Ireland Should Refund Apple About $14.6 Billion In Tax Money

Posted: 8/31/2016

It has been all over the media that the European Commission just has decided in a tax ruling that Apple owes Ireland $14.6 billion in back taxes for lax tax agreements, which the commission classified as illegal state aid. This is officially called a retroactive tax assessment covering the period 2003 to 2014.

This, and other, similar retroactive tax assessments are a huge scandal and a strong sign of greed on part of the EU Commission.

According to news reports, Ireland is embarrassed and unsure whether to accept this money.

I would suggest, Ireland should decide to refund this money immediately to Apple once it is received.

Huma Abedin Knows Too Much

Posted: 8/30/2016

Finally, I begin to understand why Huma Abedin is such a close aide to Hillary Rodham Clinton over so many years. The recent news that Ms. Abedin will finally seek divorce from her sexually challenged husband and former, up and coming politician Anthony Weiner, because of a new sexting escapade.

I had completely forgotten about her husband and his previous affair. There is Ms. Abedin, who is married to sexual predator, and so is presidential candidate Hillary Clinton still married to one.

What I did not know until today or what I had also forgotten in the meantime is that Ms. Abedin also started as an intern in the White House around the time of Monica Lewinsky. Well, if this is not a coincidence!

The Scandal Of Antibiotics Resistance

Posted: 8/28/2016

Introduction

If antibiotics resistance is indeed such a serious threat as the media and public announcements would have us believe, then it is high time to change research priorities.

Given all the incredible advances of medicine and scientific research over the past 30 years or so, it is hard to believe that antibiotics resistance has not been better understood by now. We have managed to treat HIV AIDS very effectively within about 20 years of its outbreak. We have now effective Ebola vaccine, several very effective cancer treatments and so on …

A Huge Scandal

It is almost as if the people are told to be resigned to believing that only more hygiene and fewer prescriptions of antibiotics for humans and animals could help us. We are being led to believe that many antibiotic treatments are unnecessary and inappropriate. This is a huge scandal!

It is almost as if we are led to believe that antibiotics resistance is a fateful fact of life we have to accept. This would be utter nonsense!

We have known about the possibility of antibiotics resistance since the 1940s. Human ingenuity should have conquered this issue by now. It was Alexander Fleming himself, who warned the world about the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics.

Colossal Lack Of Research

If more public/government money was funding this kind of research instead of other, perhaps less important or urgent fields of research (may I propose astronomy and related fields or particle physics), then humanity would have found better solutions a long time ago (we are talking about years as a minimum).

Why is not more private money spent on antibiotics research? Why are not more billionaires and millionaires of this world funding this kind of research?

President Truman On Term Limits For All Members Of The U.S. Congress

Posted: 8/23/2016

Trigger

Received an excellent e-mail today from the U.S. Term Limits organisation titled “This U.S. President Backed Term Limits on Congress”. It is about a great hand-written letter by Harry S. Truman. The original letter can be found here at the Truman Library & Museum.

In this letter, Truman advocated not only to limit the U.S. president to two terms but also all members of the U.S. Congress.

I am a strong supporter of strict term limits for everyone elected to public office or working for public service (including judges, police and much more).

Quotes

1. “We’d help to cure senility and seniority — both terrible legislative diseases.”
   [Astounding! Two thumbs up!]
2. “Twelve years of Washington is enough for any man.”
   [I second to that!]
3. “... there are old time Senators who even make Louis XIV of France and George I of England look like shining liberals.”
   [I had a good laugh! Thanks, Truman!]

The Current Version Of The Google Translate App Sucks

Posted: 8/22/2016

I have been using the Google Translate app for years now (as a bilingual person with some additional language skills in at least one other language, I frequently look up things in those languages), but for the past several months I noticed that the latest version is quite inferior to older ones.

In particular, you are offered only one word as translation, while it used to be several in the past. The translation rating feature was eliminated. Google has dumbed down this app to a point where it becomes useless.

Recently, I looked up the French word gais (the context was a prominent classical music piece with a French title, which I do not recall anymore), well Google Translate returned homosexual. How stupid is that?

Abraham Lincoln - A Destroyer From Within

Posted: 8/21/2016

Introduction

Anyone, who followed my blog posts, realizes that I am not a big fan of this highly overrated president in particular. I think, he is grossly overrated not least because he became a martyr!

