When I hear the anti-GMO and anti-evolution kooks talk, I look at my hands.
Talking about "foreign" genes is nonsense. We share many, many genes with animals. Limbs, for example, take many forms in their derived state, but the genes that are behind 4-limbedness go back a looong way.
Same with the genes for sight (light recognition).
Now, according to a report in the New York Times, scientists have identified the ur-gene that accounts for multicellularity.
That's really far back, maybe 800 million years.
Not only that, but they re-created the original version of the gene evolved by unicellular creatures. And they determined that it evolved by a single site mutation from a gene that had another function entirely.
You don't really understand something until you can take it apart and mix up the parts and put it back together.
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Thursday, January 7, 2016
The alternative reserve currency
Remember all that talk about the renminbi replacing the dollar as a reserve currency, or even as a favored trading currency?
Boy, do those people look silly!
Boy, do those people look silly!
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Cane going
Jill Engledow has a good round-up on implications of shutting down HC&S's cane farming on her Maui Then and Now blog.
She'll be slimed.
She does not consider EMI's water leases. I don't see how these can be preserved, although first the diversified agriculture that A&B proposes to replace cane will have to fail, I suppose. It will.
This cannot be good for Wailuku Water's leases either.
Good news for the Hawaiians and their supporters who want streams restored. Just don't expect any more poi.
The antismokers, a group with no aloha, are going to eat dust. I hope they like it.
She'll be slimed.
She does not consider EMI's water leases. I don't see how these can be preserved, although first the diversified agriculture that A&B proposes to replace cane will have to fail, I suppose. It will.
This cannot be good for Wailuku Water's leases either.
Good news for the Hawaiians and their supporters who want streams restored. Just don't expect any more poi.
The antismokers, a group with no aloha, are going to eat dust. I hope they like it.
Too much cocoa?
Although I didn't notice, 2015 was supposed to be a tough year for chocolate eaters. Now Rabobank predicts (via Bloomberg News) a surplus of cocoa in 2016. Good news for most, I suppose.
The prediction depends upon more normal rainfall and continued political stability in West Africa. Neither a surety, especially the political stability. West Africa is in the Koran Belt and the expansion of the current Islamic purification movement seems as likely to extend to West Africa as anywhere else.
If it is also true, as reported, that banana farmers are going to be hard hit by disease, then I would expect some to turn to cocoa -- the plants have similar growing preferences.
The ghost of Julian Simon must be chuckling. He scores over Paul Ehrlich again.
The prediction depends upon more normal rainfall and continued political stability in West Africa. Neither a surety, especially the political stability. West Africa is in the Koran Belt and the expansion of the current Islamic purification movement seems as likely to extend to West Africa as anywhere else.
If it is also true, as reported, that banana farmers are going to be hard hit by disease, then I would expect some to turn to cocoa -- the plants have similar growing preferences.
The ghost of Julian Simon must be chuckling. He scores over Paul Ehrlich again.
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Wanted: Billy Jack Cheese Balls
So you saw that the bird refuge revolutionaries put out a call for snacks. They have guns, thye can kill their own snacks. But they also asked for other contributions to help them through an occupation that might last as long as the siege of Masada. RtO has suggestions but feel free to add your own.
1. AstroGlide
2. Birdseed
3. "How to Win Friends and Infuence People," by Dale Csrnegie
4. diapers
5. those little bars of soap you get at motel 6
6. NYC subway map
7. orange sticks
8. bongs
9. the annotated edition of "Mein Kampf" that came out this week
10. Deer B Gon
11. eyeliner
12. Turtle Wax
1. AstroGlide
2. Birdseed
3. "How to Win Friends and Infuence People," by Dale Csrnegie
4. diapers
5. those little bars of soap you get at motel 6
6. NYC subway map
7. orange sticks
8. bongs
9. the annotated edition of "Mein Kampf" that came out this week
10. Deer B Gon
11. eyeliner
12. Turtle Wax
Why Glass-Steagall can work
Almost since RtO started in early 2008, I have been calling for a restoration (and modernization) of the Glass-Stagall Act, which was the primary regulation that kept American financial mrkets stable for 60 years, despite the incompetennce of the people who managed them.
(I describe myself as a New Dealer, and Social Security Insurance and Glass-Steagall are the primary reasons.)
Now Senator Sanders has made a modern version of G-S a plank in his platform. H. Clinton and Larry Summers are sniping at him. Note that Summers was one of the worst secretaries of the Tresury in history.
I would hope that the gem of this discussion -- restoration of something that works like Glass-Steagall did -- does not get lost in the maneuvering of the contestants for the presidential nomination. Here is a nice little summary of how and why G-S was and is a good idea.
