten up fellas. A lot can happen in several billion years. Secondly, it must be nice making bold predictions that have absolutely no chance of being proven or disproven. Physicists last year announced they had discovered what appears to be a long-sought subatomic particle called the Higgs boson, which is believed to give matter its mass. Work to study the Higgs' related particles, necessary for confirmation, is ongoing. If confirmed, the discovery would help resolve a key puzzle about how the universe came into existence some 13.7 billion years ago, and perhaps how it will end. According to scientists, "this calculation tells you that many tens of billions of years from now, there'll be a catastrophe." Scientists had grappled with the idea of the universe's long-term stability before the Higgs discovery, but stepped up calculations once its mass began settling in at around 126 billion electron volts - a critical number it turns out for figuring out the fate of the universe. Earth will likely be long gone before any Higgs boson particles set off an apocalyptic assault on the universe. Physicists expect the sun to burn out in 4.5 billion years or so, and expand, likely engulfing Earth in the process. Don't get me wrong, I love science. What I don't get is all this doomsday talk about something that may or may not happen billions of years after the Earth ceases to exist which, oh by the way, probably won't happen for billions of years. Seriously, science geeks, maybe you should take up a hobby or something.

Now, let's take step back from the ledge a bit, shall we?

Mississippi - Mississippi just became the final state to officially ratify the Thirteenth Amendment serves as the final punctuation mark on a dark chapter in American history. Now then, for those of you who chose to sleep through civics class, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (yes, that's what Amendments are attached to) outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude and was adopted in December, 1865. After seeing Lincoln in theaters last November, a middle-aged recent immigrant from India  did a little bit of Internet research only to discover the Mississippi never got around to actually ratifying the amendment. The state did vote to ratify the amendment back in 1995, nearly 20 years after Kentucky, the second-to-last state to ratify the amendment, held its vote. At first I was ready to dump all over Mississippi, but then reconsidered.  It isn't as if Mississippi was the only state to drag its feet on ratifying this amendment. Eight other states (Oregon, California, Florida, Iowa, New Jersey, Texas, Delaware and Kentucky) also did not ratify the Thirteenth Amendment at the time.  That said, 130 years is a really, really long time to drag one's feet.  And even then, Mississippi managed to screw things up.  However, through an apparent clerical error, Mississippi never officially notified the United States Archivist of the ratification, meaning that they've officially been on the side of slavery for a century-and-a-half. Mississippi finally sent in the paperwork to complete its belated ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. Is it possible the folks in charge of such matters may have been "hittin' the till" a bit too hard?

Which brings us to our final item of the day...

Bourbon - Maker’s Mark executives announced that they’re reversing the decision to water down their bourbon. Show of hands, people. Who didn't see this coming?  You don't mess with Mother Nature and you certainly don't mess with a man's bourbon. When the company announced plans to cut the alcohol content in its bourbon from 45% (90 proof) to 42% (84 proof) due to supply problems, customers were mad. Really mad. Turns out, people would rather deal with a shortage of their favorite bourbon than a shortage of alcohol in their bourbon.  In defense of Maker's Mark, they really were trying to do a solid for their patrons.  Basic economics say that when supply is short and demand is high, prices will tend to rise.  The upstanding folks at Maker's Mark were trying to avoid price hikes by increasing supply, which would have required diluting their bourbon by a few percentage points.  It is worth noting, that almost every other bourbon on the market is a mere 80 proof, so even if Maker's Mark went forward with its new blend, it still would have been more potent than any other bourbon.  Taking all that into consideration, I think the conclusion is pretty clear.  What the heck, were they thinking?  You don't mess with a good thing.  Just ask Coca Cola how well that New Coke deal worked out.

What Caught My Eye Today - Citizenship, Medals, Asteroids, Junk Food

Fred's Note: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.  In honor of the occasion, we'll try to make a "love connection" for each of today's items.

Citizenship -  It's been said that money cannot buy love or happiness, but I guess you can put a price on citizenship. Turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa has led to a surge of interest in programs that let investors buy citizenship or residence in countries around the world in return for a healthy contribution or investment. Most are seeking a second passport for hassle-free travel or a ready escape hatch in case things get worse at home. Arab Spring in the Middle East. Al Qaeda uprisings in North Africa. How much "worse" are these folks expecting things to get?  "Investor visa" or citizenship programs are offered by many nations, including the United States, Canada, Britain and Austria. But the Caribbean countries offer a fast path to citizenship at a very low cost. The whole process, including background checks, can take as little as 90 days in St. Kitts. And there's no need to ever live on the islands, or even visit. That may be true, but I gotta say, you could do a lot worse than hanging out in a Caribbean paradise unless, of course, you prefer the soothing sounds of civil unrest and unfettered gunshots. A foreigner can qualify for citizenship in St. Kitts with a $250,000 donation to a fund for retired sugar workers or with a minimum real estate investment of $400,000. The minimum contribution in Dominica is $100,000. By contrast, a U.S. program allows visas for a $1 million investment in a U.S. business employing at least 10 people or $500,000 in designated economically depressed areas. The investor can apply for permanent residence in two years, and seek citizenship after five more. And they said there was no path to citizenship. Turns out there is...if you happen to have a million dollars burning a hole in your pocket. Demand in Canada is so great that the country stopped accepting new applications last summer. Critics say the programs undermine the integrity of national passports and have security risks. While there are no known cases of terrorists using the programs, experts say that's a possibility with many visa arrangements anywhere. Here's the thing. People determined to do evil are going to find a way to do so. I doubt "investor visas" are going to contribute to the problem. Heck, if anything, issuing more visas might make it easier to keep track of such individuals.

Medals - Good news for those whose love of country doesn't necessary put them in the line of fire.The Pentagon is creating a medal that can be awarded to troops who have a direct impact on combat operations, but do it well away from any combat zone. The new Distinguished Warfare Medal will be awarded to individuals for "extraordinary achievement" related to a military operation that occurred after September 11, 2001.  But unlike other combat medals, it does not require the recipient risk his or her life to get it. In the article I read, there was specific mention of recognizing drone aircraft operators who have been instrumental in strategic air strikes against terrorist targets.  The new medal will be the first combat-related award to be created since the Bronze Star in 1944. A recognition of the evolving 21st century warfare, the medal will be considered a bit higher in ranking than the Bronze Star, but is lower than the Silver Star, defense officials said. The Bronze Star is the fourth highest combat decoration and rewards meritorious service in battle, while the Silver Star is the third highest combat award given for bravery. If recent engagements in Afghanistan and Pakistan have proven anything, its that you don't have to have boots on the ground to fight a war. I think its great that there is recognition for all of our soldiers' contributions.

Asteroids - Less than 24 hours until the next "close call."  Best not take any chances...go tell your loved ones just how much they mean to you...just in case. The 150-foot-wide asteroid 2012 DA14 — which will zoom within 17,200 miles of Earth on Friday, marking the closest approach by such a large space rock that astronomers have ever known about in advance — may harbor $65 billion of recoverable water and $130 billion in metals, say officials with celestial mining firm Deep Space Industries. $130 billion? That's a lot of bling for your better half. The company has no plans to go after 2012 DA14; the asteroid's orbit is highly tilted relative to Earth, making it too difficult to chase down. But the space rock's close flyby serves to illustrate the wealth of asteroid resources just waiting to be extracted and used, Deep Space officials said. Deep Space Industries is just one of two asteroid-mining firms that have revealed their existence and intentions in the past 10 months. Deep Space aims to launch a phalanx of small, robotic prospecting probes called Fireflies in 2015. Sample-return missions to potential targets would occur shortly thereafter, with space mining operations possibly beginning around 2020. Sure there's $200 billion to be had according to the brilliant minds at Deep Space; too bad they have no clue how to get it.  Maybe I can get in on this.  I bet if I come up with a cure for cancer I could make a fortune. Of course, I don't know the first thing about the causes of cancer or existing cancer treatment protocols, but why should that slow me down?

