Apologies

My apologies on the silence as of late. There is a family emergency and some personal issues taking 100% of my time. I will endeavor to resume normal posting as soon as I can.

Another Long List of Links

Yes, I read too much and as a result I'm passing along some of this to you. At least the more interesting stuff I've read:

Oshkosh Unveils Next Gen Unmanned Defense Logistics Vehicle
Oshkosh builds one hell of a truck. The technology inside these beasts is amazing. I recommend looking at the videos on their website. I wouldn't mind having a modified version of one of these for a true "go anywhere" RV. They will drive up a 60% slope (you would have to crawl or climb that steep a grade on foot) and take a 30% side pitch without rolling. That is amazing, if these numbers make no sense to you. Absolutely amazing.

In further autonomous vehicle news: Autonomous Fire Scout UAV Lands On Ship
It seems that it is easier to get a robot to fly than to drive. They're already armed, and they are getting more and more capable. Science fiction is rapidly becoming reality.

In the Ultimate Learjet category a story about NASA loaning a rocket engine to Rocketplane of Oklahoma city. I personally can't wait to get into space!

In science news, a "report" that reads more like a diary and as such offers a fascinating look at science "in-action". I recommend taking a moment to read it.

Using gravitational microlensing techniques, a new and much smaller extra-solar planet has been discovered.

Furthering my general point about our lack of large chunks of basic environmental behaviors, chief among them cloud behavior, an article on albedo.

Speaking of not knowing, the mysteries of gravity continue to challenge us. This is an excellent article on some of the issues and a potential solution.

In medical news, via Slashdot, an article that explores the idea of a tumor suppression gene in specific types of cancer.

An anti-AIDS protein being made in bacterial factories. I firmly believe this technology is the future and I'm currently exploring a similar idea involving the manufacture of long hydrocarbon chains from active carbon sources using bacteria. In short, gasoline from plants using bacteria. E-mail me if you want to invest in this idea!

If you played Half Life 2, chances are very good you're in the huge majority of gamers who felt it was a tremendously good game. I'm willing to bet this expansion pack adds more goodness to the game! Personally, I hope they finally give us a sniper rifle. Click for the trailer.

Via The Bitch Girls, an amusing video about the London Underground. I think it applies to just about every major public transportation system I've seen. NSFW, however.

Stewie, my favorite character from "Family Guy" is apparently going to be hosting a talk show. Sounds wickedly fun!

In political and science news, an interesting article that should surprise none of my obviously intelligent and gifted readers. There is, get this, bias on both sides! This study seems to show that reasoning and processing tasks in the brain are not accessed by those with strongly held political viewpoints. Now, is this do to their already having thought these issues out or due to the belief being strongly held in of itself? Interesting questions to ask. The study shows that these people do not benefit as much from new data. Interesting item to remember next time you are talking to a political opponent. Try opening your mind up a bit more to compensate for this, perhaps.

Link-mania

My apologies for not having anything interesting up yesterday. Here are some interesting links to make up for my lack of posting:

Via Slashdot, this interesting website exploring photography using a scanner.

Who doesn't love rocket engines?

Chaos mystery in the use of very precise microscopes solved.

A new type of weapons platform has been in development for some time and is maturing enough for testing. Theoretically capable of an outstanding 240,000 rounds per minute! This, of course, is limited by the reload times, the largest weakness I see in this system.

Speaking of new weapons, the smaller cousin to the airborne anti-ballistic missile craft has reached a new stage, read on here.

Material sciences is an avid interest of mine, especially as it relates to practical use. This new stuff is designed to help seal spacecraft in orbit when (not if) they encounter debris. This sort of technology could help us with our cars and aircraft as well as many other applications!

In the "interesting medical news" section, some new information on the transport of malaria parasites. These buggers still create havoc in many parts of the world, I'm glad we're making some headway on this front.

I urge each of you to watch (and own) Firefly and the associated film Serenity. Incredible storytelling; exactly the sort of stuff we should be encouraging Hollywood to make. So let's encourage them to continue to make this fantastic series, sign up here.

A fascinating article on Popular Science online edition on the future of cybernetic technologies.

Google Doomed? I doubt it, but I'm glad to see them standing up to the government on this one.

You should be working, but you'll be playing with this simple yet addictive experience.

Gabe and Tycho, of Penny Arcade fame, speak here.

And, finally, for all of you who've been wasting too much time away from my blog playing World of Warcraft, some helpful tips on what to do when you reach level 60.

Gaming Review Integrity

This is an excellent post written by the guy who kick-started the current discussions. If you like games you should definitely take a moment to read it.

The Importance of Taking Personal Responsibility for Your Own Defense

Besides my passion for target shooting I have a strong interest in self-reliance in life, especially when it comes to your own safety. There are many reasons for this, ranging from my aforementioned interest in general self reliance to my personal experiences with criminals (and the criminal mind). This is further bolstered by study after study after study where the statistics show consistent drops in crime in places where the citizens are armed. Further adding to this is evidence such as this study, performed in 1986, showing that criminals fear an armed citizen more than the police. This is a perfectly logical stance; cops are trained and therefore held to higher standards of conduct. They are less likely to shoot you for attempting to mug them, whereas a citizen may just plug you and then call the cops. This study examined many aspects of criminal gun use and intent. For those of you who are not acquainted with the facts regarding guns, I urge you to read this short 80-page book (free via PDF) and examine not only the statements within, but the cited materiel and quotes. The facts speak for themselves. An armed populace experiences less crime. Less rape, less murder, and less robbery. Any rational thinking person can rethink a position and change their mind (for example, I am working on a post rethinking my attitude towards the religious holidays). As my footer says on this blog, follow the facts. Let the evidence guide your decision. To me, by far the most important is this simple legal fact: the police are not bodyguards and are not responsible for protecting individual citizens. If you can stomach it, read a couple of cases here. Be aware that the criminals did awful things to the citizens concerned.

PS I'm far from the only liberal to enjoy and responsibly use guns. For example, my good friend Edwin Kagin.

[Update 1-23-06] After reviewing the book I'd like to state that while the gist of it is very true and the points are generally well made, some of the data is out of date and a more rigorous compilation of the data would make a stronger case. That being said, it is still indicative of the truth: Guns save more lives than they take.

Stunningly Beautiful

If you have a broadband connection and a deep or passing interest in astronomy (not to be confused with astrology), go here and check out the incredible details you can see in this picture of the Orion Nebula in an image captured by Hubble. If you don't have broadband or do not want to download a large version of this image, try this link instead. All I can say is WOW.

Technology and Canadian Politics

This is a very interesting article. A computer algorithm was designed to detect "spin" (lies) in speeches based on unconscious word choice. It showed that the Canadian Liberal party, which has held power for 14 years or so and is facing massive investigations resulting from many allegations of corruption and political fraud, is "spinning" things a lot more than the opposition, the Canadian Conservative party (think "slightly left of US Democrats" for their "conservative" party). I'm curious how this technology will shape the future. Talented liars (and, really, that's what politicians are, generally speaking, right?) could learn to avoid detection if this sort of analysis were to be run frequently in terms of helping people decide what person to vote for. I, for one, would likely give the results of this sort of analysis some weight when contemplating my political choices. I wonder what this guy will have to say about this. How do you think this will effect the future? Comment away!

Update on my ACLU Lawsuit Comments

The main reason I started this blog was to point out "Why are we doing this?" type behavior when it occurs on the liberal side. The ACLU, widely regarded as heavily liberal, is definitely a liberal organization, however it should be remembered they also sued the Clinton administration many times as well. In the discussion that occurred in the comments on my first post I found myself clarifying a bit and I felt that these clarifications deserve a post in of themselves. (Actually, they should have been included in my original article. I'm still learning and growing as a blogger.) In any case:

From the ACLU's statements on CNN and other news stations it seemed pretty clear to me that they believe their phone calls are directly involved in the program. This is likely part of their strategy to establish a basis for their legal claim, (remember Newdow's loss due to lack of standing) but it ends up making the ACLU look like they know they are talking to terrorists. The ACLU lawsuit itself states:

"Because of the nature of their calls and emails, and the identities and locations of those with whom they communicate, plaintiffs have a well-founded belief that their communications are being intercepted under the Program."

This quote and the public statements they've made (and the people associated with them in the lawsuit, at least a couple of whom are unfriendly to the USA) makes them look, in a word, guilty. Again, I'm not suggesting the NSA program doesn't need to be challenged; being a secret program I don't know enough about it to make that determination, however I do feel that this is a poor way to challenge it. It seems stupid to make yourself look guilty in the court of public opinion on purpose. It's one thing to question the legality and scope of this NSA activity, a perfectly legal, moral, and patriotic thing to do. It's quite another to suggest that you feel your rights were violated because you were talking to terror suspects. Frankly I'm wondering why the ACLU would be talking to terror suspects and I imagine the much of the rest of the country is curious about this as well. Have a reason why the ACLU might legitimately be talking to a terror suspect in Pakistan? Or why they might represent someone who donates significant amounts of money to Hezbollah? Post it in the comments.

