Surprising Study on How We Read

Thanks to Slashdot for this gem from the BBC News:

...the eyes often focussed on different letters in the same word, about two characters apart, he said.

"They could be uncrossed, in the sense that the two lines of sight are not crossed when you look at a word, or alternatively the two lines of sight may be crossed," he added.

The team's results demonstrated that both eyes lock on to the same letter 53% of the time; for 39% of the time they see different letters with uncrossed eyes; and for 8% of the time the eyes are crossing to focus on different letters.

Perhaps this is the process behind this meme that has been making the rounds of the net for several years now:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Having trouble reading it? Just relax and let your eyes scan it.

More info on this meme here. (Don't be a victim, the "Cambridge research" part is misleading)

The BBC News article is here.

Cool Stuff

CNN Spins Dollar News

The greenback has slid to the value of the Canadian dollar. Yes, it is true. Parity was reached today. And how did CNN spin it?

Canadian dollar catches up to U.S. dollar

Value of 'loonie' reaches that of American dollar for the first time in over 30 years.

September 20 2007: 2:39 PM EDT

TORONTO (AP) -- The Canadian dollar reached parity with the U.S. dollar on Thursday for the first time since November 1976.

(More here)

Please do not be fooled. The loonie did not climb to the value of the U.S. dollar; The U.S. dollar has plummeted to the value of the Canadian dollar.

Still not convinced? Check this out:

NOTE: Recent events do not show on this graph. Today the blue line slid off the bottom of the chart.
(here)

This is not a symptom of a strong US economy

More gin might be in order.

Rate Cut Euphoria Scares Me

I am not kidding.

To those Americans living solely between the oceans and the borders the rate cut was good news. In fact the Dow rallied to a multi-month high.

Yippee!!!!

How can this be a bad thing?

Well, as regular readers will know, I am concerned with the state of the dollar. My simple point is that a weak dollar is a symptom of a weak economy.

Let me see if I explain. The USA is running budgetary deficits. That means that every day the US Government uses other countries money to pay it's bills. This Government treats China and Dubai the way many people treat Visa and Mastercard.

This is how it works. The US spends billions of dollars more than it collects in taxes and fees. In order to pay for that spending the government goes to China and Dubai (and others but those two are currently the main purchasers) and says, "Please purchase our bonds at 4ish% interest so that we can keep spending".

As long as there are buyers of debt at these prices the economy is safe; but, if those countries decide to buy even a little bit less than needed, the US government would be force to either immediately reduce spending (not likely), raise taxes (not on Dubya's watch) or raise the rate on the bond to make it more attractive (hurting home buyers and generally slowing the economy but perhaps avoiding a catastrophic economic event).

By lowering the rate (as happened today) the government is making those all important debt instruments less attractive. And what happened to the dollar today, when the rate was decreased and the Dow jumped? It fell --again.

I laughed out loud while listening to the Glenn Beck Show in CNN today. He had an admitted doomsday economist on that suggested if all goes wrong the dollar could see a drop in its valuation of as much as 50% !!!

Guess what? It has already happened.

In January 2002 one greenback was worth 1.61 Canadian dollars; today the close was 1.0146!!!

Does this make sense to you? What it means is that anything purchase from outside the walls of Bushdom is now forty percent more expensive than it would be if it were purchase with pre-Dubya dollars. People, this includes oil. Yes, Oil! The quirky result of the massive military spending (largely the reason for the current deficits) is that by paying for it with debt we have increased the price of the commodity that was at the core of the action: oil.

Am I making sense?

Let me lay out a likely bad case scenario. While the USA is lowering the interest offered on its debt instruments, countries such as Canada that do not run deficits and have little risk of dollar devaluation are keeping their interest rates stable. So Dubai and China can get over 5% from a Canada that is paying down its debt and is a good bet to not default by devaluing or they can get around 4% from the US. So, Dubai and China buy a bit less American debt. This is not unlike what Daddy Bush faced after his, "No new taxes" speech. Remember that?

So, to summarize. The US dollar is plummeting. US debt instruments are less attractive to those who would be bailing the Bushies out. And spending is up.

Folks, this is frightening.

And unless we have an administration that is willing to reduce spending to equal the record tax and fee revenue (here) that Bush has collected the outlook is terrifying.

Forget recession, this is a recipe for a depression. Now, that is depressing and frightening.

Arrggghhhh!!!!!

Time for a plymouth and a nap.

For a related rant click here.

Pay for Iraq By Cutting Corruption

The Nation is reporting on a "sensitive but not classified" report detailing rampant corruption in Iraq. This on the eve of Mr. Bush's rumored request of an additional 50 Billion bucks for the cause.

Remember the days when a senior official was dismissed for suggesting that the total cost could reach $200 Billion? (Here) At the time Donald Rumsfeld claimed that the total cost would be in the $50-60 Billion range.

Again I am reminded of the apparent misplacement of 363 tons of shrink-wrapped hundred dollar bills -- 12 Billion smackers, oops. (Here)

Okay. Here is the solution. It is simple in theory. Spend a small part of that 50 billion on a two teams of accountants. One forensic. One dedicated to keeping the books from here on.