Professor Hockett uses the musical chairs analogy that I have used so often, and generally his short summary is incisive, except in one respect. It was not AIG's lending that caused the nearly-fatal clog in the financial markets but its insane underwriting of guarantees on swaps. That's a point crucial to understanding why the Bush government responded as it did in October 2008, but not especially relevant to the argument in favor of Glass-Steagall.
A note on the side: Future social historians of the United States are going to have a time describing how 3 men who were almost universally described as the smartest men in politics of their time managed to maintain those reputations despite unbroken records of disasters on a stupendous scale: Summers, Robert McNamara and Henry Kissinger.
(I describe myself as a New Dealer, and Social Security Insurance and Glass-Steagall are the primary reasons.)
Now Senator Sanders has made a modern version of G-S a plank in his platform. H. Clinton and Larry Summers are sniping at him. Note that Summers was one of the worst secretaries of the Tresury in history.
I would hope that the gem of this discussion -- restoration of something that works like Glass-Steagall did -- does not get lost in the maneuvering of the contestants for the presidential nomination. Here is a nice little summary of how and why G-S was and is a good idea.
Professor Hockett uses the musical chairs analogy that I have used so often, and generally his short summary is incisive, except in one respect. It was not AIG's lending that caused the nearly-fatal clog in the financial markets but its insane underwriting of guarantees on swaps. That's a point crucial to understanding why the Bush government responded as it did in October 2008, but not especially relevant to the argument in favor of Glass-Steagall.
A note on the side: Future social historians of the United States are going to have a time describing how 3 men who were almost universally described as the smartest men in politics of their time managed to maintain those reputations despite unbroken records of disasters on a stupendous scale: Summers, Robert McNamara and Henry Kissinger.
Friday, January 1, 2016
Looking back, looking forward
One safe prediction for 2016 is that Americans will, for the most part, not bother to vote. Why is that?
At the extremes, you will hear that voting cannot make any difference, that the corporations (or the Jews or the liberal media or whatnot) run everything and it doesn’t matter which party is in power. But — and here RtO is merely stating the obvious — that cannot explain why people vote even less in local elections than in state or national elections, though it seems unlikely that anyone really thinks Citibank bothers to exert its influence on the level of a county commissioner election.
Obviously — and this year-end post is going to consist entirely of obviousnesses — people who could vote don’t bother because they are generally content with how the country is being run. The malcontents are noisier but the contents speak more clearly by saying nothing much.
This was to be expected. A government of the people should gradually solve its problems. After a couple of centuries, most of the big problems should have been corrected. They have been.
The issues that tore the nation almost to pieces in the 19th century are now so remote that only students of history even know what they were:
Slavery is an exception, but how many citizens remember that it was a big issue whether the United States should have a national bank and paper currency? Rand Paul but he is only a lonely crank. Or votes for women? Restrictions on child labor? Newt Gingrich but he is only a lonely crank. National parks? Only libertarian crackpots think those were a mistake.
Standing army? Settled. Income tax? Settled. Copyright for intellectual property? Settled and approved everywhere outside Silicon Valley.
National highways? Approved by all. Deed covenants to keep out Jews and blacks? Illegal. Using the National Guard to shoot workers? Hasn’t happened since 1936. Looking to the Ku Klux Klan for moral leadership? Millions of Americans did in the Roaring Twenties but now the KKK is a national joke.
How about a government old age pension or a public safety and welfare program for those not able to support themselves? Both are still widely hated by many but neither is much of an issue.
Unemployment insurance? That used to be a moral issue but the Bush Crash exterminated any residue of doubters outside the Cato Institute.
There are still problems to be addressed, but none equals the enormity of slavery or has the potential impact of the switch to fiat currency. Today,we are asked to think that something called net neutrality is a vital issue. So low has the content of public controversy fallen.
It is the premise of Restating the Obvious that people know a lot more than they realize, they just haven’t taken a moment to reflect.
For example, in 2015 every American realized:
— that the right-wingers were lying about death panels.
— that the right-wingers were lying about guns being confiscated.
In 2015, no hurricanes touched the United States, the tenth year in a row that hasn’t happened. That explains a lot about why few Americans take global warming seriously. That and the fact that of the 40 college bowl games this season, only two were played north of Annapolis: New York and Boise. Americans have been moving to warmer climates for three generations. Small wonder they don’t get excited about a warmer climate.
In 2015, of the two in three Americans who don’t have a gun, 99.999999% never had occasion to need one. Even of the Trembling Third who do keep guns, 99.999999% had no more occasion to grab a firearm for protection than a sterling silver fishknife.
Yet in 1875, many Americans either had or aspired to have a silver fishknife. Thanks to the father of one of my high school classmates, who invented the fish stick, most Americans have never seen a silver fishknife, and I’d bet that 8 in 0 have never even heard of it.
