stupidity != security

US GOVT: We’ve decided to “protect” you by giving you a little dealy that “broadcasts your personal and sensitive information”:http://news.com.com/Passports+to+get+RFID+chip+implants/2100-7348_3-5913644.html?tag=nefd.top. What do you think? Great, huh?
US PEOPLE: Nooooo! That’s really stupid.
US GOVT: OK, maybe we won’t. Ask your opinion, that is.
US PEOPLE: Nooooo!
ORWELL: Oh, fer crissakes.

Brontosaurus theory and intelligent design

Good article at slate.com.

Iraq, revisited

Updates from my previous post, in case you’re still keeping score:
* Weapons of Mass Destruction found before invasion: 0
* Weapons of Mass Destruction declared by US before invasion: LOTS
* US Cost in dollars: 200,000,000,000
* US military deaths: 2,000
* Iraqi civilians killed: 26,690
* Weapons of Mass Destruction found after invasion: 0
* Iraqis who “strongly oppose” the [...]

Monkey Business

Looks like they are posting our driver’s licenses online for anyone to see! Go here to remove it!

Snickle Chickenlips

Stolen from the GVSU livejournal site - find out your true name! Instructions in the extended entry. BTW, Chris and Karen have the exact same name…. And Glen gets to be Crusty Hubblebutt. Which amuses me to no end (pun intended).

Hi-Tech returns to Low-Tech

I like this, but it seems to be taking something currently prized for its low-tech simplicity, spinning, and automating it. Are there cycles of technology? People reject machined versions of things and do them by hand…only to create machines to help? Hmmmm…..

like mini sci fi audiobooks

Thanks to a mention on Boing Boing, I discovered an extraordinary podcast called “Escape Pod”:http://www.escapepod.info/ today. It’s a collection of short sci-fi stories read by podcasting veterans, and the result is awesome. There’s some fresh, funny, and thought-provoking stuff in there, and it’s open to everyone.
My favorite so far is “The [...]

intelligent design and sloppy journalism

Is it just me, or is this Washington Post “article on the intelligent design trial”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701579.html completely lacking in journalistic rigor? It sounds more like a press release for Michael J. Behe, the pseudoscientist who testified yesterday. It’s not so much bias as an apathy toward really determining how the scientific community views intelligent [...]

rights down the tubes

I have no response to this. A high-school kid makes a protest poster as a civics project (to illustrate our right to dissent), and he gets visited by the Secret Service after being turned in by… Wal-Mart. Made up? Laughable? Something out of 1984 or Brazil? Nope, it’s the truth.

black holes help stars form

According to recent observations by the Chandra Observatory, the black hole at the center of our galaxy has been shown to “provide a safe and even nurturing environment”:http://www.physorg.com/news7225.html for the formation of stars. This may indicate that black holes play more than just a destructive role in the evolution of the universe.