Month: March 2013

God, I Love Stupid!

We hear daily of stupid things that people do……..and it is especially humorous when it bites them in the butt…..

(Newser) – Put this on your “don’t-do” list: A Texas woman set a snake on fire in her backyard—and then watched as her house burned to the ground, Yahoo! News reports. “While cleaning up, she saw a snake, threw gasoline on the snake, lit the snake on fire,” said a Bowie County sheriff’s deputy. “The snake went into the brush pile, and the brush pile caught the home on fire.”

The deputy described her recently purchased brick house as a loss, and said the house next door—which she also owns—was 20% damaged, reports CNN. A local fire official said such incidents aren’t as rare as you might imagine: “Yes, it could happen with rabbits and big field mice,” he told Yahoo. “They have been known to catch fire and then take off.” Just why did this woman take such drastic measures? “She just didn’t like snakes, I guess,” he said.

Some days it is just worth reading the news…….

How Close Is A Jurassic Park?

It is the weekend and I do love me some sciencey stuff.  I know you have seen Jurassic Park 1-33 or ever how many spinoffs there have been but just how possible is the premise of the movie?

I found this and thought I was just too cool to ignore…….

In 1983, a genuine freak of nature was lost to science. The gastric-brooding frog – Rheobatrachus silus – was native to the rainforests of Queensland, Australia and best known for giving birth through its mouth, having incubated its offspring in its stomach. But habitat loss and disease saw the species officially declared extinct.

Until now. Scientists in Australia have announced that they have brought the frog’s genome “back to life”. Employing a cloning technology called somatic cell nuclear transfer, they used tissue obtained from samples of a frog kept in a freezer since the 1970s to implant a “dead” cell nucleus into a fresh egg from a similar species.

None of the embryos created survived for more than a few days, but the “Lazarus Project” team believe their work is a landmark moment for the new science of “de-extinction” – the artificial recreation of lost species that featured fictionally in the Jurassic Park films. “Now we have fresh cryo-preserved cells of the extinct frog to use in future cloning experiments,” says team leader Professor Mike Archer of the University of New South Wales, in Sydney. “We’re increasingly confident that the hurdles ahead are technological and not biological, and that we will succeed. Importantly, we’ve demonstrated already the great promise this technology has as a conservation tool when hundreds of the world’s amphibian species are in catastrophic decline.”

Last week, scientists and conservationists met in Washington DC to thrash out the ethical, moral and technical questions of, as they admit, “playing God”. A central question is whether such cloning techniques “bring back” an extinct species, or just create a new one that looks exactly like the old one.

“That remains to be seen,” said the conference organisers. “It is one reason to do the research: is the genome the species? The answer will vary from species to species. De-extincted plants should flourish as if they’d never left, if suitable pollinators are still around. But if California condors had gone extinct, it’s unclear if they could be brought back fully, because the young rely on parental training.”

Archer says his focus is now on cloning the extinct Australian thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. However, at the conference talk was already moving on to targeting other extinct species, such as the woolly mammoth and dodo.

Okay, I know someone has got to have something to say about this……thoughts?

Samuel Adams–An American Original

College of Political Knowledge

Subject: Early American History

This is the week that we stop and celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and as usual I post some American history that I feel has been overshadowed by the doings of the DoI issue….we spend all our energy patting people like Jefferson on the back (my readers know that I am not enamored with Jefferson at all)…….I feel we spend too much time on the action and not enough on what lead up to the situation that the Founders felt that they needed to declare our independence from mother England………

We all know the story of Concord and Bunker Hill and Valley Forge…..we are, for the most part, acquainted with the Stamp Act, the Taxes on tea and eventually Bunker Hill….first let me say, the action was not fought on Bunker Hill but rather the smaller hill next to it, Breed’s Hill, I believe…..one of the many revisionists views of what happened…….

Our Founding Fathers were rebel, in the loosest sense of the word and not radicals…..most were hoping for an eventual reconciliation with England…..in the beginning many were not even thinking about independence……so where did the idea of an independent America come from, is a question that is seldom asked.

