17 August 2011 PM Quickies

Here is one of the things that I’ve been doing over the past month or so: I’ve taken some notes on Quantum Mechanics. There is nothing new here. But I’ve gone over some elementary references and put things into “undergraduate math teaching” friendly language (mostly using Daniel Gillespie’s outstanding book A Quantum Mechanics Primer)

I wrote these for those who teach undergraduate mathematics; I assume familiarity with calculus, linear algebra, probability (calculus based) and at least exposure to analysis and differential equations.

Posts
No, President Obama has NOT been on vacation as long as either President Bush or President Reagan (via Fact Check.org)

Q: Has President Obama taken more vacation time than his predecessors?

A: According to one count, Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush spent more time on “vacation” during their first year than President Obama did. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton spent less time on “vacation.”

Tea Party: They say “small government” oriented, but they are mostly religious social conservatives:

So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.

More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.

This inclination among the Tea Party faithful to mix religion and politics explains their support for Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. Their appeal to Tea Partiers lies less in what they say about the budget or taxes, and more in their overt use of religious language and imagery, including Mrs. Bachmann’s lengthy prayers at campaign stops and Mr. Perry’s prayer rally in Houston.

Yet it is precisely this infusion of religion into politics that most Americans increasingly oppose.

In other words, they aren’t so much libertarians as they are assholes social conservatives.

This is one reason Rick Perry is so popular with them. Of course, Mr. Secessionist has some nerve to imply that the President “doesn’t love America”.

But…while the the Republicans have a problem with their loons, we have a smaller group of loons. No, we don’t always agree with each other, and that is fine. Yes, it is fine to pressure the President from the left. For example, Paul Krugman knows more about economics than the President does, but the President understands politics and political realities better than Dr. Krugman does. Sometimes one can’t get to optimal policy directly.

Nevertheless, there is some news about some OFA (Obama for America) fighting with some liberal critics.

Some liberal criticism is policy oriented and principled. Some is just plain stupid; here is an example from Daily Kos:

There’s been discussion about President Obama’s speech in Iowa as it relates to public sector employees who have a retirement plan generally considered to be better than that of the average public sector employee. The comments most under discussion is this quote:

I do say, though, to my friends in the public sector unions that it is important that you are on the side of reform where reform is needed. Because the truth of the matter is, is that at a time when everybody is belt-tightening, there is nothing wrong with a union saying to itself, you know what, we know budgets are hard right now. Let’s sit down and say we’re willing to negotiate so that we’re making some sacrifices to maintain the number of teachers in the classroom and keep class sizes at a reasonable level. We’re willing to make some modifications in terms of how our pension systems work so that they’re sustainable for the next generation of teachers as long as it’s a conversation, as opposed to it simply being imposed and collective bargaining rights being stripped away.

So I think it’s important — remember we talked about shared sacrifice and burden sharing. Well, this is an area where there’s got to be burden sharing as well. If a public sector employee is able to retire at 55 with 80 percent of their wages, and the average public sector employee has got a 401(k) that they’ve just seen decline by about 20 percent and they have no idea how they’re going to retire, and they’re feeling burdened by a lot of taxes and they don’t feel like the public sector employers are making any adjustments whatsoever to reflect the tough economic realities that are facing folks who are not protected, then there’s going to be a natural backlash.

The criticism? The criticism is that the President is explaining how some in the general public might grow to resent the deal that some in public unions have!!!!! Oh no…the President understands the fear, pain and anger that some citizens feel!!! Oh no, NOT THAT!!!!

I swear: often I make fun at how stupid the Tea Party is…but I am seeing loads of stupidity of that caliber at Daily Kos and at other liberal hang outs.

Fortunately, the Republicans might Christine O’Donnell themselves in 2012.

Workout note 17 August 2011

Running: my runs have been unpleasant lately and my piriformis isn’t ready for fast walking (13-14 mpm is ok for 5-8 miles). So I tried something different: run/walk (4 minutes of running, 1 minute of walking).

I did my 5.2 mile course in 53:21; I jogged to West Peoria (3-4 minutes) and started the 4-1 when I crossed Main Street and continued it (though I ignored the last walk interval as I had only 2-3 minutes left). 11:10 at 1.05, 21:40 at mile 2, 42:12 at 4 and the last 1.05 took 9:37.

More importantly: it was almost pain free, and it was fun! This reminded me of the way that running used to be. And frankly, it wasn’t that much slower (if at all) than I had been doing. So I’ll do this a couple of times a week.

This kind of workout won’t get me into racing shape, but it might get me ready to start training…if I am patient.

Weights:
Rotator cuff stuff plus lunges.
Bench: 10 x 45, 10 x 135, 10 x 145 (not difficult)
Incline: 10 x 115, 8 x 125
Military press (dumbbell): seated: 2 sets of 12 x 40 lb., standing: 6 x 45 lb.
Curl: dumbbell: 2 sets of 12 x 25 lb. (strict), machine: 10 x ???
Row (hammer): 3 sets of 12 x 200
Pull down: 3 sets of 12 x 140
push-backs (glute): 3 sets of 10 x 110
adductor: 3 sets of 10 x 170
abductor: 3 sets of 10 x 170
sit ups: 4 x 25 (incline).

It was all good..now to finish my proofing.

17 August 2011 Irrelevant stuff and snark: You can’t make this stuff up.

I am going to try out my academic year routine, sort of.

