Nothing to get hung about

Del Mar was a real loser for me. Worst show I have ever had there. Attempted to buy my way out, with a modicum of success. I tried to get a bit edgier, younger, more chromatic, but for whatever reason, they just weren't buying. Ended up pretty much in the hole. Maybe it is too close to tax time, who knows? Maybe I just suck? BigD points out that my winning percentage is still pretty damn good but the reality is the older clientele aren't buying anymore, the middle aged are broke and the young frankly don't care. Maybe the new red paper did me in?

It has been a decent month thankfully so I am not going to freak out too much. Leave soon, will hope for better luck at the next stop.

I've missed a lot of good bird shots and will continue to miss them this week. Catch them when I get back. Managed to snap a couple hundred last week, nothing exceptional.

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People who believe in free markets are more like to be science deniers, according to a recent study:

NASA Faked the Moon Landing—Therefore, (Climate) Science Is a Hoax

An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science

1. Stephan Lewandowsky1
2. Klaus Oberauer1,2
3. Gilles E. Gignac1

1. ¹University of Western Australia
2. ²University of Zurich

1. Stephan Lewandowsky, School of Psychology, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia E-mail: stephan.lewandowsky@uwa.edu.au

Abstract

Although nearly all domain experts agree that carbon dioxide emissions are altering the world’s climate, segments of the public remain unconvinced by the scientific evidence. Internet blogs have become a platform for denial of climate change, and bloggers have taken a prominent role in questioning climate science. We report a survey of climate-blog visitors to identify the variables underlying acceptance and rejection of climate science. Our findings parallel those of previous work and show that endorsement of free-market economics predicted rejection of climate science. Endorsement of free markets also predicted the rejection of other established scientific findings, such as the facts that HIV causes AIDS and that smoking causes lung cancer. We additionally show that, above and beyond endorsement of free markets, endorsement of a cluster of conspiracy theories (e.g., that the Federal Bureau of Investigation killed Martin Luther King, Jr.) predicted rejection of climate science as well as other scientific findings. Our results provide empirical support for previous suggestions that conspiratorial thinking contributes to the rejection of science. Acceptance of science, by contrast, was strongly associated with the perception of a consensus among scientists.

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Two United States officials believe that the suspects in the Boston bombing were probably motivated by religion.  No shit.

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Dixon's son in law, David Strasberg, had this article published in Zocalo, The day Obama didn't bring it.

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George Bush said earlier this week that he doesn't have to defend his record. He also said that people think he is so dumb that he can't even read. My wife said the The Pet Goat doesn't count.

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My new friends Jeff and Gena are back home in Alaska. He sends this picture in front of his plane.

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Hudgins sends this along. If aliens visited they won't stay long...

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Had a strange dream last night, has mostly disappeared. I was amongst a charismatic commie type and his flock and challenged and denunciated him in some way. Suddenly I found myself hurtling upwards in an elevator, forced out of the roof. In another flash of speed, I was descending deep, so deep that the compartment filled up with water. I realized that I would soon be unable to breathe and didn't have the strength to continue to fight. That is when I woke up.

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 I am now at 498,941 views. Looks like the day after tomorrow I crack a half a mil. Haven't been exactly pushing it.

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Fiddle while Rome burns. Americans less concerned with the environment. Happy Earth Day.

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Richie Havens died suddenly today of a heart attack at the age of 72. Maybe the greatest power strummer the world has ever seen. 

I called my pal John Morris and broke the news. He was the manager of the Fillmore East and both the technical director and booker for Woodstock. The dude with the caveman vest. He put a lot of careers on the map and certainly helped Richie, the opening act. First Alvin Lee and now Havens. Not a great month for Woodstock alumni.

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Call me, I'll be driving.