Trigger

I recently learnt of the misattributed, but popular quote “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

What he really said that comes close to the quote above is:

“I answer, if  [an approach of danger] ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” (From the Lyceum address of 1838; emphasis added).

Where Lincoln Terribly Erred

I have only recently discovered excerpts from other speeches of Lincoln, which suggest he was gravely mistaken about the union and the sovereignty of states as well as the right to secede by any state (emphasis added, commentary added):

1. “The sophism itself is that any State of the Union may consistently with the National Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peacefully , withdraw from the Union without the consent of the Union or of any other State. … This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, of its currency from the assumption that there is some omnipotent and sacred supremacy pertaining to a State - to each State of our Federal Union. Our States have neither more nor less power than that reserved to them in the Union by the Constitution, no one of them ever having been a State out of the Union. … The original ones passed into the Union even before they cast off their British colonial dependence, and the new ones each came into the Union directly from a condition of dependence, excepting Texas; and even Texas, in its temporary independence, was never designated a State. ” (Source 1)
2. “Therein [Declaration of Independence] the "United Colonies" were declared to be "free and independent States;" but even then the object plainly was not to declare their independence of one another or of the Union, but directly the contrary, as their mutual pledge and their mutual action before, at the time, and afterwards abundantly show.” (Source 1)
3. “The Union is older than any of the [confederate] States, and, in fact, it created them as States. Originally some dependent colonies made the Union, and in turn the Union threw off their old dependence for them and made them States, such as they are. Not one of them ever had a State constitution independent of the Union.” (Source 1)
   [Incredible, Lincoln said this nonsense!]
4. “The nation purchased with money the countries out of which several of these States were formed. Is it just that they shall go off without leave and without refunding? The nation paid very large sums (in the aggregate, I believe, nearly a hundred millions) to relieve Florida of the aboriginal tribes. Is it just that she shall now be off without consent or without making any return?” (Source 1)
5. “The express plighting of faith by each and all of the original thirteen in the Articles of Confederation, two years later, that the Union shall be perpetual is most conclusive. Having never been States, either in substance or in name, outside of the Union, whence this magical omnipotence of "State rights," asserting a claim of power to lawfully destroy the Union itself? Much is said about the "sovereignty" of the States, but the word even is not in the National Constitution, nor, as is believed, in any of the State constitutions. What is a "sovereignty" in the political sense of the term? Would it be far wrong to define it "a political community without a political superior"? Tested by this, no one of our States, except Texas, ever was a sovereignty; and even Texas gave up the character on coming into the Union, by which act she acknowledged the Constitution of the United States and the laws and treaties of the United States made in pursuance of the Constitution to be for her the supreme law of the land. The States have their status in the Union, and they have no other legal status.”
6. “The Union, and not themselves separately, procured their independence and their liberty. By conquest or purchase the Union gave each of them whatever of independence and liberty it has. The Union is older than any of the States, and, in fact, it created them as States. Originally some dependent colonies made the Union, and in turn the Union threw off their old dependence for them and made them States, such as they are. Not one of them ever had a State constitution independent of the Union. Of course it is not forgotten that all the new States framed their constitutions before they entered the Union, nevertheless dependent upon and preparatory to coming into the Union.”
7. “Again: If one State may secede, so may another; and when all shall have seceded none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors?” (Source 1)
   [This nonsensical argument does not justify a total civil war! This is a matter for negotiation of which Lincoln was apparently not very capable of.]
8. “Our popular Government has often been called an experiment. Two points in it our people have already settled—the successful establishing and the successful administering of it. One still remains—its successful maintenance against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it.” (Source 1)
9. “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.” (Source 2)
10. “Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy.” (Source 3)
    [This comparison is simply nonsense!]

At the moment, I do not have the time to do more research or address all the points Lincoln argued in the above excerpted quotes. However, one thing is perfectly clear his reasoning is fundamentally flawed.

Each of the 13 original states had a distinct history of its own and they came together as sovereign entities to form a union for common defense etc. For Lincoln to claim that the southern states came into being only by grace of the union is absurd.

That Lincoln’s arguments (especially states are only adjuncts to the union) are awfully flawed is also found in the U.S. Constitution Article V, i.e. a convention of states has the power to alter the constitution.

