…mind you, I’ve been at best…lax…about posting regularly. But I’m still here.

And to make up for it, here’s a cartoon:

Hey, remember a few weeks ago, when we were all outraged at the Obama administration’s decision to try Gitmo detainees in New York courts, rather than holding military trials for the self-confessed 9/11 mastermind and his minions? Whatever happened to that? Why has it died out of the news?

In fact, why aren’t we seeing blog posts and articles and, well, videos like this one?

“The people held at Guantanamo Bay are not crewing the weapons in this war; they are the weapons in this war. They are independently operating, constantly evolving, high-level weapons systems that understand our weaknesses — like our civilian air traffic system — and they have dedicated their lives to killing as many of us as they possibly can.

“We have an obligation to understand everything we can about these weapons: where they come from; how they were made; who put them together; where they were aimed; how they were triggered; and most importantly, what are their weaknesses and blind spots, so that we can most effectively defend against them in the future.”

Thanks, Bill, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Stoutcat

Friday night, as my housemate Troy was trying to steal my risotto (aka: enduro race food), he tells me “I need the energy, I have a big weekend ahead off me”, I laugh and continue to make my final preparations for my first attempt at a 24hour mountain bike race as a solo competitor. 

I can’t say that I slept well, and it was the same the pervious night, I was anxious of the unknown and I just wanted to get on with it.  I’m always a bit frisky during a taper/easy week, as I normally treat my hyperactivity with lots of exercise.  A 6am start saw me packing the car, eating, ticking off items on my prep list, eating, drinking, and eating some more.  8am I was on the road and headed to Forrest, via Torquay to pick up some more ‘enduro race food’ (aka: my sisters potato salad, thanks Em!)

At 12noon with the rest of the prep and setup bullshit out of the way it was down to business, and the race was on!

The Forrest mountain bike park has some of the best single track on offer, with the highlight for me probably being Mariners run, which was apart of the first day course.  The Kona24 hour uses the format of 3 different courses throughout the race, which keeps your interest up and the wear and tear on the tracks down.

For the first 6hours all I could think was take it easy, eat, drink, breathe, keep that heart rate down, find the flow, remember that bump, log or corner and do it better next lap.  I knew that nutrition would be the key.  Each lap I took a fresh bottle and some form of food (bar/banana, half sandwich), and I just pushed it in, drank all 500ml, and some laps more.  Other than one in the first hour, I didn’t touch energy gels until the last 4hours of the race.  Every few laps/hours I would stop for just enough time to shove down some more solid food, with potato salad and rissoto on the menu.  The reason for this menu was to try and counter the typical sweet basis of sport nutrition, with savory carbs that were easy to eat.  Caffeine was another thing that I was avoiding till late in the race, and like the gels, it was only in the last 4hours that I had some.

The laps continued, and so did the rain showers turning dirt to mud and filling holes with water, causing havoc with brake pad and chain wear.  Washing and adjusting just wasn’t enough and by 9pm I had no brakes left, with the front seizing and rubbing badly for an entire lap (1hour).  With brakes fixed, chain retentioned, a belly filled with hot risotto, and a 15min nap (while waiting), I was back on track and feeling great, but a little pissed that I had dropped a lap and was now sitting in 3rd place (single speed), a lap down on 2nd.  It was now midnight, the half way point, and I started to put a little harder.  I figured while I was feeling good I would push (sensibly), hoping that others would be hurting through the ‘graveyard shift’.  Soon enough I saw the guy I was chasing, I went straight by him.  Only a few laps late, and mind you a lap was taking me 50-55mins, I came up behind him again, and I as I went by he just gorked, as I was now getting a lap up on him!  Dawn was fast approaching, and with the thought of natural light, a change of course and 18hour of riding behind me, it was all systems go. 

