RANDOM THOUGHT: I wonder how long it will be under ObamaCare until "qualified" health care plans will be able to deny treatment to lung cancer patients because smokers don't deserve treatment.

FUN WITH MATH: the 2012 proposed budget. The New York Times has an interactive graph up of the $3.17 trillion proposed governmental budget up on their website. Some of the more interesting numbers:

$808.04 billion in mandatory spending for the Social Security Administration (which the CBO has stated, barring any reforms, is permanently set to give out more money than it is taking in).

$474.15 billion for interest on Public Debt -- not the principal, just the interest.

$11.57 billion for the Federal Communications Commission, which is best known for making sure that people don't curse on television.

$6.95 billion for the Railroad Retirement Board, a Social Security-style program for railroad workers.

$1.31 billion for Agricultural Marketing Services. Not only does the government subsidize agriculture, they pay for advertisements telling telling you how good those subsidized veggies are for you.

Feel free to find your own interesting ways the government is spending money.

BONUS: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the United States is 309,050,816, which means that if the $3.7 trillion dollar passes as stands, on average, each individual is responsible for $11,972 for this years budget.

Well, it was nice of Mr. Obama to give me a “heads-up” on my next year’s tax bill.

FOR ONCE I AGREE WITH DANA MILBANK: "With the release of Obama's budget proposal, Washington's budgeting style can instead be described as tiptoeing past the can and hoping nobody notices."

HAS ANYONE SEEN the Liberty Mutual insurance commercial where the guy pulls on the spare tire of a wrecked car to pull out an entire new car? Volkswagen is taking it seriously. Well, almost.

AIRCRAFT DETECTION BEFORE RADAR. As someone much of whose professional career has been spent obsessing over radar detection, tracking, and location, these historical photos of acoustical tracking of aircraft are fascinating.


Notice the azimuth ring to allow for direction finding. The two "antennas" are offset-fed parabolic dishes, much like you see today in satellite cable system antennas. It appears to me that the two are slightly offset in elevation, which would suggest an amplitude monopulse capability to estimate elevation angle as well as azimuth.


The pedestal the men are standing on suggests an azimuth ring for rotation to direction-find in azimuth. The two vertical plane horns on the right suggest a capability to estimate elevation angle. One man probably controls elevation; the other azimuth.


The final picture is clearly an AZ/EL capable system. Most likely the man on the right controls the azimuth-finding horns; the man on the left controls the elevation-finding horns, and the man in the center is a spotter using a telescope for visual detection. Once an aircraft is spotted, he would control fine guidance.

It's interesting to note how the details have changed, but not the process. We use phase interferometry today for the accuracy it provides, but the physical structure hasn't changed a whit.

WE’RE TOO IMPORTANT to give you your money back. DOE to “reinvest” money saved through pay freezes.

HEY YOUNGSTERS, such a deal I've got for you.

Let's see -- you’re 22, right? OK, so here’s the deal ... you give me (at least) 12.4% of your income for the next 45 years (or thereabouts) and when you're 67 (or 68 or maybe 70 or 75) I'll pay you a princely sum (not to exceed 27% - but probably a lot less) of your total final salary each year for the rest of your life.

But wait! That's not all. As a special deal, I'll throw in annual cost-of-living increases (unless I decide not to).

This is an offer you can't turn down (no, really, you can't - it's against the law).

And there are only a few minor (truly minor - miniscule, really) strings attached.

For one, I reserve the right to change the percentage you "contribute" (heh) at any time and on my whim. And by the way, I've done it before - it's never gone down.

For another, right now I'm only demanding 12.4% of the first $106,800 of your income. I may decide up that 'contribution' to all your income at any time. After all, if you earn more than $106,000, you're rich, right? You'll never even notice the added 'contribution.'

Third, right now I'm letting (heh) you retire as early as age 67, but I'll probably up that age soon to 70 or maybe 75. After all, you're going to live much longer and we wouldn't want you to be bored, would we?

And, well, let's see: fourth, that 27% number is pretty generous (hell, it's over one quarter of your pre-retirement income), so I'll only give you that much if you make over the minimum specified in this chart over your entire 45 year (or longer, see above) working life.


If you don't earn more than that minimum, I'll give you a higher percentage of your total average income, but fewer total dollars.

Doesn't that sound really, really good? I'm glad you think so, because ... well, because you have no choice.

Oh. And one last little teensy-tiny string. I reserve the right to completely cancel the program at any time -- sorry, no refunds.

ECONOMISTS SPEAK: Obama, rein in federal spending.

THE WASHINGTON ‘WINK-WINK’ IN ACTION: “talk a great case on the looming fiscal disaster that will befall us if federal spending is not brought under control before the next dawn, but then propose only the smallest possible cuts and do absolutely nothing about the entitlements - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid -- that are literally bankrupting the nation and robbing our children and grandchildren of their futures.”