Updike Rabbits

I have not read any of Updike's Rabbit novels, but am thinking about reading one. Anyone want to steer me to or away from them? and why?

Our book club has decided that for the 2008-2009 year, we're going to read only prize winners. (My idea after finding this year's picks to be mostly unbearable.) It's time for me to find some candidates for book-pitching and selection at the October meeting. The Updike Rabbit novels would fill the bill (and be something that the group may not have read). Am also considering trying Kavalier and Clay, on Michael's recommendation (even though Wonder Boys was one of my least favorite novels of all time).

Water for Elephants

This was a book club pick. It's a novel set partly in a traveling circus in 1930 and partly in a nursing home circa 2000. I particularly enjoyed the details about life in a traveling circus. The plot is a little cheesy, a little trite, and the writing is mediocre, but it's constructed well, with an ending revelation that I hadn't guessed. Seems like it would make a good movie. (I just Googled and I see it may be headed for the screen.) It borrows from Fried Green Tomatoes with its elderly nursing home patient telling a story of his younger years, the theme of creating family with non-blood relatives, use of trains/railroad as a key component of the plot, race (FGT) or class (WFE) issues, mentally-ill abusive husband, and an end revelation about a murder.

The novel highlights an interesting bit of trivia about Prohibition. Jamaican Ginger Extract ("Jake") was a medicine that was 70-80% ethyl alcohol and so was used as a beverage by some during Prohibition. To prevent people from drinking it for non-medicinal purposes, the U.S. Treasury Dept decreed that it had to be altered with ginger solids that made it bitter. Supplies of Jake were occassionally tested by the Dept. of Agriculture to make sure the ginger was present. Amateur chemists found a way to make Jake without the ginger, but with another chemical addition that tricked the ginger tests. As it turned out, their additive was a neurotoxin that caused partial paralysis. It is believed to have left thousands or tens of thousands of people partially paralyzed, typically with a characteristic odd gait ("Jake leg"). More details on Wikipedia here.

In an afterword, the author, Sara Gruen, describes a professional battle between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse that took an elephant as a victim (and a spoiler alert if you're paying attention):

In 1903, an elephant named Topsy killed her trainer after he fed her a lit cigarette. Most circus elephants at the time were forgiven a killing or two -- as long as they didn't kill a [townsperson] -- but this was Topsy's third strike. Topsy's owners at Coney Island's Luna Park decided to turn her execution into a public spectacle, but the announcement that they were going to hang her met with uproar -- after all, wasn't hanging a cruel and unusual punishment? Ever resourceful, Topsy's owners contracted Thomas Edison. For years, Edison had been "proving" the dangers of rival George Westinghouse's alternating current by publicly electrocuting stray dogs and cats, along with the occasional horse or cow -- but nothing as ambitious as an elephant. He accepted the challenge. Because the electric chair had replaced the gallows as New York's official method of execution, the protests stopped.

Accounts differ [as to whether cyanide-laced carrots were also involved], but what is not disputed is that Edison brought a movie camera, had Topsy strapped into copper-lined sandals, and shot sixty-six hundred volts through her in front of fifteen hundred [soulless, depraved, horrible] spectators, killing her in about ten seconds. Edison, convinced that this feat discredited alternating current, went on to show the film to audiences across the country.

If he only had a heart...

The Star Tribune reports on a loser in a Twin Cities suburb who does not seem to be making the best use of a transplanted heart:

As his community cheered his newly successful heart transplant , 14-year-old Andrew Busskohl of Woodbury told a reporter in 2004 that he had aced his favorite school subject - health - and shared his career aspirations.

"I plan on becoming a surgeon," a grinning, bespectacled Busskohl said, later showing off the scar on his chest while flexing his muscles for the camera.

Fast forward four years: Busskohl, now 18, faces charges that prosecutors say stem from a plan for the gruesome killing of a neighboring stranger. His chilling plan called for cutting out the heart or eyelids of his potential victim, according to a criminal complaint filed this week in Washington County.

Poll

Although we've never discussed it, I asssumed all polls were mandatory. We usually have a fifth voter so several people are not responding. hmm.

Ivins

Who's persuaded that Dr. Ivins was the anthrax killer?

Nice article on Houston in latest City Journal

Not yet available online to nonsubscribers but City Journal has an article this month by Edward L. Glaeser that Michael might enjoy:

Houston, New York Has a Problem

The southern city welcomes the middle class; heavily regulated and expensive Gotham drives it away.

Should be available online in next few weeks. Real Clear Politics usually posts the CJ articles once they become available to non-subscribers.

Jim DeChamp

Here's what the LATimes reported about Jim DeChamp's forward flip attempt at the X Games:

DeChamp suffered a fractured vertebra when he bailed out in mid-flight and landed flat on his back at the bottom of the landing ramp, [Travis] Pastrana said. DeChamp lay still for a few minutes before walking off under his own power. What television viewers and those in attendance didn't see was DeChamp collapsing afterward in the athlete area.

"He said, 'Look, I've got to get up, I'm going to walk out of here,' " said Pastrana, who was by his side. "Then, he's like, 'cameras off?' I said, 'Yep,' and he just fell down and said, 'Take me to the hospital.' "

DeChamp would have completed the maneuver if he had stayed with the motorcycle, Pastrana said. However, DeChamp's inexperience at the X Games may have played a part in his indecisiveness.

"He just said it felt like everything was in slow motion, and it felt like he was in the air for eight seconds," Pastrana said. That made DeChamp feel like he was closer to the ground than he actually was, Pastrana said, and DeChamp was fearful of being crushed under the weight of his motorcycle.

"It's amazing, adrenaline slows everything down," Pastrana said.

Some thought DeChamp bailed out because he appeared to have overshot the landing ramp. In actuality, that was part of the plan, Pastrana said.

"If he landed at the bottom, he had a better chance of getting the rotation. He was perfect, but he thought he wasn't," Pastrana said.

Pastrana had the same sensation during his double back flip, only he had time between rotations to spot his landing. The front flip doesn't offer riders a sneak peak. "That second rotation was the longest second of my entire life," Pastrana said. "I can remember the crowd, I can remember everything."

Moto X Best Trick 2008: Video of medal winners

The gold medalist doesn't do a backflip, but takes his own body through a simultaneous barrel roll and backflip. I'm more enthused about the silver and bronze medal tricks. Unfortunately, the clip doesn't show these in slow mo which is necessary to get the full effect.

ESPN makes this video available for embed, but didn't make available the video of the failed front flip by Jim DeChamp. I found it on YouTube, though. This video is shot by someone who was at the event:
.

[Update: Initial reports last night were that DeChamp suffered compression fractures in a few vertebrae. He did walk away.]

The wacky world of economics

Just another example that proves my theory that any so-called "expert economist" one sees on tv or sees quoted in print is just spewing theories that have NOTHING to do with the reality of the American model. And the American model is that the stock market controls everything, while it should control nothing.

On the front page of the DMN news today is the following headline...

"Exxon sets record but sees stock fall"

So EM once again announces a record profit, earning $11.68 billion in the 2Q. However, EM's stock dropped 5% yesterday. Now what sense does that make? What "economic theory" does this fall into? And the reason the stock fell - because EM didn't earn what market analysts estimated. So the value of EM stock fell not because of what the company DID (break an earnings record), but because it didn't do (break the earnings record by more $$) what some analysts THOUGHT it should do. This makes no sense to me at all. The value of stock, or a company, should be based on how well do they do what they do, do they make smart business decisions, do they make money, etc. Not do they meet some forecast or ideal of analysts. The message here, in simplistic terms, is that it's not good enough to make more profit in a quarter than any company has ever made. So who or what is controlling the stock market - companies or analysts? And who should?

Later on in the article, there is another example of the power that the stock market has, which in my opinion is too much and is based not on reality, but on theories or perceptions or who knows what. Here are the closing 2 paragraphs of the front page article:

"Investors drove UP (emphasis mine) the share price of Houston-based Marathon Oil Corp., a smaller company that also tries to do it all, after it announced that it MIGHT (emphasis mine) split its exploration and production business and its refining and marketing business into two independent companies.

"You're dealing with a company that's much smaller in terms of market cap," said Mr. Harper. "But nonetheless, I think Marathon's SAYING (emphasis mine) the type of things investors want to hear in respect to maximizing shareholder value for the longer term."

So, Marathon's stock goes up based on them saying they might do something, while EM's goes down based upon something they actually did, which is make record profits. Guess if EM wants their stock price to go up, and therefore maximize shareholder value, it should just start saying things rather than actually doing something. Yea, that makes lots of sense.

MotoX Best Trick

is part of the X Games. It's on ESPN now. Looking forward to seeing where the riders have taken the sport to this year. Maybe a forward flip!

[Update: Make that "attempted" forward flip.]

[Update II: does it count if the bike lands upright on its wheels, though the rider landed a tad earlier in the dirt?]

Obama as Con Law Prof

In researching Obama's time as a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago, the NYTimes collected some of his teaching materials. Here's his 1996 exam and his answer memo. If you find any errors in his answer memo, I'm sure the NYT reporter would be happy to hear about it.

"It's all downhill from here"

What does the phrase mean? Some folks use it to mean that everything hereafter will be easier, as in the hard part of climbing to the peak is past; now we can coast; everything is now better. Others use it to mean that nothing hereafter will be as great as it was at its peak; now everything will be worse.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout

Yep, the free market system at work. I loved the quote I saw on CNN today..."Freddie and Fannie, too key to fail." Why? I thought it was about keeping gov't out of things. Guess not....

So why aren't all the Conservatives screaming out about bailouts, free market system, etc.?
Why isn't Bush going to veto it? Politics. Politics trumps the free market system every time. Politics trumps everything every time.

The Dark Knight

It's a hoot. Ledger has not been oversold; he's amazing.

Re: LJ's Economics

LJ is dead right about the fact that those wages would rise and thus Americans would do those jobs without the wages being driven down by those who will work for less. I don’t feel any dissonance though about wanting to restrict illegal immigration and being a free-marketeer. The free market is also a market that depends on the rule of law. Not related to the economics of the issue but for me the issue is not about numbers but assimilation.

One thing to keep in mind is that those like me are conservatives first and that the Republican Party is just the lesser of two evils when it comes to picking a party. I abhorred the whole Schiavo deal, both the “husband’s” and Republican’s behaviors. Her folks had every right to contest but the congress had no business meddling.

Real conservatives loathe judicial activism no matter the issue. It is the job of the legislature to make laws, not judges appointed for life.

As for company bailouts (and subsidies of any kind), real conservatives loathe those, too.

Mammoth Springs

Elk Dot

My sister coined the term Grizzly Dot for those bears that are so far away they appear nothing more than dots to the naked eye. This is my Elk Dot. If you click on the image you can verify that it actually is an elk.

A Yellowstone Bison

I'm pretty sure the Park Rangers had him tethered so close to the road.

Tetons

Quake Lake

This is Quake Lake, created in 1959 or thereabouts, by an earthquake. In Montana in the SW corner:


On the lake above Quake Lake one finds Scooter's future: