In their seminal paper “Flying in Tune: Sexual recognition in mosquitoes”, Gabrielle Gibson and and Ian Russel from the University of Greenwich discovered an inspiring phenomenon: male mosquitoes change their buzzing frequency to match that of a female mosquito. This synchronization brings their wing beats to within a millisecond or less of one another. The authors suggest that this phenomenon facilitates the mosquitoes’ ability to copulate mid-flight.

Courtesy of Truce via Metafilter

Paul Craig Roberts, once of supply-side fame, as written a disturbing piece, Obama’s Budget, on line at Counterpunch. Every liberal still starry-eyed over the election needs to read it – surprise surprise! The new administration is carrying forth with the Bush policies on spying and detention. Little noted, Obama’s “withdrawal” plan for Iraq leaves 50,000 troops there permanently. The joke’s on us! That was McCain’s plan! That was Bush’s plan! That’s a knee-slapper!

Here’s an excerpt:

Obama is requesting $130 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during 2010 plus a $75 billion supplemental request for the wars during 2009. This $205 billion is on top of $534 billion for the Pentagon in 2010, for total military spending of $739 billion.

The Chinese government’s budget shows China’s military spending at $59 billion in 2008. (The Pentagon claims Chinese military spending is between $97 billion and $139 billion.) Russia’s military spending in 2009 is projected to be about $50 billion.

That is, we are outspending China and Russia combined by possibly as much as seven-to-one. Roberts further speculates that since Obama has adopted the Cheney/Bolton hard line against Iran, that perhaps he intends to open up a third front in our war on peace. Or, call it a fourth front, with Pakistan being the third.

In the Reaganist view of the country, government is the enemy of prosperity and needs to be reined in. Since government programs are popular and the public supports funding, these programs have to be undermined. One way to do that is to create so much debt that sustaining them becomes an impossibility.

Reagan used military spending to do this, as did Bush. The military budget is beyond criticism – no one dare cut it. Nor do they talk about deficits in terms of what the military is doing to us. It’s always Social Security (self-funded) and Medicare, and for the less-educated, “welfare”. Out-of-whack military budgets are seen as essential to security. Propaganda rules.

“Starving the beast” has always been a threat, but it has never materialized. Social programs have increased funding since 1980, and Bush even added a pharmaceutical industry subsidy (that somewhat benefits seniors) to Medicare.

But past budget deficits were mild compared to the maniac we now have in the White House. It could be that “The One” will be the one who undid progressive movement. Isn’t it ironic?

Vodpod videos no longer available.

“Don’t get me wrong, slavery was a terrible, horrible thing. But you can’t whine and cry about it these days. I mean, Jews were slaves, but they’re not asking for compensation from Egypt.”
— Joe the Plumber

I’m sitting here in the Portland airport with time to kill, wondering if I have been too hard on the Perfesser – not that he cares, but civility matters. I haven’t been civil with him, but it seems that doing so merely feeds the beast. The man has a massive ego, or massive insecurity. He expects to be treated with deference, his opinions accepted as having gravity beyond disputation. If one does not knock him off the podium, he just goes on and on and on … right about everything, dismissive of anyone else’s outlook. He will lecture you if you let him, but that’s about it. He’s quite a piece of work.

So I take us back to the early 1990’s. Montana’s tax system was somewhat in disrepair, in that we had a top marginal tax rate of 11%, and according to accepted wisdom, that was driving people away. In addition, as a tax preparer, I saw many people who were exempt from even filing a federal return who were required to file a Montana return and pay some tax. We need to get rid of the top bracket – it was an illusion anyway – deductibility of federal taxes knocked that bracket down to seven percent. We needed chop off the bottom as well, to free people in the low brackets from filing at all.

The legislature was Democratic at that time, and they put together a package that satisfied both objectives – knocking down the top rate, clearing out the bottom. It would have, overall, reduced taxes for middle and lower middle class and eliminated them for the working poor, with slight increases in the upper tiers – overall, it was not revenue neutral – it was a tax decrease.

Along comes the Perfesser – screaming to all who would listen – “They’re raising your taxes!!! They’re raising your taxes!!!” He’s a one-noter in that regard – in his world, taxes are inefficient, the private sector totally efficient, so that any revenue that is collected by taxation is automatically poorly spent or invested. He’s wrong about that, of course, but try telling him.

Anyway, he launched a petition campaign to put the tax reform on the ballot, and demogogued it. He told people whose taxes were actually going to be decreased that they were going up – since he is never ill-informed, I can only conclude that he consciously lied about that. But it worked – the bill was rejected by the voters, and we went back to our old system.

Along comes Judy Martz, the ditzy blond, and a Republican legislature, and they have their own brand of tax “reform” – our current system, which is essentially a flat tax at 6.9%, with limited deductibility of federal taxes, aka double taxation of the same income. That hits high-income taxpayers very hard, and they know it. And we have people on the bottom who don’t have to file federal returns having to file Montana returns, and pay taxes.

Montana’s taxpayers were harmed by this man – he alone did this damage. He is responsible for lower income people having to pay taxes and file returns, he is responsible for double taxation of income for people who pay more than $5,000 in federal tax ($10,000 MFJ). If he hadn’t demogogued a good bill, we would not have gotten a bad one instead.

