Males 3 X More Likely to be Highly Talented at Math Than Are Females, Although Most Promising Talent is Destroyed by US Schools

A new study in Notices of American Mathematical Society (PDF), reveals that a large number of potentially highly talented in mathematical individuals are diverted from mathematics by the US school systems, their talents largely wasted. While the article takes the politically correct stance that females are being particularly victimised, a careful reading reveals that the majority of children who are highly talented at math (by roughly 3:1) are males. If one looks further at the extreme upper end of the curve of mathematical ability, the ration of males to females is closer to 10:1. The farther out on the math ability curve one cares to look, the greater is the advantage of males over females.

Huge amounts of money are spent every year in expensive outreaches to female students, to encourage females to pursue careers in mathematics, science, and engineering/computer science. Nothing even remotely similar in magnitude is devoted to the vastly larger numbers of boy students whose talents in math and science are being squandered by a dysfunctional government school system.

Very few USA high schools teach the advanced mathematical skills, such as writing rigorous essay-style proofs, needed to excel in the USAMO. Most USAMO award winners acquire this knowledge by a combination of self -study and participation in summer mathematics camps. ...Several summer mathematics camps aimed at exposing children to numerous areas of pre - calculus mathematics not typically taught in schools have been started in the USA during the past decade. AwesomeMath is one such program, begun in 2006 for seventh through twelfth-graders who can demonstrate a high-level interest in learning areas of mathematics needed to perform well in the AIME and USAMO. It is run by the same instructors who direct the MOSP and coach the USA IMO Team. Of the ninety-three USA students who participated in the camp in 2006, fourteen (15%) were girls.

...Girls and boys with mathematical ability, whether profound, gifted, or merely above average, should be identified and encouraged to study mathematics beyond the high school level so they may pursue careers in STEM fields because these jobs are plentiful, well-paying, challenging, interesting, and beneficial to society. Their doing so is vital to the future of the USA economy... _NAMS(PDF)

Of course the authors of the study commit two errors of PC--denying differences in math aptitude due to gender, and ignoring differences in math aptitude due to underlying ethnic populations. If one believes in the discredited "blank slate hypothesis", then one is subjected to this type of error famously committed by ideologically bound academics such as Liz Spelke, Nancy Hopkins, and Donna Shalala.

Even so, it is good to have the data collected and analysed, so that in a future and more open-minded age, it can be looked at more impartially. PC bias reduces the IQ of research, academics, and public policy in a similar way that CAGW bias reduces the FQ of industry and the economy. Society must muddle through until it can throw off the ideological chains of PC, and other leftist hysterias.

Arab World Afflicted by Genetic Inbreeding

Up to half of all Emirati marriages are between relatives, with 54 per cent of married couples in Al Ain being relatives, compared to 32 per cent in Abu Dhabi and 40 per cent in Dubai.

Saudi Arabia, has perhaps the highest rate of intermarriage, with up to two thirds of all marriages occurring between relatives.

One of the costs of the type of close inbreeding that is common in the Arab and Muslim worlds, is genetic disease. Arabs and Muslims often inbreed due to tribal and clannish distrust of outsiders. Western medical and civil authorities need to understand that when such third-world peoples move to the first world, they often bring such dysfunctional customs with them.

Saudi Arabia has the highest rate of birth defects in the Gulf, with around 80 babies out of every 1,000 born with a disorder.

In the UAE, Kuwait and Oman, 70 to 79 children in every 1,000 are born with a birth defect.

Sudan has the highest rate in the world at 82 per 1,000, while France has the world’s lowest rate, at 39 per 1,000.

Birth defects have been closely linked to marriages between cousins and relatives, a common practice throughout the region and estimated to account for 35 to 50 per cent of all weddings.

Such traditions can increase the number of carriers of recessive genes, leading to higher rates of birth defects. Selective and environmental factors, including a lack of public awareness about how to prevent such conditions, also compound the problem.

Autosomal recessive disorders, in which two copies of the gene must mutate for a person to be affected, form an overwhelming proportion of genetic disorders in Arab patients in the UAE, according to CAGS, which says high rates of marriage between relatives are a leading contributor to the condition.

An affected person usually has unaffected parents who both carry a mutated gene. _CBT

Arab and Muslim countries typically lack the type of scientific and biomedical infrastructure to deal with problems that a backward culture creates.

The dysfunctionality of third world customs tend to add synergistically with western dysfunctionalities--unfortunately--when third world muslims migrate to more modern western nations. This is why one is seeing problems of growing numbers of clannish third world street gangs within European cities, inflating crime statistics and reducing overall trust and safety within the society. European prisons are filling with these dysfunctional products of a backward culture, as European health care systems begin to feel the brunt.

US President Bush believed at one time that it was possible to bring the modern world to the Arab world, so that perhaps the worst parts of the Arab world would not come to the modern world. I wonder if he still believes in that optimistic idea?

Two Must-Read Articles About Barak Obama's Autobiography, "Dreams From My Father"

In The Invisible Man, David Samuels compares Obama the political candidate with the Obama who wrote "Dreams From My Father." The article is a bit long for an internet piece, but is extremely thought-provoking and well-written.

In Who Wrote Dreams From My Father, Jack Cashill brings his considerable analytical skills as a writer and student of fiction and prose, to the question of whether someone else besides Obama may have written Obama's autobiography? Quite persuasive indeed.

Certainly, if Obama is not the actual author of his own autobiography, it would explain the perplexity of Samuels when he attempts to reconcile Obama the "author" with Obama the "candidate." Perhaps the two are different people.

Steve Sailer of iSteve blog was probably the first writer to bring the public's attention to the fascinating narrative of Obama's first book--which has been much of the basis for Obama's reputation as an intellectual of the first rank. Over the past year, Sailer has relentlessly pointed to aspects of Obama's published narrative that clashes with Obama's candidacy and in-person persona.

The contradictions are suggestive of there being less in the person than meets the eye. Obama has been the lucky beneficiary of a considerable amount of helpful assistance by powerful and well-connected individuals over the past 10 years. Almost as if he had been re-born under a lucky star and granted a number of wishes by a powerful djinn. A natural question to ask: when do the wishes begin to run out?

All the PhDs, JDs, and MBAs In the World Can't Make Capital Markets Work, But Sarah Palin Can

Sarah Palin is quite special, and quite ordinary--for America--at the same time. The true story of Palin contains the reason for America's ability to absorb multiple blows that would have ended most other governments and economies. It is the resilience of Americans like Palin, the sheer energy, optimism in the face of difficulties, and perseverance that allows America to bounce back in the face of multiple overwhelming problems and threats.

Provincial America depends on the initiative of ordinary people to get through the day..... Americans pay for most of their school costs out of local taxes, and levy those taxes on themselves. In small towns, many public agencies, including fire protection and emergency medical assistance, depend almost entirely on volunteers. People who tax themselves, and give their own time and money for services on which communities depend, are not easily cowed by the federal government or by large corporations.

