beautiful shells at the Boston Museum of Science
What SwedenCare Can Teach Us About Obamacare – Liberty Crier.
Excellent article in the Liberty Crier about Obamacare. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I am totally and completely against Obamacare or any other type of socialism/communism that isn’t completely voluntary. Of course, Obamacare is based totally on FORCE.
That alone should be enough to discourage anyone from accepting it. In addition, it flies in the face of the laws of economics AND the laws of human nature! How on Earth could ANYONE think this will turn out to be anything but a major disaster?
The article explains it all a lot better than I can. Please take the time to read it to the end (and comments below). It really does a good job of explaining the situation.
BEIL FYI: Mysterious Dolphin Deaths on the Rise : Bryan Ellis Investing Letter.
Could it be measles??? It sure seems like its taking them a long time to figure that out if it was something that simple. I just hate to see this happening to those beautiful playful dolphins 🙁 I hope they can figure out what’s killing them soon and find some way to help them survive whatever it is.
Underwater Volcano Dubbed World’s Largest.
More discoveries under the ocean! We really need to learn more about the earth, we keep finding all kinds of stuff we never knew about. This volcano, the Tamu Massif, is 120,000 square miles! Its worth reading the article 😉
Climate Activists, Eco-Terrorism, and the Green Scare – Politics – Utne Reader.
Another great article from Utne Reader. I really love that magazine, even tho I usually don’t agree with how they state the problem or the solutions they come up with. They are usually VERY statist and I am the opposite. Sometimes they are communitarian (people choosing to live together in a voluntary manner and helping each other by CHOICE), which I DO agree with and support. There is a world of difference between voluntary cooperation and all other systems which are based on force. I will not support any of those in any way (which includes “our” system here in the USA now, since it has utterly violated the original constitution set up and intended to PROTECT our rights, and instead it now constantly violates them).
As for the article, it reports on the usual cooperation between big government and big business to keep the people in their places. Lots of spying on anyone engaged in community organizing or otherwise politically active by both private companies and government to benefit the corporations . Of course, this damages the ability to get anything useful done. They talk a lot about fracking specifically but also mention the Keystone pipeline and animal rights, factory farming,etc. I really can’t say I’ve made up my mind which side of the fracking issue I’ll take.
I DO like the fact that it is helping us get off the Arabic tit and become energy independent again. I like that very much! I would LOVE to be able to say to the entire Middle East to go jump in a lake! They’ve had us over the barrel (of oil) for so long and we’ve been sucking up to them for years because of it. We spend BILLIONS of dollars “protecting” their countries so we can get access to that oil. I say let them keep their oil! We should’ve spent all those billions developing alternative energy all those years and we’d be a HELL of a lot better off by now.
So, now our oil people have come up with directional drilling and fracking to get more of our own oil out of the ground. I’m happy about that. Lets concentrate on making fracking safer, if the environmentalists concerns about groundwater pollution are valid, we need to fix that problem somehow before we continue fracking near any problem areas. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater, lets FIX the specific problems with fracking and use it for our benefit. Since we have NOT developed our alternative energy supplies to where they’re anywhere near competitive yet, it gives us some control over our foreign policy again, IF our politicians will just THINK about things and do whats right for the country for once instead of being their own usual greedy pandering selves.
I would LOVE to see solar, wind, geothermal, ocean current, fuel cell technology become as efficient and affordable as fossil fuels. Is any of that going to happen in my lifetime??? In the meantime, we CAN get affordable, politically cheap oil- (meaning NOT located in some foreign country where they all hate us). I say go for it.
As to the environmentalists and other critics of fracking, I want to know just what exactly are THEIR solutions to the issue of our need for energy? I’ve already heard about their ideas that we all go back to living off the land. Yeah, well, I agree with that but don’t think that’s at all possible unless and until we’re ready to eliminate at least a few billion of us humans off the face of the earth. Birth control would be my preferred method, space colonization would work for me just fine, our so-called leaders would prefer we kill each other off in expensive wars, and mother earth will probably do it with some sort of plague sooner or later.
OK, so what OTHER solutions are there???
Google Offers First Street View from Inside a Ship | gCaptain
This is pretty cool! If you’ve never been on a ship before, or if they’ve never let you look around the bridge, engine room, or other areas usually restricted to the crew, this post from www.gcaptain.com will give you a virtual tour. It was taken on board the research vessel Falkor (owned by the Schmidt Ocean Institute). SOI was founded by the same guy (Dr Eric Schmidt) who founded Google- cool!!
