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Wednesday, December 21

National debt

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-08-23/politics/30018770_1_national-debt-bush-tax-cuts-president-barack-obama

I'm not saying Obama is a bad president or Bush was a good president, but let's be honest; the "Bush raised the National Debt and therefor he sucks" argument is stupid and if I hear one more liberal use it I'm going to blow a gasket.

Tuesday, December 20

Kim Jong-II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccsNr9UJeVY&feature=g-logo&context=G2cc9a3dFOAAAAAAARAA

You have to feel sorry for these people. If they don't look sad they probably get arrested or something.

Tuesday, October 18

Gilad Schalit

     Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit arrived at Tel Nof Air Base last Tuesday. He was the first Israeli soldier returned from captivity in 26 years. He was swapped for, not one Palestinian, not ten Palestinians, not even 100 Palestinians, but 1000 Palestinians. Of these 1,000, hundreds of them were convicted of carrying out attacks on civilians. That's right, Israel has gotten back one prisoner in exchange for the release of hundreds of terrorists. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy for Schalit and his family, but this whole "This land is my land, this land isn't your land" thing needs to stop.

Tuesday, July 5

Casey Anthony

Open forum time! What do you think of the verdict?

Saturday, May 21

Excuses Excuses

     I'm out of cued up articles and my computer is in disrepair. I don't see an article in the near future. My apologies. In the meantime check out these:
http://anarchyinabottle.blogspot.com/
http://chemistrycomics.blogspot.com/
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
http://www.cracked.com/article_17476_7-man-made-substances-that-laugh-in-face-physics.html

     And some of my more popular past articles:
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2010/10/evolution-vs-creationism.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2010/10/hatchetman-road.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2010/10/special-request-holocaust.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2011/02/global-warming-were-all-going-to-die.html

      And some of my less read but still some of my favorite:
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2010/11/star-whackers.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2010/11/psychics.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2011/01/tucson-arizona.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2011/02/crisis-point.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2011/02/technological-singularity.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2011/04/racism-sexism-and-homophobia.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2011/04/national-history-month.html
http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2011/04/dimensions.html

Saturday, May 14

Evolution Revisited


                Okay, so hopefully most of you have read my past article on Evolution: http://breakingfrommundane.blogspot.com/2010/10/evolution-vs-creationism.html. If not please read it now so you know what evolution really is. If you do not really understand evolution then don’t read anything else. I’m going to go through some common arguments from both sides and say why they’re good or bad.
                C: “If we evolved from monkeys, then why are there still monkeys?”  If you read my last article, or anything that explains what evolution actually is, and still don’t know the answer to this question then just give up on ever doing anything  involving brain cells.
                C: “There are no mutations in which genetic information is actually added!” This is a very common one I hear and it is completely wrong! There are numerous examples of duplications, unhindered replications, and mRNA additions that cause a gain of genetic material. Any “scientist” who tells you otherwise probably bought his degree off ebay.
                C: “All mutations are harmful.” This is a misunderstood one. Not all mutations are harmful. In fact, some are beneficial. If you have one copy of the sickle-cell anemia allele you actually will live a long, healthy life and will still be immune to malaria. The sickle-cell allele resulted from a mutation in the gene that codes for normal red blood cell shape/structure.
                C: “There is no way for a one celled organism to go to a two celled organism.” This is actually a good argument. We literally have no knowledge of a way in which a one celled organism can go into a two celled organism. At least not that I’m aware of. Two cells working in conjugation with each-other is not “uncommon” per-say. But at what point would the two celled organism learn to reproduce into another two-celled organism? This one is nearly impossible to explain. This is one of the few good arguments.
                C: “Why are there male and female?”  This is about the only other good argument against evolution I can think of off the top of my head, and this one is strong enough for me to not believe in it. Asexual reproduction results in less deleterious mutations, you have nearly a 100% chance of passing your genetic code on to the next generation, and you completely avoid inbreeding depression. There is absolutely no reason an organism would have a good, environmentally selected reason to evolve separate male and female reproductive organs.
                C: “Evolution breaks the laws of thermodynamics.” Basically one of the laws of thermodynamics states that systems tend to lead towards disorder as oppose to order. So some creationists say that a single-celled organism becoming a more complex organism breaks this law. This isn’t true. In fact it’s quite the opposite. The inside of us humans is far more complex, and thus one could argue, more disordered than any amoeba could ever be.
                C: “There is lack of missing links.”  This one can be argued either way depending on how you look at the evidence.
                E: “Vestigial organs prove evolution!” This is actually not true. Most organs we consider “vestigial” actually serve significant purposes. The appendix helps to break down starches, the coccyx is a major attachment point for many muscles, wisdom teeth held chew food….like any other tooth, and body hair still helps to regulate our body temperature by keeping our pores open.
                E: “Who created God, if God created the world?” I hear this argument a lot and it’s stupid. A creationist can just as easily ask “who created the universe from which the molecules which created the universe were created from by creation?” I mean seriously, no matter what you believe you have to believe something was here first, plain and simple.
                E: “Small changes over time cause large changes.”  This comment is frequently followed by “you idiot,” when actually they’re the ones who are fools. You see, there is a limit to how much something can change. This is observable in everything. Race horses have been bred for their best attributes for year, and yet they haven’t gotten any faster in a while. This is because of what is called a “selection limit.” The selection limit is the magnitude to which a quantitative trait (anything that can be measured, such as height, weight, length, sixe of nose, speed, etcetera) can be magnified or reduced. Nobody is really 100% sure why it exists, but it seems to on every organism in some form.
                E: “Bigfoot proves evolution.” Believe it or not I’ve heard this argument. The reasonable reply is: “And the Loch Ness monster proves it isn’t happening.”
                E: “There is no evidence of a world-wide flood, thus the Bible is a lie.” Personally I feel that if you read everything in the Bible with a literal eye you will misinterpret everything. You have to think, the “world” at the time consisted only of the Middle East and North Africa. So world-wide by today’s standards is different from then.

