JustThinking.us

What people don't understand is that the Mississippi historically moved around, and has only been bounded in a channel by the Army Corp of Engineers for the last 60 years or so. If it weren't for them, the Mississippi's main channel would have shifted west to the Atchafalaya decades ago, leaving New Orleans high and dry--and probably better off. But there was political pressure to leave New Orleans as a Mississippi River town, so the Corp of Engineers has been engaging in ever-larger and more futile projects to channel this mighty river into one channel. 

There have been many consquences of this decision. The annual flooding of the Mississippi used to rebuild the coastal reefs and marshes and extend the Louisiana coast line. Now, the soil that washes down the Mississippi is channeled deeper into the Gulf of Mexico, and the coastline is steadily eroding.

Man cannot control the unverse. There are things that Man should not fool himself into believing that he can control. The mighty Mississippi is one such thing. We held back the flood for a hundred years, but Mother Nature is letting us know who is boss. And this has nothing to do with "global warming." It's just the way it is.

The mighty Mississippi River as photographed by Jeff Roberson at the Associated Press.

"Too thick to drink, too thin to plow."  Mark Twain, I think.

Ok then, first of all be warned that the guy doing this video is going to try to sell you some silver at the end of this thing.

He doesn't try very hard.

He doesn't even give you his telephone number just in case straight out of left field you happen to be a buyer.

So as far as I'm concerned the guy is harmless.

Except .....

This is some seriously scary stuff being promoted here.

I'm not kidding.

What's going on here is that Mike is manipulating a model published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the orbit of the comet Elenin/dwarf brown star, take your pick.

When I use the word manipulate in this conversation it's not a bad thing as he is simply setting the model for the following series of dates:

September 4, 2010, date of the Christchurch, New Zealand 7.2 magnitude earthquake.

February 27, 2010, date of the Santiago, Chile 8.8 magnitude earthquake

February 11, 2011, date of the Christchurch, New Zealand, 6.3 magnitude earthquake

March, 11, 2011 date of the Fukushima Japan, 9.1 magnitude earthquake. 

And then the following dates:

September 27, 2011 ?????

October 17, 2011 ?????

November 5, 2011 ?????

His conclusion?

You ain't gonna like it.

Now being me, I had to check it out for myself.

It all works exactly like the video.

If you click the photo of the model below it will take you to the exact NASA model used in the video.

Try it for yourself.

Go ahead I dare ya, scare the crap right out of your own self.

Sissy!

 Now NASA, right here explains very patiently that all of the above is simply a very large nothingburger.

For NASA to be more right about this particular issue than they have been on let's say ... ummmmmm ... that global warming thing, would in my mind be a very good thing.

Only time will tell.

Distractions abound in this country.

Cynical Roany thinks that this is by design.

The example of this that best speaks to me has to do with taxes.

Your "Silly Little Democrats ............." are always whining about tax cuts for the "The Rich".

Your "Formerly (although still mostly) Feckless Republicans ............." counter that "The Rich" pay almost 90% percent of all the income taxes paid in this country.

The American people pick a side and go to arguing and finger pointing.

Anger and upset are the only outcome.

Media is complicit.

Everybody benefits except the citizenry.

Democrats have their union and legal haters pumping up the masses.

Republicans have their wealthy and middle class constituents feeling themselves to be under siege.

The media get their ratings and sell their advertising because promoting drama is good for business.

As for me?

I got questions.

First of all, who the hell is "Rich"?

As opposed to, who the hell is Rich?

I would truly love to hear the debate where "Rich" finally gets defined.

Is "Rich" a function of income?

Are you "Rich" if you made $250,000 last year?

What if you've never made anywhere near that number ever before?

What if you're unlikely to ever make that much again?

That doesn't happen you say?

I know a raft of guys in the real estate business who had a big year that they have never duplicated.

How about if you're only making $60,000 a year, but it's from a $1,800,000 in CDs or treasuries, and you happen to be living in a nice little, paid for condo in Destin.

"Rich"?

What if you're 62 years old and have a defined benefit retirement plan from a pair of government entities paying $86,000 a year with escalators for inflation until the day you die, plus Social Security, plus all the health care you can eat for $142 a month, and you happen to be living in the nice little paid for condo in Destin right next door to the one mentioned above?

