What Caught My Eye Today - Citizenship, Debt, Water, Electoral College

Citizenship - Born in Canada to an American mother, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz became an instant U.S. citizen. But under Canadian law, he also became a citizen of that country the moment he was born. Unless the Texas Republican senator formally renounces that citizenship, he will remain a citizen of both countries. Now why would he want to do that? It seems pretty rare, that one has the good fortune of being born into dual citizenship. That means he could assert the right to vote in Canada or even run for Parliament. Even better. If dude loses or hits term limits in the U.S., he can continue to feed his political ambitions north of the border. And yet, I sense a disturbance in the Force on this one. The circumstances of Cruz’s birth have fueled a simmering debate over his eligibility to run for president. Knowingly or not, dual citizenship is an apparent if inconvenient truth for the Tea Party firebrand, who shows every sign he’s angling for the White House. Uh-oh. The U.S. Constitution allows only a “natural born” American citizen to serve as president. Most legal scholars who have studied the question agree that includes an American born overseas to an American parent, such as Cruz. The Constitution says nothing about would-be presidents born with dual citizenship. Yeah, those Tea Partiers are real sticklers for that sort of thing. Just ask the current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Detractors have derided Cruz as “Canadian Ted,” saying he can’t run for president because he wasn’t born on U.S. soil. How much do you want to bet that behind closed doors, President Obama is having a pretty good chuckle over this? Cruz said he would be the $100 fee to renounce his Canadian citizenship, saying, "Nothing against Canada, but I'm an American by birth, and as a U.S. senator, I believe I should be only an American." The way I heard it, Canadian officials were so elated that they offered to pay the $100 on Cruz's behalf.

Debt - Stop me if you've heard this one before. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told Congress that the government will run out of money to pay its bills in mid-October unless lawmakers raise the country's borrowing limit, which is capped at $16.7 trillion. Oh good grief, not this again. Earlier this year, Congress temporarily suspended the borrowing limit so lawmakers could focus on other budget debates. Treasury has kept the government operating for several months through its bookkeeping maneuvers. The government is spending more than it takes in, running up annual deficits in excess of $1 trillion in each of the past four budget years. It has been borrowing the difference to meet its obligations. Republicans want to reduce future deficits by cutting back sharply on spending. Interesting concept--don't spend what you don't have. Sounds so simple doesn't it? Democrats have proposed a mix of spending cuts and tax increases, which Republicans strongly oppose. Congress last passed legislation to increase the borrowing limit in the summer of 2011 after a months-long negotiation between President Barack Obama and top lawmakers. Republicans forced Obama to accept about $2 trillion in spending cuts over the coming decade in exchange for a like-sized increase in the borrowing limit. Many Republicans want to use upcoming budget deadlines to mount an assault on Obama's signature health care law. In general, I'm a fiscal conservative, so why am I not jumping up and down in support of what the Republican Party is proposing? For one thing, there are basic economic principles that are being completely ignored (which I won't bore you with). In addition, the Republican party really needs to stop pouting about Obamacare. The law passed. Get over it! They aren't doing themselves or the people that they represent any favors by holding the budge hostage over a legislative battle that was wages years ago.

Water - Looking for investment opportunities to give a boost to your retirement portfolio? I have two words for you...Water Futures. Of course, the future of water in the United States doesn't look too bright, but as everyone knows, where there is misery for the many, there is opportunity for the few. Nearly 70% of the groundwater stored in parts of the United States' High Plains Aquifer, a vast underground reservoir that stretches through eight states, from South Dakota to Texas, and supplies 30% of the nation's irrigated groundwater, could be used up within 50 years, unless current water use is reduced. For those of you not well-versed in such things, groundwater is pretty much what we consume and use to irrigate our crops.  In a nutshell, no more water, means no more food. No more food would seriously curtail humanity's long-term existence. Then again, we'd die from lack of water, way before starvation kicked in.  Bottom line, this is a problem worthy of some attention. If current irrigation trends continue unabated, 69% of the available groundwater will be drained in the next five decades. 3% of the aquifer's water was used up by 1960; 30% of the aquifer's water was drained by 2010; and a whopping 69 percent of the reservoir will likely be tapped by 2060. It would take an average of 500 to 1,300 years to completely refill the High Plains Aquifer. I suppose there is some upside here.  Sure we'll dry up in next 30 or 40 years, but if we can figure out how to exist without water for the next few centuries, our aquifers will be fully replenished.  See? Glass half full.

Electoral College - Here's an interesting take on reforming the U.S. Electoral College from a dude who clearly has a bit of time on his hands. Don't mistake what I'm saying as criticism. Quite the opposite. I have nothing but admiration and, I daresay, a fair bit of envy, that this guy can take on such an undertaking, assuming that he has an actual day job that pays him actual money for done actual work. The electoral college is a time-honored, logical system for picking the chief executive of the United States. However, the American body politic has also grown accustomed to paying close attention to the popular vote. This is only rarely a problem, since the electoral college and the popular vote have only disagreed three times in 200 years. However, it's obvious that reforms are needed. The fundamental problem of the electoral college is that the states of the United States are too disparate in size and influence. The largest state is 66 times as populous as the smallest and has 18 times as many electoral votes. This increases the chance for Electoral College results that don't match the popular vote. To remedy this issue, the Electoral Reform Map redivides the fifty United States into 50 states of equal population. The 2010 Census records a population of 308,745,538 for the United States, which this map divides into 50 states, each with a population of about 6,175,000. It's a pretty cool map (click here). Among the advantages of such a proposal:

• Preserves the historic structure and function of the Electoral College.
  What with the Electoral College being established in the Constitution, I guess that's a good thing.
• Ends the over-representation of small states and under-representation of large states in presidential voting and in the US Senate by eliminating small and large states.
  As long as Iowa is no longer the center of the political universe for months on end, I am totally on board with this.
• Ends varying representation in the House. Currently, the population of House districts ranges from 528,000 to 924,000.
  Being a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, I live in a district on the high end of that range, which basically means my vote is counts for much less than the vote of a resident of Wyoming.

Here's my only gripe. Let's say we re-draw the U.S. as proposed. I would no longer live in California, but rather Yerba Buena. Dude, I don't want to live in Yerba Buena.

Did You Know? #37

What and where is the largest volcano on Earth?

The largest volcano on earth is Mauna Loa on Hawaii's Big Island. It is a massive shield volcano constructed by countless lava flows. When measured from the base to the top, the pile of lavas measures more than 56,000 ft! When measured from the sea floor, Mauna Loa's height is 29,527 ft., thus it is also the highest mountain on earth. . Mauna Loa is one of the Earth's most active volcanoes, with 33 well-documented eruptions in historic times since 1843. Its last eruption was in 1984 and since 2004, Mauna Loa is showing increasing signs of a possible awakening in a not-too-distant future.

Fred's Note:  The inspiration for this particular question came from an article I read about little know facts about Hawaii.  So in addition to being home to the world's largest volcano, did you know...

• The Hawaiian language has only a 13-letter alphabet and every word (and syllable) ends with one of five vowels.
• Hawaii is the only U.S. state that grows coffee, cacao, and vanilla beans.
• Hawaii has the highest life expectancy in the United States at 81.3 years.
• The state gem isn't a gem at all. Black coral is technically an animal.
• Hawaii is one of four states that outlaws billboards. (The others are Alaska, Maine, and Vermont.)
• Snakes are outlawed in Hawaii. The only legal serpents are housed in zoos.

Did You Know #36

Which U.S. city has the worst traffic congestion?