Operation Iraqi Children

Michael Yon, a reporter and author whose firsthand accounts of the ongoing battles in Iraq contain more truth and reality of the situation than you're likely to find anywhere else, in my experience, has posted about a very worth charity on his site, Operation Iraqi Children. One of the primary reasons I identify myself as a Democrat is the idea that we, as a party, try to help the "little guy", those without a voice, and those who otherwise might be overlooked. Many Democrats have talked about supporting the troops while opposing the war (for the record, I support the war as well - perhaps I will post about that if anyone asks in the comments). Others speak of helping the civilians in Iraq make their lives better. Here's your chance to put your money where your ideology is. Help the soldiers help these kids. Learn more at their website and here.

Another Funny Blog

This is an example of the humor that can be found at "Where's the Kaboom?" I really should add him to my sidebar. Reminiscent of "The Bastard Operator From Hell", my favorite systems operator!

Suing the NSA

Is it me, or does the recent ACLU lawsuit against the NSA come across as something like this:

"Um, yeah, so I've been talking to known terrorists in Pakistan, but seriously, you shouldn't have been spying on me, ya know?"

I mean, I look at this and I know that the ACLU is (hopefully) just trying to make a legal point about the precedent this action takes (and as a citizen concerned about privacy and the government, I empathize), however all I can think is how this must appear to most Americans. It's got to look like an admission that they're talking to terrorists and they know it. Personally I think the NSA program is designed to help us use actionable intelligence immediately. In other words, we pick up a terrorist and grab his cell phone and in it are the numbers to his cohorts and possibly a couple of friends. So we tap all those numbers to see if we can find other terrorists (a successful move, I imagine) and we get closer to finding more of the people who want to kill us all, regardless of political affiliation. Some of those numbers are in the USA and frankly they deserve extra special attention because if you honestly believe that terrorists are not over here now and not actively planning on killing more of us you are hopelessly naive. We must find these people before they can hurt us and to do so we may have to be aggressive. If you're talking to terrorists overseas you should, as a responsible citizen, be reporting that information voluntarily. To do otherwise flirts with the word "treason".

[Update] For clarification, I do not yet know if the wiretapping was illegal. This has yet to be determined in a court of law and there are more laws involved than just FISA. I'll look into this and post what I find.

[Update 2] Some links for reading: A NYT article here. A look at the legal aspects alone here. Specifics on the less savory individuals also included in this lawsuit here.

IMAO

One of the first blogs to be added to my blogroll (the sidebar list) was IMAO. Why such an openly and incredibly conservative site? Well, for starters Frank J is one of the funniest political commenters I've ever read. I especially enjoy his version of "In My World" where Bush is basically a trained chimp, Rice is a cold-hearted and violent Secretary of State, and Rummy is constantly murdering hippies and reporters. This recent post is an example of his wit in this regard. He also posts funny commentary on current events, such as Iran's decision to hold a Holocaust Deniers conference. And then there is his take on the recent episode of the hit show 24 (spoiler warning). While I personally prefer the posts of Frank J to the others in this blog (Frank J included several others in making it a "group blog"), his inclusion of a Jewish and Atheist member (among the other diverse choices) demonstrate that unlike many others on the right-wing he is not a hateful exclusionist. Sadly the same cannot be said for blogs like The Daily Kos, but I digress.

The New Look

Bear with me as I build my first blogger template. The text and link colors will be changed around a bit as I look to see what I like in terms of effect and legibility. Feedback is more than appreciated!

Monster Link List

Some good reading to be had online:

Recently the Chernobyl accident was discussed on the Cosmic Code group on which I proudly serve as a moderator. It reminded me that many still consider this to have been a huge disaster with hundreds of thousands of victims, if not millions world wide. This is not born out by the evidence, however, and I think that anyone who is curious about the truth should look around a bit. I'm not suggesting it wasn't a horrible event, just not nearly as bad as initial estimates claimed. I recommend these sites for their information:

A biker who rides through the area, a brave woman I'd love to meet someday.

A detailed look at the accident with links to the UN reports.

Misc:

A study suggests that some 3.5 million Jews alive today all descended from four women.

