Archive

Archive for October, 2007

Cell towers are for the birds

October 15, 2007 Comments off

I’ve seen this klatch several times on my way to breakfast:

Maybe the microwaves are keeping them warm.

Categories: Uncategorized

Blog Action Day

October 15, 2007 1 comment

At first sight, “Blog Action Day” sounds like “Jumbo Shrimp” or “Compassionate Conservative”, but hey, dudes, think about it!!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean, like, if we could, like get all the bloggers at once to blog on ONE topic, all at once, it’d like, totally freak out the man, dude!!!!!

Today’s Blog Action Day is for the environment.  We’re all supposed to ‘blog about the environment’ today.  Well OK, though it makes a hell of an assumption about what “bloggers” think about “the environment”.  So here goes.  I’ll just post a quote:

Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
- Herbert George Wells

There.  I blogged about the environment. 

(OK, I guess it is important to talk about stuff.  As long as we also do stuff.  Recycle an aluminum can today, OK?  And air up the tires on your bicycle.  Try using it for actual transportation once in a while.)

Christopher Hitchens: genocide is the answer

October 14, 2007 12 comments

I’d wanted to find out about how the FFRF convention went this week and looked for a summary.  PZ Myers was there, and reports on it at length.  (Short version: had a couple great guests who fought for separation of church and state.  Needed more breaks, people came here to organize and schmooze, not to hear long speeches.)

Scroll down, though, and you’ll find his report on Christopher Hitchens’ address, in which the speaker basically said we should bomb the entire Muslim world back into the stone age, and then keep bombing them some more.  Myers was not impressed, and to his credit did a great job dismantling the diatribe.

The idea that we can kill our way to cultural supremacy has a lot of takers, but it’s wrong.  There aren’t enough bombs in the world to destroy the Muslim heaven.  It’s easy enough to replace the fanatics you’re killing, too, if the culture is immersed in poverty and ignorance.  But vast numbers of Muslims want to consume Western culture, which is far more potent leverage.

Do we even need to say that genocide is wrong?  That a nation that commits it undermines its own legitimacy, and the arguments for its own existence?  When we see dictators on trial at the Hague, we should be thinking; “Don’t be that guy”. 

I often see religious people try to argue that only (their) religion can be the basis for morality.  And some atheists argue for the opposite: that religion is the source of immorality and only atheism can set us free from it.  Hitchens is evidence that maybe good and evil just come from … us.

Categories: defense, Politics

Shyness may contribute to school shootings, says researcher

October 14, 2007 1 comment

With yet another school shooting in the news I was reminded of a recent article on ScienceDaily, about shyness:

After performing an analysis of school shootings in the last decade, researchers at the Shyness Research Institute in Indiana say that the perpetrators are likely to suffer from cynical shyness—an extreme form of shyness that predominantly affects males and can lead to violent behavior.
Science Daily —Cynical Shyness Can Precipitate Violence In Males And May Be Factor In School Shootings

Ok, yeah, sure, that makes sense… Wait a minute!  There’s a Shyness Institute? Is this Science Daily, or The Onion?  I can’t help imagining a comedy routine; “I called the Shyness Institute, but they wouldn’t pick up…”

Yes, it turns out there really is a “Shyness Institute” at Indiana University Southeast.  It is led by Dr. Bernardo J. Carducci, PhD, and…

The Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast was established in 1997 to promote understanding in the area of shyness. The main function of the institute is help understand the pains and problems of shyness, not to market a cure. Bernardo Carducci, director, has been quoted as saying, “We’d rather understand shy people than change them.” Carducci and the associates at the Institute receive many responses from shy individuals from all over the world. By carefully analyzing these many responses, those at the Shyness Research Institute hope to aid those who are shy in understanding the dynamics of their shyness.

I have known some extremely shy people.  It was a genuine disability for them, and made more painful by the fact that many people – even the shy persons themselves – mistakenly believed it was a character flaw.  None of them had gotten to the point where they hated other people because of it… or maybe they had.  How would we know?

