Politics

Astronomers have discovered an object in our solar system that is larger than Pluto. They are calling it the 10th planet, but already that claim is contested. It is the first time an object so big has been found in our solar system since the discovery of Pluto 75 years ago. Position: about 3 times sun-pluto distance, inclination 45° The new world's size is not at issue. But the very definition of planethood is. Alan Boss, a planet-formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, called the discovery "a major step." But Boss would not call it a planet at all. Instead, he said Pluto and other small objects beyond Neptune should be called, at be…

Info on Tanya Andersen's case: http://recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com/2005/10/oregon-riaa-victim-fights-back-sues.html Info on the RICO act: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RICO_(law) This looks like it will be an interesting case to follow, even if it doesn't get very far. Tanya Andersen is one of thousands of individuals who has been sued by the recording industry for illegally downloading music. In many of these cases, the sued have settled out of court with the RIAA, and in many of these cases it could certainly be argued that the RIAA had a valid point about theft. The counter-argument is that they're using a very blunt weapon, smacking a lot of peop…

The government purchase card (credit card) spending limits have been raised in the recent Katrina relief spending bill, for purchases of items for the rebuilding. The old limit was $2500 for items not on a government contract schedule. The new limit? $250,000. No competetive bidding involved. These are cards that have been used and abused in the past with the low spending limit. I hear the stories every time I have to go through training for my own card, when they add rules because of abuse they discovered somewhere. The system seems to be set up on the assumption that two employees couldn't conspire to defraud the government.

Was about to hit the sack when I ran across this little gem from Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream: There are so many things wrong with this statement that I hardly know where to begin! - Okay, funding was "cut", but only in the sense that one amount was asked for during the budget process and another amount was provided (in 2001 and 2004). Isn't that how budgets always work, with too much being asked for and not enough being given? So what? Clinton did the same thing, which makes you wonder what Cohen's motivations are, but then he's a well-known ABB guy. But more to the point, the Corps of Engineers doesn't think it would have many …

Fascinating, in-depth story about the case of Joseph Mangan, an American engineer who "blew the whistle" on Airbus, accusing them of knowing and covering-up design flaws in the pressure valve control systems of the A380. An error could lead to a depressurization tragedy like the recent one in Greece. The story goes into quite a lot of detail about the technical issues involved, and is well worth a read. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-whistleblower27sep27,0,7486292.story In a nutshell, Mangan is an engineer (an expert in fluid dynamics) who worked on the chip that is supposed to control the pressure valves in the A380. The system is unique in civil avia…

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1173194 In a nutshell, the Russians continue to sell technology and build a nuclear power plant for Iran, which is putting a strain on its relationship with the United States. The political angle to this that I think is interesting is that it seems to suggest that if Russia wants to continue its space program, which is an important part of its national pride, then it may need to stop dealing with Iran. Thoughts?

What do you believe is at areas 51/19? Personally, I think we test experimental aircraft/weapons at area 51. As fo 19, I don't know. Oh, and for those of you who don't know what area 19 is, It's a place in Nevada even more secluded than area 51. It has a 34.5 kilovolt power line that comes out of the ground and stops in the dead center of area 19.

Here's a link to an article at Reuters for those who missed it: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-09-28T191517Z_01_YUE863422_RTRUKOC_0_UK-DELAY.xml DeLay is considered the #2 Republican in congress. The position is party-only, not a constitutional one, and not in the succession of power. Basically he rallies other Republicans to whatever the cause of the day happens to be. House ethics rules require the person in that position to step down when indicted. He will, of course, get his day in court. If convicted, he could face a couple of years in the slammer. My personal opinion on it is that DeLay is a representa…

Most have probably realized that the US media isn't reporting 1/100th of what's going really on in Iraq. Well, this guy has been there for 8 months and is one of the few journalists that weren't "embedded" (in bed with) the army. He has been in touch with Iraqi civilians (not just Americans and state officials). He has had to work undercover, for fear of terrorists but mostly for fear of the US army, which killed more reporters in the first year of Iraq than in all the years of Vietnam. This is a very interesting video where he sums up his experiences. http://dahrjamailiraq.com/multi_media/Dahr_Jamail_Sonoma_State_Project_Censored_4_10_2005.html You can check …

There's a new journal that follows on from The National Interest called The American Interest. The first issue has an essay by Condoleezza Rice, which argues that the US should continue to try to 'democratise' other countries despite the difficulties. Here's an excerpt from The Australian. The problem I have with this viewpoint is that it creates a false dichotomy, where you either embrace the neo-conservative democratisation strategy, or you sit back and do nothing. There's obviously a debate within the conservative US politics between isolationists and democratisers. But conservatives will need to look outside their own foreign policy writings if they aren't going…

I thought the You might be an extremist... thread was clever, but whats even more fun is to admit that on the inside almost all of us hold an extreme view on one thing or another. Please note: this is a place to confess your own extreme views, not to post other peoples views. And if you try to say that you dont hold some kind of weird view or support something that may be just out of the mainstream of your party, or even worse try to pass yourself off as an "independent", you will be forced to wear a dunce hat for the rest of the day If you want to criticize someone for their extremist views, be nice about it I'll go first: I'm generally a reasonab…

