So what hath Congress Wrought?

This morning's Wall St Journal was less than clear.  Partly because the Journal's stories went to press last evening before Congress voted on the thing. Far as I can tell it is yet another continuing resolution that runs out 23 March.  It lifts the Federal debt limit until March next year.  It lifts the spending caps by $160 billion on the military and about the same amount on "discretionary spending".  It does NOT authorize spending for the entire fiscal year, just for the rest of February and most of March.  And it  has a lot of pages, few of which anyone has seen, let alone read. 
   The House voted it thru at o'dark thirty, and Trump signed it sometime after 9 AM this morning. 
   Between the Trump tax  cut and this spending authorization every one expects the US to go in the hole by $1 trillion for this fiscal year. 

Cannon Mt Ski Weather. Six inches of new powder snow

I just put a yard stick onto the snow on my deck, and we got a real six inches of [powder yesterday.  No rain at all. Very light wind so the snow is on the trails, not blown into the woods.  Skiing at Cannon will be great this weekend.

Lets have a Parade

Parades are economical.  They show off your military strength to potential enemies.  The Soviets used to do a big one every year on May Day.  Aviation Week always ran a fair sized article about what the Soviets had displayed this year.  Seeing troops and tanks marching down the street carries more impact than dry intel reports. 
  And, parades show the tax payers that they are getting something for their tax money.  What's not to like.
  And parades are cheap, especially compared to even the smallest military action.  After all, the troops are all ready in the service, getting pay, uniforms, rations, and board.  The extra money for a bit of parade practice and transport to and from the parade site is chickenfeed as military expenses go. 
   And everyone likes to watch a parade. 

A Global Test for Kindergarteners???

Piece in today's Wall St Journal.  Some ed group I never heard of is proposing a world wide test for 5 year olds, so we can compare the effectiveness between kindergartens in various places.  Right.
   The kids don't get taught to read until first grade.  I didn't get good at reading till half way thru third grade.  What kind of test can you run on kids that cannot read the questions and haven't even learned how to write (Print!)  their names yet.  And we are going to do this world wide?  In every important language? 
   I always thought the purpose of Kindergarten was to get the kids used to being away from home for half the day, and to give 'em some experience in making friends and playing together.  Important socializing, but how do you grade socializing?  By how well the kids know the Alphabet Song?
   Is this a bunch of ed majors looking for something to get funding for?

Good Day. Falcon Heavy launch successful. Stock Market is up 500 points

All 27 engines worked and worked right.  Booster separation worked.  A Tesla roadster is on its way to Mars.  Both boosters  landed safely at Cape Canaveral.  The main stage was supposed to land on a ship at sea.  Haven't seen the video of that, but it probably worked.  Good job SpaceX.  Take a few Attaboys.
   And the stock market came up 500 points.  It was dicey, lot of up and down movement all day, big moves too, but after yesterday's 1200 point "correction" (we don't dare say crash anymore), it is good to see the market go up instead of down.
   The TV is talking about "program trading".  By which they mean the computers panicked on Friday.  The computers all issued sell orders which drove the Dow Jones down 1200 points, a record one day drop.  Once the market starts down, the computers all have preprogrammed sell orders (sell this and that stock if the Dow drops below whatever).  The computers are quick, and all their sell orders hit the market within milliseconds. 

We oughta reform US Copyright law

Right now copyright lasts for 70 years plus the life of the owner.  Any thing can be copyrighted, leading to endless welfare for lawyers like the lawsuit over one click or two clicks to place an item in your digital shopping basket.
   We ought to go back to a 17 year limit on terms of copyright.  All the real money is made by the time 17 years is up.  The author ought to get off his couch and write something new after 17 years of royalties.
   US Constitution Article I Section 8 clause 8 reads "To promote the Progress of Science and the useful Arts by securing for limited times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."  Note to the reader.  This clause does not authorize copyright of "business methods" (that one-click two-click foolishness) nor mathematics, nor software, nor music.  The exclusive rights are granted only to "Authors and Inventors", real individuals, not corporations, not patent trolls.
   And copyright should only last while the book is in print.  Once out of print, it should be legal to Xerox copies as needed.
   And makers of toys and models should be immune from predatory lawyers owned and operated by the real life businesses.  GM should not be able to shake small makers down just cause they are making Hot Wheels toys or plastic models of GM cars.  Railroads should not be able to shake down model train makers for painting rolling stock in proto type paint schemes.  
  

Has anything important happened in the real world lately?

The news is full of unimportant stories.  The classified memo.  Superbowl.  Guvmint shutdowns, they have another one coming up this week just for your entertainment.  Didn't anything  important happen all week?