Enjoy the tours and let me know what you think 🙂
The Double Standard of Smoking Marijuana – Arts & Culture – Utne Reader.
This is an article from Utne Reader on a new book, “Marijuana is Safer”. Well, duh, YES, it IS! MUCH safer! I could say I can’t believe how we have spent so much time, effort, money, to keep it illegal in this “free” country. But I do believe it since I know the history of how it was made illegal in the first place.
Federal marijuana prohibition is the direct cause of the continual violations of our 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th amendments and the filling up of our prisons. First of all, the prohibition was not legally passed by congress like alcohol prohibition was. They did not make any constitutional amendment to make marijuana illegal. Instead, they listened to the lobbyists for DuPont, Hearst and their puppet doctor. Congress was bought off by those who just plain didn’t want the competition that the marijuana plants (and hemp) would give their companies making paper from trees and artificial fibers such as nylon. Watch the movie “Hemp for Victory” (put out by the federal government to encourage farmers to grow the weed to help with the war effort) and you will get an idea of just how useful the marijuana (and hemp) plants are. Of course, the prejudice they stirred up against blacks and Hispanics didn’t hurt any either.
I want to know, how many MILLIONS of people do we have to put in prison, how many lives to we have to completely destroy? before we will come to our senses and legalize weed??? I am going to come out and say it, it is a RIGHT! Rights which we enjoy not only under our constitution, (which only says our federal government was formed to PROTECT those natural rights we had BEFORE there was ever any government), rights we have due to the fact that we are human beings. We have allowed “our” government to get its foot in the door, due to prejudice and greed, and of course FEAR, and now we are paying the price. They have used this so-called War on Drugs, which is really a war on US, to take away our rights and destroy our country.
I am sick and tired of having to listen to people who don’t know what they’re talking about tell us all that we need to continue the ‘drug war’. NO, we do NOT! We need to STOP it asap! I hope lots of people will read this book and learn the truth about the issues, STOP listening to the politicians, they do NOT do anything that is not in THEIR interests, they do NOT represent US anymore, if they ever did.
Museum Day Live! 2013 Registration.
This is a link to the Smithsonians’ Museum Day. Saturday 9/28. It’ll give you and a guest FREE admission to a museum you choose. Its not only the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.. There are links to museums all over the country. You can search by subject or by location.
In Houston, you can choose among the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum, Dunham Bible Museum, Holocaust Museum Houston, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Lawndale Art Center, and a favorite of mine in Galveston the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum. There is the tall ship Elissa right there too, if you do happen to hit the Ocean Star Museum, you can make it a maritime day and enjoy lunch on the waterfront watching the cruise ships dock.
Why Christie Is Wrong – Peggy Noonan’s Blog – WSJ.
Very good points Peggy! Thanks for getting them out there in the Wall Street Journal. Maybe some people with some influence will actually start thinking about all this totally illegal and unnecessary government spying on US citizens (and others). Somebody needs to say, ‘hey, we really need to THINK about the risk/reward ratio’ on this subject. Yeah, I am willing to face those widows and orphans! Yeah, I DO think its more important to protect the principles of the ONLY country in the history of the world based on individual liberty and freedom. YES, I DO think its worth upholding those principles even if a few people die because we value those principles more than ‘safety’ (which is IMPOSSIBLE to get at any cost).
Someone once said, “its better to die standing than to live on your knees”. I totally agree with that statement. Its too bad more Americans don’t anymore.
This is a listing of all the past Prometheus Awards. They’re awarded for the best Libertarian science fiction of the year. I’ve read and enjoyed quite a few. I like books that make you THINK and these sure fit the bill! I’ve already read a lot of these books and seeing the list now makes me want to read some more of them 🙂 Some of my favorites on the list (I didn’t even know about the list when I read them)…
2009- Little Brother- Cory Doctorow
2011- Animal Farm- Hall of Fame- George Orwell
2009- Lord of the Rings- Hall of Fame- J.R.R. Tolkien
1998- Time Enough for Love- Hall of Fame- Robert Heinlein
1984- Farenheit 451- Hall of Fame- Ray Bradbury
1983- Atlas Shrugged- Hall of Fame- Ayn Rand
LoneStarCon 3 – 71st Worldcon in San Antonio, Texas.