Junk Food - No one said love (or in this case a serious food craving) was painless. A regular patron and unofficial spokesman for the Heart Attack Grill has died of an apparent heart attack, the second unofficial Heart Attack Grill spokesman to die in as many years. Founded in 2005, the unapologetically unhealthy restaurant employs waitresses dressed as nurses and serves butterfat milkshakes, "flatliner" fries and 9,982-calorie "quadruple bypass burgers." Yes, you read that correctly and for that, these guys got themselves into the Guinness Book of World Records. Patrons who are able to finish them are escorted to their cars in wheelchairs. Customers who weigh over 350 pounds eat free. Since opening in Las Vegas in October 2011, there have been various reports of customers having medical emergencies while dining at the grill. As the song says...Love hurts.

And on that note, we're done. So go out there and show some love to someone.  

Did You Know? #18

What is the world's oldest living organism?

Pinus longaeva, the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine, is a long-living species of tree found in the higher mountains of the southwest United States. One member of this species growing in the White Mountains of eastern California, at 5062 years (as of 2012), is the oldest known living non-clonal organism on Earth.

What Caught My Eye Today - Pope, China, Iceland, Olympics

Pope - Pope Benedict XVI stunned the Roman Catholic Church when he announced he would stand down, the first pope to do so in 700 years, saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on. In an announcement read to cardinals in Latin, the universal language of the Church, the 85-year-old said: "Well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of St Peter ..." Renounce seems like such a harsh word.  Couldn't he have gone with retire, like everyone else?  Benedict is expected to go into isolation for at least a while after his resignation and does not intend to influence the decision of the cardinals in a secret conclave to elect a successor. I'm thinking a nice long beach holiday. Maybe St Tropez? Several popes in the past, including Benedict's predecessor John Paul II, have refrained from stepping down over their health, because of the division that could be caused by having an "ex-pope" and a reigning pope alive at the same time. I don't know how big of a deal that really is. The U.S. has 4 ex-Presidents, and none of them seem to be getting in the way of the current President. The resignation means that cardinals from around the world will begin arriving in Rome in March and after preliminary meetings, lock themselves in a secret conclave and elect the new pope from among themselves in votes in the Sistine Chapel. There has been growing pressure on the Church for it to choose a pope from the developing world to better reflect where most Catholics live and where the Church is growing. You know, for as conservative as Benedict XVI is, I find it fascinating that his legacy will likely be framed by a rather progressive, and most certainly provocative,  action on his part.

China - Chinese courts have convicted eight Tibetans for encouraging self-immolation protests against Beijing's rule over Tibet, One of the eight, a monk, was given a suspended death sentence, while the others got long prison terms. I find it a bit ironic that the Chinese courts, in their infinite wisdom are handing down death sentences to dissidents who have tried to kill themselves. Sort of sends a mixed message, don't you think? Nearly 100 Tibetan monks, nuns and laypeople have set themselves on fire since 2009 to protest the lack of religious freedom. Tibetans who have self-immolated are mostly younger than 25 and have grown up under Chinese rule. The burnings have galvanized many Tibetans, who see them as selfless acts of sacrifice, making it hard for authorities to denounce the self-immolators. I'm thinking government executions are probably going to have the same impact on Tibetans, if not more.

Iceland - A 15 year-old Icelandic girl who has been called, for official purposes, "Girl," won a court battle to keep her given name, Blaer. The Iceland government had refused to recognized the name because it wasn't on the country's list of 1,853 approved girls' names. On the off chance that you were curious, boys have it even worse, with only 1,810 names to choose from. Like a handful of other countries, including Germany and Denmark, Iceland has official rules about what a baby can be named. Good grief, this practice isn't just limited to Iceland? Names are supposed to fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules; choices like Carolina and Christa are not allowed because the letter "c" is not part of Iceland's alphabet. I have to believe that these laws, however stupid they might be, have something to do with the preservation of the language. What with there being just 320,000 native speakers of the Icelandic language, I suppose one can see some logic here. Still, I find it hard to believe that a name could pose that much of an existential threat to an entire language.

Olympics - International Olympic Committee (OIC) officials dropped wrestling from the Olympic program on Tuesday, a surprise decision that removes one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games. The IOC executive board decided to retain modern pentathlon — the event considered most at risk — and remove wrestling instead from its list of 25 "core sports." Pop quiz. Who can name all 5 disciplines in the modern pentathlon? The IOC board acted after reviewing the 26 sports on the current Olympic program. Eliminating one sport allows the International Olympic Committee to add a new sport to the program later this year. Wrestling, which combines freestyle and Greco-Roman events, goes back to the inaugural modern Olympics in Athens in 1896. Wrestling was voted out from a final group that also included modern pentathlon, taekwondo and field hockey. I'm torn on this one. On one hand, it's a bit sad the the IOC is breaking with tradition by eliminating one of the original sports of the modern Olympics that also figured prominently in the ancient games. At the same time, it is hard to criticize the IOC's desire to keep up with the times. Wrestling will now join seven other sports in applying for inclusion in 2020. The others are a combined bid from baseball and softball, karate, squash, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and wushu. Wushu? What's that? They will be vying for a single opening in 2020. Okay then. The modern pentathlon consists of fencing, horse riding, swimming, running and shooting. As for wushu, it is a full-contact sport developed in China in 1949, in an effort to standardize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts. Call me crazy, but I would have stuck with wrestling.

What Caught My Eye Today - Netherlands, Russia, Asteroid, Numerology

Netherlands - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, 74,  is stepping aside to let her son rule. Following a Dutch tradition of making room for a younger monarch, the queen will abdicate her throne in April so her son, Prince Willem-Alexander, 45, can begin his reign. Thirty-two years is good run, wouldn't you say? And the queen is following in her mother's footsteps. Mommy dearest (or Queen Juliana, if you prefer) handed the crown to Beatrix in 1980. Alright lad (or King Willem, if you prefer), let's see what you got. Britain's Prince Charles, won't be so lucky. You don't say. Queen Elizabeth, 86, is unlikely to follow Beatrix' example. Again, I'm stunned. Wearing the British crown is considered a lifetime commitment, and abdication is seen as a scandal. Last time I checked, being a member of the royal family was not exactly a scandal-free lifestyle. I've lost track of how many tabloid headlines the House of Windsor has accounted for. Speaking of which, anyone know what Prince Harry is up to these days? He just got back from another tour in Afghanistan, which must be music to the ears of the daily rags.

Russia - I'm not saying the U.S. Government is the model of efficiency, but one thing we don't get hung up on is time.  Too bad Russia cannot say the same thing. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree that Russia would observe year-round DST. Under the decree, all clocks in Russia were advanced one hour on 27 March 2011 as usual, but are not to change back the following October, effectively making Moscow Time UTC+4 permanently. The move he made in 2011 when he was president has been widely unpopular as it has plunged the sprawling nation into darkness until late morning throughout the winter. Medvedev's mentor, Vladimir Putin, who returned to the presidency in May after spending four years in the premier's seat due to term limits, has indicated that Russia could switch back the time soon. Putin said in December that sticking permanently to summer time would make it difficult for TV audiences in Europe to watch the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi. As it turns out, Russia has been tinkering with its time zones for several years now. In 2010, Russia reduced its number of time zones from 11 down to 9, and would have gotten rid of more, if not for the vehement protests of residents in Eastern Russia. I guess Russians aren't quite as amiable as the Chinese are. Since 1949, all of China has only had a single standard time.

Okay, boys and girls. Time to get your geek on for these last two items.