The reason I ask is that my HP 12C (financial calculator) is telling me that the above deal has a "Present Value" of $1,292,228 if capped at 3% (That there is real estate guy talk. Capped is short for cap rate which is an assumed rate of return for some specified investment, which in this case it is arbitrarily set by me at 3% because there is almost negligible risk in a defined benefit government retirement plan.  The less risk, the lower the cap rate.) and amortized over 20 years.

That $1,292,228 is before you even begin to figure for the Social Security benefit, and the true cash value of the health care.

"Rich"?

We have deemed our project to spruce up the site to have been a glorious success, as not one of you including even the most irascible among you, has contacted us to tell us how much they hate our every idea ..... at least as it applies to the decorating ..... yet.

And since we're practicing avoidance with regards to a couple of posts that either we have promised and have not yet completed, most notably a post on health care reform we promised Madelyn M. and ..... somebody else, or posts that are finished but are in truth so ugly to contemplate we'd just rather not for a while longer.

Here's a little more art to brighten your day.

The following are some photo's of the Court of Industry at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

In 1932-33, that well known mexican, marxist, muralist, Diego Rivera with the unbending support of that well known capitalist, industrialist and rich white guy, Edsel Ford, painted one of the greatest works of the 20th century on the walls of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

And while the caca did indeed hit the fan, fortunately none of it got on the mural.

Click each image for the DIA's wonderful interactive on each of the four walls holding the 27 panels that comprise this treasure. 

We'll get serious tomorrow.

Maybe.

If you got up early this morning and looked east into a clear sky you should have seen something that looked a little like this.

If not, there's always tomorrow.

But then again.

 If you're going to do something tonight that you'll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late.  Henny Youngman


I'd like mornings better if they started later.  Unknown

The older generation thought nothing of getting up at five every morning - and the younger generation doesn't think much of it either.  John J. Welsh

If  people were meant to pop out of bed, we'd all sleep in toasters.  Jim Davis

I have a "carpe diem" mug and, truthfully, at six in the morning the words do not make me want to seize the day.  They make me want to slap a dead poet.  Joanne Sherman

Never work before breakfast; if you have to work before breakfast, eat your breakfast first.  Josh Billings

Dawn:  When men of reason go to bed.  Ambrose Bierce

Most people do not consider dawn to be an attractive experience - unless they are still up.  Ellen Goodman

I don't think jogging is healthy, especially morning jogging.  If morning joggers knew how tempting they looked to morning motorists, they would stay home and do sit-ups.  Rita Rudner

From Science.NASA.gov

Get up early tomorrow morning and look to the east.

You'll see something you won't see every day.

“After all, in private we’re all misfits.”

“Delusions of grandeur make me feel a lot better about myself.”

“Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.”

"What is reality, anyway?  Just a collective hunch”

“Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it”

“For fast acting relief, try slowing down”

“The problem with winning the rat race is you're still a rat.”

“Things are going to get a lot worse before they get worse.”

“We are all in this together, by ourselves.”

Very few things around here are as certain as a slew of positive emails in response to any mention of Sun Tzu.

We received enough chinese wisdom from our friends wallowing in their Sun Tzu man crushes to fill multiple posts.

What we find to be most interesting is the fact that regardless of language, culture, time or place, the identified principles for a successful life are always the same.

For example:

“Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself”

“Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own”

 “Hatred corrodes the vessel in which it is stored”

"The error of one moment becomes the sorrow of a whole life”

“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow.”

“He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself”

“Men in the game are blind to what men looking on see clearly”

“Rotten wood cannot be carved”

“The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water moulds itself to the pitcher”

“A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows public opinion”

“Of all the stratagems, to know when to quit is the best”

“To listen well, is as powerful a means of influence as to talk well, and is as essential to all true conversation”

“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it”

“If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.”

“Be not afraid of going slowly; be only afraid of standing still.”

“The more you sweat in peacetime, the less you bleed during war.”

“When a finger points to the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger”

“There are only two perfectly good men, one dead, the other unborn”

“Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come”

“One generation plants the trees, and another gets the shade”

“If you don't want anyone to know it, don't do it”