It was Samuel Adams who took the first step toward its construction, though the idea had been first suggested in 1705 by the great preacher Jonathan Mayhew. In order to provoke the colonies to assemble in a continental congress, it was only necessary that the British government should take the aggressive upon some issue in which all the colonies were equally interested. The sending of the tea-ships in 1773 was such an act of aggression, and forced the issue upon the colonists. The management of this delicate and difficult affair, down to the day when Massachusetts virtually declared war by throwing the tea into the harbor, was entirely in the hands of the committees of correspondence of Boston and five neighboring towns, with the expressed consent of the other Massachusetts committees and the general approval of the country. In this bold act of defiance Samuel Adams was from first to last the leading spirit.

He had been the first of American statesmen to come to the conclusion that independence was the only remedy for the troubles of the time; and since 1768 he had acted upon this conviction without publicly avowing it. The “Boston tea party” made war inevitable. In April, 1774, parliament retorted with the acts for closing the port of Boston and annulling the charter of Massachusetts. This alarmed all the colonies, and led to the first meeting of the continental congress. In this matter the other colonies invited Massachusetts to take the lead, and the work was managed by Mr. Adams with his accustomed shrewdness and daring. When the legislature met at Salem, 17 June, 1774, in conformity to the new acts of parliament, he locked the door, put the key into his pocket, and carried through the measures for assembling a congress at Philadelphia in September. A Tory member, feigning sudden illness, was allowed to go out, and ran straight to the governor with the news. The governor lost no time in drawing up the writ dissolving the legislature, but when his clerk reached the hall he found the door locked and could not serve the writ. When the business was accomplished the legislature adjourned sine die. It was the last Massachusetts legislature assembled in obedience to the sovereign authority of Great Britain. The acts of April were henceforth entirely disregarded in Massachusetts.
Adams served Continental Congress until his return to Boston in 1781. He initially opposed the new Constitution of the United States, but finally supported its ratification in Massachusetts. Adams served as Governor of Massachusetts from 1793 to 1797.

In my mind Samuel Adams holds a special place as a radical who always wanted a separate and independent America……he along with Thomas Paine made the independence we so cherish more than just a pipe dream….they made it a possibility.

Whose Equality?

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Early American History

From time to time when I am talking with people a subject comes up that puts my brain into overdrive and I just have to post something before it can rest………this was a conversation I was having with a conserv friend and he used the ‘equality’ about 5 times in a sentence………BANG!  My mind went to work…….

Let me inject that I am not saying that what we believe about our founding era is wrong just that the thinking may not be the same as it is today or has been portrayed by history books……..I have spent many years studying and researching the founding period a….by read papers and thoughts from those men that we hold in high regard….and in doing so I have found an insight in the thought processes from those days……..

Who does not know those magic words from our founding, “….that all men are created equal……”?  Words that we Americans are proud of and hopefully we aspire to live by…….words that have echoed through out our history……but what we the Founders thinking?  What can explain the continuation of slavery?  Or women not being allowed to vote?  What were they thinking?

Well the liberal definition is that people are born equal….legal and political equality but equality of opportunity as well….the conservative definition is more  an abstract and unachievable goal…..but where did the Founders fall in this scheme?

Most of the Founders were well schooled and being such would have been exposed to John Locke……..Equality is the driving force of Locke’s political theory because it is the basis for our consensual participation in society, a requisite for the establishment of any state.  As such, equality is not just necessary in the establishment of government but is also a requisite in maintaining a safe and stable nation.  Locke describes the responsibility of the government (specifically the legislative power) as “the preservation of the society, and of every person in it” (Locke, Treatise, 69), showing his belief that the obligations of the government are to provide safety and protection to all its citizens equally.

But was Locke the driving thought of the day?

Let’s start with the person who put the idea in the minds of average Americans, Thomas Paine, in his mind equality meant just what it sounds like……for men, women, slaves………Paine thought everyone in the society was equal there were no one person or group that was better than the others……Paine wrote about women and they voting, wrote about free all slaves and even wrote about a social security type of fund for retirement……he foresaw all people living as equals in a just society.

