News Briefs 04-03-2010
Posted by red pill junkie at 06:04, 04 Mar 2010- Skeptic Susan Blackmore continues to be retired from Parapsychology by posting yet another screed against it: "In the service of science, not spin" —speaking of spin...
- "We'll make great pets": computers can read our minds now.
- Global warming may be normal at this point in glacial cycles, according to German & Russian scientists. You now what else is normal during glacial cycles? EXTINCTIONS.
- Spirits in the Sand: Nat Geo investigates the Nasca lines [more here] .
- Gorilleidolia on Mars: Best. Album. Publicity. Ever?
- Search for Mars life to heat up in —when else??— 2012.
- From the Big Bang to Sarah Palin there is an enormous —& kind of tragic— distance. Robert Lanza tries to find a new explanation for the origin of the Universe. Biocentrism [Amazon US & UK]
- How do supermassive black holes in the centre of most galaxies gobble gas from their surroundings? maybe the black holes are like cosmic Sarlaccs, and stars act as Huttese kingpins —eat your heart out, Hawking!
- Heavenly Palace: China to launch 1st module of their permanent space station next year —I wonder how many eunuchs it will house... [more]
- Human Compulsions Among the Stars. Because self-awareness & radio-transmitting ain't the same thing, Seth.
- Fotos de Ovnis? A collection of UFO photographs from regular Inexplicata contributor Prof. Ana Luisa Cid.
- MUFON & Mexico: Marla Peña writes about the Close Encounters of the Embarasing Kind in Mexican Ufology.
- Darth Vader on Washington's National Cathedral? the things I learn thanks to Dan Brown...
- Don't call your agent just yet, Dan: the 'crucifixion nail' was found in an imaginary country —then again, since when have small details such as 'facts' ever stopped you? :)
- Behold the power of the hive mind! wasps discovered penicillin millions of years ago.
- Fighting dengue with... mosquitoes? wasn't this the same approach that brought us Saddam & Al Qaida?
- Homeopathy: still the #1 alternative medicine in Europe.
- God is in the dung: borrowing from Hindu spiritual traditions, researchers are working on medicines based on bovine's excreta. Gau Jal anyone?
- The second coming of the Auroch. Now THAT would make bullfighting much more interesting —go bulls! ;)
- Behenu, a 4000-years-old Egyptian queen, has been unearthed by French archeologists in Saqqara.
- Egypt? *yawn* Sudan's land of 'black pharaohs' is a better spot for archaeologists with big enough kahones.
- 200 Russian tanks found abandoned in forest. Because kids NEVER like to put away their toys after they finish playing.
- Directing air traffic: so easy even a child can (literally) do it.
Thanks to Greg & Kat. And a special thanks to Turner Young & Perceval.
Quote of the Day:
"Past generations believed the world was a great ball resting on the back of a turtle; now science would have us believe it's a fairy universe that appeared out of nowhere and that expands into nothing. Angels used to push and pummel the planets about; now everything is a meaningless accident. We've exchanged a world turtle for a Big Bang. By reminding us of its great successes at figuring out the mechanics of things, and fashioning marvelous new devices out of raw materials, science gets away with patently ridiculous 'explanations' for the nature of the universe as a whole. If only it hadn't given us HDTV and the George Foreman grill, it wouldn't have held our respect long enough to pull the old three-card-monte when it comes to these largest issues."
Robert Lanza, M.D.
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Comments
1 May 2004
15 hours 46 min
OK?! Am I the only one who doubts the efficacy of these products? Toothpaste? Ugh!
We may have to divert some planes from earthquake aid and start airdropping breath mints on New Delhi.
12 April 2007
1 hour 10 min
You do realize that the scientific approach to solve this mystery would be through trial & error ;)
The idea that the waste secretions of one organism could be beneficial to another seems kind of counterintuitive. But we certainly don't feel so squeamish concerning the use of honey or beeswax —not exactly the same thing as cow dung, I know...
Stranger things have happened in medicine. Like penicillin for example.
It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
22 November 2004
2 weeks 11 hours
Well, to make a good study, you need the subjects to be ignorant of the fact that they are subjects in a study.
So the first step is to round up some unsuspecting people.
I don't have the heart to do that :)
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We are the cat.
22 November 2004
2 weeks 11 hours
Last time around we got our big break during one of the glacial periods, with the big climate changes and all that. Perhaps we should welcome the opportunity.
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We are the cat.
12 April 2007
1 hour 10 min
On that occasion our ancestor's sole possessions were pretty much a single item of clothing, and what they could carry with both hands.
And that's it.
It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
22 November 2004
2 weeks 11 hours
They came out of that better than they went in.
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We are the cat.
12 April 2007
1 hour 10 min
What I meant to say is that back when we were nomads and didn't care much about owning a lot of stuff, moving away from dangerous places was easier. Today not so much; our stuff owns us.
It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie
22 November 2004
2 weeks 11 hours
Indeed we have become quite set in our ways, and quite attached to a lot of immobile stuff. It might be better if we developed a more light-weight, fault-tolerant lifestyle. If we could deal with adverse conditions better, we would save a lot on anti-anxiety medication too :)
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We are the cat.