First about just “making stuff up”

PWN’D, but too dumb to realize it:

(click for larger)

Either these women are this guy’s relatives, or he is rich:

see more funny videos, and check out our Yo Dawg lols!

Politics
The e-book version of Christine O’Donnell’s book was labeled as “fiction”. Really.

WASHINGTON — Failed U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell is out with her new book “Troublemaker,” which she describes in the introduction as “a political memoir slash campaign diary slash position paper slash rallying cry, with an emphasis on the slash.” In an email to supporters, she promised the book would offer “the real, raw story of my life.”

But the e-version of her book says she’s making it all up.

The copyright page of her book in both the Kindle and iTunes versions state that O’Donnell’s memoir is, in fact, a novel.

“This is a work of fiction,” reads the disclaimer. “All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.”

Rick Santorum’s campaign might be labeled as fictional also. But he is out there saying things like this:

At a campaign stop in Iowa this weekend, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) doled out a frothy mixture of revisionist history about what it was like to be alive in the late 1700s:

Our founders said [our] rights were given to us to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Does anyone here believe that first inalienable right is as whole as it was at the time of our founding? It isn’t. Does anyone believe that our freedom is as whole as it was at the time of our founders? It is not.

This is what infuriates me about conservatives: when they say “our” they mean, well, white guys. Seriously; remember that our black neighbors were slaves at that time and that females couldn’t even vote. More free? Really? Conservatives have a very narrow view as to what an American is. (hat tip: Billy Dennis)

Republican Debate

Some troll put this on the Mitt Romney facebook wall. It is pretty funny though.

16 August 2011 PM: Rick Perry Follies and other topics

First, how about a bit of science. Bacteria can be engineered to kill other bacteria:

Nazanin Saeidi and Choon Kit Wong have found a new way of killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic species that thrives wherever humans are weak. It commonly infects hospital patients whose immune systems have taken a hit. It targets any tissue it can get a foothold on – lungs, bladders, guts – and it often causes fatal infections. To seek and destroy this threat, Saiedi and Wong have used the common lab bacterium Escherichia coli as a sacrificial pawn.

Their E.coli recruits produce a protein called LasR, which recognises molecules that P.aeruginosa cells use to communicate with one another. When LasR detects to these chemical signals, it switches on two genes. The first one arms the bomb. It produces pyocin, a toxin that kills P.aeruginosa by drilling through its outer wall and causing its innards to leak out. The second gene detonates the bomb. It produces a protein that causes the E.coli to burst apart, killing itself but also releasing a flood of deadly pyocin upon nearby P.aeruginosa.

Politics

Barack Obama: hitting hard on jobs! Haven’t we heard the saying “the Do Nothing Congress Won’t Do”?

Facts You hear conservatives lying about the marginal tax rates all of the time. Here is a bit of fact:

So, what is the opposition up to? Sucking up to the Tea Party?

Now there is Rick Perry. He is the one who is known for talking about secession. Sure, the right wingers will point out that he said this (one time):

Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday stuck by his earlier statement that Texas can secede from the United States — a far-reaching, legally questionable prospect that nevertheless drew Perry a fresh favorable mention by Rush Limbaugh, one of the nation’s leading conservative voices.

The idea of secession — which Perry did not endorse — surfaced suddenly Wednesday after Perry appeared at an anti-tax “tea party” at Austin City Hall, where some in his U.S. flag-waving audience shouted, “Secede!”

Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday there’s no reason to dissolve the United States’ ‘great union’ but that he can understand why Washington’s recent actions would make some want to.

According to The Associated Press, Perry suggested in response to a reporter’s question that Texans might at some point get so fed up with Democratic-led actions in Washington that they would want to secede.

“There’s a lot of different scenarios,” Perry said. “We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that? But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.”

On Thursday, Perry called potential secession a “side issue of Texas history. … We are very proud of our Texas history; people discuss and debate the issues of can we break ourselves into five states, can we secede, a lot of interesting things that I’m sure Oklahoma and Pennsylvania would love to be able to say about their states, but the fact is, they can’t because they’re not Texas.”

A Perry spokeswoman said Perry believes Texas could secede if it wanted.

Sanford Levinson, a professor at the School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin, said that between the Texas Constitution, the U.S. Constitution and the 1845 Joint Resolution Annexing Texas to the United States, there is no explicit right for the state to return to its days as a republic.

Emphasis mine. (“thumb their noses”? By doing what, passing something with more votes??? Never mind that…)

But the above wasn’t the first time he mentioned secession:

Another thing: he is quick to rally the troops against threats…that don’t exist:

Rick Perry pulled a Michele Bachmann on Tuesday, passionately condemning a policy that does not actually exist.

This time round it was over farming issues. “If you’re a tractor driver, if you drive your tractor across a public road, you’re gonna have to have a commercial driver’s license. Now how idiotic is that?” perry told a Des Moines crowd. “What were they thinking?”

As it turns out, Perry’s claim is based off a false rumor that was circulating among farmers that the Department of Transportation recently put to rest. The Wall Street Journal reports that the confusion was over a federal review of a proposal by Illinois to require commercial licenses for farmers, but the DOT ultimately concluded — as Perry did — that “the common sense exemptions that allow farmers, their employers, and their families to accomplish their day-to-day work and transport their products to market” should not be tampered with by states.

“We have no intention of instituting onerous regulations on the hardworking farmers who feed our country and fuel our economy,” DOT Secretary Ray LaHood’s said in a statement responding to Perry’s claim.

And yes, Politifact rated this statement as FALSE.