Jeeze, sorry I’m so late on this one. I got the news in an email from the Advocates for Self Government but I didn’t really get around to reading it til this morning. If anyone is in San Antonio, they can probably still get there in time to check it out in person.
If I wasn’t getting ready to go back to work already, I would LOVE to go to this event. I love reading, especially science fiction! I’ve never been to anything like this but I bet it would be loads of fun. Film festival, exhibits, Hugo award ceremony, astronaut to meet, etc… Its also being covered online so if you can’t make it to San Antonio, you can still see what’s going on.
Jeezum Crow That’s a Weird Lookin’ Lobstah | gCaptain
Yeah, this IS pretty damn weird! I’ve never seen anything like this in nature. It makes me think somebody’s playing tricks. Anybody ever seen anything like this in nature?
http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=5416
I saw this earlier today and just had to post it here with comments. I have been saying for years, (ever since I read the report- the META study- that supposedly links secondhand smoke to all kinds of increased dangers), that all the foofoorah over secondhand smoke was a bunch of BS! That meta study was used to convince everybody that they found some kind of new evidence that secondhand smoke was oooohhhh soooo dangerous, well, fact is, that they did NOT find any new evidence, they could not have since they did NOT do any new experiments! They manipulated the old data which came from decades worth of studies, all of which showed very slight, if any, increased risk from second hand smoke. Most (not all) showed NO, ZERO, NONE, NIL, NADA, increased risks even when exposed to very large amounts of second hand smoke. Say, something like a person living for decades with a 3 pack a day smoker. NO increased risk was found! OK, so now, all the sudden, we paste all these studies together and find a huge increased risk??? HOW exactly would someone come up with that??? Simple, they manipulate the data! I posted the link above to show there ARE actually people who agree with me on this issue, I am NOT just another smoker who is intent on killing you off 😉 But I DO want to get back some sense into the whole smoking thing, I want to be able to fly on a smokers airline! I would even pay MORE to be able to smoke in the air again. And why can’t I? Because the federal government has outlawed that 🙁 I want to be able to smoke in a bar again! Damn, it just plain SUCKS to have to go outside in the cold, rain, heat, etc when you WERE in the middle of a good conversation, listening to some good music, etc. Why the hell can’t a businessman decide for himself what kind of atmosphere he wants in HIS business? Why can’t his customers be the ones to decide if they want to go there or not??? Put a sign on the door saying “Smokers welcome” and be done with it! If the non-smokers don’t want to deal with the smoke, fine, THEY can feel free to go somewhere else. It should NOT be a LAW.
PS- ALL of the posts on this page (link) are great, read them all 😉
From Gunpowder to Teeth Whitener: The Science Behind Historic Uses of Urine | Surprising Science.
Another interesting article from Smithsonian, this one’s about the possibilities of pee 😉 I knew they used to use it for all kinds of things like cleaning fabrics, softening leather, making gunpowder… but brushing your teeth with it???!! I don’t think I would want to go there. They also mention people drinking (?!?!) it for the health benefits (urotherapy- in the comments). It can power a cell phone! I love this magazine, I learn something new from it every time I get it:-)
These Patterns Move, But It’s All an Illusion | Collage of Arts and Sciences.
These are really cool. It makes me happy to look at things like this. I love this kind of art. I especially liked the one here with the little bubbly things and the one with the circles on the blue background. I just like the designs of these things and the fact that they appear to be moving is an extra perk 🙂
The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life | Surprising Science.
I knew honey lasted a long time, I have some around the house that’s probably a couple of years old 😉 I didn’t know they found it in tombs in Egypt, thousands of years old and still edible. WOW! That’s some shelf life.
I knew honey was good for helping heal wounds. I didn’t know it made hydrogen peroxide!?! Amazing stuff. We need to make sure the bees can keep making it. Bees are enormously important to the entire ecologic system. The loss of the bee colonies is going to be a huge problem if it’s not already. Colony Collapse Disorder is becoming more and more common. Very scary 🙁 Other than making honey, they pollinate most of our food crops.What are we going to do? Pollinate everything ourselves???
Interesting article in Smithsonian…
pretty cool! amazing how much progress those guys made back then and then we lost all that knowledge for hundreds of years 🙁
Fish on Drugs – Environment – Utne Reader.