                Any other arguments you wish to discuss, leave them in the comments. Give me your input on these while you’re at it.

Saturday, April 23

Dimensions


                A couple of weeks ago I posted a video my friend showed me that I’m sure none of you watched, so here it is again: http://pogpog.com/v/fourth-dimension-explained/.  This time I’m actually going to explain the concept so if you’re too lazy to watch Carl Segan explain the Fourth-Dimension I’ll so it for you.
                Imagine a world where everything is entirely flat. Not just flat but literally one-hundred percent flat. No height whatsoever. In this flat land of course everybody knows about left and right, but will never understand up and down because to them, it doesn’t exist. Obviously we know about up/down because we live in a three-dimensional world (Length, Width, and Height), but these flat people do not; they live in only two dimensions (Width and Length).
                Let’s pause here for a second. Many people do not want to believe that there is a fourth dimension because they don’t know “where would it be?!” Well the answer is simple: We can never know. Just as these flat people have no idea where up and down is, we could never know where a fourth dimension is. We are only familiar with up, down, left, right, forward, and backwards. We don’t know if there’s some other direction because we don’t exist in a world where that other direction is possible.
                Segan goes on to say what would happen if a three-dimensional object visited Flat-land. His example is an apple. So Mr. Apple floats above a certain square in Flat-Land and tries to speak to him. The square has no idea where the voice comes because there’s nobody in front of him, nobody to his left, nobody to his right, and nobody behind him. In fact, to him, the voice seems to be coming from inside of him.
                So let’s pause here again for an explanation to why the voice would seem to come from inside of him. Because the Apple is floating above Square, a direction that does not exist, his voice seems to come from whatever is below him on flatland. Square obviously cannot just hear a voice in another dimension and look up at it, because it’s not a direction his world allows him to look at.
                So Apple decides to come down and visit Flat-land. He finds that he’s able to move directly through it. And this makes sense because there will be no boundaries to his dimension in Flat-land. As he moves through Flat-land, all that will be visible to the flat people will be small cross-sections of him at a time; never will they be able to see the entire image of Apple at one time.
                Finally in frustration Apple picks up Square and drops him from up high in the air. As Square falls he thinks to himself “Wow! Never have I seen such! I can see everything from here! I must be somewhere never heard of!” Then with a loud thud he suddenly appears back in Flat-land. He doesn’t fall into Flat-land, just appears, because after all, they are entirely flat and unable to see anything above “flat”. So his friends all run up to greet him and ask him where he went. Square of course will say he went somewhere new and unheard of, possibly another dimension. His friends all ask him to show where it is, which of course Square is unable to do because in his world there is no up or down.
                This may be a little hard for some people to grasp, but for me it made sense and tells me that there is no way to completely rule out another dimension. Or, in fact, MANY dimensions. If I recall correctly, some scientists believe there are as many as 11 dimensions.
                This video proposes the Fourth Dimension is time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY_ZgAvXsuw, then goes on to explain up to the tenth dimension. Dimensions past three are something we will NEVER be able to fully grasp.
                Here’s a video that vaguely describes the basics of String Theory if you’re curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npgcupieoag&feature=related. So yes, I have been pillaging Youtube of its many videos to try and best explain myself.
                So let me bring up something else: a higher power.  I don’t feel like explaining my views, because I don’t want them to influence yours, but if we cannot grasp even a Fourth Dimension entirely, how can we say for sure there is no God? What if a being existed in, say, the eleventh dimension? To them, everything would exist as just a point in its world. It would be omnipresent, all powerful, and when it talked, it would seem like it talked out of things in our universe (i.e. a burning bush), just as when the apple talked it seemed to come from inside Square.  And if it decided to pick somebody up and shove them into its universe for a second, that someone would be able to see into the future, the past, and see anything about the world he wanted until he came crashing back into his dimension. He would of course have no way to explain his visions entirely, but he could write about what he saw in, say, a Bible.
                What are your thoughts? Or do you even care to try and wrap your puny three-dimensional brain around the eleventh dimension? It certainly makes it hurt.