But that is about where the Founders departed from the whole equality thing…..at least in my opinion.

Equality is a magical word but what did it mean in the context of our founding documents?  Personally, I do not think the the Founders were speaking about ALL men…….their idea was that Americans were equal to citizens of England….that they should have all the rights and privileges of their English brothers…..

I give you the decision written by Taney in the Dred Scott vs Sanford……..Taney — a staunch supporter of slavery and intent on protecting southerners from northern aggression — wrote in the Court’s majority opinion that, because Scott was black, he was not a citizen and therefore had no right to sue. The framers of the Constitution, he wrote, believed that blacks “had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit. He was bought and sold and treated as an ordinary article of merchandise and traffic, whenever profit could be made by it.”

Yes, he was a supporter of slavery but also I believe that he was interpreting what the DoI was stating…..that all white free men were equal to the free men of England and all others were subordinate to that…….I want to believe that the Founders were that forward looking but their writings and papers just does not bear that out…..

Just Another Rant

Do you ever want to just scream….STOP IT! At the top of your lungs when reading the news?

Do not know about you but there are times when I feel that all my effort is in vain.  No matter how hard one works to keep the people/reader informed the more there is resistance to the truth….I realize the “truth” is subjective but facts are facts and NO amount of twisting them will make them accurate to the bright light of scrutiny….and there is my problem.  Some people do not want the truth….they do however want their beliefs reinforced to make them feel better about their beliefs……

It seems it is no longer what is good for all the citizens and the country but rather what the individual wants everyone to believe and act……….it is all personal….it seems few can look past their own selfish little priorities to see the larger problems and do not want real solutions just band aids and slogans…..and all is about the issue du jour….there is not much thinking outside of the box…….just regurgitation of sites in the mist…….it is all too frustrating at times…….

Once or twice a year I get thoroughly disgusted with the chatter…..little to none is what is needed……..knowing that I get frustrated every year I try to have a stash of drafts on my blog that I can use when  amI just are too disgusted to do any research or reading…….I will be posting those drafts for awhile…..I will check back a couple of times a day and reply to any comments…….please keep reading….I will be back!

Years ago I was bitching about the way people act when they are confronted with facts to combat their arguments……they are despicable…..and my grandfather told me…..”when you teach pigs to sing….you waste your time and piss off the pig”……a brilliant man, my grandfather…..

I will be fine as soon as the swelling goes down……..and will be back attacking stupid as always….but for now a step back……..and a cooling off period is needed…….

I hope everyone understands.

Meanwhile Back In Western Sahara

I know not many people will care about Western Sahara……but that does not matter…..why?  Because I care………

After I finished my studies in International relations I applied for a job with the UN in Tunisia….I did not get it but I did get an offer from a Spanish newspaper…..which I accepted and that allowed me to travel in North Africa and the Middle East…..the area of my studies…..and while I was working in Morocco I worked on a piece about a disputed area called Western Sahara (I have written about this area in the past….in case one is interested)…….and I got the chance to visit the area and got to know several people within the freedom movement and the people, the Sahrawis…..a great, generous and passionate people.  Since Spain pulled out in 1974 the land has been claimed by Mauritania and Morocco, who has possession today….but the freedom movement has continued and the US is siding with Morocco, who has promised limited self rule for the area……

Morocco then fought a war against an indigenous Sahrawi group of fighters, the Frente Polisario, which ended in 1991 when the UN brokered a ceasefire and pledged to hold an independence referendum within six months.

The referendum has still not been held. Morocco retains control of Western Sahara and its lucrative phosphate and fishing resources. The country is now the last United Nations-designated “non-self-governing territory” in Africa, and is home to between 100,000 and 140,000 Moroccan military personnel (despite a total population of just 500,000).

Morocco’s reigning King Muhammad VI has said that “the issue of our Saharan provinces is central” in order “to complete our territorial integrity”.

In April, Amnesty International reported that: “Sahrawis advocating self-determination for the people of Western Sahara remained subject to restrictions on their freedoms of expression, association and assembly, and leading activists continued to face prosecution.”