After being replaced by Honolulu for a year, Los Angeles once again earned the title of the most congested metro area in the country. Four of the 10 most congested corridors last year were in the Los Angeles area.  The rest of the top ten are:

2. Honolulu, HI (I can personally attest to the fact that this ranking is well deserved)
3. San Franciso, CA
4. Austin, TX
5. New York, NY
6. Bridgeport, CT
7. San Jose, CA (Always nice to see my hometown make the headlines)
8. Seattle, WA
9. Washington DC
10. Boston, MA

What Caught My Eye Today - Winter Olympics, Nicaragua, Global Warming, Potpourri

Winter Olympics - An online petition has been started to to move the 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi, Russia, to Vancouver, Canada. For those of you who don't remember, Vancouver hosted the most recent edition in 2010.  I'm guess most of those facilities are still in working order. The petition has proposed Vancouver as an alternative to Sochi in light of Russia’s increasingly oppressive treatment of gays, both legally and culturally. The target is 150,000 signatures. Really, that's it? Seems to me this is little more than a political statement, rather than a serious attempt to actually re-locate the Games to Canada. which, short of a nuclear incident, is never going to happen. Russia’s crackdown on gay rights, which includes a prohibition on “propaganda” in support of “nontraditional” sexual orientation, has resulted in ever-louder calls for countries such as the United States to boycott the games. Personally, I think this is an admirable cause, but realistically we'd have a better chance of boycotting the games due to Russia granting asylum to Edward Snowden. Meanwhile, other observers complain that sitting out not only would be a disservice to the athletes who have trained for years, but it also would fail to encourage a productive alternative that actively confronts Russia's treatment of gays. Yet again, I'm baffled by this inexplicably fear of same-sex relationships.  It's not like this is a contagious disease. If someone doesn't want to play for your team, do you really think forcing them to stay is going to make your team perform any better? I think not.

Nicaragua - Here's a follow up to an item I posted a couple months back (click here). Nicaragua’s political opposition filed a Supreme Court challenge to the Sandinista government’s hastily approved canal law, arguing that the generous concession granted to an unknown Chinese firm violates 15 articles of the constitution, including national sovereignty. The law was passed last June along party lines, by a vote of 61 to 25. The Supreme Court challenge might be the least of the problems facing the proposed $40 billion canal project. Interesting. I was sort of curious if it was possible to put a price tag on national sovereignty.  It appears, in this particular case, the answer is yes to the tune of $40 billion. Despite spending big bucks on high-powered consulting firms and public relations efforts, the newly formed canal company, HKND Group, still struggles to be taken seriously. So the opposition party doesn't know who these guys are. Big deal. Sounds like sour grapes to me. Nothing to worry about...right?  At the company's first press conference, reporters were presented with a wildly distorted map of Nicaragua, which appeared to trace a canal route passing from Lake Nicaragua into Lake Managua, dead-ending in the capital city, about 30 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. Maybe the map wasn't drawn to scale. In a subsequent interview, the company described a more carefully laid out route of the canal, starting in the Caribbean port town of Bluefields and winding to a Pacific outlet in Brito, which also came as a surprise to Nicaraguans, who were just told by President Daniel Ortega that the canal’s route will be determined by the results of a two-year feasibility and environmental-impact study. Who's to say the feasibility study won't match the route that the company has laid out?  I for one applaud, their can-do attitude. Most recently, the company said it was "100 percent sure” canal construction would start at the end of 2014 and be completed by 2019. That means the largest and most expensive infrastructure project in the history of Central America will be built in five years – even faster than Panama’s current $5.3 billion canal expansion, which pales in comparison in scope and cost. Okay, this one is a bit tougher, but I'm game to give it a try. Just because the feasibility study won't be completed until 2015, doesn't necessarily mean you can't start digging. We all know the canal has to start somewhere on the Pacific. Granted, we're still a bit vague on where the canal will end up on the other side, but that's no reason not to get started. As for the time frame, how do you know how long it will take to build if you don't try and... Yeah, I think I'm going to stop now. This deal is a train wreck of epic proportions and the train hasn't even left the station yet.. 

Global Warming - Yet another groundbreaking study has been released announcing that the most brilliant minds in their field have figured out what us simpletons have known all along. A massive new study finds that aggressive acts like committing violent crimes and waging war become more likely with each added degree. Researchers analyzed studies on historic empire collapses, recent wars and violent crime rates and found a common thread over centuries: Extreme weather - very hot or dry - means more violence. So what they are saying is that extreme events, like drought, can have an adverse impact on civilizations, which could lead to extreme things like war or extinction.  Who could possibly have imagined that, I mean other than anyone who has every read a history book? Economists have created a formula that predicts how much the risk of different types of violence should increase with extreme weather. In war-torn parts of equatorial Africa, it says, every added degree Fahrenheit or so increases the chance of conflict between groups -- in the form of rebellion, war, civil unrest -- by 11% to 14%. Global temperature averages are expected to increase by about 3.6 degrees in the next half-century which implies a 40% to 50% greater chance for African wars than it would be without global warming. For the United States, the formula says that for every increase of 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit, due primarily to increases in carbon dioxide pollution,  the likelihood of violent crime goes up 2% to 4%. Another startling revelation. It seems that extreme weather has more of an impact on under-developed nations as opposed to fully developed nations. I don't know about you, but my mind is completely blown away by this.

Potpourri - More conversation starters for that dinner party where topics that might actually be relevant just aren't hitting the mark.

• Disease - To date, mankind has managed to eradicate just one human disease, smallpox, but polio's days are numbered. I would have thought, that we would have conquered more than one disease by now, what with our success in killing off so many other species. While most of the world is polio-free, the disease still lurks in areas of Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. New cases have plummeted by 99% since 1988, thanks to a vaccine that costs just 14 cents per dose.  At the current rate, wild polio-viruses are expected to be extinct by the end of 2018. Along with approximately 50,000 other species (assuming the current rate of .01%).
• Tomatoes - The age old question of whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable has a rather complex answer.  Botanically, tomatoes are fruits, but legally they are vegetables. Well that clear things up, doesn't it? In 1883, Congress instituted a 10% tariff on imported vegetables. A dispute on whether or not the tax should be collected ended up in the Supreme Court.  The plaintiff tried to persuade the Court by reading dictionary definitions of fruit, vegetable and tomato, while the defense countered that in matters of commerce and trad, tomatoes were really vegetables. The justices sided with the defense saying that while tomatoes were technically fruits, they were inevitably served "at dinner in with, or after the soup, fish, or meats which constitute the principal part of the repast, and not, like fruits generally, as dessert."  Makes total sense if you think about it. The plaintiff's argument was doomed from the beginning. What idiot relies on fact to justify his position?
• Information -  Digital data is stored as binary ones and zeroes, and the ones create data by holding electrons in place. Since a electron has mass (a whooping .00000000000000000000000000000009 kilogram), one could argue that data has mass. Based on this premise, a Harvard physicist decided to calculate the weight of the world's digital data. Adding up every scrap of data on the Interest (at the time), the world's digital information weighed in at just under two ounces.  And we wonder why physicists get stereotyped as nerds.

What Caught My Eye Today - Air Travel, Oil, Guantanamo Bay, Currency, Monogamy

Air Travel - British low-cost airline Ryanair says fuel has become so expensive that it makes up 47% of its total operating costs, so it is going to slow down in order to rein in those fuel costs. I'm sorry, but I think I must have read that wrong, then again this is Ryanair we're talking about, so I guess anything is possible (click here). Passengers probably won't notice since the slower speeds will only add about two minutes to every hour of flying time. Ryanair has been so desperate to save on fuel costs that it even reduced the size of its in-flight magazine and printed the in-flight menu on it as well. Just how big was that in-flight menu to begin with? If fact, one wonders why a menu is necessary for complimentary pretzels or peanuts in the first place? That move alone cut thousands of dollars off of annual fuel costs. Personally, I think they did this more for the PR than any material savings.  That 47% of total operating costs works out to just shy of 1.1 billion euros (which works out to almost 1.5 billion dollars). Let's say the airline saved $99,000 (the upper limit of "thousands of dollars"), that represents 0.00009% of its total costs. Ryanair is also moving ahead with plans to charge passengers to use the lavatory. The airline is considering charging 1 euro or 1 British pound (about $1.33 to $1.52) to use the restroom. I'm thinking if you are out of spare change, that extra two minutes could feel like an eternity.