Palin's career may look like a poor imitation of a Preston Sturges script, but films such as Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) struck a chord with Americans precisely because the character type of the ordinary man or woman who takes on entrenched interests is instantly recognizable in America.

Palin really did take on the American oil companies and turn the scoundrels out of office. Her predecessor, Frank Murkowski, appointed her to the state oil and gas commission in the apparent belief that a small-town mayor and former beauty queen would rubber-stamp corrupt deals between the state and the Big Oil companies.

Shades of Jimmy Stewart in Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Palin ran against Murkowski and took his job. That does not qualify her to be president, to be sure, but it does show cunning and strength of character. Palin is qualified for high office by temperament if not by education, and is preferable to candidates whose education has made no improvement on their characters.

....One doesn't see demonstrations by wronged peasants in the small towns of America. There never were peasants - American farmers always were entrepreneurs - and the locals avenge injury by taking over their local governments, which have sufficient authority to make a difference. At the capillary level, school boards, the Parent Teachers' Association, self-administered religious organizations and volunteer organizations incubate a political class entirely different from anything to be found in Asia. There are tens of thousands of Sarah Palins lurking in the minor leagues of American politics, and they are the guarantors of market probity.

...Twenty-eight percent of China's population falls in the age cohort of 39-64 years, when individuals must put away most of their retirement savings. By 2025, the proportion will rise to 35%. (By contrast, America has 32% of its population in the 39-64 cohort today, but it will fall to 30% by 2025). _AsiaTimes

Europe's problem is similar to China's. Europe--and Russia--was populated by peasants at one time. The peasant mentality still persists in European and Asian countries--the lack of independent thinking which imagines that it can actually make a difference.

Sarah Palin has an impressive record of achievement which promises to grow stronger every year, whether or not she is elected Vice President next month. Unlike entitlist Barak Obama--whose followers hint that they may riot if their messianic leader is not elected--Palin inspires people to want to work for and earn what they achieve. That spirit of setting goals and working hard to achieve them is what caused America to rise to the top of the economic world in the late 19th century, and to the top of the political and military world after the end of WWII. Most Americans--like Sarah Palin--do not whine and quit just because things are not going well.

The entitlement mentality that controls most of the polities of the world--and is knocking at the door on Wall street and Pennsylvania Avenue--has not yet completely taken over main street America. Just the fact of opinion polls suggesting a high likelihood of the entitlist winning the presidency, is having a depressing effect on markets recently.

Because if America goes over entirely to entitlement thinking, the thing that once made America special and has continued to keep America on top, will be smothered and in danger of dying. Understanding that an American cold gives the world pneumonia, one might begin to apprehend what would happen to the rest of the world should America's situation suddenly become much worse than a mere cold.

300 million Barak Obama's in one country would be an epic disaster of narcissistic top-heaviness and absence of competence. 300 million Sarah Palin's, on the other hand, would carry on much as America has carried on for centuries. Working, planning, innovating, reforming, worshiping, raising families, fulfilling their contracts, keeping their word, and living within their means.

BO might be a good president of Zimbabwe or Venezuela--he might represent an improvement over their current leaders. As president of the US, BO is simply a suicidal gesture thrown in the face of ordinary Americans by wastrels who never in their best efforts could make capital markets work.

More: Why European banks are likely in much more trouble than American banks

Stem Cells from Testicles, Stem Cells from Microvessels

Scientists from Germany and the UK have modified adult stem cells grown from the testicles of humans into cells which appear to be almost identical to embryonic stem cells.

The new stem cells, known as human adult germline stem cells (GSCs), were grown by researchers in Germany and the U.K. by adding special growth factors to spermatogonial cells extracted from testes. Spermatogonial cells are stem cells in the adult testis that normally generate only one type of differentiated cell (sperm). But with the right growth factors, these spermatogonial cells can change to become pluripotent. They begin to produce proteins normally made by embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and acquire the ability to differentiate into many different cell types. _

This is an intriguing finding which will require confirmation and elaboration. If a man's testicles can produce stem cells easily modified to form germline stem cells (GSCs)--virtual ESCs--then most men with testicles would be able to grow his own replacement cells. The search is also on for a similar cell in women.

More recent good stem cell news: multipotent stem cells have been found on the walls of capillaries and microvessels.

The scientists, led by Bruno Péault, PhD, deputy director of the Stem Cell Research Center at Children's Hospital, identified cells known as pericytes that are multipotent, meaning they have broad developmental potential. Pericytes are found on the walls of small blood vessels such as capillaries and microvessels throughout the body and have the potential to be extracted and grown into many types of tissues, according to the study. _ScienceDaily

Those bits of stem cell news combined with improved methods of inducing pluripotent stem cells from adult cells, all paint a rosy picture of the future of stem cell therapies and regenerative medicine.

Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University reported a new method, described today in the journal Science, that uses a tiny ring structure called a plasmid to deliver genes into mouse cells and turn them into stem cells. The technique eliminates the need to use viruses, which can trigger cancer, to transform cells. _Bloomberg

The plasmid method of inducing pluripotent stem cells, when perfected for human cells, may well provide a safe way of generating pluripotent cells for those both with and without viable testicles.

The biotech revolution is just beginning. Combined with nanotech and advanced information science, the world of the very small is destined to grow very large.

Eric Hoffer: An Authentic Life For a Change

Eric Hoffer was an intelligent man who worked with his hands as a California migratory farm worker, as a Forest Service worker, as a longshoreman. Temporarily blinded as an infant, he recovered his sight at age 15, learned to read, and was a voracious devourer of human knowledge from that point on. He began his adult life with $300 from his late father's craftsman's guild. After retiring from a life of hard labour, Hoffer was appointed an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley, as probably one of the few authentic and personally competent social science professors on the faculty.

At age 53, publication of "The True Believer" thrust Hoffer into the public eye. Over the years, several other books followed. But most of Hoffer's works remain in unpublished notebooks in the Hoover Archives.

"Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep." _Hoffer

A preoccupation with the future not only prevents us from seeing the present as it is but often prompts us to rearrange the past.

Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind, 1954 _QuotationPage

Authenticity is the difference between a person who is true to himself and others, and a person whose chameleon-like changeability allows him to be all things to all people--temporarily. There are actually persons in the world where "what you see is what you get." Hoffer was a good example of such a person. He was a stark contrast to the "Mr. Changeables" who populate American politics, media, and popular culture. Hoffer was all grit and no flash. Certainly he was not a person today's child-journalists could relate to.

In a 1941 letter to Anderson, Hoffer had written: “My writing is done in railroad yards while waiting for a freight, in the fields while waiting for a truck, and at noon after lunch. Towns are too distracting.” In 1949, he wrote to Anderson that, “by working [as a longshoreman] only Saturday and Sunday (18 hours at pay and a half) I earn 40–50 dollars a week. This to me is rolling in dough. I have no expensive tastes in food, clothing or pleasure. Above all, I have no taste for property.”....

