April 28, 2006
Crocodile vs. Chainsaw
No photo available. Crocodile and chainsaw operator are fine. Chainsaw is toast.
C for Cookie
The Sesame Street characters meet V for Vendetta. What if the government restricts our freedom to cookies?
April 27, 2006
Darfur & Biafra
Been thinking about the big rally being held this Sunday, April 30th at the State Capital. "What did you do to try to stop the Darfur Genocide?" Been thinking about Biafra in light of what is happening now (and heck, for years now) in the Sudan. Got a book on the Biafran War a few days ago. Hadn't thought about it in quite some time. Anyway...there's not a lot of good material (at least that I could find quickly) on Biafra online, but you can try these to start:
- Wikipedia if you didn't remember where Biafra was.
- eXile web magazine's offbeat homage to Carl Gustaf von Rosen---hero of Biafra and general aviation saint of Africa.
- Frederick Forsyth got his start as a journalist in Biafra. His book remains the classic telling of the story.
- The Nation of Biafra, in exile.
So, what to do?
Best of the Twin Cities
See all of the listings online.
A special thrill was seeing Outsiders and Others be selected as best Art Gallery. My little ones have had their art hung there and they just held a most excellent sale and silent auction there last Saturday. Darn it, it looks like I wasn't the high bidder though...
Peak Oil
The Economist has an interesting piece arguing that Peak Oil is quite a ways away. I thought one of the more interesting bits was the estimate of the prices at which alternate fuel technologies would be cost compeditive. Biodiesel was the highest priced option at $80 per barrel (oil equivalent). We're just about there.
The Republican plan to fight energy costs?
Send everyone a check for $100 and add the total to the national debt. Brilliant.
University branding
I'd been thinking about writing something similar, but without any hint of irony.
April 26, 2006
Build your own Iraqi police/death squad
It's pretty cheap, and the cool mullahs are doing it. Guns, uniforms, bulletproofed cars. All available for cash transactions.
Standing room only airlines
As seat pitches decline again on many airlines, my 6' 6" body is bound to face more abuse from the airlines. But standing on flights?
Twenty years ago, Chernobyl
We're doing nuclear physics in the class I'm teaching at the moment. There's been a lot of news recently in the public fights over the deathtoll (the UN vs. Greenpeace estimates for example).
April 25, 2006
A pyramid in Bosnia?
Well, I have to admit I was initially excited about this possibility. A buried pyramid in Bosnia? Built perhaps 1200 years ago? There was a bunch of uncritical news coverage:
The archeologists have a website here where they post updates on the pyramid. Okay, fair enough, the project seems to be led by a Semir Osmanagic who is a resident of Houston, TX, and an amateur archeologist. Looking further, we find that this is a controversial claim and professional archeologists are greatly concerned about damage that this excavation will produce on real archeological sites:
- "This is total nonsense. It’s impossible. There was no high culture in this region at that time capable of building something on this scale,” said Professor Enver Imamovic, a respected archeologist from Sarajevo.
- “They should not be allowed to destroy genuine sites in the pursuit of these delusions,” Garrett Fagan, a professor at Penn State University, said. “It’s as if someone were given permission to bulldoze Stonehenge to find secret chambers of lost ancient wisdom underneath.”
- "In most countries of Europe those with wacky theories about “hidden mysteries” on presumed archaeological sites are free to propound them but not to undertake excavation, which by its very nature destroys much of what it uncovers; let alone excavation by those unqualified in terms of training and experience."
- This blog is claimed to be a running commentary on the claims, but my language ability limits what I can get out of it.
- This blog is claimed to be a running commentary on the claims, but my language ability limits what I can get out of it.
Ouch! What to make of this? Well, let's look at a summary online. Looks like pros and cons. Investigating a little further, we find that this "archeologist's" book on the Maya is available online in English translation. It's called The World of the Maya and it's a ridiculous pile of pseudoscientific babble. Let me quote:
- "The Maya are creatures of the light. And the cosmic expressed through sacred codes in geometry, color, musical notes and alphabet."
- "Maya is a key Hindu philosophical term meaning “creation of the world” and “the world of illusion”. In Sanskrit “Maya” is connected with the concepts of “great” “measure” ”mind” and “mother”. For this reason, it may not surprise us to learn that Maya was the name of Buddha’s mother. The Veda tell us that Maya was the name of a great astronomer and architect."