Oil - The Saudi Arabian ruling class is worried that the Persian Gulf state, which is the world's largest oil exporter, is too dependent on petroleum and that it needs to take the threat posed by the boom in U.S. production seriously. I get the concern about having all your eggs in one basket. Diversification is never a bad thing.  But I'm not too sure about this U.S. production threat (wouldn't that be nice change of pace?).  As long as there are nations the likes of China, India and Brazil to prop up demand, I'm not sure the Saudis need to concern themselves too much over the fact that the Americans finally figured out how to build fuel-efficient cars. Although the Saudi government is trying to diversify the kingdom's economy, its dependence on oil is near absolute with it's petroleum sector accounting for roughly 80% of budget revenues, 45% of GDP and 90% of export earnings. Because of the growth in U.S. supply, the kingdom won't be able to raise its production capacity as planned to 15 million barrels of oil per day. Earlier this year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said monthly domestic oil production is forecast to exceed 8 million barrels per day in the fourth quarter of 2014, its highest level since 1988. Net crude oil imports are expected to fall below 7 million barrels during that period, the first time that has happened since 1995. The recent increase in oil production, ranks the U.S. as the third highest producer of oil (8.5 million barrels) and the tenth highest exporter of oil (1.9 million barrels). which makes no sense to me at all considering that we consume 19.2 billion barrels of the stuff. Even if we kept all that extra oil we're producing, we'd still be importing more than the next largest importer (the entire European Union).  So please explain to me what it is exactly that has Saudi Arabia so worried about declining U.S. demand for oil?

Guantanamo Bay - According to reports from a recent U.S. congressional delegation visit the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, rather than the Koran, the book that is requested most by detainees is "Fifty Shades of Grey." I can sort of empathize with the inmates. After all, they do have a lot of time on their hands and what could be better than the kinky exploits of Christian and Anastasia to take your mind off those horrible forced feedings?  Journalists are not allowed to visit that part of the detention camp but can tour the other prisons and the library that provides books, magazines and DVDs to all 166 captives. Guantanamo librarians have said in the past that they screen reading material for sexual content, even blacking out photos of scantily clad women in the advertisements in sports magazines. On one hand, I think it is laudable that the librarians are doing their due diligence to respect the religious values of the detainees.  Then again, is anyone absolutely positive that there will be a whole bunch of enthusiastic virgins will be waiting in the after-life?

Currency - Arizona Senator John McCain has re-introduced legislation to phase out dollar bill. Haven't we been down this road before? According to a consumer advocacy group, eliminating the dollar bill in favor of the coin would save $13.8 billion over 30 years. The group said printing dollar bills may be cheaper than minting coins, but they last only about four years compared with 30 years for a coin. The savings would nearly triple other recent estimates of the $1 coin’s impact. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I heard this argument too. Even though most other countries, such as Canada, Britain and Japan, have replaced smaller currency denominations with coins, Americans love their greenbacks and have never warmed to dollar coins. That's right. Never let it be said that us Americans could be deterred by common sense logic. This dislike of coins by Americans contrasts with currencies of most other developed countries, where denominations of similar value exist only in coin. These coins have largely succeeded because of a removal of their corresponding paper issues. The U.S. government has taken no action to remove the one-dollar bill, due to intensive lobbying. Being a lobbyist must be fascinating work.  And how nice must it be to have a career where good or bad, right or wrong, are mostly irrelevant. It's all about whatever position you are been paid to advocate for.

Monogamy - Only a few species of mammals are monogamous, and now dueling scientific teams think they've figured out why they got that way. This should be good. One team looked just at primates, the animal group that includes apes and monkeys. The researchers said the exclusive pairing of a male and a female evolved as a way to let fathers defend their young against being killed by other males. The other scientific team concluded that mammals became monogamous because females had spread out geographically, and so males had to stick close by to fend off the competition. Where's the love here, people?  All I get from this is a bunch of male insecurity issues. But both teams discounted a long-standing explanation for monogamy, that it provides two parents rather than one for rearing offspring. And there goes family values. Researchers said they hesitated to apply their conclusions to humans but said they wouldn't quite put humans in the monogamous category. That's scientific jibber jabber for, "it's not that we're on the same level as apes and chimps...no, we're probably much worse."

Did You Know? #35

Which nation has the least favorable view of the United States?

According to a recent global survey by the Pew Research Center (the same survey that provided the source for Did You Know? #34), Pakistan has an 11% favorable view of the United States, the lowest of the 39 countries surveyed. Here are the 10 nations with the least favorable impression of the U.S.:

1. Pakistan (11%)
2. Jordan (14%)
3. Palestinian territories (16%)
4. Egypt (16%)
5. Turkey (21%)
6. Greece (39%)
7. China (40%)
8. Argentina (41%)
9. Tunisia (42%)
10. Lebanon (47%)

Run, Fred, Run Update - July 2013

Fred's Note: Just one more eastbound segment to go (Madison, FL to Jacksonville, FL; 109 miles) and then I start working my way north up the east coast.  This part of my trip (approximately 1,265 miles) will take me through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. As of now, I'm just over a third of the way through my trip. At this rate, I should make it back to Half Moon Bay in a mere 10 years.

Total miles to date: 2,849.1
Number of marathons (26.2mi): 108.7
States visited: 8 (CA, AZ, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, FL)
States to go: 25
Miles to go: 5606.9

What Caught My Eye Today - Royalty, China, Saudi Arabia, Potpourri

Royalty - For those of you who keep track of such things, the British monarchy has four generations of monarchs for the first time since Victoria, way back in 1894...which can mean only one thing. Will and Kate had a baby!  The son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, was born on 22 July 2013 in London. He is the couple's first child, as well as the first grandchild of Charles, Prince of Wales.  And what might the future king have to look forward in 60 or 70 years? He is third in line to succeed his great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, to the British throne, after his grandfather and father to the thrones of the 16 Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Not to mention endless media coverage and constant invasion of privacy by the paparazzi. No word yet on the lad's name, which has generated a lot of business for odds makers and sports books.  For my money, I'm thinking Edward and George are pretty good candidates, with Philip being my dark horse pick (nothing like a little shout out to the queen's hubby to stay on her good side).  

China - China has made it a crime for adult children to neglect their elderly parents. So much for relying on one's moral compass to do the right thing? Millions of Chinese workers now live thousands of miles away from their parents, and under a law that recently went into effect, those who fail to visit or call can be fined. You know, it wasn't that long ago when parents were wondering if their children would ever leave home. Heck in the United States, college graduates are moving back home with mom and dad in droves, unable to find jobs or weighed down with student loans. The law does not spell out how many visits are required, so it is up to disgruntled parents to lodge complaints. Wouldn't it be fun to see that law enacted in the U.S.? I can almost see a bunch of parents scheming to mess with their offspring with the threat of criminal charges as payback for being such horrible teenagers. Almost immediately, vendors began offering to send strangers on filial visits. Say what you will about China being an oppressive communist regime.  Seems to me like capitalism is alive and well, at least in this particular market.

Saudi Arabia - Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry announced it will kick out any foreigner who is not observing a daytime fast for the holy month of Ramadan. Any expatriot caught eating or smoking in public from sunrise to sunset will be fired from their job and deported. As you can probably gather, "separation of church and state" has a much different meaning in the Arab world than it does in the United States. Then again, the bible belt has pretty strong feelings about many social issues, so maybe we aren't so different from the Saudis as we might think.  Saudi Arabia is home to some 8 million foreign workers, mostly from Asian countries. In the past, foreigners were asked to refrain from eating in public during Ramadan, but they were not threatened with punishment. Saudis are jailed or lashed if they are caught breaking the fast. You can sort of see where these guys are coming from. Let's say you are a Saudi sweating away in the midday sun and, to make matters worse, you haven't had anything to eat since before sunrise. Meanwhile your foreign co-workers is slammin' down a vanilla milkshake. He doesn't like the guilty feeling he starting to get, so he offers to share with you, figuring that you'll get busted and taken off for a  flogging in the public square, thereby allowing him to enjoy the rest of his milkshake in peace. Dude, that just ain't cool.