When not on the waterfront, Hoffer would take a regular three-mile walk in Golden Gate Park toward the Pacific Ocean, working out ideas in his head and writing down the completed thoughts in his notebooks. For perhaps 30 years, Hoffer took the same walk, returning to the center of the city by bus. “The words, the ideas, come to me in the park,” he said in a 1967 interview. “I shape them in my head there, and I write them in my notebook. Blind people [his sight had returned in adolescence] write full sentences in their head. Sentences they can see. I still do.” But 10 years later, when he was approaching 80, he wrote: “In the past I could carry a train of thought in my head for days, formulating and revising, without writing down a word until the thinking was done. At present I cannot write without pen in hand. . . . The old must break with the past and learn anew.”

About Eric Hoffer there is an element of mystery that the material in the Hoover Archives never dispels. He appears, with his talent fully developed, in his first work. Nothing is really explained. The roots from which his genius grew remain concealed. Some scraps of information seem more mythical than real (“My writing is done in railroad yards while waiting for a freight, in the fields while waiting for a truck”) and suggest a budding Jack Kerouac more than an Eric Hoffer—two writers who could not have been more different. Perhaps in his index cards more than anywhere else we see traces of the struggle, labor, and self-discipline that went into his writing.

Hoffer was always identified with the honorific “philosopher,” and he was one; but he more resembles the philosophers and prophets of old, especially in the high valuation that he always placed on his own independence. He saw himself as one who was free to tell the truth without fear of patron, publisher, department head, or tenure committee. _Hoover

Hoffer spent most of his adult life in San Francisco. But he was far too authentic and sincere to be accepted by the San Francisco elite and intelligentsia. The city on the peninsula remained oddly ashamed of its longshoreman-philosopher until his death. Were Hoffer alive and writing today, fashionable San Franciscans would probably stone the man--with the first stones cast by Pelosi and Gavin Newsom.

The news media of today would never fall for someone as authentic as Hoffer, naturally. Instead, today's media feels "leg tingles" from political tap dancers with radical pasts and mob ties. For such a changeable modern day political Bojangles, the media would do almost anything. You would think that at least a few investigative reporters would want to pore through BO's background, sift through the dust of his past?

Certainly if B.O. were an authentic and hard-working governor of a backwoods state, seeking to challenge the dominance of an inauthentic elite and media to control the destiny of America, the investigative reporters would be on the case. But since B.O. is perceived as one of the gang--just as inauthentic as the rest--he is protected from any and all meaningful inquiries.

It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.

Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind, 1954

Yes, and very dangerous. A narcissist such as BO, is full of fear. Fear of discovery. Whether such a person can ever become integrated is a moot question, since all motivation presses relentlessly in the opposite direction. As long as the narcissist is adored, pampered, protected, his experience is pleasant enough. It is those who fall under the narcissist's spell who suffer. And those who fall under his policies.

Legal Discrimination in Law School Admissions?

Three large US law schools have recently been accused of discriminating against white applicants on the basis of their race. Here is more information:

Linda Chavez noted that the odds ratio favoring African Americans over whites was 442 to 1. She pointed out, “During the two years studied (the entering classes of 2006 and 2007), 389 whites were rejected by the law school despite higher LSATs and undergraduate GPAs than the average black admittee....”

Roger Clegg stressed that not only was race weighed, but it was weighed much more heavily than residency status: “For instance, a white resident of Nebraska in 2007 was more than twenty times less likely to be admitted than an African American applicant from out of state.” _CEO

Similar discrimination against white applicants was seen at the University of Arizona Law School and at the law school for Arizona State University.

...the odds ratio favoring African Americans over whites was 250 to 1 at the University of Arizona and 1115 to 1 at Arizona State. “As a result, nearly a thousand white students during the years we studied were denied admission even though they had higher undergraduate GPAs and LSATs than the average African American student who was admitted--and over a hundred Asian and Latino students were in the same boat with them.”

....“For instance, a white Arizonan in 2007 was about eight times less likely to be admitted to the University of Arizona than a black out-of-state applicant, and at Arizona State he would be twelve times less likely to be admitted.” __CEO

I wonder if professors and administrators at these law schools would want to have these less qualified students defending them on an important matter before a court?

This type of legalised discrimination would have shamed Martin Luther King and other early civil rights leaders. The message of such special preferences and racial biases to young people is "it's okay to discriminate against some races, but not others." That is a corrupt message which is diametrically opposed to constitutional principles.

More than one prominent media figure has predicted civil disorder if Obama is not elected president of the US. Entitlement mentality too easily becomes a permanent crutch, creating crippling dependencies in the persons who systematically receive special preferences and benefit from discrimination on the basis of race. You should expect this type of legal discrimination to mushroom under an Obamanation.

Obamanation Prepares for Apologies to World

There is a fashion these days for apologies: not apologies for the things that one has actually done oneself (that kind of apology is as difficult to make and as unfashionable as ever), but for public apologies by politicians for the crimes and misdemeanours of their ancestors, or at least of their predecessors. I think it is reasonable to call this pattern of political breast-beating the False Apology Syndrome.

You owe me an apology. Of course you do. But I will be magnanimous and apologise to your first! Yes, and I will even apologise for things I did not even do! You owe me an apology. But I am better than you are, and my apologies to the entire world will prove just how good I am!

Mr. Blair, the then British prime minister, apologized to the Irish for the famine; one of the first public acts of Mr. Rudd, the Australian prime minister, was to apologize to the Aborigines for the dispossession of their continent; Pope John Paul II apologized to the Muslims for the Crusades. There are many other examples, and there are also demands for apologies by aggrieved, or supposedly aggrieved, groups.

What is this all about, and what does it signify? Does it mean that at long last the powerful are making a genuine effort to see things from the point of view of the weak, or is it, on the contrary, a form of moral exhibitionism that subverts genuine moral thought and conduct?

....official apologies for distant events, however important or pregnant with consequences those events may have been, are another matter entirely. They have bad effects on both those who give them and those who receive them.

The effect on the givers is the creation of a state of spiritual pride. Insofar as the person offering the apology is doing what no one has done before him, he is likely to consider himself the moral superior of his predecessors. He alone has had the moral insight and courage to apologize.

On the other hand, he knows full well that he has absolutely no personal moral responsibility for whatever it is that he is apologizing for. In other words, his apology brings him all kudos and no pain. _Incharacter

What kind of person would indulge in such sanctimonious and pompous faux humility? A person with a very strong ego, perhaps even a narcissistic personality. If America chooses Obamanation, will Obama's deeply ingrained narcissism bring him to the Altar of Apologies? You can bet on it.

