Wednesday, December 2, 2009

SAR #9337

The earth will be fine, after we're gone.

Multi-tasking:  If Obama had waited a week he could have announced the expansion of the war in Afghanistan as part of his acceptance speech in Stockholm.

Nonsense:  Pending sales of previously owned U.S. houses rose more than expected in October, reassuring investors about the economic recovery. Such reassurance rests on exaggerating the economic stimulus provided by changing mortgage holders on an existing house, which is very little.

Icebergs:  What if, like sub-prime, sovereign default isn't 'contained'? What if Dubai is not a outlier but a forerunner? Who goes next? What manner of sovereign defaults may lay ahead? Will bailing out the bankrupt banks (and car manufacturers and house builders and on and on) lead to bankrupt governments? Or more accurately, to recognizing bankrupt governments as bankrupt?

Ooops:  In 2006/7, so little was know about melting ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic that the IPCC's 2007 report did not even factor them into its forecast for sea level rise. Turns out that the West Antarctic ice sheet, in particular, is losing large amounts of ice and the 100+ scientists on the Committee on Antarctic Research now project a sea level rise of at least 4.5 feet by 2100.

Consequences: Once upon a time, American workers believed they could improve their lot through their own efforts. That optimism is being crushed under endless months of unemployment and underemployment. As the chance for self-improvement diminishes, do the odds of social change increase? How hungry and tired and dispirited do you have to be before 'doing something' becomes 'doing something radical'?

Unintended Consequences:  One of the results of Bush's 'reform' of bankruptcy law (making it harder) was to increase the number of foreclosures today. Because it was much harder (and more expensive) to file for bankruptcy, homeowners who might have freed up money to pay the banks by discharging their credit card debt couldn't do so. Now they get to stiff the bank and the credit card company.

Wonderland:  Goldman Sachers are getting permits to carry handguns so they can defend themselves from the public. What does the public get to protect themselves from Goldman? And how can Goldmanites get gun permits when part of the process requires that they be of good character?

Early and Often:  A five year study shows that intervention for toddlers with autism found applied behavioral analysis (ABA) teaching methods combined with developmental 'relationship-based' approaches yield significant positive results with autistic children starting at 18 months old. There is no known cure for this neurodevelopmental disorder, but early age brain adaptability appears to permit amelioration of the debilitating effects.

6 comments:

TulsaTime said...

Yes, Dubai is totally unrelated to anything else going on right now. How could it be anything else?

Value Creation Blog said...

I believe the world has been on a debt binge that is coming to an end w/ sovereign wealth defaults rampant.
The US, Britain, France and the other so called developed countries will have to either hyper-inflate or devalue their currencies.
Gold rules.

Anonymous said...

Ooops: ...scientists on the Committee on Antarctic Research now project a sea level rise of at least 4.5 feet by 2100.

Some coastal properties will REALLY be underwater! Seriously, I live on the Atlantic Coast and folks are building near me on land that with an additonal 4.5 feet will be underwater. So, these are houses with a finite or, at least impaired, lifetime. Selling one of these to an unknowing buyer would be classic Latent Defect.

In this regard, I saw an article recently that AU has radar mapped much of its coast and sees a serious problem. They are considering restricting development. One can only imagine what a 4.5 foot rise does to existing Infrastructure including roads and bridges.

Charles Kingsley Michaelson, III said...

Anony 231 I lived in Stuart, FL for a while and think that a 4 - 5 foot rise will seriously dampen the eastern half of Martin County. As a sailor, I know that a 4 ft rise will make the ICW impassable for sail boats where there are no draw bridges.
ckm

Anonymous said...

When the truth finally comes out that Global Warming and arctic ice melt are figments of Al Gore's unbalanced mind (He stands to make several hundreds of millions by this figment being believed)sea side land will be expensive again. I would be buying all I can afford if I were you.
Global temps have been actually cooling since 1998. That is part of a 40 year temp cycle that has been documented back several hundred years w/o Hansen and the other mad scientists cooking the books for political gain.

Anonymous said...

There's a lot more to autism than "early intervention" ... ABA basically teaches behavior but not comprehension, and it results in people who act and feel like scared puppy dogs.

Autistic people act differently because we perceive the world differently. Teaching us how to relate to other people, but not teaching other people how to respect us and our differences, is disrespectful and one-sided.

It's like making a left-handed person draw or write with her right hand, just because doing things naturally unnerves some people.