4hours to go the gels and caffeine started to step things up a notch, and try and make sure that I would hold my position and try to improve it.  I was still 2laps down on 1st place, and it was unlikely I would gain time on him.  I pushed hard, with my second last lap being one of my fastest, and I was now in a position where I could not gain on 1st or lose 2nd place with only a 1.5hours to go.  I relaxed and cruised what became my last lap, and finished at 23hour 20mins… I was hungry and a little tired.

24hour, 22laps, 320kms=+ of trails, 20+ bottles of fluid, many bananas, bars, gels, and 2 massive tubs of potato salad and risotto.

2nd solo single speed, and enough laps to place me 8th in outright solo.

Huge thanks to my family, especially my Mum, who basically didn’t sleep, and was there for nearly every lap throwing bottles, food, and words of encouragement.

A big shout out to Jetblack for their support at the Kona 24hour on the weekend, and to whom their mechanic was, that sorted out the brakes on my Baum single speed at about 10pm Saturday night.  They allowed me to continue and turn, from what could have been the end of my race, into a podium.  Thanks guys!

What more can I say, I had fun, I learnt how to ride the mud, explored the realm of physical endurance.

I’ll be back for some more of that!

What an adventure!

Keep you posted!

Ryan

http://www.baumcycles.com/

http://www.jetblackproducts.com/

http://www.rideforrest.com.au/forrest-mtb-cycling-club

http://www.fullgaspromotions.com.au/Kona-24-Hour/kona-24-hour

http://www.winnersbars.com/

453

“Stupidity has a certain charm – ignorance does not.” – Frank Zappa

Gold Coast is awesome and I should stop getting excited when I see a cute road sign. Honestly trying hard to enjoy this trip but it’s so hard.

Peristiwa berikut terjadi pada hari Selasa, 24 November 2009.

Pagi-pagi jam 5, hapeku teriak-teriak kayak orang kecopetan. Huuftt ternyata alarm. Karena malemnya baru tidur jam setengah 11 gara-gara nonton The Christmas Carol di PTC bareng Osu, Kuma, n Gita n beli tiket yang jam 7 malem karena Osu bilang praktikumnya (nggak tau praktikum apaan, aku bukan anak IPA n aku nggak tau apa-apa :’( ) kira-kira baru kelar jam 5 sore, jadi aku tidur lagi n baru bangun jam 6 pagi lebih.

Abis bangun langsung buru-buru mandi karena aku bisa telat kalo mandi kayak biasa. Kira-kira 10 mpe 15 menit kemudian aku selesai mandi n langsung ke rumah Mey, n nggak pake lama langsung deh meluncur ke kampus.Nyampe kampus, liat jam udah jam 7 lebih 5 menit. Waduh bahaya kalo dosen Pengantar Ilmu Komunikasi udah masuk kelas duluan, bisa disuruh tutup pintu dari luar nih!

N ketakutan yang membayangi pikiranku (halah bahasa paan sih..) n Mey terbukti benar. Dosennya udah masuk! Mampus! Akhirnya, daripada ngotot minta dibolehin ngikutin kuliah tapi buntutnya tetep aja disuruh pergi, aku n Mey pun balik ke parkiran, pulang ke rumah dengan males. Hmm…btw sebelum pulang ke rumah, kita sarapan dulu di Warung Ijo di daerah Srikana, hoho sip . Nyampe rumah, lebih tepatnya di rumah budhenya Mey yang udah kukenal juga karena tetangga, kami cuman duduk nonton TV nggak jelas. Ngantuk, mau balik ke rumah sendiri tapi takut ketauan kalo telat (apalagi kalo ternyata Nopek belum berangkat kerja, halaah pasti ngoceh nggak jelas). Tapi kalo tetep di sana, mata udah nggak tahan banget pengen merem. Dan akhirnya…aku memutuskan untuk pulang kira-kira jam 9-10 an setelah meyakinkan diri bahwa Nopek udah bener-bener nggak ada di rumah.