Saturday, April 9

4th Dimension

     I'm feeling extremly sick today, so there's no way I can rack my brain for an actually article. Here however is a video my friend Will showed me that I found very interesting:

http://pogpog.com/v/fourth-dimension-explained/

Friday, April 1

National ________ History Month


                I was actually going to write about the Jersey Devil this week, but after noticing a poster on my campus about “National Women’s History Month” it got me thinking. Where’s the National Men’s History Month?! Let me preface the rest by pointing out that I am not sexist, but I do feel these History months have gone completely out of hand. Most of us know about Hispanic History, Black History, and Women’s History months. Luckily I found a complete list here: http://diversity.uchc.edu/observances/index.html. Here’s basically what all the months are:
February
                -Black History Month
March
                -Women’s History Month
May
                -Asian/Pacific Heritage Month
                -Older Americans Month (Why don’t we hear anything about this one? Why are there no Disney channel specials for this?)
June
                -Gay and Lesbian Pride Month (‘Cause nothing says history like gay pride)
                -Caribbean American Heritage Month
September 15 - October 15
                -Hispanic Heritage Month
October
                -National Disability Employment Awareness Month
November
                -National American Indian Heritage Month

                And that’s pretty much it. Now let me go ahead and get this out of the way, I think having months dedicated to the history of certain people is a good thing. Awareness is a good thing. But being prejudiced about which ones to pay more attention to is a bad thing. We pushed the Native Americans farther and farther west, and then finally smooshed them into reservations. What do we give them in return? The month of November and next to ZERO coverage! Had anyone ever heard of National American Indian Heritage Month? I know I hadn’t.
                Now let me get back to my earlier question, why is there just a Women’s History Month and not a Men’s? First let’s look at why we have these history months. If I am not mistaken, we have months dedicated to certain peoples to raise awareness and give insight about people who are minority. Here in America, Blacks are a minority, Gays are a minority, Native Americans are a minority, Asians are a minority, Hispanics are a minority, Disabled people are a minority, but women are a Majority! In 2000, women outnumbered men by more than 5 million!
                Now here’s where you start saying that we need a history month for women because they are left out of history books. Here’s the facts: THEY ARE NOT LEFT OUT OF HISTORY BOOKS ANY MORE. I know more about Abigail Adams than I do George Washington! History books now give coverage of Women’s roles in history. From the Daughters of Liberty, to Deborah Sampson who posed as a man to enter the Revolution, women have played a large role in establishing this country and we know longer pretend like they didn’t! Now I’m not saying that there aren’t women in history who should be given more credit than they currently get: Rosalind Franklin, Marie Curie, and Mary Todd Lincoln to name a few. But there are just as many men whose roles in history have been reduced to single sentences lost in the jumble of a textbook’s literature:  George Mason, Daniel Shays, John Jay (didn’t help the country, but still important), General Horatio Gates, the list goes on. So can somebody please tell me why we only have a Women’s History Month? Women are not a minority, they are no longer left out of history books, and they are no less recognized for what role they played in history than the men are.
                I can understand why there’s no White History month. Most of American is White. But why is there no, say, Poor People’s History Month? Why not one of those?! But no, seriously, I think we need to add in a Men’s History Month and give more recognition to the months that have been slipping under the radar. The entire point of these is to educate people and to help them understand people who are “different” right? So are we not being prejudiced by giving some groups more coverage than others? What do you guys think?

P.S. I'm posting early because I don't trust the scheduling system

Saturday, March 26

Obesity and You

                Lately it seems like everybody is on a health craze. The Biggest Loser is one of the most popular shows on television, workout equipment commercials are now on every channel, and Michelle Obama appears on the Disney Channel regularly to tell kids to “get active”. What's up with all the obsession?
                But that rambling out of the way, what really causes obesity? Why is everyone so dang fat?! Back in 2007, everyone went wild about the “fat gene”. Everybody wanted to be able to blame their genetics because they couldn’t fit into their high school jeans. But can this really even be true? What does an overweight person experience that another person doesn’t? I’ve been way up there on the scale before and once I control my eating, it easily comes off. I think it’s ridiculous that we try to associate our largeness with something out of our control, so it makes us feel better. Now I don’t claim to be a Geneticist, but I do know a thing or two. And I do know that with the limited studies these people have conducted, you can’t even tell what’s a cause and what’s an effect. I will admit, there are some cases of obesity associated with genes, such as Prader-Willi syndrome, which causes the person to eat nearly non-stop. But I know I wasn’t large because I was always hungry, but because I made bad choices. What do you think? Genes or not?
                If it isn’t genetics, then it has to be something else. I know, clearly it’s the fault of the fast-food corporations. McDonalds has been at the blunt end of hundreds, if not thousands of lawsuits. Ranging from franchise managers who were “forced to sample the fatty array of foods on a daily basis”, to parents suing because the happy meal toys are too appealing. Companies like McDonalds are easy targets for people upset about their services because, in general, people know just how bad their food is for them. For that same reason, it’s not the company’s fault if you get fat! …Or if you spill coffee on your lap. I mean seriously, Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants awarded a woman $2.86 million because her coffee was “defective” and “too hot.”
                In 2003, a lawsuit was thrown out that said McDonalds was responsible for obesity. The only reason I bring it up is because the following clearly illustrates the idiocracy some people have about the foods they eat:
“The plaintiffs argued that McDonald's should therefore be held accountable for the girls' obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol.
“The girls are Jazlyn Bradley and Ashley Pelman. Bradley, 19, is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and weighs 270 pounds. Pelman, 14, is 4-foot-10 and 170 pounds.
“Bradley said that a McMuffin for breakfast and a Big Mac meal for dinner was her regular diet. Pelman preferred the Happy Meals and used to eat at McDonald's three or four times a week.
“Bradley's father, Israel, said he never saw anything in the Bronx restaurants that informed him of the food's ingredients. "I always believed McDonald's was healthy for my children," he said in an affidavit.”
I’m glad that one was thrown out. If it had been allowed to go to court, I would have to ask a few questions. Such as, “If you stick a baby in the microwave and it dies, is it the manufacturer’s fault for not having a warning label?”
I know that this was more or less a rant, but I do want to know what you think. Who’s fault is it that America (And many many other countries for that matter) is so fat? I think it’s just the fault of the individuals. Yes, the increasing lack of organic foods certainly doesn’t help, but if you are eating McDonalds once or more a week then you are causing it to yourself.