Potpourri

• Jobs - The U.S. economy is expected to generated 55 million jobs by 2020, and 65% of those jobs will require more than a high school education. If current graduation rates hold steady, the U.S. will wind up 5 million college-educated workers short. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for workers under the age of 25 is near 25%.  I'm all for job creation, but maybe some thought should be given to creating jobs that a greater percentage of the population can perform.  Let's be real, college is not for everyone, but that doesn't mean this segment of the population cannot contribute to the economy. 
• Royalties - A musician whose song gets played 1 million times on Pandora earns just $16.89 in royalties. Pandora pays artists as little as a thousandth of a cent each time it plays their songs. One wonders how content aggregators like Pandora can get away with stuff like this.  I remember when Napster was called out for basically given away musical content for free. This doesn't appear to be much of an improvement for the artists whose content is responsible for these sites to be in business in the first place.  I did the math to see how much my blog would have made me if a page view was paid at the same rate as a song.  I started tracking my blog in July, 2007 and have had just shy of 5600 page views in that item (pretty pathetic, right?), which means I would have earned less than one cent a year. 

We started out with royalty and end with royalties.  How about that for a happy coincidence?

Did You Know? #34

Which nation has the most favorable view of the United States?

According to a recent global survey by the Pew Research Center, the Philippines has an 85% favorable view of the United States, the highest of the 39 countries surveyed. here are the 10 nations with the most favorable impression of the U.S:

1. Philippines (85%)
2. Israel (83%)
3. Ghana (83%)
4. Senegal (81%)
5. Kenya (81%)
6. El Salvador (79%)
7. South Korea (78%)
8. Italy (76%)
9. Uganda (73%)
10. Brazil (73%)

What Caught My Eye Today - Sainthood, Russia, Air Travel

Sainthood - The Vatican congregation in charge of examining candidates for sainthood has recognized a second miracle by John Paul II, leaving just a papal signature necessary to authorize the former pope's canonization. One assumes this will be a mere formality. After all, we're only talking about one guy here, which is nothing for a pontiff who just canonized 800 saints in May (click here).  Vatican theologians in June had attributed a second miracle to John Paul II, which Vatican sources had said would "amaze the world". The road to sainthood requires two "confirmed" miracles, the first of which is necessary for beatification, a hurdle the Polish pope cleared just six months after his death in 2005 which was the healing of a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, whose recovery from Parkinson's disease after praying for the late John Paul II's "intercession" had no medical explanation. The second miracle reportedly took place on the very day that John Paul II was beatified in a lavish ceremony in St Peter's Square on May 1, 2011, and was the healing of a woman from Costa Rica. You sort of get the feeling that there won't be much pomp and circumstance for this momentous occasion; not really Pope Francis' style. But maybe just this one time, the pontiff chill out, do a little day, make a little love and, you know, get down tonight.

Russia - A Russian rocket carrying three navigation satellites worth around $200 million crashed shortly after lift-off from the  launch facility in Kazakhstan after its engines suddenly switched off. Bear in mind that, at present, the Russians are the only option for getting folks to and from the International Space Station and that, at present, the United States is paying $424 million for 6 seats to and from the space station over the next 2 years. The accident led to a large spill of heptyl, a highly toxic rocket propellant, but there were no reports of casualties or of any immediate threat to nearby settlements. No reports, huh? One cannot help but wonder if that is because it is too dangerous to check on the well being of said nearby settlements. Russia has lost 10 satellites in seven failed launches in just over a year. The latest crash, which echoes the costly loss of three navigation satellites in 2010, will further damage the reputation of Russia's once-pioneering space program, cause delays in launches and threaten its hold on some 40% of the market for space launches. If you ask me, space travel is the perfect niche market for Russia.  What other market could you have a 70% failure rate in and still have a 40% market share? Russia is increasing spending on space and plans to send a probe to the moon in 2015, but the pioneering program that put the first man in space in 1961 has been plagued in recent years by setbacks, including botched satellite launches and a failed attempt to send a probe to a moon of Mars.

Air Travel - Let's have some fun shall we?  See if you can tell which of the following schemes are the real deal and which are fake.

1. If you fly on India's budget GoAir, don't expect to see any men pushing that drink cart down the aisle; from this point on the airline will hire only members of the lighter, fairer sex for its cabin crew.
2. Turkish Airlines changed flight attendant uniforms into Ottoman-style outfits with ankle-length skirts and banned the wearing of bright lipstick and nail polish in favor of "pastel tones," for fear of damaging "visual integrity."
3. Low-cost Irish airline Ryanair asked its flight attendants to lose weight so that the airline could save on fuel costs.
4. Thai Airways gave flight attendants six months to comply with new weight restrictions—which, for women, meant a waistline of 32 inches and a BMI of 25 points, and for men, a waistline of 35 inches and a BMI of 27.5.
5. Shanghai-based Spring Airlines is aiming to make flying fun again with a dash of old-school, in-flight sexism, as it’s unveiled plans to dress its female flight attendants up like maids, and their male counterparts as butlers.

1. True. The new policy is meant to lessen weight on board, thereby saving an estimated $500,000 a year on fuel. Anyone want to bet that a gender discrimination suit is just around the corner? Yeah, neither do I.
2. False (barely). The airline tried to do both but in the end scrapped the outfit design and decided against the lipstick and nail polish ban after public outcry. They did manage to suspend 28 flight attendants without pay in 2010 demanding that they lose weight. 15 of the flight attendants were men. Ottoman-style outfits (click here)? I don't know, dude. Might be just a tad to retro.
3. True. The carrot on a stick for women was a chance to appear in the airline's annual "Girls of Ryanair" calendar, packed with images of bikini-clad cabin-crew members. Starve yourself and maybe, if you are lucky, you can have your tuckas and ba-donk-a-donks plastered all over a calendar. Some carrot.
4. True. The move was "aimed at improving the personality of flight attendants." About 40 out of 6,000 flight attendants failed. Employees filed a complaint, but were told the company's regulations were not illegal. Maybe something is getting lost in the translation, but I fail to see how, "lose some weight, you fat slob, or you're fired" is supposed to improve one's personality.
5. True. Supporters thought a flight with themed costumes could be fun, and that it was reminiscent of the many “cosplay”—costume-play—eateries that are big in Japan. According to Spring Airlines’ Facebook page, the new costumes, may just be the first in an upcoming series of themed flights. The article went on to say that the promotion generated a whooping 13 responses on the airlines Facebook page.  Really, that many?

Did You Know? #33

Which developed nation has the highest prevalence of obesity among adults?

