Anyone who knows me knows I have no particular love for Islam. It ranks right up there with Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity and any other organized magical thinking you can list as far as I'm concerned. However, I do have a fondness for facts.
From Huffington Post:
"The 'Ground Zero mosque' is a genuine proposal," Brooker notes, "but it's slightly less provocative than its critics' nickname makes it sound. For one thing, it's not at Ground Zero. Also, it isn't a mosque."
Brooker goes on to note, correctly, that the project is a "cultural centre" with a "basketball court," whose purpose is to "improve interfaith relations."
And, to repeat, it's not at Ground Zero!
Perhaps spatial reality functions differently on the other side of the Atlantic, but here in London, something that is "two minutes' walk and round a corner" from something else isn't actually "in" the same place at all. I once had a poo in a pub about two minutes' walk from Buckingham Palace. I was not subsequently arrested and charged with crapping directly onto the Queen's pillow. That's how "distance" works in Britain. It's also how distance works in America, of course, but some people are currently pretending it doesn't, for daft political ends.
Read the rest from Charlie Brooker at Huffington Post after the click.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Numberplay: Rare Coincidences Are Very Common!
By PRADEEP MUTALIK (New York Times)
“Wow!” “Amazing!” “Unbelievable!” “What are the chances of that?” Most, if not all of you, have uttered words like this at some time in your life. The paradoxical title of today’s Numberplay, then, is true: rare coincidences are really common.
Why should this be? After all, rare should be rare, shouldn’t it? People who are prone to magical thinking seize on such commonly experienced rare coincidences and ascribe cosmic significance to them, invoking Divine Providence or Pre-arranged Destiny or Synchronicity or some other favored pseudoscientific explanation. But if these coincidences are so common as to happen to everyone, then how significant can they be? It’s like that pearl of wisdom that I first heard from a treasured friend, The Talking Moose, on an old Mac computer over 20 years ago: “Remember that you are a unique individual — just like everyone else.”
Read the rest in the New York Times after the click.
“Wow!” “Amazing!” “Unbelievable!” “What are the chances of that?” Most, if not all of you, have uttered words like this at some time in your life. The paradoxical title of today’s Numberplay, then, is true: rare coincidences are really common.
Why should this be? After all, rare should be rare, shouldn’t it? People who are prone to magical thinking seize on such commonly experienced rare coincidences and ascribe cosmic significance to them, invoking Divine Providence or Pre-arranged Destiny or Synchronicity or some other favored pseudoscientific explanation. But if these coincidences are so common as to happen to everyone, then how significant can they be? It’s like that pearl of wisdom that I first heard from a treasured friend, The Talking Moose, on an old Mac computer over 20 years ago: “Remember that you are a unique individual — just like everyone else.”
Read the rest in the New York Times after the click.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
The Best in Art Images
You can now find my photography on FineArtAmerica along with some of the best armature and professional photographers around!
You can find some of my work on the following pages:
desert photos
dancers photos
window photos
anasazi photos
new mexico photos
arizona photos
architecture photos
national parks photos
pueblo photos
tucson photos
pow wow photos
midway photos
street scene photos
canyon de chelly photos
hot rod photos
hot rod framed prints
tucson framed prints
desert framed prints
cactus framed prints
pow wow framed prints
southwest art
southwest framed prints
You can find some of my work on the following pages:
desert photos
dancers photos
window photos
anasazi photos
new mexico photos
arizona photos
architecture photos
national parks photos
pueblo photos
tucson photos
pow wow photos
midway photos
street scene photos
canyon de chelly photos
hot rod photos
hot rod framed prints
tucson framed prints
desert framed prints
cactus framed prints
pow wow framed prints
southwest art
southwest framed prints
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
This can't end well
The USA has five percent of the world population:
... and two percent of the global oil reserves.
On a per capita basis, the people of the USA use 66.3 barrels of oil each annually versus and average of about 10.6 for everyone else on the planet. In gallons, that's 2,784.6 gallons per person versus 445.2. (Based on 42 gallons per barrel.)
The question is, how long can this be sustained until it becomes a point of serious contention?
... and for those folks who imagine we can somehow "Drill, Baby, Drill" our way out of this ... perhaps you can show me how the numbers work in your plan.
(Statistics based on Wolfram database queries.)
... and two percent of the global oil reserves.
On a per capita basis, the people of the USA use 66.3 barrels of oil each annually versus and average of about 10.6 for everyone else on the planet. In gallons, that's 2,784.6 gallons per person versus 445.2. (Based on 42 gallons per barrel.)
The question is, how long can this be sustained until it becomes a point of serious contention?
... and for those folks who imagine we can somehow "Drill, Baby, Drill" our way out of this ... perhaps you can show me how the numbers work in your plan.
(Statistics based on Wolfram database queries.)