Asteroids - A 150-foot-wide asteroid, Asteroid 2012 DA14, will come remarkably close to Earth next week, even closer than high-flying communication and weather satellites. Really? "Asteroid 2012 DA14" is the best name we could come up with? How is one supposed to get excited about something call "Asteroid 2012 DA14"? It will be the nearest known flyby for an object of this size. Scientists promise the megarock will be at least 17,100 miles away when it zips over Indonesia at 17,400 mph next Friday (February 15). Of course it would be Indonesia that would have been impacted if the asteroid were to collide with the planet. It's not like those poor bastards haven't suffered enough at the hands of Mother Nature. Might as well have extra-terrestrial forces pile on. Impossible to see with the naked eye, the asteroid is considered small as these things go. By contrast, the one that took out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was 6 miles wide. If it impacted Earth, it would release the energy equivalent of 2.4 million tons of TNT and wipe out 750 square miles. The likelihood of something this size striking Earth is once in every 1,200 years. A close, harmless encounter like this is thought to occur every 40 years.

Numerology - I wish I could explain my fascination with stuff like this. I wish I could, but I can't. The largest prime number yet has been discovered — and it's 17,425,170 digits long. The new prime number crushes the last one discovered in 2008, which was a paltry 12,978,189 digits long. The number — 2 raised to the 57,885,161 power minus 1 — was discovered as part of a giant network of volunteer computers devoted to finding primes. The network, called the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) harnesses about 360,000 processors operating at 150 trillion calculations per second.  GIMPS, huh?  I'm not even going to attempt to figure out how they overlooked the unfortunate acronym they created. Seriously, this is why no one aspires to careers in science. Honestly, would you really want to be associated with something called GIMPS? STUDS maybe, but GIMPS...I think not.  In addition, the number is the 48th example of a rare class of primes called Mersenne Primes. Mersenne primes take the form of 2 raised to the power of a prime number minus 1. Since they were first described by French monk Marin Mersenne 350 years ago, only 48 of these elusive numbers have been found, including the most recent discovery. The person who made the discovery is eligible for a $3,000 GIMPS research discovery award. Again, where's the love for science?  I guess it isn't bad enough to have socially awkward acronyms for otherwise extraordinary mathematical discoveries. The poor schmucks who make these discoveries get stiffed as well. 

Did You Know? #17

Which U.S. President delivered the shortest Inaugural Address?

George Washington's second inaugural address in 1793 contained just 135 words. Rounding out the 5 shortest addresses are Franklin Roosevelt's fourth address (1945, 559 words), Abraham Lincoln's second address (1865, 700 words), Theodore Roosevelt's address (1905, 984 words), and Zachary Taylor's address (1849, 1090 words).  William Henry Harrison holds the record for longest inaugural address in 1841 at 8460 words.  William Howard Taft is a distance second in 1909 at 5434 words. Barack Obama first address in 2009 contained 2395 words, slightly longer than his 2013 address of 2096 words.

What Caught My Eye Today - North Korea, Death Star, Potpourri

We start off with a daily double from the "powerful and prosperous nation" of North Korea.  Really? That's their motto?  Maybe something got lost in translation.

North Korea (Part I) - News out of North Korean in notorious unreliable, but food shortages in the country have gotten so bad and people so desperate that there are now reports of men murdering their own children for food. Dude, that just ain't right. Reports are being filed by independent reporters commissioned by Asia Press, a independent press agency focusing on Asia. Among the stories: "While his wife was away on business a man killed his eldest daughter and, because his son saw what he had done, he killed his son as well. When the wife came home, he offered her food, saying: 'We have meat'. One hopes that there is a bit of journalistic hyperbole going on here, but even so, if these stories are remotely close to being true... Seriously, what hope do future generations have when this sort of thing is allowed to happen?

North Korea (Part II) - And now for something just a bit lighter. You may notice a larger than normal  amount of references to official agencies and historical locations.  I did this intentionally to prove that this is an actual news story.  That just makes this all the more amusing.  Archaeologists of the History Institute of the DPRK Academy of Social Sciences have recently reconfirmed a lair of the unicorn rode by King Tongmyong, founder of the Koguryo Kingdom. Say what?  A lair of unicorns? The lair is located near the Yongmyong Temple in Moran Hill in Pyongyang City. A rectangular rock carved with words "Unicorn Lair" stands in front of the lair. The carved words are believed to date back to the period of Koryo Kingdom (918-1392). The discovery of the unicorn lair, associated with legend about King Tongmyong, proves that Pyongyang was a capital city of Ancient Korea as well as Koguryo Kingdom." It's kind of impressive, if you think about it, that the North Koreans can find the time to make these important archaeological discoveries despite the fact that most of the scientific community is dedicated to building a nuclear arsenal to launch against the evil empire across the Pacific Ocean.

Speaking of "evil empire," what a great segue to our next item.

Death Star - A White House petition requesting the United States government “secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016” garnered well over the 25,000 required supporters needed for the White House to provide a response. You know, after the official English-language North Korean news agency's website, The "We the People" site is quickly becoming my go to source for comic relief. The official response is as follows:

The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon. Here are a few reasons: 

• The construction of the Death Star has been estimated to cost more than $850,000,000,000,000,000. We're working hard to reduce the deficit, not expand it.

• The Administration does not support blowing up planets.

• Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?

I'm not sure there's anything I can add here.

Potpourri - Let's go ahead and call this the "So this is what a civilized world looks like" edition.

• Health - Americans under the age of 50 are more likely to have poor health and die prematurely than people in 16 other developed countries. Car accidents, gun violence, obesity, diabetes and drug overdoses are the leading contributors to the U.S.'s comparatively low life expectancy. Clearly, the folks that conducted this study forgot the unofficial motto of the people -- "Fat, dumb and happy."
• India - In India, about 100,000 women are burned to death each year by husbands or families.  Another 125,000 die from injuries in domestic violence that is never reported to police. It seems the world's largest democracy has some work to do with regard to gender equality and rights.
• Email - The average office worker spends 650 hours a year (28% of working hours) reading and writing emails. The total number of words in those emails, about 41,400, is equivalent to a novel 166 pages long. If think that's a lot, you should see the statistics for texts and tweets.
• Gun Control About 80,000 people were caught lying about prior criminal records when attempting to buy a gun in 2010. Only 44 of them were charged with a crime. I wonder what the Second Amendment says about the right to possess arms under false pretense?

What Caught My Eye Today - Honduras, New Zealand, Texas, Doomsday

Honduras - I'm not saying that the U.S. on the brink of financial collapse, but perhaps the wonks in Washington DC should heed this item as a cautionary shot across the bow. Honduras has been on the brink of bankruptcy for months, as lawmakers put off passing a government budget necessary to pay for basic government services. The country is also grappling with $5 billion in foreign debt, a figure equivalent to last year's entire government budget. By comparison, the U.S. has about $5.6 trillion in foreign debt. The financial crisis adds to a general sense that Honduras is a country in meltdown, as homicides soar and drug trafficking overruns its cities and coasts. Experts say a mix of government corruption, election-year politics and a struggling economy has fueled the crisis. The international watchdog group Transparency International issued a study alleging some lawmakers had spent money on plane tickets to a tennis tournament in Spain, Mother's Day gifts and other personal expenses. Gee, that never happens. You'd think that as public servants, these folks would put country before personal gain. Still there must be something these guys are doing that merits hope. Lawmakers are discussing proposals already declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and don't deal with the immediate financial problems. In addition, Congress approved the sale of an additional $750 million in bonds last November without resolving any of the core budget issues. Okay then, let's summarize shall we? The federal government is spending money it doesn't have, passing laws that have nothing to do with resolving the budget crisis, and the laws it is passing are being declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Is it just me or do these things have a familiar ring to them?

