Florida Python mismanagement

Well, the State of Florida regulators have wised up to the idea that it is a good idea to have hunters out there killing pythons. The stupid part of it though is that they are actually charging hunters $26 for a permit to do so. They should be paying the hunters to do it, or, failing that, at least allow them to hunt for free.

Maybe this is all just bureaucratic stupidity, but it is also possible that the regulators are constrained by laws passed by the legislature. If that latter possibility is the case, it is time for the Florida legislature to get on the ball and do the right thing.

Alarming incidence of mental illness among Oregon Police

It seems that the Oregon police have an alarming incidence of mental illness. Everytime they report a bigfoot/sasquatch sighting on an official report form, they are sent to a shrink.

It also seems that an amazing number of ordinary Oregon citizens are having their driving licenses suspended for the same reason.

Jane Austen

There is an interesting discussion on the web about speculations as to the cause of Jane Austen's death. Even more interesting is the following quote from her at the end of the article:

"Seldom, very seldom, does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised, or a little mistaken."

She certainly had an amazing capacity for discourse, the like of which is seldom encountered in our modern authors.

Drones and Pirates

Here is a link to the use of drones to combat Somali pirates. It is a good article, but fails to mention that a limited number of drones have also been deployed that are capable of accurately shooting the powerful .338 Lapua cartridge. These are typically shot by snipers for especially long range sniping, but putting them aboard a drone provides a significant capability not previously available.

It is sometimes claimed by the pirates that they are forced to take revenge for foreign fishing in their waters. That claim, believed only by gullible westerners, is both false and specious. The pirates are not the people harmed, the ransom money goes to wealthy patrons. Further, the foreign victims of piracy are innocent and are almost never fisherman nor dumpers of pollution. The entire claim is just an excuse for greed by the wealthy patrons. The low level pirates are indeed unemployed otherwise, but so are many people who don't engage in crime.

Amazing Old Photo of San Francisco

I ran across an amazing old photograph of San Francisco bay and its docks. The wonderful thing about modern technology such as photography and subsequent storage thereof on the internet, is that we now have a much better perspective onto history than formerly. We even have photos of Abraham Lincoln available.

Another amazing piece of historical detective work is an old carbon soot on paper tracing of a person singing "Au Claire De La Lune". This was done long before the invention of the phonograph by Edison. The person who made it, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville, was investigating sound and never knew that modern technology from Lawrence Livermore Lab today would be able to replay the song.