***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***




Saturday, March 19

Daylight Savings What?


          We all recently set out clocks forward an hour (at least I hope we all remembered to...). But what's the point of this anyways? I mean, it isn't literally increasing the amount of daylight. Well from what I have gathered, daylight savings comes from the mind of Benjamin Franklin, who thought there should be more productive hours in a day....wait...so this whole thing is meant to make us WORK MORE? Awh man.
          That's right, old Franky wanted us to be productive citizens. Most people like daylight savings time though. it allows us to do more daytime activities in a day. But what about those of us who like nighttime activities? I mean, don't the days get longer in the Summer anyways? Why can't that be enough. I really am not seeing the point of moving our clocks back and forth.
          Apparently, daylight savings time really came into play during WW2. The reason being that staying up so long after dark was depleting natural resources creating artificial light. So in 1915 Germany started enforcing a daylight savings time along with a curfew to encourage people to go to bed and wake up earlier. England and the US soon followed. So why do we do this? Beats me. But it does cause a week or so of amusement as we get to poke fun at those who forgot to adjust their clocks.
          I know this article wasn't about a conspiracy, but hey? Who really cares? I think daylight savings time is pointless, but I'm sure not going to ignore it. Else I'll be the idiot who forgot to change his clock.

Does anybody have any good Daylight Savings stories?

References:
http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/daylight.asp
http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html


Thursday, March 17

Thanks!

 I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers (and those of you just passing through as well I guess). Remember to vote in the poll and become a fan on Facebook! Tell all your open-minded friends about my blog, and remember I'm always up for discussion!  
Clearly I have mad Paint skillz

Saturday, February 26

The Technological Singularity

                The word “singularity” means a time or place in which the normal laws of physics do not apply, such as in a black hole. But there is another singularity with a much different meaning, one which many people say will be coming within the next ten years: The Technological Singularity.
                Everybody puts a different date and meaning to the Technological Singularity. Some say it will be when robots take over the world, others say it will be when humans all die or leave earth and leave only super intelligent robots behind. All these involve one similar thing though: A time will come in which robots are smarter than humans. This is a scary thought, and one many people would like to shrug off as science fiction. But how far off is it really? This graph shows calculations per second (also per 1,000 dollars….whatever than means) on the y-axis and year on the x-axis. The white curve represents how technology will advance if it continues at its current rate. The figures on the right show where mice, insects, and humans stand as far as calculations per second go. Finally, the little black dots on the line show dates where the computers with the number of calculations per second were created, and they are the reference points for drawing the white curve.

                The graph is fairly old, with the newest point being from 1998, so this graph seems like sort of a stretch right? Wrong. Last year Tianhe-1 was put into action in China as the second computer able to process a quadrillion processes per second. That’s equal to 1015, or just short of a human’s brain. So technology is actually advancing faster than the graph suggests!
                All that being said computers are still ultimately limited. Unless built into a robot, computers are unable to build or use anything outside of cyberspace. So instead we must relate to robots, what if such an advanced computer was made into a walking robot? What would it be capable of? Some people say nothing at all outside of its programming. Robots/Computers are incapable of emotions. But is it possible to create a robot capable of emotions? In 2007, three US scientists successfully simulated half of a mouse brain, resulting in activity characteristic of thought patterns with similar nerve synapse firing as observed in mice in nature. The complex simulation only was able to last ten seconds, however this is just the beginning. If scientists can successfully create a real working mouse brain, how far are they really from a human-like one? Another interesting robot-rat combo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-0eZytv6Qk
                So if robots are capable of thinking and acting like humans, what will happen then? Well, either we would coexist, or robots would take over in the work force. Robots don’t have to take breaks, eat, or drink. So what will humans do? Probably all die off.
                So do I believe it? Yes I do. I think there will come a time when robots are as intelligent as humans. But I think that as long as we keep a nice “STOP ALL” switch around, we’ll be just fine.

