SAR #14029

"The problem is not how high the temperature may go, but how fast it is changing." Cody Beck

Off Message: Ignored in the Republican rebuke to the President's speech was the curious fact that the economy successively been in better shape for each of Obama's five State of the Union Speeches – as the economy has slowly recovered from the mess the last guy left US in.

The Incredible Shrinking Government: The UK has not responded properly to previous suffering, so the government is going to impose another $40 billion in austerity cuts to social programs. The program will be called Thatcher Too.

Money, Money Everywhere: Caterpillar (with $10 billion) and Dupont (with $5 billion) are the latest large corporations who cannot find anything useful in the way of growing their businesses, so they are buying back their own stock. How much of its outstanding stock can a public company buy up and still be a public company?

A Boy Like That: These days Princes no longer go after Cinderellas, they engage in “positive assortative mating”. But that's not the whole story. Mostly we stick with our own kind. 
 
Dance To The Music: Ukraine's prime minister and his cabinet have resigned, having effectively lost control of the country to the public, which wants closer ties with the European Union. Putin is not amused and has quietly and indirectly threatened to “reconsider” a $15 billion bailout the country desperately needs if a Russian-friendly and compliant government is not empowered. This is not progress.

Wordplay: December's durable goods orders were not all that durable, total orders were down 4.3%

Hidden Gem: Here's a comprehensive guide on "How to Talk to a Climate Skeptic". Good background for the deniers to (a) see what they're up against in the reality based world, and/or (b) find where they are on the ignorant-to-idiot scale. 
 
Diminishing Returns: The NSA, unable to identify non-existent terrorist threats through monitoring our emails and phones 24/7, is now monitoring our on-line game playing and the apps we use while waiting for supper. Is there a real intelligence agency out there somewhere that the NSA is drawing attention away from?

Majority Rules: The Federal Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has concluded that the NSA's monitoring program is not only illegal, it is ineffective. So, if a tree falls and no one wants to hear it, does it matter?

Progress: Does having one of the generals in Egypt's ruling junta run for president under a constitution dictated by the junta in elections supervised by the junta mean that dominatocracy rules?

Whether / Climate Change: “For those of you wondering what happened to your jet stream, folks in Nome, Alaska are enjoying a record high of forty-six degrees and looking at an overnight low around thirty-three. It is raining in Anchorage.”

Porn O'Graph: America’s industrial rebound is not a myth, it's a lie.

The Parting Shot:

 Rainbow Parrotfish, Scarus guacamais.