Scientists and Engineers Respected?

How can that be?

The respected Pew Research Center for for the People & the Press and the AAAS took a survey:

It found that at least two-thirds of Americans hold scientists and engineers in high regard...

...Scientists are beaten only by "members of the military" and teachers as people who are viewed as contributing a lot to society’s well-being. Medical Doctors come next, followed by Engineers. The list continues with Clergy, Journalists, Artists, Lawyers, and, lastly, Business Executives.

Tea?

IF Tea is held today, there will be substantial variety. Cuba Libre will be added to the usual available varieties, and maybe something can be done with that Mango juice. (For CC, G&T is still available).

An attenuated cheese plate may be expected, as well as the usual chips and dip.

Perhaps see you at 4:00.

Dog Day Afternoon

Tomorrow will see the arrival of who knows how many canines. They will roam the suite with impunity. Perhaps they'll even all get along. We can hope.

P.S. SJ - those were some seriously good brownies. Thanks.

Chrome

Google is launching its operating system effort, known as "Google Chrome OS". Guess what - they claim that "it should just work"... We think they owe RA a royalty payment every time they use that phrase.

From the Google Blog:

Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds. The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.

Google Chrome OS will run on both x86 as well as ARM chips and we are working with multiple OEMs to bring a number of netbooks to market next year. The software architecture is simple — Google Chrome running within a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel. For application developers, the web is the platform. All web-based applications will automatically work and new applications can be written using your favorite web technologies. And of course, these apps will run not only on Google Chrome OS, but on any standards-based browser on Windows, Mac and Linux thereby giving developers the largest user base of any platform.

We'd observe that if Chrome OS is built over a linux kernel, then how new can it be? but we'd probably run afoul of Apple, and we can't have that.

Friday Tea (July 3rd edition)

Perhaps Tea will move off-site to the Dudley Chateau this afternoon.

Purely as an effort at healing the schism, of course.

The Ants Are Taking Over

...so no worries about your 401(k).

Ant mega-colony takes over world

BBC Earth News, By Matt Walker, July 1

A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.

Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same inter-related colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.

What's more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together.

[...]

In Europe, one vast colony of Argentine ants is thought to stretch for 6,000km (3,700 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, while another in the US, known as the "Californian large", extends over 900km (560 miles) along the coast of California. A third huge colony exists on the west coast of Japan.

While ants are usually highly territorial, those living within each super-colony are tolerant of one another, even if they live tens or hundreds of kilometres apart. Each super-colony, however, was thought to be quite distinct.

But it now appears that billions of Argentine ants around the world all actually belong to one single global mega-colony.

Happy Canada Day

Wikipedia opines:

Frequently referred to as "Canada's birthday," particularly in the popular press, the occasion marks the joining of the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Province of Canada into a federation of four provinces (the Province of Canada being divided, in the process, into Ontario and Quebec) on July 1, 1867. However, though Canada is regarded as having become a dominion in its own right on that date, the British Parliament at first kept limited rights of political control over the new country, which were shed by stages over the years until the last vestiges were ended in 1982, when the Constitution Act patriated the Canadian constitution. Canada Day thus differs from Independence Day celebrations in some other countries in that it does not commemorate a militant assertion of political self-determination, but rather recognizes one of the major milestones of the long and peaceful political process which formed the modern nation of Canada.

Cops

Cop or Copper

While commonly believed to be an acronym for Constable On Patrol, the term refers to "one who captures or snatches". This word first appeared in the early 18th century, and can be matched with the word "cap", which has the same meaning and whose etymology can be traced to the Latin word 'capere'. (The word retains this meaning in other contexts: teenagers "cop a feel" on a date, and they have also been known to "cop an attitude".) Variation: Copper. It is also believed that the term Copper was the original, unshortened word, popularly believed to represent the copper badges American officers used to wear at the time of origin, but in fact probably used in Britain to mean "someone who cops" long before this.

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Turns out that one should not drive the wrong way into a construction zone, or one may be obliged to experience taking a warning, a ticket, or worse.

Thankfully for RA, at least one of Waltham's finest was so flabbergasted at his behavior that he let RA proceed on his way unmolested.

Tea, Glorious Tea

Today's Tea will see the return of 1) AZ, and 2) The Cheese Plate.

We're still in our Gin Phase, so the tea itself will be quite familiar.

See you at 4:00!

So you want a little on the side?

So you're a Republican Governor of a Southern state - and things have gotten boring and tedious at home?

Want to spice things up a bit, but surely don't want to get caught?

Whatever you do, DO NOT find yourself an Argentinian hottie that you have to disappear for 5 days for, to see. Inquiring minds (especially of your political enemies) will want to know!

S.C. Governor Mark Sanford Admits Affair

WashingtonPost, By Chris Cillizza, June 24

Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) admitted that he had conducted an extramarital affair with a woman in Argentina who he had gone to visit over the last five days -- during which time a massive media story developed over where he was and why.

"I have been unfaithful to my wife . . . I developed a relationship with what started as a dear dear friend," said Sanford.

He said that he had met the woman, who he did not name, roughly eight years ago and that it had become romantic within the last year. He visited her three times during the past year, Sanford said, and noted that his wife, Jenny, had been aware of the affair for the past five months.