Einstein's equation turns 100 From Wikinews, the free news source you can write! September 27, 2005 The man behind E=mc2, Albert Einstein.Albert Einstein's best known equation, and probably the best known aspect of all physics, E=mc2, turns one hundred today. September 27, 1905 is generally considered the birthday of the equation because that is the day that Einstein's paper outlining the significance of the equation arrived in the offices of the German journal Annalen der Physik. In the equation, 'E' stands for Energy, 'm' stands for mass, and 'c' stands for the speed of light. The equation shows that matter and energy are, essentially, two aspects …

A 9/19 poll by USA Today, CNN and Gallup included the following question: 9. If you had to choose, which of the following would you say would be the best way for the government to pay for the problems caused by Hurricane Katrina? The results were as follows: 54% Cut spending for war in Iraq 17% Raise taxes 15% Increase federal budget deficit 6% Cut spending for domestic programs 5% Other 3% No opinion http://www.usatoday.com/news/polls/2005-09-19-poll.htm I don't really disagree with any of these options, but I think it's interesting that ABC's George Stephanopoulis was representing, in his interview with John McCain on Sunday, that this poll show…

Top Ten Headlines for Cindy Sheehan's Arrest in Tomorrow's New York Times: 10. "Tragically misunderstood mom to miss Regis" 9. "Protest party purloined per party pogrom" 8. "Sheehan says see shells drop on the shia" 7. ?

If you were a dictator of a country (e.g. you purchased a country) would you make homosexuality legal? Why? Would you have freedom of religion? Why? What will be the primary principle you will adopt when running your country, liberty, order...?

I happened to catch a few minutes of Rush Limbaugh yesterday at lunch (I usually try to pick up Al Franken when I'm out and about at that time, but for some reason I couldn't tune in 940). Anyway, he was ringing up Clinton for his Sunday talk show appearances, really bashing him for, in his view, bashing the Bush administration. So I popped into the Tivo last night and watched the Clinton interview (I'm a little behind in my Tivo viewing at the moment). I didn't think he attacked Bush per se, and he certainly didn't cross the line in terms of race. But he did actually state that the reason for the deficit is because of the tax cuts and Iraq, which of course is ho…

What do you think about the property damage done to billboards when it is modified by a culture jammer? http://www.smh.com.au/multimedia/jamming/bbustersSMH.html

apparently, the aid that was sent in to the survivors of hurricaine catrina was deleyed because the people taking the aid in came under gun fire from some of the local inhabitants. do you think this throws doubt on the argument that americans should be allowed guns for their own protection, as the guns aggrevated the situation in this case and that, whilst there are many stories of rape and robbery in post-catrina new orleans, i have not heard of a single instance in which an assailant was shot, or scared off with a gun (ie, no reports of people defending themselves with guns). or does the rareness of the situation invalidate/weaken any anti-gun arguments drawn fr…

It is now unconstitutional....again.

Yeah, this should be known by me, but it isn't. I've been wondering, what U.S. branch controls how government websites are developed and what they say? From what I understand, most military and other government make the webpages and what is typed, but who is the main boss: Executive, Judicial, Congress?

If you are for freedom, does that necesarily mean you must be for the freedom of people to be homosexuals? And does the opposite apply: if you are against homosexuals you are against freedom? When I say against homosexuals, I should distinguish between two types of homosexual aversion. One is when you find homosexuality not to your taste but you don't mind if others engage in gay acts because you respect their freedom. The other is when you believe gay acts should be punished, jailed, etc. I'm talking about the latter not the former because the former is pro-freedom but the latter is obviously anti-freedom.

press release from NRAO http://www.nrao.edu/pr/2005/fastpulsar/ The fastest-moving neutron star ever seen, clocked at 1100 kilometers per second, was given its initial kick by the supernova that formed it, observers think, and that speed will take it out of our galaxy. journal article http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509031 Getting Its Kicks: A VLBA Parallax for the Hyperfast Pulsar B1508+55 S. Chatterjee et al. 5 pages, including 2 figures Astrophys.J. 630 (2005) L61-L64 "The highest velocity neutron stars establish stringent constraints on natal kicks, asymmetries in supernova core collapse, and the evolution of close binary systems. Here we present the first…

"George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power." "If George Bush truly listened to God and read the words of the Christ, Iraq and the devastation in New Orleans would have never happened." Who said it? You guessed it. Cindy Sheehan. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cindy-sheehan/a-bright-spot-in-bush-wor_b_7433.html I guess that's, what, the fall-back position when the "we don't have any troops to send because they're all in Iraq" argument falls flat on its face?

Generally speaking I'm loathe to quote Bill O'Reilly, because he does tend to be a partisan, especially when it comes to the President. But he does make an effort to be objective, and most of the time that comes through pretty well. His biggest flaw really is that he's a populist, and forgets sometimes that we do have laws for a reason. (chuckle) Anyway, he made a point this week that I thought was interesting and perhaps worthy of further discussion. In 1996 (mid-Clinton) the budget allocated $191 billion specifically for poverty-related entitlements. In 2006 the projected budget will allocate a record $368 billion specifically for povery-related entit…

I was having lunch with one of my friends at a food court and once he had finished eating his meal he threw the rubbish on the floor for the cleaners. Everyone was staring at us, so I tried to stop him, but he told me that littering by people leads to job creation. His reasoning is that by making the food court messier the managers will hire more workers to clean up the place to keep consumers happy with the appearance. Would this be a good argument? I thought about the issue a little and I think maybe his reasoning may be too short term. If the manager hires more workers to clean up rubbish in the food court then the manager's profits may go down, which may have furt…