New Zealand - I'm a dog person through and through. As a child I was allergic to cats, an allergy which I outgrew, but certainly did nothing to endear me to them.  Still this is a rather harsh deal...even for a cat. An environmental advocate in New Zealand started an initiative asking his fellow countrymen to make their current cat their last in order to save the nation's unique bird species. He doesn't recommended people euthanize their current cats but rather neuter them and not replace them when they die. That's awfully big of him. No need to kill off the species right away, just let them go extinct slowly. The campaign is not sitting well in a country that boasts one of the highest cat ownership rates in the world. For thousands of years, New Zealand's native birds had no predators and flourished. Some species, like the kiwi, became flightless. But the arrival of mankind and its introduction of predators like cats, dogs and rodents have wiped out some native bird species altogether and endangered many others. 48% of households in New Zealand owned at least one cat, a significantly higher rate than in other developed nations. The survey put the total cat population at 1.4 million. In the U.S., 33% of households own at least one cat for a total of 86 million domestic cats. It never ceases to amaze me how the human race thinks it can circumvent Mother Nature. Animals have been roaming the Earth for a lot longer than humans and done a much better job of not screwing things up. We're pretty good at wiping out species even without conscientiously trying to do so. One final note, let's say boyfriend succeeds in his attempt at mass felicide (It's  a word. I checked). Do you really think he's thought through the impact on ecosystem? 

Texas - The White House has responded to a petition asking that Texas be allowed to break away from the country, saying the Founding Fathers who created the nation "did not provide a right to walk away from it." I don't suppose they gave us the option of kicking a state out of the Union. More than 125,000 people signed the petition, which was created a few days after President Barack Obama won re-election. The White House has promised to respond to any petition that gets more than 25,000 signatures within 30 days. In a related story, the White House recently increased the threshold to 100,000 signatures. Apparently, there are a lot of folks who have way too much time on their hands. A White House spokesperson, issued a response quoting Abraham Lincoln's first inaugural address and a Supreme Court opinion after the Civil War. It said America was created as a "perpetual union," but one that allows people with different beliefs to debate the issues. In asking that Texas be allowed to leave the country, the petition cited the "economic difficulties stemming from the federal government's neglect to reform domestic and foreign spending." It argued that given the size of Texas' economy and because the state has a balanced budget, it would be "practically feasible for Texas to withdraw from the union." The petition also said the federal government didn't share the same values held by the Founding Fathers. Pray tell, how exactly would this petitioner know what the Founding Father valued? They have been dead for 200 years. The White House responded that the writers of the U.S. Constitution addressed the need for policy change through elections, not secession. Don't you just hate when the government rains on your parade by providing unassailable proof that you are an idiot?

Doomsday - Just when you though it was safe to plan for the future now that we survived then predicted end of the world, there is another harbinger of the end of days. At least this one has an appropriate name. The hands of the infamous "Doomsday Clock" (click here) will remain firmly in their place at five minutes to midnight,  symbolizing humans' destruction, for the year 2013. In making their deliberations about how to update the clock's time this year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists considered the current state of nuclear arsenals around the globe, the slow and costly recovery from events like Fukushima nuclear meltdown, and extreme weather events that fit in with a pattern of global warming. The clock is a symbol of the threat of humanity's imminent destruction from nuclear or biological weapons, climate change and other human-caused disasters. These guys strike me as "glass half empty" sort of people. The Doomsday Clock came into being in 1947 as a way for atomic scientists to warn the world of the dangers of nuclear weapons. That year, the Bulletin set the time at seven minutes to midnight, with midnight symbolizing humanity's destruction. By 1949, it was at three minutes to midnight as the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorated. In 1953, after the first test of the hydrogen bomb, the doomsday clock ticked to two minutes until midnight. The Bulletin was at its most optimistic in 1991, when the Cold War thawed and the United States and Russia began cutting their arsenals. That year, the clock was set at 17 minutes to midnight. You know, that totally makes sense to me. I had one hell of good time in 1991. Silly me, I thought it was because I was in college and had my whole life in front of me. It never dawned on me that the real reason I was in such a good mood was because human destruction was such a remote possibility that year.

Did You Know? #16

What is the top financial center in the world?

According to the Xinhua-Dow Jones International Financial Centers Development Index, the top ten financial centers in the world, as of 2012, are:

1. New York City
2. London
3. Tokyo
4. Hong Kong
5. Singapore
6. Shanghai
7. Frankfurt
8. Paris
9. Zurich
10. Chicago

What Caught My Eye Today - Milky Way, Admiration, Congress

Happy 2013, everyone! Let's start this year's musings with some light-hearted fare. I'm sure things will turn south soon enough.  You'll need to get your geek on for this first item.

Milky Way - A new study suggests that the Milky Way galaxy is home to at least 100 billion alien planets. Have you noticed that more often than not, we refer to planets as "alien planets"? I wonder if all those alien planets refer to Earth as that one "human planet"? The findings are based on the study of a five-planet system called Kepler-32, which lies about 915 light-years from Earth. The five worlds were detected by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, which flags the tiny brightness dips caused when exoplanets cross their star's face from the instrument's perspective. The Kepler-32 planets orbit an M dwarf, a type of star that is smaller and cooler than our sun. Are you with me so far? We're not done just yet.  The five Kepler-32 worlds are similar in size to Earth and orbit quite close to their parent star, making them typical of the planets Kepler has spotted around other M dwarfs. So the Kepler-32 system should be representative of many of the galaxy's planets. Kepler-32 worlds have diameters ranging from 0.8 to 2.7 times that of Earth, and all of them orbit within 10 million miles of their star. By comparison, Earth circles the sun at an average distance of 93 million miles. For our astrologically challenged readers, what this basically means is that the planets these guys studied are pretty similar to the Earth, which makes the comparison a bit more newsworthy.   M dwarfs are the most common star in the Milky Way, accounting for about 75 percent of the galaxy's 100 billion or so stars.  Researchers calculated the odds that an M-dwarf system in the Milky Way would have this orientation, then combined that with the number of such systems Kepler is able to detect to come up with their estimate of 100 billion planets. The galaxy may actually harbor many more planets than the conservative estimate implies, perhaps 200 billion, or about two per star. These researchers probably kill more brain cells over their morning coffee, than I have in my entire brain, so why is it that the best they can do is a guess that could be off by as much as 100% or more?  If it was me, I'd stick with 100 billion and wait for someone to prove me wrong. Seriously, how many naysayers will have access to the Kepler Space Telescope?

Admiration - Gallup has run its most-admired man and woman survey since World War II, and in the 2012 edition. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and U.S. President Barack Obama kept their top positions among those asked a simple question: “What man that you have heard or read about, living today in any part of the world, do you admire most?" Don't get me wrong, I admire the heck out of Clinton and Obama. I just find it hard to believe that a nation as politically divided as the United States can't find anyone else to admire than the woman and man that makes most conservatives cringe at the very mention of their names. Clinton was named as most-admired woman for the 17th time since she became a national figure in 1992. In the current rankings, Clinton had 21%, followed by First Lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Condoleeza Rice. Eleanor Roosevelt held the previous record when she was named 13 times as the most-admired woman. The only two women to finish ahead of Clinton in that 20-year period were Mother Teresa (twice) and Laura Bush (once). Obama was named most-admired man for the fifth time. Obama had 30% of the polling for men, followed by Nelson Mandela, Mitt Romney, the Reverend Billy Graham, George W. Bush, and Pope Benedict XVI. President Dwight Eisenhower was named 12 times in the survey as most admired. No offense to Hilary and Barack, but as admired as they might be right now, they have a long way to go in order to contend with the big guns. The Reverend Billy Graham has appeared in the top 10 list 56 times. Queen Elizabeth II has been in the top 10 list 46 times.

