Thursday, February 2, 2017

Groundhog Day Links

I still don't think I can write a well-thought-out political piece right now (although most readers would probably say there is no evidence I've ever been able to), but I've collected a number of good story links:

Groundhogs totally deserve their own day (even if they can’t predict the weather) - Washington Post

The Basketball Team That Never Takes a Bad Shot – Wall Street Journal

Basketball's Other 3-Point Revolution - FiveThirtyEight

In America’s Heartland, Discussing Climate Change Without Saying ‘Climate Change’ - New York Times

The Health Battle Behind A2 Milk - The Atlantic

Why The Arctic Apple Means You May Be Seeing More GMOs At The Store - The Salt

Water Quality– Iowa Case Resolves One Issue, Clean Water Act Permitting Issue Remains Open - Farm Policy News

America's Great Divergence and Red State, Blue City - The Atlantic.  

Robots Over Roughnecks: Next Drilling Boom Might Not Add Many Jobs – OilPrice

Here's One Way Trump’s Team Could Manipulate Government Data - Slate

Troubled Waters: A Coalfield County Loses Trust in Water and Government - Ohio Valley Resource

Peter’s ChoiceMother Jones

Wilbur Ross and the Era of Billionaire Rule – Bloomberg

100 years ago, Americans talked about Catholics the way they talk about Muslims today - Vox and To my Jewish, Irish, Asian and Italian friends - The Reformed Broker

The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence - Rolling Stone

Malevolence Tempered by Incompetence: Trump’s Horrifying Executive Order on Refugees and Visas – Lawfare.  The first four words will probably define the Trump administration's legacy.

It Can Happen Here – Dollars & Sense

Rural counties’ economies depend on different industries - USDA ERS


SEASONS OF NORWAY - A Time-Lapse Adventure

SEASONS of NORWAY - A Time-Lapse Adventure from Morten Rustad on Vimeo.

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Chart of the Day - Trump "Landslide" Edition

FiveThirtyEight:



ELECTORAL COLLEGE SHARE POPULAR VOTE SHARE POPULAR VOTE MARGIN OVERALL
YEAR PRESIDENT SHARE RANK SHARE RANK MARGIN RANK AVERAGE RANK
1936 Roosevelt 98.5 1 60.8 2 +24.3 3 2.0
1972 Nixon 96.7 3 60.7 3 +23.2 4 3.3
1964 Johnson 90.3 5 61.1 1 +22.6 5 3.7
1984 Reagan 97.6 2 58.8 5 +18.2 6 4.3
1920 Harding 76.1 13 60.4 4 +26.2 1 6.0
1932 Roosevelt 88.9 6 57.4 7 +17.8 7 6.7
1928 Hoover 83.6 9 58.2 6 +17.4 8 7.7
1956 Eisenhower 86.1 7 57.4 8 +15.4 9 8.0
1924 Coolidge 71.9 14 54.0 11 +25.2 2 9.0
1940 Roosevelt 84.6 8 54.7 10 +10.0 11 9.7
1952 Eisenhower 83.2 10 55.2 9 +10.9 10 9.7
1980 Reagan 90.9 4 50.8 16 +9.7 12 10.7
1944 Roosevelt 81.4 11 53.4 12 +7.5 15 12.7
1988 GHW Bush 79.2 12 53.4 13 +7.7 14 13.0
2008 Obama 67.8 17 52.9 14 +7.3 16 15.7
1996 Clinton 70.4 15 49.3 21 +8.6 13 16.3
2012 Obama 61.7 18 51.0 15 +3.9 19 17.3
1948 Truman 57.1 19 49.6 20 +4.5 18 19.0
1992 Clinton 68.8 16 43.0 25 +5.6 17 19.3
2004 GW Bush 53.2 24 50.7 17 +2.5 20 20.3
1976 Carter 55.2 23 50.1 18 +2.1 21 20.7
1960 Kennedy 56.4 21 49.7 19 +0.2 23 21.0
1968 Nixon 55.9 22 43.4 24 +0.7 22 22.7
2016 Trump 56.5 20 45.9 23 -2.1 25 22.7
2000 GW Bush 50.4 25 47.9 22 -0.5 24 23.7
By most measures, Trump’s victory was modest
Sources: Dave Leip, Statistical Abstract of the United States, David Wasserman, Wikipedia

NASA Photo of the Day

January 26:

GOES-16: Moon over Planet Earth
Image Credit: NOAA, NASA
Explanation: Launched last November 19 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the satellite now known as GOES-16 can now observe planet Earth from a geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above the equator. Its Advanced Baseline Imager captured this contrasting view of Earth and a gibbous Moon on January 15. The stark and airless Moon is not really the focus of GOES-16, though. Capable of providing a high resolution full disk image of Earth every 15 minutes in 16 spectral channels, the new generation satellite's instrumentation is geared to provide sharper, more detailed views of Earth's dynamic weather systems and enable more accurate weather forecasting. Like previous GOES weather satellites, GOES-16 will use the moon over our fair planet as a calibration target.

Train Wreck

10 days in, and George W. Bush is looking like Lincoln.  I don't think I can take this.  Opening up Facebook makes me want to throw my computer out the window and then run it over with my car.  I may have to spend the next four years keeping a safe distance from the rest of humanity.