Eating less may extend your life.

This was cruel and stupid, however the punishment seems to be a bit extreme. Banned from owning pets for 10 years?

A harsh (and probably appropriately so) review of the recent auto show in Detroit.

This deserves a spot on my sidebar, once I get around to playing around with this new template some more. A great resource for interview and job landing skills.

Mila is a beautiful woman, but this looks to be a terrible film. Still, I'll probably like it (I liked Aeon Flux, after all).

In physics:

Does God play dice?

Is dark energy changing?

Black Hole event horizon mapped?

Galaxies floating on dark matter stream?

Geek Stuff:

The essence of geek.

Another keyboard, but not the one I want.

The future of 3D rendering technology for games.

Climate stuff:

Australia is both the hottest and coldest it has been in awhile.

Another "we are doomed" article that says essentially nothing else.

Politics:

The idea of a nuclear Iran is insane but we may have to deal with it.

Stay tuned, a flame-baiting look at the future of Macintosh and Apple is in the works (maybe that will get you to post, eh Brian?)

Gore is a Liar

Al Gore is a known liar. I'm not talking about his infamous gaffe about inventing the internet; a history of this behavior has been a part of his political career from the beginning. Sadly it has not abated and continues to this day. Sadder still is that this sort of behavior seems to comprise more and more of the overt Democratic political response to President Bush. Concerning the NSA wiretaps that have gotten so many people riled up I personally have made no firm determination, however my own review of the evidence thus far and the relevant legal code (what I can understand of it, I'm admittedly no lawyer) suggests that this action was likely legal and even if not, is important enough to continue. If the NSA review board in the oversight committee operated by Congress ever finds that they have tapped the phones of the ACLU (as they are suing about now) without cause (if members of the ACLU are talking to terrorists overseas than I suspect they are being listened to, if not, I highly doubt it) or some other innocent party (or worse, a politically opposed party) than I shall be extremely concerned and very vocal in my condemnation of those involved. But if this continues to be what the New York Times originally wrote about, a program that monitors the calls to known and suspected terrorists from inside the United States (to another country), a figure of some 500 individuals, give or take, then not only should it continue, but we should not be bothered by it in the least. Indeed, I'd be far more concerned if it were not being done. The war on terror cannot be fought by those who consider allowing a guard (an infidel guard, that is) to touch a Koran constitutes "torture". It cannot be fought by those who wish to hold fast to an ideology so strongly that they'd rather not hurt any terrorist's feelings. Or those who pretend appeasement will ever end this conflict. Before I get distracted and start preaching about how drastic situations sometimes require drastic solutions, as evidenced in the hit show 24 and in other less interesting (to the average citizen) historical examples: My point with this quick post centers on this article. You will note that under President Clinton, in the act of fighting terrorism, President Clinton and Vice President Gore authorized physical searches without a warrant. I am not bothered by this lack of warrant in what I presume to have been interesting circumstances (in other words, not randomly stopping citizens "just to see" but trying to act on intelligence that ages quickly in as timely a manner as possible - I trust Clinton's team had sufficient evidence for such action). I feel strongly that in some limited cases that sometimes what needs to be done simply needs to be done in order to protect us all. Evidently Gore understood the importance of acting on intelligence in as timely a fashion as possible in order to avoid a small number of people from doing bad things to a large number of us. So why is he now saying that this president, under an even more readily apparent threat than he and Clinton had before 9-11, is "repeatedly and consistently" breaking the law (especially when wiretapping is a lot less invasive than a physical search)? Perhaps you can explain it to me in the comments.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Today is the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birth. I've long admired this complex and interesting individual who invented many things, including the lightning rod, an invention he gave away to the public domain freely, saying he already had enough money (he did). While much can be said of him, both good and bad, this post I will leave short.

I'm a Gamer...

...But this is ridiculous! I promise you my girlfriend will never get this kind of reaction from me. Certain interactions are far better than any computer-based system. ;-)

Yikes

I need to do more research on this, but if it is true it is yet another example where we trade credibility for cheap political pot-shots. This is not how to win an election!

Space Propulsion Breakthrough

This is an excellent step! Technology is progressing and I, for one, can't wait to go to space someday.

Super Vision

I want a pair of these glasses! Hopefully they will be released to civilians sometime.

Phone List Cheat-Sheet

This might help you if you hate talking to machines.

Another Amusing Video

Now if I had made this, I'd entitle it "I Win!".