Despite the danger of documenting unrest – anyone caught filming or taking pictures of protests in Western Sahara faces punishment, and usually the destruction of the camera equipment – Coordination Gdeim Izik say they have video evidence of the attacks on their protests.

In one video seen by this reporter, a 55-year-old woman is savagely beaten and kicked to the floor by two riot policemen; in another, uniformed military personnel beat a young girl so severely she had to be hospitalised, according to her friends. A senior member of the group, Sidi Muhammad Ramadiy, pointed to the screen and said: “This is human rights for Morocco.”

The group’s de facto leader, Lahib Salhi, said: “We live here always under the eyes, and under the clubs of the Moroccans. The world must do what it promised to do when the UN first came: hold the referendum, and give us the chance to live as we wish to live.”

Many Sahrawis in fact blame the international community. “The Moroccans make the claim on our land because they can, because they are strong and because they are supported by France, the United States, and Britain,” said Salhi. “But they know the claim is false. The Mauritanians once claimed Western Sahara for themselves. Where are they now? How much longer will the world permit this injustice?”

What happened to the US and their support for democracy and freedom?

Lisa Cypers Kamen, MA: Vet Your Veterans Charities – The Allied Veterans of the World Scam

My readers know that I think that our government has done s disservice to vets for many years….while charities are an excellent service of support….there should be NO need for them…..aznd then there are the pigs that scam people in the name of charity……

Lisa Cypers Kamen, MA: Vet Your Veterans Charities – The Allied Veterans of the World Scam.

Obesity, Obesity!

It is that time of year again….when the millionaires write books and explain obesity to the world……

This is another of those issues that I have tried to explain to people….and yet every year some bimbo tries to make it an issue, especially if they write books and have all the answers……the problem is their answers are totals BS…..for one it is the myth that people make the bad choice……..choice presumes that there is an alternative…..maybe if your are a millionaire writer……but regular people have to choose rent, gas, utilities and then food…..and at this point they will buy the biggest bang for their buck…..that would be “unhealthy” food stuffs……but to pretend that poor people have a choice is being an elitist…..and a typical pundit that has all the answers…..

Okay, obesity is a problem……that can lead to diabetes and other health ailments……do you think poverty could be part of the problem?  Well not to the millionaires that know what the problem is because they know how to use Google……..it is all those poor choices that poor people make…..and it can be solved by government intervention……

But first, just how bad is the obesity and poor eating of Americans…….some tourist made an excellent observation….”Americans eat too much butter, lard, salt pork and all around greasy foods”……. sounds pretty accurate, right?  Well that observation was made be French visitors in 1807……I say that again for effect…..1807!

Looks like this is not a modern problem….we Americans have always made bad choices in our dining experiences……not an excuse but rather stating the reality of it all…..to this end….will any amount of ranting and raving by people wanting to sell their newest book on their newest cause ever change Americans and their love of food?

I think not!  Why?

(Newser) – Crack down on industrial, fatty junk food, the deep-fried stuff that leads to obesity, and Ron Rosenbaum is with you. But keep your hands off his roast goose, his clotted cream, and his split-shank bone marrow, thank you very much. The “hysterical crusade against fat has become a veritable witch hunt,” writes Rosenbaum in the Wall Street Journal. Food prudes often lump all types of fat together as evil—apparently ignorant of the fact that eating “basic, earthy, luxuriant fatty foods” makes you feel full and thus stop eating.

Roast goose, in particular, “is a supremely succulent, mind-alteringly flavorful fatty food,” he writes. And “listening to the doctors on cable TV, you might think that it’s better to cook up a batch of meth than to cook with butter.” Ignore them, he advises, ticking off a list of his other fatty delights, from cheesecake made with heavy cream to Peking Duck. Keep the portions moderate and dig in. Click for the full column, in which Rosenbaum picks out the title of his book if his advice catches on: Eat Fat, Stay Slim.

Sorry, but I agree…….

I was a chef and it you wanted to kill a restaurant then offer nothing but fat free choices…..I understand the need for healthy foods and I understand people that want to change their eating habits…..but it is their choice and should not be made to do something that they do not feel is in their best interest……we cannot protect ourselves from ourselves….you can try….but you will surely fail.

