March 20, 2004
servicemen Iraq
One year later "It's easy to send soldiers off to war. It's a lot harder to face them when they come home"
Bayes' Theory applied; 67% chance God exists
Odds are, God exists. So says Dr. Stephen Unwin, a risk assessor in Ohio who applied Bayes' Theory to the question and determined there's a 67% likelihood of ... you-have-to-buy-the-book-to-find-out. Ah, the Devil is in the retail -- er, I mean, the details.
As a scientist and a Christian, I'm embarrassed by this junk. His book "includes a spreadsheet of the data used so that anyone can make the calculation themselves should they doubt its validity."
I can hardly wait.
Typekey
Typekey. Centralized weblog comment identity authentication system. By Six Apart. Coming soon. [Is this good?]
100 Most Mispronounced Words
Coke pulls Dasani from UK shelves
Coca Cola pulls Dasani from UK shelves after it is found to contain Bromate, a highly carcinogenic derivative of Bromide. The US formula isn't wildly different. What's in your water?
"So cheap"
"You've admitted what you are Fat Tony, now you're just haggling over the price." Thanks for the Churchill whore meme to RogerAiles, who flagged this comment by
Justice Scalia: "If it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined." So, what is the going rate?
Hardcore Dharma
This is not a joke. We are alone and constantly battling for our lives.
Trapped by undead, need help. This is our situation. We are trapped. We are currently located in the main building of a summer camp called New Life Ranch on the northwest outskirts of King's Canyon National Park. [via *.*]
Why waste time with all that silly getting-to-know-someone?
The Internet's Little Black Book. HowWasShe.com "[provides] a fun way for you to get information about the sexual tendencies of your potential partners, comment on your own experiences, and other future services rendered." Areas of rating include hotness, easiness, and quality of blowjobs. (Probably NSFW)
t'ien ming
China's Building Blitz. In scale and pace, the building boom currently sweeping over China has no precedent in human history. China is spending about $375 billion each year on construction, nearly 16 percent its gross domestic product. In the process, it is using 54.7 percent of the world's production of concrete, 36.1 percent of the world's steel, and 30.4 percent of the world's coal.
Illegal operation THIS, mechafecha!
You are getting sleepy
SBaGen is software (Windows, Mac and Linux) that generates binaural beats - interactions between sound waves that mess with your brain, to induce sleep, relaxation, activity, and allegedly even hallucinogenic states. SBaGen relies on text-file presets (although it comes with dozens of files to experiment with) but if you want a "quick start", there's also the Windows-based Brain Wave Generator.
The Dark Materials Debate
Following the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent description of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy as 'a near-miraculous triumph', it's hardly surprising that a conversation between the two at the National Theatre was more of a love-in rather than a debate. The transcript is still a great read though, and contains gems like:
PP: Which leads us to Mel Gibson. Have you seen that film?
RW: I haven't seen it.
PP: Nor have I, so we can talk about it! That's all right.
RW: We're allowed opinions without the constraints of reality!
PP: Which leads us to Mel Gibson. Have you seen that film?
RW: I haven't seen it.
PP: Nor have I, so we can talk about it! That's all right.
RW: We're allowed opinions without the constraints of reality!
Thank God for the camera, for the testimony of the light itself, which no mere man can contradict
The Kodak vs. the King. Images of the the Belgian Congo (aka the Congo Free State) from it's heyday under the personal rule of the very evil King Leopold. The contrast between the photographs used by Leopolds apologists and those used by his enemies (lead by the remorseless E.D. Morel) is probably unsurprising but interesting as evidence of perhaps the first propaganda war to be dominated by photography. Also, the first genocidal atrocity to be, very partially, documented photographically.
(most links go to the excellent boondocksnet site which takes as its starting point Mark Twain and his anti-imperialist campaigns and branches out most impressively from there)
The kodak has been a sore calamity to us. The most powerful enemy that has confronted us, indeed.... Every Yankee missionary and every interrupted trader sent home and got one; and now -- oh, well, the pictures get sneaked around everywhere, in spite of all we can do to ferret them out and suppress them.Mark Twain, King Leopold's Soliloquy
(most links go to the excellent boondocksnet site which takes as its starting point Mark Twain and his anti-imperialist campaigns and branches out most impressively from there)
New Doctor Who announced
Christopher Ecclestone is The Doctor. The BBC have announced it on the tv news and everything. It's just like the old days.
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