Narcissism is a defense mechanism whose role is to deflect hurt and trauma from the victim's "True Self" into a "False Self" which is omnipotent, invulnerable, and omniscient. This False Self is then used by the narcissist to garner narcissistic supply from his human environment. Narcissistic supply is any form of attention, both positive and negative and it is instrumental in the regulation of the narcissist's labile sense of self-worth.

Perhaps the most immediately evident trait of patients with Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is their vulnerability to criticism and disagreement. Subject to negative input, real or imagined, even to a mild rebuke, a constructive suggestion, or an offer to help, they feel injured, humiliated and empty and they react with disdain (devaluation), rage, and defiance. _Source

And since the "False Self" is invulnerable, it can afford to apologise for things it knows full well it shares no responsibility for bringing about. In fact, false apologies are another form of defense mechanism--a pre-emptive defense.

But we all know that in the current atmosphere of national and international politics, law, and economy, an apology is never just an apology. Sometimes, an apology is a blank check. If Obamanation writes blank check apologies to be drawn on the Federal Treasury, the current outcry about a porky $700 billion + bailout crafted by Pelosi and Pals will be quickly forgotten in the sinking sickness of a growing malaise that will be based upon reality for a change.

And it looks as if that is precisely the type of apology that Obamanation is preparing to issue to the oppressed of the nation and the world. Apologies that lay the groundwork for massive and ongoing compensation to any and all who can place their claim before Obamanation with sufficient force and emotion. Prepare yourselves, Americans. This is a time to be sorry. Very, very, sorry.

Carbon Dynamics in the Deep Oceans Surprising

Image Source

Cloaked by darkness, microbes of the deep ocean function at high pressures and temperatures to convert simple carbons to more complex hydrocarbons, calcium carbonates, and other carbon compounds. Land-borne science is largely ignorant of important processes occurring over large areas of the planet's seafloor. Current models are based upon uninformed theories, and are worse than worthless. Time for science to get its hands dirty and jump in the muck to find out what is happening.

Miles below us, deep within Earth's crust, life is astir. Organisms there are not the large creatures typically envisioned when thinking of life. Instead, thriving there are microbes, the smallest and oldest form of life on Earth. Although the biological diversity of these deep biosphere microorganisms may surpass that of the more familiar surface biosphere, much about them is still unknown, including the origin of the organic compounds they consume. Arizona State University researchers are using a novel approach that integrates physical organic chemistry with organic geochemistry and biogeochemistry to uncover the source of these organic compounds.

Carbon, the building block of organic matter, is one of the most dynamic elements on the planet; it responds to biological, physical and chemical processes in many ways and on many timescales. Understanding how carbon is formed, where it comes from, and how much of it exists, is important for a more detailed and coherent picture of the global carbon cycle. Yet a complete understanding of how carbon is produced and consumed in the environment still evades researchers because much of what is known is based on processes that act on short time-scales and at Earth's surface.

...Theoretical biogeochemist Everett Shock, a professor in ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, leads an interdisciplinary group of researchers who are investigating how this geochemical transformation from recalcitrant matter to usable organic compounds occurs deep in Earth's crust.

"The secret appears to lie in how temperature and pressure affect the reactivity of organic compounds, and, maybe more importantly, how the properties of water change deep in sediments and sedimentary rocks," says Shock. "The transformation in how water behaves is so enormous that we would hardly recognize it as the same stuff that comes out of our kitchen taps."

Most organic reactions at the Earth's surface do not work very well in water; either they need an organism that has evolved the mechanisms to promote organic reactions in water or they need an organic solvent, hexane or benzene, for example. The very deep Earth, below where microbial life has been shown to exist, has lots of rocks but no organic solvents. It does, however, have very hot water.

Hilairy Hartnett, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and ASU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is part of Shock's interdisciplinary group examining the mechanisms of the sub-surface carbon cycle. The team hypothesizes that conditions deep in the Earth might be good for complex organic reactions.

"Evidence suggests that hot water at high pressures - conditions we'd find in the subsurface - is actually a very good solvent for organic reactions," Hartnett says. "It might be possible for these reactions to occur without biology if the conditions are right." She explains, "Biological processes can promote reactions to generate complex organic molecules even at unfavorable low temperatures and pressures - the difference for the deep Earth is the high-temperature and pressure." _PO

This research is long overdue. Politicians are prepared to complete their slaughter of the world economy, based upon obsolete models of climate change. The models are worse than worthless, because they are based upon false assumptions, poorly thought out theories, and missing data. The death of economies is what happens with psychological neoteny in charge of governments, politicised quasi-scientific agencies such as the IPCC, politicised funding agencies and academic departments, and a populace that is too stupid to know when it is being taken for fools.

Much more is happening in the oceans than politicians and politicised scientists are willing to admit. Time for the citizens to inform themselves, before the next narcissist-in-chief finishes the slaughter of the innocents.

Flying Submersible Meant for Covert Ops

The proposed DARPA craft is supposed to carry 8 operators and equipment for a total payload of 2000 pounds. It is to fly 1000 nautical miles, travel 100 miles on the surface, then go submerged for 12 miles.

* Flight: The minimal required airborne tactical radius of the sub-plane is 1000 nautical miles (nm). The minimum surface tactical radius is 100 nautical miles. The minimum subsurface tactical range is 12 nautical miles. Note that the ranges quoted are one-way ranges. The platform would need to be able to fly to a location, insert and extract personnel without refueling and this would require the total operational range to be 1000 nm airborne, 200 nm surface, 24 nm under water.
* Loiter: The platform should be capable of loitering in a sea-state five, in theater between inserting and extracting personnel for up to 3 days (72 hours). The craft does not need to be submerged during loitering operations; it can operate at the surface.
* Payload: The platform should be capable of transporting 8 operators, as well as all of their equipment, with a total cargo weight of 2000 pounds.
* Depth: The operating depth of the platform will be constrained by balancing the need to reduce depth in order to minimize structural loads and snorkel complexity with the need to increase depth in order to minimize any potential signatures that could be generated by perturbing the free surface. The effect that the submerged platform will have on the free surface is exponentially proportional to the depth, therefore the platform should be able to operate at a relatively shallow depth and only have the snorkel affect the free surface.
* Speed: The speed of the platform in each mode of operation must allow the system to complete a tactical transit (1000 nm airborne,100 nm surface ,12 nm sub-surface) trip in less than 8 hours. This 8 hour time must include any time required by the platform to reconfigure between modes of operation.
_NWW_via_Technovelgy

These requirements are a tall order, and engineers will need to pull several rabbits out of several other rabbits pulled from hats, before achieving these goals. Still, this is precisely the type of vehicle that I am looking for. Except, I am looking for a flight range of over 1500 nautical miles, an unlimited surface range when rigged for sail, and a submerged range of roughly 300 nautical miles. Finding a propulsion system with the proper energy/power densities may delay the launch date somewhat. ;-)

CSpan Spoof from SNL Explains Bailout Plan

This particular video clip has been the subject of much frantic search and speculation. Bruce Hall located a copy at Sweetness and Light.

