Tuesday, January 15th, 2013
CHARLES CHOI, Contributing Writer - Live Science
Stephan: Here is one of those fascinating little stories that go by almost unremarked.
A full report on this research can be found online in the journal Science.
A clock based on just a single atom - the simplest clock yet - has now been devised, researchers say.
This new device to measure time could help lead to a radically new way to define mass as well, scientists added.
In addition, this achievement suggests that researchers might one day build even more exotic clocks - ones based on antimatter, or ones based on no particles at all.
Fundamentally, all clocks measure time by relying on parts that repeat behavior in regular patterns. For instance, a year is defined by how long it takes for Earth to complete an orbit around the sun.
The most accurate clocks that currently exist are atomic clocks. These depend on how atoms switch between two distinct energy levels. Essentially, these clocks rely on at least two particles - the nucleus of an atom, and an electron leaping back and forth between different levels of energy.
Defining time
However, could clocks get simpler still?
‘We were interested in what the simplest clocks are to explore the question of what time is,’ said researcher Holger Müller, a physicist at the University of California at Berkeley. ‘If you say that, say, you can’t measure time with less than two particles, does that […]
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2013
IAN MILLHISER, - Think Progress
Stephan: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which many seem to think is a branch of the government is, in fact, a private organization, the creature of special interests, including foreign special interests. Its function is to lobby and obtain special interest breaks for the uber-rich, and the Virtual Corporate States.
They have buckets of money, and I think we can all assume that any attempt to regulate those who control Chamber of Commerce, will be met with a flood of money to buy the greedy corrupted cretins that make up such a big percentage of the Congress. Their moves to block a responsible program to address climate change I view as crimes against humanity.
Yesterday, U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Tom Donohue delivered his ‘State of American Business
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Monday, January 14th, 2013
LYNN PARRAMORE, Contributing Editor - Salon/AlterNet
Stephan: The myth of America is that no matter where you start you can end up on top. And it is true that for exceptional people, with a few good breaks it is true -- Oprah, President Obama, Associate Justice Sotomayor. But the truth is only a tiny fraction of people are exceptional in that way. For most, today, as the data makes clear, where you start is probably going to be where you end. This is why we need to support programs that make upward mobility possible. Society is healthier when class distinctions do not become ironbound, as has happened in the U.S.
Give me the child until he is seven,
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Monday, January 14th, 2013
NANETTE BYRNES, - Reuters
Stephan: We are entering into a very interesting period of transition moving power back to the states. This is part of the Great Schism Trend. The Theocratic Right, unable to control national policy in the way they would like, have realized that they can get control at the state level -- in certain states. And they have. As a result they are implementing their social vision. In some Red value states it is now almost impossible for a poor woman to get reproductive healthcare or a pregnancy termination. And, as this report makes clear, in those same Theocratic Right value states they are now going to impose their Randian economic vision. It is going to be interesting to see how this turns out. So far Red value states are generally recipients not donors; their programs are made possible through the underwriting of Blue value states.
CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA — Hopes for overhauling the federal tax system are fading in Washington, but in some state capitals, tax reform experiments – some far-reaching – are fast taking shape.
Across the South and Midwest, Republicans have consolidated control of state legislatures and governorships, giving them the power to test long-debated tax ideas.
Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, for instance, called on Thursday for ending the state’s income tax and corporate taxes, with sales taxes compensating for lost revenue.
A similar plan is being pushed by Republicans in North Carolina. Kansas, which cut its income tax significantly last year, may trim further. Oklahoma, which tried to cut income taxes last year, is expected to try again.
‘When it comes to getting pro-growth tax reform done this year, the only real opportunities are at the state level,’ said Patrick Gleason, director of state affairs for Americans for Tax Reform, the Washington-based anti-tax lobbying group headed by small-government conservative activist Grover Norquist.
His group and other conservative pressure organizations, such as Americans for Prosperity, have targeted state capitals for tax reform campaigns.
Cutting income taxes and shifting the overall tax burden to consumption through higher sales taxes is a long-standing goal of some tax theorists. Critics […]
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Monday, January 14th, 2013
PHILIP BUMP, - Mother Jones
Stephan: Here is the latest on Shell Oil's arctic foray, and the platform that ran aground. You ended up paying for this ill-conceived nonsense. Imagine if this same money had been spent on alternatives.
I’ve been working this case relatively nonstop since the 27th.
Petty Officer First Class David Mosley didn’t sound all that tired when I spoke with him yesterday, but, then, he’s a public affairs specialist, a professional. A few times he stumbled over his words, once or twice forgot specific numbers. On the whole, though, no problems as he walked me through the massive complement of US Coast Guard staff and sea vessels and aircraft deployed to fix Shell’s mistake.
Two weeks from yesterday, the Kulluk, a drilling rig managed by Noble Drilling and owned by Shell, broke free of its tow lines as tug boats struggled in inclement weather to move it away from the Alaskan shore. On Dec. 31, it ran aground within an important bird area on Kodiak Island. A unified command comprised of representatives of Shell, Noble, the Coast Guard, the state of Alaska, and local representatives spent the next week and half determining whether the rig was safe to move and, ultimately, moving it to a nearby harbor. Some 700 people were involved in the effort by the time it had been safely docked.
How many of that 700 were from the Coast Guard? ‘That’s a very good question,’ […]
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