Social interaction is like traffic; it has rules, it has timing, and we gauge others’ intentions by how they apply the rules and mesh with the timing.  A second too long or too short of eye contact, or a moment’s delay in recognition, and a person finds themselves outcast, a victim of their malfunctioning mirror neurons.  It is a lot worse for children.

I have no advice for parents of shy children but for everyone else: teach your kids to take a deep breath, get control of their tendency to outcast others who are different, and cut shy people some slack.  Behind that downcast countenance is a human being who might become a good friend.  To quote the philosopher, “Don’t be cruel”.  In the long run, a little kindness might be more important than all the defense we can clamp down on our campuses.

Categories: News, observations

Nobel committee had to get one right eventually

October 12, 2007 7 comments

OK, suppose you have not heard that the IPCC and Al Gore will share the Nobel Peace Prize for their work on getting the word out on the role of human activity in climate change.  For about the next week, you’ll hear of little else. Heaven knows most MSM journalism critters lack the ability to write anything interesting about stem cell targeting, and they wouldn’t know Giant MagnetoResistance if it bit them in their hard drives.

I am not sure how meaningful the Peace Prize is anymore, since it’s been given to Henry Kissinger and Yassar Arafat.  But predictably the “don’t wanna hear about no ‘vironment” right wing is freaking out over it anyway.

All I can say is, kudos to Al Gore, and to the committee as well.  This was a good choice.  Too bad the Supreme Court is giving the award to Bush.

Categories: Politics

A Jewish person’s response to Dawkins

October 11, 2007 5 comments

Richard Dawkins is a smart guy, and I’ve read several of his books about evolution.  But lately he’s on a kick where he’s trying to make a virtue of atheism* and it’s given him a good chance to demonstrate that he has a tin ear when it comes to talking about social groups and identities.  His latest example was, well, you can read it for yourself…

In an interview with the Guardian, he said: “When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told – religious Jews anyway – than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place.”

It’s difficult for someone outside a group to even refer to any characteristic of that group without coming off as stereotyping – even if the observation is complimentary.  For instance, I once told someone that every Mexican I’d ever personally known was very hard working and highly motivated – and that’s true – and I got a lecture about cultural stereotypes.  Fine, whatever.

So how would a non-Jew speak about Jews or Jewish culture?  This is particularly dicey because even the mildest criticism is met with accusations of “anti-semitism”.  It’s hard to discuss anything where one side is constantly told they don’t have rights to any thoughts, feelings, or imagery.  Generally I admire a culture that emphasizes education and community and personal achievement and consequently has contributed more than its share of scientists, artists, writers and statesmen.  If you want to think I’m referring to the Jews there, go ahead, but I wouldn’t want to be accused of stereotyping.

I can, however, point to a Jewish person’s reaction to Dawkins’ comments.  Richard Rosenhouse at EvolutionBlog asks; How does this affect the Jews?  In his essay he touches upon Mel Brooks, Fiddler On The Roof, Passover rituals, his affection and unabashed support for Israel, and relations between Jews and their gentile friends. 

…When you get right down to it, I love being Jewish. I love the fact that for all my mordant atheism I am not even one wit less Jewish than the most orthodox rabbi. There are no good Jews or bad Jews or lapsed Jews or anything Jews. There are just Jews, and that is all. I love the fact that a rabbi derives his authority not from any perceived personal relationship with God (an idea that Jews the world over regard as absurd, obscene and arrogant) but rather from his education and his years of study of all things Jewish. You respect a rabbi on Jewish questions for the same reason you trust a scientist to talk about science; they know more about it then you do…

Lots more there is! Well worth the time reading.

