Worldwide defense spending

We'll defer for now any commentary, and just offer the numbers for consideration. The data source is here, via Yglesias -

I can’t vouch for the authenticity of the quote, but someone told me he heard a Chinese official tell him “over the past decade you’ve spent $1 trillion on Iraq and Afghanistan, we’ve spent $1 trillion building the future of China.” I don’t really think we should view that contrast in a paranoid light, but if you do want to take a paranoid view of the American national security situation it makes a lot more sense to worry about that than to worry that someone in a cave might build a bomb.

One commenter at the link suggested this list of aircraft carriers in the world:

At the Wiki link there are data re the relative sizes and ages of the carriers.

Lunch for six: $47,000 (with drinks and tip)

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.
--F. Scott Fitzgerald, in his short story The Rich Boy.

According to Buzzfeed: "This is an actual receipt from Nello's in New York City. The customer was Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who had no problem dropping 47k on food and drinks for himself and five other people."

Personally, I couldn't afford the "large water." What is more interesting to me is that in researching this post, I Googled the vaguely-remembered Fitzgerald quote and found this explanation of a legendary Ernest Hemingway reply:

Usually, Fitzgerald is quoted as saying: “The rich are different from you and me.” And, Hemingway is quoted as responding: “Yes, they have more money."

In fact, this is a mythical quote-counterquote.

Explanation at the link.

A marvelous hummingbird video at the BBC today

The amazing mating display of the marvellous spatuletail hummingbird has been filmed in full for the first time.

The spatuletail hummingbird is among the most rare and striking of birds... Unusually among hummingbirds, the bird has just four tail feathers. In males, two of these feathers grow to three or four times the bird's body length, each ending in a large violet-blue disc; the spatule..

"Hummingbirds do everything at super high speed. He would do a dance with a twig where he hops over and over backwards and forwards across it mid air. He'd do that 14 times in seven seconds. It's really really quick."

The video is not embeddable, so if you are interested you will need to watch the video at the BBC link.

There's one interesting collateral effect of creating nature films:

"It's a poor area. The kids, instead of playing Nintendo DS's, they'd shoot hummingbirds with catapults... But now they've realised they can make a bit of money from tourists, it's completely changed the culture. If any of the kids get caught with a sling shot they get teased by the other kids."

Still photo credit.

Charlie Brown's Christmas tree is for sale...

This is the tree that he picked in order to reject the commercialization of Christmas. Sold by Shopko.

Re JFK's death

If the doctors were ready to declare Kennedy dead at 12:50 pm, why then was the official time listed as 1:00 pm?

The time of death was a fiction created to satisfy Mrs. Kennedy. According to Catholic doctrine, the last rites had to be delivered before the soul left the body. If her husband was already officially dead before Father Huber had a chance to administer the sacrament, it would not have been valid. "Father do you think the sacrament had effect," she asked Huber in the emergency room. He tried to ally her fears. "I am convinced that his soul had not left his body," he said. "This was a valid last sacrament."

Shear nonsense

Selections from Don't Judge My Hair, which has about a hundred of these.

Via Titam...

Five times as big as the Titanic

The "Oasis of the Seas," the largest cruise ship (6,000 passengers) ever built, is shown traversing the Solent on its way to Fort Lauderdale, where it will begin its maiden voyage to Haiti. To Haiti?

More pictures and data at the Daily Mail.

Via Titam et le Sirop d'Erable.