The Consequence of Matters

  A science fiction author whose blog I follow is optimistic that we will take some action to address climate change. I'm not optimistic at all. I think homo sapiens is already extinct, we just don't know it yet -- rather like Wile E. Coyote running off a cliff. Why? Because of Upton Sinclair. In "How I Ran For Governor of California and Got Licked," he wrote: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." Why? Because evolution drives organisms to seek short term benefit for the most part. There are exceptions (like bees) but they are few and far between. For the most part, doing things that are detrimental in the short term but beneficial in the long term is a good way to not pass down your genes to subsequent generations. Why? Because of the Tragedy of the Commons, which is little more than the previous point written into human society. Few people will tolerate it if power does not come out of...

 T he debate on the debt limit is Washington bulshittery. Here's the truth: 1. Increasing the debt limit has nothing at all to do with future spending. It has to be increased to pay for the spending that Congress has already authorized. Republicans know this but it is convenient to lie. Why? As a virtue signal to their base. 2. Congress is NEVER going to fail to authorize raising the debt limit. The consequences to the national and global economy are too dire to contemplate. Republicans know this too. The last time they got their knickers in a twist over the debt limit, the credit rating of the US was downgraded just on the remote chance that the GOP might drive off a cliff. 3. There is no reason to have a debt limit. When Congress authorizes spending or tax cuts it cannot then later on decide not to pay the bills. It is entirely the same as you buying something with a credit card and then refusing to pay your credit card bill. Furthermore, the very idea of a debt limit is a creati...

  The Border Collie Science and Engineering Bowl Let me tell you about Hannah, the evil genius of border collies. She thinks like an engineer. When I ended up with four dogs, I decided to keep them in the basement when we were not home to limit home coming to smell like a kennel. Then I came home one day and everyone was running around the yard. Hannah figured out how to open the basement door, quite a feat since it has a round doorknob, and have an escape. So I padlocked it. Within about a week, I came home to Hannah running around the yard. She found that if she pushed hard enough, she could force a foundation vent out of the wall, creating a hole just big enough that she could squeeze through, and have an escape. So I created a barrier between her and the vent using plywood left over from other projects, bookshelves and so on. Within a few days, I came home and Hannah was running around the yard. She had completely emptied a shelf so she could squeeze through to reach the founda...