One Way to Read It

By Susanne E. Freidberg . "The egg’s seasonality made evolutionary sense, since chicks hatched in spring stood the best chance of survival. It also made sense to eat, paint, roll, and otherwise revel in eggs when they were most abundant and cheapest. In mid-19th century New York, there were 72 times more eggs arriving on markets in May than in January."

The Energy Department is giving Utah $108 million to help us clean up 32,000,000,000 pounds of radioactive sludge left over from mining. The mining company, Atlas Mineral Corporation, mined area area near Moab, but didn't clean up after itself. It left it to the American people to foot the bill. This is common mining practice. Companies need to start taking their waste into account. Many companies would not be as profitable as they seem if they took the cost of waste disposal into account. The free market does not always have a way to regulate negative externalities. This is a case where the government can step in to improve things. The government could have stepped in before they gave the Atlas Mineral Co. rights to mine, and put them under contract to foot the bill. But that still probably wouldn't have worked, since other mining companies under similar contracts simply go bankrupt. The CEOs take off with the leftover millions, and leave the miners and their community ba...

I liked this picture, Piggy Banker , by Zina Saunders : And this article, The Quiet Coup, by Simon Johnson . Intro: "The crash has laid bare many unpleasant truths about the United States. One of the most alarming, says a former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, is that the finance industry has effectively captured our government —a state of affairs that more typically describes emerging markets, and is at the center of many emerging-market crises. If the IMF’s staff could speak freely about the U.S., it would tell us what it tells all countries in this situation: recovery will fail unless we break the financial oligarchy that is blocking essential reform. And if we are to prevent a true depression, we’re running out of time. "

The president usually receives $100,000 of taxpayer money to renovate the White House, but the Obamas have decided to pay for White House renovations themselves.

From Harvard professor, pot-head, Jeffrey A. Miron . Excerpts: "The U.S. and Mexican responses to this violence have been predictable: more troops and police, greater border controls and expanded enforcement of every kind. Escalation is the wrong response, however; drug prohibition is the cause of the violence . Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead. Violence was common in the alcohol industry when it was banned during Prohibition, but not before or after ." "Prohibition has disastrous implications for national security. By eradicating coca plants in Colombia or poppy fields in Afghanistan, prohibition breeds resentment of the United States . By enriching those who produce and supply drugs, prohibition supports terrorists who sell protection services to drug traffickers." "The U.S. rep...

See listverse for the whole article. 10. Plywood (5,000 years ago) 9. Plumbing (4,700 years ago) 8. Ice Skates (5,000 years ago) 7. Perfume (4,000 years ago) 6. Metrology and Calibration (5,000 years ago) 5. Lenses (5,000 years ago) 4. Central Heating (3,000 years ago) 3. Cataract Surgery (2,600 years ago) 2. Dentist Drills (9,000 years ago) 1. Plastic Surgery (4,000 years ago) We tend to think we're so much smarter than those who lived before.

People around the world turned off the lights for an hour to save the earth. Vegas Off from Big Picture - The result? A trendy, self-congratulatory act with no lasting impact. We need to do more than turn off the lights. We need to change an entire culture based on exploitation to one based on nurture.

A customer at a Salt Lake City McDonald's drive-thru pulled out a shotgun and shot the window when he was told that they weren't serving lunch yet. No one was injured.

Ethics reform is needed, as Utah politicians fail to report how they're using leftover campaign money . The rules on how leftover funds are lax. This is a problem because donors can buy Utah politicians by giving money as "campaign contributions" that are actually bribes, used not for the campaign, but to enrich the candidate. Can you do anything about this, Jason Chaffetz? Also, Rock Canyon will be mined for the next decade, 10 hours a day. Goodbye cheap, local dates. I'm not really against this one. But there is a possibility that they'll make a mess of a beautiful area.

