Kristoff op-eds us “‘With a Few More Brains …’. Too bad he couldn’t give us some. A good read, really.
Then there’s this embarrassing fact about the United States in the 21st century: Americans are as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution.
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Only one American in 10 understands radiation, and only one in three has an idea of what DNA does. One in five does know that the Sun orbits the Earth …oh, oops.
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“America is now ill with a powerful mutant strain of intertwined ignorance, anti-rationalism, and anti-intellectualism,” Susan Jacoby argues in a new book, “The Age of American Unreason.” She blames a culture of “infotainment,” sound bites, fundamentalist religion and ideological rigidity for impairing thoughtful debate about national policies.
Yea, that and fear of being called a liberal intilickedchewel
Speaking of brains….
Maryland’s electric bills are atrocious.
Maryland is the wealthiest state in the union, according to the U.S. Census bureau, and partially deregulated. Electricity however is limited, according to The Maryland Public Policy Institute, to availability – which means limited by the lines which carry it. The wealthier the state the less likely the population wants nasty old electric lines around their living space, underground or not. Wealthier folks don’t want new plants surrounding them either, for both environmental and aesthetic concerns. Due to fights over the plant placement. All this will certainly delay any new plants, as the population grows, so will my bill.
Skipping the talk on macroeconomics and control of commodities prices, because I’m not an economist, I am going to admit I’m rather stunned to know, because I didn’t know this, that my electricity is high and will go higher partially because of the wealth of the state.
Another fact which stunned me was that although I have control over when I use electricity, and the price of it fluctuates by season, day, and time thereof, I am still charged a flat rate.
I’m not sure why I thought I was actually charged less if I did my wash – in my new to this apartment energy saving go green front loading washer and dryer – at the time of day when less electricity was used. I assumed, with the electric company always calling for less use during peak times, because it was cheaper, that they meant cheaper for me.
Call me stupid.
I Sing The Body Electric:
1. A Walt Whitman poem contained in his 1855 compilation Leaves of Grass
2.A 1969 collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, including a story of the same name.
3. A song from the 1980 film Fame.
4. The Title of Jazz Fusion band Weather Report’s tenth album.
A confession I must make: I liked Fame. Good flick to see with a chick.
Or three.
That is one plus to living out in the great nowhere. Although they always find some way to fuck people over. We have enough space and wind to power a 10 state region, but there are only about 5 wind generators in the whole state :(
But your situation sounds fucked up beyond all intelligence.
I welcome the fear of my brain :D
That’s depressing, considering the price of electricity. I remember the good old days when I didn’t have to pay electric bills.
God I love that movie, Fame.
I like the current look.
Price-setting is really a microeconomic function, though. Look, I’m here to help.
I celebrate Venus, I celebrate Mars,
I burn with the fire of ten million stars…
sk: I bet you sing and dance through the whole thing too.
coyote: Not much wind power in use here. Just wealthy old Marylanders who don’t want to have to look at ugly power plats which could also destroy their environment.
kait: Not too long ago, come to think of it.
Doug: Aren’t commodity prices, if not dependent on, at least affected by, macroeconomic fundamentals. – Eh that is why I am studying Regression Methods for Policy Anal instead of..something else. lol
Just tell them to charge less when I do my laundry at 2 AM.
Ike: Me too, really.
I used to work across the street from the former Rural Electrification Administration building in Ballston, Virginia. A reminder that, were it not for the legacy of FDR, the wealthy, while they were wrangling about the beautification of their neighborhoods, would put up roadblocks to the idea of the peasantry getting any at all.
You know, I have never seen Fame.
“I sing the body electric” – I know the Whitman, the Bradbury and, indeed Weather Report. Am I missing anything?
Utilities, like any other corporation, are in the game to milk the consumer and cream off the profits.
I’m thinkin’ it may be time to move to one of the smart countries. Maybe Wyoming.
I bet a lot of people in this country understand Thalaron radiation – that theoretical electromagnetic radiation in the tertiary EM band, once considered merely theoretical by Federation scientists.
God Bless the Star Trek Generation.
;)
I didn’t know that about the electric companies…
Evolution is fantasy? That’s just disturbing.
I’m still paying electricity for an apartment in a state I no longer live in.
Not on topic but this post sadly reminded me of it.
We are silly people, easily swayed by god bless America and god is great talk. It’s because they stuff that crap into some kids heads when they are so young it becomes impossible for an average education to shake.
I prescribe world travel.
I believe in evolution. Evolution doesn’t scare me.
I don’t want to believe in flying saucers, but I do because aliens scare the shit out of me.
Interestingly enough, I have a co-worker who doesn’t believe in evolution and who I’ve gone into it with over this same matter.
I have a much easier time talking about aliens than how men evolved from primates with him. Weird.
You are electrifying as always. Finger squarely on the current of zeitgeist.
p.s. I love Walt Whitman’s poetry.
I would have assumed most people believe in evolution but then I began to blog–intelligent design as a scientific theory
Electricity here is so cheap even for the natives that people run AC all the time. It will go up
I think I should get a tax break for not owning a car
When I used to live in Florida, I always wondered why Gulf Power sold energy-saving electric appliances. It seemed like a conflict of interest to me.
Forgive me for this: I don’t think there’s a particularly perfect definition of micro- and macro-economics but I’ll concede that when you’re talking about the impact of politics on prices, yes, that’s macroeconomics.
MMMM, regressions- the day I realized the formula for covariance over the one for variance cancels out to the formula for the slope of an ordinal least squares regression I swear I heard angels sing.
AMOEBA: They at least now let the poverty stricken have light,whether they can afford it or not.
zydeco: You must see Fame.
Malcom:They seem to be very good at it too. They just need to drop the pretense.
Dedd: They at least have some great mountains. With electricity.
Indie: Whitman wrote some sexy ass poetry, that is for sure.
john: You had me on that one.
mojo: I know, aliens or those shadowy figures which float across my living room when I fall asleep on the sofa – could be angels I’m told by crazy people I know, yeah I know some crazy people -
scare me to death.
G: I’ll take a prescription and a few refills as well.
Dave: Nor did I and I found it disturbing. I’m sure the amount of disturbing facts we cold find out if we really tried would be phenomenal.
sterling camden: To save their money..it really pays for them to save their electricity to divert it to places where it is needed. At least that is the point I see.
pia: A lovely as blogging is, and it is grand at times, there are some horrible things you can find out about people when reading blogs.
Doug: If I only believed in angels maybe they would have sang for me as well. I doubt it – there is that whole evolution thing gets in the way.
Like the new look. Liked the old look as well.
Thanks for knocking the cobwebs in my brain aside re: Walt and Ray – especially Ray.
Won’t comment on electricity in MD – what a cluster fuck – oops, I did comment.
Take care.
P.S. Also, thanks for the MLK – I had read much of what MSNBC had, but had never heard Dr. King’s voice saying it – cool.