The amazing thing about the clip is that Saturday Night Live--a left leaning comedy "improv" show, did the skit at all, since it skewers several prominent US Democratic Party legislators and financial backers including George Soros. In other words, I am less surprised that the clip went missing for so long, than that it was actually found again.

If SNL and other entertainment and news media outlets actually treated all political parties and viewpoints as equally worthy of satire and critique, right wing radio talk shows would be out of business.

Airborne Anti-ICBM Lasers w/ UAV Relay Fleets

The US remains the powerhouse of world science and technology R&D. It is also the world economic and military hegemon. Such a world power is able to develop technologies that "also-rans" must try to imitate or steal. One developing technology that can change the global strategic balance, is the airborne laser, capable of shooting down an ICBM along with its nuclear warheads.

The flying laser cannon could be accompanied by a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fitted with mirrors. These relay UAVs would be harder to spot and more disposable than a 747, and could bounce the high-energy beam onto targets that might otherwise be out of range, or out of the plane's line-of-sight. With multiple flying drones, a single ABL could cover an exponentially wider area. It would be an entirely new combination of lasers and robots­—and it may be the answer to critics aiming to dismantle ABL before it ever flies.

Originally commissioned by the United States Air Force, this flying laser is now touted as a mobile missile defense platform, designed to shoot down ballistic missiles before they escape the atmosphere. If North Korea or some other hostile nation were on the verge of launching a strike against the United States or its allies, a small fleet of ABLs would be deployed to the region. They would loiter at altitudes as high as 40,000 ft, and if a missile did appear over the horizon, a laser would automatically dart out, painting the threat with enough heat to send it tumbling back to Earth. _PopMech

Such a defensive weapon--if effective--would render ICBM nuclear attacks much less reliable. If an attacking nation is unsure if its missiles will get through, it will be forced to think very carefully before it launches.

This type of technology only ratchets up the arms race into new areas of research, of course. But it makes it ever so much harder for third world nations such as Pakistan, Iran, or North Korea to make credible threats against more technologically advanced nations who can have capable R&D infrastructures.

That is one way that Ronald Reagan intimidated the USSR military establishment into a nervous breakdown. Reagan's "Star Wars" missile defense was not a credible defense at the time. But USSR analysts understood that for the US to even be working on such a thing revealed a huge gap in R&D capability between the USSR and the USA.

The same type of infrastructural gap exists now between the US and most of the rest of the world. Only China has the capacity to eventually develop an R&D infrastructure to rival that of the US. Russia's wealth is being stripped and shipped to Swiss bank accounts by the Putin gang. Russia never did develop beyond a "one-trick pony" economy, dependent on fossil fuel reserves that it is incompetent to develop efficiently.

If the airborne laser + UAV relay fleets prove capable of overcoming countermeasures--such as reflective coatings to deflect and dissipate laser energies--no doubt the US will share the technology with NATO allies and Israel. Which means that the technology will make its way to Russia and China via espionage of various types. The infrastructure for rapid development and updating to keep up with the rapid development of countermeasures and counter-countermeasures is what Russia lacks, and will always lack as long as it is run by criminals and KGB types.

As the Bear Dies, the Dragon Sharpens its Claws

Many uninformed commenters were very impressed by Russia's invasion and ethnic cleansing of Georgia. They felt that Putin's bold aggression announced a stronger and more vital Russia, based upon fossil fuel wealth, than the sick man of the Urals many westerners have grown accustomed to. Sadly for Russophiles, the truth of Russia's resurrection and rebirth has been grossly exaggerated.

Recent decades, most notably since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, have seen an appalling deterioration in the health of the Russian population, anchoring Russia not in the forefront of developed countries but among the most backward of nations.

....According to U.N. figures, the average life expectancy for a Russian man is 59 years -- putting the country at about 166th place in the world longevity sweepstakes, one notch above Gambia....Three times as many Russians die from heart-related illnesses as do Americans or Europeans, per each 100,000 people.

Tuberculosis deaths in Russia are about triple the World Health Organization's definition of an epidemic, which is based on a new-case rate of 50 cases per 100,000 people.

Average alcohol consumption per capita is double the rate the WHO considers dangerous to one's health.

About 1 million people in Russia have been diagnosed with HIV or AIDS, according to WHO estimates.

Using mid-year figures, it's estimated that 25 percent more new HIV/AIDS cases will be recorded this year than were logged in 2007.

...On the other end of the lifeline, the news isn't much better. Russia's birth rate has been declining for more than a decade, and even a recent increase in births will be limited by the fact that the number of women age 20 to 29 (those responsible for two-thirds of all babies) will drop markedly in the next four or five years to mirror the 50 percent drop in the birth rate in the late 1980s and the 1990s. And, sadly, the health of Russia's newborns is quite poor, with about 70 percent of them experiencing complications at birth. _WaPo

The demographics of Russia is all wrong, if the Bear wishes to defend its vast and rich territory. As the population of Russians shrinks, neighbors in Muslim Central Asia and China gaze hungrily at the increasingly poorly guarded wealth.

China certainly has the population to move into the empty Russian steppe. And the CCP leaders are building a formidable military--not just talking about it like Putin. By the time the death of Russia becomes glaringly apparent to even the most chauvinistic Russophile, China will be ready to make one of its moves to expand its territory and resources. America is also in China's sights. But Russia is closer, and will soon be a softer target.

“Chinese military modernization is proceeding at a rate to be of concern even with the most benign interpretation of China’s motivation.” That’s for sure. China discloses only a small part of its military budget, but the trend of expenditures is clear. This year will see the 18th announced double-digit increase in military spending in the last 19 years. _PJM

China and Russia have assisted each other in countering American diplomatic efforts internationally. But their alliance reminds one more than a little, of the alliance between Hitler and Stalin. We remember how that turned out.

Oynklent Green Weighs Congress w/ Rasmussen

A recent Rasmussen poll has found that almost 60% of Americans want to replace the entire US Congress with new bodies. What would we do with the old bodies? Oynklent Green [OTC:OYNK] has a good answer to that question. But first, about that Congress:

If they could vote to keep or replace the entire Congress, 59% of voters would like to throw them all out and start over again....Only half (49%) believe that the current Congress is better than individuals selected at random from the phone book....Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republicans would vote to throw out the entire Congress as would 62% of unaffiliated voters. Only 43% of Democrats go along. Still, just 25% of those in Barack Obama’s party would vote to keep the entire Congress even though it’s controlled by Democrats.

...When the Constitution was written, the nation’s founders expected that there would be a 50% turnover in the House of Representatives every election cycle. That was the experience they witnessed in state legislatures at the time (and most of the state legislatures offered just one-year terms). For well over 100 years after the Constitution was adopted, the turnover averaged in the 50% range as expected.