Gun Control

Those of you who have known me in person know that I am an avid shooter. I enjoy target-shooting a great deal and, having some experience being in the custody of the State, I know first-hand about the seamier sides of life. I have known people who would kill you just to watch you die. I am accused of exaggeration when I relate this to some people, particularly to those whose world view precludes such disturbing behavior from being true, but I assure you I am not exaggerating. I have known schizophrenics, psychotics, criminals driven by greed, drug addicts, and abusers of many stripes. Knowing these threats are real in an intimate fashion I fully support an armed (and educated) populace. The facts are simple; an armed populace has less crime. Unarmed cities, like Washington DC, New York, and Chicago are notorious for their dangers and high murder rates. For a good look at this issue, read this. This is seperate from the fact that the constitution was written with the specific intent that civilians should own and operate what were then the most modern military weapons available, as I have commented on before.

The Internet is For?

Here's one answer to the question "What is the Internet for?" :-) Funny lyrics, but you might want to see this one at home (or with headphones).

Microsoft Backdoor Into Windows?

This interesting transcript of a security-related podcast raises some serious questions. All that being said, I still like Windows. Mostly. One of these days I'll get around to installing some Linux flavors on some of my PC's to see what they do. Advice on which flavor your prefer for serious geeks? Post in the comments.

Nifty!

This is neat. A stylin' fish-bowl (or three).

Now for the Green Eggs

Genetics advances and now we have green ham. Post your favorite Dr. Seuss lines in the comments below. My favorite book from his writings: Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

Daily Kos and Liberal Hate

I am sometimes asked why I do not read some more popular liberal websites more often. Allow me to present a small sample of the sort of hate-filled rhetoric that is, sadly, so popular on these sites. It's truly embarrassing to be associated with this kind of commentary or people in any way. (The link is a small compilation I found while looking for a different example I lost a link to. I do not read that site, I found that link via Michelle Malkin.) It is this sort of disgusting and intolerable trash that alientates our entire party from the political center and hurts us when we ask to be taken seriously. I know that Republicans do a lot of this but this is no excuse for copying them or allowing it on our side of the debate. Let the Republicans police their own nuts, it's our job to track ours. Note how many openly call Pat Roberston nuts. How many of us will take a stand and say Michael Moore is an obvious liar? How many will stand up and say that Ted Rall is a racist who's incredibly negativity hurts us all? I'm not saying we should silence anyone, of course, but we damned sure can say "They are not with us!" Here are the quotes (because that rightwing site takes forever to load and, well, because you may not want to go there, gentle reader):

Pacified: and do we want a judge who would marry such a weak-willed b*tch?

nightsweat: Good reason not to confirm

If his wife is so fragile that she can't watch the questioning, I think its clear that a Judge Alito thrust into the national spotlight constantly by sitting on the Supreme Court will be too distracted tending to his fragile, fragile wife to be able to adequately render service to the nation.

It's a sacrifice we all appreciate and gosh darn we're sorry he won't be able to sit on the court.

BTP: Channeling Eric Cartman

Yes! Yesss!! Oh, let me taste your tears,
Martha-Ann! Mmm, your tears are so yummy and sweet!

tjb22: Poor woman...she probably teared up when she saw what a bigot she was married to...I'd cry, too. And come to think of it, if they made me wear those ugly republican clothes I'd probably get a little emotional, too.

fugue: CRY...CRY...WTF???

My question. This is not some rated 'G' family oriented hearing. This is how the nation gives somebody the right to interpret it's constitution for the next decades.

WILL SHE INFLUENCE HIS ABILITY to JUDGE????

next thing we know, this guy will do whatever the wifey is crying for. (omg, omg, they are killing unborn baby...waaa waaa....)

WTF?

GO HOME...

This is the MOST blatant attempt to manipulate public emotion. She should go f*ck herself."

phoenixandrew: Mrs. Alito is the typical conservative woman.

Martha-Ann Alito is an idiot and a moron. She'll REALLY have something to cry about if she doesn't grow up.

Buzzer: What a whiny little b*tch. I'm GLAD she was reduced to tears. These hyper-pampered Stepford wives have never endured anything more stressful than making it to Saks Fifth Avenue before it closes. If seeing her poor widdle hubby getting caught in an avalanche of lies about his not-exactly-concealed racism triggers the weeping-willow response, I'd venture to say Martha needs to get out a little more. Maybe visit a black neighborhood or two and get acquainted with a few strong women who DON'T burst into tears while DAILY dealing with hardships that Martha's fragile, feeble mind could not even conceive of. What a phony, fraudulent, sheltered twit.

mrd in nyc: What, is this junior high school?

