Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

9.14.2008

Friedman/Rich 9/14/2008

Freidman:


Op-Ed Columnist - Making America Stupid - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com: "Who cares how much steel John McCain has in his gut when the steel that today holds up our bridges, railroads, nuclear reactors and other infrastructure is rusting? McCain talks about how he would build dozens of nuclear power plants. Oh, really? They go for $10 billion a pop. Where is the money going to come from? From lowering taxes? From banning abortions? From borrowing more from China? From having Sarah Palin ‘reform’ Washington — as if she has any more clue how to do that than the first 100 names in the D.C. phonebook?"



Rich:


Op-Ed Columnist - The Palin-Whatshisname Ticket - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com: "The question today: What kind of president would Sarah Palin be? It’s an urgent matter, because if we’ve learned anything from the G.O.P. convention and its aftermath, it’s that the 2008 edition of John McCain is too weak to serve as America’s chief executive. This unmentionable truth, more than race, is now the real elephant in the room of this election.



"No longer able to remember his principles any better than he can distinguish between Sunnis and Shia, McCain stands revealed as a guy who can be easily rolled by anyone who sells him a plan for ‘victory,’ whether in Iraq or in Michigan. A McCain victory on Election Day will usher in a Palin presidency, with McCain serving as a transitional front man, an even weaker Bush to her Cheney."



If McCain is elected our foreign energy dependence is going to last as long as the culture war. A long, long time.



12.25.2007

The Study of Cause and Effect

It is hard to have one's watch stolen, but one reflects that the thief of the watch became a thief from causes of heredity and environment which are as interesting as they are scientifically comprehensible; and one buys another watch, if not with joy, at any rate with a philosophy that makes bitterness impossible. One loses, in the study of cause and effect, that absurd air which so many people have of being always shocked and pained by the curiousness of life. Such people live amid human nature as if human nature were a foreign country full of awful foreign customs. But, having reached maturity, one ought surely to be ashamed of being a stranger in a strange land!

-- from How to Live on Twenty-Four Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett

12.23.2007

EXPOSED! The five NUMBERS that REVEAL the SOURCE of YOUR POWER.

Ah it's just your U.S. zip code. But this is a neat tool to see where your region's mix of fuel comes from. How much coal, hydro, nuclear, etc? Plug in your 5 digits and away you go. Here's mine in central Seattle:




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Currently playing in iTunes: About Today by The National

12.22.2007

Pre-Holiday Feast: The Pleasure of Veganism

I haven't talked about it much -- not at all, really. You might read The China Study, if you are interested. Or read this.

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4.10.2007

Extrasolar planets

According to Wikipedia, as on this month 218 planets outside this solar system have been discovered.