*(I think Dawkins is making the same mistake that Christians make when they claim that their personal relationship to Jesus makes them better people.  Atheists in charge wouldn’t necessarily do a better job than religionists.  If someone is a good person, they’re a good person; it doesn’t matter what label they slap on it.  There are plenty of counter-examples to the putative virtue of any group: Pat Robertson for Christianity, Osama Bin Laden for Islam, and Karl Rove for atheism…)

Categories: Religion

Amazing, incredible, TRUE invention story

October 9, 2007 12 comments

(Reposted with minor edits from my old website 12/21/03)
You might get discouraged about the future, but wait – there is something amazing hidden in the human spirit.  The January ‘04 Scientific American reports the astounding story of Curt Herzstark, inventor of the mechanical Curta calculator. He conceived and and designed this ingenious device while a prisoner in the Nazi Buchenwald concentration camp.

Herzstark actually drew the plans, including specifications and dimensions, to make himself too interesting for his Nazi guards to kill. “My God,” he thought, “If I can make this calculator, I can extend my life. Right there I started to draw…”

Think of a durable hand-held mechanical calculator, using precision gears and cams, the size and shape of a small pepper grinder. It delivered answers to 11 significant digits. Its precision and complexity are mind-bending, its elegance and versatility, beautiful to behold. It could do an enormous range of functions, and was eventually used by astronomers, surveyors, engineers, and accountants. Built to last a lifetime, these calculators are now fetching $800 on eBay and remain popular with vintage ralley drivers.

When the allies bombed the camp, Herzstark escaped into the forest, taking his plans with him. He roamed post-war Europe trying to get industrial backing for his calculator, and eventually succeeded in getting a machine shop to help him make three working prototypes. So perfect were his drawings that the design was unchanged from his prison-camp originals.

Sometimes I hear people lament that because of war, pollution, global warming, or [insert calamity here] that the human race is doomed to extinction. Well, “not likely, Homer.” Humans evolved in a jungle but came to prominence during an ice age. The human mind is endlessly adaptable and creative; the human spirit proves itself over and over to be more than a match for any kind of adversity.

Take the chance to celebrate human genius, and to marvel at the indomitability of these melon-soft bipeds. Yes, we have some stupid or immoral individuals, but we also have the other kind too. Given even the smallest chance to succeed, a tiny opening, they’ll work wonders, and make us wonder why we let our trivial problems hold us back.

Curta Links:

  • http://curta.org

  • http://www.vcalc.net
  • http://home.teleport.com/~gregsa/curta/
  • http://www.curta.org/wiki/CurtaAlgorithms
Categories: Science & Technology

Gerald Ford stamps available

October 8, 2007 1 comment

 
 

I’ve written before about how I pick stamps to express honor to a person, object, or idea.  They almost always have something interesting I can choose.  Last week I needed stamps and this one was a very easy choice:
 

Is there anybody like this running for the office now?.

Categories: Reviews

The Smear This Time

October 7, 2007 Comments off

Remember Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas?  He went to the Supreme Court, she went to a teaching career, and later testified about his character in Senate confirmation hearings.

In his new memoir and on 60 Minutes, Thomas felt the need to say demeaning and derogatory things against his former accuser, even though he won that contest in the overwhelmingly male Senate.  And Anita Hill, dragged back into the spotlight, replies.

Do I believe Hill instead of Thomas out of some liberal bias?  Possibly.  But I’ve known guys like that, and her description of his behavior rang true.  And since the hearings, her testimony has been corroborated.

(From Joe Irvin’s blog, which is so consistently good that I’m putting it in the Sidebar Spotlight for a while.  He has a knack for finding interesting stuff).

Categories: Law, Politics

Weather vs. climate

October 7, 2007 Comments off

We’ve had a whole bunch of days recently that reached the low 90’s f temperature. I know better than to confuse weather with climate but dammit, it’s freakin’ OCTOBER already!!!  Normally this time of year it should only be getting up into the mid-70’s f in the afternoons.

We’re bumping the record set back in 1939, but back then you couldn’t navigate a cruise ship through the arctic.  That’s climate, as the ice cap acts like a statistical aggregator.  One way to think of it is that climate is like a container in which weather bounces around.  Move the container upward or downward, weather moves within it.