Fish on drugs? WOW! The law of unintended consequences at work again. As they said in the article, there is not enough evidence yet to blame this ALL on our drug use, but my money’s on that idea. We keep on doing things where we THINK we know what we’re doing and how it’ll all work out to our benefit, but time is showing us that we do NOT know what we’re doing, we’re just flailing around trying to figure things out and testing things in the REAL world that we should be testing much more in the ‘lab’ first. GMO food is just one more example of this and the more I learn about it, the more I don’t like it!
Costa Concordia Salvage Makes Progress | gCaptain
I have been following the story of the Costa Concordia but not really paying THAT much attention. I get the best news on it from www.gcaptain.com they have been following it from the very beginning and doing a GREAT job of it. The forums where the mariners have been discussing it are a fantastic resource! If you’re at all interested in this incident or the salvage operations, you should take a look at their coverage. I just thought this post of theirs had some really good photos and explanations of the salvage operation. I’m wondering if they’re still hoping to be able to put the ship back into service and how in the world they can ever make it economically feasible given the costs of all this.
Can Technology End Pirate Fishing? | gCaptain
I’m not sure where I sit on this one. On the one hand, I HATE how “they” are constantly spying on us, everywhere we go (NOT talking about just the fishermen- we are ALL spyed on continuously here in the supposed land of the free). On the other hand, I do agree that pirate fishing IS a problem and needs to be dealt with. I remember when I was sailing as captain of a tuna purse seiner in the South Pacific and we caught another boat we thought was fishing illegally. Against the objections of my crew, the 1st time we caught them, we gave them the benefit of the doubt. It was ‘possible’ (not very likely) that he was not cheating, so we didn’t report him. The 2nd time, we caught him doing the same thing, illegal fishing on a FAD (fish attracting device), I reported him to our (USA) fisheries dept, (after checking in with our port captain). They asked for and I sent in photos of the other fishing vessel. They never contacted me or anyone on my vessel again so although they SAID they were going to investigate, I don’t think they ever did. My fishmaster was furious the other guy was allowed to get away with it (illegal fishing operation) and I would not allow HIM to. So, the cheating goes on since no one is caught and punished even when there is evidence. The fish keep getting caught without any chance of replacing themselves and sooner or later they are going to run out in the Atlantic and Pacific, just like they did (bottom fish) here in the Gulf of Mexico years ago.
Interesting article if you like shipwrecks, maritime history, etc. They found this wreck back in the 1970s but only recently identified it.
I would like to see more use of renewable energy sources. My father was an engineer and invented a couple of different types of wind and current generators while I was growing up. Too bad he was never allowed to test them out or put them to use. The ‘city’ we lived in was run by morons and of course they had ‘rules’ against anything like that! It didn’t matter if any of those projects would actually have hurt anybody, it was “against the rules” and those rules could NEVER be questioned, no matter how stupid and anti-creativity or even anti-life they might be. Rules were rules and had to be followed no matter what. WOW! Most of the people I grew up with didn’t pay much attention to the rules but those generators were too big to be left undiscovered by the enforcers of the rules for long enough to be useful, so they never got built. Things have gotten even worse now. Most people now seem to go along with the rules without even bothering to question them. I feel more and more like an alien in my own country every day.
How Robot Swarms and Cloud Umbrellas Could Help Save Coral Reefs | Innovations.
I don’t know if there is really anything we can do to save the reefs (other than to limit the growth of the human population on this planet- either start using birth control or find a way to put some of us on the moon). I think its sad that we all just want to live our lives the best we can and we are justified in thinking that way, but we have no sense of how we have advanced our science so much to allow us to overcome all the limiting factors on our population. We use all the benefits of modern technology and so our population has exploded. People do not seem willing to limit their reproduction to 1-2 children (at least until their economic situation improves past a certain point). I do see it starting to happen, I just hope its not already too late with so many billions of us running around already. Personally, I would prefer it if EVERY person alive on Earth could live a decent, happy, productive life with everything they need and want available to them, rather than just keep on producing more and more people just because we’re somehow special and we deserve to live more than all the other things that share the planet with us.
Why Are So Many Dolphins Washing Up Dead on the East Coast? | Surprising Science.
Very sad. I hope they figure out what is happening to the dolphins. I’ve always loved seeing them out there. They always seem so happy. I always thought, if I ever got reincarnated, I would like to come back as a dolphin 🙂