The Geomagnetic Apocalypse — And How to Stop It

Needless to say, shorting out the electrical grid would cause major disruptions to developed nations and their economies.

Worse yet, the next period of intense solar activity is expected in 2012, and coincides with the presence of an unusually large hole in Earth's geomagnetic shield, meaning we'll have less protection than usual from the solar flares.

The report received relatively little attention, perhaps because of 2012's supernatural connotations. Mayan astronomers supposedly predicted that 2012 would mark the calamitous "birth of a new era."

But the report is credible enough that some scientists and engineers are beginning to take the electromagnetic threat seriously.

Read more.

Obama Releases Torture Memos, Vows Not to Prosecute

The Obama administration on Thursday released top secret memos outlining the legal rationale used to justify the CIA's torture of terror suspects, but vowed not to prosecute the torturers.

And anything else was expected?

Hardly.

It appears some animals are more equal than others.

Read more.

When it comes to the human race...

...yeah, I'm a pessimist.

But every once in awhile I find something that makes me smile.

The world's first porn superstar, Marilyn Chambers, is gone

Rest in peace

Once-a-day heart combo pill shows promise in study

The experimental combo pill was as effective as nearly all of its components taken alone, with no greater side effects, a major study found. Taking it could cut a person's risk of heart disease and stroke roughly in half, the study concludes.

...

No price for the polypill has been disclosed, but its generic components cost only a total of $17 a month now and doctors expect the combo would sell for far less.

Read the rest.

Criticism over Obama invite mounts at Notre Dame

Chris Carrington, a political science major from the Chicago area, said he doesn't see how Obama's appearance at Notre Dame contradicts Catholic values.

"To not allow someone here because of their beliefs seems a little hypocritical and contradictory to what the mission of the university and church should be," he said.

Read more.

The Great Lake Swimmers

Nice find out of Canada. Here are a couple of beautiful songs:

Moving Pictures, Silent Films

'Three Stooges' coming together at MGM

As a big fan of Moe, Larry, and Curly, (and yes, even Shemp) I have to say this saddens me a bit.

MGM and the Farrelly brothers are finally slapping together their high-profile cast for "The Three Stooges," a comedy project the filmmakers have been developing for years. Sean Penn is set to play Larry, and Jim Carrey is in negotiations to play Curly. Benicio del Toro is a rumored possibility for the brothers' taciturn leader, Moe.

I see this as having too good of a chance at diminishing what the original Three Stooges accomplished. If it sucks even half as bad as I'm thinking it will, then the new generations will quickly forget about the Three Stooges. Why, in their view, should they waste their time exposing themselves to the original shorts if this movie with Penn, Carrey, and del Torro sucks?

Again, original brilliance is relegated to a modern re imagining with too good of a chance of being destroyed in the process.

Read more.

Vatican defends pope condoms stand, criticism mounts

The Vatican on Wednesday defended Pope Benedict's opposition to the use of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS as activists, doctors and politicians criticised it as unrealistic, unscientific and dangerous.

I can't believe this is still even an issue. Yeah, even for the Pope and the Catholic Church.

Read more.

National debt hits record $11 trillion

The eye-popping national debt surpassed $11 trillion Monday, the largest in U.S. history.

That's "trillion". With a "t".

At $1 a second, which is $3600 an hour, it would take about 32,000 years to reach $1 trillion.

And the U.S. owes eleven of them.

Fiscally irresponsible idiots.

Read more.

UW-Milwaukee Study Could Realign Climate Change Theory

Now the question is how has warming slowed and how much influence does human activity have?

"But if we don't understand what is natural, I don't think we can say much about what the humans are doing. So our interest is to understand -- first the natural variability of climate -- and then take it from there. So we were very excited when we realized a lot of changes in the past century from warmer to cooler and then back to warmer were all natural," Tsonis said.

Read more.

A Little Humor

Q: How do you pick-up chicks in a Calculus II class?


A:


That's funny.

Found at komplexify.com

Scientists meet to dispute global warming theory

"What we are trying to accomplish with this conference is to present to the politicians and to the public that the debate is not over about global warming or climate change; that there is plenty of room for disagreement; and that sound science shows that the earth is not warming," says Miller.