References:

Saturday, February 19

The Crisis Point

                The population of the world in mid-2010 was estimated to be 6,852,472,823 people. According to many projections, this is expected to increase by 150% by 2040. This is very likely true, as populations tend to grow exponentially or at least geometrically.  According to Thomas Malthus’ theoretical scenario, this is very, very bad.

Population of the World, including future estimates
                Malthusians and Neo-Malthusians believe that the resources of the earth increase linearly, basically in the form of an x = y equation. This is pretty much true for water, food, minerals, and such. This puts a bit of a carrying capacity for the earth on how much of a population it can sustain, and, unfortunately, we are moving close to ours. Malthusians believe that because the population graph is increasing exponentially, and resources are increasing only linearly there will come a time when the two lines collide. When they do, there will no longer be enough resources for the population and there will be a mass die-off, the likes of which no one has ever seen. At first this sounds absolutely crazy, but when you think about it, it really is pretty much true, even if we aren’t always increasing exponentially.
What Resources and Population on the same graph MIGHT look like (this is in no way a scientifically accurate line drawn for the resources)
                Population growth graphs are remarkably inaccurate as they don’t take Industrialization into account. How does Industrialization affect population growth? Well, when a country industrializes, its birth rate goes down. Look at the US for instance: our population is currently only growing at 0.9% per year. Countries like Germany, which have been industrialized for a while, actually have more deaths than births. Countries like Kenya however, have huge rates of births and lowering death rates. These are where the huge population growths come from. Because of this, as these countries become more advanced, the population growth will slow dramatically. So many of these projections, that show population growth continuing at the same rate, are likely inaccurate.
                This doesn’t matter to Malthusians though, as they still believe the “Crisis Point”, as it is so-called, is inevitable, and it probably is. Unless, of course, the world population stops growing all together. Technocentrists see another way out though. Technocentrists believe that with technology, the earth can be changed to hold more and more resources in support of the human population. This is also true: during the Green Revolution of 1945, huge amounts of food were produced in extreme excess. Because of this, Technocentrists believe that as long as technology keeps getting better, we will never run out of resources.
                So who’s right? I believe both are. I believe that with technology we will not run out of resources for a long, long, long time. But there has to be an extent to this working. Eventually we will run out of room. Eventually we can no longer build any higher. Eventually we can plow no more land. What then? Well, if population keeps growing, then probably the “Crisis Point” will occur and most of us will die.
                What can we do to stop it? Nothing. There are two possible outcomes: either a mass die-off will occur as Malthusians predict, or all countries will industrialize and population growth will come to a plateau. Either way, I hope I’m not around when the earth gets too crowded.

P.S. I scheduled this to upload at 12:00 today and it didn't. How dissappointing.

References:
Freshman-Level Geography

Wednesday, February 16

Capitalism for Dummies

A friend of mine posted this list online and I thought I'd share it:

Traditional Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. You sell them and retire on the income.

Australian Capitalism: You have two cows. You try to wrestle them.

Iraqi Capitalism: You have two cows. They are biochemical weapons.

Perestroika Capitalism: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the black market.

Jewish Capitalism: You have two cows. You set them on fire and they burn for 8 days.

Cambodian Capitalism: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.

Mormon Capitalism: You have two cows. You tell everyone that they should as well.

Military Capitalism: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.

Texan Capitalism: You have two cows. You teach them to fire guns.

Totalitarian Capitalism: You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they ever existed. Milk is banned.

Jehovah’s Witness Capitalism: You have two cows. You go door to door telling people that you do.

Bureaucrat Capitalism: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.

Real Capitalism: You don't have any cows.
The bank will not lend you money to buy cows, because you don't have any cows to put up as collateral.

Environmental Capitalism: You have two cows. The government bans you from milking them.

Surreal Capitalism: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

Californian Capitalism: You have two cows. They are happy.

Bush Capitalism: You have two cows. You think that cows and humans can coexist peacefully. You give all of the milk to the upper class when they have cows of their own, and the lower class needs milk.

Martha Stewart Capitalism: You have two cows. After decorating them, you sell them because a farmer told you the price of milk might go down.

Ayn Rand Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell both so that you can invest in a new dairy company. After it does well, you sell you stock and buy a cow farm.
After that does well, you take out a loan using cows as capitol and build a milk manufacturing factory. After making your milk the most sold, you sell the company and retire to Hawaii with your millions of dollars.
Tennessee Capitalism: You have two cows. Both become country music stars despite having no talent.
Soap Capitalism: You have two cows. One is actually the other’s ex boyfriend undergone a sex change to become a cow. The other is concealing a jealous rage at the quality of the converted cow’s milk. Both cows will end up falling in love by the end of the year.
Obama Capitalism: You have two cows. And you know nothing more than that statement without your manual.
Dick Cheney Capitalism: You have two cows. You accidentally shoot them both while aiming for quail.
Korean Capitalism: You have two cows. Before long one cow believes the other has better grazing land and threatens to bomb her unless its unknown demands are met.