Seriously, when you pay for something you are supposed to get something. Money can be accounted for. That is where the term, accounting, comes from.

At this point I suggest you read the report in the nation. (Here)

I have no doubt that a properly charged team of forensic accountants (and a billion bucks would both buy a big enough team and pay for itself) would remove offenders.

This is a point that must be remembered: the corruption is not only by foreign nationals. Money cannot be traded for nothing without an explicit okay from a US official. There is no doubt in my mind that there are American officials feeding the corruption for their own gain.

These officials will be the ones shouting the loudest when any forensic accounting is suggested. Look for it.

Drink time. Cheers.

Protecting Kids From the Evils of Yoga

Once again the Christian church has stepped in to ensure that the spiritual and physical well being of children is protected. A kid's program that had kids exercising and pretending to be animals (as well as having fun) has been outlawed. (more in Ananova)

This reminds me of the French language proponents in the Canadian Province of Quebec who attempt to promote their cause by limiting all others. They can't defend against competition, so they ban it.

However, this is different. Yoga is not religious competition for Christianity: yoga is not a religion. But, and this is where the church is missing the boat, it can be combined with any reflective, meditative thought process.

If the church were lead by anyone with an imagination they would be integrating fun yoga with religious lesson planning.

Once more, the incompetent are in charge.

Almost time for my first plymouth. Cheers.

Farewell Tony Snow

I will miss you. You have had an unbelievable ability to deliver incredulous lines with well applied and earnestly delivered sincerity. As I don't believe you are stupid, I must believe you are one of the great political actors of our time.

I have only one request. Please do not sign on with Fox News. Your talents are better exercised in a more adversarial situation; to end up on a roster made up of unchallenged toadies would, I fear, bore both you and me beyond our limits.

I wish you well in your future struggles and hope to see you back in the public arena as soon as possible.

Perjury Trumps Lewd Conduct

Folks, let's put aside that this person has been a vocal opponent to gay rights. Let's put aside that this person has left a trail of half covered up gay experiences going back a quarter century. Let's put aside that the police might have overreached, their behavior bordering on entrapment.

Okay, have we put all of this aside? No? Okay I'll wait.

...

Ready?

Okay.

Here are the important and indisputable facts.

1.) Larry Craig is a lawmaker sworn to uphold the Constitution.
2.) He entered a guilty Plea to a crime.
3.) He claims he lied when he entered the guilty plea.
4.) Lying while entering a guilty plea is a more serious crime than the original offense.

That is all we need to know. He needs to be dismissed immediately. His boss, his constituents, need(s) to toss him out. Now.

This is an educated lawmaker. He knows, and if not certainly should have known, that it was possible to enter a plea that has the same result as a guilty plea without admitting fault. It is called a Nolo plea --short for Nolo Contendre. Literally, no contest.

He is not worthy of the title "Senator" and needs to be dismissed with cause immediately.

Vick Profits from Craig, Just as Gonzales Profited from Vick

Who profits most from Craig's proclamation that he is guilty of perjury not gay sex? Micheal Vick of course. Without Craig's flaccid protestations as to his sexuality we would still be hearing pundits waxing on and on about Michael Vick.

But to be fair, Alberto "I cannot recall" Gonzales was the benifactor of Vick's media time. If not for either of these PR nightmares the whole week would have been spent dissecting the evil tenure of Mr. G.

So, a serious socio-political story that has far reaching implications is overshadowed by an illiterate jock who should go to jail for an evil, yet petty, crime. Then this gets overshadowed by a failed search for a blow job.

2007 is shaping up to be an interesting year.

Countdown til Larry Craig finds Jesus

Wait for it. Craig is still denying both that anything untoward took place and that he is gay. Folks, he entered a guilty plea. He did not plead nolo contendere (no contest), which would have resulted in the same fine/probation but would not have resulted in his current predicament.

What predicament?

Well, this lawmaker under oath and before a judge stated that he was guilty, that he did perform the act that he was accused of. Now he says he made a mistake. He lied under oath. He said he was guilty when he did nothing wrong. Note that the mistake was not the act that has resulted in his being a criminal.

So, the choice is clear. Either he committed purgery, a crime far more serious than seeking a blow job in bathroom stall, or he is lying to the people.

How does one get out from under the harsh lights?

Wait for it.

I am predicting that within a week a teary eyed Senator Larry Craig will be on CNN seeking forgiveness and claiming that he is glad that this has happened as it has brought him closer to God. He will go on to announce that he is seeking religious counseling and that he still believes that homosexuality is a sin.

Here we have more evidence that the most vocal opponents of homosexuality are simply lashing out at their own sexuality.

Gonzales Resigns... so what?

I will editorialize more on this later. My first thought is, "so what?" There is little hope that Dubya will put forward a principled, ethical person for this job. It saddens me that my first emotion is fear: fear that the next one will be worse than the last.