Read more.

Top Republicans say banks should be allowed to fail

John McCain and Richard Shelby, two high-profile Republican senators, said Sunday that the government should allow a number of the biggest U.S. banks to fail.

I agree.

Obama made clear in an interview published Sunday in The New York Times that he did not want big banks to fail, saying his administration "would take more significant action to deal with those institutions."

"But the point is that our commitment is to make sure that any actions we take to maintain stability in the system, begin to loosen up credit and lending once again so that businesses and consumers can borrow," he said. "And if they can, then you're going to start seeing businesses invest once again and you're going to see people hired once again, but it's going to take some time."

And since these banks really did not suffer any consequences for their actions (after all, we taxpayers allowed congress to use our money and bail them out) what incentives do they (as well as all other big organizations) have so as not to make such stupid decisions again?

The answer: none.

Why?: Because they will be bailed out again.

If they're allowed to fail, then other organizations will take notice and not make similar stupid decisions.

Read more.

Famed pastor predicts imminent catastrophe

"It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires – such as we saw in Watts, Los Angeles, years ago," he explains. "There will be riots and fires in cities worldwide. There will be looting – including Times Square, New York City. What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath. In Psalm 11 it is written, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

Jesus, this guy.

He's preying on people's fears and the current global economic crisis (which was a man-made crisis) and claiming this will be "God's wrath." I read on...

"God is judging the raging sins of America and the nations," claims Wilkerson. "He is destroying the secular foundations." Wilkerson urges everyone to stockpile a 30-day supply of food and other necessities to deal with the catastrophe he foresees.

"I do not know when these things will come to pass, but I know it is not far off," Wilkerson concluded in his message. "I have unburdened my soul to you. Do with the message as you choose."

Of course you don't "know when these things will come to pass". For some strange reason this "God" of yours is never able to disclose such details.

There's a pretty good chance that a disaster like this could happen, but that's just because of the crisis that a few humans have put the world in, not because your "God" is pissed off at America and other nations.

You're doing a little preemptive strike here. In case something like this does happen, then you will have many sheeple following you. Good move on your part, but "God" has nothing to do with it.

Read more, if you really want to, here.

Kepler Launches

The Kepler Space Telescope is the first human tool that will be able to find planets capable of supporting life as we know it.

Read more.

Wolfram Alpha: Next major search breakthrough?

It follows the Google principle, with a simple input box, but takes a different approach to rendering search results. Nova Spivack, CEO of Radar Networks, which developed Twine, an ambitious "interest network" Web application based on semantic Web technologies, , said that Wolfram Alpha may be as "important for the Web (and the world) as Google, but for a different purpose."

Read more.

America's Stupid Health Care Debate: Keeping Some Ideas Off the Table

It is a sad commentary on the pinched and strictly censored level of political discourse in this nation that any serious consideration of Canada's successful approach to health care is simply out of bounds in America.

...

There has for years been a huge ongoing propaganda campaign by US health care companies and their lobbies to denigrate Canada's system, but the big truth that they cannot deny is that it is loved by Canadians. The best evidence of this: Despite years of conservative governments in Canada, and in the various provinces, no political leader has ever tried to re-privatize health care in Canada. Clearly such an effort would be political suicide, so popular is the system there. As Canadian resident Joe Sotham explains, "In Canada we complain about wait list length, and the reality is that there is rationing, but everyone gets care and nobody is bankrupted , no HMO clerk stands in the way of treatment. We treat health care like a fundamental right.

...

The truth is that every other modern country in the world has long ago figured out that you can't have cost-effective, universal health care unless the government is the paymaster, with prices set by the government. The truth too is that no country that has moved to such a single-payer system has later rejected it--a good indication that the people of these countries are satisfied with the results and with what they're getting for what they're paying.

Read more.

Things That Make Me Smile

When my two and half year old walks up to the computer, points (because he wants to hear a song), and then says, "Black ... Diamond."

That's my boy.

Big Three Automakers

Pretty funny. Check out the rest here.