Natelson has a dedicated following, much the same as Ayn Rand does – people attracted to a simple world and troubled by nuance and unpredictable outcomes. His philosophy is easy to comprehend – taxes bad, regulation bad, government bad, private sector good. There is excellence in the private sector, mediocrity in government. If we had a minimum of government, it would be a better world. No matter that the system we have now came about because the private sector constantly falls on its face, with bubbles and depressions and recessions and extremes of wealth and poverty and uninsured people needing medical care, seniors starving for lack of pensions – no matter all of that. It’s only evidence, it’s only history. And it doesn’t matter.

After all, this is all about the perfesser. And he’s always right. Don’t believe me? Just ask him.

I wish this guy was representing us, instead of our current trust baby (and free market believer). Vodpod videos no longer available.

Apparently, not every sound ever made while the Beatles were in a recording studio has been anthologized, and there is still money to be made. But this one was released on the sly – that is, no one is making a buck on it. Not even Yoko. (Man is she pissed!)

It’s a different version of the original combined ideas for Revolution 1 and Revolution 9 that the boys put together. After they realized it had little market potential, they split it in two, embellishing the latter. It became two ideas, and sort of explains the origin of that long mysterious sound collage on the White Album, which I always thought of as Yoko’s attempt to make the band ordinary.

h.t: C Trent Rosecrans

We had a chance to view the Oscars last night – a gathering of family and friends, so I had a chance to collect some interesting views on it all.

1) Why does it matter?

It doesn’t. It’s just fun.

2) Was Slumdog all that good?

It was good, but not great. It was an impressive depiction of child abuse and poverty in India, and a good old-fashioned love story. It had enough poverty to ruin the love story, as people that damaged don’t turn out so innocent and nice. It had enough love story to detract from the poverty and cruelty, as it seems that growing up like that did not affect them at all. It did not know what it wanted to be. But it caught a wave, just as Crash did a couple of years ago – anything to stop the gay movie from winning.

3) Why was Brad Pitt nominated?

He adds runway appeal. So does Angelina. It’s about ratings.

4) Why did the two biggest movies of the year, Dark Knight and Mamma Mia, not get much mention?

The Oscars are about what we should watch – not what we like. They are meant to lift and separate us from our mundane proletarian tastes, to show us artists performing their craft with great ability. Meryl Streep can act, man. So can Nicole Kidman – why, she’s not even shallow. (Didn’t you just love The Hours? We all loved The Hours. It wasn’t boring at all.)

5) What’s with the gay thing?

Gay movies are slowly becoming mainstream, and there were several scenes of men kissing last night. But here is the interesting part of that – the gay parts cannot be played by openly gay men. It has to be straight men acting gay. Hence, Sean Penn, who really pulled it off, got the award. But leading men cannot be gay in real life – if they were, they would have no mass appeal, and no career. Hence they go to great lengths to protect their straight identity – fake marriages and macho pursuits, all while living the gay life in private. Right Travolta? Cruise? Gere? Hudson? Anyway, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a problem with gay, it seems. Brokeback Mountain was far and away the best movie two years ago, and Milk this year. But the people who vote on this stuff? They are a little bit resistant.

6) Why does the Academy Awards show suck?

For one thing, ass kissing. Every award carries with it a bathroom break while the recipient rattles off a list of people we don’t know who he or she wants to work for again in the future. Then they have to mention spouses, kids, and teachers. You would think that people in the entertainment business would understand that this is not entertaining.

For another thing, these people need to be brought down – insulted, joked about, parodied – the kind of thing that comedians do so well if they are actually cut loose. Chris Rock tried it, with some success – he pissed some people off. Jon Stewart just failed. But it needs to be done – who would be a good host? Lewis Black? These people are taking themselves way too seriously.

7) Will Steven Spielberg ever make another good movie?

Probably not. Very few artists manage to keep the creative genius going through the aging process. Like Lucas, Spielberg’s best days already happened. This does not, however, explain Martin Scorsese or Clint Eastwood, who just keep getting better.

8 ) Why did they honor Jerry Lewis?

They think he might die soon. Other than that, it has never occurred to them.

9) Was Heath Ledger that good?

As the Joker, absolutely he was that good. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime performance – our lifetimes, as well as his. He was also impressive in Brokeback.

10) Who is Marion Cotillard?

She won best actress last year, playing Edith Piaf, a singer I had never heard of, in the movie La Vie en Rose. It was subtitled, dark, and hard to watch, but with all of that, it still captivated me. After we watched it I Googled her – she’s a beautiful woman, but was so submerged in the role that the beauty never shone through. She was all stooped over and had bad hair and a nasty temper and nervous tics. Only a confident person can make herself that ugly. Nicole Kidman could never pull that off.

11) Who is Nicole Kidman?

She used to be married to Tom Cruise, who’s probably gay, and that ten year marriage got her roles she never would have gotten otherwise. She really works hard at acting – you can tell she is working hard. She’s always trying to take on projects that stretch her range. Problem is, she has limited range. She can only play someone very pretty. She’s married to Keith Urban, now. He’s cleaned up for her. Yeah – that’ll last.

12)Frost-Nixon?

Didn’t win a thing. It was an interview, that’s all. As the New Yorker movie review wondered, why did they think it was so important? Anyway, we just can’t bury Nixon. We keep reminding ourselves what a bad dude he was. But like Oliver Stone’s “W”, it’s too soon. Not enough official papers have yet been released. There’s still way too many secrets.

He’s been here all along! (It’s a little disconcerting that he wanted to know my name.)