"Lindsey Graham Made Mrs. Alito Cry"
Sounds like a note someone passed me in algebra.

Why are people allowing themselves to get drawn into this episode?

-You made her cry, bully!
-I didn't make her cry, HE did!
-Well, she's crying now and everyone thinks YOU did it!

With all due respect, F*CK Mrs. Alito! We are dealing with a decision that will affect millions of people over generations! I don't give a good godd*mn about Mrs. Alito. Frankly, I'd be much happier seeing MISTER Alito crying due to a withering grilling by the Dems. But the only folks crying over the Democratic senator's questioning are other Dems (including me).

Maine Atticus: WTF is she doing there, anyway! She should be home baking cookies and making more home-made clothes!

Why do wives, or husbands for that matter have to hang around, looking like complete *sses at these hearings?

Another stupid cow married to another Nazi motherf*cker.

Cry, you cow. You moron. You sh*thead married to a man who would destroy this country!

Cry? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

If this sort of tripe doesn't offend you feel free to explain why in the comments.

On the Topic of Appeasement

Some Liberal thinkers I've spoken to or who have been referenced by those I've spoken to about the topic of Iraq (and many more that I've read online) have talked openly about the notion that if we appease the radical Muslim terrorists that they will leave us alone and play nice. This notion is complete bunk, however. It rests on one of the things that attracts me to liberal thought: the notion of perhaps how the world should be. Sadly, this is often not how the world actually is, though. Appeasement, in practice, has a rocky history, but I'll not bore you with all that today. Instead I will show you a quote from the Al-Queda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Via People Covered in Fish, this link. At the bottom of this article, the important quote, the details of what it will take to "appease" these fanatics:

"First, chase out the invaders from our territory in Palestine, in Iraq and everywhere in Islamic land.

"Second, install sharia (Islamic law) on the entire Earth and spread Islamic justice there (...). The attacks will not cease until after the victory of Islam and the setting up of sharia," he swore.

Zarqawi concluded: "O young Muslims everywhere in the world, and in particular in the neighboring countries (of Iraq) and in Yemen, I recommend jihad to you (...). O nation of Islam, America is today drawing its last breath."

This cannot be allowed. We cannot act as if allowing this is a good thing. We cannot pretend that the "culture" they wish to make dominant deserves to be practiced anywhere, much less the entire planet. (Be mindful of my meaning, I refer to the terrorist's agenda regarding absolute sharia, a repressive and barbaric system, not the more widespread and peaceful Muslim cultures that are respectful and progressive.) We cannot continue to call ourselves the party that stands up for the 'little guy', the 'people with no voice', the 'people who are being trodden down' if we ignore, or worse, actively encourage such behavior under the guises of "appeasement" or "cultural sensitivity". Comment away.

Science Links

Engineers Create Mathematical Method To Design Better Robots, Structures

Two articles showing more details of our climate processes that we have misunderstood in important ways. Again, our assumptions in the global climate models are based on our understanding and our understanding is rudimentary at best. One article discusses deep-rooted plant-life and water-cycle processes not previously known (or accounted for) and another shows that plants release up to 1,000 times more methane than rotting plant material. We had no idea that they did this before.

Desktop Fusion, Take 2

Here's hoping that this guy is able to make something workable happen. It'd be nice to start producing power this way and get off of coal.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reveals A New Milky Way Neighbor

Via Slashdot, this interesting discovery about our cosmic neighborhood.

Geek Toy!

Oh please, please, please make this thing affordable and available! I cannot wait to program custom animations through the keys.

Our Northern Neighbor

Occasionally I am told how much "better" the Canadians do things (though seldom by a Canadian). The glories of a Socialized government with massive welfare and a monumental health care system are expounded upon by people who seem not to know much about Canada. I therefore present to you this short overview of Canada, including a fascinating look at their political system. Imagine having the majority (in this case, clearly the Republicans) choosing the president (guess who!) and then not being able to vote for him in a popular election for months (basically when they decide to allow us to. Seriously.). Imagine being told you must wait 6 weeks or more for a life-saving operation. Don't get me wrong, I like Canada and I feel strongly that it is a good place, on the balance, however I am glad to be an American.

You Are Supposed to be Working

But instead you're playing this. :-)

Hyperspace Travel to be Real?

