The Educational-Industrial Complex

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

The bait and switch of school “reform”
Behind the new corporate agenda for education lurks the old politics of profit and self-interest
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/09/12/reformmoney/index.html

While I have a difficult time believing that unions are the solution to the education issue (the author makes a very good case that overall poverty and asymmetry of income is the core of the problem, nothing else), it seems quite clear that the real purpose (of which union busting is a small part) is to convert all the money now going toward public education through the pockets of the already fabulously wealthy so they can take their cut (if we are lucky, it will only be 20-25%). I see a parallel with the IC (Intelligence Community) in that teachers will finally get paid handsomely (or at least handsomely enough that there are people clamoring to become teachers) yet only receiving 35-40% of the actual money the government spends for each teacher (the rest, of course, going to ‘overhead’ and profit).  Of course I doubt much overall will change education wise if, as the author states, the core of the problem is poverty, but at least the billionaires will have even more money they can use to distort our so-called democratic system.

More news that isn’t news

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

Synthetic DNA added to yeast cells, paving way for ‘evolution’ on demand
Scientists’ feat could lead to better biofuels and vaccines, and is a significant step towards completely synthetic organisms
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/sep/14/synthetic-dna-in-yeast-breakthrough

I was doing this 20 years ago on a small scale and the ‘official’ human genome sequencing relied on ‘bacterial artificial chromosomes’ and for an absolute minimum people have been adding artificial chromosomes to yeast for a decade, and further, people have been subtracting and disabling genes for at least as long.  Where is the news in this article?  I can only think either a totally ignorant reporter who never had a biotech class in his life felt this was somehow special or there is a conspiracy to keep the readers (fewer and fewer each year, I know) bamboozled by thinking things are happening when they aren’t.

Hand bites mouth (man bites dog?)

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

In an interesting twist, humans are now being used to solve problems
for computers:

Online gamers strike major blow in battle against AIDS
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/19/gamers_crack_structure_of_aids_protein_in_three_weeks/

They used the ‘game’ Foldit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foldit

Which is a “games-with-a-purpose” program:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_with_a_purpose

I like the idea of people being challenged to play engaging games that can lead to valuable-for-society results.  Analogous to the (somewhat darker aim) efforts of the military to produce video games that serve to train kids to be ready for the new military weapons.

Some lighter news

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

Just so you know it is not _all_ doom and gloom…

Researcher creates little flying carpet made of conductive plastic
http://www.slashgear.com/researcher-creates-little-flying-carpet-made-of-conductive-plastic-03184824/

Not sure it has any economic utility, but in my mind, pure research should never focus on utility at all, but on knowledge for the sake of knowledge.  If we know we don’t know something, we are still left with the opportunity to rectify our ignorance.  However, if we fail to know that we don’t know something then we don’t even know we are ignorant and thus there is no chance to rectify that ignorance.  I would (have) argue that contrary to much popular belief, scientific granting is actually quite conservative and I am quite sure that plenty of discoveries are not being made because the grant reviewers fail to see any benefit in the research, even if successful.  Clearly we can’t just hand out money willy nilly and we need to have a way to ensure that the research proposed actually takes place (and as an aside, we should do more to encourage the publication of negative results so future researchers know which blind alleys NOT to investigate), but  pure research should not have as an acceptance criteria any sort of economic benefit or utility.

How is this for over hyped?

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

I came across a site that talked about the various ways our civilization could come to an end (gamma ray burst, plague, evil robots, etc.) and found one listed as “Electromagnetic pulse”.  Having read about it quite a bit and knowing what is involved, I was quite shocked to read that the authors apparently had documentation that as much as 90% of the population in the US would be dead within a year of an EMP (as it is termed) pulse if at the appropriate altitude (300 miles for those of you keeping stats).  Since all an EMP does is fry electronics I was having a hard time finding any way it could cause human casualties on such scale (it is easy to imagine people dying in car accidents when the electronics gets fried, but that hardly could amount to 9 in 10).  So I rooted around a bit (didn’t feel like reading the actual report here: http://www.empcommission.org/index.php, let me know if you do and find where they talk about this) and found a wee bit here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2506183/posts:

‘”Within a year of that attack, nine out of 10 Americans would be dead, because we can’t support a population of the present size in urban centers and the like without electricity,” said Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy. “And that is exactly what I believe the Iranians are working towards.” ‘

As a side note, notice how major Iran factors into this?

So the presumption by these geniuses is that people are going to sit in the core of cities that lack electricity and starve to death because they are too damn stupid to get up off their ass and walk a few hours to get outside of the city.  Now, if the nation’s infrastructure is totally destroyed, as they feel is a finger snap away, then ultimately bad things are going to happen and undoubtedly there will be mass casualties, looting, anarchy, etc., etc., but I figure that the ratio is backwards and ‘only’ 10% would die, most of the remaining 90% would just be incredibly unhappy and probably many would wish they had died.  Of course, this total calamity presupposes that it is impossible to get any sort of electricity going again with THE ENTIRE NATION WORKING ON IT AS ITS SINGLE FOCUS.  How is it that the Iranians are so damn smart and we are so damn dumb?  Wait, we are that dumb, but perhaps the Iranians aren’t that smart.