According to a new report from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, the United States is no longer the world's fattest developed nation -- Mexico is. Nearly a third of Mexican adults (32.8%) are considered obese -- people aged 20 and older whose body mass index (BMI) is 30 and above. That edges the United States, where 31.8% of American adults are considered obese. About 12% of the world's total population is obese, according to the U.N. report. The world's fattest nation overall is Nauru, a South Pacific island where a staggering 71.1% of its 10,000 inhabitants are obese. On the other end of the scale is Japan, the thinnest developed country. Just 4.5% of Japanese adults are considered obese. Here is the complete list of the top ten:

1 - Mexico, 32.8%
2 - United States, 31.8%
3 - Syria, 31.6%
4 (tie) - Venezuela, 30.8%
4 (tie) - Libya, 30.8%
6 - Trinidad & Tobago, 30.0%
7 - Vanuatu, 29.8%
8 (tie) - Iraq, 29.4%
8 (tie) - Argentina, 29.4%
10 - Turkey, 29.3%

What Caught My Eye Today - Women, Menopause, Pandemic, Preservation, Shakespeare

Women - Most days, I buy into the notion that the world is slowly but surely becoming a better place, and then I read something like this. According to the World Health Organization's first worldwide survey on the topic, more than a third of all women around the world are victims of physical or sexual violence by their partners.  The rate of domestic violence is highest in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where 37% of women report being abused, and lowest in North America at 23%. To be frank, I'm actually a bit more disgusted by the 23%.  North America is comprised primarily of Canada and the United States. If we abuse almost a quarter of our female population, it's sort of difficult to call out the rest of the world to treat their women with the respect and dignity that they deserve. More than 600 million women live in countries where wife-beating is not a crime.

The news continues to be rather bleak for women. And guess what, lads? This next bit does not bode well for us.

Menopause - A provocative new study  suggestion that women develop menopause because men's lust for younger women makes it pointless for them to remain fertile in old age. As if men needed another reason to get yelled at. Using a computer model to track the evolutionary consequences of mating preferences, researchers found that were it not for men's age bias in selecting a mate, women would be reproducing for their whole lives, as is the norm in the animal kingdom. So like are we supposed to compliment our spouses by comparing them to chimps?  Call me crazy, but that just doesn't sound right.The study goes on to suggest that men's preference for younger mates allows for certain genetic mutations to flourish that over time undermine the fertility of older women; meaning in evolutionary terms, menopause is reversible. By extension, one could speculate if women withheld a little ba-donk-a-donk from us guys, then we might very well experience the joys of hot flashes, mood swings and maybe some hormone replacement therapy. Gee, that sounds like fun, don't it? Yeah, I'd rather just become that creepy old guy that that makes younger women cringe, but that's just me.

Pandemic - Here's an update on an item I reported on a few weeks ago (click here). More than 60 cases of what is now called MERS, including 38 deaths, have been recorded by the World Health Organization in the past year, mostly in Saudi Arabia. So far, illnesses haven't spread as quickly as SARS did in 2003, ultimately triggering a global outbreak that killed about 800 people. That doesn't sound so bad.  An international team of doctors who investigated nearly two dozen cases in eastern Saudi Arabia found the new coronavirus has some striking similarities to SARS. I'm sensing a "but" coming... Unlike SARS, though, scientists remain baffled as to the source of MERS. And there it is. In a worrying finding, the team said MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) not only spreads easily between people, but within hospitals. Cases have continued to trickle in, and there appears to be an ongoing outbreak in Saudi Arabia. MERS cases have also been reported in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Tunisia. Most have had a direct connection to the Middle East region.  The source of the MERS virus remains a mystery. It is most closely related to a bat virus though some experts suspect people may be getting sick from animals like camels or goats. Another hypothesis is that infected bats may be contaminating foods like dates, commonly harvested and eaten in Saudi Arabia. What's disturbing to me is the lack of coverage this deal is getting.  There is a virus out there that appears to be rather violent (38 deaths out of 60 cases is a pretty high mortality rate), and no one has a clue how it get transmitted and, more importantly, no one has the faintest idea how to cure it.

On the upside, if this MERS virus does become a legitimate threat to humankind, there are steps one can take to ensure one's survival.

Preservation - After most of the world's population is wiped off the map by a wayward meteorite or hail of nuclear missiles, the survival of the human race might just depend on a few thousand people huddled in recreational vehicles deep in the bowels of an eastern Kansas mine. Why is that the places most likely to survive a catastrophic event are located where no one wants to go?  Think about it, why couldn't there be a safe haven on the beaches of Waikiki? The Kansas caverns are 100 feet to 150 feet below the surface and have a constant natural temperature in the low 70s. They are supported by thick limestone pillars six times stronger than concrete and will have blast doors built to withstand a one-megaton nuclear explosion as close as 10 miles away. Other than being surrounded by more than a mile and a half of 6-foot-high chain-link fence topped with sharp rows of barbed wire, the land above ground isn't distinguishable from expanses of hills and trees that surround it. The proposed shelter's entrances — nondescript concrete loading docks tucked discretely into the wooded hillside — are easily defensible against any potential intruders provided there's not a full-scale military attack. One question--why? Most of the human race has been wiped off the face of the planet. Who exactly, do they think is going to be left to launch a full-scale military attack? The shelter will have enough space for more than 1,000 RVs and up to about 5,000 people. Members will be charged $1,000 for every lineal foot of their RV to purchase their space, plus $1,500 per person for food. That means a person who plans to park a 30-foot vehicle in the shelter with four people inside will pay $30,000 for the space and $6,000 for food. $36,000 to ensure your place in a world with no one in it. Sounds like a bargain, doesn't it? Then again, when I think about the sort of person willing to hunker down in an RV in a cave in Kansas, I'm thinking maybe I'll take my chances with the end of the world.

And finally, here is another entry for the "decline of civilization as we know it" file.

Shakespeare - This isn’t your parents’ Star Wars. It’s more like your ancestors from the Old World’s Star Wars. An author has reinterpreted the classic space opera into a classical play written in the majestic style of the Bard of Avon. It's not bad enough that some genius decides to translate Shakespeare into Twitter-friendly feeds. Now we're tackling Star Wars. Seriously, people. Don't you have better things to do with your time? William Shakespeare’s Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope takes all of the characters you know and love and has them speaking in asides, soliloquies, and poetic verses. Even Chewbacca and R2-D2 roar and beep in iambic pentameter. The first line reads: "In time so long ago begins our play/ In star-crossed galaxy far, far away.”

I think we're done here (in more ways than one). 

Did You Know? #32

What city is the most dangerous in the United States?

Based on the FBI’s Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report, median income and poverty rates for these cities from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2011, and average 2012 unemployment rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Flint Michigan is the most violent city with 2,729 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. The city of just 101,632 people had 63 total murders and 1,930 aggravated assaults, both the highest relative to the city’s population. Flint also had nationwide highs in burglary rates and arson per 100,000 people. Rounding out the top five:

2. Detroit, Michigan - Detroit’s murder rate of 54.2 per 100,000 residents was the second highest in the country last year and it's 2012 unemployment rate was a whopping 18.6%, much higher than the 8.1% across the nation last year. 
3. Oakland, California - There were 1,085.9 robberies per 100,000 residents in Oakland in 2012, higher than any other city.
4. St. Louis, Missouri - There were 1,120.6 aggravated assaults per 100,000 people in St. Louis in 2012, higher than all but three other cities. Moreover, the murder rate of 35.5 cases per 100,000 was the fifth highest of all cities.
5. Memphis, Tennessee - Memphis had the third highest rate of aggravated assault in 2012, with 1,151.9 cases per 100,000 residents. According to a recent survey, roughly 43% of Memphis area residents reported feeling unsafe walking at night, the highest percentage of all the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country.

What Caught My Eye Today - Sarah Palin, Soccer, Space Weather, Demographics, Potpourri

Fred's Note: It seemed like forever since we have been enlightened by the great political minds of the day. Then out of the blue, Michele Bachmann took center stage by announcing she would not seek another term in office (an election which in all likelihood she would have lost). And now, in what can only be described as a feast of riches, the original "mama bear" has some fresh words of wisdom to bestow on us.

Sarah Palin - Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin criticized the Obama administration's decision to supply weapons to the rebels in the civil war in Syria, arguing that the U.S. should "Let Allah sort it out" until there is a stronger leader in the White House.  Oh snap. You go, girlfriend! 

"Militarily, where is our commander in chief? We're talking now more new interventions. I say until we know what we're doing, until we have a commander in chief who knows what he's doing, well, let these radical Islamic countries who aren't even respecting basic human rights, where both sides are slaughtering each other as they scream over an arbitrary red line, 'Allah Akbar,' I say until we have someone who knows what they're doing, I say let Allah sort it out."