- "And the Galaxy can be described as a vast unending flow of energy… in which sets of numbers are pulsating and radiating."
- "The Maya were informed about the Cosmos. Wherever they went they carried this information with them. Throughout the planets they were able to establish a two-way flow of galactic information."
- "When the “heavens open” and cosmic energy is allowed to flow throughout our tiny Planet, will we be raised to a higher level by the vibrations… to overcome the age of darkness which has been oppressing us?"
Shoot! I had been hoping that this would be a cool story. A new pyramid, in Bosnia of all odd places. An old civilization that built bigger things than people thought they had. Instead it's a desecration of actual archeological sites by someone on a higher mission. A mission to sell books with kooky ideas in them. Cosmic consciousness and Vedic this and that, not an actual dig for discovery. The coverage appears to have been especially uncritical, according to this report, in Bosnia itself where a nationalistic furvor over the "discovery" has obscured the problems.
Finnish folk music
Lordi is representing Finland in the Eurovision festival. This is the event that launched Abba and Celine Dion and is one of the campiest things actually broadcast by big television corporations. Think of it as public access for really dreadful music. Wikipedia waxes nearly poetic on the discrete charm of Eurovision.
Computer upgrades...
Don't go to the big box store! This link is a funny cartoon, but has sound, so don't do it at work...
April 24, 2006
The United States of Prison
In 2004 there were 4,151,125 on probation; 713,990 in jail; 1,421,911; in prison; and 765,355 on parole.
The numbers of people on parole, in jail, in prison and on parole are all more than 3 times what they were, while the population has increased less than 30% over the same 24 year time period (from roughly 228 million people in 1980 to 293 million in 2004).
Nails in the head
Who would have guessed that a suicide attempt using a dozen nails from a nail gun would be unsuccessful? We did know that it would make for a good medical article and some odd news online.
Condi leaks classified information
The junior Pentagon official who did the same was sentenced to twelve years in prison. What fate for Ms Rice?
Life (as a sex slave) in the new Iraq
Even Time magazine can find the horror stories of post-"Mission Accomplished" Iraq.
Ignorance (of the law) is a valid excuse now?
A woman badly hurt her child shaking it in order to banish "evil spirits" from it.
April 21, 2006
One man's effort to pursue Iraq contractor fraud
...and how the Bush regime is preventing it from going ahead. Those fraudulent contracts, skimmed overhead, and no-bid contracts must be providing political donations.
Hard drive historical pricing
The commercial history of desktop computer hard drives on one page. The first hard drive I had was a 5MB Radio Shack castoff (when the 20MB drives became available from Corvus.) My first PC hard drive was an 80MB (when 40MB drives were more common). It was an MFM drive as the RLL interfaces (which gave about a factor of 1.5 in storage space) at that time were flakey. The last drive I bought was a 250GB in a firewire enclosure.
Bush, the nuclear blunders
It's clear now how the Iraq distraction has harmed us in the pursuit of bin Laden, with North Korea's nuclear weapons, and now with the standoff with Iran. The US is immeaurably weaker today than when Bush decided to launch a war of aggression with Iraq.
TSA
JACK: Well, your A. Buttle has been confused with T47/215, an A. Tuttle. I mean, it's a joke! Somebody should be shot for that. So B58/732 was pulled in by mistake.
SAM: You got the wrong man.
JACK: (a little heated) I did not get the wrong man. I got the right man. The wrong man was delivered to me as the right man! I accepted him, on trust, as the right man. Was I wrong? Anyway, to add to the confusion, he died on us. Which, had he been the right man, he wouldn't have done.
SAM: You killed him?
JACK: (annoyed) Sam, there are very rigid parameters laid down to avoid that event but Buttle's heart condition did not appear on Tuttle's file. Don't think I'm dismissing this business, Sam. I've lost a week's sleep over it already.
SAM: I'm sure you have
JACK: There are some real bastards in this department who don't mind breaking a few eggs to make an omelette, but thank God there are the new boys like me who want to maintain decent civilized standards of terrorist eradication. We've got the upper hand for the moment, but they're waiting for us to slip up, and a little slip- up like this is just the chance they're looking for.
Brazil.
Al Franken for US Senate?
The last few actors in politics haven't done much for the notion, but Al might be different from Ronald, Sonny, & Arnold. And Minnesota did elect Jesse Ventura to statewide office...
