Again, no opinion from me. I'm tired.
-------------------------------------------
The Flim Flam Man
Death of Homo economicus
Hearing that which was never intended to be heard
2008 Wellcome Image Awards
Organic crops compete with standard agriculture
Rocket Plane
Everything at once or one thing at a time?
Dino Bugs
Expelled Exposed
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Scientific (and not so scientific) Art
Again, not so much opinion. But here are some artistic links so my two readers know that I'm not completely devoid of esthetic sense.
beautiful sculptures of found wood
Extinct Birds Previously Consumed by Humans
The Art of SeaTac
Intelligent Dinosaurs
Nemo Ramjet
Darren Naish
Dinosaur Cave Art
PaleoBlog
Snaiad
An Unstable Contest of Minds
Elephant Film Makers
MST3K Redux
beautiful sculptures of found wood
Extinct Birds Previously Consumed by Humans
The Art of SeaTac
Intelligent Dinosaurs
Nemo Ramjet
Darren Naish
Dinosaur Cave Art
PaleoBlog
Snaiad
An Unstable Contest of Minds
Elephant Film Makers
MST3K Redux
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Links of Interest
Nothing much from the last few days. Here are some interesting links.
Arthur C Clark dead at 90
wobbling neutron stars
genetic link to PTSD
chemistry of uranium
UAVs in Antarctica
All Your T-Cells Belong To Us
Arthur C Clark dead at 90
wobbling neutron stars
genetic link to PTSD
chemistry of uranium
UAVs in Antarctica
All Your T-Cells Belong To Us
Wrighting Wrongs
It's odd that an atheist such as myself keeps coming back to theology and religion. I do think religion attempts to answer important questions. But, like all symbolic organizations, the problem is confusing symbol with substance. Much like politics. Much like the media. Which brings us to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
I listened to Wright's "hate" sermon that's been making the media rounds-- notably on Fox News. Since Sean Hannity dislikes him and thinks he's unamerican my first inclination is to think Wright must be on to something. After all, somebody disliked by Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh can't be all bad. I heard him compare the 9/11 deaths at the hands of terrorists to the nuclear bombings in Japan. The comparison between these two acts and the implications that both are acts of terror was obvious: "The stuff we have done overseas is brought right back into our homes."
And the controversy is... where?
There's a long standing controversy over the Japanese bombings. After all, when thousands of people disappear in and instant with nothing left but a sooty shadow on a wall it leaves a psychological mark. I'll not debate the necessity of the bombing-- that's been debated many different places. But it was an act of terror and planned that way. Truman said it. Eisenhower said it. The intent to use the bombs was to scare the Japanese government into surrender. They had to think we were ready to obliterate them. That it was bluff (we had only two bombs) was immaterial. So, yes: it was an act of terror. Like all acts of terror, it was a dramatic act. An act of theater. The Japanese government was the audience. The theatrical act was effective.
It's also no secret that we created Osama bin Laden in a similar manner to Saddam Hussein. Hussein was seen as a bulwark of anti-communism and as such supported for years. Little things like the fact he was a murdering dictator wasn't considered germane. Bin Laden's education as a terrorist came with our blessing in when he was a mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Russians. Since he was fighting our enemy (the enemy of our enemy is our friend sort of thing), he was our guy.
Again, where's the problem with Wright? Sure he's a fiery preacher and states things strongly. He's not saying anything that hasn't been said before.
Wright's problem-- or rather, the public's problem with Wright-- is that he's speaking truth to power. Not to politicians, necessarily, though they are in the audience of his church. But to the bland symbolic representation of ourselves we like to believe.
We like to think of ourselves as a democracy or a republic-- and our political system reflects dominance by a popular majority. However, the framers understood that in addition to tyranny by individuals there is also tyranny of the majority. Majority rule, minority rights, as the saying goes. They understood that humans are herd animals and do not like to be poked where they are most smug. We want to believe ourselves to be the best, brightest, most free and smiled upon by God.
Americans are particularly prone to being smug about themselves. We have it made. We live in the biggest economy in the world, the freest society and the most sophisticated culture in the world. That the economy is built on borrowing from other countries, not everyone is as free as some and many of the world's cultures are appalled at our ignorance isn't something we want to hear. We especially dislike being called hypocrites. We hate that.