Congress - In a recent survey, Public Policy Polling found that Congress; approval rating is mired at 9%.  If you ask me, that actually seems a bit high. 85% of respondents said they disapproved. I don't buy it. There is no way these guys found people who actually think Congress is doing a good job?  The survey pitted Congress against a series of unpleasant things or unpopular people, and the results were not flattering for lawmakers. First, the good news. Congress is more popular than telemarketers (45 to 35%), the deadly ebola virus (53% to 25%), gonorrhea (53% to 28%), the Kardashians (49% to 36%), Lindsay Lohan (45% to 41%), communism (57% to 23%), disgraced Democratic former Senator John Edwards (45% to 29%) and North Korea (61% to 26%). Good news is a relative term. I think that comparing Congress to the ebola virus speaks volumes in and of itself. And now, the bad news. Here are some things Americans have a higher opinion of than Congress: head lice (67% to 19%), colonoscopies (58% to 31%), cockroaches (45% to 43%), Nickelback (39% to 32%), NFL replacement refs (56% to 29%), and root canals (56% to 32%).  Speaking from personal experience, colonoscopies are getting a bum wrap here getting compared to Congress. That crap they make you drink the day before clears you out far more effectively then any of the health spa de-tox programs and costs a lot less too. The procedure itself isn't too bad either. It's the part after you wake that kind of sucks, the feeling that you have been violated in some unspeakable way. And how about a shout out to Nickelback? It has be to somewhat comforting to the band that there is a group out there more hated than they are.  That should take away some of the sting of being the most hated band that has sold more than 50 million albums. 

What Caught My Eye Today - 2012 In Review

Fred's Note:  My, my but it has been a busy year.  It's hard to believe we started off the year with more GOP presidential candidates than you could count on both hands and that "Gangnam Style" wasn't even a figment of someone's imagination yet. As we bring 2012 to a close, let's take a short trip down memory lane...


January - Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney wins the New Hampshire primary and becomes the front runner for the GOP nomination for President of the United States. Romney's momentum is short-lived as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich crushes him by 12 points in the South Carolina primary. And so begins a ratings bonanza for late night comedians and a financial windfall for anyone owning a television or radio station in any one of many so-called battleground states. The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground near an island off the west coast of Italy and at least 30 passengers drown after a bungled rescue and evacuation of more than 4,200 passengers and crew. Modern technology aside, how hard is it to avoid a freaking island in broad daylight? It's not like these guys were in the middle of the ocean in the dead of night surrounded by hard to see icebergs (more on this in a couple of months).

February - I don't know about you, but for me the biggest headline of this month was that a certain blogger with a wicked smart sense of humor turned 40. Singer Whitney Houston, 48, drowns in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles after suffering a "cardiac event" caused by long cocaine abuse. No one ever -- or probably ever will -- sing the Star-Spangled Banner as well as she did at the Super Bowl after 9/11. A 17-year old black teenager, Trayvon Martin, is shot and killed in a gated community in Orlando, Florida by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch coordinator. Zimmerman alleged that he suspected the hoodie-wearing Martin of "being up to no good". The case sparked a national debate over racial profiling and hoodies. Yeah, hoodies are the problem here.

March - In Kandahar, Afghanistan, a U.S. soldier slips out of his base and, in a two-hour rampage, allegedly murders 16 Afghan civilians in their homes, setting fire to some of the bodies. And in that one moment, a  almost destroys the goodwill that the U.S. had been building with the Afghan people for the better part of a decade.  Mitt Romney continues to lead Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum in the GOP primaries but fails to connect with more-conservative voters. Boyfriend is just getting warmed up. Failing to connect with a lot of people will become a pretty familiar theme for the Romney campaign.

April - Rick Santorum suspends his presidential campaign, having run out of money. Don't you just hate when that happens? George Zimmerman is charged with the second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin. North Korea test-fires a long-range missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, but the missile disintegrates shortly after takeoff, dealing a blow to new leader Kim Jong Un's efforts to fill the platform shoes of his father, the late Kim Jong Il. You know what they say--if at first you don't succeed, collaborate with another pariah state (Iran) until you do. During the centenary commemoration of the sinking of the Titanic, young Twitter users express their shock that the film of the same name was based on a real event. You'd think by know, we'd all be used to fact that technology as contributed to the dumbing down of humanity in ways we never thought possible. Nope, not yet.

May - Newt Gingrich suspends his presidential campaign and Mitt Romney official clinches the GOP presidential nomination by winning the Texas primary. Barack Obama becomes the first U.S. president to state his support of same-sex marriage.  Lest you forgot, this announcement came shortly after Joe Biden became the first Vice President to publicly announce his support of same-sex marriage. I'm sure this is just another happy coincidence. In France, voters weary of unemployment and austerity measures brought on by the euro crisis, replace Nicolas Sarkozy with the Socialist Party's Francois Holland, who vows to raise France's top tax rate to 75%. By comparison, letting those tax cuts expire for the wealthiest folks in the United States, doesn't sound so bad, does it?

June - In Britain, Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 60 years on the throne. Atta girl, Lizzie. Three more years and you will be number one all time. In Egypt, Mohammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood is elected president in the nation's first democratic elections since the fall of dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Yup, just as the CIA drew it up, I'm sure.  The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act in a 5-4 decision. Chief Justice John Roberts cast the deciding votes ruling that the law's "individual mandate" is in effect a simple tax on the uninsured, and thus constitutional under Congress's broad taxing power.  Oh sure, hindsight makes this sound totally understandable, given Roberts desire to keep his legacy intact, but who had this guy casting the swing vote before the decision was released? Anyone?

July - The Summer Olympics are held in London. American swimmer, Michael Phelps wins his 19th career gold medal, becoming the most decorated Olympian in history. Show off. Scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland announce the discovery of a new sub-atomic particle that is consistent with the legendary Higgs boson that scientists have been trying to prove for more than 50 years. Okay, it exists. Now what? In Aurora, Colorado a loner with a history of psychiatric problems, goes on a shooting rampage in a movie theater killing 12 and wounding 58. Sadly, this becomes a recurring headline throughout the rest of the year. A South Korean rapper, Psy, releases a video of his latest single "Gangnam Style" highlighted by the artist performing a horse-riding dance at various locations around Seoul. When you take into consideration that the geniuses who didn't know Titanic was an actual ship that actual sank with actual people trapped inside are the same rocket scientists responsible for making this video a viral sensation, this doesn't seem that surprising. Tragic, definitely. Surprising, not so much.

August - In the giant scheme of things, August was sort of a slow news month. If it wasn't for an increasingly bloody civil war in the Middle East, a wicked fast sprinter from the Caribbean, and a guy who ran out of excuses in Texas, we wouldn't have much to talk about. In Syria, where a civil war has been raging all year between government forces and opponents of dictator Bashar al-Assad, the army massacres hundreds of civilians in the Damascus and Hama. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt wins his second consecutive gold medals in both the 100 and 200 meters at the Summer Olympics, an unprecedented feat in Olympic history. U.S. cyclist and 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong announces he will not contest charges by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that he used banned substances throughout his career. Oh yeah. There is also that upcoming presidential election. Mitt Romney chooses Wisconsin Senator Paul Ryan to be his running mate in the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

September - Violent demonstrations are held throughout the Arab world protesting an anti-Islamic YouTube video posted by a Christian Egyptian immigrant in California. In Benghazi, Libya, a local terrorist group attacks the U.S. Consulate killing U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and 3 others. We'll come to find out in the weeks and months ahead that these two events had nothing to do with the other. The Mitt Romney campaign suffers a setback with the release of a video secretly recorded at a fundraising dinner in which he tells donors no matter how hard he campaigns, "there are 47% of people who will vote for the President no matter what" because they rely on government handouts. Romney added, "My job is not to worry about those people." As it turns out there were 51% of people who ended up voted for the President, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

October - Entering the first presidential debate, Romney is in desperate need of a game changing performance and delivers one while Barack Obama gave what was widely considered one of the worst debate performances in presidential history. I still say that the television and cable networks paid Obama to tank this, so that they would have something to report on. Up to this point, this election was a snoozefest. A massive superstorm, Hurricane Sandy, makes a direct hit on the New York metropolitan area, killing 110 and devastating coastal areas of New York and New Jersey.