You guys have any more to add to this list?


American Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead.

French Capitalism: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.

Japanese Capitalism: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them World-Wide.

German Capitalism: You have two cows. You re-engineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

Italian Capitalism: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.

British Capitalism: You have two cows. Both are mad.

Russian Capitalism: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

Arkansas Capitalism: You have two cows. That one on the left is kinda cute...

Saturday, February 12

Global Warming: We're All Going to DIE!

                Okay, so maybe that was a dramatic title, but this is seriously the impression most people are giving. The earth is getting warmer and before you know it we will all be dead. Lately I’ve heard that by 2050 almost all coastal areas will be flooded. If I recall correctly, weren’t we told that would have occurred by last year? And what happened to the idea that the earth was going to freeze over? I specifically remember watching the movie The Day After Tomorrow. What was that? Five years ago?  People believed it too. “By 2030 the earth may enter another Ice Age!” but now we have a change of mind.
                Now some of you may have gotten the impression there that I don’t believe Global Warming (AKA Climate Change) is occurring. IT IS. If you say it isn’t then boo-on-you. Don’t go on Jeopardy any time soon. The real debate for this issue should only be “Are we responsible?”, I say we are not, but I understand where people who do believe it’s our fault are coming from. By the way, the reason the name has been changed to “Climate Change” is not because it isn’t Global Warming anymore, it’s because the warming has caused changes in extremes. This means that just because it’s very cold right now is not because Global Warming isn’t happening. It’s actually because it is happening. You see, polar caps act as a sort of regulator for temperatures. So when you reduce that it creates a greater extreme. Look it up, I’m sure somebody else can explain it better than I can. And in case a lot of you have forgotten the way the earth tilts, it is currently Summer in the Southern Hemisphere and as hot as ever.
            I consider most of the charts I see very inconclusive, or showing only very small sections in great detail so it makes it evident the temperature has gone up dramatically. Most of these charts I will be posting come from http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/temperature/. I’m going to make comments on them, but I really want everybody to formulate their own opinions.
Please note other highs. Also note we have not gone down any in temperature since the Montreal Protocol of 1987 which ceased production of the major Greenhouse Gas contributor CFC. However, CFC have a potential lifespan of 110 years so I honestly can't say a lot.
    
Up is colder since we're looking at Oxygen-18 levels. Looks fairly consistent to me. We haven't even been around a million years, remember that.

Ocean Temperatures
This is Greenland's Temperature over the last 130k years. Please note that the LEFT side is modern time.
This shows deep ocean temperatures. Please note that DOWN is colder and the RIGHT side is ancient times.


                So is the earth getting warmer? Yes it is. Is it our fault, I think it is not. We’ve had warm spells in the past and many ended in an Ice Age. Don’t forget the Medieval Warming Period, which some say was even warmer than today, which grew progressively warmer over two generations and ended in the Little Ice Age. But even if it is our fault, what can we really do about it? We can’t stop cows from farting methane gas. We won’t stop breathing. We can reduce our pollution though, but shouldn’t we really be doing that anyways? I honestly don’t care if my kid can’t see a polar bear in its natural habitat because I don’t think we could really prevent that (Plus my kid better not be going off to the Polar Regions on his own anyways), but I do care if my kid has to wear a gas mask to school because of all the smog.
                "This planet has been through a lot worse than us." - George Carlin