In the twentieth century, turnover began to decline. As power and prestige flowed to Washington during the New Deal era, fewer and fewer Members of Congress wanted to leave. In 1968, Congressional turnover fell to single digits for the first time ever and it has remained very low ever since. _Source

A majority of American voters would like to see that turnover rate return to 50%--even higher! Oynklent Green [OTC:OYNK] would like to help Americans reach their goals. OYNK is all about energy--clean renewable bioenergy. OYNK is at the forefront of research in garbage to energy, refuse to energy, and pork/turkey offal to energy processes. OYNK has learned, through careful covert research, that the pork/turkey offal to energy process can be easily and efficiently converted to a "corrupt politician to energy" process with very little retooling. OYNK can help with that "turnover problem" currently being experienced in the US Congress.

Remember the corrupt and pork-filled $700 billion bailout your grandchildren were recently obligated to finance, by the hogs and sows in Congress? Such things would not happen, with a 50+% turnover in Congress. The corrupt porkers would not have time to set up their political extortion rackets. They would also be worried about how they would be seen by law enforcement, if they did not have the mob protection status of membership in the US Congress.

At one time it might have been enough to pass term limits, congressional pay cuts, cuts in pensions and benefits, etc. It is too late for all that. Extreme measures are called for. It is time to call OYNK, and solve two problems at once.

Russia's President Predicted an Imminent American Calamity -- Now He Wishes to Cash In On the Enormous Opportunity He Sees

In the great game of international dominance, the leading contenders always look for opportunities and openings, to make a move. Russia's president Medvedev--just before the Russian invasion and ethnic cleansing of Georgia this past summer--predicted an imminent calamity for the US. Now, Medvedev hopes to seize the opportunity he perceives in the recent credit crunch and congressional bailout, to move Russia's interests to the forefront. Europe and the rest of the world doesn't seem to mind in the slightest.

President Dmitri Medvedev said Thursday that the U.S. crisis showed that "the times when one economy and one country dominated are gone for good." Speaking of the United States, Medvedev said the world no longer needed a "megaregulator."

Russia has argued that the freewheeling Anglo-American style of capitalism is to blame for the crisis, a position echoed by Germany and other Continental European nations. Medvedev even called it financial "egoism."

A drumbeat of similar pronouncements has been heard in Russia in recent days. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made a major speech Wednesday on U.S. financial "irresponsibility," blaming the plunge of more than 50 percent in the Russian stock market on the global economic slowdown and U.S. financial turmoil, rather than on any troubles endemic to Russia. _IHT

So Putin is blaming the US for Russian economic problems? Convenient. And Medvedev is asserting that the days of one-country dominance are over permanently? What a charming ignorance of history. Or is Russia secretly harbouring a desire for its own dysfunctional and demographically shrinking nation to take over from the US, as international hegemon? That appears more likely, than the literal interpretation of Medvedev's words.

It is true that the US dominance of international financial, political, and military affairs that began after WWII, is unlikely to last forever. China is leveraging its economic success into a rapidly expanding military strength on land, sea, air and space, which guarantees dangerous conflicts in the future.

Although Russia is shrinking in population and ability to mount a serious conventional military threat, its nuclear weapons technology and ICBM capability is being modernised just enough to keep Armageddon on the table. Russia's fossil fuel wealth--although incompetently managed--is sufficient to finance Russian belligerence and financing of proxy terror for many years yet.

The proximate and ultimate threat to US dominance, however, is US politics. If the US Democratic Party comes to total dominance over the US government--not just corrupt control of congress--several hugely destructive statist policies that have been smoldering relatively quietly, will burst into full flaming consumption of US reserve capacity to bounce back from adversity. It is not the large strike from the outside that will bring the US--and the entire western world as well--to its knees. It is the death from a thousand cuts, self inflicted, that weakens the nation to the point that it lacks the capacity--and eventually the desire--to get back up.

All of this is expected. It has always been expected. It is only a matter of timing. Everything changes, and it is up to the wise person to prepare himself for that change.

A few years ago, the Bush administration along with a number of Republican legislators (including Sen. McCain), tried to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac policies in order to preven exactly the credit crunch that we see today. They were blocked in that attempted reform by the same people who larded up the recent porky-pig bailout. One thing leads to another.

The credit problem is not actually a calamity for the US. It is how the credit problem was allowed to happen by those who are likely to be setting US policy for the next several years that is a calamity. The bailout did not reform the underlying problems. The bailout is a very expensive bandaid that papers over the problem--temporarily. There are much worse problems in the pipeline for the US, due to pop up from time to time.

After watching the way this problem was handled, we can fully expect that the next, larger crises will be handled similarly, with a resultant amping up of the underlying unsoundness of the foundations of the US hybrid economy and the US government's ability to affect national and international affairs in a constructive way.

Think of it as a nation-wide Hurricane Katrina on steroids and crystal meth. Think of the coming US governmental regime as Mayor Nagin and Governor Blanco writ large. Think of all the corrupt DP political machines in the history of the US, all combined for one large cannibalistic glutton-fest at the public trough. At least, that is what the porky bailout combined with opinion polls suggests for the future.

Obama has charmed many US voters, and is the preferred candidate of most journalists, foreign leaders, and Hamas. Obama promises change, and change is one thing you can be sure of.

Obamanation: Collapse of American Experiment?

When the US Constitution was arrived at after lengthy discussion, rancour and compromise, few of those present at the birth of the American Experiment in Philadelphia actually believed the republic they had jointly forged would survive for long. They understood that democratic forms of government--even republics with carefully crafted constitutions--were prone to corruption by unscrupulous elected officials pandering to the less admirable instincts of their constituencies.

“A lady asked Dr. [Benjamin] Franklin "Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy?" "A republic" replied the Doctor "if you can keep it."” _Bartleby

Since then, expansion of full rights to women and former slaves made the country stronger and more just. But the inevitable corruption of the initial well-intentioned government structure has also taken place, as Franklin knew it would. These days, independent citizens do not fear monarchies. They fear the rise of dictatorships and oppressive bureaucratic monoliths that choke off the independence of individuals through an infinite proliferation of taxes, regulations, rules, prohibitions, and mandates.

Such mandates and regulations brought the US to its current financial impasse, and nothing in the current pork-filled bailout legislation has corrected the problem--nor will it. The last bubble will merely merge almost seamlessly into the next, much larger bubble. The current leaders of the legislative and executive branches were either unwilling or unable to tackle the underlying corruption that led to this "crisis." And so it continues on an even larger scale.

It is important for readers to understand that this bailout is only a precedent for future bailouts--which will make the current bailout look small. The much more serious problems for the US economy, just over the horizon, involve mandated spending and built-in acceleration of spending for entitlements. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare Programs, Disability Programs, pensions for government workers--and we have not even put BHO's program of socialised medicine in place yet, or his additional $trillion in spending for other promised new programs.