November - Americans re-elect Barack Obama to a second term. Obama won 332 electoral votes and 51% of the popular vote. You would have thought that political scandal would have taken a breather after the election, and you would have not been more wrong if you tried. CIA Director David Petraeus resigns after admitting to an extra-marital affair with his biographer. I'm thinking if the chief spook can't keep his private affairs private, maybe he shouldn't be running the U.S. spy agency. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who is under consideration to replace Hilary Clinton as Secretary of State, comes under fire by Republicans for initially describing the Benghazi attack as a "spontaneous" response by extremists to an anti-Islam video. Not that it matters now, but why was the Ambassador to the United Nations giving embassy attack briefings (which were prepared by the CIA incidentally, but I guess they had their hands full with other stuff) Sunday news programs in the first place? You'd think someone at the State Department would have been point on something like this.

December - Prince William and Kate Middleton confirm they are expecting their first child. In Oregon, a 22-year old man charges into a shopping mall and opens fire on Christmas shoppers with an AR-15 assault rifle, killing two and gravely injuring another, before killing himself. It gets worse.  "Gangnam Style" hits one billion views. When you read something like this, it sort of makes you wonder if that end of the world thing might have some merit.  President Obama and House Republicans enter tense negotiations on a plan to avoid a series of tax hikes and spending cuts due to take affect on January 1. How fortunate for us lowly citizens that our elected representative have a proven track record of coming together to work for the collective good of the people that put them into office. In Newtown, Connecticut, a troubled loner uses his mother's semiautomatic assault rifle to massacre 20 elementary school students and 6 adults.

No offense, 2012, but here's hoping for a happier, healthier and more peaceful 2013. 

What Caught My Eye Today - Reflection, China, Cayman Islands, Debt, Bad Neighbors, Wine

Reflection - In addition to all the traditions and trappings of the holiday season, it seems to me the end of the year is as good a time as any to take a few moments to reflect on the year that was.  Truth be told, I think a bit of reflection on a daily basis wouldn't be such a bad idea, but we'll just roll with things as they are. There is much to be thankful for this year, not least of which is the fact that we still exist. Those Mayans so totally got that end of the world thing wrong. By now, hopefully most of us who use our brains as God intended, we get that the end of the Mayan calendar was not an indication that the world was ending, but just the end of a 2,760 years cycle and the start of another (so if you are bummed out that the world is still here, maybe you will have better luck on October 13, 4772). And let us not forget to pay homage to Korean pop sensation Psy for achieving 1 billion YouTube hits for his "Gangnam Style" video (sigh). Unfortunately, we live in a day and age, where doomsday event and "bad news" tend to dominate the headlines. It seems folks are far more interested in reading about how their financial well-being will be affected by a "fiscal cliff" (which incidentally is a "marketing term" made up by the Federal Reserve to highlight the importance of Congress enacting some meaningful legislation to avert potentially much more damaging austerity measures like some of our European friends are enduring) than about an act of kindness performed by one person on behalf of another.  We've all been touched in some way by the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut earlier this month. Maybe, just maybe, if we all try to focus on the good in people instead of dwelling upon the bad, we won't as many bad headlines in 2013 as we did in 2012.

Okay then. Let's put that soapbox back into storage, shall we?

China - China's wealth gap has widened so much that the country is now one of the most unequal outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Interesting. I didn't think there was any wealth in sub-Saharan Africa. China's Gini coefficient (click here), a number that represents income inequality, has sorted from 0.41 in 2002 to 0.61 today. Anything over 0.5 is considered to be destabilizing. Depending on how you apply the Gini coefficient, the United States measures somewhere between 0.36 and 0.46. Not surprisingly, those rat bastards in Scandinavia have the most stable coefficients coming in at between 0.24 and 0.27. Nearly half a billion Chinese live on $2 a day or less. Chinese economists are urging tax reform and increased spending on social services. Correct me if I'm mistaken but China is a communist regime. Isn't social spending supposed to be a cornerstone of communism?

Cayman Islands - You have to appreciate the irony of this next item. The leader of the Caribbean's biggest tax haven has been arrested on suspicion of corruption. The Prime Minister, who is also finance minister and the longest serving member of the legislature, is being investigated for alleged theft, abuse of office and conflict of interest involving import of explosives. I'm guessing the separation of powers is an unfamiliar concept in this neck of the woods. The Cayman Islands as $1.6 trillion  in officially booked international assets. Numerous private equity and hedge funds have their nominal headquarters there in order to avoid U.S. taxes and financial disclosure regulations. You can't really begrudge the guy from trying. Sure he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but them be some pretty nice cookies.

Debt - As is the case with most issues involving government, it item is so crazy it must be true (and sadly...is). Soon after the new year begins, the U.S. Treasury Department will hit its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit, and unless Congress raises the ceiling, the government will default on its debts. It's like giving more drugs to a drug addict to avoid having to go through withdrawal. Enter the "platinum coin option." Current federal laws authorizes the Treasury Department to mint platinum coins and assign then any value it wants. Well that's convenient. Legally, the President could direct The U.S. Mint to product two shiny coins worth $1 trillion each and deposit them in the Treasury, giving the government about two years' worth of reserve capital. There's a funny money joke in there someplace, but I'm going to just shake my head in disgust and move on.


Bad Neighbors - In Amsterdam, Netherlands families that persistently behave badly and harass their neighbors are to be evicted from city-run housing projects and moved into trailer parks that have minimal services are are under constant police supervision. Before you poo-poo this story, be honest with yourselves. We all have a neighbor (perhaps several) that we would like nothing more than to ship off to destinations unknown. The new housing camps have been dubbed "scum villages" by Dutch media. Yeah, the marketing guys might need to work on a slightly more appealing moniker. City officials deny that the plan will create ghettos of uncontrollable troublemakers on the outskirts of Amsterdam. Of course they do. Besides, what could possibly go wrong by gathering up a bunch of malcontents and having them all live together? You know where they can talk and bond and plan... 


Wine - Consumption of wine in France has slumped to a record low, with the average French adult now consuming barely one glass a day. I believe the phase you are looking for is dire que ce n'est pas si (say it isn't so) or perhaps l'enfer que vous dites (the hell you say). Thirty-eight percent of people in France now abstain from drinking altogether, while just 17% drink wine on a daily basis. It has been suggested that the decline in wine drinking is the result of the sluggish economy and public awareness campaigns over the dangers of "le binge drinking". I just don't get French people at all. Speaking strictly for myself, whenever I read about the economy, drinking is one of the few things that makes me feel better (or numb).

And on that "sobering note," Happy Holidays, one and all!

Did You Know? #15

What nation does the United States import the most oil from?

The United State import almost 2.8 million barrels of oil from Canada per day. Next is Mexico (1.206 million), followed by Saudi Arabia (1.195 million), Venezuela (951,000), Nigeria (818,000), Russia (624,000), Colombia (433,000), Algeria (358,000) and Angola (346,000). Oil makes up 23% of the United States energy diet, followed closely by natural gas (22%) and coal (21%).  The U.S. get 8% of its energy from nuclear power and 9% from renewable energy sources.

What Caught My Eye Today - Health, Education, Coffee

Health - America’s Health Rankings 2012 Edition shows Vermont at the top of the list of healthiest states  for the fourth consecutive year. Interesting. I would have bet on Colorado myself, which as it turns out was ranked 11th. Vermont’s strengths a high rate of high school graduation, a low violent crime rate, a low incidence of infectious disease, a low prevalence of low birth weight infants, high per capita public health funding, a low rate of uninsured population, and ready availability of primary care physicians. Vermont’s challenges are a high prevalence of binge drinking of the adult population, a moderate occupational fatalities rate, and a moderately high cancer death rate. Not to be a kill joy or anything, but this suggests to me that the general population is probably more affluent than average and therefore able to afford better health care. That and they have some pretty good hootch. Hawaii is ranked second and has ranked in the top 6 states every year of the index. This on the other hand is no surprise. I did some checking and it turns out mai tais are very low in fat and have only 77 calories per fluid ounce. New Hampshire is third, followed by Massachusetts and Minnesota. Who would have though that New England would have been a bastion of healthy living? Mississippi and Louisiana tie for 49th as the least healthy states. I'm stunned. Arkansas, West Virginia, and South Carolina complete the bottom 5 states.  Mississippi ranks in the bottom 5 states on 12 of the 24 measures including a high prevalence of obesity, a high prevalence of a sedentary lifestyle, a low high school graduation rate, limited availability of primary care physicians, a high prevalence of low birth weight infants, and a high prevalence of diabetes. Again, I think wealth plays a factor here.  If  you don't have enough of it, you tend to focus more on how you are going to get your next meal, rather than how nutritious that meal might be. My home state of California ranks 22nd.