Sarah Palin's grasp of foreign affairs is a marvel to behold isn't it? At least she got the 'Allah Akbar' reference correct, although the context might be a tad bit off. Though she has often served as the butt of jokes on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," Palin joked about the frequency with which the comedy show makes fun of her, saying she's provided an ample amount of jokes and jobs for comedians. "They should think of me as a friend. For a while there, I was providing more job security for the Tina Feys of the world and doing more for those employment numbers than Obama's ever done." On this Palin and I are in complete agreement. Sarah Palin has done far more to ensure the gainful employment of Tina Fey than Barack Obama could imagine in his wildest dreams.

Soccer - For those of you that follow such things, in addition to FIFA World Cup qualifying for next year's event, there is a warm-up tournament underway in Brazil called the Confederations Cup.  This story isn't directly related to either one, but does illustrate just how much passion there is for the beautiful game.  Unfortunately, in this case that passion, is not such a beautiful thing. Argentina has banned all fans of visiting teams from attending soccer games after a fan was recently killed by police at a game, the latest of more than 70 soccer fans killed at games in Argentina since 2000. Hundreds of visiting fans joined in a brawl which was broken up by police firing rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. Argentina's Security Minister said police would no longer use rubber bullets at sporting events, and also announced the ban on away fans saying that patrolling games was a waste of police resources.  On one hand, this seems a little extreme, not to mention the question of how a visitor ban could possibly be enforced.  But when you consider how many people of died and the cost of trying to keep unruly fans under control, you can sort of sympathize with the decision that was made.  Personally, I think this is mostly political posturing. The fact that such posturing has been deemed necessary is the tragedy here.

Space Weather - It's been a pretty tough year, climatically speaking, so far in much of the United States.  The end of 2012 saw the East Coast get shellacked by Super Storm Sandy while much of the mid-section of the country was suffering from record drought conditions. 2013 hasn't been much better. Torrential rains, deadly tornadoes and something called a 'derecho' (click here) have devastated the Midwest, while high winds have helped kickoff what looks to be one of the worst fire seasons on record across most western states.  And hurricane season has barely started. But consider this...it could always be worse. A severe geomagnetic storm—a sudden, violent eruption of gas and magnetic fields from the sun's surface—could prove particularly devastating. Magnetic storms can force Earth's magnetic fields to go temporarily haywire, overwhelming power grids. The biggest geomagnetic storm on record occurred in 1859, known as the 1859 Solar Super Storm or "Carrington Event (click here). An analysis conducted by Metatech for the Electromagnetic Pulse Commission and the Federal Emergency Management Agency found that the effects of a severe geomagnetic storm would not only be widespread, but long-lived. All kinds of sectors would be impacted by a power failure. Fuel, food, water, sanitation, communications, medical/health, finance, and transportation would all feel cascading effects. Many businesses rely solely on satellite navigation for transportation on land and sea, and cell phones would be vulnerable to interference. I can take clogged up toilets, food shortages and tainted water supplies, but when you start messing with my satellite TV, you are definitely poking the bear. Hurricane Katrina caused roughly $80 billion to $125 billion in damage, according to the report. A future geomagnetic storm could cost 10 to 20 times as much and take up to a decade to fully recover from.

Demographics - For the first time, America's racial and ethnic minorities now make up about half of the under-5 age group. If the significance of this is not yet evident, not to worry read on. Might I also suggest enrollment in a remedial statistics course. The new census estimates, a snapshot of the U.S. population as of July 2012, comes a year after the Census Bureau reported that whites had fallen to a minority among babies. Fueled by immigration and high rates of birth, particularly among Hispanics, racial and ethnic minorities are now growing more rapidly in numbers than whites. Stay with me now. The government also projects that in five years, minorities will make up more than half of children under 18. Not long after, the total U.S. white population will begin an inexorable decline in absolute numbers, due to aging baby boomers. Alright then, let's connect those dots, shall we? There are now about the same number of minorities in the under-5 age group as there are whites, and that number is growing. Logic dictates that most minority children in the under-5 age group will make it into the under-18 age group. At same time, a lot of whites at the other end of the age spectrum will, at some point in the not too distant future, begin to shuffle off this mortal coil.  So to summarize, more minorities entering the population than whites and more whites leaving the population than minorities.  Any questions?

Potpourri - In this edition we have a "why bother?", a "damn, that's a big number", and a "I'm sure this is probably important, but am not sure why".

• Surveillance - The U.S. federal government made 33,900 surveillance applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from 1979 through 2012. The court approved all by 11, or 99.97%.
  I suppose it is mathematically possible that 33,889 of these surveillance applications were legitimate and that the court is doing its job adequately.  I just don't see how it is realistic.
• Data - An estimated 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data are created daily, due largely to the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices. 90% of all the digital data in the world has been created within the last two years.
  Bear in mind that data and information are two different things.  A cut cat video certainly constitutes data, but I challenge anyone to justify how watching Fluffy fall into the toilet would meet the definition of information.  
• Political Partisanship - Either the Democrats or Republicans control  both the legislature and the governorship in all by 13 states. As a result, blues states are moving to the left on issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion, unions and taxes, while red states are moving to the right.
  The author of the article I read that cites this factoid, made any interesting observation... America is splitting apart without an actual civil war.  Something to think about, wouldn't you say?

Did You Know? #31

Which nation collects the most tax revenue as a percentage of GDP in the industrialized world?

According to data collected in 2009, among the 34 members of the Organization for economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Denmark collects tax revenues amounting to 48.3% of its GDP. 

Rounding out the top 10 are Sweden (46.7%), Italy (43.4%), Belgium (43.2%), Norway (42.9%), Austria (42.7%), Finland (42.6%), France (42.4%), Hungary (39.9%) and the Netherlands (38.2%). 

The United States ranks 32nd, collecting 24.1% of its GDP in the form of GDP. Over the past 40 years, the United States has averaged 18% of GDP in tax collections, which matches projected costs for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the national debt in 2029.

What Caught My Eye Today - Papua New Guinea, Nicaragua, Michele Bachmann, Vocabulary

Nicaragua - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega sent the National Assembly a proposed law that grants a 50-year concession to a recently formed Chinese company, HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co. Ltd. (HKND), to build and manage a megaproject combo that includes an inter-oceanic canal, an oil pipeline, a “dry canal” freight railroad, two deepwater ports, two airports, and a series of free-trade zones. Fifty years seems like a long time, but consider how long it will take to build all this stuff not to mention the amount of time it will take to recoup the investment cost.  In that light this doesn't seem unreasonable. So what's the problem? No details about the canal project have been made public. Nicaraguans have no idea where the funding will come from, what the proposed canal route is, how long it would take to build, what the environmental toll would be, or even how much the project will cost. Lack of transparency, that's it? That's the big problem? This sort of thing happens all the time. Clearly, there must be something else that has folks concerned. The Chinese company is run by a telecom mogul and apparent canal enthusiast whose cellphone company recently won a full-service telecom operator license in a Nicaraguan bidding process. Now we're getting somewhere.  It does seem a bit peculiar that an infrastructure project of this size would be awarded to brand new company with no prior experience in canal building. Then again, the head of the company a "canal enthusiast" so that should good enough, right? China and Nicaragua do not have diplomatic relations, which adds a level of complexity to the project. Critics say it's unlikely that a private and untested Chinese company could do such a large project on its own, without the backing of the Chinese government. I think what was meant to be said is that China and Nicaragua have no official diplomatic relations.  A deal like this doesn't make it this far without some back channel wheeling and dealing.

