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Today (7/4) in 47

Sightseeing Helicopter Crashes In Hawaii Decrease Following FAA Regulations But Proportion Of Fatal Crashes Increases
An emergency rule intended to reduce the number of deaths and injuries associated with Hawaiian air tours was followed by a 47 percent reduction in sightseeing crashes, according to a new study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Injury Research and Policy.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090626091129.htm

Experts: Big Tobacco Dead By 2047, Possibly Sooner

President Barack Obama’s signature on a bill this week to grant the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory authority over tobacco was historic, and represents a step in the march to eliminate tobacco use in this country by 2047, two national tobacco experts said on June 25.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090625201818.htm

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Two 47s

Joe Biden is the 47th Vice President (per Jeopardy).

The Washington Post has won 47 Pulitzer Prizes (per Inside Facebook).

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2147483647 in computing

2 Comments

Is the Twitpocalypse nigh?

2147483647. You might recognize it as the maximum value of an integer in several programming languages, or the highest score you can get in a lot of video games, or a number that pops up when you get a database error message. Well, Twitter’s numbered tweets are fast approaching 2147483647, and, although I’m sure Twitter’s databases are properly configured, a site called Twitpocalypse is speculating that some Twitter apps won’t be prepared, causing them to stop working when they can’t access tweets beyond the magic number.

According to the site, the Twitpocalypse is scheduled for June 14th at 4:46 PM GMT

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2009/06/10/is-the-twitpocalypse-nigh/

2147483647 – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The number 2,147,483,647 is also the maximum value for a 32-bit signed integer in computing. It is therefore the maximum value for variables declared as int in many programming languages running on popular CPUs, and the maximum possible score for many video games. The appearance of the number often reflects an error, overflow condition, or missing value.

The data type time_t, used on operating systems such as Unix, is a 32-bit signed integer counting the number of seconds since the start of the Unix epoch (midnight UTC of January 1, 1970). The latest time that can be represented this way is 03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, 19 January 2038 (corresponding to 2,147,483,647 seconds since the start of the epoch), so that systems using a 32-bit time_t type are susceptible to the Year 2038 problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2147483647

other voices, WTF?!

WT-Swift-F?!

1 Comment

Revived Anti-Gun Arguments
        All the tired old anti-gun rhetoric is floating to the surface again ("Obama Must Shoot Down the Gun Lobby" column by E.J. Dionne Jr.).
        How about a new perspective? How about a calm, objective reassessment of the First Amendment? After all, First Amendment freedoms have (damaged the) fabric of our democracy (more) than guns ever could.
        For example, so many journalists have been discovered fabricating news that it is entirely reasonable to require that all journalists be officially licensed. Licenses could then be denied or revoked — en masse if necessary — in order to ensure the integrity of the media. …
        And who could be opposed to the registration of computers? … And clearly, a system of background checks needs to be in place for anyone desiring to gain access to the Internet. Cyber-stalking, child pornography, malicious blogging — all could be reduced if some reasonable bureaucratic controls were introduced.
        Nobody had a "need" for more than one television set. Period.
        Let’s take a rational, common-sense approach to regulating the out-of-control beast we euphemize as "free speech." Surely the founding fathers had no inkling of the destructive power of the modern media.
        All honest, decent people would have to agree that the gain in emotional security would be well worth giving up a few archaic rights. After all, the Constitution is a "living" document, isn’t it?
        BOB CHRISTENSEN
        Belen

ABQJOURNAL OPINION/LETTERS: Substitute First Amendment in Revived Anti-Gun Arguments

Satire is hard. Christensen is a frequent contributor to Letters to the Editor. This is one of his longer works. I would read his blog.

However, I believe he just suggested that there is no difference between speaking and shooting. I’m glad we don’t hang out together. After all, saying what I think is no different than taking a shot at him. And, as a gunnut, he’s got a god-given right to shoot in self-defense. Don’t mention my name if you tell him about this. peace, mjh

Uncategorized

So, This is What it Feels Like to be with the Majority

An ABC News poll released this morning shows that a vast majority — 69 percent — of Americans approve of President Obama and 72 percent view him favorably, "the best job approval rating at this point in 20 years, [and] the broadest personal popularity since Ronald Reagan." Fifty percent now say the United States is headed in the right direction, up 31 points since the end of the Bush administration, when only 19 percent thought the country was on the right track. Other figures from the poll:

— "Fifty-eight percent approve of Obama’s work on the economy."

— "Obama leads the Republicans in Congress in trust to handle the economy by a garish 61-24 percent."

— "A remarkable 90 percent say Obama is ‘willing to listen to different points of view’; fewer than half said that about George W. Bush."

— Seventy-seven "percent call Obama a strong leader, nearly matching Bush’s best a few months after 9/11."

A majority supported Obama’s decision to release the torture memos, but only 49 percent support his blanket ban on torture. That said, a majority still favors holding investigations into the Bush administration’s use of torture.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/26/obama-100-days-poll/

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47 Unknown Letters by, and to, Benjamin Franklin

New Letters? Franklin Still Electrifies, By Joel Achenbach Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 24, 2009

A professor with his nose deep in a library archive in London has stumbled upon 47 previously unknown letters from, to and about Benjamin Franklin. …

… he requested of the library staff a certain Volume 4478b …

Professor Finds Unknown Letters by, and to, Benjamin Franklin – washingtonpost.com

[hattip to FredRFred]

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams