Archive for October, 2010
Bad Religion’s Professor Explains Anarchy Evolution
Greg Graffin, the lead singer of Bad Religion, also teaches evolution at UCLA and is the author of a new book, Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God. He tells CNN’s Gabe LaMonica about his naturalist beliefs:
LaMonica: Voltaire said, “God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.” Is that not your view of nature?
Graffin: *laughs* No, I don’t think so. See that implies there’s a design and of course Voltaire was a deist and a famous one at that and I think he thought that there was some design but I would say that there is no design to nature.
LaMonica: But you certainly have a pedantic sense of humor. You say, “As far as I’m concerned, if a philosopher or theologian wants to interpret scientific data as divine, he or she has a right to do so. (Maybe they can write…
The Justice Department Falsified a Judge’s Ruling in Order to Continue Unlawfully Imprisoning a Possibly Mentally Ill Man at Guantanamo
Judge Kennedy. Photo: Beverly Rezneck
No, not during the Bush administration. ProPublica reports:
When Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. ordered the release of a Guantánamo Bay detainee last spring, the case appeared to be a routine setback for an Obama administration that has lost a string of such cases.
But there turns out to be nothing ordinary about the habeas case brought by Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman , a Yemeni held without charges for nearly eight years. Uthman, accused by two U.S. administrations of being an al-Qaida fighter and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, is among 48 detainees the Obama administration has deemed too dangerous to release but “not feasible for prosecution.”
A day after his March 16 order was filed on the court’s electronic docket, Kennedy’s opinion vanished. Weeks later, a new ruling appeared in its place. While it reached the same conclusion, eight pages of material had been removed, including key passages in which Kennedy dismantled the…
La Maupin: 17th Century’s France’s Cross-Dressing Duelist Opera Star
'Six Drawings Illustrating Theophile Gautier's Romance Mademoiselle de Maupin' (Aubrey Beardsley, 1898).
La Maupin once scandalized a ball by kissing another woman on the dance floor. She was challenged to a duel by three men, beat them all, and promptly returned to dancing. Jim Burrows is writing a novel about her, and has this account of her life:
La Maupin, 17th century French swordswoman, adventuress and opera star, was like something out of a novel by Dumas or Sabatini, except for two things.
First she was real, and second few authors would have attributed her exploits to a woman.
Theophile Gautier borrowed her name and a few of her characteristics for the heroine of his novel Mademoiselle De Maupin, but in many ways his character was only a pale imitation of the original. The real Maupin was a complex creature.
Well born and privileged, she knew how to use her influential friends and contacts to get what…
As Many As A Third Of Americans Will Have Diabetes By 2050
The blue circle symbol used to represent diabetes
Obesity truly is the “Killer At Large.” If this statistic won’t stop people from consuming vast quantities of HCFC-laced junk food and soda, I don’t know what will. From Reuters:
Up to a third of U.S. adults could have diabetes by 2050 if Americans continue to gain weight and avoid exercise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention projected on Friday.
The numbers are certain to go up as the population gets older, but they will accelerate even more unless Americans change their behavior, the CDC said.
“We project that, over the next 40 years, the prevalence of total diabetes (diagnosed and undiagnosed) in the United States will increase from its current level of about one in 10 adults to between one in five and one in three adults in 2050,” the CDC’s James Boyle and colleagues wrote in their report.
“These are alarming numbers that show…
10 Reasons Why Flu Shots Are More Dangerous Than Flu Itself
From BeWellBuzz.com:
The verdict is out on flu shots. Many medical experts now agree it is more important to protect yourself and your family from the flu vaccine than the flu itself. Let’s take a look at the reasons behind this verdict:
1.) There is a total lack of real evidence that young children even benefit from flu shots. A systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo. Also the shots are only able to protect against certain strains of the virus, which means that if you come into contact with a different strain of virus you will still get the flu.
2.) Medical journals have published thousands of articles revealing that injecting vaccines can actually lead to serious health problems including harmful immunological responses and a host of other infections. This further increases…
U.S. Announces Largest Arms Sale Ever to the Country Most of the 9/11 Terrorists Came From
AFP reports, via CommonDreams:
In its biggest arms deal ever, the United States announced it will sell up to 60 billion dollars worth of warplanes, helicopters and other weapons to Saudi Arabia, partly to help it counter Iran.
The plan allows for the sale of 84 F-15 fighter jets, 70 Apache attack helicopters, 72 tactical Black Hawk helicopters and 36 light helicopters, assistant secretary for political-military affairs Andrew Shapiro said.