Papua New Guinea - Violence linked to witch hunts is an increasingly visible problem in Papua New Guinea, a diverse tribal society of more than 800 languages and 7 million people. Experts say witch hunting appears to be spreading to parts of the country where the ruthless practices never took place before. There is no clear explanation for the apparent uptick in killings in parts of the South Pacific nation, and even government officials seem at a loss to say why this is happening. In a way I am somewhat encouraged that the government is confounded by the proliferation of witch hunting.  I'd hate to think that a government official might actually think that this sort of thing is rational in any way, shape or form. Some are arguing the recent violence is fueled not by the nation's widespread belief in black magic but instead by economic jealousy born of a mining boom that has widened the country's economic divide and pitted the haves against the have-nots. There's that wealth gap rearing its ugly head again. The United Nations has documented hundreds of cases of sorcery-related violence in Papua New Guinea in recent years and many more cases in remote areas are thought to have gone unreported. Until last month, the country's 42-year-old Sorcery Act allowed for a belief in black magic to be used as a partial legal defense for killing someone suspected of inflicting harm through sorcery. Let me see if I've got this right. There was an official law on the books called the Sorcery Act, and it has been in force for more than forty years? Where I come from, we don't call it 'sorcery'; we call it 'bat crap crazy'. Recent cases don't appear to be motivated by a genuine belief in the occult, but instead are a pretext under which the wealthy can be attacked by poorer neighbors, and, many times, get away with it. Are the naysayers, suggesting that this mob violence might not necessarily be driven by a desire to rid the world of witchcraft, but rather but a seething hatred of those who are better off than they are? Seems pretty far-fetched to me. 

Speaking of bat crap crazy...

Michele Bachmann - Facing a federal investigation of her campaign finances and a possible loss in November, Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann announced that she would not seek a fifth term in office. Say it ain't so.  Politics won't be nearly as entertaining without her pearls of wisdom. Bachmann is known for warning that President Barack Obama was an "anti American" socialist who was "turning our country into a nation of slaves"; that Obamacare will "literally" kill women, children and senior citizens; and that the Muslim Brotherhood has achieved "a very deep penetration" of the U.S. Government. According to Politifact, 75% of Bachmann's statements since 2009 were false, the highest of any elected official. So what? Since when did the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech mean that you had to speak the truth?   Fiction is much more interesting than fact, don't you think? As I see it, Bachmann was simply living up to the adage, "How can you tell if a politician is lying? His/Her lips are moving."  Way to stay true to your calling, girlfriend. She used a combination of sheer audacity and an "unrepentant, cable-ready persona" to propel the Tea Party movement to national prominence and even briefly lead the otherwise all-male field of the GOP presidential candidates in 2012. Ah yes, an achievement all Republicans can be proud of. 

The annual Scripp's Spelling Bee was held a few weeks backs. The winning word was 'knaidel,' which is a Jewish dumpling. This last item could be considered a spelling bee contestant's worst nightmare.

Vocabulary - The German language has lost its longest word thanks to a change in the law to conform with EU regulations. Rindfleischetikettierungsueberwachungsaufgabenuebertragungsgesetz, meaning 'law delegating beef label monitoring', was introduced in 1999.  Try saying that 10 times real fast. The 63-letter word came into being as a result of efforts to combat BSE, or mad cow disease. But with the European Union calling a halt to the testing of healthy cattle, the need for the word vanished. The longest German word in the country's official records is the 39-letter Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften, which is 'an insurance company that provides legal protection'. I find it curious that the word is almost as long as it's definition. Kind of makes you wonder why they bothered creating the word in the first place. English actually beats that record, with the 45-letter pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis which means 'a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust, causing inflammation in the lungs'. Alright friends, here's the throw down. See how many times can you work 'pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis' into the conversation at the next social gather you attend? That is if you can figure out how to pronounce it.

Did You Know? Know #30

What were the most popular baby names in the United States in 2012?

The Social Security Administration has announced the 2012 Most Popular Baby Names. The top 10 girls' names are: Sophia, Emma, Isabella, Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail, Mia, Madison and Elizabeth. The top 10 boys' names are: Jacob, Mason, Ethan, Noah, William, Liam, Jayden, Michael, Alexander and Aiden. Jacob remains the most popular name for boys for the 14th year in a row and has been in the top 10 for two decades. Sophia, which took the crown as the #1 girls' name last year, is a Greek name that means "wisdom."  It entered the top 10 in 2006. 

The most searched baby names so far in 2013, for girls are: Isabella, Millie, Sookie, Ann, Ella, Betty, Ellie, Emma, Eithne and Charlotte. For boys' the most searched names are: Jacob, Max, Liam, Ted, Mo, Aiden, Andy, Bertie, Ned and Gus.

What Caught My Eye Today - Wealth, Entitlement Programs, Venezuela

Wealth - I don't know why, but there is something about self-important think tanks producing reports that confirm what is already common knowledge that amuses me.The wealthiest 1% control 39% of the world's wealth, and their share is likely to grow in the coming years, according to a new report from the Boston Consulting Group. See what I mean? Yet another report indicating that the rich are getting richer. The world's total private wealth grew 7.8% in 2012 to $135 trillion. The top 1% control $52.8 trillion, and those worth $5 million or more control nearly a quarter of the world's wealth. The number of millionaires in the world surged by 10% last year, reaching 13.8 million. Those worth $5 million or more will see their wealth grow 8%, while those worth more than $100 million will see their wealth grow 9.2%. In the developed world - the U.S. and Europe - it's mainly stocks that is driving wealth. Stocks have been on a tear this year in the U.S., which has mainly benefited the top 5%, who own 60% of all individually held stocks. In my world, the stock market has obliterated any hopes I've entertained for retiring...ever. In developing markets, the main wealth creator is economic growth and savings. Let's take a closer look at the prospects for developing markets. The World Bank has projected global GDP growth of 2.4% in 2013. By comparison, sub-Saharan Africa looks to grow by 5% or more. Asia, driven primarily by China, is expected to do even better, with growth projections of 7.8%. Sounds rather promising, doesn't it. Then again... Africa ranks at the bottom of the Ease of Doing Business Index (meaning it is extraordinarily difficult to make a buck); it has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS (which no doubt has a negative impact on the working age population); and it has almost no banking infrastructure to speak of (which might put a bit of a damper on people's ability to save). How about our friends in Asia? While 7.8% growth would be phenomenal in the U.S. or Europe, it is a pretty dramatic slowdown for the likes of China, which had been posting double digit growth for several years. On top of that, the wealth gap issues confronting Asian nations, makes the problems we have in the U.S. pale by comparison.

Entitlement Programs - Lest you were under the impression that think tanks had a monopoly on publishing reports on stuff we already know, fear not. The U.S. government is doing its part to confirm the obvious as well. The underlying financial condition of Social Security and Medicare did not change greatly in 2012 and both are still on borrowed time according to separate annual reports. The trust funds for retirement and survivors benefits and a separate fund for disability payments, when considered together, have a projected depletion date of 2033, unchanged from last year’s annual report. After the reserves are depleted, continuing payroll tax receipts would be sufficient to pay three quarters of promised benefits through 2087. The Medicare Hospital Trust Fund – one of two funds that support the program – will have enough money to cover its obligations fully until 2026 – which is two years longer than predicted in last year’s report. What's this? A two year reprieve? Yippee! After that, the share of hospital costs that could be financed with payroll tax revenues would decline from 87% in 2033 to 70% in 2050 and later. Some 58 million Americans currently receive Social Security benefits.  So bottom line, all this talk of entitlements going bankrupt is a little extreme. The way I read this, is that in the next 15 to 20 years, instead of receiving a dollar's worth of benefit, I will get somewhere between 70 and 80 cents? Don't get me wrong, that sucks, but considering the performance of my retirement accounts, this is par for the course.

