reality

regional income distribution & resentment of government redistrbution

Poor areas are more likely to resent income redistribution since incomes in poor areas straddle the poverty line and recipients of government largess are very visible.

The 50% of the people above the line resent the 50% below the line who may receive government benefits.

In addition, because the young and educated move away from these areas, the remaining population tends to be older and sicker than the US as a whole. These folks typically receive social security/medicare/medicaid, which also raises the notion of people being on the dole.

And of course in Southern Appalachia, you can add in the element of crypto-racism.

The lower middle class in these areas are not being totally irrational; government support programs are very real and very visible.

Republicans of course are playing the class warfare game here, but in this case it's not rich vs poor; the class division cleaves between the almost poor vs the actual poor.

So Republicans wage class warfare at both the top of the income pyramid (such as the Koch brothers and all the way down to Todd Henderson, the law prof at the University of Chicago) as well as at the bottom.

It's an effective split, allowing Republicans get their funding from the top tier and their votes from those beginning just above the bottom tier.

randomness: plasmons

plasmon imaging link

(click on link to animate)



















plasmons

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Plasmons play a large role in the optical properties of metals. Light of frequency below the plasma frequency is reflected, because the electrons in the metal screen the electric field of the light. Light of frequency above the plasma frequency is transmitted, because the electrons cannot respond fast enough to screen it. In most metals, the plasma frequency is in the ultraviolet, making them shiny (reflective) in the visible range. On the other hand, some metals, such as copper, have a plasmon frequency in the visible range, yielding their distinct color. For other metals, such as gold, the plasma frequency lies deeply in the ultraviolet, but geometric factors come into play which reduce the plasmon frequency to the visible. In doped semiconductors, the plasma frequency is usually in the infrared.
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surface plasmon resonance

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Typical metals that support surface plasmons are silver and gold, but metals such as copper, titanium, or chromium can also support surface plasmon generation. Surface plasmons have been used to enhance the surface sensitivity of several spectroscopic measurements including fluorescence, Raman scattering, and second harmonic generation. However, in their simplest form, SPR reflectivity measurements can be used to detect DNA or proteins by the changes in the local index of refraction upon adsorption of the target molecule to the metal surface. If the surface is patterned with different biopolymers, the technique is denoted as Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging (SPRI).
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ID & teach the controversy

A counter-proposal to ID's mantra...

For any school considering "teaching the controversy", take them at their word; ask them to teach a class examining the historical development of various religions, making clear that each of them has weaknesses that belie any claim to being the "one true faith".

Betcha that's one controversy they're not interested in teaching.

stability vs civil liberties

how a number of US citizens are so desperate for stability and safety that they willingly acquiesce to the dilution of their civil liberties.

And yet these same folks apparently believe that the Iraqis are so desperate for freedom that they will gladly have endless death, deprivation, and destruction inflicted on them in pursuit of liberty.

randomness: orbitals

link

chasms

source

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Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

"In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is 'no comment.'"
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You know, maybe Ed Witten should give these guys a call; now that they've solved one major Mystery of the Universe and Everything, I'm sure they'll have some profound insights into Chern-Simons theory and what-not.

UN resolution 1441

This is in response to a common complaint I see from folks on the right:

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KCarsom:

If Saddam had agreed to inspections under UN resolution 1441, and not snubbed his nose at the UN, he might still be alive today. After all, wasn’t that the reason the coalition forces went into Iraq in the first place?
posted on December 30th, 2006 at 12:48 am
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This is part of Hans Blix' statement to the UN re 1441 sanctioned inspections:

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Inspections in Iraq resumed on 27 November 2002. In matters relating to process, notably prompt access to sites, we have faced relatively few difficulties and certainly much less than
those that were faced by UNSCOM in the period 1991 to 1998. This may well be due to the strong outside pressure.

Some practical matters, which were not settled by the talks Dr ElBaradei and I had with the Iraqi side in Vienna prior to inspections or in resolution 1441 (2002), have been resolved at
meetings, which we have had in Baghdad.

Initial difficulties raised by the Iraqi side about helicopters and aerial surveillance planes operating in the no-fly zones were overcome.

This is not to say that the operation of inspections is free from frictions, but at this juncture we are able to perform professional no-notice inspections all over Iraq and to increase
aerial surveillance.

American U-2 and French Mirage surveillance aircraft already give us valuable imagery, supplementing satellite pictures and we would expect soon to be able to add night vision capability through an aircraft offered to us by the Russian Federation.

We also expect to add low-level, close area surveillance through drones provided by Germany. We are grateful not only to the countries, which place these valuable tools at our disposal, but
also to the states, most recently Cyprus, which has agreed to the stationing of aircraft on their territory.
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net neutrality

So the ISP's want to be able to speed up access for any site willing to bear the freight.

How long would it take the average telco CFO to figure out that it's cheaper to slow down all the other sites than to make any one site faster?

Best guess closest to the actual picosecond wins a rate increase.