Saturday, February 5

Euthanasia / Medicide

                Since I’ve been writing more controversial lately we might as well continue on the same footpath. Euthanasia of the terminally ill, is it right or wrong? I can’t cover every argument for both sides obviously, so I advice everyone to do some of their own research into the matter.
                First off I have to say that most people on the opposing side fall very deeply into the slippery slope fallacy: “If we start killing off people now then what’s to keep us from, in the future, killing anyone we deem worthless?!”. Laws are passed one at a time and if you view this as a slope, then the ball is already rolling. We allow people to kill themselves by over dose, jumping from a bridge, sticking their head in the oven, or whatever else they choose. We also allow the closest relative of a person stuck in a vegetable state to “pull-the-plug”, how is this really any different than letting somebody kill you as you lay dying?
                A good point that the anti-Medicide side points out is that the definition for “Terminally ill” is very broad. Jack Kevorkian described a Terminal illness as “any disease that curtails life even for one day.” I can see here where people are having issues. If we get people who rush to decisions ending up in the hospital with a severe case of Pneumonia, we may lose quite a few people who would still be alive (And, cough, paying taxes). But no, seriously, this really is an issue, and I think the best way to do it would be to change the wording if made into a law. Perhaps to something along the lines of “Only applicable for people deemed mentally capable by a psychologist and whose projected recovery is less than 10%”. That last percentage there could be changed to something different if you like: 5%, 4%, 25%, whatever.
                One argument I’ve heard says that we would end up with doctors killing people just because it is cost effective. This makes a little sense, as a health care provider may find they are better off financially with a dead uninsured person than a terminally ill uninsured person. However, what is to make people think a doctor would get away with this? If it isn’t proposed yet then surely they will require at least two or three witnesses to the signing. And I believe there should also be a waiting period of at least three days, and on the last day have the person sign again if they have not changed their mind. And what’s to keep the doctor from pressuring the patient? Well, honestly, nothing. What’s to keep my friends and family from coming over here and telling me I would be better off dead? Well, honestly, nothing.
                Following through on that last thought, what is to keep it from becoming involuntary? Well, this is a bit tricky, especially with the surprising large number of illiterates we actually have. How are they going to know what they are signing away? Well, in my idea of the way the law should be, the witnesses are to be informed of the contract in its entirety and given copies of the document being signed. A reader should be present to read the document word-for-word. I feel that as well as being mentally competent, the person must also be an American citizen. If they are an American citizen and don’t know how to speak or understand English…well…what are they doing here?
                What is to keep doctors from going around and killing people? I think euthanasia should only be delivered at a hospital, and only to people unable to leave the hospital due to their condition.
                I guess I made my stance pretty obvious, I believe in Medicide, but only under the correct circumstances. I want everyone here to watch the movie Johnny, Get Your Gun. Also, think for a second about if you were dying of skin cancer. Your body feels like it’s burning and you can feel your flesh being devoured from the inside out. You don’t want to live any more but you’re stick to a good handful if I.V.s. You are given five months to live, but will not recover. That’s five months you have to deal with this horrible feeling. Do you want to die now? Or would you rather just spend five more months in excruciating pain locked in a lonely hospital room?
 “Matthew Donnelly loved life. But Matthew Donnelly wanted to die. For the past thirty years, Matthew had conducted research on the use of X-rays. Now, skin cancer riddled his tortured body. He had lost his nose, his left hand, two fingers on his right hand, and part of his jaw. He was left blind and was slowly deteriorating. The pain was unrelenting. Doctors estimated that he had a year to live. Lying in bed with teeth clenched from the excruciating pain, he pleaded to be put out of his misery. Matthew wanted to die now. His pleas went unanswered. Then, one day, Matthew's brother Harold, unable to ignore Matthew's repeated cry, removed a .30 caliber pistol from his dresser drawer, walked to the hospital, and shot and killed his brother. Harold was tried for murder.” - http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v1n1/suicide.html
                Fair? Or Unfair? You decide.

***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***

 
References:
Google Images

Saturday, January 22

Paul Is Dead


                This theory has been going on for more than 40 years now. It states that Paul McCartney of the Beatles was killed, most version say in a car crash, and replaced by an imposter. This sound farfetched, but many are very adamant about the proof being in the pudding. They say that the Beatles have left clues through many albums and that there is physical evidence to top it off. We’ll be looking at some of this “proof” today and making our own conclusions.

Facial Comparison
                This site here: http://digilander.libero.it/jamespaul/fc1.html did some interesting comparisons of McCartney’s faces. Here is pre-conspiracy McCartneys compared to each other.



                At first I was impressed. This seems like good evidence. The two look nothing alike. Then I made one of two old pictures of me. Now I am far less impressed. I really don’t even look like the same person. A very slight angle change and change in expression makes that much of a difference.

Height
                According to the same site (has some very good theories on it, so I suggest you look at it in its entirety) Paul’s height significantly changed. I just don’t see the change as significant enough to say that it’s conclusive of anything.

Eye Color
                Same reference site again. As the site says, Paul McCartney had hazel eyes. However, the later Paul (“Faul”, as many people call him) seems to have green, gray, or brown eyes. As a guy with dark hazel eyes myself I can say that in some conditions my eyes can look brown, green and once or twice I’ve seen them look gray. Therefore I can’t give anything to this evidence.
                That’s the last of what I’ll show from that site however, as the rest I just can’t even begin to agree with. The writer mentions plastic surgery and goes on to show how that could be true. The author is very good, but I don’t agree with the evidence.

Album Covers
                People have theories for almost every single Beatle’s album cover. I’m just going to cover the interesting ones. I’ll put the link I got most of this part from in the references, so check it out for some more.
                Help!: The album cover for “Help!” shows the Beatle’s attempting to spell something out. It looks to me like it says “TYKS” to me. But some conspiracy theorists say they are spelling out “NUJV”, which stands for “New Unknown James Vocalist” (James being Paul’s real first name). This theory sucks. I don’t even see the letters “NUJV”, and even if I did why would they stand for something uncreative like that?
                Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: This is my personal favorite album by the Beatles and also the one with the most rumors. First off, people say it looks like a grave site, which I admit it does, but that’s nothing really. Secondly, people say the yellow flowers spell out the word “Paul?”. I just don’t see it. There’s way to many theories involving this album for me to cover them all, but they are all so ridiculous. I recommend you go to the link in references and look for yourself.
                Let It Be: On the cover of this album, Paul is the only one shown with a Red Background. Also he is the only one not looking off to the left side of the album. Of course this is “conclusive evidence”! Great clue that is…
                Original Yesterday and Today cover: On the original cover of Yesterday and Today there are only two decapitated dolls in the photo, both of which are pointing towards Paul. Also, a burnt doll head is held up next to Paul’s, perhaps a reference to how his dead body looked after his car crash?