...if Washington really wanted to help Americans (and there is no indication right now that it does) it would, the instant it passes the bail-out bill, get to work not adding more regulations in response to this crisis, but stripping away the destructive ones we created after the last big one.

...A new era - with new rules, new winners and new losers — is coming up on us fast, and we need to get ready for it right now. Our national leaders just had their chance to prove they were prepared for this new era - and they have failed miserably. We now have to look elsewhere for leadership… and quickly. _PJM

But that is the last thing on Washington's mind. No, Washington is rubbing its hands gleefully in anticipation of building on this fortuitous opportunity for corruption. This is but the beginning. Even if McCain is elected, it is only the beginning. But if BHO is elected along with continued DP dominance of the legislative branches, the speed control comes off the machine completely.

I am not pointing out these facts with the intent of persuading Americans to vote one way or another, or to persuade anyone of the truth or importance of what I am saying. My only intent is to communicate to those who have been paying attention, and who want to be prepared for the failure of things they never expected to fail. This bailout, and the way it was carried out, is just a warning, a foretaste. It represents the beginning of an unraveling--something many people have been watching for.

The unraveling will now continue--given the lack of leadership in Washington--but the speed of the unraveling will depend upon who is in charge, as of late January 2009. With a McCain/Palin administration, precautions might be taken so that the economic and governmental system could conceivably hold together in roughly its present shape for a number of decades. But under an Obamanation, assuming continuing Pelosi/Reid calibre governance from the legislature, things could easily unravel within a period of a single decade.

Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged" was not a literary masterpiece, nor was it a realistic portrayal of how a "shadow society" might grow up to displace monstrously corrupt and out of control government. But it certainly is food for thought, for those who have never actually given it any thought.

When Cuba fell to Castro, the movers and shakers of the country fled to Florida. As Chavez became more dictatorial, competent and affluent Venezuelans progressively moved to freer countries. The same process occurs whenever and wherever productive classes are pressed beyond their tolerances. Have you ever wondered where these people will go, when there is no longer any place left to go? There is an answer.

This is not a prediction of Obamageddon or Obamapocalypse. Think of it instead as a type of "storm warning." If you know the storm is coming, you can take appropriate precaustions. By now, you should know the storm is coming. To know when it will hit, you need to pay close attention from now on.

Saving the Brain and Spinal Cord With Silicon Nanoparticles + PEG + Hydralazine

Researchers at Purdue University have combined silicon nanoparticles with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and the antihypertensive drug hydralazine, seeking a way to preserve brain and spinal cord function after central nervous system injury and trauma.

A team led by Richard Borgens of the School of Veterinary Medicine's Center for Paralysis Research and Welden School of Biomedical Engineering coated silica nanoparticles with a polymer to target and repair injured guinea pig spinal cords. That research is being published in the October edition of the journal Small....The team then used the coated nanoparticles to deliver both the polymer and hydralazine to cells with secondary damage from a naturally produced toxin. That research was published in August by the journal Nanomedicine.

....In the first study, the researchers coated the nanoparticles with PEG to treat guinea pig spinal cord injuries. The treated spinal cord cells showed improved physiological functioning.

In the second study, the researchers added both PEG and hydralazine, an antihypertension drug, to mesoporous silica nanoparticles. These nanoparticles have pores that can hold the drug, which is later delivered to the damaged cells. The hydralazine was added to fight off secondary damage to cells that occurs after the initial injury.

"When cells are injured, they produce natural toxins," Borgens said. "Acrolein is the most poisonous of these toxins. It's an industrial hazard for which hydralazine is an antidote."

Borgens and his team introduced acrolein into cells and then treated the cells with different combinations of hydralazine and/or PEG delivered by the mesoporous silica nanoparticles....They found that the treatment restored disrupted cell function caused by acrolein.

The team concluded that the use of nanoparticles to deliver both PEG and hydralazine increased the effectiveness of earlier PEG-only treatment by controlling and concentrating release of the drug and the polymer, producing a dual treatment and prolonging the treatment's duration.

...."All ambulances should have PEG on board," he said. "It can probably save thousands of people from more severe head and spinal damage." _PO

As biomedical science develops better treatments for degenerative and infectious diseases, better means to prevent and treat cancer, and better ways to delay and reverse the aging process, more attention will turn to the treatment of traumatic injury. Brain injury is easier to prevent than to recuperate from. Even so, expect more and more uses of nanoscale treatment modalities combined with regenerative therapies in the natural human attempt to turn back the entropy of trauma, time, and life.

More on the use of PEG in head injury

Obamanation On Its Knees Before Putin and World

"The natural order of the world is chaos, not calm". When a world hegemon stumbles and grows uncertain of itself, with the dogs nipping at its heels, it cannot deal as well with the multiple crises that always lie in wait. The US, contemplating becoming an Obamanation, is suffering from days of malaise.

The US has seen these days of malaise before, under President Carter. The late 1970s was another time when failed leftist policies loomed above the distant landscape, with no solutions in sight. This time, affirmative action banking has combined with credit default swaps, bad federal reserve policy, excessive federal securitization of loans in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac etc--to create the perfect storm of financial risk and credit collapse.

International markets are being whiplashed by American financial markets--when America catches cold, the world gets pneumonia. And the world is pretty pissed off and looking for a scapegoat to rip apart. And guess what? The developed world has decided that it can safely ignore its "suicide by Kyoto", and self-made political peak oil via policies of carbon hysteria delusions. It thinks it can safely ignore an exploding problem of the Islamisation of Europe, and the jihadization of Islam. The developed world and BRIC believes this is the time to turn like a pack of rabid dogs and attack the US--put the cowboy in its place.

The economic turmoil in American and world markets is severe. But American and world media, as well as most politicians, are ignoring the real underlying causes of the crisis--and ignoring them at their own deadly risk. Without understanding the underlying causes, any solution that is attempted will fail, badly. Which is exactly what will happen with Europe's sudden manic retreat to protectionism, hyper-nationalisation of economies, and a lemming's rush to ultra-regulation of international finance.

The US Congress under Pelosi and Reid are furiously adding pork to the credit bailout plan. When it passes, it will be so loaded with corrupt pig flesh that it will speed the next, more massive credit bubble on its expansive way.

US leftists saw opportunity fade away in 1980 when malaise under Carter led to a renaissance of hope under Reagan. But Carter's seed of destruction was only waiting under the surface for Bill Clinton to give it new life, which he was most willing to do. The only thing left is for Congress to light the fuse on the next credit time bomb.

Oh, and the world must do its piling on in attacking the scapegoat of choice, even if it kills itself doing so. Political power has never trusted freedom in the hands of ordinary people. This is particularly true of the old world powers, but is growing increasingly true of the US Congress and the US government in general. Political entropy appears to be working, even a democracy constrained by a brilliant constitution will eventually devolve into tyranny.