Nyampe rumah (yang ini beneran rumah sendiri), bersyukur karena Nopek udah nggak ada. Ditanyain ma orang di rumah kenapa udah pulang, aku pun menjawab sejujur-jujurnya bahwa aku terlambat masuk kelas. Hoo…nggak diomelin, untung deh . Tapi mata yang ngantuk nggak bisa ditutup, bahkan pake lem Alteco sekalipun. Akhirnya cuman tiduran sambil main ma Suki? mpe dia pipis di bajuku…pinter :3 . Setengah 1 siang, abis ganti baju aku pun berangkat ke kampus karena masih ada kuliah.

Kelar kuliah, aku janjian ma Kuma, lebih tepatnya sih minta ditemenin beli buku Kontakte Deutsch jilid 1 buat gantiin bukunya guru bahasa Jerman di SMA dulu yang–sebenernya nggak hilang, tapi kupinjemin ke adik kelas n suatu hari dia pindah sekolah n waktu kutagih, dia malah bilang kalo bukunya udah balik ke aku! Sialan. Jelas-jelas belum ada upacara serah terima gitu… >:( . Tapi karena aku tau aku juga salah karena udah minjemin sembarangan, maka aku berniat gantiin tuh buku daripada selamanya nggak berani main ke sekolah (mati merana aku kalo nggak bisa liat Theo lagi!! >:( ).

Nungguin Kuma luaaamaaa banget, dah ku-sms, kutelfon berkali-kali tetep nggak diangkat. Kupikir sih dia lagi kuliah, tapi setelah kuinget-inget lagi, sebelumnya dia sms (pake nomer temennya karena dia nggak ada pulsa) kalo dia lagi kosong.

Akhirnya alternatif terakhir, aku sms ke nomer yang tadi dia pake buat sms aku. Dan, yatta! Ternyata dia lagi di gazebo Psikologi, sejak tadi aku masih kuliah, mpe kutelfon berkali-kali. Grrrww…pengen kumakan aja tuh anak.

Terus setelah kuseret dia dengan paksa n dia mengembik-ngembik terus (lha emang dia kambing kurban?), berangkatlah kami menuju Blauran, meskipun aku nggak yakin tuh buku ada di sana. Sebenernya tempat yang jelas bisa dapetin tuh buku adalah Goethe Institut yang letaknya di sebelah kiri Bambu Runcing, tapi aku takut kalo harganya mahal. Maklum, dulu aku beli kamus saku di sana aja harganya 27 ribu. Gimana ma Kontakte Deutsch yang ukurannya jauh lebih gede coba??

Sebelumnya aku udah tanya ngalor-ngidul ma temen-temenku yang kebanyakan anak luar kota (aku bingung, sebenernya aku ini orang Surabaya ato bukan sih??) tentang jalan tercepat menuju Blauran. Tapi jawabannya sama kayak yang ada di otakku, lewat TP. Huuufftt kayaknya emang nggak ada jalan yang lebih cepet. Ya sudahlah..kami berangkat.

Jalan teruuuss….hampir nyampe Bambu Runcing. Aku ragu. Apa mendingan langsung ke Goethe aja ya, daripada muter-muter nggak karuan n belum tentu juga dapet di Blauran. Aku nyetir dengan lambat, bimbang. Goethe, Blauran, Goethe, Blauran…hhmmm ya sudah Blauran aja deh, menimbang kemungkinan harga lebih murah.

Beberapa menit kemudian kami nyampe di Blauran. Nggak pake lama aku tanya-tanya ma setiap penjual buku yang keliatan. Tapi semua jawabnya, “Kosong, mbak” ato “Nggak ada.” ato “Oh, ini buku Jerman, ya? Wah, nggak ada.” bla-bla-bla. Jawabannya sejenis semua. Aku pusing. Ada seorang penjual yang sekilas ngasih harapan, “Oh, kalo Kontakte jilid 2 ada. Themen juga ada.”
Hah doenk. Makasih banyak, pak, aber ich suche Kontakte Deutsch 1…-.-a

Oh iya…waktu lagi muter-muter nyari buku, kami liat ada kios yang jual boneka-boneka. Hmm…pas banget hari Minggu besok Gita ultah. Akhirnya kami pun beli boneka monyet (ato gorila, ya? Nggak tau deh, sejenis lah) soalnya Gita suka ma monyet, meskipun sebelumnya dia udah bilang jangan kado boneka. Tapi mana ada orang yang nurutin larangan, kan?

