Via Ask a Scientist, via ForaTV.
http://fora.tv/2009/03/24/Ask_a_Scientist_Sex_and_War#fullprogram
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Goldilocks Planet?
Goldilocks Planet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks_planet
A note for the perplexed.
Of late I have noticed a rise (again :( of confusion about the word "God". That confusion being that when the a Non-English word is used by a believer in one of the Abrahamic faiths, many Americans apparently think the word refers to some other thing than their "god". So, here are the words for "God" in a number of the languages wherein you will find Christians, Mormons, Muslims and Jews.. If any of those say the relevant word, they all mean the same thing:
http://chestofbooks.com/reference/Bepler-Handy-Manual-Of-Knowledge/The-Name-Of-God-In-Different-Languages.html
A few examples from the above link:
Arabic....................Allah
Chinese..................Prussa
Hebrew...........Elohim, Eloha
Japanese................Goezur
Latin.....................Deus
Persian (Iranian).....Sire
Polish.....................Bog
Russian...................Bojh
Slav....................Buch
Syriac....................Allah
Turkish..................Allah
http://chestofbooks.com/reference/Bepler-Handy-Manual-Of-Knowledge/The-Name-Of-God-In-Different-Languages.html
A few examples from the above link:
Arabic....................Allah
Chinese..................Prussa
Hebrew...........Elohim, Eloha
Japanese................Goezur
Latin.....................Deus
Persian (Iranian).....Sire
Polish.....................Bog
Russian...................Bojh
Slav....................Buch
Syriac....................Allah
Turkish..................Allah
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Talibanization of America?
by Mosharraf Zaidi. Foreign Policy magazine, September 10, 2010.
"In Pakistan, "Talibanization" is a label used to describe regressive and parochial conservatism, not just the political ascendancy of Mullah Omar and his extremist disciples. ...So when we try to explain ... the ideological kith and kin of opponents of the Park51 project -- including the fringe element of folks like Terry Jones and his flock at the Dove World Outreach Center -- we try to explain what is happening in America, we simply say that a great country is going through a kind of Talibanization -- led by mullahs like Newt Gingrich, Pamela Geller, and the occasional Terry Jones."
Read the article:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/09/10/the_talibanization_of_america?page=full
About the origin of the phrase "American Taliban":
http://fora.tv/2010/09/10/Markos_Moulitsas_American_Taliban#Does_the_Term_American_Taliban_Go_Too_Far
"In Pakistan, "Talibanization" is a label used to describe regressive and parochial conservatism, not just the political ascendancy of Mullah Omar and his extremist disciples. ...So when we try to explain ... the ideological kith and kin of opponents of the Park51 project -- including the fringe element of folks like Terry Jones and his flock at the Dove World Outreach Center -- we try to explain what is happening in America, we simply say that a great country is going through a kind of Talibanization -- led by mullahs like Newt Gingrich, Pamela Geller, and the occasional Terry Jones."
Read the article:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/09/10/the_talibanization_of_america?page=full
About the origin of the phrase "American Taliban":
http://fora.tv/2010/09/10/Markos_Moulitsas_American_Taliban#Does_the_Term_American_Taliban_Go_Too_Far
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
One of our pre-scientific ideologies*
Fascism: an authoritarian ideology . Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives and values. ...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism
Fascism Portal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Fascism
*Actually, all ideologies are pre-scientific
Sorting Out "Tea Party" (2010)
The Tea Party is not one organization. A guide as of 10/26/2010:
A general reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement
The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition Official site: http://www.nationwidechicagoteaparty.com/
Tea Party Express (AKA Our Country Deserves Better PAC created by Russo, Marsh, and Associates)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Express
Official site: http://www.teapartyexpress.org/Tea Party Nation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Nation
Tea Party Patriots
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Patriots
Official site: http://www.teapartypatriots.org/
List of Wisconsin groups: http://www.teapartypatriots.org/state/Wisconsin
The National Tea Party Federation
Official site: http://www.thenationalteapartyfederation.com/
Some relevant general references:
Right Wing Politics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics
Right Wing Populism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_populism
Far-Right:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics
Radical Right groups (U.S.): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Right
A general reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_movement
The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition Official site: http://www.nationwidechicagoteaparty.com/
Tea Party Express (AKA Our Country Deserves Better PAC created by Russo, Marsh, and Associates)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Express
Official site: http://www.teapartyexpress.org/Tea Party Nation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Nation
Tea Party Patriots
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_Patriots
Official site: http://www.teapartypatriots.org/
List of Wisconsin groups: http://www.teapartypatriots.org/state/Wisconsin
The National Tea Party Federation
Official site: http://www.thenationalteapartyfederation.com/
Some relevant general references:
Right Wing Politics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_politics
Right Wing Populism:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-wing_populism
Far-Right:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics
Radical Right groups (U.S.): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_Right
Monday, September 27, 2010
Agora makes it to DVD in the United States!
Agora, the first movie centered on Hypathia of Alexandria will be available on DVD in late October in the United States.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-xH0lHUs9c
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Wedge to America
Contract on America Two?