Sources:

1. Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861)
2. Letter to Horace Greeley (1862)
3. First Inaugural Address (1861)

Previous, Related Blog Posts

Please find more, related blog posts here, here, here, here

Burka Hysteria In Europe

Posted: 8/22/2016  Revised: 7/11/2017  Updated: 8/23/2016

Which Time Do We Live In?

Do we live in the 16th year of the 21st century or in some other, historical time? Have we never left the Dark Ages or have we all forgotten about the Enlightenment?

Western Women Past & Present

Western women only a hundred years ago were also wearing something like full body cover when they were going swimming. They were barely showing their legs or arms in public not to mention any part of their chest.

Today, women are allowed to ​to appear almost undressed in public. Thus, why would women not be allowed to cover up?

In a free and open society, any woman (or man) has the right to cover up her (his) body as much as they want to as well as to uncover it if she (he) wishes to do so. Ramifications for doing so is another subject.

Religious Freedom

The exercise and practice of religious freedom is to be respected!

Exceptions

However, if a person abuses a Burka for criminal activities or purposes, the person should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Punishment should not be light.

If a woman is forced or violently made to wear a Burka against her will, the perpetrator should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Punishment should not be light.

Don’t be fooled by exaggerated claims that women wearing burqa are oppressed by their husbands and male relatives

Epilogue

As time goes by, I venture to guess, that wearing a Burka in public will largely disappear. Patience is difficult!

Great Depiction Of The Standard Model Of Particle Physics

Posted: 8/13/2016

Today, I read this fascinating Quanta Magazine article What No New Particles Means for Physics Physicists are confronting their “nightmare scenario.” What does the absence of new particles suggest about how nature works?

It contained following, beautiful chart. I have before never seen such an impressive representation of the Standard Model

Paid Maternity Leave Socialism

Posted: 8/13/2016

Trigger

I have seen lately several articles dealing with this subject and Hillary Rotten Clinton for Prison 2016 has it also on her agenda.

Here is a Washington Post article on this subject. Funny, that the Washington Post mentions that even socialist Cuba has a paid maternity leave.

Some Notes

1. Why should any employer have to pay for parental leave because it has hired employees of childbearing or parenting age? Some businesses, for whatever reason, prefer to hire younger employees or perhaps more females than males, why should these businesses be affected heavier than others?
2. Government mandated paid maternity leave and job protection distorts the labor market as well as hiring and business decisions
3. Like minimum wage, this is a form of mandated government price and wage control
4. Government job protection is another intervention against individual freedom. Why should a mother not decide to go back to work a few days after giving birth, perhaps on a reduced schedule?
5. Government enforced parental leave paid for by employers is an unconstitutional violation of freedom of contract
6. It would be another government entitlement burdening businesses
7. Ulterior motives of government paid maternity leave are often to stimulate birth rates or to prevent population decline

Conclusion

If paid maternity leave is a desired outcome by a majority of people in a democracy it would have to be fully paid for by government alone through general taxes. Businesses should not or least be burdened by it.

Hot Recent Science & Technology Articles (28)