If we want people to eat more nutritious food then help them get out of poverty….if they have more disposable income then these types of choices should be easier…..until then….no amount of bitching and complaining will change the obesity rate and the health problems that comes with it……..fairly easy choice…….in my opinion.

To me all the pundits are more concerned with vanity than health……..somehow their body mass is tied to their  self worth……….

Where does all this stop?  Pundits selling their books and making their decisions my decisions…….where does it end?  Maybe in a back room where they have the sodas, chips, ice cream, etc and one must be 21 to enter…….just where will it end?

Water, Water Everywhere!

They say that there must be water if we are to find life on other planets……remember life here started out there……..so will we find the element needed for life?

It is Sunday and a day without politics and a day with scieney stuff……

Newser) – Scientists say they’ve spotted water vapor and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere of a huge gas planet some 130 light-years from Earth, NBC News reports. That doesn’t mean life exists there—the planet, HR 8799c, is way too hot and gassy—but it does highlight our growing ability to learn about far-away worlds. “The big surprise was actually that we could do it,” says the co-author of the study, published in Science. “We can actually see the individual lines of these molecules.”

Astronomers used a telescope in Hawaii to conduct the scan, the most detailed ever of an alien planet’s atmosphere. One day they could do the same with smaller, earth-sized planets, they say, if the telescope is planted on a dedicated spacecraft. Another neat finding: The authors say planets in the system formed as Earth did, by accruing the dust and gas that surrounds infant stars. But not everyone buys that interpretation: “Theorists are clever,” says a dubious astrophysicist. “It’s hard to paint them into a corner.”

Will this be Earth 2?

GOD Is Found!

First, I did not know he was missing…….Well at least the particle has been found…..

It is the weekend (again) and time to indulge my relief valve and post on something besides the politics du jour……this weekend it will be good sciencey stuff…..

Found while reading “talking Points Memo or TPM………

GENEVA (AP) — The search is all but over for a subatomic particle that is a crucial building block of the universe.

Physicists announced Thursday they believe they have discovered the subatomic particle predicted nearly a half-century ago, which will go a long way toward explaining what gives electrons and all matter in the universe size and shape.

The elusive particle, called a Higgs boson, was predicted in 1964 to help fill in our understanding of the creation of the universe, which many theorize occurred in a massive explosion known as the Big Bang. The particle was named for Peter Higgs, one of the physicists who proposed its existence, but it later became popularly known as the “God particle.”

Last July, scientists at CERN, the Geneva-based European Organization for Nuclear Research, announced finding a particle they described as Higgs-like, but they stopped short of saying conclusively that it was the same particle or some version of it.

Scientists have now finished going through the entire set of data year and announced the results in a statement and at a physics conference in the Italian Alps.

“To me it is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson, though we still have a long way to go to know what kind of Higgs boson it is,” said Joe Incandela, a physicist who heads one of the two main teams at CERN that each involve about 3,000 scientists.

But, it remains an “open question,” CERN said in a statement, whether this is the Higgs boson that was expected in the original formulation, or possibly the lightest of several predicted in some theories that go beyond that model.

But for now, it said, there can be little doubt that a Higgs boson does exist, in some form.

Whether or not it is a Higgs boson is demonstrated by how it interacts with other particles and its quantum properties, CERN said in the statement. The data “strongly indicates that it is a Higgs boson,” it said.

The discovery would be a strong contender for the Nobel Prize, though it remains unclear whether that might go to Higgs and the others who first proposed the theory or to the thousands of scientists who found it, or to all of them.

The hunt for the Higgs entailed the use of CERN’s atom smasher, the Large Hadron Collider, which cost some $10 billion to build and run in a 17-mile (27-kilometer) tunnel beneath the Swiss-French border.

It has been creating high-energy collisions to smash protons and then study the collisions and determine how subatomic particles acquire mass — without which the particles would fail to stick together.

If so I smell a Nobel for some lucky person…….but what will this mean to humanity?  Thoughts?