Legalizing marijuana has been in the news a lot lately. Here's a taste. It was the most popular question during Obama's recent online town hall . Obama said, " I don't know what this says about the online audience. We want to make sure it was answered. The answer is no — I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy." An article claimed that we are losing the War on Drugs . "We need law enforcement. But the heart of the matter is to bring back health, prevention, treatment, to the centre of drugs control." I agree. We don't lock up alcoholics unless they kill somebody. We need to help these people, not throw them in the slammer. A sober Paul debated a stoned-looking Baldwin brother. Stoner argued against weed, Paul for it. Glenn Beck claimed to be a Libertarian, had a condescending debate with Rob Kampia. Beck did say that medical marijuana is okay. Here's a propaganda cartoon with some good points and sickening bias. You ...

This is why I'm conservative. "What if our foreign policy of the past century is deeply flawed and has not served our national security interest? What if we wake up one day and realize that the terrorist threat is the predictable consequence of our meddling in the affairs of others, and has nothing to do with us being free and prosperous? What if propping up repressive regimes in the Middle East endangers both the United States and Israel? What if occupying countries like Iraq and Afghanistan and bombing Pakistan is directly related to the hatred directed toward us ? What if someday it dawns on us that losing over 5,000 American military personnel in the Middle East since 9/11 is not a fair tradeoff with the loss of nearly 3,000 American citizens no matter how many Iraqi, Pakistanian, Afghan people are killed or displaced? What if we finally decide that torture, even if called “enhanced interrogation technique”, is self-destructive and produces no useful information and that c...

Ron Paul pwns Ben Affleck, Giuliani, seduces liberals. We shouldn't spread the goodness of America by force. We should spread it by setting a good example. When we have a free and prosperous economy, then they'll want to emulate us. Logic tell us that we can make a better world in an easier way than causing wars. It's the fault of the policy-makers, not the American people. In an earlier interview, attacks War on Drugs

McCain's smirk makes me angry. He's not listening, just trying to look good.

Convert: Read The Revolution

Looks like I'm not alone in my admiration for these two great politicians.

"The party has lost its way." "Reagan was right" "We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us." Giuliani expresses populist douchebaggery. Blowback . Read The Revolution

Ron Paul understands complexities. Romney parrots Republican vomitus. Read The Revolution

This small business owner wrote a letter to Obama. He read it, and invited her to the White House to talk about it. Video Courtesy of KSL.com KUTV's video is good too , but not blog friendly (plays automatically). 'The president shook everyone's hand. I said, "Hi I'm Debbie Sanich from Utah." He says, "Yeah, I know who you are. Thank you for the letter."' She agrees with his small business plan. From KSL and KUTV .

Some guy agrees with me on smaller financial institutions : See the whole Rollingstone article . [warning: cuss-words] Excerpts: " People are pissed off about this financial crisis, and about this bailout, but they're not pissed off enough . The reality is that the worldwide economic meltdown and the bailout that followed were together a kind of revolution, a coup d'état. They cemented and formalized a political trend that has been snowballing for decades: the gradual takeover of the government by a small class of connected insiders, who used money to control elections, buy influence and systematically weaken financial regulations ." "AIG is what happens when short, bald managers of otherwise boring financial bureaucracies start seeing Brad Pitt in the mirror." ". . . Sen. Phil Gramm — a grinning, laissez-faire ideologue from Texas — had finished engineering the most dramatic deregulation of the financial industry since Emperor Hien Tsung invented pape...

Characteristics of Groupthink : Illusions of invulnerability creating excessive optimism and encouraging risk taking. Rationalising warnings that might challenge the group's assumptions. Unquestioned belief in the morality of the group, causing members to ignore the consequences of their actions. [God is a Republican. Dems are immoral.] Stereotyping those who are opposed to the group as weak, evil, disfigured, impotent, or stupid. [Rep's Obama or Dem's Bush] Direct pressure to conform placed on any member who questions the group, couched in terms of "disloyalty". [Utah] Self censorship of ideas that deviate from the apparent group consensus. [ Steel's apology to Limbaugh ] Illusions of unanimity among group members, silence is viewed as agreement. Mindguards — self-appointed members who shield the group from dissenting information. [Limbaugh, other pundits] Teamthink: What's right when political parties work right Encouragement of divergent vie...

