It’s a meme* Since the police will not arrive at your home to protect you from intruders, you must arm yourself with guns. Efforts by commie libruls to restrict gun ownership are tantamount to going from farm to farm and shooting all the babies in the head because gun control takes away the ability of hard working farm families to protect themselves from daily threats of armed intruders, who have probably gone out to the country side from their rat infested urban lairs to prey on the innocent. Central to this meme is the idea that the police a) won’t arrive at your home for a very long time after you’ve called them and b) the police are not even required to go to your home if you call them. (I’ll deal with the first, but not second of these here.) The outcome of the ‘logic’ that uses this meme is that we must heavily arm ourselves pretty much no matter where we live. The meme is fed by occasional reports of very long response times by police, such as this one recently discussed here. Continue reading Police response time, gun control, and the end of civilization
Monthly Archives: January 2012
study links climate to severe habitat loss
In a world first, University of Queensland and CSIRO scientists have measured the relationship between current climate, climate change and habitat loss on plants and animals on a global scale.
Their results, published recently in Global Change Biology indicate that areas with high temperatures and where average rainfall has decreased over time increase the chance of a species being negatively affected by habitat loss and fragmentation.
“Human population growth has caused significant habitat degradation across the globe, typically in support of agriculture and urban development,” lead researcher Chrystal Mantyka-Pringle said.
“This alone has negatively impacted many species, but combined with rises in temperature and reduced rainfall as a result of a changing climate, there could be catastrophic results for some populations. Serious declines are already a reality for many species.”
I’ve not yet read the study, but I thought you’d like to see the Press Release.
Spider Silk with Leslie Brunetta
Skeptically Speaking # 146
This week, we’re looking at some of nature’s most accomplished materials scientists, and the amazing substance they produce. We’re joined by Leslie Brunetta, co-author of Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating. We’ll discuss the form, function and uses of the sticky wonder material, and the ways that its study can help us understand evolution. And on the podcast, science writer Ed Yong tells us about silkworms with spider genes and the hybrid silk they spin.
We record live with Leslie Brunetta on Sunday, January 8 at 6 pm MT. The podcast will be available to download at 9 pm MT on Friday, DATE.
Testing Out the Woo, and More.
For a full year, A.J. Jacobs followed every piece of health advice he could — from applying sunscreen by the shot glass to wearing a bicycle helmet while shopping. Onstage at TEDMED, he shares the surprising things he learned.
Atheist Talk: Deconstructing Mormonism
“Deconstructing Mormonism” Thomas Riskas on Atheists Talk #149, Sunday, January 8th, 2012 — Minnesota Atheist Talk Radio
If you think you’ve learned all you need to know about Mormonism from South Park episodes and the broadway musical, Book of Mormon, you must join us this Sunday! Atheists Talk will be interviewing author, lecturer, and secular humanist, Thomas Riskas about his book Deconstructing Mormonism: An Analysis and Assessment of the Mormon Faith, which is introduced in the forward by philosopher and professor Kai Nelson.
Thomas Riskas converted to Mormonism as a young man and spent 20 years in the Church. He rose up through the ranks of leadership, acting an Elder, Seventy and High Priest. He was a missionary, a mission leader and mission president for seven years. He had a family and raised his children in the Church. Years later he came to believe that the claims made by Mormonism – and by all religions with similar belief systems – are not only untrue, but an empty nonreality. In Deconstructing Mormonism, Mr. Riskas examines in detail the Mormon concepts of God, the “Plan of Salvation”, and faith in God and Christ, and then breaks down these ideas by illuminating the contradictions in Mormon faith and examining the psychosocial effects of the faith on its believers.
Listen to AM 950 KTNF on Sunday at 9 a.m. Central to hear Atheists Talk, produced by Minnesota Atheists.Stream live online. Call in to the studio: 952-946-6205, or send an e-mail to radio@mnatheists.org during the live show.
Jane Fonda: Life's third act
Within this generation, an extra 30 years have been added to our life expectancy — and these years aren’t just a footnote or a pathology. At TEDxWomen, Jane Fonda asks how we can think about this new phase of our lives.
Large-headed supersoldier monkey alien-trackers invade shopping centers!
… Well, it could happen …
Intelligent Life Detected by SETI: A radio signal which is too narrow to be natural, changes frequency in an interesting way, and changes amplitude in an interesting way was detected by SETI while gazing at Kepler-discovered planets a great distance away. When SETI pointed the same radiotelesope in a different direction, however, the signal was still there, indicating that it came not from a distant galaxy but rather, from earth or an earth-launched satellite. ET is home. Phil Plait has an excellent discussion of what happened.
In a related story, a secret US spy rocketship is supposedly tracking the Chinese spacelab.
The US Air Force’s second mysterious mini-space shuttle, the X-37B, could be spying on China’s space laboratory and the first piece of its space station, Tiangong-1.
Amateur space trackers told the British Interplanetary Society publication Spaceflight that the black-funded spaceplane seemed to be orbiting the Earth in tandem with Tiangong_1, or the Heavenly Palace, leading the magazine to speculate that its unknown mission is to spy on it.
The story is reported here, and I’m not buying it.
In a related story, high technology exists to track shoppers in British shopping malls, so marketers can “analyse data such as how long visitors stay, where their favourite spots are and their preferred routes as they move around a mall. Shopping centres argue the system benefits both customers and retailers and insist privacy is not compromised because individuals are not identified.” The story is here. The project has not yet been implemented. Imagine if aliens got their hands on this technology!
