The World According To PTK

James Fallows, who is an excellent veteran writer for The Atlantic , published a post today about "climate-gate" scientist Michael Mann being cleared of all wrongdoing yet again, this time by the National Science Foundation. As is often the case, Mr. Fallows raises a lot of good points using a small number of words, and provides some nice links. One of the points is the amazing and disturbing rejection of well-established science by nearly the entire Republican party. As I once heard Chris Matthews say to Pat Buchanan, these guys "would have been great in the Dark Ages." What would Abe Lincoln be thinking right now if he could see this?

After months of fighting to end Qaddafi's forty years of lunatic despotic rule in Libya, rebel fighters now control most of Tripoli, the capitol city, and today breached the walls of the presidential compound, where thousands celebrated and carried off booty and weapons. And on the same day, I felt my tenth floor cubicle in South Boston begin to sway at around two this afternoon, the result of a 5.8 earthquake all the way down in Virginia.

I just heard Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken mispronounce the word "peripheral" as "periphial" on the MLB Network. This is one of the most commonly bungled English words, in my experience. A small way to stimulate the economy while improving English usage would be to create signs that teach proper spelling, pronunciation and usage of commonly botched words, and place them in public spaces.

This 2008 performance of "While You Wait For The Others," by the band Grizzly Bear, is mellow and trippy, with a muddy, popping guitar sound, a pleasing melody, sweet harmonies, and a rhythm section featuring nice snare work, quiet organ, interesting bass fills, and I say that this is a doggone pretty song. Recorded live for the show Morning Becomes Eclectic in the studios of KCRW, my old beloved Santa Monica Community College radio station. I drove many a mile around Southern California soaking up the musical and spoken sounds of this fine outlet. Long live KCRW.

Check out this video by Kevin Slavin at a recent TED talk.

I'm mighty impressed by this explanation of what ails the field of economics. It's not what you expect, whatever it is that you expect. This is very good: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1FRA5LD2PG6HT/ So now I'm going to read this at his blog: http://markbc.wordpress.com/thermodynamics-for-economists/ Do what I did and read the first thing first, though. It's well worth it.

Last night the Red Sox returned to first place in the standings, when they beat the Yankees on a tenth-inning walk-off single by rookie right fielder Josh Reddick, after they had tied it in the ninth against the great Mariano Rivera. That gives Rivera fourteen blown saves against the Red Sox in his career. No other team in baseball has gotten to him more than eight times. Tonight Tim Wakefield will start the first game of a three-game set in Minnesota. This will be his third try at  career win number 200.

Who thinks the US will experience economic growth sufficient to lower the unemployment rate below 6% any time in the next eight to ten years in the absence of major government stimulus?

Clive Owen points out in the Atlantic that the S&P downgrade of the US debt rating should not have a significant market impact; that the ratings agencies have very little credibility; and that, at the same time, America deserves a downgrade, due, more than anything, to political dysfunction.

In keeping with my goal to publish a blog post at least once every eight months, without fail, here goes, on the sixth of August, exactly eight months since the last entry. Sox Pound Yanks, Tie for First After falling out of first place for the first time in a month last night, the Red Sox beat the Yankees, 10-4, at Fenway Park this afternoon, to move back into a tie for the top spot in the AL East. Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury drove in a career-high six runs, including a three-run bomb to right, his nineteenth of the season, to cap a five-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth and give the hometown nine a 7-2 lead, after the Yanks had tied it at two in the top of the inning. In a shining example of a reverse lock, Red Sox starter John Lackey, he of the $17 million yearly salary and the second worst ERA in the game in 2011, easily out-dueled CC Sabathia, who came into the game with a league-leading 16 wins, but fell to 0-4 against the Sox on the season, giving up sev

Here's an example of how expensive obscure albums can be. I suppose if you had the ability to guess right, you could outperform any stock market index by purchasing selected indie rock albums. The supply tends to be relatively low, so if the thing goes out of print, a little demand can go a long way. I heard a track tonight off my latest pickup (thanks to the U.S. Postal Service for another musical delivery), a 1999 Matador Records comp (Everything Is Nice), by a low-fi punk rock band from Japan called Guitar Wolf, liked it, went to Amazon to check the price and some reviews, and found that I can have a used copy for a mere $152.80. Hmmm. I think I'll wait for a re-release -- which raises the point, of course: what happens to the value of the out-of-print original when and if the re-release comes out? Amazon link for reference: http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Wolves-Guitar-Wolf/dp/B0000036XO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294362983&sr=8-1

It just occurred to me that my CD collection, having reached 1,011 recordings, is not duplicated anywhere else on Earth. I have no proof of this, but it is entirely logical to assume that in no other place are these particular recordings together. There are too many of them. Samples from today's haul, via USPS to my door: King Crimson: Starless and Bible Black (1974, EG) Dengue Fever: Venus on Earth (2008, M80) Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan: Ballad of the Broken Seas (2006, V2)