All that remains is to place the leadership of the American Experiment firmly in the control of the people who never liked it or trusted it in the first place. Obamanation on its knees before the world. Nothing would please Putin, the other parasitic tyrants and old world functionaries more.

It may happen. If so, Americans should learn to like eating bugs.

Obamanation: Learning to Eat Bugs and Like It!

Image Source

Famine and starvation go along with socialism like hand and glove. This has been the case in North Korea, Zimbabwe, Cambodia, China, the Soviet Union, and other less famous cases. Should Americans elect Obamanation, and bring socialism to their country, they would be wise to take precautions to "starvation-proof" themselves ahead of time.

One of the best ways of starvation-proofing, is to learn how to eat bugs--and like it! Liking it makes it less probable that you will regurgitate the insects--thus making yourself even weaker.

Some insects are edible. In fact, most insects are edible, but there are a few species that are especially palatable, nutritious, and easily obtainable. I will concentrate on these.

Many species of insects are lower in fat, higher in protein, and have a better feed to meat ratio than beef, lamb, pork, or chicken.

Insects are tasty. Really! Even if you are too squeamish to have them as a main dish, you can make insect flour and add it to bread and other dishes for an added protein boost.

Insects are easy to raise. There is no manure forking. No hay bale lifting. No veterinary bills. You can raise them in an apartment without getting complaints.

.....Most people do not mind butchering insects. The butchery of insects is very simple compared with that of cattle or poultry, and nowhere near as gory.

Raising insects is environmentally friendly. They require minimal space per pound of protein produced, have a better feed to meat ratio than any other animal you can raise, and are very low on the food chain. They are healthy, tasty, and have been utilized for the entire history of mankind (after all, it is easier to catch a grub than a mammoth).

Also, as far as I know, no animal rights activists object to the eating of insects. You don't need to destroy any wildlife habitat to eat insects, and you can incorporate insects and earthworms into a recycling program......vegetable waste in, yummy insect protein out. _Source

In many societies, insects are considered delicacies to savour. Attitudes in western countries may prove counter-productive, should the Obamanation of socialism bring starvation upon the land. It is not too early to begin preparing. Start building your insect pens and corrals in a spare bedroom. Buy some barbed wire. Order insect eggs and grubs over the internet, ahead of the rush. But do not---do not!!!! tell your neighbors about the reasons for those insect barns going up in the back yard. Tell them it is an eccentric hobby, that the insects are poisonous if ingested. That should prevent those annoying late-night bug raids to feed starving neighborhood children. I hate when that happens.

Barak Obama "Only Knows How to Talk" But Real Men Need to Know More, Lots More

Most of us lack the type of voice that causes young women to faint, and celebrities to go insane. So we actually have to, you know, know things. If we want to rise above the lifelong incompetence of an ever growing graduating class of psychological neotenates, we had better learn about the real world we inhabit. How to see that things go right, and what to do if things go wrong. Here is a short list, the bare minimum:

Automotive
1. Handle a blowout
2. Drive in snow
3. Check trouble codes
4. Replace fan belt
5. Wax a car
6. Conquer an off-road obstacle
7. Use a stick welder
8. Hitch up a trailer
9. Jump start a car

Handling Emergencies
10. Perform the Heimlich
11. Reverse hypothermia
12. Perform hands-only CPR
13. Escape a sinking car

Home
14. Carve a turkey
15. Use a sewing machine
16. Put out a fire
17. Home brew beer
18. Remove bloodstains from fabric
19. Move heavy stuff
20. Grow food
21. Read an electric meter
22. Shovel the right way
23. Solder wire
24. Tape drywall
25. Split firewood
26. Replace a faucet washer
27. Mix concrete
28. Paint a straight line
29. Use a French knife
30. Prune bushes and small trees
31. Iron a shirt
32. Fix a toilet tank flapper
33. Change a single-pole switch
34. Fell a tree
35. Replace a broken windowpane
36. Set up a ladder, safely
37. Fix a faucet cartridge
38. Sweat copper tubing
39. Change a diaper
40. Grill with charcoal
41. Sew a button on a shirt
42. Fold a flag

Medical Myths
43. Treat frostbite
44. Treat a burn
45. Help a seizure victim
46. Treat a snakebite
47. Remove a tick

Military Know-How
48. Shine shoes
49. Make a drum-tight bed
50. Drop and give the perfect pushup

Outdoors
51. Run rapids in a canoe
52. Hang food in the wild
53. Skipper a boat
54. Shoot straight
55. Tackle steep drops on a mountain bike
56. Escape a rip current

Primitive Skills
57. Build a fire in the wilderness
58. Build a shelter
59. Find potable water

Surviving Extremes
60. Floods
61. Tornados
62. Cold
63. Heat
64. Lightning

Teach Your Kids
65. Cast a line
66. Lend a hand
67. Change a tire
68. Throw a spiral
69. Fly a stunt kite
70. Drive a stick shift
71. Parallel park
72. Tie a bowline
73. Tie a necktie
74. Whittle
75. Ride a bike

Technology
76. Install a graphics card
77. Take the perfect portrait
78. Calibrate HDTV settings
79. Shoot a home movie
80. Ditch your hard drive

Master Key Workshop Tools
81. Drill driver
82. Grease gun
83. Coolant hydrometer
84. Socket wrench
85. Test light
86. Brick trowel
87. Framing hammer
88. Wood chisel
89. Spade bit
90. Circular saw
91. Sledge hammer
92. Hacksaw
93. Torque wrench
94. Air wrench
95. Infrared thermometer
96. Sand blaster
97. Crosscut saw
98. Hand plane
99. Multimeter
100. Feeler gauges _PopMech

At least men need to know how to do them and how to use them. Women might find some of those skills come in handy in a pinch, themselves. Most of us possess a lot more skills within our areas of specialisation, and hobbies. Many of the skills above can easily save a life--perhaps your own, or a member of your family's.

How does a child learn these vital skills? Childhood and early adolescence is the very best time to teach important skills for a lifetime of competence. By the time a child enters high school, he should be able to earn at least twice minimum wage, via well learned skills. By the time a child graduates high school, he should be able to earn 2 to 3 times minimum wage at least 3 different ways. By the time an adolescent has finished one to two years of post-high school training, he should be able to earn at least 4 times minimum wage, and be confident that he can do much better with experience, resourcefulness, and learned cleverness over time.

Our society raises children into ineptness, incompetence, and a worthless indoctrination into obsolete ideas that often hurt more than help. How much better if we were to train children in both practical hands-on skills, as well as important mental skills such as math, logic, writing, music, and creativity.

This is not a time in human history where we want to waste all of this human capital. It really isn't.

Update: Here is a full color photo version of the list with explanations for each skill, and some videos. Enjoy.