April 20, 2006
It's back! (Chicago-land specific blog entry)
Wild Chicago! With the original host even. Good stuff. Hmmm...a Minneapolis equivalent?
Priestly problems
This priest in Mexico killed and cut up his long term lover. They had been together since he met her at the age of 13. She was murdered after an argument following his Easter Mass. Their 18 month old daughter was not injured.
Priests allowed to keep their jobs (LA) even after abusing children.
"All the good things about marriage"
Coloradans for Marriage, an anti-civil rights group, lists all of the good things about marriage. I suppose that they're really just looking out for gay people, to keep them from the problems we straights have. Isn't it sweet?
Sonic Youth and Calvin Coolidge
The new additions to the Library of Congress's recordings of significant national interest. What a job! Deciding valuable recordings, preserving sound culture.
April 19, 2006
Goodbye Scott, it's been surreal to hear you lie
Scott McClellan steps down and Karl moves (officially) from policy to Republican elections.
Films for kids
They do mean film and not movie. Still, if they play near you...why not give it a try?
April 18, 2006
The Republican plan for election victory
A new campaign to "re-liberate" Baghdad. Hmmm...might not work that well. I mean, wouldn't scheduling a major terrorist attack in the States be less risky? Oh wait, did I say that? I mean everyone saw right through the whole Reichstag fire, didn't they?
$400 Million retirement package for Exxon executive
Well, at least those high oil and gas prices sent the money to someone who can truly use it. Both Lee Raymond and the Saudis thank you. Heck, the Iranian mullahs thank you also.
Lost Japanese soldier from World War 2 turns up...
...in the Ukraine? Interestingly enough, he was only declared dead in 2000.
April 14, 2006
(Another) >$100 Billion dollar tax giveaway to large corporations
That was a MIGHTLY big payoff for their political contributions.
A sad and sober popular article on NASA's budget
We all know the shuttle and the space station are disasters and that science and exploration (by unmanned crafts) are the way ahead. This article also argues for an Earth-centric NASA mission. Studying the planet from space. Certainly the anti-environmentalist loonies in the Bush regime don't want to see much of the Mission to Planet Earth results, but as the article notes, the science would return significantly after the end of Dubya's constitutional terms.
DEA agent shoots himself in foot
...while demonstrating gun safety to kids. Now he's suing the DEA for making him a target of laughter by leaking the video to the web. Just to help the laughter at this idiot continue, you can download the video here. Or watch it online here. Read more about it here in Snopes's urban legend department (NB: It's a true tale, not an urban legend.).
On the flip side of memoir...
Colton Simpson is looking at prison for life, in part for the details in his memoir of jewelry thefts. "During a jewelry heist in 1986, he grabbed a $30,000 ring and shot a man who grabbed him from behind. He remembers the incident in his books: 'Yeah, some good citizen turned a simple theft into an armed robbery with attempted-murder charges. Gonna cost the citizens of the state a pile of money. Got himself put in a wheelchair. Stupid people complicating my life.' " Yep, sounds like a quality individual.
April 13, 2006
Iceland is the broadbandest country in the world
The top countries for fast internet connections are all around 25% broadband connection. That seems like an interesting level. For about 1/4 of households, a fast connection is worth the money and available. I'd guess the available fraction of people in Iceland would be very high. Small country with the population concentrated in the city. But we get the same fraction elsewhere too.
April 12, 2006
The profitable world of climate change denial
The Hall of Shame of scientists and journalists seduced by the money of the CO2 lobby. Hey, wait a second, instead of a living wage doing physics, could I too get money from the coal lobbies? I could mumble about solar cycles or something and try to minimize the crisis. Wait, that would be wrong.
This older Harper's article shows that the current cast of characters has been around for a while... Since 1995 at least.
You can also see them at work in the Wall Street Journal...spreading FUD.
Leaving more children behind
The $2M for deaf theater programs for kids mysteriously disappeared last year. No one knows you was responsible for cutting it.
How Ronald Reagan invented gangsta rap
By illegally funding the Contras through cocaine imports into the US which funded the labels and on and on...
It's a beautiful figure. The interconnectedness of politics, drugs, and rap.
Lied to again by the felon-in-chief
Two days after the secret intelligence team reported to the White House that those nasty Iraqi trailers had nothing to do with bioweaponry, Dubya announced "We have found the weapons of mass destruction." It was not only incorrect, it was a bald-faced lie, known at that point to be incorrect. The lies that got the US into the war continued in (mostly failed) attempts at justifying the growing debacle.
"It is absolutely massive. I have seen its prints and they are huge, bigger than a deer. It is a brute of a thing."
It's a real-life curse of the were-rabbit! Grower Jeff Smith, 63, said: "This is no ordinary rabbit. We are dealing with a monster." The BBC thoughfully links to older rabbit stories and to Wallace and Gromit.
April 11, 2006
"The Larch. An ancient Greek constellation made up entirely of stars too faint to see with the naked eye"
Interesting popular coverage of seeing things in telescope images...
"Intelligent observers see a cow in this picture."
April 10, 2006
As the US heads towards El Salvador...
We should at least see what happens when the "pro-life" movement criminalizes all aspects of abortion. Interesting how Opus Dei has been involved in the fight against women both here and in El Salvador.
Iran's bomb
Next week's New Yorker has an article from Seymour Hersh claiming the US is getting quite close to making a decision of military action in Iran. That article is being referenced around the world noting that the use of nuclear weapons is under consideration.
DIY Lasik???
Yup, Lasik at Home. Sign me right up to sculpt my cornea from the comfort of my living room couch.
April 07, 2006
The clearest version of the Libby-Plame-Cheney-Bush leak of classified information
As if we needed additional grounds for impeachment... And you would note that the White House hasn't even bothered to deny this.
Can the President fire himself? Oh yeah, that's called resigning in disgrace. Bush could resign and get a Presidential pardon from Cheney. Wait, he'd then have to resign and get a pardon from the Speaker of the House. Wait, DeLay has already resigned due to his criminal behavior being prosecuted. So, would that be then the new speaker of the house? Or a newly appointed VP for Cheney? The possibilities!
April 06, 2006
Scott McClellan
Scott McClellan fully and truly skewered in Vanity Fair. "Press Secretary Scott McClellan's mangled sentences, flat-footed evasions, and genial befuddlement have made him the butt of a thousand blogs, as well as of an increasingly savage press corps."
"Every day, he's pulped, pummeled, spit upon for speaking White House untruths—or for not speaking them well enough.
It is so bad, and so constantly public—every misspoken word, every stutter, every repetition, repeated mercilessly across the information universe—that he can only hope that it's gotten bad enough for him to get a sympathy vote."
Wow!
No irony seen here
DeLay's final act in Congress might be to file an ethics complaint against Cynthia McKinney.
Walking to Siberia
These two guys walked across the frozen 56 mile Bering Strait crossing into Russia as part of a walk-around-the-world expedition. Then didn't register with the authorities in time and got arrested.
April 05, 2006
April 04, 2006
Patent craziness
Wow! The mug with an artificial horizon is kinda cool, but, yeah, they're all crazy. Patent reform really soon now, please!
Dancing is not constitutionally protected
And the number of cities or towns that allow couples to freely dance is down from ~1000 in the 1960s to about 300 today. Didn't Emma Goldman say something about this once?
Thinking about Jill Carroll's story
It appears that if you detain folks, threaten them, possibly torture them, and force them to give statements under duress, those statements might not be truthful? Hopefully someone will let the military and the CIA know about this.
Bush and Blair: Two versions
Fact-checking Woodward's history of the lead-up to the Gulf War version 2.0.
April 03, 2006
The Taliban college experience in Pensacola
An unaccredited college for the looniest of the loons. Get expelled for "making eye babies!" That is, looking at a member of the opposite sex.
"Thousands of mistakes"
Condi Rice admits "thousands of mistakes" in Iraq. Though the two main ones would have to be lying to Congress and the American people to initiate an illegal and immoral war, and then screwing it up so badly as to leave the country in civil war with tens of thousands of casaulties. She later clarified that she didn't mean literal errors, but rather figurative ones. Huh?
Not sure of the original goal of the website...
...but it's pretty amusing. A bunch of quotes. Are they from the Unabomber's Manifesto? Or Al Gore's Earth in the Balance? Makes me think Ted wasn't that much of a nut. Was that the goal?
The pirate fishing fleets
It's a visit to the bizarre world of decaying Chinese ships, Russian resupply, and desperate lives. All aimed at stripping the ocean of its valuables.
Never again?
Genocide in the Sudan continuing with little coverage or excitement. Where are the religious commentators in the US who were up in arms about the Christian Afghan guy who was being tried? No trials for those about to be murdered in Sudan.