The Daily Show has the segment Band of Blockers.
So, I suppose I ought to cut the President some slack.
It’s good that the President has decided to use executive orders. According to WikiPedia‘s Consolidated list of Presidents and Order numbers, George W. Bush signed 291, and President Obama has signed 167. It is great to listen to the bleating hearts (that’s no typo) in the Republican party decry the use of executive orders.
Phys.org has the article Physicists create synthetic magnetic monopole predicted more than 80 years ago.
(Phys.org) —Nearly 85 years after pioneering theoretical physicist Paul Dirac predicted the possibility of their existence, an international collaboration led by Amherst College Physics Professor David S. Hall ’91 and Aalto University (Finland) Academy Research Fellow Mikko Möttönen has created, identified and photographed synthetic magnetic monopoles in Hall’s laboratory on the Amherst campus. The groundbreaking accomplishment paves the way for the detection of the particles in nature, which would be a revolutionary development comparable to the discovery of the electron.
I remember the use of the magnetic monopole concept in various EE and Physics courses in college. One of my professors, Paul Penfield, Jr., had strong interest in this topic. In trying to refresh my memory on the topic, I found an online copy of the book Continuum Electromechanics 1981, Melcher, James R.
For lack of evidence to support the existence of “free” magnetic monopoles, the total flux density due to all macroscopic fields must be solenoidal
While, I was in college, the magnetic monopole was a useful mathematical concept, but there was great controversy over whether or not such a thing could exist in isolation from its other pole. As I recall, after I graduated, Penfield wrote a number of technical papers in the journals I regularly read concerning this topic.
Naked Capitalism has the article Mirabile Dictu! Reid Tells Off Obama on Fast Track, Killing Toxic Trade Deals for 2014.
Obama made yet another pitch in State of the Union Address for his gimmies to multinationals known as the TransPacific Partnership and the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Today that idea went down in flames, at least as far as getting the deals done this year are concerned. From Huffington Post:
“I’m against fast track,” [Harry] Reid told reporters Wednesday on Capitol Hill, before suggesting a fast-track bill introduced by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) may not get a vote.
“We’ll see. Everyone knows how I feel about this. Senator Baucus knows, [potential backer] Sen. [Ron] Wyden knows. The White House knows.”
Indeed, Reid cautioned the president and his allies to back off.
“I think everyone would be well advised just to not push this right now,” the majority leader said.
When I heard this part of the SOTU address, I almost threw-up. How could he have said all he said about correcting inequality, and still think the TPP was a good idea? Given all the opposition from so many places, who is it that has him by the balls that he would even favor this let alone try to ram it through?