Sunday, as we were driving in the car, my granddaughter asked me how it was possible for a bee to cling to the front passenger window despite the breeze of the car moving through the air.  I said something vaguely like “Tufts of microscopic hairs …”

Coincidentally, today I found an  article on Tech Times Geckos control toe hairs to be sticky or not, inspiring bioengineers to do the same.  Explaining how the geckos hang on, they gave a more complete sentence than I was able to remember.

Those tufts of microscopic hairs can conform so closely to the surface contours of a surface that an effect known as the van der Waals force can operate.

I was also trying to imagine how the grip could be released.  Of course, the headline of the article indicates that the explanation for that is also in the article.

Engineers study the most fascinating stuff.  The next time you sneer at a government (or other source) funded study of  bugs as a waste of time, try to open your mind to the reasons for such studies.  Maybe you can’t  imagine the reason, but that does not mean that there isn’t a reason.

Sneering is an easy reaction, but it is not likely to be the most intelligent one.

The Daily Kos has published the Tom Tomorrow cartoon Press conference.

I repost this cartoon because I believe the cartoonist expressed what I think better than I ever could have.

The cartoonist has a subscription page, Sparky’s List, where you can help support the cartoonist.

Read my previous post Monetizing Internet Content – Refresher Course to see my suggestion for how authors on the internet could be paid for their efforts.

The July 31 Edition of The Town Common has the article Alleged union job talk spurs ethics complaint.  The article is on the last page.

STURBRIDGE – An ethics complaint filed last week by the town manager against Zoning Board of Appeals member Christopher Mattioli got its start with a chance meeting at the gym.
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Patel went further in a recent interview with the Town Common.  He said Mattioli also approached him about his project and Patel’s plan to use non-union labor. Patel said he felt intimidated by Mattioli.

I am a supporter of the value that unions bring to our society, and I would like to see the laws rebalanced to bring back some of the power of the unions that has been under attack since before 1980.  I was also hoping that Christopher Mattioli would have a successful tenure on the Zoning Board of Appeals.  However, I do not support the people on the town boards using that position to further personal goals over the good of the Sturbridge community.  If, in fact, that is what Mr. Mattioli did, then I am strongly opposed to such behavior.

When I first came to Sturbridge I supported a candidate who promised to bring the views of local business people to the Board of Selectmen.  His behavior on the board appeared to me to represent his own personal business interests to the detriment of the interests of competing local business people. That decided me to never vote for that Selectman again.

I cite this case just to show that my standard for local office holders is looking out for the best interests of the town and its citizens.  My support is not based on party politics, business versus labor, nor class, nor any other side issue.  I would hope that the majority of citizens in Sturbridge would put the best interests of the town at the top of their priorities when voting for  candidates for office.  Of course, I realize that people can have legitimate differences over what is best for the town, and that is why we have elections.

Elizabeth Warren posted on her Facebook page a graphic from The Huffington Post article At Least $128 Billion in Bank Settlements Since ’09.

Warren’s comment began with the following:

Since 2009, the big banks and financial institutions have paid at least $128 billion to regulators for the tricks and traps that brought down our economy. But they are happy to pay the fines – in fact, JP Morgan gave its CEO Jamie Dimon a 74% raise for negotiating its settlement. If these settlements are so weak that Wall Street is celebrating, it’s not a good deal for the American people.

One trait that I like about Elizabeth Warren is her ability to find an easy to understand observation that simplifies separating truth from fiction. In this case it is the observation that if a company celebrates a decision that seems to go against them, then it can’t really be all that bad for them.

One similar observation came to my mind many years ago when the CEO’s of companies were complaining how the rules and regulations and taxes were killing business and sending them to the poor house. I thought, “when I see CEOs brown-bagging their lunches, then maybe I will start to believe them.”

This is one of several ads that Don Berwick has run.

This is the kind of ad that I think it is important for candidates to run. Not only does it promote his candidacy, but it also promotes an idea for action. He tells you what the idea is and the benefits that will accrue from implementing it. It attempts to get the positive benefits of the idea into the public forum no matter what is the outcome for his own political campaign.

The Martha Coakley campaign for Governor of Massachusetts has come out with her first ad of the campaign.

It is a good ad. (It could use an audible period at the end of the sentence before the narrator starts talking about the people fighting against her, but that’s a very minor issue, I think.)

She seems to be way ahead in the polls for the primary coming up in early September. I presume this is why she has waited so long to air an ad. I hope she doesn’t wait so long in the general election campaign if she wins the primary.