The sale, which also includes the upgrade of 70 used F-15s, is “not to exceed 60 billion” dollars, Shapiro told reporters as President Barack Obama’s administration notified Congress of its plans to make the deal.
Congress has the authority to amend or delay the agreement, according to Shapiro, who said he did not expect Israeli opposition to the sale.
The delivery of the weapons to oil-rich Saudi Arabia would be spread over 15 to 20 years.
“It will send a strong message to countries in the…
The Addictive Opioids In Wheat And Dairy Foods
Photo: Janine Chedid (CC)
A 2008 article from Brad Weeks, MD, on his blog WeeksMD.com:
In Short: Wheat- and dairy products contain opioid peptides influencing endorphin receptors in the brain. These peptides are physically addictive, causing dependence, asthma, obesity, apathy, ignorance and numbness. The same goes for beta-carbolines from prepared food.
To be sharp and investigative, you ought to consume neither dairy- nor wheat-products. You don’t need those ‘foods’ at all.
To obtain all required nutrients and to remain sharp and investigative; consume as much fruits (there are about 6000 different fruits), and some fresh raw animal food regularly (like sashimi or egg yolk). And for munch-food; only consume what you really, really love to eat (and not because they say it’s healthy), containing little protein, but much fat and / or sugar, satisfying your cravings for munch-food.
In Detail: Zombies
Look around you; don’t you see many zombies ?
Why do so many people act like…
Disease Kills 20 Ugandans And Infects Over 20,000 Within Two Months
Director George Romero can scare us with zombies and crazies, but this disease which causes the body to rot away is all too real. The disease is caused by insects that enter the body, suck the blood and breed rapidly. Associated Press writer Godfrey Olukya reports:
A disease whose progression and symptoms seem straight out of a horror movie but which can be treated has killed at least 20 Ugandans and sickened more than 20,000 in just two months.
Jiggers, small insects which look like fleas, are the culprits in the epidemic which causes parts of the body to rot. They often enter through the feet. Once inside a person’s body, they suck the blood, grow and breed, multiplying by the hundreds. Affected body parts — buttocks, lips, even eyelids — rot away.
James Kakooza, Uganda’s minister of state for primary health care, said jiggers can easily kill young children by sucking their…
Crocodile Blamed For Plane Crash In Congo
A British pilot and 19 others were killed in a plane crash after a smuggled crocodile on board caused panic. The good news is that Samuel L. Jackson now has an idea for his next film, “Crocodiles On A Plane.”
Facebook’s ‘Gaydar’ Outs Gays
When it was recently revealed that a Ugandan newspaper was outing gays in its pages many people were shocked, but perhaps put it down to that country having societal values different from our own. Now it appears that America’s social media giant Facebook may be doing much the same thing, in its own high-tech way. From Gawker’s Valleywag:
Facebook allows users to list which gender of partner they’re “interested in.” But do you want Facebook’s advertisers to know if you’re gay? A Microsoft researcher has found a loophole which could secretly reveal a gay user’s sexuality to advertisers.
It’s no secret that Facebook, like many other online services, targets ads to different groups of users based on demographic data. But using a sensitive category like sexuality to target advertising—which Facebook apparently does—can lead to troubling privacy issues.
For a recent paper, researchers from Microsoft and Germany’s Max Planck Institute wanted to see if Facebook…
Woman Caught By CCTV Throwing Cat In Garbage Bin Only Receives Fine
The fat lady who threw a cat into a garbage bin has avoided being sent to the slammer herself. However, Mary Bale — the perp caught by the UK’s ubiquitous surveillance cameras — has been fined 265 pounds ($420) for animal cruelty (per Reuters). She could have received a sentence of up to six months in jail — should she have?
NASA Discovers Oasis on the Moon
It’s not a mirage, it may actually be an oasis. From The New York Times:
The Moon, at least at the bottom of a deep, dark cold crater near its south pole, seems to be wetter than the Sahara, scientists reported Thursday.
In lunar terms, that is an oasis, surprisingly wet for a place that had long been thought by many planetary scientists to be utterly dry.
If astronauts were to visit this crater, they might be able to use eight wheelbarrows of soil to melt 10 to 13 gallons of water. The water, if purified, could be used for drinking, or broken apart into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel — to get home or travel to Mars.
“That is a very valuable resource,” said Anthony Colaprete, principal investigator of NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite — or Lcross, for short — which made the observations as it, by design, slammed into the…
Connection Between Genetics and Alcohol Tolerance Found
While science still hasn’t decided whether or not alcoholism is genetic, they have found a gene that may answer why some people have a higher tolerance. From BBC News:
Experts say they have found a “tipsy” gene that explains why some people feel alcohol’s effects quicker than others.
