Iranian Censorship

Yet another interesting series of photos from the Amazing Things site. This one is Iranian Censorship: How Famous Magazines Look in Iran. Assuming this is true... it really is amazing indeed.

Late again, but I'm now on Facebook

As I've said before, I am often late to the latest popular things. I was late to switch from VHS to DVD, late to get an iPod, late to blogging, and I still don't use a cell phone much at all. Adding to this list... Facebook. I've been meaning to get myself included at Facebook for a long time now, and last week I finally did it. It will take me some time to fill out my profile to my satisfaction, and to explore the many wonderful apps and widgets one can add. I'm having fun with it so far.

I've of course been on the more professionally-oriented social networking site LinkedIn, for quite a long time. But that is to be expected since I'm 34 years old, not 16 or 22.

On Complementary and Alternative Medicine

I want to thank R. Barker Bausell (professor of research methodology in the School of Nursing at the University of Maryland at Baltimore) for his excellent essay "Placebo Effect" in March 14 issue of The Chronicle Review. He makes several outstanding criticisms of so-called complementary and alternative medicine, and the call for more testing and studies. He argues instead that there should be less such testing and research, primarily because most such things haven't even passed the basic threshold to warrant rigorous testing by scientific methods. Read his essay for some clarity on an issue that we are often mentally clouded with vague and tricky claims.

China as Savior of the Oppressed?

Kudos to Gregory Clark, chairman of the Economics department at University of California at Davis. He wrote an interesting book review in The Chronicle Review entitled "China as the Antidote to Oppression and Exploitation?" The book being criticized is Johns Hopkins University sociologist professor Giovanni Arrighi's Adam Smith in Beijing. I admit I've not read the book myself (and don't plan to). But I found many of the points Clark makes to be strong ones and contrary to so much rubbish still being spouted by academic leftists (that seem to dominate so many fields, including sociology). Such writings are often as Clark describes this book... "little more than an extended anti-market, anti-capitalism, anti-Western harangue."

Remember the Yip Yips?

Thanks goes to my friend Brandon for linking to a YouTube clip of the classic Yip Yips. Definitely brings back memories from childhood...

Earth at Night Photos

Here is a view of our planet that I've not seen often. I've seen night images before, but always of smaller portions of the landscape, not the entire globe. These really make clear what parts of the world are both populated and developed.

Snow Tubing Reporter

Ouch! Watch this Canadian reporter get run over by a speedy snow-tuber.

Birth of Rochester and the D&C

The main newspaper in Rochester, NY is the Democrat and Chronicle. Today's paper had a section celebrating its 175th birthday. Included were several interesting items, but I found Mark Hare's writeup to be a quite nice history of the early days of both the city and its newspapers.

Upcoming Clone Wars

Here is a brief news item on the upcoming Star Wars: Clone Wars movie and TV-series. At the official site you can also see a series of videos, including most notably the trailer and an brief introduction piece that explains the context for this material.

Spitzer Bombshell Apparently a Minor Story

Today the huge story about NY Governor Elliot Spitzer and his involvement with a prostitution ring came to light. I was curious how some of the media would cover this. For some reason I was particularly curious to see what Keith Olbermann would do with it on his often-raving-loud one-hour show from 8-9 EST. Well... it was quite interesting... I missed the first two minutes of his show, so likely he did mention it briefly then. However, he then went on and on about relatively minor Hillary vs. Obama drama items... for about 30 minutes! He didn't really cover the Spitzer bomb until after the half-way point in the show. I think it was big-story #3 on his program, and he only spent about 5-7 minutes on it. Doesn't this strike anyone else as strange?

I'll also note that the Atlas Society was quick to send out a brief blurb on this news, noting correctly:

It is ironic that New York Democrat Governor Eliot Spitzer has had his undeserved reputation for high moral standards tarnished by his sexual escapades which, while perhaps sleazy, did not harm any of us. In fact he deserved our moral scorn for his assault on productive individuals and flaunting of the rule of law when he was New York attorney general, done arrogantly in the name of "morality."

