10 Thoughts for July 30, 2014.

1. 29 foot tall waves in the Arctic, where there used to be ice.  20 years from now, Santa's North Pole offices will have to be relocated permanently to the South Pole, where at least there is physical land below the glaciers.
2. Did you know that the Google Cultural Institute (yes, there really is one) has a dedicated site for street art?  It's a goldmine of great works of art from around the world, compiled.
3. This lawyer resembles Saul Goodman, don't you think?  Even has the ties and pocket handkerchief to match, I think.  Watch the video with him, over robocalls to cell phones.
4. On Russia's war with Ukraine: This ITAR-TASS poll shows that nearly 2/3rds of Russians do not want Russian troops involved, which is about the same as it was, earlier this month.  That, despite Russia growing more conservative.  NYT suggests that there are rumblings below the surface of dissatisfaction with Putin's tactics following MH17's crash.  While the Russian national polling shows that the western fears of a new cold war is probably overstated (more Russians want Ukraine-Russia conflict to be resolved diplomatically than to involve force), the problem here is that the Russian media's propaganda is fanning nationalism that can mislead Russians, just as the Japanese military and the Emperor did in WWII, right into a war.
5. Will South Korea support sanctions against Russia?  I would think that it'd be a slap in the face for the US, if, despite all the blood and money spent defending South Korea against North Korea, that South Korea wouldn't stand by the US' side.  That will rile up Korean War veterans, to be sure.  The wider the sanctions around the world, the sooner this whole thing will be wrapped up.
6. Doesn't it seem odd, that people who are against immigration amnesty, feel the need to openly state their support for legal immigration?  After all, the fine line is just a matter of changing the law to open the borders to economic refugees.  If the law were changed to allow for economic refugees, would these same people support legal immigration?  I think not -- this is why I sense racism below it all.
7. The next big shopping paradigm shift is coming: Skip the bulk goods and instead, subscribe to receive at regular intervals, at similar discounted rates, delivered for free. Bulk stores such as Costco will either have to adapt or disappear.  Perishables-only markets -- permanent (as in, not seasonal) farmer's markets -- will become a thing.
8. I don't think Democrats are talking up the GOP threat of an impeachment, but you might forgive Democrats if they do.  We all know how poorly the GOP did after the Republican House did in midterm elections following their impeachment of Clinton, and since 2/3rds of registered Republicans want to impeach the President, Democrats feel free to give Republicans a little nudge...over the cliff and into the abyss known as a big mid-term loss.
9. There are poll aggregators out there who provide weighting to polling, based on quality, which generally implies an offset to bias.  But to me, they're not quite capturing the true direction of an election.  When a GOP-based poll shows a Democrat ahead (and vice versa), it should be inherently more important in weighting than any neutral pollster; when a politically-affiliated poll matches that of its opposing politically-affiliated poll, the significance should be even higher.  That's how I would add weighting to polls.  The way the NYT and others are weighting polls could be interpreted as, "past performance is highly indicative of future performance."  I'm more fluid than that.
10. Listening in to the House "debate" of its vote to sue the President is amusing.  Republicans claim that the lawsuit is about separation of powers and the failure of the President to execute the laws.  But going back to President Reagan, presidents have been adding a signing statement when they sign a bill into law, and Republicans have balked at Democrats wanting to sue President Bush for his extensive usage of the signing statement to completely alter the meaning of Congress' bills, even when he altered GOP-led bills.  So it seems that politics are the primary driver of GOP outrage, as they have high tolerance for its own, but zero tolerance for others, who would stretch the meaning of laws.  In other words, Republicans are telling us to "do as I say, not as I do."  Still, I fully encourage Republicans to seize their inner outrage and sue the President -- you reap what you sow, so don't complain about it, later!