CapitalistImperialistPig

Ideas in science are often pretty simple. The details of the facts supporting these ideas rarely are. Like ancient civilizations, religions, and primitive cultures, modern science has constructed an elaborate cosmology. Modern cosmology, for example, has constructed a detailed picture of what was happening in the universe 13 billion plus years ago, when it was less than a millisecond old. Why should we take this cosmology, or any science, more seriously than the various myths aforementioned? The answer of science is that the scientific cosmology is supported by an intricate web of measurements, predictions, retrodictions, and interrelationships which are remarkably consistent, not only with each other but with the whole structure of modern physics, from thermodynamics to quantum field theory. That web is complicated, and nobody can comprehend it without extensive and detailed study. It's probably worth noting that perfect consistency is an ideal that is never perfectly achieve...

For those who miss Clinton and Bush, 2016 promises fulfillment of your fantasies. There is a very plausible prospect of a Clinton (Hillary) vs. Bush (Jeb) election two years hence. Pessimists could see in this a reprise of those last days of the Roman Republic when the great families of the oligarchy competed to get their clients to Consulship and other positions of power, while the great political families competed to sweep away each other and place themselves in and above the oligarchs. Even optimists have to find the prospect depressing. As Barbara Bush reputedly said: "Can't any other families take this job?

One ten-thousandth of a second after the big bang, to be more precise. It was hot, but had just cooled down to the point (one trillion degrees K) where photo-production of proton - antiproton pairs stopped happening, so that protons and antiprotons could annihilate faster than new pairs were formed. Oddly, but fortunately from our point of view, there was roughly 1 extra proton for every billion proton-antiproton pairs. We, and everything we see or touch is made out of those lonely extra dancers at the ball. Things were closer together then - more neighborly, one might say. The Andromeda galaxy was then about as close to us as Mars is now. Mars then was about as close to us as the diameter of the period at the end of this sentence. Of course there was no Mars, or Andromeda galaxy, or any star or planet then - just elementary particles rushing madly to and fro.

From his Daily Beast article: People don’t vote against their interests. They vote for their interests as they see them. And right now, working-class and blue-collar whites think the Democratic Party is just implacably against them. Of course I don’t think it’s true that the Democratic Party is implacably against them. I think they just think the Democratic Party is implacably against them, and part of the reason—not the whole reason, but part of the reason—they think the Democratic Party is implacably against them is that Democratic candidates in red states have no idea how to tell them they’re on their side. He doesn't discuss the why of this, but the culture wars are surely part of it. It would be easy for a white working or middle class person to conclude (not especially inaccurately) that the modern Democratic party is dominated by an urban elite concerned mainly with advancing the interests of single urban feminists, illegal immigrants, poor blacks, and homosexuals - an...

I was angry with the obtuse campaign the Democrats ran. Goldie Taylor in an aptly named, How the Lame Democrats Blew It, The Daily Beast: It’s not that the Republicans won the Senate. The Democrats lost it, by being afraid to have a strong message and motivate their voters.

One comment that I heard or read this AM caught my eye - something about Mark Udall, the losing incumbent in Colorado, being criticized for his relentlessly one one campaign. Apparently it was all about abortion rights. But he had no choice, the reporter added, he ran exactly the campaign the numbers said he had too. If true, what a moron. No wonder he lost and richly deserved to lose.

With Republicans firmly in control of Congress, will they feel some pressure to do something, or just stick with the do nothing obstruction that has apparently served them so well. I'm guessing that the latter is strongly favored, especially with Obama likely to continue his wimpy approach to everything. Specifics: Climate action: dead, dead, dead, gone. Big pro-climate action spending failed to move the needle an iota. Immigration: A lot of Republican voters are going to be mad as hell if anything like immigration reform happens. Most likely result is a bunch of non-reform immigration bills that get vetoed. Obamacare: probably not repealed but quite possibly crippled - maybe with an assist from the Supremes. The Wars: If Obama has any sense, he will force Congress to vote on a series of war powers acts. I don't expect it. The Surveillance State: What surveillance state? Nothing to see here. Nobody here but us chickens. Move right along. Job creation: More tax ...