Ball Diamond Ball

I haven’t seen the tax bill, haven’t even read any facts about it, so I am just responding to Rush Limbaugh’s opening bit on his Friday show.  He describes the structure of the tax in question as this: the first $45,000 of income gets taxed at a very small relief rate.  Then money after that gets taxed at a higher, normal rate.  More rates may ensue, I don’t know, and then when you are above a certain threshold, your tax rate is 39.6%.  That is the top proper bracket.  Then a funny thing happens: your millionth dollar of income, however that may be defined, will be taxed at a penalty rate which is 6% higher, so 45.6%.  Let’s call these 40 and 46 just for convenience.  You … Continue reading →

Please use the media library here to post images, even in comments. Hotlinking is using an image from another site without the common courtesy of stealing it proper. Hotlinking not only uses somebody else’s property without their permission (let’s call it fair use), but then steals bandwidth by calling the image from their site every time a visitor here loads the local page (minus cache, etc). Nobody here profits from such use, and I assume fair use by all posters here, an assumption which I also graciously extend to myself. Thank me. I’m welcome. I still reserve the right to do Amazon links or some such thing, but even then I won’t profit from the presence of somebody else’s images. “Money” posts will be squeaky clean. Note that … Continue reading →

Have you guys heard of Professor Wildberger? He’s a mathematics professor at the University of New South Wales. I stumbled upon this video a couple years ago and thought it was really interesting. It is called, “The mostly absent theory of real numbers.” He goes through some standard textbooks and shows how most do not define real numbers. Of the few that do, they do not do so in a way he finds satisfactory. He says near the end that “the real numbers cannot be constructed in the usual kind of fashion. So next time it will be dedekind cuts that will be on the chopping block.”

Then I started watching his other videos, and I like his teaching style a lot. I’m not a math major, but … Continue reading →

Former DNC chair Donna Brazile turns on Hillary, Obama, and her predecessor Debbie Wasserman Schultz. This continues the theme put forth by our esteemed proprietor:

The Clinton machine has become toxic for Democrats.

Inside Hillary Clinton’s Secret Takeover of the DNC

Released today, the report is rather scathing, but sanitized of details such as names.

It’s that time of the week again, when we connect for another town hall meeting in the Village of the Darned.  Conversation should be available by 19:30 EDT.  If not, you are welcome to hum to yourself until you are joined.  Won’t be long.

Jam a topic in the comments below and let people read up if you like.

If the software tells you that you’re the only caller, don’t you believe it!  Press on with the access code and you’ll probably find us in there!

US: 515-604-9908

Access Code: [see chat in “BDB Chat” tab above]

Select International Local Dial-in Numbers

Japan +81 3-5050-5104
Switzerland +41 43 550 70 62
United Kingdom +44 330 998 1256

If you need a different number (calling from Uzbekistan, say), let … Continue reading →

Two Sundays ago, Mercedes clinched the Manufacturer’s Championship in F1 at the American track in Austin, TX. The winner of the race was Lewis Hamilton, leading most of the way.

This past Sunday was the Mexican Grand Prix. As so many this year, it was dramatic. Mostly it was the fighting at the first turn. Max Verstappan, who won the race, was pinched by Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, trying to pass. Vettel then became tight and Hamilton went wide in the corner – and had his rear tire cut (and flattened) by Vettel’s front wing. Vettel proceeded around, came into the pits and got a new nose, and proceeded about. Hamilton limped for the full lap on a flat rear, got in the pits and got a new … Continue reading →

I am back from vacation, reconnected with America as it was. I saw the Golden Spike National Historical Park, where the future happened and real things made real changes.  I strongly suggest the Steven Ambrose book on the building of the railroad, as it encapsulates the energy and drive of great individuals astride a historic flow of change.

A polished railroad tie marks the spot where they celebrated to achievement, having overrun each other’s track by 250 miles, at a spot selected by a committee of experts where there was no water for the trains.

Continue reading →

Back in the days before needles and poison, Halloween treats could be home made.

We all have that fantasy of going through life as the star of our own movie….

Some have a soundtrack, some have an album cover

Today, let me present Life at Capitol Reef.

Any one else suffer from harmless Walter Mittism?