Aku udah nyerah, tapi Kuma ngajakin aku liat ke toko buku di seberangnya Blauran yang dulu pernah nggak sengaja kami temuin n akhirnya beliin guru Antropologi kami sebuah buku karangan Ralph Linton…aku lupa judulnya. Wkwkwk*

(kalo inget perjalanan dapetin buku itu berasa kayak orang bego. Jalan dari Blauran mpe jembatan seberangnya TP karena bingung mau pulang naek apa>>kami berdua dulu sama-sama nggak bisa naek motor). Hhmm…ide bagus, meskipun aku nggak yakin tuh toko masih buka. Soalnya setiap kali aku lewat sana, aku nggak nemuin lagi tuh toko, alias tuh toko nggak buka. Tapi nggak ada salahnya dicoba.

Tapi sayang seribu sayang, tuh toko tutup. Padahal liat jadwal bukanya, mestinya sih masih buka. Aku sangsi kalo tuh toko masih ada di sana. Sayang banget, padahal buku-buku di sana lumayan ‘mengejutkan’. Ada buku-buku dari jaman luamaaaa…sampe yang baru. Keren banget tuh toko (andaikan aku yang punya buku-bukunya, pasti nggak bakal kujual!) Bukannya nemuin toko buku, yang ada malah orang jual sepatu di depan toko itu. Sialan.

Yah…akhirnya Kuma pun ngajak ke Goethe. Tapi aku bingung, apa perpustakaannya Goethe masih buka? Kalo kelas-kelasnya sih buka mpe malem, tapi kayaknya perpusnya nggak begitu. Tapi demi esok hari yang cerah (halaahh!!), aku pun mengikuti sarannya, setelah sebelumnya tanya jalan sama orang, karena ingatanku lumayan buruk tentang jalan (sebenernya sih ma hal lain juga).

Setelah dapet arah jalan yang bener, meskipun aku sebenernya nggak nangkep gambaran jalan yang dikasih, aku nekat jalan aja dengan motto ‘nanti kalo udah jalan pasti ingat sendiri’. Kalo nggak inget-inget, mati aja deh, kesasar di kota sendiri.

HHmmm…akhirnya nyampe juga di Goethe Institut (n kami nggak nyasar!). Setelah parkir motor sembarangan (maaf, ya) kami masuk ke perpustakaannya. Huahhh ternyata masih buka! Kupikir jam 4 sore udah tutup, ternyata hari Selasa buka sampe maghrib. Bagus deh kalo hari ini hari Selasa. Di dalem perpus ada beberapa orang sliwar-sliwer nggak tau ngapain.

Ternyata perpusnya hari ini lumayan rame. Kami masuk dengan hati-hati, kemudian tanpa susah-susah mencari di mana kami bisa beli buku-buku (karena aku pernah ke perpusnya n kebetulan ada orang beli kamus), aku langsung dateng ke hadapan seorang ibu bagian pendaftaran kursus plus tempat beli buku. Aku pun bilang kalo mau beli Kontakte Deutsch 1.

“35…” ibu itu berkata.

…hah? Aku melongo. 35 ribu? Ato 35…tiga ratus lima puluh ribu???
Aku noleh ke Kuma, bingung.

“Atas nama siapa?” tanya ibunya lagi, sambil ngeluarin kwitansi.

“Eh…Novita..” jawabku.
Ibunya nulis di kwitansi n aku liat harganya. Rp 35.000,- .
Euunggg…jadi….