In a related story, ” … Scientists have produced the world’s first chimeric monkeys, developed from stem cells harvested from separate embryos. They contain genetic material from as many as six genomes.”*. A chimeric monkey could contain genes that would otherwise kill the beast, but function because other organ systems are not affected by them (coming from a different genome). This would allow for interesting research (the method is already used with rats) but also, potential new systems of tracking shoppers or detecting aliens.
In a related story, “..An entire genus of ants, comprising more than 1,000 species, has been found to have a hidden ability to make ‘supersoldiers’ — larger-than-average soldier ants that defend the nest against invaders. And all it takes is a dab of hormone….”* I’m sure I ran into these ants in the Jungles of the Congo on more than one occasion. But imagine if the genetic system these ants used could be chimera’ed into a monkey genome to produce a caste of enormous huge-headed supersoldier monkeys. Which would follow people around in shopping centers, checking on which ones might be aliens.
What kind of country messes with Internet Freedoms?
Iran is cracking down on Internet Freedom:
In the most sweeping move, Iran issued regulations giving Internet cafes 15 days to install security cameras, start collecting detailed personal information on customers and document users’ online footprints.
Spain passes new Internet “Piracy Law”
United States Ambassador Alan Solomont put pressure on Spain’s outgoing president, José Luis RodrÃguez Zapatero, to pass a tough new internet piracy law, according to the Guardian.
In a letter obtained by the Spanish newspaper El Pais and quoted by the Guardian, Solomont threatened “retaliation action” if Spain did not move quickly to pass the Sinde law, named after minister of culture Ãngeles González-Sinde.
The Sinde Law was passed on Jan 3…
If SOPA or PIPA/ ProtectIPwere to become law, there is a long list of reasons why it would threaten the functioning, freedom, and economic potential of the Internet, but here are PK’s main concerns:
- By short-circuiting the legal system, it gives rightsholders a fast-track to shutting down websites.
- By creating conflicts between “DNS” servers, it would make you more vulnerable to hackers, identity theft, and cyberattacks.
- By sanctioning government interference with the internet, it would make the internet more censored, akin to that of China and Syria.
To make it worse, SOPA and PIPA / ProtectIP are ineffective. So the question is, is an ineffective bill worth the risk of damaging free speech and the functioning of the Internet? We say no
Paddy Ashdown: The global power shift
Paddy Ashdown claims that we are living in a moment in history where power is changing in ways it never has before. In a spellbinding talk at TEDxBrussels he outlines the three major global shifts that he sees coming.
Did The Media Treat Bachmann Unfairly Because She’s An Insane Woman?
Bullets Flying
In relation to an ongoing conversation (here) about whether or not a bullet fired up into the air can kill or maim you, we have this editorial concerning an actual (possible) case:
Too many guns. How many is too much? Well, we might start with the nameless half-wit somewhere in Ruskin last weekend who thought it would be fun to shoot off some celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve.
A 12-year-old boy, Diego Duran, was on the bloody receiving end of all the revelry. Duran, a popular student at Beth Shields Middle School, was simply trying to enjoy the New Year’s fireworks with his family until the errant bullet struck the top of his head.
The devastating shot could have come from as far as several miles away. The goober shooter might not even know what he or she did. But the Duran family sure knows.
Important things elsewhere
I would like to point out that Ana and I have produced yet another Japan Disaster Update. This is number 42 in the series. Please have a look: Japan Nuclear Disaster Update # 42: A River Runs Through It
We’ve actually had a visit by a Nuclear Power Apologist who wrote a post ten days after the meltdowns about it and has finally come by our place to express his concern that we did not read it.
And, there are two other items you may not want to miss: How to Speke Inglish and How to Eat a Taco. Just for fun.
And if you want some Science, here’s some: Russian Rivers and Arctic Salinity: Climate Variation Better Understood
Secular Coalition Fails Most 2012 Presidential Candidates on Religiously Intrusive Issues
The Secualar Coalition of america just released it’s 2012 Presidential Candiate Scorecard.
Here it is:
Is Santorum Too Catholic for Evangelicals and Too Evangelical for Catholics?
Yes to both, probably, and that will be his downfall.
Mean time, he has made it quite clear that he is no Jack Kennedy. You will remember (if you are, like, 100 years old) that Jack Kennedy was asked if he was going to be all Catholicy and stuff if he won the election to the presidency, and he said “I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish, where no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source…” etc. etc.
Santorum has addressed the same issue. He says: “Ultimately Kennedy’s attempt to reassure Protestants that the Catholic Church would not control the government and suborn its independence advanced a philosophy of strict separation that would create a purely secular public square cleansed of all religious wisdom and the voice of religious people of all faiths. He laid the foundation for attacks on religious freedom and freedom of speech by the secular left and its political arms like the ACLU and the People for the American Way.”
So, Santorum is explicitly against the Constitution of the United States of America on this. I wonder if he also favors gun control?
How will this play out in the primary process? The Gallup organization has measured one important factor: Santorum’s Catholicness does not impress Republican Catholics. They hold him in no more favor than they hold any of the other candidates.
Arrests in anti-church-state separation protest.
There were several arrests in New York City, including one councilmember and several pastors, in connection with protest against the eviction of religious groups from public school buildings.
Seven demonstrators, including Councilman Fernando Cabrera, were charged with trespass Thursday. Police say they refused to move from the entrance to the city’s Law Department in Manhattan.
The city has told about 60 churches they must stop holding worship services in public schools after Feb. 12. It argues separation of church and state and cites a court decision.
The New York Housing Authority, which is a federally funded agency administered by the city, is also renewing it’s church-in-the-public-buildings policy.