Read this fascinating article if you're interested in phsyics. I'm very curious about it myself. Hmm, might be time to head to the library soon.

Interesting Music

I think some of you might like this as much as I do. If you hated High School as much as I did, listen to The Highschool Song. :-) Rock on!

A Righteous Hack

Now this is cool. Someone found a hidden command in the HP scanner code and hacked their scanner to play Fur Elise! Awesome work.

This Might Be Fun

This interesting look at an oil-cooled computer project has me thinking. After all, I already have that case... And I do love motor-oil (they used vegetable, I'd use Castrol synthetic - the only stuff to grace the interior of my engine). But it might be more efficient with less oil, a different case design, and some active pumping. Small, nearly silent, and wickedly fast.

On My Heretical Views on Environmentalism

Occasionally I am told I must have been brainwashed by Karl Rove 'personally' to claim my liberal outlook on life (in a general sense) and yet deny the 'obvious truths' of various environmental claims. Mostly I am ignored, but there is one final category to which I hope you, dear reader, will ascribe. There are those who listen with an open mind and ask thoughtful questions and agree to examine the data firsthand before dismissing my claims. I find in my personal life that those who I choose to be closest to, in terms of friendship, will at least listen to what I have to say, even if it goes against what they believe. I am, as should be abundantly clear now, not of the opinion that our environment is going "down the tubes". I continue to practice, in my daily life, environmentally conscious behaviors I know to be worth my effort in terms of keeping the areas in which I live and work cleaner and safer for all. I feel that good stewardship is important and I do my best not only to refrain from littering, but to occasionally go clean some of it up, too. I care about the environment, however I do not ascribe to the doomsday scenarios that have been put forth concerning global warming. This seems to some to be an apparent disconnect; how can one be without the other? The answer is that I am a student of history and a great lover of digging up the facts directly, wherever possible, and examining the evidence myself. I remember mistakes from the no-fat diets (ending up with reduced vitamin and mineral intake, as they are almost all fat-soluble) to the "population bomb" scare that was winding down as I was a youth. I remember reading about the global cooling scare and the threat of Nuclear Winter. All of these represent complex systems oversimplified in a theory that then predicted false results. Several of these predicted huge catastrophes that never occurred. Indeed, rather than starving to death, as so widely predicted, we're facing an obesity "epidemic" (a misuse of the term!) due to an overabundance of easily obtainable food (some of questionable dietary worth). These all ignored the complex nature of the systems inherent in the theories and made grossly erroneous predictions based on vastly oversimplified theories that did not, in any significant way, connect with the observable data. This continues to this day with Global Warming, though the climate shift is actually backed by some observed evidence, on a tiny scale, geologically speaking, and we've not yet begun to understand the natural variability anywhere near enough for predictions to be accurate. Once again drastic changes are being suggested (notice how often they want us to switch to a centrally managed resource division scheme in order to avoid this impending doom? Except socialism isn't all that successful in practice, especially on larger scales). Some historical reading is suggested on this topic. I recommend these links:

Some changes coming in the environmental movement, as predicted by Stewart Brand.

A loath as I am to link to Wikipedia, as of today these articles exist in a form worth reading:

The latter link refers to Julian L. Simon, whose personal website is here, though I recommend you start reading it here.

And one more article about him here.

Simon was right. Learn more about him and understand why. Then comment away.

Webcomic Post

I enjoy several webcomics and I've intended to highlight a few of them here for your enjoyment, however I've not yet finished that post. For now, enjoy this gem I found today on a favorite site, VG Cats.

10 Reasons Gay Marriage is Wrong:

Author Unknown:

1. Being gay is not natural. And as you know Americans have always rejected unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.

2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because, as you know, a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed. The sanctity of Britany Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

Today's Links

I read a great deal. Here are some interesting articles I found recently:

Science links:
Spider mimics an encumbered ant.

Technology links:
Miniature projector for mobile devices under development.

A good breakthrough in solar cell research:

Seeing through walls, courtesy of DARPA.

A primer on BIOS systems for the PC, worth reading if you're a geek like me.

This will be in a restaurant near you soon, and rich homes not too much longer, I imagine. I'll bet OLED technology will bring it to true fruition, however. If not OLED, perhaps carbon nanotube based displays.

Political link:
Taiwan has built three prototype cruise missiles.

Random link:
Sumerian mythology. Fascinating reading.