Common Biases : Overconfidence Bias — When we think we know more than we actually do . Availability Bias — Tendency for people to base their judgments on information that is readily available to them. Escalation of Commitment Error — Staying with a decision when there is clear evidence that it's wrong . From my Organizational Behavior class. Find out your biases .

Obama v. McCain Thanks Dave . From Obama v. Bush .

Greg Mankiw , who was Bush's Counsel of Economic Advisors Chair, posted this on his blog:

I just read, "Only one person survived the battle of the Alamo." in the Best of Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader . Person, here, is defined as white male. A slave and several women and children survived, along with several thousand Mexicans. sigh. . . And this: We are too estranged from our food supply. Which is exactly what conspiring men want.

My mom convinced a 16 year old girl to give up her expected baby for adoption. The girl was thinking of either keeping it or aborting it. Two rather incongruous choices, and proof that a flaky 16 year old should not be making those decisions, and therefore should not be having sex. Go mom. My mom, not the teenage mom. I'm anti-abortion and I'm a Democrat, if you want to label me. I voted mostly Democrat this last election. I'm also anti-war. I cannot see how one could be anti-abortion and pro-war. The two are related vices. I am opposed to both. But I'm pro-gun. Guns should be freely available to citizens, for an armed citizenry is a powerful check against tyranny (and foreign invasion, a precedent for justified war). I think I'm a Jeffersonian at heart. I have a thing for yeoman farmers, and I think that communities for the most part should be able to decide their own fates. There is good reason for a strong federal government. It is necessary to prevent...

The EPA has halted hundreds of mountain top removal permits. Conservative, Kentucky farmer, and author Wendell Berry on this form of mining. Another vid It's only a problem if you drink water. Or live on Earth.

For clarification. Watch them side by side. p.s. Don't watch Watchmen unless you want to see lots of violence and a stupid sex scene.

From David Letterman

Last month I had a prolonged debate with an anonymous commenter . He wrote: " I don’t think world peace wouldn’t be great, just that it is completely unrealistic. But there you go again with the, “killing people” garbage. In your mind, Bush and congress gave the OK to go to Iraq, we strapped a bunch of bombs to some jets and went over there and just started letting loose on every Iraqi town we could find. Am I close? I don’t know if you just don’t do any reading about what we are doing and have done over there, or if this is another symptom of getting your news from Comedy Central . " and " By the way, did you know more people were murdered in Chicago last summer than died in the Iraq war last summer ? " Here's my response: 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange , resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects Landmines are cheap to make, easy to bury, and difficult to find and neutralize. A...

Frank Shaeffer "How can anyone who loves our country support the Republicans now? Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley and Ronald Reagan defined the modern conservatism that used to be what the Republican Party I belonged to was about. Today no actual conservative can be a Republican. Reagan would despise today's wholly negative Republican Party."

Waterboarding is only torture if done by the Spanish Inquisition. If it's done by the good guys, it's okay.

Watch 1:10 to 2:50. The Colbert Report Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Alan Rabinowitz comedycentral.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

1. He addressed the U.N. in 1964. At the United Nations - Che Guevara At the United Nations - Che Guevara kashmir At the United Nations - Che Guevara Publish at Scribd or explore others: Guevara Che In his speech he compared the U.S. policies that discriminated against blacks to those that discriminated against peoples of other countries: "Those who kill their own children and discriminate daily against them because of the color of their skin; those who let the murderers of blacks remain free, protecting them, and furthermore punishing the black population because they demand their legitimate rights as free men — how can those who do this consider themselves guardians of freedom? We understand that today the Assembly is not in a position to ask for explanations of these acts. It must be clearly established, however, that the government of the United Sta...

Excerpts Whole Interview He's right that the bonuses on AIG are outrageous, but we can't fix the problem by taking away the bonuses, because the culture of entitlement remains. Also, the dirty little secret, that many immoral things we do can be perfectly legal. Yup.

I found them, Luigi and Mario It's like my childhood fantasies come true, in a nightmare kind of way. From sexy people .

I'm glad I voted for this guy I've written about Iran before. KSL (Utah news) hasn't reported this, but they did report that he filled out a sports bracket . WTF? Because repairing international relations is just hippie stuff. This guy is wasting America's time. To be fair, I'm sure they'll report it tomorrow.

I wrote previously that Twilight is porn . I may be wrong. Caitlin Flanagan wrote in the Atlantic Monthly that Twilight helps adolescent girls come to terms with sex. So it is about sex, and erotica, and foreplay, but perhaps in just the right dose, and in the right format, for the teenage mind. Perhaps it is just as useful as the awkward old puberty primer What Is Happening To My Body? And perhaps it is even more needed in the Mormon society, where in some homes it is taboo to even talk about sex, so that teenage pregnancy, prostitution, pornography, and marital sex are all lumped together, to the point where a girl may even feel ashamed on her wedding night. A society where even an innocent book about sex could be decried as pornography.

I'm glad I voted for this guy

The Farc released a 69 year-old Swede they'd been holding hostage. I didn't know what the Farc was before I read this. But more importantly, why would you hold a Swede hostage? You want a discount at Ikea. You thought he was the lead singer of ABBA. You want to date his hot grandson/granddaughter. She's way hotter in person That's the best I could come up with.

Jason Chaffetz shines again. Congress passed, and Obama signed, another spending bill . $400,000,000,000 worth of earmarks and pet projects. Many Republicans had their cake and ate it too. They loaded the bill with earmarks for their state, and then voted against the bill . This way they could tell people they opposed Obama and wild Democrat spending, and at the same time bring some money home to their constituents. Many Republicans, that is, except Jason Chaffetz. "Utah's politicians are no different from the rest. Every one of them, except Rep. Jason Chaffetz , added plenty of pork of their own, then voted against the bill ." On the bright side, one person wrote that if the bill had not passed, the government would have imploded . Which, I think, may not have been a bad thing. Good job Jason. You have my respect. Just drop that stupid tent idea, and you got my vote.

A company has decided to use our patriotism to sell product. For a fee they'll stamp a product "Certified American Made." I've started my own company along these lines. If your company didn't get any bailout money from our government, you're free to put the following stamp on your products: Many companies that would qualify for the American stamp will not qualify for mine—which makes my stamp more exclusive. Here's a list of banks that got bailout money . Can anyone find a list of other companies that got bailed out? Of course with how big and complicated the system is, I probably have bailout money in my pocket.

Nixon: Worst president ever. Yep, even worser than you, W. (I actually don't think W. was so bad, just more recent). Nixon is responsible for the terrible state of our healthcare . from this clip from Sicko . The result: Incentives to not give care. Inflated prices. Worse health care. We shouldn't worry about socialized healthcare, we already have it. The government has stepped in to make it profitable at the expense of the doctors and nurses who do the work and the patients who need the care. The government could step in to fix it, by setting it back to the pre-Nixon system, but I doubt that will happen. But it doesn't stop there. Nixon is also responsible for this inflation that Glenn Beck is trying to make us pee in fear over . That's right, Nixon got rid of the Gold Standard , of which Ron Paul eloquently writes in his book The Revolution . Nixon was a monster. I think we should run our money on the food standard, a system hinted about in the Book of Mormon , t...

The same month that Big Love shows a temple ceremony , this Harvard student defends the LDS faith. Hurray. Day of Faith: Personal Quests for a Purpose - 3. Rachel Esplin from Harvard Hillel on Vimeo . 20 minutes

Taken out of context from this article , on China's demand that it approve the next Dalai Lama.

Jon Stewart used this interview with Jim Cramer as an opportunity to talk directly to Wall Street. He attacks the corruption, but takes into account that there are many hard-working and honest people on Wall Street. It's worth watching in full. Part 1 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 1 Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor Jim Cramer Part 2 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 2 Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor Jim Cramer Part 3 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart M - Th 11p / 10c Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Pt. 3 Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor Jim Cramer Excerpts: STEWART: Selling this idea that you don't have to do anything. Any time you sell people the idea that, sit back and you'll get 10 to 20 percent on your money, don't you always know that that...