Oh, Right, I’d Forgotten About Anthrax
posted on August 6th, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
I’m not going to suggest that I have any reason to suspect that Bruce Ivins, the scientist who was the victim of an apparent suicide last week as the FBI closed in, was innocent. Nor am I going to suggest that he was guilty. Nor, finally, do I wish to in any way be disrespectful to the memories or families of the 5 people killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks. But suicide is not an admission of guilt. The rant continues…
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Steve Jobs: “More Affordable” = “An extra $15/month”
posted on June 17th, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
If you were offered a one-time gift of $200 all at once or a gift of $360 spread out over two years, which would you pick? Even if, for some reason, you needed the $200 right now, you’d know you were giving up $160, right? Well, Steve Jobs is hoping you don’t notice. The rant continues…
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posted on June 12th, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
This is astounding. The TSA will no longer allow you to fly if you decline to show ID. Previously, travelers who did not wish to produce their papers before boarding a flight were subjected to increased scrutiny, but were allowed to fly. If you lost your ID, but would otherwise be willing to show your ID, you still get to fly, but are subjected to the extra screening. The rant continues…
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Review: “Little Brother” by Cory Doctorow
posted on May 3rd, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
It would be unfair to review “Little Brother” as a “novel”. In fact it is two books; the first is an engaging coming of age story of a seventeen year old boy struggling with a society that simultaneously treats him as a kid and forces him to grow up all at once, and the second is a primer on all the ways government currently infringes on the personal privacy of its citizens, how it hopes to do so even more in the future, and what each person can do to safeguard pieces of that privacy. “Little Brother” switches frequently and without warning between them. The rant continues…
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7 Problems with Ben Stein’s New Movie “Expelled”
posted on April 10th, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
This is by no means an exhaustive list.
I’ll note that the movie has not yet been released, and unless they care to send me a free pass so I can review it in more detail, I don’t intend to pay money to see it. These things are wrong presumably in the movie, but definitely on the website and in the trailer found therein.
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One Obvious Problem with an Armed Populace
posted on March 27th, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
As you may have heard, an armed airline pilot discharged his pistol inside the cockpit while the plane was in the air on Saturday. He was apparently attempting to stow it when it discharged. As a gun owner, I recognize that it would take countless hours of training and ongoing practice to be able to use my gun effectively in any sort of self-defense scenario. I’m not willing to put in that much effort, so my Walther P-22 stays locked up when I’m not actually target shooting. I’m also nervous about airline pilots carrying guns; it’s very difficult to prevent a determined team of attackers from disarming a single target, so I typically follow the “never carry a weapon that I wouldn’t want an attacker to take away from me” rule. These concerns are only slightly mitigated by the reality that most airline pilots are former military pilots; when they were in the military, perhaps they practiced with their sidearms frequently, and perhaps even practiced the tactical skills necessary to use a gun effectively in a stressful situation. But have they been getting that kind of practice in lately?
Peter Biddle, putting it much more simply than I ever could, notes that “trust is not transitive”. The best part:
We can assume that a trained pilot, when facing piloty thingies, will act like a trained pilot. WE CANNOT ASSUME THAT A TRAINED PILOT WILL ACT LIKE A TRAINED LION-TAMER WHEN FACING A WILD LION.
If I were to walk around with a loaded gun, even one I’d fired 10,000 rounds through, I’d be an accident waiting to happen. What steps are being followed to make sure airline pilots are not?
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Solar Thermal: Weapon of Choice in the War Against Coal?
posted on March 27th, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
Clean Technica just posted a great article clearly explaining why solar thermal power is an important part of the new energy equation. Perhaps the most common coal mindset complaint about anything solar is the idea that you might have no power on a cloudy day, or at night. The article points out two important factors:
- Every day during summer, natural gas and oil powered plants come online for the day to meet the tremendous demand of the nation’s air conditioners, and then shut down again at night. All kinds of solar solutions, including photovoltaic and solar thermal, can be used to help meet this peak power.
- Unlike photovoltaic cells, which turn sunlight directly into electrical current, solar thermal plants focus sunlight to create heat, and use the heat to spin turbines, just like almost every other conventional power plant. And as the Thermos people can tell you, it’s a lot easier to store heat than it is to store electricity.
Solar thermal builder Ausra claims that 90% of America’s energy needs could be met with Solar Thermal; I think that sounds a bit ambitious, but it’s becoming very clear that solar thermal energy can and should take a leading roll in the decades to come.
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The Evolution of Florida: 1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back
posted on March 26th, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
The Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun-Sentinel are reporting that Republican lawmakers in the Florida State Senate are attempting to undo, or at least roll back, the progress made last month when Florida’s science education standards were amended to include Evolution for the first time ever. The new “academic freedom” bills, SB 2962and HB 1483, would allow teachers to discuss the “glaring weakness” of evolution, claims proponent and noted dumbfuck John Stemberger.
Here we go again.
Evolution is a “Theory” in the same way that Gravity is a “Theory.” To scientists, the word “Theory” means “something that can be tested and verified with experiments.” Evolution has a mountain of experimental and observational data supporting it. College students all over the world have repeatedly observed micro-evolution in fruit flies. Human DNA shows that different traits evolved in different regions of the world throughout human history. Motherfucking Dinosaurs. There is no evidence at all in favor of Intelligent Design, and science class should be about evidence. Any assertion that evolution isn’t true is simply ignorance.
I grew up in Florida. I am a product of 12 years of Florida public school education, and proud of it. Not even the rampant election shenanigans of the last 8 years has been sufficient to stop defending my home state. But things like this just make us look stupid. As the holder of a Florida State High School Diploma, I demand that the house and senate of Florida not devalue my diploma with this unforgivable ignorance.
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Justice John G. Roberts: A Nation Unto Himself
posted on March 26th, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
It’s extremely gratifying to see a Supreme Court ruling in which the majority decision claims to be reining in the extraordinary executive powers that El Presidente has claimed for himself. Which makes it all the more upsetting when that ruling turns out to be a bucket of horse shit.
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posted on March 24th, 2008 by Lawrence Miller
Adam Nagourney has written a column in the New York Times describing Senator Clinton’s “stay alive scenario” for the remaining 10 state primaries. He argues that huge wins (not just wins) in Pennsylvania and Puerto Rico would bring to the forefront Obama’s perceived difficulties with working class whites and latinos of all stripes. This would cause a massive slide in the general election polls, and could force the Democratic superdelegates to intercede at the convention and broker a nomination for Clinton, even if, as is likely, Clinton is trailing in pledged delegates, states won, and popular votes at the time.