It's a minister's job to poke his parishioners right in the eye. A minister is supposed to bear your problems to the sight of the congregation and God so they can be corrected. This is a founding tenet of liberation theology, the idea that it's not enough to set store in heaven. You have to take care of people here as well. Martin Luther King knew that. So did Ghandi. So did Jesus: "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." (Luke 18:22)
The job of the minister in this country, like many things, has become blandified. Hell and brimstone preachers are perfectly happy with those that are saved at the communion rail on Sunday regardless of how rich or powerful they are the rest of the week. Ministers to more affluent churches make homilies that give minimal insight but great comfort to people with more stuff than anybody else on earth. Priests are scandalized by social injustices that are happening thousands of miles away or are of minimal cultural importance. Wright speaks from a culture of those who were bought and sold a hundred and fifty years ago. Who had lost their names and country. Who had lost their original religion. Who are even now the most jailed group in the country. What a surprise he might poke at the prevailing white wisdom.
Is it safe to say such things? Not particularly. Is it politic to have them referred to in a presidential campaign? Not at all. Is everything going to be cut but the twenty or so seconds that most demonizes this impolitic minister so that any rational judgment of the man is impossible without any data but we'll do it anyway because we don't like what he has to say?
Absolutely.
---------------------------------
Links of Interest
I listened to Wright's "hate" sermon that's been making the media rounds-- notably on Fox News. Since Sean Hannity dislikes him and thinks he's unamerican my first inclination is to think Wright must be on to something. After all, somebody disliked by Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh can't be all bad. I heard him compare the 9/11 deaths at the hands of terrorists to the nuclear bombings in Japan. The comparison between these two acts and the implications that both are acts of terror was obvious: "The stuff we have done overseas is brought right back into our homes."
And the controversy is... where?
There's a long standing controversy over the Japanese bombings. After all, when thousands of people disappear in and instant with nothing left but a sooty shadow on a wall it leaves a psychological mark. I'll not debate the necessity of the bombing-- that's been debated many different places. But it was an act of terror and planned that way. Truman said it. Eisenhower said it. The intent to use the bombs was to scare the Japanese government into surrender. They had to think we were ready to obliterate them. That it was bluff (we had only two bombs) was immaterial. So, yes: it was an act of terror. Like all acts of terror, it was a dramatic act. An act of theater. The Japanese government was the audience. The theatrical act was effective.
It's also no secret that we created Osama bin Laden in a similar manner to Saddam Hussein. Hussein was seen as a bulwark of anti-communism and as such supported for years. Little things like the fact he was a murdering dictator wasn't considered germane. Bin Laden's education as a terrorist came with our blessing in when he was a mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Russians. Since he was fighting our enemy (the enemy of our enemy is our friend sort of thing), he was our guy.
Again, where's the problem with Wright? Sure he's a fiery preacher and states things strongly. He's not saying anything that hasn't been said before.
Wright's problem-- or rather, the public's problem with Wright-- is that he's speaking truth to power. Not to politicians, necessarily, though they are in the audience of his church. But to the bland symbolic representation of ourselves we like to believe.
We like to think of ourselves as a democracy or a republic-- and our political system reflects dominance by a popular majority. However, the framers understood that in addition to tyranny by individuals there is also tyranny of the majority. Majority rule, minority rights, as the saying goes. They understood that humans are herd animals and do not like to be poked where they are most smug. We want to believe ourselves to be the best, brightest, most free and smiled upon by God.
Americans are particularly prone to being smug about themselves. We have it made. We live in the biggest economy in the world, the freest society and the most sophisticated culture in the world. That the economy is built on borrowing from other countries, not everyone is as free as some and many of the world's cultures are appalled at our ignorance isn't something we want to hear. We especially dislike being called hypocrites. We hate that.