Posted: 8/7/2016

1. Nanocones Boost Efficiency of Solar-based Water Splitting (Hydrogen power is coming!)
2. Molecular net goes viral (This could be a breakthrough! “However, viruses break down easily when removed from a liquid environment, which hinders their analysis by atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy and mass spectrometry. … constructed a tannic acid and iron(III) molecular net around a single brome mosaic virus particle, stabilising it in non-liquid conditions. The biocompatible net coats the virus with a molecular layer thin enough to follow the underlying morphology, yet still providing a barrier to water. The research team could place the coated virus in air or under vacuum long enough to take measurements and further probe its structure.”)
3. Junk DNA’ tells mice—and snakes—how to grow a backbone (“The research team traced the extra ribs to a mutation deactivating a gene called GDF11, which puts the brakes on another gene that helps stem cells retain their ability to morph into many cell types. Without GDF11 to slow down that second gene - OCT4 - the mice grew extra vertebrae and ribs.”)
4. Scientists find new antibiotic right under our noses (This could be big!)
5. Engineers discover highly conductive materials for more efficient electronics (This could be big! “that when two oxide compounds—strontium titanate (STO) and neodymium titanate (NTO)—interact with each other, the bonds between the atoms are arranged in a way that produces many free electrons, the particles that can carry electrical current. STO and NTO are by themselves known as insulators … But when they interface, the amount of electrons produced is a hundred times larger than what is possible in semiconductors. … could greatly improve power transistors”)
6. Static electricity strengthens desert dust storms
7. Ancient "Poop Sticks" Offer Clues to the Spread of Disease Along the Silk Road  The parasites found within the 2,000-year-old-feces smeared on bamboo suggest more than commodities made the trip
8. The Map of the Human Brain Is Finally Getting More Useful  Human Connectome Project neuroscientists have created a program to make individualized brain maps.
   Human Brain Mapped in Unprecedented Detail Nearly 100 previously unidentified brain areas revealed by examination of the cerebral cortex  (“Some neuroscientists still define brain regions based on a historical map called Brodmann’s areas that was published in 1909. That map divided each half of the brain into 52 regions. Each hemisphere on the new map has 180 regions.”)
9. New Way to Boost Crop Production Doesn’t Rely on GMOs or Pesticides  Researchers are fiddling with the plant equivalent of gut bacteria. (“The microbiome—the communities of bacteria and fungi that live in the soil around the roots, on the surface of the plant, and inside the plant tissue—contributes to a plant’s health and growth. The idea is that by isolating these good bacteria and fungi and then adding them back into the plant, they could stimulate more growth and make crops healthier.”)
10. Soil ‘booster shots’ could turn barren lands green
11. Scientists link bipolar disorder to unexpected brain region
12. Plants can gamble, according to study
13. From super to ultra-resolution microscopy. A new method pushes the frontier in imaging resolution, with the potential to distinguish individual features in single molecules
14. New Life Found That Lives Off Electricity Scientists have figured out how microbes can suck energy from rocks. Such life-forms might be more widespread than anyone anticipated.
15. Antisocial cave fish may hold clues to schizophrenia, autism (Fascinating!)
16. Researcher develops new, non-invasive method to wipe out cancerous tumors (This could be big, if confirmed! It also sounds like this new treatment is easily repeatable! “... injecting a chemical compound, nitrobenzaldehyde, into the tumor and allowing it to diffuse into the tissue. He then aims a beam of light at the tissue, causing the cells to become very acidic inside and, essentially, commit suicide. Within two hours, … estimates up to 95 percent of the targeted cancer cells are dead.”)
17. New electron microscope method detects atomic-scale magnetism (Wow! “Instead of fully eliminating the aberrations in the electron microscope, the researchers purposely added a type of aberration, called four-fold astigmatism, to collect atomic level magnetic signals from a lanthanum manganese arsenic oxide material.”)
18. What did Earth's ancient magnetic field look like? (“... that around 1 billion years ago, Earth could have transitioned from a ... [dipole], ...  to having a "weak" magnetic field that fluctuated wildly in terms of intensity and direction and originated from several poles. Then, shortly after the predicted timing of the core solidification event, … dynamo simulations predict that Earth's magnetic field transitioned back to a "strong," two-pole one. "These findings could offer an explanation for the bizarre fluctuations in magnetic field direction seen in the geologic record around 600 to 700 million years ago”)
19. New chip design makes parallel programs run many times faster and requires one-tenth the code (Great, more hardware support for software developers! “So computer scientists have developed a host of application-specific techniques for prioritizing graph exploration. … What distinguishes Swarm from other multicore chips is that it has extra circuitry for handling that type of prioritization. It time-stamps tasks according to their priorities and begins working on the highest-priority tasks in parallel. Higher-priority tasks may engender their own lower-priority tasks, but Swarm slots those into its queue of tasks automatically. The Swarm chip has extra circuitry to store and manage its queue of tasks. It also has a circuit that records the memory addresses of all the data its cores are currently working on. That circuit implements something called a Bloom filter, which crams data into a fixed allotment of space and answers yes/no questions about its contents. … The Bloom filter is one of several circuits that help Swarm identify memory access conflicts. … that time-stamping makes synchronization between cores easier to enforce. For instance, each data item is labeled with the timestamp of the last task that updated it, so tasks with later time-stamps know they can read that data without bothering to determine who else is using it.”)