Big Business

Those opposed to big business should remember that government is the biggest business of all.

Fair Share

There are two [at least] problems with Obama's demand that the top one percent pay their "fair share."  First, fair share is undefined.  Second, by anyone's definition [100%?] it represents only a dent in our financial problems.  Nevertheless, the request contributed to Obama's reelection and may have been decisive.
Concerning deductions, everyone seems to ignore the elephant in the room, namely:  tax-free interest on state and municipal bonds.  Why do you suppose that is?

Motto

May I say something today that will make somebody feel better.

Hi Everybody

I hope your New Year is all you want it to be. I spend my time these days taking pictures and working on them with Photoshop. I walk in the mall or at the Chicago Botanic Garden or in a big-box store. I work crossword and suduko puzzles. I read, mostly non-fiction. In late July and early August I spend four weeks in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I sit in classes at a statistical seminar. My nephew, Mike, who teaches there, takes me with him. We each get an apartment right by campus. Besides classes there are staff meetings and picnics. The students are mostly graduate or post-graduate and come from around the world. Right now I am enjoying the sights and making new friends in Put-in-Bay. This is the fourth time I have been to the island (once before Mary was here). I still live alone in a four-bedroon house in Northbrook, Illinois. Plenty of room if you happen to come this way. I enjoy good health and hope to do more traveling.

The sad news is that I am the last survivor of my siblings.

My Last Love

It's been almost two years.  Recently I googled her name for whatever reason.  I was shocked at what I found:  her obituary as of May 12, 2012.  No cause of death was given but by calling a neighbor of hers I learned that it was pancreatic cancer.  She was 70.  I'd spent some of the best years of my life with her.  My reasons for loving her were too numerous to list.

Found on another blog

Cause you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

A Herd of Dirty Turtles

My Last Love

I should be over her by now.  I'm not.

Have you heard the expression . . .

"I don't know what to do with myself"?

Well, that describes me to a T.

Playing with i pi

We learn in math that e to the i pi equals -1.  [e in the base of the natural logarithim, i is the square root of minus 1, and pi is the ratio of the area of a circle to the radius squared.]  Squaring both sides gives e to the i pi squared equals 1.  Now e to the i pi squared equals e to the 2 i pi and 1 equals e to the 0.  Have I proven, falsely, that 2 i pi equals 0 so that i equals 0?  Actually not.  What I have proven (again falsely) is that 2 pi equals 0.  It's like saying that since sine of 2 pi equals sine of 0, then 2 pi equals 0.  And if you think in terms of angles, the angle 2 pi is the angle 0.  This is because sine of x is a cyclic function of x. Well, it turns out that e to the i x is also a cyclic function of x for e to the i x equals cos x plus i sin x.  In other words, it is a trigonomic function. 

I Was There

I bought a book today by David Weinberger titled "Too Big to Know" which seems to be of the "Oh, Wow!" genre.  He spent almost a page expounding on how big a number sextillion is.  What really caught my attention was "the most popular corporate computers of the 1950s the IBM 650.  With only only seventy-five of these machines installed anywhere . . . ."   "The 650 cost your company $500,000, equivalent to $4 million in 2011 dollars.  It's got its own room, its own fleet of maintenance folks, its own dress code:  white lab coats, please."  Well, I happened to be working with computers at an insurance company when we got our IBM 650.  "Only seventy-five" seems inconsistent with "most popular."  It didn't cost the company $500,000 because IBM didn't sell them, they leased them.  Ours didn't have its own room and the maintenance was by one IBM employee who wasn't there full time and as for white lab coats, nary a one.

There was a footnote:
5. Leonard Dudley, Information Revolution in the History of the West (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008), p. 266.

Useless Information

Recent posts discussed the amount of matter equivalent to the energy need to accelerate a Toyota Corrola.  Enen if my calculations are correct, which is doubtful, it is useless information. Obviously there is nothing in an automobile which can turn so small amount of matter into equivalent energy.  This is done elsewhere in a nuclear reactor by the fission of radioactive isotopes.  Even there, only a very small fraction of the mass becomes energy. The number of protons/neutrons remains the same. (This was true even in the atomic bomb.)  To find out how much, you need to compare the atomic weight of the isotope to the total atomic weight of the decay products.  [Way beyond me.]

Then there is a series of processes to convert heat to electricity and transmit to where it needs to be to charge the battery. There are energy losses along the way.

Oops!  The Corolla is not an electric car.

Silly Example

What is the equivalent energy in grams required to accelerate a car to sixty miles per hour in 15 seconds.

Data:
The car weighs 2800 pounds.
One pound equals 453.59 grams.
One mile equals 1.6 kilometers.
The speed of light is 300,000 kilometers per second.

Calculation:
(2800 x 453.59 x 1.6 / (60 x 9)) x 10 ^ -10

= 3.768 x 10 ^ -7

= 0.0000002768 grams

Next blog will cover why this is useless information.

Dimensions

I was taught in university science classes that the dimensions on the left side of an equation should match the dimensions on the right.  I had trouble applying this to Einsteins equation because energy is expressed in so many ways (joules, foot-pounds, kilowatt hours).  I finally figured out that the right way to look at it is energy = force times distance and force = mass times acceleration and acceleration = distance divided by time squared.  Combining these gives energy = mass times distance squared divided by time squared, which, of course, matches the dimensions on the right side of the equation.

My next blog will give an example.

Another Recommendation

NO They Can't by John Stossel.  When I finish reading my copy I will give it to my liberal nephew, Mike, who, of course, won't read it.  Maybe it is because he has never [well, almost never] worked in the private sector.  Hi, Kevin.

My quest for units

E = mc^2: Solving the Equation

Click on the line above

Curious

Why is a twin billing a double feature at the movies but a double header at the ball park?  Double feature is related to feature film, but where does header come from?  You may have guessed that twin billings was a crossword puzzle clue and I filled in the wrong answer first.  I always use pencil.

Minimum Wage

Received by e-mail:
"No, volunteering does not violate minimum wage law. If there is no wage and no expectation of a wage, then how can a minimum wage apply? "

I'm sure he is correct about the letter of the law.  That means I can work for the minimum wage or for free but for nothing in between.  Does that make sense?

The minimum-wage law is generally considered to be a restriction on employers but it is also a restriction on would-be employees.  This keeps some people, especially young people without experience, out of the work force.  This can't be good.

Minimum Wage Question

Does volunteer work violate minimum wage laws?  If not, why not?

The Thomas Sowell Reader

He brings extensive research and clear thinking to a wide variety of subjects.  Recommended.  So is his book Basic Economics.

Obama's Budget . . .

. . . reminds me of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Politicians, left and right, keep kicking the battered can down the road.  Why?  Because they perceive that is what the voters want.  Cut spending?  Yes, but not on me.  Raise taxes?  Yes, but not mine.

I forget who said that when you try to please everybody you please nobody.

This post is in honor of my new follower.

Once, Twice, and Thrice

Inspired by a post by Grumpy Old Ken:  Twice for two times can hold its own when tied to once as in "Once burned, twice shy" or "I did that once or twice".  One time is sometimes used for once but it would be awkard to start a story "One time upon a time."  By the way, why is it "upon a time" instead of "at a time" or "during a time"?  And couldn't "upon a time" be dropped?  Not as verbose as "at that point in time" for "then".  Finally, is time after time two times?  Minds with too much time on their hands want to know.  I always keep time on my hands.  Where do you keep yours?