It's a minister's job to poke his parishioners right in the eye. A minister is supposed to bear your problems to the sight of the congregation and God so they can be corrected. This is a founding tenet of liberation theology, the idea that it's not enough to set store in heaven. You have to take care of people here as well. Martin Luther King knew that. So did Ghandi. So did Jesus: "Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." (Luke 18:22)
The job of the minister in this country, like many things, has become blandified. Hell and brimstone preachers are perfectly happy with those that are saved at the communion rail on Sunday regardless of how rich or powerful they are the rest of the week. Ministers to more affluent churches make homilies that give minimal insight but great comfort to people with more stuff than anybody else on earth. Priests are scandalized by social injustices that are happening thousands of miles away or are of minimal cultural importance. Wright speaks from a culture of those who were bought and sold a hundred and fifty years ago. Who had lost their names and country. Who had lost their original religion. Who are even now the most jailed group in the country. What a surprise he might poke at the prevailing white wisdom.
Is it safe to say such things? Not particularly. Is it politic to have them referred to in a presidential campaign? Not at all. Is everything going to be cut but the twenty or so seconds that most demonizes this impolitic minister so that any rational judgment of the man is impossible without any data but we'll do it anyway because we don't like what he has to say?
Absolutely.
---------------------------------
Links of Interest
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Links of Interest
No opinion pieces today. Laurie Garret wrote The Coming Plagues. Her view of humans as an exploitable resource for bacteria is disturbing. The Tsunami piece shows that what happened in 365 AD might happen again. New small island humans open up the Hobbits again. Bird eggs show contamination from a bunch of pollutants.
There you go.
--------------------------------------
Links of Interest
Laurie Garret on Global Health
Tsunami, AD 365
More small island humans
Music and Math
Dextre: The ISS Robot
Foreign Chemicals in Bird Eggs
Chemical Control of Nanobots
Craig Venter at TED
Myth of the Hydrogen Economy
Rational Athiesm
Darwin's Duomo
How the T-Cell got its spots
How academia was broken
Bioethanol from Waste
There you go.
--------------------------------------
Links of Interest
Laurie Garret on Global Health
Tsunami, AD 365
More small island humans
Music and Math
Dextre: The ISS Robot
Foreign Chemicals in Bird Eggs
Chemical Control of Nanobots
Craig Venter at TED
Myth of the Hydrogen Economy
Rational Athiesm
Darwin's Duomo
How the T-Cell got its spots
How academia was broken
Bioethanol from Waste
Humans on the March
The news today is mixed and disturbing.
Monkeys have been shown to combine sounds to communicate. Combining sounds is a human trait and thought to arise in humans when the number of sounds used to indicate surrounding circumstances exceeded the capacity of a human to make those sounds. However, these Nigerian monkeys do not have a large vocabulary. Chimps and Gorillas have been shown to combine symbols when signing but not sounds.
Pollution has been shown to affect brain processing. Scientists have known when nanoparticles were inhaled they did reach the brain. Brain activity had not been shown to be affected. This experiment put groups in two rooms, one that mimicked the exhaust by the side of the road and one not. The group that were exposed to the exhaust room showed stress response for up to an hour after exposure. Makes you wonder about what's going to happen at the Chinese Olympics later this year.
Staying with nanoparticles for the moment, as in viruses, an HIV study reported today that just because the level of virus is extremely low in HIV patients responding to treatment doesn't mean these patients are cured. HIV is even more adept at hiding within the body than scientists had thought. Even small amounts of the virus only bespeak how well the virus is hiding, not how well it is under control. Therefore, patients under treatment should be considered infectious even if they test negative for HIV.
Continuing with disease for the moment. Remember Gulf War Syndrome? Remember how it wasn't really a disease according to the government? Vindication may come late but it does often come, as reported today from the BBC. Turns out it exists after all and is apparently linked to an anti-nerve gas agent given to the troops. At least it's not due to the depleted Uranium. ... Or is it?
Finally, from the People-can-be-cruel-beyond-imagination department comes this tidbit. I'm not even going to try to paraphrase it. Here's the abstract:
"In this article we have described 25 year-old female student of the University of Gdańsk, treated for eight years because of depression and for four years because of anorexia nervosa, who to commit suicide had taken 50 tablets of carbamazepine (Tegretol CR á 200 mg), 30 tablets of clonazepam (Clonazepamum á 0.5 mg) and 50 tablets of flupentixol (Fluanxol á 3.0 mg). In 1999 the patient got an internet (IRC) contact with a person introducing herself as a 26 year-old lonely student. After getting acquainted with the life history of the patient she had systematically encouraged the patient to commit suicide. Almost everyday she used to send the patient instructions regarding the best way to kill herself. On parent's request, after the patient regained consciousness in the Clinic, the case was sent to public prosecutor's office. It was found, that the person who urged the girl to commit suicide was a 33 year-old married woman, fascinated by psychology and parapsychology."