Finally, the full collection of speeches given by Michael Crichton can be found here. Try them out for yourself rather than listening to the hype. Personally, I think it's plain to see that he's both brilliant and concerned about the purity of science itself, something dear to my own heart.

More Violent Anti-Violence Protesters

Via The Officer's Club, another embarrassment we should publicly disown if we are to have any hope of maintaining legitimacy as a political party, especially in a time of war where this sort of open anti-troop behavior overshadows any of our more reasonable responses.

What WMDs?

I'm looking forward to reading more about this story. Have these documents been translated and released yet? If they show proof of the continuing weapons programs, what will Dean do and will it be even dumber than sticking to the "There were no WMD in Iraq!" theme that is both unproven and unwise (when you consider the history and the personality of the brutal dictator in question)? Who wants to bet there won't be a "Guess we were wrong." announcement?

PS Please recall it's difficult, if not impossible, to prove a negative.

[Update] Read this about state-sponsered terrorism in Iraq.

The Second Amendment

Many of my friends, and hopefully the majority of my readers, identify themselves with the modern Liberal movement, or at least, as I do, as a Democrat. Some commenters have suggested that it's a poor choice to call a "Leftist" a "Liberal" given the historical meaning of the word and while I'm generally inclined to agree, for the sake of argument we'll be using the modern usage. In any case many, if not most of my Liberal friends and acquaintances are pro-gun regulation, if not actively anti-gun. In liberal circles it is often argued that the Second Amendment does not apply to individuals (despite similar amendments specifically applying to individuals) and or cite arguments concerning crime (being performed, for the most part, by criminals who, by nature, tend to ignore laws, a logical inconsistency seemingly overlooked by this argument). For those of you who are curious about the historical meaning of the Second Amendment including references to the Federalist papers, a linguistic scholar on word usage and grammar used at the time, and a fascinating analogy using the "right to read books", please proceed here and then feel free to comment here on your thoughts and feelings on this issue. For those of you too lazy to follow a link (go away! Who wants lazy readers?) try out this quote:

A well-schooled electorate, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and read Books, shall not be infringed.'

I would also like you to think of the most dangerous cities in the US. Off the top of my head, I'd say that Washington DC, New York City, and Chicago rank pretty highly on that list. What do they have in common, besides large populations? Very restrictive gun laws. Feel free to comment about this, too.

On Theories, Evolution, Science, and Global Warming

This interesting article explores the changing meaning of the word "theory" and the impact that has had on scientific education and thought among the general populace. Certainly the reduction of the term from its previous scientific sense (proven hypothesis) to the slang (a hunch or guess) has harmed the public understanding of the scientific meaning and is no doubt a large part of the confusion concerning the (well demonstrated) fact of evolution. Adding to this confusion is the nature of science itself, however, and I wish to speak for a moment on this topic. In science ideas undergo change over time, sometimes radical, often in bursts and spurts. This is a wonderful parallel with evolution as a process in nature. As science changes theories sometimes evolve as our understanding progresses. Witness Newtonian physics and the advent of General Relativity, now being effected by quantum experiments challenging the very way we perceive atomic structures (string theory versus particle theory). The Theory of Evolution itself has changed over time as our basic understanding of the mechanisms advances, however the raw premise remains true and very well supported. So how do we best teach the public about Evolution while not confusing them with the ongoing discussion on the Global Warming versus Climate Change (and how much is man-made versus natural) and other changing aspects of science (itself in a continual state of change since the beginning as its methods are used to learn more and more)? Read the article and discuss in the comments.

As for Global Warming, I remain unconvinced that the "doomsday" scenarios are either accurate or the most wise course of action. Read the last two entries carefully before lambasting me for this position.

Speaking of the last two articles, having given you, my dear readers (both of you) some time to absorb this material, and regardless of your personal view of Global Warming specifically, how do you feel about what Crichton has to say regarding the state of politicized science? I personally found it gratifying that he also chose to use the "Nuclear Winter" hysteria as the prime example of the failure of politicized science in the past. I have long complained bitterly about this travesty of science and its detrimental effects on how science is perceived and consumed by the average citizen. Given the media's general push towards fear mongering (The latest threat to your family could be right under your nose, hard-breaking news at 11!) we run some serious risks in allowing science to engage in the same tactics. (Note the average citizens view of the media these days. Not a high opinion at all.) Discuss away in the comments.

Now Read This!

I have given you 6 days to read the last essay. Now this one should be read and absorbed. I will write more about this soon, but I'd prefer everyone be on the same page with me on this.