“Dari SMA mana?” ibu itu tanya.
“Oh..sudah kuliah,” jawabku.
Hohoo..apa tampang kami masih imut-imut jadi dikiranya masih SMA?
Ato karena ibunya liat Kuma makanya ngira kami anak SMA?? -.-a
“Semester berapa?”
“Baru semester 1..”
“Kenapa baru beli (Kontakte Deutsch 1) sekarang?”
“….nggg…” aku bingung mesti jawab gimana. Mau bilang kalo udah
ngilangin bukunya guru, ntar kesanny gimana…tapi mau bo’ong juga
susah. Untung ibunya nggak tanya lebih jauh.
“Dulu SMA mana?”
“SMA 15.”
“Oh..muridnya Frau Nuke, ya?”
“Iya..”
“Sekarang Frau Nuke lagi di sini, tapi lagi rapat,” kata ibunya sambil menunjuk sebuah pintu yang tertutup.
“Wah…saang sekali..”
“Oh iya..kenal Ninda?”
“Ninda…Aninda Trimarsa..?” tanya Kuma balik.
“Iya..iya,” jawab ibunya.
“Wah..ya kenal dong, bu,” jawab Kuma, sementara aku cuman ber-oh aja.
Bla-bla-bla…percakapan ngalir sebentar, sampe akhirnya kami mutusin buat pergi n nggak lupa nitip salam buat Frau Nuke.

Di luar perpus aku senyum-senyum n ketawa-ketiwi kayak orang gila, sebabnya adalah…ternyata Kontakte Deutsch harganya cuman 35ribu!! Yokatta…kirain mpe seratus ribuan!! XD
Terus karena duit masih sisa, kami pun lanjut ke Plaza Marina buat beli flashdisk.

Udah hampir nyampe Plaza Marina, aku bingung. Aku nggak tau tempat parkirnya di mana. Great. Aku pun nyetir pelan-pelan, sampe liat ada pengendara motor yang keliatannya juga mau ke PM. Aku ikutin aja deh, moga nggak salah.

Eits, nggak lama kemudian pengendara motor itu berhenti di sebuah parkiran. Aku hampir aja ikutan parkir kalo Kuma nggak nunjukin sebuah papan bertuliskan sesuatu…nggak tau deh aku lupa, tapi intinya tuh parkiran khusus pegawai. Aigoo….

Terus kami lanjut ngikutin pengendara motor yang laen.

Tukutukutuk…nah, akhirnya terlihatlah sebuah parkiran! Kali ini aku yakin bener, soalnya aku pernah parkir di sana sebelumnya. Tapi nggak tau kenapa aku bisa lupa sama sekali jalan ke parkiran. Hmmm..ya sudahlah.

Abis parkir, lagi-lagi kami bingung cari jalan masuk ke PM. Aigoo…lagi-lagi kami ngikutin orang. Beuh…bener-bener bego ya. Maklum, aku terakhir ke sana sih kelas 3 SMP, hehe.

Kami akhirnya nemuin pintu masuk n segera cari flashdisk. Sebelumnya kami berniat cari minum semacem AMK, Tong Tji ato Teh Gopek. Tapi karena nggak nemu, akhirnya kami pun mutusin buat cari flashdisk dulu.

Setelah dapet flashdisk, n Kuma juga sekalian tanya-tanya harga MP4 n harddisk portable, kami pun keliling sebentar, lagi-lagi cari minum. Eh, kami liat ada sebuah tempat karaoke! Hmmm…dari dulu si Kuma ngidam banget karaoke-an, jadi kami pun masuk ke sana n tanya-tanya. Hhhoo…ternyata di sana ada lagu-lagu Korea n Jepang. Sip deh, nemuin 1 lagi. Jadi tinggal pertimbangin di mana enaknya.

Jalan lagi, eh, akhirnya di sebuah lantai (aku lupa di lantai berapa) kami nemuin sebuah stand AMK. Baguslah. Abis beli, kami pun langsung pulang, setelah Kuma beli roti bawang di Bread Story (satu lagi yang dia idam-idamin dari dulu).

