Archive for April 2010
The sea squirt is us
Posted on: April 28, 2010
When the sea squirt is born it has eyes, a brain, and a tail. It needs these tools to swim around and find an appropriate host to live off of. Once a host is found the squirt eats its own brain and turns into a plant-like parasite. In its new secure condition the brain is no longer needed for survival. It’s only remaining utility is therefore to provide nutrition.
We are descended from this creature. No matter how we romanticize our existence we are essentially biological agents whose only purpose is to survive and reproduce. We have a brain only because it serves that purpose.
Senate to act on climate bill
Posted on: April 28, 2010
The data do not support the case against carbon dioxide nor that the punishing economic sanctions against the American people contained in the climate bill would have any effect on climate.
Man’s ego is out of control. We are not masters of the planet. Think about what we went through with the ozone scare. We didn’t make the Antarctic ozone hole and we didn’t fix it. It is doing what it would have done anyway. What they thought was a man made trend turned out to be natural variability.
The climate bill is based on yet another case of natural variability mis-interpreted as a man-made trend. Haven’t we learned anything from the bogus ozone hole scare? Are they going to fool us twice? Shame on us.
Reference:
Senate to act on climate bill:
The ozone hole video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTdogGDlXMo
The ozone hole history:
http://chaamjamal.blogspot.com/2009/11/ozone-hole-news-archives-march-10-1987.html
The ozone hole: commentary
Thailand for dummies
Posted on: April 26, 2010
My summary of Reuter’s 1000 word Q&A analysis of the Thai political crisis.
IS THERE A CHANCE OF DIALOGUE?
Yes, eventually, in some form or another.
IS MORE VIOLENCE LIKELY?
Yes, given the degree of armed confrontation.
CAN ABHISIT SURVIVE THE CRISIS?
Yes, Abhisit is tougher than he appears.
IS THERE A CHANCE OF A COUP?
No, Abhisit will finesse his way to an election without a coup.
WILL THE MILITARY CRACK DOWN ON PROTESTERS?
No. It will be a shouting match and little skirmishes.
Here is the link to the Reuter’s story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE63P0G720100426?type=marketsNews
Odd prose from the Bangkok Post: 2
Posted on: April 25, 2010
Let’s not make excuses for a heap of corpses ever again.
Over a thousand people assembled at the police station forcing officials to dissolve the mob.
Some 79 more died from suffocation and from being herded like cattle while in custody – which equals manslaughter.
And if you hit an animal that big, imagine what your car, and yourself, would be like.
The service provided at individual police stations has improved out of sight.
We’re killing each other with no end in sight.
There are people who say that ocean cruises are expensive and therefore not worth the fun.
Mr Bush must continue to develop his plans for fighting terrorism and his economic policies.
No single nation will defeat the threat to life and happiness posed by groups claiming to be Islamic extremists.
The Koran expressly forbids kidnapping at all
Unfettered by data
Posted on: April 24, 2010
It has been a long and bitterly cold winter in the Himalayas with record snowfall; and so I was surprised to read in the Bangkok Post that the Mekong River is drying up because “the amount of ice and snow in the Himalayas this winter is less than usual, and much of it melted in January and February” due to global warming (Non-water flushing, Bangkok Post My Home Magazine, April 22, 2010). Has the global warming juggernaut reached such momentum that even actual weather data don’t matter?
Odd prose from the Bangkok Post: 1
Posted on: April 24, 2010
Some parents are still at pains to find enough food for the family, let alone private firms who would be willing to help.
The attention it has received from the government has been far and few in between.
It will not go away by not discussing it.
Prominent senators insisted it was an ill-conceived means that would never justify the end.
In which case the Senate speaker must be held accountable and call it quits.
The massive moderate majority of Muslims is no myth.
A former female politician and an actress were pregnant because of a high ranking political figure.
His goal is to move the country up the Gross National Happiness index.
North Korea is not equivalent to Iran.
And the rule of law is impossible when the government and its police still routinely allow a large number of people to die without trying to identify them.
She had never met her biological father because he was on constant leave with the military.
Iraqis led an undeniable battle against dictatorships.
Thailand is a rich, fruitful nation, brimming with food to the extent we feed much of the world.
Thailand gained even more respect for compassion but Thai movies continued to make inroads into world fame.
Have you ever dreamt of living in paradise, but don’t have to sacrifice your working life?
Los indigenas
Posted on: April 24, 2010
The reference to New World natives as injuns or indians certainly derives from los indigenas, the Spainsh term for native people.
The fanciful idea that this reference has something to do with India is popular folklore and nothing more.
Acid rain cures climate change
Posted on: April 24, 2010
- Bright scientific minds at NASA have come up with the idea that acid rain is good because it kills bacteria in wetlands and reduces the biological production of methane by nature. Methane is bad because it causes global warming. NASA has taken global warming weirdness to new heights. It is unsettling to think that these bozos are in charge of our space program. This study should serve as a wake up call to pull the plug on these nerds and to turn over space exploration to the private sector.
Thongchai Thailand 