Statistically Insignificant or ... It's all about the money

Statically insignificant says it all or ... It's all about the money.

Professors Martin Gilens (Princeton University) and Benjamin I. Page (Northwestern University) looked at more than 20 years worth of data to answer a pretty simple question: Does the government represent the people?Their study took data from nearly 2000 public opinion surveys and compared it to the policies that ended up becoming law. In other words, they compared what the public wanted to what the government actually did. What they found was extremely unsettling: The opinions of the bottom 90% of income earners in America has essentially no impact at all.

Any questions?

Merry Xmas & a Happy 2018

Merry, Merry

Robin Hood redux

A stocking filled with coal.

Basking in the sunshine.

Praying to the Divine.

The 2% solution.

Segway

To perform in the manner of the preceding section (used as a musical direction). 2. to make a transition from one thing to another smoothly and without interruption: In this case, from country to town with transitions within. Enjoy.

Wate, Water everywhere ... :)

Water, as my loyal readers know, is an endlessly fascinating subject to yours truly, not only as compound extraordinaire but also as an entity that reacts to its environment in unique ways that boggle the mind, particularly when it comes to turbulence, whether it be driven by wind, gravity or combinations of the two in relationship to the environment in which water resides. With this in mind, water, when impacted by the aforementioned conditions, becomes a chaotic system that can never be fully analysed given the intractable law of initial conditions and the vagaries of an ever changing reality but mathematicians continue to try in spite of the immense barriers nature presents to spite these intrepid researchers. :)

The Navier-Stokes equations capture in a few succinct terms one of the most ubiquitous features of the physical world: the flow of fluids. The equations, which date to the 1820s, are today used to model everything from ocean currents to turbulence in the wake of an airplane to the flow of blood in the heart.

While physicists consider the equations to be as reliable as a hammer, mathematicians eye them warily. To a mathematician, it means little that the equations appear to work. They want proof that the equations are unfailing: that no matter the fluid, and no matter how far into the future you forecast its flow, the mathematics of the equations will still hold. Such a guarantee has proved elusive. The first person (or team) to prove that the Navier-Stokes equations will always work — or to provide an example where they don’t — stands to win one of seven Millennium Prize Problems endowed by the Clay Mathematics Institute, along with the associated $1 million reward.

When reading this, one is simply amazed as to how well math models reality even if it doesn't cover ALL instances of said particular instance of reality being modeled. :)

What Are the Navier-Stokes Equations?

The Navier-Stokes equations govern the motion of fluids and can be seen as Newton's second law of motion for fluids. In the case of a compressible Newtonian fluid, this yields

where u is the fluid velocity, p is the fluid pressure, ρ is the fluid density, and μ is the fluid dynamic viscosity. The different terms correspond to the inertial forces (1), pressure forces (2), viscous forces (3), and the external forces applied to the fluid (4). The Navier-Stokes equations were derived by Navier, Poisson, Saint-Venant, and Stokes between 1827 and 1845.

These equations are always solved together with the continuity equation:

The Navier-Stokes equations represent the conservation of momentum, while the continuity equation represents the conservation of mass.

Any questions?

Short takes. :)

Aperture

Landing Zone

Thinking of Escher

Naples @ Nite :)

Panovision: Homage to "D" :)

Bad Moon Rising

For years, BRT has stated that this once great nation is in trouble. Seems other entities feel the same way about what's happening to America 24/7.

A Bad Moon is rising: America is polarised at home; unitive government has splintered into departments at odds with each other, and with officials leaking on each other; with fake news abounding; with Congress gridlocked, and with American social and political fabric tearing apart. Against this background - can a president, concerned that he might be removed from office, and beset still by hitherto hidden ‘ruling interests’ now dragged out from the shadows into the public glare for their tawdry schemes, resist the march toward war – the original question posed by Paul Craig Roberts? 

Either a war in North Korea (“the greatest threat facing America”, McMaster says), or an aggressive military show of force against ‘bad actor’ Iran – and in support of a failing Saudi Crown Prince. Is this the diversion that either a now exposed and vulnerable Deep State, and a hobbled President, might welcome as the chance to stand erect in public esteem? Both might share a common interest in escaping domestic problems to mount a show of American strength and military power. Very possibly they might, but oddly, the US military have chosen to leave American soldiers hostage and isolated in both cases: 30,000 US forces in the DMZ between the Koreas, and in smaller outposts in north-eastern Syria and in Iraq. This may turn out badly. Remember Beirut in 1983.

A bad moon rising indeed.

Destinations

Destinations are the endpoints of all of us no matter what mode of transportation we take to make it happen. Enjoy.

Newspeak

Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta were told of the list of forbidden terms at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials who oversee the budget, according to an analyst who took part in the 90-minute briefing. The forbidden terms are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”

1984 anyone?

We are in such trouble as it matters not whether Trump or Pence is in "charge", the sheer incompetence, mendacity and urge to control the public goes beyond comprehension.

Making Holy Water :)

Making Holy Water. :)

Speaking of Language ...

Japanese may be the toughest language to learn for us rubes. 88 weeks anyone? :)

Connect Speed Comparison ...

The UK is 23rd in the ranking, the US 20th, Australia 50th and China 111th. The world average is 5mbps, according to the report. The majority of the worst performing countries are in Africa, the South Pacific, the Middle East and South America.

Akamai also calculates the average peak connection speed. In this ranking Singapore comes out on top (98.5Mbits/s), followed by Hong Kong (92.6Mbits/s), South Korea (79Mbits/s), Kuwait (76.5Mbits/s) and Romania (71.6Mbits/s). The UK comes 27th (51.6Mbits/s) and the US 22nd (53.3Mbits/s).

Click here to get the full skinny on why the US is NOT even close to being in the top 10.

The Porcine approach to Governance

To yours truly, this amazing NYTimes graphic sums up Trump and the repugs' approach to governance as the GOP of today is NOT the GOP of years ago, a party that actually knew how to govern back in the day.

NN eleganty explained

This encapsulates in elegant fashion what can happen to the net thanks to the Pai fubar.

Click the image to get MITs take on this monumentally bad decision on the part of the FCC.

TR would get this without question.

No words needed.

Checking out Westport, CT

A nighttime walk in the environs of Westport, CT. Enjoy.

3 Night Studies - The Hunter's Moon

Channeling William Turner

Night for Day

Emergence

Surface Noise

Water never sleeps. 

Stop the FCC

A Set of 4

Fire in the Sky

Snow Catcher

Floaters

Blinded by the Light

Are we talking packages here?

1990's crap on something America built, NOT THE TELCOS. WTFU America before it's too late.

The Wolf Moon - Prelude to Winter

Early December is the prelude to winter with the Wolf Moon as the master of ceremony. Enjoy.

Colonization - of all kinds :)

Excellent take on colonization of all kinds. 

Beyond Real Time has arrived

Beyond Real Time is the graphic holy grail whereby if one can generate a realistic HD 3D scene at 60 frames/sec, the rendering of same is beyond the ability for us rubes to perceive. Nvidia and Radeon are achieving this objective as we speak.

Stellar says it all.

A caffeine primer :)

The chasm of ignorance :)

The chasm of ignorance rules as the more we know, the less we know as reality is a fractal with no end in sight. :)

Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. But DON’T PANIC. Physics is on it. And if you've ever wondered which part of physics covers which part of space, fret no more. Here is an awesome map that lays it all out.

Works for me.

Here are two more gems from the mind of Dominic Walliman.

Stellar without question.

Graphene - Game Changer to the Max

Nature never disappoints/rev XX :)

3/4 Full

Blue on Gray

Cockleburs

Lichen +