I had the exact same thoughts while watching the coverage tonight.

Election 2024

The March 2008 edition of Wired as a humorous look at the US Presidential Election come 2024.

I especially liked the reference to the Pakghaniran War as being "once a simple seven-sided fight between Pakistani, Afghani, and Iranian peopls of historical and irreconcilable mutual hatreds -- was becoming complicated."

Also funny -- but sadly could be prophetic -- is this: "Rodriguez vs. Chen: The nominees seemed to have opposing positions on nearly every issue. Rodriguez wanted to expanded AutoCare, the federal car-insurance entitlement for baby-boomer seniors, to include golf carts; Chen argued that mandatory car insurance was unconstitutional." If people have a right to health-care, then why not cars and car-insurance as well? (Not to mention food, housing, entertainment systems, computers with internet access, and everything else deemed necessary to live in 21st century America.)

Germs, good and bad

The March 2008 issue of Wired provided an interesting one page look at the microbes typically found in the human body. Yikes... these numbers are large!

Best Sidekicks

The March issue of Wired had a brief writeup of the Best Sidekicks of all time. Pretty good list!

Against Complicating Matters

I enjoyed this opinion piece in the Feb. 29 issue of The Chronicle Review: "Not to Complicate Matters, but...". Here UCLA history professor Russell Jacoby takes some fashionable nonsense to task, namely the postmodernist (or otherwise trendy) "devotion to complexity". Or put otherwise, unnecessarily complicating matters with the result being a conceptual fog of uncertainty and confusion. Yet another silly trend rightfully criticized... thanks Professor Jacoby.

That's a Lot of Penguins

I've certainly never seen photos of this many penguins before!

Importing Cars in Mexico

The writers at the Onion couldn't invent a story this odd... well, maybe they could, since they are quite good at what they do. See the AP story "Mexico Abruptly Restricts Car Imports". Basically, Mexico is now only allowing car imports from a single year, 1998. All market interference by governments distort the market, but this is serious arbitrariness and micromanagement. If you live in a border state and have been sitting on a lot of 1998 model cars, you are in luck.

Which Revolves Around the Earth?

This video on YouTube is sad. And I thought education was poor in this country!

Look Who's Singing Sweet Home Alabama

Check out this YouTube video of a Finnish rock group, with Russian backing choir, singing Lynyrd Skynyrd's classic rock hit Sweet Home Alabama. The outfits on the rockers -- shoes, hair, clothes -- is also, um, impressive. I'm not sure what is going on with the women dancing either. Here is the background info posted about this video:

The Leningrad Cowboys is a Finnish rock and roll band famous for its humorous songs and concerts featuring the Soviet Red Army Choir. Currently, the band has eleven Cowboys and two Leningrad Ladies. The songs, all somewhat influenced by polka and progressive rock, and performed in English, have themes such as 'vodka', 'tractors', 'rockets', and 'Genghis Khan', as well as folkloric Russian songs, rock and roll ballads and covers from bands as diverse as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, all with lots of humour.

The Red Army Choir (Choir Aleksandrov) is a performing ensemble that served as the official army choir of the former Soviet Union's Red Army. The choir consists of a male choir, an orchestra, and a dance ensemble. The songs they perform range from Russian folk tunes to Church hymns, operatic arias and popular music.In 1991, The Red Army Choir participated in Roger Waters' The Wall concert celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall. They performed an anti-war song "Bring the Boys Back Home".Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Red Army Choir has continued performing, entertaining audiences both inside and outside Russia.

Well, I guess this is one way to know who won the cold war.

Don't Talk Back to Darth Vader

YouTube provides Star Wars According to a Three Year Old. Pretty cute and funny. At the end we learn that we shouldn't talk back to Darth Vader, because he'll get you!