What to Say?

The prosecutor in the Jena 6 case, while referring to the peaceful demonstrations on behalf of the multiple convicted batterer Mychal Bell had this to say:

"I firmly believe and am confident of the fact that had it not been for the direct intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ last Thursday, a disaster would have happened," Walters said.

"The Lord Jesus Christ put his influence on those people and they responded accordingly," he said, without explaining exactly what he meant.

according to CNN. How do you reply to that kind of idiocy? This is the kind of stuff you get when you believe in mystical solutions instead of the reality, some 15,000-20,000 people were able to behave themselves and express themselves in peace.

In another peaceful protest with some element of religion to it, some students have been protesting the inclusion of the words "under god" in the national pledge. They have written a replacement version which they recite instead. Sadly their teachers have been lax in teaching history or they'd simply recite the original pledge (in the form recognized by Congress in 1942), written by reverend Francis Bellamy and not modified to include the two words they (and I, for the record) disagree with in 1954 by President Eisenhower. He makes his religious motivations abundantly clear.

Moving on:

Mark your calenders for November 24th. Yes, that's right, a little bit of sci-fi goodness in the form of the incredible Battlestar Gallactica. I'm definitely looking forward to that. When cash is a little less tight (sometime in 2029 according to my current budget schedule) I will own all of the BSG DVDs.

I've been tracking interesting material science developments on this blog for some time now. The latest entry is a type of aluminum composite. It reminds me of a type of armor I've been playing around with in my mind, I'd love to build some and see if it works but alas, funds are lacking.

A plan to cure global warming. It seems this might be good for the oceans, just in general, regardless of whether or not it would have an effect on CO2 (or whether or not CO2 is the chief driving force).

The Su-35 has been upgraded. I'll bet it doesn't even see the F-22 that kills it, though. Still, their thrust vectoring system is incredible.

In the "We're still learning about our not-so-fragile planet" news, the Amazon rain-forest is doing surprisingly well considering the drought according to satellite data.

An article on the ~1% of Muslim extremists who want us all to die. Some view Al Queda to be "on the run" but they are still actively fighting, and often winning, the propaganda wars. I've had people ask me, with a straight face, what anyone could possibly have against religion. Apparently they slept through history class and live under a rock currently. Not that I personally have anything against religion, mind you.

And, finally, an article on science in space and fluid dynamics. I look forward to learning more about this.

Someone Had A Smart Idea!

Check out the new photonic thruster. Neat stuff. Might reduce the trip to Mars to less than a week, according to the article, when further developed. Sign me up for a trip! I can't wait to go see it!

Kissing Hank's Ass

This is a great video, I know it's been around but even if you've seen it before, it's worth seeing again.

Speaking of excellent videos, check out this site. While I am personally not an atheist it's rewarding to see a reasonable and well-written, intelligently produced videos which reach out reasonably to explain his point of view without being mean about it. He seems like a really cool guy.

Sicko

I haven't seen Sicko yet, and thus haven't really commented much on it, but my general opinion of Micheal Moore's tendency to lie/distort the truth and the impact that has on those who openly support him is well known. I'm mystified why he's being treated as a hero for pointing out the obvious. Did anyone not know that our health-care system needed some changes? Did anyone miss the rising costs and decreased coverage? I haven't, and neither have others, like Lou Dobbs, for an example of a conservative who's openly called for change (see his book "War on the Middle Class" which my brother insisted I read, not a bad book, actually). For those who view Micheal Moore's latest movie and walk away from the theater thinking Canada must be a socialized medical paradise, please read this comic from my favorite Canadian editorial cartoonist. While you're there, read a bit of the archives, it's good stuff.

Shoot 'Em Up

I won two free tickets to the movie from LouisvilleMojo.com so I went to go see it tonight. I won't give any spoilers away but I did enjoy the film. It is not a "great" film, but it is a great action film. It's a tongue-in-cheek commentary on other action films, in many ways, with over-the-top physics bending action sequences and dark one-liners this gritty action flick will appeal to a specific set of movie-goers. If you're looking for a great story, wonderful writing, and realistic settings this is NOT your film. If you're looking for some entertaining action, over-the-top stunts, interesting visuals, and some tongue-in-cheek good-guy/bad-guy banter this movie is for you! If you saw it let me know what you thought.

News Roundup

On the Global Warming consensus a new study is supposed to be released using identical methodology as the original showing that consensus has dropped from high agreement to 45% or so. It will be interesting to see if this study is accurate as it shows some 48% of the work from 2004-2007 doesn't accept or reject the hypothesis. It would seem that you can no longer say that virtually all scientists agree to the consensus, if this is an accurate reflection of the study. I look forward to reading about it. It is important because the previous paper has been widely cited as evidence of the consensus (though you may recall my earlier remarks on consensus and science). This ought to be interesting.

Another interesting and reputable Global Warming site that critically examines the evidence is Climate Audit.

Order is being found in more and more places. Check this out.

Letters revealing Mother Theresa's agnostic feelings have surfaced. Is this important? In a purely logical sense, no, however given that many religious persons accept the fallacy of "Argument from Authority" and she serves as an authority it may have some impact int he community. Her religion will easily survive it, however, as it has survived far worse (pedophilic priests, for example). In fact the idea I'm working on deals with complex systems such as religions and how they survive, form, and interact.

Sharp has created a revolutionary new ultra-sensitive touch screen. Neat! But where are the OLEDS? I want my cheap HD big-screen!