Full text:
http://pledge.gop.gov/resources/library/documents/pledge/a-pledge-to-america.pdf
Full text:
http://pledge.gop.gov/resources/library/documents/pledge/a-pledge-to-america.pdf
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Niall Ferguson re the U.S. economy and balance of power
Via Australian Broadcasting Company & FORAtv.http://fora.tv/2010/07/28/Niall_Ferguson_Empires_on_the_Edge_of_Chaos#chapter_01
and a bonus:
The Red Hot Chilli Pipers
and a bonus:
The Red Hot Chilli Pipers
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Quite a film.
I just finished watching a movie called "The Civilization of Maxwell Bright". It was excellent. Do not let the first 1/3 of the movie keep you from finishing it. The film travels through quite a transformation during its course.
Radio Dinner
National Lampoon's Radio Dinner in streaming audio!
http://www.archive.org/details/national_lampoon_0848
http://www.archive.org/details/national_lampoon_0848
Monday, September 20, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Another word from the Edge
Results on Edge from The New Science of Morality Conference, Washington, CT, June 20-22, 2010 http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge327.html
An online book by E. O. Wilson
Edward 0. Wilson, SUCCESS AND DOMINANCE IN ECOSYSTEMS: THE CASE OF THE SOCIAL INSECTS (1987)
http://www.int-res.com/articles/eebooks/eebook02.pdf
http://www.int-res.com/articles/eebooks/eebook02.pdf
For your reading pleasure
For those of you who prefer your information straight, un-touched by pundits, miscreants, and other incurious bastards; The links to the lower left now include:
The U.S. Consitution
The Bill of Rights
The U.S. Consitution
The Bill of Rights
Madison's notes's from the convention
Farrand's records of the convention
The complete writings of Thomas Paine
The LOC collection of the papers of Thomas Jefferson
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Kevin Phillips
A 2004 interview with Kevin Phillips about his 2004 book, Wealth & Democracy.
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_phillips.html
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_phillips.html
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
"Mere foreplay?
Church plans Quran-burning event
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-07-29/us/florida.burn.quran.day_1_american-muslims-religion-cair-spokesman-ibrahim-hooper?_s=PM:US
"That was mere foreplay. Where they have burned books, they will end up burning people." Henrich Heine (1821)
From Wikipedia:
"In 1834, 99 years before Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party seized power in Germany, Heine wrote in his work The History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany:
Christianity - and that is its greatest merit - has somewhat mitigated that brutal Germanic love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once more burst into flame. This talisman is fragile, and the day will come when it will collapse miserably. Then the ancient stony gods will rise from the forgotten debris and rub the dust of a thousand years from their eyes, and finally Thor with his giant hammer will jump up and smash the Gothic cathedrals....Do not smile at my advice -- the advice of a dreamer who warns you against Kantians, Fichteans, and philosophers of nature. Do not smile at the visionary who anticipates the same revolution in the realm of the visible as has taken place in the spiritual. Thought precedes action as lightning precedes thunder. German thunder is of true Germanic character; it is not very nimble, but rumbles along ponderously. Yet, it will come and when you hear a crashing such as never before has been heard in the world's history, then you know that the German thunderbolt has fallen at last. At that uproar the eagles of the air will drop dead, and lions in the remotest deserts of Africa will hide in their royal dens. A play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll."
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-07-29/us/florida.burn.quran.day_1_american-muslims-religion-cair-spokesman-ibrahim-hooper?_s=PM:US
"That was mere foreplay. Where they have burned books, they will end up burning people." Henrich Heine (1821)
From Wikipedia:
"In 1834, 99 years before Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party seized power in Germany, Heine wrote in his work The History of Religion and Philosophy in Germany:
Christianity - and that is its greatest merit - has somewhat mitigated that brutal Germanic love of war, but it could not destroy it. Should that subduing talisman, the cross, be shattered, the frenzied madness of the ancient warriors, that insane Berserk rage of which Nordic bards have spoken and sung so often, will once more burst into flame. This talisman is fragile, and the day will come when it will collapse miserably. Then the ancient stony gods will rise from the forgotten debris and rub the dust of a thousand years from their eyes, and finally Thor with his giant hammer will jump up and smash the Gothic cathedrals....Do not smile at my advice -- the advice of a dreamer who warns you against Kantians, Fichteans, and philosophers of nature. Do not smile at the visionary who anticipates the same revolution in the realm of the visible as has taken place in the spiritual. Thought precedes action as lightning precedes thunder. German thunder is of true Germanic character; it is not very nimble, but rumbles along ponderously. Yet, it will come and when you hear a crashing such as never before has been heard in the world's history, then you know that the German thunderbolt has fallen at last. At that uproar the eagles of the air will drop dead, and lions in the remotest deserts of Africa will hide in their royal dens. A play will be performed in Germany which will make the French Revolution look like an innocent idyll."
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Mass Extinctions Change the Rules of Evolution?
At WIRED:
"A reinterpretation of the fossil record suggests a new answer to one of evolution’s existential questions: whether global mass extinctions are just short-term diversions in life’s preordained course, or send life careening down wholly new paths...."
Read More at
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/mass-extinction-dynamics/#ixzz0yPEf53hdhttp://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/mass-extinction-dynamics/
"A reinterpretation of the fossil record suggests a new answer to one of evolution’s existential questions: whether global mass extinctions are just short-term diversions in life’s preordained course, or send life careening down wholly new paths...."
Read More at
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/mass-extinction-dynamics/#ixzz0yPEf53hdhttp://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/mass-extinction-dynamics/
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