The US researchers believe 10% to 20% of people have a version of the gene that may offer some protection against alcoholism.
That is because people who react strongly to alcohol are less likely to become addicted, studies show.
The University of North Carolina said the study aims to help fight addiction, not pave the way for a cheap night out.
Ultimately, people could be given CYP2E1-like drugs to make them more sensitive to alcohol – not to get them drunk more quickly, but to put them off drinking to inebriation, the Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research journal reported.
Continues at BBC News …
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Is Solar Power Too Powerful For Germany?
UPI reports:
The German electricity grid faces instability because of too much solar power, an expert said.
Thanks to a generous feed-in tariff, the installation of rooftop solar panels and large-scale photovoltaic plants has exploded in Germany.
Stephan Kohler, chairman of the DENA agency, an energy adviser to the government, has warned that the green boom could turn into a disaster for Germany’s aging power grid.
“The network is facing a congestion due to solar power,” Kohler told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. “That’s why the expansion of solar power has to be cut back quickly and drastically.”
Experts have long called for an overhaul of the European power grid to integrate the fluctuating renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power.
Experts forecast between 8 gigawatts and 10 GW of solar power capacity to be installed this year — the equivalent of roughly 10 large coal-fired power plants. In 2009, only 4 GW were installed.
Well aware…
Gary Lachman’s Journey From Blondie To Jung
Gary Lachman, author of the classic alternative history of the ’60s, Turn Off Your Mind: The Mystic Sixties and the Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius and formerly a member of Blondie, appears in a new interview with Ian McNay on Conscious TV:
Internet To Reach 2 Billion Users This Year
Great, a third of the world’s population to have carpel tunnel and hunchback, and be socially awkward? 
Mashable:
The number of Internet users will surpass 2 billion before the end of 2010, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) said in a report.
There will be 226 million new Internet users this year, 162 million of which will be from the developing countries. Despite the fast growth of Internet users there, the developing countries still have a long way to go to catch up with the developed world.
By the end of 2010, 71% of the population in developed countries will be online, compared to only 21% of people in developing countries. Regionally, 65% of the population is online in Europe, 55% in the Americas, 21.9% in the Asia/Pacific regions, while a mere 9.6% of the population is online in Africa.
American Dental Association Warns of Dangers of Fluoride
Photo: David Shankbone (CC)
What is the ADA thinking?!? It’s dental dogma, surely, that everyone should poison themselves with fluoride in order to avoid tooth cavities. Maybe, just maybe, the tide is turning against forced consumption of fluoride. Ethan A. Huff reports for Natural News:
Advocates of fluoridated water insist that the chemical additive is good for teeth, but actual science routinely shows otherwise, including a new study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association confirming fluoride as a toxic substance that actually destroys teeth, particularly those of developing young children and babies.
When people are exposed to excessive levels of fluoride through sources like drinking water, foods and beverages and even swallowed toothpaste, it often results in a condition known as dental fluorosis. The internal uptake of fluoride into teeth over time causes their enamel to become mottled and discolored, the end result being damaged teeth that have essentially rotted from…
Tracking Criminals With A DNA Mist
A “DNA mist” that store employees can spray on unaware robbers: is this the future of crime-fighting? New York Times reports:
Rotterdam, the Netherlands — When the McDonald’s down from City Hall here was burglarized a few years ago, its managers decided they needed a new security system.
It was just about that time that local police officers were offering something totally different that they hoped would stem a rising tide of robberies that occur mainly in the immigrant neighborhoods of this rough-and-tumble port city. The new system involved an employee-activated device that sprays a fine, barely visible mist laced with synthetic DNA to cover anyone in its path, including criminals, and simultaneously alerts the police to a crime in progress.
The mist — visible only under ultraviolet light — carries DNA markers particular to the location, enabling the police to match the burglar with the place burgled. Now, a sign on the front…
Google Tax Scandal
We all know that there are some genius-level minds at Google, and now it seems they’ve applied their high-powered IQs to working out how not to pay taxes. Guys, can you create an app for that — I’d like to pay 2.4% tax too! From Bloomberg News:
Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda.
Google’s income shifting — involving strategies known to lawyers as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich” — helped reduce its overseas tax rate to 2.4 percent, the lowest of the top five U.S. technology companies by market capitalization, according to regulatory filings in six countries.
“It’s remarkable that Google’s effective rate is that low,” said Martin A. Sullivan, a tax economist who formerly worked for the U.S. Treasury Department. “We know this company operates throughout…
