The Opposite

Here's a clip from one of the best Seinfeld episodes that ties in nicely with this article about America's energy policy of over the past 30 years

What Happens to a Mobile Phone in a Microwave?

A must see clip.

Sistani In Iraq

Super Nafta

Because the American working and middle classes aren't being screwed enough. As George Carlin said "They want more".

Hitchens & Nut debate

This is quite long but it is another example of the half truths, ignorance and outright lies that religion people tell in order to 'prove' their beliefs.

It never fails to amaze me how the religious use science to justify their faith. I really can't understand this. The bible does not contain a single scientific fact but yet the evolution of the eye (something we know about through science) is often cited as a cast iron example of irreducible complexity as it is in this video.

Anyway, Hitchens is quite entertaining in this but the real value is the religious guy who, although understands the theory of cognitive dissonance fails so spectacularly in applying it.

Chess, Psychoanalysis, Pseudoscience etc

Massimo Pigliucci over at Secular Philosophy has an interesting post about pseudoscience and it's unfalsifiability characteristic. He sets the scene by recounting some Freudian observations of the game. As an occasion player I was amazed by just how fcuked up I am! ;-)

“It is plain that the unconscious motive activating [chess] players is not the mere love of pugnacity characteristic of all competitive games, but the grimmer one of father murder.”

[snip]

“It will not surprise the psychoanalyst when he learns ... that in attacking the father the most potent assistance is offered by the mother (=Queen). ... It is doubtless [its] anal-sadistic feature that makes the game so well adapted to gratify at the same time both the homosexual and the antagonistic aspects of the father-son contest.”

Amazing Crows

After a lifetime of thinking crows are pests, I found this amazing!

What Could WeDo With $523 Billion?

Thats the direct cost of the Iraqi war so far, Charlie Stross has some ideas...

NASA have plans for a manned Mars expedition based on the Ares spacecraft they're developing as a replacement for the Space Shuttle. Price estimates vary from $20Bn (presumably for a single round-trip) to $450Bn (presumably for a single round trip plus all the externalities, like developing the spacecraft and equipment and conducting a thorough prior reconnaissance using unmanned landers).

Either way, the direct costs of the Iraq war exceed the maximum cost estimate for a manned Mars expedition, infrastructure and all, by 20%. If we take $20Bn as the cost per mission and $450Bn as the cost to develop the technology to go there, the direct cost of the Iraq war would be sufficient to develop a gold-plated Mars expeditionary capability and send six crews of astronauts to Mars (and bring them back afterwards).

link

The E.U.

Wheres Sir Humphrey when you need him?

Bananas are on the way out!

yet another depressing/maddening story.

Below the headlines about rocketing food prices and rocking governments, there lays a largely unnoticed fact: bananas are dying.
[snip]

Not long after Panama Disease first began to kill bananas in the early 20th century, United Fruit's scientists warned the corporation was making two errors. They were building a gigantic monoculture. If every banana is from one homogenous species, a disease entering the chain anywhere on earth will soon spread. The solution? Diversify into a broad range of banana types.

The company's quarantine standards were also dire. Even the people who were supposed to prevent infection were trudging into healthy fields with disease-carrying soil on their boots. But both of these solutions cost money – and United Front didn't want to pay. They decided to maximise their profit today, reckoning they would get out of the banana business if it all went wrong.

read the rest

What's wrong with what we eat?

Interesting talk by Mark Bittman on the food we eat - too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking.

Chemistry Video

This is how chemistry should be taught.



link