Source: Unknown. I have not been able to track down the photographer, although the signature indicates that the last name is “Waterfalls”
Monthly Archives: April 2013
*Cough* Buy me last pape, mister?
June 1910. Philadelphia, Pa.
Michael McNelis, 8 years old, a newsboy. This boy has just recovered from his second attack of pneumonia. Was found selling papers in a big rainstorm today.
Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine.
Easter Eggs of the Third Kind
In the Udvar-Hazy extension of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, sits the model UFO that was used in filming “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
This is what it looked like in the film.
And here is the model. This is one of my pictures – an official shot can be seen at the Smithsonian’s website.
The model was made by Columbia Pictures Corp. in 1977 from wood, plastic and metal; its dimensions are 63″ x 38″ and it weighs 400 lbs. It is a beauty to behold in its own right, but it gets even more fun when you start to pay closer attention.
The builders had a lot of fun putting this thing together; looking closely at the model, one can find tiny hidden smaller models which are not seen when the Mother Ship appears in the film. These models were added by the construction crew as internal “jokes.” They include a Volkswagen bus, a submarine, a tie fighter, the R2-D2 android, a U.S. mailbox, an aircraft, and a small cemetery plot.
I wasn’t able to get shots of all of the Easter eggs, but here are the ones I could get clean pictures of:
R2-D2
Airplanes
Cemetery
Tie Fighter
VW Bus sandwiched in the gap. (This picture by Vincegamer over at the Cool Mini or Not forum)
Only R2-D2 was visible in the film itself:
Little things like this make a film even more fun than it already is.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
This is not a world that works for everyone.
According to an article by by David Cay Johnston posted at Taxanalysts.com, the average adjusted gross income for 90% of American wage earners grew only $59.00 from 1966 to 2011, while the top 1% of the top 1% saw income growth equaling $18.4 million dollars. Put that in a graph, and it looks like this:
Screw whole bunches of that.
From the article:
“In 2011 entry into the top 10 percent, where all the gains took place, required an adjusted gross income of at least $110,651. The top 1 percent started at $366,623.
The top 1 percent enjoyed 81 percent of all the increased income since 2009. Just over half of the gains went to the top one-tenth of 1 percent, and 39 percent of the gains went to the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent.
Ponder that last fact for a moment — the top 1 percent of the top 1 percent, those making at least $7.97 million in 2011, enjoyed 39 percent of all the income gains in America. In a nation of 158.4 million households, just 15,837 of them received 39 cents out of every dollar of increased income.
That extreme concentration, however, is far from the most jaw-dropping figure that can be distilled from the new Saez-Piketty analysis. That requires a long-term comparison of those at or near the top with the bottom 90 percent.
In 2011 the average AGI of the vast majority fell to $30,437 per taxpayer, its lowest level since 1966 when measured in 2011 dollars. The vast majority averaged a mere $59 more in 2011 than in 1966. For the top 10 percent, by the same measures, average income rose by $116,071 to $254,864, an increase of 84 percent over 1966.
Plot those numbers on a chart, with one inch for $59, and the top 10 percent’s line would extend more than 163 feet.
Now compare the vast majority’s $59 with the top 1 percent, and that line extends for 884 feet. The top 1 percent of the top 1 percent, whose 2011 average income of $23.7 million was $18.4 million more per taxpayer than in 1966, would require a line nearly five miles long.”
These numbers show without equivocation that the rich truly are getting richer at mind-boggling speed, while the rest of us are getting poorer by the year. It almost makes me want to support forced redistribution of wealth, but even these disgusting statistics can’t quite get me there. But somehow the playing field needs to be leveled, because inequalities of this nature in the land of the free and the home of the brave will not long endure without some sort of massive social upheaval down the road.
I’m not an economist, so I don’t have the answers. I can only hope that there are people out there who still believe in a world that works for everyone, with no one left out, and who have the skills and insight to make a difference. For all of us.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Little Girl Holding a Goat
Looks like Mongolia from here, but not sure. Adorable, at any rate.
1902: 1000 Kronen
1000-Crown note from the Austro-Hungarian empire, series 1902. Notice the overstamp which declares, “German Austria.”
The value of the note is printed in 8 languages in addition to German, among which are Serbian, Croatian, French, and Romanian.
The text reads, “The Austro-Hungarian bank pays promptly on demand at its headquarters in Vienna and Budapest one thousand crowns in legal metal currency, Vienna, 2 January 1902.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
An Open Letter to Kim Jong-Un
Excuse my French. I usually try to express myself in more civilized terms. For the moron currently running North Korea (at least in name – most of us know that the military leadership is calling the shots), nothing else will do.
Kim, stop being such a 바보[1]. Your country is a shambles, your people are starving, nobody envies you, nobody wants what you have, you are the laughing stock of the world, and you’re just making yourself look like a bloody great wanker. Stand down, open your borders, join the rest of civilization and give your people a chance at happiness and prosperity. There is no other way. “It is no concern of ours how you run your own country – but if you threaten to extend your violence, this nation of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder.”
The Old Wolf (and Klaatu) have spoken.
[1] Korean: “pabo” means “fool” or “jackass”.
Russian Abacus Seller, 1860
Debunked again: The Vaccine/Autism link
As discussed in my previous post, once a “fact” has taken hold in the public’s mind, it will most likely live forever in some sectors of the general population.
One particularly egregious – and harmful – example is found in the Vaccination/Autism link, which has long been debunked but which continues to perpetuate itself.
Executive Summary: There is no link between vaccinations (particularly thimerosal) and autism. The scare was created by a disreputable doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who was hired as a paid consultant by a law firm who looked to make money from suing vaccine manufacturers. The flawed study was published in Lancet, and later retracted.
It’s a shame that time and energy even needs to be spent on this nonsense.
Here are some links that are worth reading if you have any questions.
1) Journal of Pediatrics: “The Risk of Autism Is Not Increased by “Too Many Vaccines Too Soon“
2) Time Magazine: Debunked
“More than any other research, it was a study published in the British medical journal the Lancet in 1998 that helped foster the persisting notion that childhood vaccines can cause autism. On Feb. 2, that flawed study, led by gastroenterologist Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was officially retracted by the journal’s editors… Among other failures, Wakefield neglected to disclose that he was a paid adviser in legal cases involving families suing vaccine manufacturers for harm to their children.”
According to the Huffington Post, Wakefield was stripped of his right to practice medicine in Britain in May of 2010.
3) British Medical Journal: How the case against the MMR vaccine was fixed
In this brilliant and painstakingly documented investigative report, Brian Deer outlines step-by-step how the fraud was perpetuated, and by whom, and for what rea$on.
Do yourself a favor – get your kids vaccinated – failure to do so is resulting in an explosion of measles cases, and as many parents continue to refuse all vaccinations, a resurgence of previously rare diseases is a real possibility.
Edit: As of 2013, the reported number of cases of whooping cough has been declining since last year, but there is still an unacceptable jump in the numbers since 1990 or thereabouts.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Conspiracy Theory Poll
Interesting data here.
Conspiracy Theory Poll Results
(Reblogged from Public Policy Polling)
On our national poll this week we took the opportunity to poll 20 widespread and/or infamous conspiracy theories. Many of these theories are well known to the public, others perhaps to just the darker corners of the internet. Here’s what we found:
– 37% of voters believe global warming is a hoax, 51% do not. Republicans say global warming is a hoax by a 58-25 margin, Democrats disagree 11-77, and Independents are more split at 41-51. 61% of Romney voters believe global warming is a hoax
– 6% of voters believe Osama bin Laden is still alive
– 21% of voters say a UFO crashed in Roswell, NM in 1947 and the US government covered it up. More Romney voters (27%) than Obama voters (16%) believe in a UFO coverup
– 28% of voters believe secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government, or New World Order. A plurality of Romney voters (38%) believe in the New World Order compared to 35% who don’t
– 28% of voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks. 36% of Romney voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, 41% do not
– 20% of voters believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism, 51% do not
– 7% of voters think the moon landing was faked
– 13% of voters think Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, including 22% of Romney voters
– Voters are split 44%-45% on whether Bush intentionally misled about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 72% of Democrats think Bush lied about WMDs, Independents agree 48-45, just 13% of Republicans think so
– 29% of voters believe aliens exist
– 14% of voters say the CIA was instrumental in creating the crack cocaine epidemic in America’s inner cities in the 1980’s
– 9% of voters think the government adds fluoride to our water supply for sinister reasons (not just dental health)
– 4% of voters say they believe “lizard people” control our societies by gaining political power
– 51% of voters say a larger conspiracy was at work in the JFK assassination, just 25% say Oswald acted alone
– 14% of voters believe in Bigfoot
– 15% of voters say the government or the media adds mind-controlling technology to TV broadcast signals (the so-called Tinfoil Hat crowd)
– 5% believe exhaust seen in the sky behind airplanes is actually chemicals sprayed by the government for sinister reasons (also called chemtrails)
– 15% of voters think the medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry “invent” new diseases to make money
– Just 5% of voters believe that Paul McCartney actually died in 1966
– 11% of voters believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen, 78% do not agree
Full results here
In my experience, once a “fact” has taken hold in the public’s mind, either from a Mr. Popiel infomercial, or a Dr. Oz special, or a spam email trumpeting “Seen on Oprah!”, it will essentially live forever.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Playing in the World Game 