6 February 2009 part II

First, here is something off-beat:

Did you know that one of Russia’s main bomber is propeller driven? It sounds laughable, but actually it isn’t that much slower than our B-52

This is the Russian Tu-95 which, though no longer a strategic bombing threat (against a major military power), can still do many things. I wonder if these sort of turbo-prop planes could provide a fuel-thrifty type of airliner? After all, the Bear can travel at well over 500 mph.

Here is the B-52

Note: the video footage shows some B-52 G’s (with the taller rudder and smaller engines) and some B-52 H’s (bigger engines, shorter rudder)

Academia
If you think that professors are hard on undergraduates, read this rant directed at some graduate students. Note: I was once a graduate student, but I never reached the position of having graduate students.

This is not a professional relationship. It’s an irrational relationship. If it were a professional relationship, most grad students would have been shitcanned a long time ago because ya know that whole myth about us meany proffies stealing grad student work? It’s the man bites dog story, kiddies. As a group, grad students are time-consuming to faculty, and fully 90 percent of you aren’t worth either the time or the money we spend on you. Many who do graduate do not get jobs, and of those who do get jobs only a small fraction get tenured. That makes you a bad bet by any professional measure; it makes some worthy few of you a risky investment at best and the vast preponderance of you a charity.

Legislators and Education How do you save money in a state? Fire professors who aren’t teaching things that you’d like.

The AP reports that legislators and right-wingers in Georgia are citing budget shortfalls as the justification for trying to fire college professors who teach things they don’t like:

Upset House Republicans are mounting a campaign to purge Georgia’s higher education system of professors with an expertise in racy sexuality topics as the state grapples with a $2.2 billion shortfall.

State Rep. Charlice Byrd of Woodstock took House well on Friday to announce a “grass-roots” effort to oust professors with expertise in subjects like male prostitution, oral sex and “queer theory.”

“This is not considered higher education,” she said. “If legislators are going to dole out the dollars, we should have a say-so in where they go.”

Byrd and her supporters, including state Rep. Calvin Hill, said they will team with the Christian Coalition and other religious groups to pressure fellow lawmakers and the Board of Regents to eliminate the jobs.

I wonder how long before these idiots go after those who teach evolution?

Bailout and Stimulus

Republicans are belly-aching over Obama’s call to limit executive salary (for those firms getting tax payer bailout money)
Of course, that isn’t a surprise to anyone who has ever followed these clowns; remember that mostly what you are seeing left in the Republican party leadership are the wingnuttiest of the wingnuts.

Yes, I know; this “limit on pay” is largely symbolic:

If one is looking for silver linings in the devastation of Wall Street it may be that this sort of talent will henceforth be less demanded and less rewarded — not because of Obama’s plan to limit pay of executives living off public bailouts but because the Street has imploded. The plan itself is a bit of a ruse. If truth be told, the $500,000 seems little more than a symbolic gesture designed to reassure the public that the large amounts about to be asked for the next stage of bank bailout — likely far more than the $350 billion remaining in “TARP” (more on this in a moment) — will not simply feather the nests of those who created the mess in the first place. The guidelines don’t actually put a cap on total pay but only on salaries (usually a small portion of total pay), and even then apply only to firms receiving “exceptional assistance” — [...]

So why is Wall Street so upset about the faux $500,000 limit? Precisely because of its symbolism. It’s as if the administration is planning to subject executives of the banks that take the next dolop of bailout money to a kind of public shaming — the equivalent of a scarlet G, for greed — when the executives don’t view the bailout that way at all. Few if any of them think they did anything wrong in the first place; they don’t even view the bailout as a “bailout” but rather as a necessary injection of liquidity to keep credit markets going.

Emphasis mine. Note that this applies to the Republicans in Congress as well; they don’t see the current mess as being the fault of their actions, policies or philosophies.

Cooperation with them may well prove to be impossible:

John Cole on bipartisanship:

I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years.

Now, a bit more from the Daily Kos, just for comic relief.

Who knew? A dead woman caused the financial crisis:

Paul Kelleher: Yes, I’m calling to inform you that my mom died on the 24th of January.

Bank of America Estates representative: I’m sorry. Oh, it looks like she never even missed a payment. That’s too bad. Well, how are you planning to take care of her balance?

PK: I’m not going to. She has no estate to speak of, but you should feel free to just go through the standard probate procedure. I’m certainly not legally obligated to pay for her.

BOA: You mean you’re not going to help her out?

PK: I wouldn’t be helping her out — she’s dead. I’d be helping you out.

BOA: Oh, that’s really not the way to look at it. I know that if it were my mother, I’d pay it. That’s why we’re in the banking crisis we’re in: banks having to write off defaulted loans.

I suppose that the Bank of America could have covered this outstanding bill with some of their bathroom renovation money.