For my money, the biggest public event of 2015 was the growing national perception that guns serve no useful function in a modern society. For those who didn’t get the message, 205 was a year of rising anxiety and extravagant purchases of guns and ammunition. As these slowly rust away, even they will sooner or later begin to think the 2nd Amendment was a bad idea.
UPDATE: New Year's night
The same old story, terrified gun nut shoots own child.
2ND UPDATE
Thinking it over, it occurs to me that sports, despite its ridiculousness, is a fairly sensitive barometer of public opinion. It is not only bowl games that have failed to migrate north despite the alleged change in climate.
Spring training started in the 1890s (according to Wikipedia) in Florida and became common by 1913. Experiments with locations were extensive, from Hawaii to the Dominican Republic, and occasionally as far north as Hot Springs. But the only significant shift has been not north but west, to Arizona.
At the extremes, you will hear that voting cannot make any difference, that the corporations (or the Jews or the liberal media or whatnot) run everything and it doesn’t matter which party is in power. But — and here RtO is merely stating the obvious — that cannot explain why people vote even less in local elections than in state or national elections, though it seems unlikely that anyone really thinks Citibank bothers to exert its influence on the level of a county commissioner election.
Obviously — and this year-end post is going to consist entirely of obviousnesses — people who could vote don’t bother because they are generally content with how the country is being run. The malcontents are noisier but the contents speak more clearly by saying nothing much.
This was to be expected. A government of the people should gradually solve its problems. After a couple of centuries, most of the big problems should have been corrected. They have been.
The issues that tore the nation almost to pieces in the 19th century are now so remote that only students of history even know what they were:
Slavery is an exception, but how many citizens remember that it was a big issue whether the United States should have a national bank and paper currency? Rand Paul but he is only a lonely crank. Or votes for women? Restrictions on child labor? Newt Gingrich but he is only a lonely crank. National parks? Only libertarian crackpots think those were a mistake.
Standing army? Settled. Income tax? Settled. Copyright for intellectual property? Settled and approved everywhere outside Silicon Valley.
National highways? Approved by all. Deed covenants to keep out Jews and blacks? Illegal. Using the National Guard to shoot workers? Hasn’t happened since 1936. Looking to the Ku Klux Klan for moral leadership? Millions of Americans did in the Roaring Twenties but now the KKK is a national joke.
How about a government old age pension or a public safety and welfare program for those not able to support themselves? Both are still widely hated by many but neither is much of an issue.
Unemployment insurance? That used to be a moral issue but the Bush Crash exterminated any residue of doubters outside the Cato Institute.
There are still problems to be addressed, but none equals the enormity of slavery or has the potential impact of the switch to fiat currency. Today,we are asked to think that something called net neutrality is a vital issue. So low has the content of public controversy fallen.
It is the premise of Restating the Obvious that people know a lot more than they realize, they just haven’t taken a moment to reflect.
For example, in 2015 every American realized:
— that the right-wingers were lying about death panels.
— that the right-wingers were lying about guns being confiscated.
In 2015, no hurricanes touched the United States, the tenth year in a row that hasn’t happened. That explains a lot about why few Americans take global warming seriously. That and the fact that of the 40 college bowl games this season, only two were played north of Annapolis: New York and Boise. Americans have been moving to warmer climates for three generations. Small wonder they don’t get excited about a warmer climate.
In 2015, of the two in three Americans who don’t have a gun, 99.999999% never had occasion to need one. Even of the Trembling Third who do keep guns, 99.999999% had no more occasion to grab a firearm for protection than a sterling silver fishknife.
Yet in 1875, many Americans either had or aspired to have a silver fishknife. Thanks to the father of one of my high school classmates, who invented the fish stick, most Americans have never seen a silver fishknife, and I’d bet that 8 in 0 have never even heard of it.
For my money, the biggest public event of 2015 was the growing national perception that guns serve no useful function in a modern society. For those who didn’t get the message, 205 was a year of rising anxiety and extravagant purchases of guns and ammunition. As these slowly rust away, even they will sooner or later begin to think the 2nd Amendment was a bad idea.
UPDATE: New Year's night
The same old story, terrified gun nut shoots own child.
2ND UPDATE
Thinking it over, it occurs to me that sports, despite its ridiculousness, is a fairly sensitive barometer of public opinion. It is not only bowl games that have failed to migrate north despite the alleged change in climate.
Spring training started in the 1890s (according to Wikipedia) in Florida and became common by 1913. Experiments with locations were extensive, from Hawaii to the Dominican Republic, and occasionally as far north as Hot Springs. But the only significant shift has been not north but west, to Arizona.
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