Monkeys have been shown to combine sounds to communicate. Combining sounds is a human trait and thought to arise in humans when the number of sounds used to indicate surrounding circumstances exceeded the capacity of a human to make those sounds. However, these Nigerian monkeys do not have a large vocabulary. Chimps and Gorillas have been shown to combine symbols when signing but not sounds.
Pollution has been shown to affect brain processing. Scientists have known when nanoparticles were inhaled they did reach the brain. Brain activity had not been shown to be affected. This experiment put groups in two rooms, one that mimicked the exhaust by the side of the road and one not. The group that were exposed to the exhaust room showed stress response for up to an hour after exposure. Makes you wonder about what's going to happen at the Chinese Olympics later this year.
Staying with nanoparticles for the moment, as in viruses, an HIV study reported today that just because the level of virus is extremely low in HIV patients responding to treatment doesn't mean these patients are cured. HIV is even more adept at hiding within the body than scientists had thought. Even small amounts of the virus only bespeak how well the virus is hiding, not how well it is under control. Therefore, patients under treatment should be considered infectious even if they test negative for HIV.
Continuing with disease for the moment. Remember Gulf War Syndrome? Remember how it wasn't really a disease according to the government? Vindication may come late but it does often come, as reported today from the BBC. Turns out it exists after all and is apparently linked to an anti-nerve gas agent given to the troops. At least it's not due to the depleted Uranium. ... Or is it?
Finally, from the People-can-be-cruel-beyond-imagination department comes this tidbit. I'm not even going to try to paraphrase it. Here's the abstract:
"In this article we have described 25 year-old female student of the University of Gdańsk, treated for eight years because of depression and for four years because of anorexia nervosa, who to commit suicide had taken 50 tablets of carbamazepine (Tegretol CR á 200 mg), 30 tablets of clonazepam (Clonazepamum á 0.5 mg) and 50 tablets of flupentixol (Fluanxol á 3.0 mg). In 1999 the patient got an internet (IRC) contact with a person introducing herself as a 26 year-old lonely student. After getting acquainted with the life history of the patient she had systematically encouraged the patient to commit suicide. Almost everyday she used to send the patient instructions regarding the best way to kill herself. On parent's request, after the patient regained consciousness in the Clinic, the case was sent to public prosecutor's office. It was found, that the person who urged the girl to commit suicide was a 33 year-old married woman, fascinated by psychology and parapsychology."
Friday, March 7, 2008
A (Mostly) Happy Day
The news has been interesting so far this week. Of course it's only Monday.
On the down side, an AP probe has found a whole complex of things in our drinking water. This includes, but is not limited to, sex hormones, pain killers, anti-epileptics, etc. I found this interesting since waterways in general (as well as farm animals) are a major source of antibiotic resistance. As noted in the link of farm animals, profligate use of antibiotics in feed is considered by many to be the major source of antibiotic resistant pathogens. Next time you go to the doctor, he might refuse to prescribe antibiotics because they might cause antibiotic resistance. It's happened to me. Though the quoted science isn't exactly wrong, the physician is in fact being put in the position of changing treatment to respond to a problem originating in the agricultural industry. The AP probe suggests that now we're inadvertently adding additives to our own "feed" in a way similar to the way we added things to the "feed" of our domestic animals.
On the up side, a bacteria discovered in the Chesapeake Bay might help with ethanol production. Turns out Saccarophagus degradans, a bacteria that likes what other organisms don't, is in part responsible for the degradation of cellulose in the marine environment. Which makes sense if you think about it. All that brush that washes down the rivers into the sea over millions of years goes somewhere. Apparently, a substantial portion is eaten by S. degredans. A company has been made to culture/modify the bacteria so that any dead cellulose can be turned into alcohol. One wonders 1) how the organism decides that cellulose is dead and why all the trees in the world weren't turned into gray goo and 2) if it's limited to cellulose or if it can be used to help solve the problems discovered in the AP probe mentioned above. Regardless, it's pretty hopeful.