Venezuela - These poor slobs cannot catch a break. First, no toilet paper (click here) and now this... When it comes to Venezuela's growing scarcities, not even the Roman Catholic Church has received a dispensation. Church officials say food shortages and foreign exchange restrictions are causing a lack of ingredients needed to celebrate Mass: altar wine as well as wheat to produce communion wafers. They say the wheat flour used for the sacramental wafers is scarce and the supply of altar wine used for Holy Communion is threatened, which could force them to ration it. Venezuela's only producer of church-standard communion wine, recently informed the church that it can no longer guarantee production because it lacks some imported ingredients. Is anyone besides me curious as to what those "imported ingredients" might be. Wine is wine, is it not?  The shortage of wheat flour has compounded the problems for the church, because the host, or wafer, administered during Holy Communion must be made of wheat. The wafers are made by nuns in convents and parish houses.   I don't want to trivialize the spiritual well being of anyone, but come on -- rationing of communion wafers and altar wine? That's a little funny, don't you think?

Did You Know? #29

In the United States, how much more do CEOs earn than the average worker?

According to the AFL-CIO, chief executives of the nation's largest companies earned an average of $12.3 million in total pay last year, 354 times more than a typical American worker who took home $34,645 in 2012. The discrepancy in pay between CEOs and the average worker has skyrocketed over the years, peaking in 2000, when the gap was 525 times. In 1980, CEO pay was 42 times that of the average worker.

What Caught My Eye Today - Pandemics, Sainthood, Natural Disasters

Pandemics - A new SARS-like virus recently found in humans continues to spread, with the worldwide total now at 49 according to the World Health Organization. Yeah, yeah. I can hear the skepticism already. What's all the drama about? We're only talking about 49 people, right? Of the 49 known infections with the MERS-CoV virus, 27 have resulted in death. Point number one--this virus has a mortality rate of more than 55%. Coronaviruses cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, as well as a variety of animal diseases. It acts like a cold virus and attacks the respiratory system. Symptoms, which include fever and a cough, are severe and can lead to pneumonia and kidney failure.  There are currently no vaccines to protect against human coronavirus infection. Point number two--there is not treatment or cure for this thing that has killed more than half the people who have been diagnosed with it. Need I say more?

Sainthood - Pope Francis made Catholic history by canonizing more than 800 new saints in one day. Is it just me or does that sound like a lot of saints? I sure hope they don't plan on adding all 800 to the Litany of Saints. That bad boy is long enough already. The new saints were Italians from the port town of Otranto, which was overrun by the Ottoman Turkish army in 1480.  The townspeople barricaded themselves in the cathedral and refused to convert to Islam; males older than 15 were beheaded.  This is the sort of thing that happens when two parties cannot find any middle ground upon which to work out their differences. The decision to elevate the entire group to sainthood was made by Pope Benedict XVI on his last day in office and may strain relations between the Catholic Church and Muslims. I must confess when I started reading this article, it struck me as rather peculiar that Pope Francis would have instigated such a controversial gesture, but then when I saw that he was carrying out the final edicts of his predecessor, this made much more sense.

Natural Disasters - With summer just around the corner, you may be looking for suggestions for places to go on summer holiday.  For those of you who are keen to avoid international travel in favor of the safety of the United States, you might want to avoid some of these places that are rather prone to disasters. Some states find themselves in the cross-hairs of disaster far more than others. Presidents have declared nearly 2,000 major disasters in the 50 states and the District of Columbia over the past 60 years as of April 2013, but a mere 10 states have been responsible for a third of that total. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) these are the top states most at risk for a disaster declaration:

#10 Missouri: The Show-Me State has been shown disastrous weather in every month of the year: severe snow and ice storms in winter, tornadoes during the spring, summer and fall, and flooding at virtually any time. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 53
I get that Missouri is home to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the spectacle that is Branson, but seriously, what exactly is there to "show me" in Missouri?
#9 Arkansas: Arkansas has been walloped by heavy rain, snow, ice, tornadoes and flooding over the years and has even taken poundings from tropical storm systems, though it's not a coastal state. In 2008, storms and tornadoes associated with Hurricane Gustav littered streets with debris, damaged buildings, roads and bridges, and knocked out electric cooperatives. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 54
So not only does Arkansas get whacked by tropical storms, hurricanes and tornadoes, but it gets clobbered by most of its SEC rivals in college football. It almost makes you feel sorry for them...almost.
#8 Kentucky: The disaster roster in Kentucky has included landslides, mudslides and rock slides, along with flooding and tornadoes. The state was ripped up in 2008 by the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Another major disaster declaration involved a record snowfall in late 2004, and yet another stemmed from a 1981 series of chemical explosions in the Louisville sewers. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 56.
On the bright side, Kentucky has some great bourbon and has some pretty good college basketball programs.
#7 Alabama: This Gulf Coast state has been battered by hurricanes, including Isaac in 2012, Gustav in 2008, Katrina and Dennis in 2005, and Ivan in 2004. But tornadoes in April 2011 rivaled the hurricanes for destructive power, lashing the state with winds that exceeded 210 mph and leaving about 250 people dead and an estimated $1.5 billion in damage. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 57.
Is it just me or is the gulf coast pretty much a death trap?  Check out #6 and #5 on the countdown...
#6 Louisiana: It has taken Louisiana years to recover from Hurricane Katrina, the now-legendary 2005 storm that government officials say killed nearly 1,000 residents and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage. The Gulf state has been visited by numerous hurricanes including 1969's Camille, a Category 5 storm that came ashore with 190 mph winds. By comparison, Katrina was "only" a Category 3 on the wind scale. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 60.
Yeah, but they have a wicked good time with that Mardi Gras deal, don't they?
#5 Florida: The Sunshine State has been pummeled by dozens of tropical storm systems since the 1950s -- none worse than Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The Category 5 hurricane with gusts of more than 200 mph held the title as the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history until Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Severe freezes have been disastrous for Florida farming on multiple occasions. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 65.
In fairness, the Hurricane State doesn't sound quite as inviting does it?
#4 New York: Across its empire that stretches from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic coast, New York has been lashed by everything from blizzards to tropical storms. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy killed nearly 50 in the state and caused more than $40 billion in damage. New York also received disaster declarations for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and an earlier bombing in the complex's garage. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 67.
Maybe that's why those of us who don't live in New York, think that New Yorkers can be kind of mean.  With all that they've gone through, I can sort of see why. Don't get me wrong, they're still mean, but I get it now.
#3 Oklahoma: The recent monster tornado that blasted through the Oklahoma City suburbs is only the latest devastating storm to hit a state that recorded an average of 55 twisters per year since 1950. The worst tornado in recent history struck near Oklahoma City in May 1999 with unprecedented winds in excess of 300 mph that killed 36 people. Oklahoma also has endured severe winter storms, wildfires, floods and the 1995 terrorist bombing that killed 168 people at the Oklahoma City federal building. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 73.
With all the stuff that has happen in Oklahoma, maybe it might be time to consider relocating to a more hospitable location.
#2 California: The nation's most populous state also is one of the most disaster-prone thanks to wildfires, landslides, flooding, winter storms, severe freeze and even tsunami waves. But earthquakes are the disaster perhaps most closely associated with California. The worst in recent years have included a magnitude-6.9 quake near San Francisco in 1989 that killed 63 and a magnitude-6.7 quake in Southern California in 1994 that killed 61. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 78.
Heck, I live here. Clearly I'm too dumb or ignorant to know better.
#1 Texas: Within Texas' nearly 267,000 square miles (second only to Alaska in size), at least one major disaster is declared nearly every calendar year. The Lone Star State has dealt with tornadoes, floods, wildfires and fairly frequent coastal hurricanes. One of the deadliest and costliest in recent decades was Hurricane Celia, which tore up Corpus Christi in 1970. The storm left 13 dead and destroyed millions of dollars' worth of property. Major disaster declarations since 1953: 86.
After the Gulf Coast, I'm thinking the Mid West is not particularly appealing either.