Environmental Emergency? Not!
"There was a time when religion ruled the world. It was known as The Dark Ages." -- Ruth Hurmence Green
From smith2004:
"School shootings happen because the overwhelming majority of students are never trained in the techniques -- and more importantly, the attitude -- of self-defense. And of course the most reliable means of self-defense, firearms, have been demonized by those with a political agenda and an endless supply of dull-witted followers. It also appears now that mind-altering prescription drugs like Prozac and Zoloft play a part. But chiefly, these incidents illustrate the consequences of having too few guns around, not too many." -- L. Neil Smith
# George Potter at The Claire Files - They Took The Mask Off, 4/19 - a Waco poem. [clairefiles]
# Al Giordano - Narco News Opening Statement - Sunday was the fifth anniversary of Narco News. Happy Birthday, guys. [grabbe]
# George Crispin at LewRockwell.com - The World Is A Great Place and Improving - a short review of Bjørn Lomborg's book The Skeptical Environmentalist. [lew]
The rapid growth in population began around 1950 and will end about 2050. "It is not that people suddenly started breeding like rabbits; it is that they stopped dying like flies." The rate of population growth peaked in the 90's and is dropping now. Food production per acre is increasing. Natural resources, probably including oil, cannot be used up. Air and water are becoming less polluted. Man does not cause much of global warming; best guess is it is the result of solar activity. In 1950 the average woman in the developing countries had 6 children; now she has less than three.
Life and health on this planet have vastly improved, and there is every reason to believe this can continue.
# Linda L. Briggs at Application Development Trends - Outsourcing off Los Angeles? - a novel idea for using workers without proper U.S. working visas, but without the problems of distance. If it's successul, you can bet that our legislime will respond by closing this "loophole".
The three plan to buy a used cruise ship and station it close enough for a half-hour water taxi ride to shore, but far enough to avoid H1B jurisdiction. According to CEO David Cook, who was a tanker ship captain before going into IT ten years ago, project pricing "will be comparable to a distant-shore firm."
By stationing the ship in international waters, the company, called SeaCode, will be able to remain close to U.S. clients while picking and choosing IT talent from around the world--something that tightening H1B visa requirements have made difficult in the U.S.
Depending on your point of view, it may also allow them to pay less than the rate a team of U.S. developers would command.
That assumes that the talent is willing to live on a ship, of course, which may not be as tough as it sounds. Cook says the ship will retain all of its cruise ship facilities and will feed and house workers in style. During off hours, programming teams can partake of the ship's recreational facilities or head for the lights of L.A. on a water taxi, since each worker will be required to have a U.S. tourist visa, Cook says.
# Ian at Wolfesblog - Range Report: 4-Day Practical Rifle at Front Sight - he liked it. Hard not to like four days of learning to use your rifle, but having never done this myself, I don't know how much the quality of different places varies, though I would guess it's a lot, and Front Sight is probably near the top of the heap. [claire]
# zixle at Scott Violet's Blog - Swing Painting Improvements: No More Gray Rect! - Java 6, Mustang, will finally implement true double-buffering, at least in the Windoze version. Good to hear. [cafe]