Going further afield, an X-ray burst caught by the NASA Swift satellite has suggested a signature of a supernova. Apparently, the X-rays are emitted prior to the visible explosion. I expect this might have implications in understanding the mechanics of how supernovas occur. But regardless, a continuing low cost scan of stellar X-rays gives us warnings of when we might see one and that alone should generate a significant amount of data.
You would think a way of predicting supernovas would be the topper. But not today.
TheWilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) experiment is trying to detect variations in the original Big Bang microwave signature. It's been going on for a bit and now the WMAP group has some interesting conclusions. Nobel Intent has digested it for us here. One of the things determined was a much more accurate universe age (13.7 billion years, +/- 120 million years). The other are physical constraints that must be explained by theory. Sometimes I think the limitations within which a scientist must work are more important that the possibilities.
You would think that would be the topper. But not today.
In the past I've had issues with religion-- some of which I've shared in this blog. However, even groups having the most disparate of opinions can coalesce around a common goal. Given that, I am extremely happy to report the following: in a recent report on the BBC, the Southern Baptist Convention have decided the evidence for the human origin of global warming is "substantial". What's even better is they came to this conclusion for the best of reasons: human stewardship of the planet.
---------------------------------
Links of Interest
Cephalopods
On the down side, an AP probe has found a whole complex of things in our drinking water. This includes, but is not limited to, sex hormones, pain killers, anti-epileptics, etc. I found this interesting since waterways in general (as well as farm animals) are a major source of antibiotic resistance. As noted in the link of farm animals, profligate use of antibiotics in feed is considered by many to be the major source of antibiotic resistant pathogens. Next time you go to the doctor, he might refuse to prescribe antibiotics because they might cause antibiotic resistance. It's happened to me. Though the quoted science isn't exactly wrong, the physician is in fact being put in the position of changing treatment to respond to a problem originating in the agricultural industry. The AP probe suggests that now we're inadvertently adding additives to our own "feed" in a way similar to the way we added things to the "feed" of our domestic animals.
On the up side, a bacteria discovered in the Chesapeake Bay might help with ethanol production. Turns out Saccarophagus degradans, a bacteria that likes what other organisms don't, is in part responsible for the degradation of cellulose in the marine environment. Which makes sense if you think about it. All that brush that washes down the rivers into the sea over millions of years goes somewhere. Apparently, a substantial portion is eaten by S. degredans. A company has been made to culture/modify the bacteria so that any dead cellulose can be turned into alcohol. One wonders 1) how the organism decides that cellulose is dead and why all the trees in the world weren't turned into gray goo and 2) if it's limited to cellulose or if it can be used to help solve the problems discovered in the AP probe mentioned above. Regardless, it's pretty hopeful.
Going further afield, an X-ray burst caught by the NASA Swift satellite has suggested a signature of a supernova. Apparently, the X-rays are emitted prior to the visible explosion. I expect this might have implications in understanding the mechanics of how supernovas occur. But regardless, a continuing low cost scan of stellar X-rays gives us warnings of when we might see one and that alone should generate a significant amount of data.
You would think a way of predicting supernovas would be the topper. But not today.
TheWilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) experiment is trying to detect variations in the original Big Bang microwave signature. It's been going on for a bit and now the WMAP group has some interesting conclusions. Nobel Intent has digested it for us here. One of the things determined was a much more accurate universe age (13.7 billion years, +/- 120 million years). The other are physical constraints that must be explained by theory. Sometimes I think the limitations within which a scientist must work are more important that the possibilities.
You would think that would be the topper. But not today.
In the past I've had issues with religion-- some of which I've shared in this blog. However, even groups having the most disparate of opinions can coalesce around a common goal. Given that, I am extremely happy to report the following: in a recent report on the BBC, the Southern Baptist Convention have decided the evidence for the human origin of global warming is "substantial". What's even better is they came to this conclusion for the best of reasons: human stewardship of the planet.
---------------------------------
Links of Interest
Cephalopods
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