Interesting New Force Postulated in Physics: Destiny
— Ace

I call humbug, but it's interesting. Quantum fate:

TollaksenÂ’s group is looking into the notion that time might flow backward, allowing the future to influence the past. By extension, the universe might have a destiny that reaches back and conspires with the past to bring the present into view. On a cosmic scale, this idea could help explain how life arose in the universe against tremendous odds. On a personal scale, it may make us question whether fate is pulling us forward and whether we have free will.

The boat trip has been organized as part of a conference sponsored by the Foundational Questions Institute to highlight some of the most controversial areas in physics. Tollaksen’s idea certainly meets that criterion. And yet, as crazy as it sounds, this notion of reverse causality is gaining ground. A succession of quantum experiments confirm its predictions—showing, bafflingly, that measurements performed in the future can influence results that happened before those measurements were ever made.

Thanks to rdbrewer.

Posted by: Ace at 10:36 AM | Comments (109)
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Report: White House Says US Will Stand With Israel Over Pro-Terrorist PR Stunt
— DrewM

Goodish news.

Regardless of the details of the flotilla incident, sources say President Obama is focused on what he sees as the longer term issue here: a successful Mideast peace process.

“The president has always said that it will be much easier for Israel to make peace if it feels secure,” a senior administration official tells ABC News.

The suggestion is that US condemnation of Israel would further isolate that country, and make further peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians even more difficult.

It's good and a little surprising that Obama didn't jump on the anti-Israeli bandwagon. Getting the UN to water down its reaction to a neutral statement by the President of the Security Council and not a resolution of condemnation is what passes for victory in Turtle Bay.

The downside is the underlying assumption that the problem with the 'peace process' is Israel. That some how if only Israel feels secure then everything will be rainbows and skittles in the Mideast.

That sort of worldview ignores all available evidence. The Palestinians in genera,l and Hamas, in particular has no interest in peace with Israel. Israel however has made repeated efforts to make peace (Wye River and Taba) while the Palestinians continue to hold out for maximilist policies coupled with terror attacks.

All that said, you have to hand it to the organizers of this stunt. They put Israel in a no-win situation. Giving up the blockade would have opened up additional smuggling opportunities for Hamas and handed them a victory. Enforcing the blockade means letting the pro-terrorist 'activists' get their PR victory.

The use of Turks as the shock troops was also inspired. While that country has become more and more Islamist over the years, it still had at least relatively cordial relations with Israel.

Not any more.

With anger and sarcasm, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu lashed out Tuesday at Israel's attack on a Gaza aid flotilla and by extension the Obama administration's reluctance to immediately condemn the assault that left at least nine civilians dead.

"Psychologically, this attack is like 9/11 for Turkey," Davutoglu told reporters over breakfast in Washington before going to the State Department to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

I would hope Clinton would disabuse him of that particular notion but she won't.

This stunt also produced another positive result for the pro-terrorist camp, Egypt opened its border with Gaza. Funny how no one ever gets around to pointing out this supposedly vile Israeli blockade was also enforced by Arab Muslims. Now that's become untenable for Egypt and weapons will soon be flowing in greater numbers than the smugglers already were able to manage.

This isn't an issue one can calmly talk about. Very few minds will be changed by facts or any investigation. You either side with the terrorists and their supporters or you side with the most liberal democracy in the region. Where one comes down on this incident says more about the person talking about it than anything else. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the usual suspects are behaving their usual morally suspect ways.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:32 AM | Comments (336)
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Change! Democrats now report higher "debt stress" levels than Republicans
— Purple Avenger

I guess the news that Obama ain't all that is starting to sink in and the post-election days of wine and roses are over.

...Last year, Democrats felt better about their finances than Republicans, despite generally being in worse shape. That sense seems to have worn off: Democrats now report higher debt stress levels on average than Republicans...

Perhaps Republicans were simply more pessimistic realistic about Teh One's Ascension and the suicidal Pelosi congress and made necessary survival adjustments earlier on? An 18 month head start on hunkering down for the long haul is obviously going to translate into a much better position today.

Let's face it - a religious like faith in Skittle shitting Unicorns and hitting the Lotto was never really a solid plan for economic survival.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 07:29 AM | Comments (144)
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Al Qaeda's Number 3 Man Dies From Heartache Over American Idol Results And US Missile Attack But Mostly US Missile Attack
— DrewM

Mustafa Abu al-Yazid was an original founder of Al Qaeda and it's top money guy, now he's little pieces of flesh scattered about a Pakistani mountain side. Circle of life and all.

The death of al Yazid, a key figure in the 9-11 attacks who was considered al Qaeda's number three leader, removes one of the organization's best-trained veterans from the field and deprives Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, of one of their few remaining close confidants.

...Yazid was also an early member of Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which would later merge with bin Laden's group to make the present day al Qaeda.

Yazid, who served for many years as al Qaeda's accountant and chief financial officer, was a leading strategist of the organization and a trusted deputy of both Zawahiri and bin Laden, one of the few in al Qaeda believed to have direct access to the two elusive leaders of the organization.

Yazid was cited in the 9/11 Commission's report as the person who controlled the funds used for the devastating attacks.

BP's Top Kill didn't work in the Gulf but I'm pretty excited about the success of this version.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:08 AM | Comments (55)
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Top Headline Comments 6-1-10
— Gabriel Malor

June!

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:52 AM | Comments (158)
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NYT: Don't worry, be happy about foreclosure
Stop paying that pesky mortgage and enjoy the good things in life
— Purple Avenger

A while ago, I and others suggested a non-trivial chunk of this supposed "recovery" was being fueled by mortgage payments being redeployed towards other things as people shucked away the now (apparently) obsolete traditional social mores that (in the past) would have relegated such defaulters to significantly lower social strata and significantly diminished lifestyle.

The government of course didn't and doesn't want to believe that sort of mechanism might even exist as a theory let alone be in actual operation out in the wild.

Well, that wild crazy talk just got the imprimatur of the, ahem, Newspaper of Record.

...Foreclosure has allowed them to stabilize the family business. Go to Outback occasionally for a steak. Take their gas-guzzling airboat out for the weekend. Visit the Hard Rock Casino.

“Instead of the house dragging us down, it’s become a life raft,” said Mr. Pemberton, who stopped paying the mortgage on their house here last summer. “It’s really been a blessing.”

A growing number of the people whose homes are in foreclosure are refusing to slink away in shame. They are fashioning a sort of homemade mortgage modification, one that brings their payments all the way down to zero. They use the money they save to get back on their feet or just get by.

This type of modification does not beg for a lenderÂ’s permission but is delivered as an ultimatum: Force me out if you can. Any moral qualms are overshadowed by a conviction that the banks created the crisis by snookering homeowners with loans that got them in over their heads...

...More than 650,000 households had not paid in 18 months, LPS calculated earlier this year. With 19 percent of those homes, the lender had not even begun to take action to repossess the property — double the rate of a year earlier...

...They used the $1,837 a month that they were not paying their lender to publicize A Plus Restorations, first with print ads, then local television. Word apparently got around, because the business is recovering...

Forget non-existent SBA loans made out of unobtanium. Apparently the fastest way to infuse your small business with cash is to default on your mortgage.

One doesn't need a crystal ball to see where this leads. At some point the lenders have to foreclose because the tax bills keep coming due. They've been hoping for some sort of rebound to mute the damage, but that's clearly not happening in the foreseeable future. Massive losses will have to be taken and written down. Stage 2: everyone who is doing what the people in the NYT article are doing WILL have that written down debt reported as income to Uncle Sugar. Similarly massive IRS bills will result when that happens.

[UPDATE] Some additional lucid commentary from Prof Mondo worth reading.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 03:27 AM | Comments (125)
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