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Why Ethnic Studies is Good For All Americans, Including White Folks
Some opponents of ethnic studies say that it teaches our children to resent government and America's history. Nothing could be further from the truth. That's like saying you inherently trust a sleazy used car salesman more than a reputable dealer. Who are you going to want to do business with? The guy who tells you that the clearly imperfect and slightly dented car has never been in an accident and runs like new? Or the guy who says, "Yeah, there have been a few bumps here and there but the mechanic tuned her up and she's got a lot of miles still to go."
By the same token, President Obama isn't weakening America when he acknowledges our less-than-perfect past -- he is being honest and modeling for the world a new kind of diplomacy where the motivation isn't the size of your missile silo but the desire to be part of the world community and global economy rather than left by the side of the road. Our President knows that, in an increasingly complex world in which American might alone can no longer govern, we will have more influence through being liked than being feared.
... read the rest of Sally Kohn's piece on HuffPo.
By the same token, President Obama isn't weakening America when he acknowledges our less-than-perfect past -- he is being honest and modeling for the world a new kind of diplomacy where the motivation isn't the size of your missile silo but the desire to be part of the world community and global economy rather than left by the side of the road. Our President knows that, in an increasingly complex world in which American might alone can no longer govern, we will have more influence through being liked than being feared.
... read the rest of Sally Kohn's piece on HuffPo.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Drill, Baby, Drill has a cost ...
... but how do we put that cost into perspective?
The oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been compared to the Exxon Valdez disaster in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989 which dumped 10.8 million gallons of oil into an enclosed area. Though it makes an easy sound bite, I don't think it's a good comparison on several levals.
Prince William Sound is an area enclosed by islands and about 15,000 square miles in area. The Gulf of Mexico comprises an area of roughly 615,000 square miles or more than 40 times larger and flushed by the Gulf Stream providing a global scale.
In trying to find a better comparison it occurred to me that the oil from torpedoed tankers in the gulf of Mexico during the Second World War might provide some insight.
During the period from December 7, 1941 to May 8, 1945 (VE Day), 1,244 days, I found the following:
Ships torpedoed in The Gulf of Mexico - total of 46, of which 27 were oil tankers.
Based on the average oil tanker of the period having a capacity of 16,613 long tons (2,240 pounds per long ton) and a gallon of oil weighing about 7 pounds ---
That means during that 1,244 day period roughly 143,536,320 gallons of crude oil were dumped into the Gulf or about 115,383 gallons per day, to wash up on Gulf shore beaches. (More if you consider the fuel load on the other merchant ships sunk during that period... but not that much more.)
The current oil spill has, according to the news, has an output of about 5,000 barrels per day. Multiply that times 55 gallons per barrel and you get 225k gallons per day versus the 115.3k brought by all out, unrestricted submarine warfare.
Is it bad? It's probably worst that you think.
The oil rig spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been compared to the Exxon Valdez disaster in Prince William Sound in Alaska in 1989 which dumped 10.8 million gallons of oil into an enclosed area. Though it makes an easy sound bite, I don't think it's a good comparison on several levals.
Prince William Sound is an area enclosed by islands and about 15,000 square miles in area. The Gulf of Mexico comprises an area of roughly 615,000 square miles or more than 40 times larger and flushed by the Gulf Stream providing a global scale.
In trying to find a better comparison it occurred to me that the oil from torpedoed tankers in the gulf of Mexico during the Second World War might provide some insight.
During the period from December 7, 1941 to May 8, 1945 (VE Day), 1,244 days, I found the following:
Ships torpedoed in The Gulf of Mexico - total of 46, of which 27 were oil tankers.
Based on the average oil tanker of the period having a capacity of 16,613 long tons (2,240 pounds per long ton) and a gallon of oil weighing about 7 pounds ---
That means during that 1,244 day period roughly 143,536,320 gallons of crude oil were dumped into the Gulf or about 115,383 gallons per day, to wash up on Gulf shore beaches. (More if you consider the fuel load on the other merchant ships sunk during that period... but not that much more.)
The current oil spill has, according to the news, has an output of about 5,000 barrels per day. Multiply that times 55 gallons per barrel and you get 225k gallons per day versus the 115.3k brought by all out, unrestricted submarine warfare.
Is it bad? It's probably worst that you think.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Guns v. Butter 2010
See if you can identify the bleeding heart liberal who said this:
Noam Chomsky? Michael Moore? Bernie Sanders?
Nope, it was that unrepentant lefty, five-star general Dwight Eisenhower, in 1953, just a few months after taking office -- a time when the economy was booming and unemployment was 2.7 percent.
Read more about our priorities and how they work against us on Huffington Post after the click ...
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
Noam Chomsky? Michael Moore? Bernie Sanders?
Nope, it was that unrepentant lefty, five-star general Dwight Eisenhower, in 1953, just a few months after taking office -- a time when the economy was booming and unemployment was 2.7 percent.
Read more about our priorities and how they work against us on Huffington Post after the click ...
A Point of Information
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or catch the video on Comedy Central after the click ...
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