Beckapalooza

There has been much conjecture lately as to the size of the crowd at Beckapalooza. At the right are two photos I got from the website of AirPhotosLive.com. I went to Google Earth and used the Ruler tool to construct a rectangle overlay of the area.
The height=1,000ft
The length=2,500ft
Area=2,500,000
Area per person=20sqft (generous given that the four corners of this rectangle are sparsely populated)

125,000, give or take a vendor.

Sepp Blatter and Putin

So... Sepp is now in bed with Putin. England and the 2018 World Cup bid would be "too easy". 
So let's have Russia build ten new stadiums at a cost of $7b and hope half of it ends up buying concrete. The level of corruption is staggering in any infrastructure project because it is so easy to hide under the levels of subcontractors! England has everything needed to host a WC next week and would not need the handholding that Russia will require. Then again maybe that's the dodge. All the trips from Geneva to Moscow will be ample opportunity to oil palms.
I wonder if Sepp has a nephew who is at this moment buying a rebar manufacturer in Volgograd? 

We're Against It, Except When We're For It

Things have reached a point where the unfettered demagoguery of the nativists in this country is simply horrifying  Some Senators and others are advocating for a repeal of Sec.1 of the 14th Amendment. 
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
This amendment is called one of the Reconstruction Amendments. It was passed as a direct refutation of Dred Scott v Sandford 60 U.S (19 How.) 393 (1857). 
This is nothing but the second act of that new play The Wogs Begin at Calais, now being staged in Phoenix and various cities around the nation.
This comes on the heels of calls for government intervention in where religious physical structures may reside. (please note the difference between at and near) A few years ago there was a furor over the removal of a copy of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Courthouse. Chief Justice Roy Moore was incensed at the order by US District Judge Myron Thompson. Judge Moore railed at this government intrusion in religious practice and the idea that government had any say in the matter. Now various parties,public and private,  think it's fair game to have a government hand in the location of said structure.
Irrationality and bigotry are excused as O.K. because of our National Grief! 
It's easy to stand up for our basic freedoms when the birds are singing and the sun is shining and all is sweetness and butterflies. When it's raining and thunderclaps are chasing you through a moonless night and the mud is sucking at your shoes is the time to be most vigilant! 

Belief or Knowledge

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
Upton Sinclair.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts. 
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Since the dawn of civilization philosophers have been struggling with the question "What is knowledge, how do we know?" Sensory perceptions? Cogito erg sum? Works of the sages? Divine revelation? 
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy that seeks to answer this as a "theory of knowledge".
What it all comes down to is that everyones bullshit meter needs constant recalibrating. ASTM Committee F-104 on Bullshit and Irrationality has a protocol for a standard bullshit sample to be placed on a Google search for 'quick money' and the acceptable level for the meter to react in Alarm Mode. A test result of anything over one part per billion needs to have the "?" valve replaced. 
"They say.. everyone knows that... I heard it.. this book.. on TV the ad... well known experts... Rush said on the radio..." Have your meter checked regularly!!

Matthew 25:40

Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. KJV
The recent dustup in Arizona had me reaching for the exact wording and citation for the parable of the goats and sheep. Of course it was a Google search and I found a strange thing. This verse is given an opposite reading in most of the new translations. Here is the NIV.
The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
Notice that the first reading in KJV "..done it unto one". Second reading in NIV "..did for one".
The first is 'unto me' and the second is 'for me'. The first is read as negative, the second as positive. 
If you have tuned a blind eye to oppression, poverty and all the ills of this world, you have turned a blind eye to me. This is a true reading of the verse. You are expected, as a follower of his word, as a matter of course to help the lame and the sick! This is the default position for all human behavior. The approbation is against the Levite and the Kohen and for the Samaritan.
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8

The Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense

At last we have a precise way to measure irrationality. Go back to your Organic Chemistry textbook and make fun new compounds and solutions. Mix 2 parts Pareidola with 3 parts Xenoglossy and get the face of The Virgin on a German dictionary! And you now can magically speak a new language with Art Appreciation thrown in. Have fun!!

The Secret and The Power

On the heels of my video post on Facebook comes news in NYT that Rhonda Byrne, the author of The Secret, has a new book on offer on August 17th called The Power. 
According to her publisher Atria, the new work will "..show how perfect health, incredible relationships, ... and the money you need to be, do and have everything you want, all come from the power." 
Her previous book has to date sold 19 million copies. Now... evidently The Secret didn't reveal all. There is more to learn and you will have to purchase her new work to find out.
Yeah, The Power alright! The power to get another 19 million suckers to lay down $24.95 so she can "have everything" she wants and needs. 
But I suppose that it won't be another 19 million. The original 19 million will do just fine, thank you!