Anyway, this is prime stuff for feeding the sheeple and felt you might find a wee bit of amusement reading it…

Proof, as if it were needed…

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

That the rich keep getting richer and the rest of us keep getting poorer:

First look at US pay data, it’s awful
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/19/idUS254294359320111019

Most apropos statement:

“There were fewer jobs and they paid less last year, except at the very top where, the number of people making more than $1 million increased by 20 percent over 2009.”

Yes this is depressing…

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

But I really think it is worth reading and passing on to anyone else you think cares about democracy…

W. enters my wife’s schoolboard race
Our family gets a close-up look of how big money has taken over politics — even at the local level
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/21/w_enters_my_wifes_schoolboard_race/singleton/

This is the exact sort of shit that happens in third worlds!

Can’t even call him GOP lite!

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

Obama really is a member of the GOP in Democrat clothing…

Why what’s good for GE isn’t good for America
Obama’s jobs czar, Jeffrey Immelt, thinks we can beat China by making life easier for corporations
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/18/why_whats_good_for_ge_isnt_good_for_america/

So, if you think that Obama is out to destroy our country and produce (really, I guess this is a done deal) an oligarchy and what his ass out on the street who can you vote for?  Clearly any GOP candidate will want to out Obama Obama when they get in, which means even more wars, even less regulation, even more erosion to privacy (why is it the same people who want the govt to keep its hands off their guns are perfectly happy to have the govt with its hands in their wombs and monitoring every phone call, email and text?) and even more income disparity.  I don’t know if Nader is running yet again, but I think he is loony and wouldn’t vote for him anyway.  All that blather about starting yet another third party by Americans Elect and Thomas Friedman sounds impressive, but who are the candidates?  Are we likely to wind up with another fruit cake like Nader or Perot or will it be someone who can be credible?  I lean toward the former as it is fairly trivial for the lapdog press and media to demonize someone and if you speak on the record long enough you will say things that can be twisted to make you look like a total jackass, so even if you are sincere and have great ideas and might even make a great President, your very success will be your undoing, unless, of course, enough voters are willing and able to get their information outside of regular media outlets.

Which is better?  A clueless outsider who totally lacks any personal relationship with any members of our government and who finds it takes longer than 2 years to simply learn which phone calls are important to return (and is likely to be corrupted by his/her circle of advisers, one way or another) or a well-heeled insider who knows where all the bodies are buried but promises to actually act for the greatest good for the greatest number (us 99%)?

I expect it will continue to get worse before there is any prospects of it getting better…

WMD claims heat up

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

U.S. official: ‘Multiple’ sources strengthen case against Iran
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/13/world/meast/iran-saudi-plot/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

The more I read about this the more convinced I get that the entire thing was fabricated just to create a desire amongst the sheeple to start a military action against Iran.  Is it purely and simply an effort to try to get Obama re-elected?  Can our government have deteriorated to such a state?  While Bush’s (junior) war was clearly based on fabricated information, I was convinced he was after Saddam because Saddam had tried to kill his daddy rather than a play to keep his job.  Not that is in any way, shape or form justification for a trillion dollar (all borrowed, of course; why is it Republicans are perfectly OK with borrowing money for war?) war that killed (at least) 100K people in Iraq, but at least it wasn’t purely and simply an effort to get re-elected as this appears to be to me.

It seems clear it was manufactured

I found some emails in my outbox that I guess didn’t generate any responses, but I still think they are interesting so will post them here…

just to provide an excuse to start bombing Iran:

Used-car salesman as Iran proxy? Why assassination plot doesn’t add up for experts.
The US has blamed the specialist Qods Force in an Iran assassination plot. But those who track the group say the plot doesn’t reflect the careful planning, efficiency, and strategy the Qods Force is known for.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/1012/Used-car-salesman-as-Iran-proxy-Why-assassination-plot-doesn-t-add-up-for-experts

I admit I don’t follow middle east politics that closely, but I never got the impression that Iranian intelligence was incompetent.  There is no conceivable reason why assassinating a Saudi (and a nobody as well!) on US soil could possibly lead to any sort of benefit to Iran. Add to that the FBI’s long history of fabricating terrorists out of thin air and the idea that this was masterminded by Iran becomes ludicrous.  Since it has been getting so much press play by our so trustworthy government indicates to me that they (our government fire-breathers) are itching for an excuse to invade Iran and will latch on even something as blatantly fabricated as this (indeed, it is easy to believe the FBI was specifically instructed to create this exact scenario just to create this ‘crisis’).  So, in addition to our current three wars, now we are going to add yet another.  Just in time for an election!

Anyone watch ‘Wag the Dog’?