Friday, April 27, 2007

Unstoppable Global Warming - an interview

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The above link is a transcript of a talk by Fred Singer and Dennis Avery, authors of Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1500 Years, given at the Hudson Institute in November, 2006.

As a part of this presentation, the authors summarize their book and take questions from the audience. A lot of (politically inconvenient) facts are presented, making that case that the global warming trend we're currently experiencing is:

  • Completely natural (not man-made)
  • Cyclic (tied to an approximate 1500-year solar cycle)
  • Not preventable, and
  • Beneficial

The authors point out the junk science being published as fact, and the bias in supposedly respectable scientific journals. They also point out how much carbon reduction would actually be necessary to have an effect (for the US, 100% - meaning complete elimination of all fossil fuels from all sources.)

Read the paper. Then read the book. It's well worth doing.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

WETA: Fourth Estate or Fifth Column? You decide.

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"Islam vs. Islamists" is a documentary about the "silent majority" of Muslims that support democracy, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. They oppose the radicals who are seeking to force Islam on the rest of the world by threat of terrorism. These people are usually unheard in Muslim nations, because the radical governments in charge don't let them speak.

Well, it appears that PBS (and WETA, in particular) has decided to agree with the radicals and silence them in yet another venue. The "America at Crossroads" series it was produced for will not be broadcasting it. They will, however, be broadcasting the segment that presents the radical's pro-terrorism point of view.

According to an interview with the producer (on the radio this afternoon,) "Islam vs. Islamists" will be shown to members of Congress in a private screening in Washington DC, but that may be the only time the film is shown. On top of all this, PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are blocking all attempts to get the film broadcast by a different TV network.

The media elite in the US hates George Bush so much that they have decided to join ranks with the radical Muslims that seek to murder us all. If the terrorists win, then George Bush loses, and there's all that matters. If this means broadcasting terrorist-propaganda films as documentaries while silencing the opposite opinion, that's just fine. And the fact that these members of the press would be the first murdered by a radical Muslim government, should one take over, doesn't matter either.

UPDATE

The original article's link at AZCentral.com has expired. But you can read about the current status of Islam Vs. Islamists at http://www.freethefilm.net/. You can also sign a petition to demand that PBS allow the producers to release this important film to the public.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Nukes? Ha! Who needs 'em?

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Here's a fascinating article: MOPping Up: The USA's 30,000 Pound Bomb.

During World War II, the US developed some truly huge bombs. For example, the "Grand Slam" packs a 22,000lb blast (11 ton).

Development of these pretty much stopped after nuclear bombs were invented. For comparison, "Little Boy" (dropped on Hiroshima) and "Fat Man" (dropped on Nagasaki) were 15T and 21T, respectively.

Today, however, it is unacceptable to use nukes. It is especially unacceptable to use them for taking out small targets (like underground bunkers). So the US has gone back to the drawing board and is developing new, terribly powerful, conventional bombs.

The first of these, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), is a 30,000lb (15T) bomb. That is as powerful as Little Boy, but without any nukes. Which means it can be dropped on a battlefield without poisoning the landscape for centuries. Initial tests show that it can penetrate through 60' of concrete. My guess is that the goal here is to be able to take out Iran's underground nuclear development labs.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Apple - We'll put up, not shut up

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You may recall Steve Jobs open letter, Thoughts On Music, where he called on the record labels to allow Apple to sell music without any digital rights management (DRM) restrictions.

Well, one record label took the bait, and Apple is following through with their end of the deal. In May, all iTunes Store songs published by EMI will be available without DRM. More specifically, these songs are 256K AAC (double the bitrate as before) and sell for $1.29 ($0.30 more expensive), and have no DRM.

The existing 128K AAC DRM-protected songs are still available for $0.99. Customers who have already purchased EMI songs may upgrade them to the new format (256K, no-DRM) and only pay the difference in price ($0.30).