Education - Just so you know, I have nothing against the South. The American Civil Liberties Union is asking the U.S. Department of Education to investigate what it calls "unlawful" single-sex education programs in a Birmingham, Alabama middle school. Single-sex education programs? This should be good. The ACLU filed complaints with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, saying the programs appear to violate federal law by forcing students into a single-sex environment with little or no alternative options, rely on harmful gender stereotypes and deprive students of equal educational opportunities merely because of their sex. Remind me again what year this is? The single-sex program at the middle school has been in place since 2010 and students who wish to be in coeducational classes must transfer to another school. Students are separated by sex for all classes, even during lunch. This wasn't really an issue for me, not a lunch anyway.  I couldn't get a girl to sit next to me in the cafeteria if my life depended on it. According to the complaint, instructions for teaching boys call for stressing heroic behavior that shows what it means to "be a man." In addition, the ACLU claims that the school relied on a book that teaches that boys are better than girls in math because their bodies receive daily surges of testosterone, while girls have similar skills only a few days per month when they experience increased estrogen during the menstrual cycle. There are some many things wrong with this, I don't know where to begin, so I'll just go with the first thing that came to mind. In an area of the nation where same-sex relationships are frowned upon (I'm sugar-coating it a bit here), it seems a bit ironic that a school finds it to be a good idea to not only segregate the sexes, but strongly suggests that males are superior to females. If I'm a lad in my formative years, I might be thinking to myself, why was time pining after Cindy Lou when Bobby Joe is sitting right next to me.

Coffee (Part I) - When a 22-year-old tech entrepreneur and student landed a coupon for a free drink at Starbucks, of any size with any additional add-ons, for his birthday, he took it as a personal challenge. Of course he did. That's what entrepreneurial types do. What's the biggest, priciest Starbucks drink money can buy? It all starts with a Trenta, the 31 ounce super-sized coffee cup introduced by the company last May. I hear the folks at Starbucks tried to get Big Gulp, but it was already taken and Big Ass Cup 'o Joe lacked a certain panache. Then came the add-ons: 1 Java Chip Frappucino ($4.75), 16 shots of espresso ($12.00), a shot of soy milk ($.60), a drop of caramel flavoring ($.50), a scoop of banana puree ($1.00), a scoop of strawberry puree (.60), a few vanilla beans ($.50), a dash of Matcha powder ($.75), some protein powder ($.50) and a caramel and mocha drizzle to cap it off ($.60). Total cost: $23.60. What, only 16 shots of espresso? What a wimp! The student claimed the taste was tolerable, but not good, and he definitely did not drink the whole thing. With 1,400 mg of caffeine and a seemingly incalculable amount of sugar, it's literally a recipe for disaster. Yeah those diabetic comas can be real downers.

Coffee (Part II) - Starbucks has a secret menu. Here are some of the offerings:

• Samoa Frappuccino: Mocha Coconut Frappuccino with caramel drizzle. It's a dead ringer for the Girl Scout Cookie. Wouldn't it be easier just to eat the cookie?
• Thin Mint Frappuccino: Tazo Green Tea Crème Frappuccino with chocolate syrup and java chips. Another drink that borrows its name and flavor from the Girl Scout Cookie repertoire. Seriously, you can buy a whole box for $5 and support a good cause at the same time.
• Snickers Frappuccino: Java Chip Frappuccino with two pumps of toffee nut and a caramel drizzle on top. I'm sensing a trend here. Take your favorite sweet snack, add some coffee, toss it in a blender, then enjoy.
• Banana Cream Pie Frappuccino: Vanilla Bean [Creme Frappuccino] with vanilla [and] hazelnut [syrups], whipped cream, and a whole banana. Pureed pie. Yummy.
• Apple Juice Orange Blossom: Tazo Orange Blossom Tea steeped in steamed apple juice (with no water). Finally, something that I might order.
• Grasshopper Frappuccino: Mocha Frappuccino blended with java chips and peppermint syrup. I'm more of a Shamrock shake (McDonald's) guy myself.
• Dirty Hippy: Dirty Chai Tea Latte with soy milk instead of regular milk. With a name like that, you'd think there would be some booze it this rather than plain old soy milk.
• Marble Mocha Macchiato: A twist on the signature Caramel Macchiato. White mocha on the bottom with no whip, shot on the top and mocha drizzle. Just in case you were worried that you weren't getting enough sugar in the regular version of the Caramel Macchiato.
• Cookies & Cream Frappuccino: White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino blended with java chips and a dash of peppermint syrup. Or, you could just have yourself a piece of peppermint bark.
• Cinnamon Roll Frappuccino: Combination of Vanilla Bean Crème Frappuccino and cinnamon dolce syrup. I think I got a cavity just reading this description.
• Bootleg Brulée: Add two shots to a white mocha, then add toffee nut [syrup] and caramel drizzle. Okay, this should definitely be something that you get at a bar.

What Caught My Eye Today - Space, Petitions

Space - Not much commentary on this one. I just think it's really cool that something man-made has managed to get to the far reaches of the solar system. NASA's long-lived Voyager 1 spacecraft, which is heading out of the solar system, has reached a "magnetic highway" leading to interstellar space. Scientists believe Voyager 1 is in an area where the magnetic field lines from the sun are connecting with magnetic field lines from interstellar space. Voyager 1 hit the outer sphere of the solar system, a region called the heliosphere, in 2004. That phase of the journey lasted for 5.5 years. Then the solar wind stopped moving and the magnetic field strengthened. Voyager 1 and a sister spacecraft, Voyager 2, were launched in 1977 for the first flybys of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 is now about 11 billion miles  from Earth and will be the first man-made object to leave the solar system. Voyager 2, traveling on a different path out of the solar system, is about 9 billion miles from Earth and thought to not yet have reached the magnetic highway. Seriously folks, we're talking 1970s technology here. 11 billion miles and counting, and we are still getting data from a thing that has a fraction of the computing power of an iPhone. You cannot help but be impressed by this.

Petitions - One final mention of an item I covered in my Nov 13 and Nov 16 postings on state petitions to secede from the United States after President Barack Obama won re-election. Turns out these petitions are just the tip of the iceberg. The White House's "We the People..." website (click here) allows Americans to petition the Obama administration on a variety of issues citizens believe need addressing. Requests range from serious to self-interested to completely absurd. Most are angry with the administration, with roughly 70% of current petitions asking that individual states — like Texas — be allowed to peacefully secede. What's more: Anyone can create a petition, with the caveat that each request must garner 25,000 signatures in order to be considered for an official White House response. Here are some of the most ridiculous White House petitions awaiting signatures. As is often the case with such content, I wish I could claim creative credit for these, but alas, they are all legitimate. Kind of makes you wonder what sort of person has enough time in their day to go through the effort to 1) create one of these petitions, and more disturbingly, 2) who takes the time to read through these petitions and add their signatures to them.

• Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016
  By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.
  Total signatures: 1,428
  As absurd as this sounds, the Pentagon already has a program that covers this. You may recognize the Strategic Defense Initiative by its more popular nickname--"Star Wars". SDI was created by the Reagan administration in 1983 and is still going strong.
• Allow United States military service members to place their hands in their pockets
  The service members of the United States military respectfully request the President of the United States to restore our sacred right to place our hands in our pockets — on or off duty.
  Total signatures: 3,730
  How about a petition to provide something a little bit more useful to service members? Maybe something along the lines of functional body armor.
• Deport everyone that signed a petition to withdraw their state from the USA
  Deport Everyone That Signed A Petition To Withdraw Their State From The United States Of America.
  Total signatures: 25,879
  You might laugh, but the White House will have to respond to this at some point, what with the minimum threshold of signatures having been met. I can't wait to see that press release.
• Nationalize the Twinkie industry
  We the undersigned, hereby request Barack Obama to immediately Nationalize the Twinkie industry and prevent our nation from losing her sweet creamy center.
  Total signatures: 3,998
  Is it just me, or does the description of this particular petition conjure up some rather disturbing mental images?  I don't know about you, but I'm completely cool with our nation keeping her sweet creamy center to herself.
• Establish new legal system of motorcycle riding "judges" who serve as police, judge, jury, and executioner all in one.
  This is a petition to dissolve the current legal system and replace it with a single Hall of Justice, run by Judges; motorcycle-riding law officers who act as police, judge, jury, and executioner.
  Total signatures: 2,972
  It just so happens that 2,972 is the same number of people who admit to have seeing both Judge Dredd movies (yup, some idiot thought it was a good idea to make a sequel to the original bomb). Coincidence?
• Give us back our incandescent light bulbs!
  The federal government is phasing out incandescent light bulbs by law and the last incandescent light bulb factory in America has closed. The free market should decide which light bulbs succeed, not the government. Total signatures: 1,358
  To be honest, I would have thought this would have garnered way more signatures. Petty? Of course. But compared to the other items on this list, this one almost seems rational.
• Provide university graduates ability to trade their diplomas back for 100% tuition refunds
  College graduates should have the ability to return the diploma and not make any reference to receiving education from the college in exchange for a 100% refund of college tuition.
  Total signatures: 1,193
  I'm pretty sure this is related to the difficult job market that college graduates have confronted in recent years. But here's the thing. Do you really think the job market for individuals with no college education is any better?  Sure, you'll have your tuition money back, but how long do you think that will last?
• Shut down White House petitions, since they never get a sincere response, few read them and they are ultimately worthless.
  Since the White House never actually responds to any petitions in sincerity we should immediately de-fund and dismantle the White House petition website. In recent days it has become a mockery with petitions for secession from almost every state, and cities wishing to de-secede in such events. We ask Barack Obama to admit that this is a mockery of democratic process and immediately dissolve this joke of a website.
  Total signatures: 852
  The First Amendment might make this particular petition a bit difficult to act upon.  Freedom of speech is a bitch, ain't it? 

Did You Know? #14

What is the top selling car in the United States?

From 2002 up to and including 2012, the Toyota Camry has been America's top selling car.  In 2001, the top seller was the Honda Accord.  The Toyota Camry took top honors again from 1997 through 2000. The Ford Taurus led sales from 1992 to 1996. The Honda Accord topped the list in 1991, and the Ford Taurus from 1989 to 1990.

What Caught My Eye Today - End of Days, Fiscal Cliff, Potpourri

End of Days - The U.S. government wrote a helpful blog post titled, "Scary Rumors About the World Ending in 2012 Are Just Rumors" (click here). Revelation #1: The US has a blog? Revelation #2: Seriously, is this the best we can do for blog post? The post on USA.gov says NASA scientists have received thousands of letters from people convinced that the world will end on December 21, based on a misunderstanding of the ancient Mayan calendar that's been promulgated in doomsday message boards online. "Misunderstanding"? That's exactly what you would expect from a non-believer. The end is coming! The end is coming! Run for your lives! If the the weak and infirm cannot keep up, leave them behind! Some people think a giant comet will strike Earth that day, others that we are about to collide with another planet. A NASA scientist said he's received several letters from young people contemplating suicide because they believe the apocalypse is coming. "The world will not end on December 21, 2012, or any day in 2012," the post says. Well now. If the government says the world is not going to end in 2012, that's good enough for me. I'm glad I didn't overreact or do anything rash. America is not alone in trying to placate nervous doomsayers. The Russian government has made similar assurances to its people that the end of the world is not nigh, and authorities in France are planning to block access to a southern mountain which believers think could serve as a mystical place of refuge on December 21. Did you notice how the U.S. government specifically limited its guarantee that the world won't end in 2012, but says nothing about 2013? It's like they know we at the edge of the precipice but won't say anything. I wonder what that might be. Perhaps this next item?

Fiscal Cliff - South Carolina Republican Senator. Jim DeMint slammed House Republican leaders for the fiscal cliff proposal they offered earlier this week. You've come to expect vehement disagreement across party lines, but rumblings of dissension within the ranks, especially a close-knit family such as the GOP--well, this is new.  "Speaker [John] Boehner's $800 billion tax hike will destroy American jobs and allow politicians in Washington to spend even more, while not reducing our $16 trillion debt by a single penny.... Everyone knows that when you take money out of the economy, it destroys jobs, and everyone knows that when you give politicians more money, they spend it. This is why Republicans must oppose tax increases and insist on real spending reductions that shrink the size of government and allow Americans to keep more of their hard-earned money." I don't disagree that we shouldn't be spending money we don't have, but here's the thing, Senator. That money you claim politicians will spend with abandon, is mostly entitlements, that citizens have contributed to their whole lives and the right to expect to collect on, when the time comes. With a 10-year price tag of about $2.2 trillion, the Republican proposal would raise federal revenue by closing loopholes and capping deductions within the tax code and making changes to entitlement programs. Of course, the proposal doesn't specific which loopholes will close, but rather leaves that enviable task for Congress to figure out. Seems like we've been down that road once or twice before, and is why we find ourselves facing this fiscal cliff in the first place. The letter was signed by seven House leaders, including Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp of Michigan. Democrats dismissed it quickly, calling for a bill that would increase taxes on households earning more than $250,000 per year and more federal spending on infrastructure, which were not included in the Republican plan. So there you have it. Don't sweat  the end of the world rumors surrounding December 21.  Pure poppy-gook. If you really want to lose some sleep, focus on January 1, 2013.

Potpourri

• Weight - American men are weighing in at an average of 196 pounds, 16 pounds heavier than in 1990. The average weight for women has increased by 14 pounds to 156 pounds over the same time span.   62% of Americans are estimated to be either overweight or obese. As a matter of curiosity, I checked out some online weight calculators to see how I stack up. I'm a 40 year old, 73 inch tall male of medium build which means my ideal weight is somewhere between 165 and 180 pounds. For once, being in the minority appears to be a good thing.
• Old Age - The four members of the Rolling Stones, who are recently launched their 50th anniversary concert tour, are now older on average than the nine members of the Supreme Court. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood have an average age of almost 69 years, while the Supreme Court justices' average age is 67 years. I imagine tour organizers have had to make some accommodations: Earlier start times (you don't want folks dozing off or missing the early bird special at Denny's), frequent intermissions (those bladders don't have the capacity that they used to), more portable defibrillators (no explanation needed). And that's just for the band. 
• State Governments - One political party now controls the state legislature of 47 states. Half of these legislatures have veto-proof super majorities, meaning that either Republicans or Democrats can pass legislation without any compromise. I'm of two minds on this one. On one hand, one might view this as  a desire by the electorate to eliminate gridlock in the state houses by entrusting the reigns of power to one party or the other in hopes that the party will do something positive. On the other hand, and on a slightly more pessimistic note, this could be indicative of the deepening political divisions across the country and reflective of how demographics are shifting to reflect how liberals and conservatives are starting to congregate in larger numbers.  Seeing as the end of the world may or may not be upon us, I'm going to go with the glass half full option.