Back Masking:
                When it comes to back masking, I am very hard to convince. If you reverse something, you can pretty much hear whatever you want. In the references there is a link with many “Beatle’s Backmasking” samples. Listen to ‘em, formulate your own conclusions. I’ve made mine.

Final Word:
                Obviously I didn’t cover everything, if you have something else discuss it in the comments or become a fan on Facebook and we can discuss it there. I personally feel this theory needs to die. Paul is still Paul. He isn’t dead and he never was.

***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***

 
References:
         

Saturday, January 15

Tucson, Arizona

On January 8, 2011, a man by the name of Jared Lee Loughner opened fire in a supermarket parking lot in an attempt to kill congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Instead he killed six, and injured about fourteen more, Giffords being one of those not killed. A real tragedy for sure, but now everyone's playing the blame game. So who's right and who's wrong? Let's take a look.

One of the things about this that really bugs me is the way the press covers it. It makes the six people killed sound like an after-thought, with the exception of  United States District Court for the District of Arizona Chief Judge John Roll (Try saying that ten times fast) who was also killed. News reports basically give this sort of feeling: "On January 8 a gunman shot and seriously injured congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed Judge John Roll. Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat, is in the hospital in critical condition but is expected to survive. Oh yeah, and five others were killed." Gee...thanks. I want to know more about the other five! I know one was the eight year old girl, she got some coverage but those other four should receive just as much mention. They're human too aren't they? I haven't even heard their names. To top it off, Loughner is going to be charged with a number of offenses, and one of the most serious of these offenses is "Attempted Assassination of a Member of Congress". Why is this even an offense name? Shouldn't it just be "Attempted Murder"? I don't ever hear charges of "Attempted Assassination of a Construction Worker" or "Attempted Assassination of a Walmart Greeter". I hope that if, God forbid, I was ever in a mass massacare that I didn't die along with somebody famous because nobody would never know I existed. Shoot a normal person and you might face the death penalty, shoot a member of Congress and you get charged with an offense of a special sort and your name is smeared forever.

A 63-year old man by the name of Eric Fuller who survived the shooting is quoted as saying,

"It looks like Palin, Beck, Sharron Angle and the rest got their first target. Their wish for Second Amendment activism has been fulfilled."

How mature. Let's all blame the tea-party members. First of all, Loughner was a registered Independant. Second of all, he has had hatred for politics in general since before the Tea Party and stopped paying attention to going-ons completely two years ago. He didn't listen to the radio and didn't watch the news.

On the opposite end of that entire spectrum we have Rush Limbaugh saying that:

"What Mr. Loughner knows is that he has the full support of a major political party in this country. He's sitting there in jail. He knows what's going on, he knows that...the Democrat party is attempting to find anybody but him to blame. He knows if he plays his cards right, he's just a victim. He's the latest in a never-ending parade of victims brought about by the unfairness of America...this guy clearly understands he's getting all the attention and he understands he's got a political party doing everything it can, plus a local sheriff doing everything that they can to make sure he's not convicted of murder - but something lesser."
This took me a long time to make sense of. But what Limbaugh is basically saying is that the Democrats are going to make it into a larger conspiracy...which some are already. Blaming the Tea Party is an example of this. However, this is unfair to think that they're going to obstruct justice and in no way at all will anybody be trying to lessen the conviction. I will be utterly shocked if Loughner doesn't get executed, if not killed by an inmate.

Sarah Palin gave a few words about the shooting. You can read them or listen to her say them here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/12/sarah-palin-arizona-shooting-statement_n_807833.html. She does make a good point with her counter to people saying "Political Debates have gotten more heated in recent years, causing increased violence". She says,
"But when was it less heated? Back in those "calm days" when political figures literally settled their  differences with dueling pistols? In an ideal world all discourse would be civil and all disagreements cordial. But our Founding Fathers knew they weren't designing a system for perfect men and women. If men and women were angels, there would be no need for government.”

            After her small speech, can you guess what people did? Did everyone become friends? Did people understand each other? Did they compliment her speech? Of course not. Instead everybody went up in flames over her use of the term “Blood Libel”, which people say is a derogatory term to Jewish people as it brings back memories of a harsher time. Some people really take this stuff too intensely. I’ll admit it wasn’t the best word choice, as it means a religious group murdering children for their blood. But, though it is admitted usually used with Jewish people, it is not specifically targeted at them. Can’t we just listen to people for once and let words be words?

***Some Images Were Removed From This Page To Avoid Potential Lawsuits and/or Shutdowns. My apologies***

            So here’s what I think, nobody is to blame for this except for Loughner. This was not a Tea Party attempt at gaining power, this was not a Democratic scandal. This wasn’t even an Anarchy movement. This was one guy who believed the Government was lying to him and in his own mentally disturbed mind he brought “Justice”.

References: