The Best Kind of Theater

Back in the 1960s and 70s my grandfather would find himself at the Santa Barbara Airport parking lot fifteen minutes before takeoff. He would stroll to the counter and quickly pick up his ticker. Security was an invention waiting to happen (and it did happen sometime during web 1.0) and so he would just take his ticket and hop on the plane. The airlines were happy, the airline workers were happy, and my grandfather was happy (particularly because he wasn't the most timely man).

Now, of course, those days are consigned to the dustbin of history. Ancient, forgotten days before the advent of anything worth doing.

My Eyes Hurt

Cause I got them dilated. Ms. Red Head in Rapid was duly impressed with my wrap-around polarized glasses. She thought I couldn't walk straight. Bleh. I was just admiring the pretty leaves on the tree. What are you going to do when the haters start hating?

Wind Cave...

This last weekend my Mrs. Redhead in Rapid and I headed to Wind Cave National Park. It was awesome. I got to learn lots and lots of new facts. Let me tell you some:

• Wind Cave is the fourth longest cave in the world.
• However, though 135 miles have been discovered the 'experts' think that they've only found 5% of the cave. If true, this would make it the largest cave in the world.
• So far, all 135 miles are crammed into 1 square mile (with a depth of 1/3 mile). That's like cramming 134 inches of a string into 1 square inch.

Wait, you don't want more facts? Well, too bad:

• The cave was "discovered" by the settlers in the 1880s.
• This cave has very little water, so you don't see stalagmites or stalactites. Instead...
• 95% of the world's box-work is found in Wind Cave.

This is only a few of the facts I gleaned from my 3 hour trip. Boy, what fun!

The RACE...

Here in the Heartland (aka South Dakota... eat it Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, Nebraska, etc...) we are having an intense US Representative race between Kristi Noem and Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin. Both gots lots of money so we get to experience plenty of attack ads. And because ad time is cheap we get to see lots and lots and lots of ads. And because I watch old folks T.V. (e.g., Wheel of Fortune) they pile them on.

Anyway, the ads are getting a little ridiculous. Kristi attacks Stephanie as a Pelosi stooge, conflating procedural votes with real votes, to say that Stephanie votes with Pelosi 90% of the time. Even though Stephanie voted against the Health Care Bill, etc... On the other hand Stephanie's best attack is that Kristi has had 20 speeding tickets over 20 years... Umm... not that impressive.

I'm a bit stuck in this race. Generally speaking I'd prefer a conservative Democrat over a really conservative Republican. Both candidates say that they take the deficit and national debt seriously, but neither of them will tackle the elephant in the room... entitlement and deficit spending. And to make matters worse they both are for increasing farm subsidies. Sheesh. I got 2 weeks to decide and it ain't going to be easy.

Quote of the Day

From Mr. Dunleavy of the London School of Economics, via Foreign Policy's Passport:

For the first time in history, the Australian outcome means that every key ‘Westminster model’ country in the world now has a hung Parliament. These are the former British empire countries that according to decades of political science orthodoxy are supposed to produce strong, single party government.

 The countries include India, New Zealand, Great Britain, and Canada.

The Night Sky

We are but motes whirling through the universe:

APOD

A Slow Walk to Involency: Air Force Edition

This ain't good for anyone:

Every time the Air Force sends a B-1B bomber on a mission over Afghanistan, it spends costs $720,000 in fuel, repair, and other costs. And when the plane comes back, it has to spend 48 hours being repaired for every hour it was in the air. All of which is double-crazy, because the bomber doesn’t really drop bombs over Afghanistan any more, thanks to the military’s airstrike restrictions. The B-1B just lingers over the country with a camera: a big Predator drone, at many, many times the price. “If the B-1 is not dropping its load of ordnance, we should withdraw it, and use unmanned systems instead,” Michael Wynne, former secretary of the Air Force, tells me. “They’re much cheaper.”

HT: Danger Room

A Slow Walk to Insolvency

The passage of Health Care Reform was only one point in the long debate about how to provide health care in the United States. As a red head I've long advocated for a change to our health care system. We spend far too much money for too little results. It's really a disgrace having a system that combines the worst of the private sector with the worst of the public sector.

Now comes word that the Obama Administration will require health care plans to provide certain tests/screenings at no cost. As the NY Times editorializes in its article:

The new requirements promise significant benefits for consumers — if they take advantage of the services that should now be more readily available and affordable.

Unfortunately, I'm not so optimistic, because health care ain't free in this world. And though the preventative tests claim long term health cost savings, I'm doubtful. The article goes on to say:

The administration said the requirements could increase premiums by 1.5 percent, on average.

1.5%! I know it doesn't sound like much, but here's the thing. First off, the 1.5% won't be spread evenly and more likely than not, individual plans will get hammered, while large plans won't be hit too hard. Second, 1.5% is still real money. For my individual plan for two people that 1.5% equals $92. Real money.

Alas, I understand the Administration's desire to help the average American see that health care is changing. This piecemeal change, however, does not address the root problem of out of control costs and a bloated, bureaucratic system.

Mr. Eliot's Verse on a Sunday Morning

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

In Honor of Today's England v. Germany Match

God Save the Queen:

God save our gracious Queen,

Long live our noble Queen,

God save the Queen:

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us:

God save the Queen.

O Lord, our God, arise,

Scatter her enemies,

And make them fall.

Confound their politics,

Frustrate their knavish tricks,

On Thee our hopes we fix,

God save us all.

Thy choicest gifts in store,

On her be pleased to pour;

Long may she reign:

May she defend our laws,

And ever give us cause

To sing with heart and voice

God save the Queen