Keluar dari PM, masih jalan menuju parkiran, Kuma liat ada orang jual pentol. Heeaaa…nyangkut deh dia ma pedagang pentol itu. Aku nggak ikutan beli soalnya pengeluaran hari ini udah lumayan gila (flashdisk nggak dihitung karena udah ada dana tersendiri). Sambil nungguin Kuma, eh tiba-tiba aku inget. Aku inget kenapa aku nggak inget jalan ke parkiran PM.

“Ternyata dulu waktu aku ke sini ma temen-temenku naek motor, sebelumnya dari rumah temenku (sebut aja A) n arahnya bukan dari jalan raya, tapi jalan di belakang PM (soalnya kalo nggak salah rumahnya di daerah sana),” kataku ke Kuma.

Hoo…akhirnya kami memutuskan pulang karena adzan maghrib udah manggil-manggil. N rencana Kuma ke Papaya pun batal. Hufftt…hari yang panjang, tapi melegakan karena ternyata Kontakte Deutsch harganya cuman 35 ribu!! Yatta!

Well, it’s been another eventful Thanksgiving season. The world has 270 million turkeys less than it did before, America’s collective waistband is a great deal more snug, and the perhaps decade-old tradition of “Black Friday” consumerism is once again behind us.

I haven’t kept up with the news (nor did I engage in the “turkey dinner” or the “buy-something-day” mentality that followed as over-excited and gassy shoppers showcased how unenlightened our species is), so I’m not sure how shameful and/or violent this year’s behavior was. But I wanted to recall a few highlights from last year.

A death by trampling in a New York Wal Mart as insane shoppers commence in insanity:

An argument between two shoppers in a Toys R Us ends in a shooting murder:

While it may be too late this year to rethink the stupidity and cruelty of the Thanksgiving traditions that you likely partook in this year, perhaps you can get a head start on thinking about next year — so that we’ll have at least a handful less people gorging themselves with turkey and shitty deals from corporate chain stores.

This is a little overdue, but I need to report that I did sit through the 2 hour and 38 minute *facepalm* experience that was the movie 2012.  I was invited by Christian, and well, there’s no better way to see this movie than with people who will stay up til all hours of the morning humorously ripping it apart with you.  And, apparently he and Maria have a penchant for watching bad movies.  So we went to see it with a small gaggle of astronomers and skeptics from CVille (okay we all fit in my car), not knowing it was 158 minutes long.  Wow.

Of course, you can already read some fantastic reviews by Rebecca of Skepchick, Ian O’Neill over at Discovery, and at Christian’s The Man Version. To chime in with those: the CGI was pretty effing cool, the movie was LONG and the characters uninteresting, women were reduced to useless whiners, and the bad science was barely justified.  Here’s what sticks out in my head all these weeks later (needless to say, with spoilers):

Super-neutrinos. WHAAA? A solar flare (which has to do with the sun’s surface) is caused by a planetary alignment (must be a new property of gravity) sends off a wave of neutrinos (which come from the sun’s interior) but they aren’t BORING neutrinos that barely interact with matter but SUPER ones that pass unimpeded through the actors but heat up the Earth’s core or mantle or whatever layer was mentioned depending on who was talking.  It would be bad enough to base the movie on the silly pseudo-science surrounding the 2012 nonsense as it is, but they had to make up their own silly pseudo-science to make the plot attempt to stick.  At the very least, it gave those in our row a big laugh.

CGI everything. Okay, watching Yellowstone explode was cool.  But some visceral part of me wants for something to be actually destroyed.  A model, a car, something.  This hit me in one of the very first disaster scenes as the main characters are driving through a series of white picket fences. I noticed that the fence shards were CG.  C’mon, can’t you bust up just ONE fence for me and my $9?!

Roland Emmerich thinks we’re morons.  I guess we are for coming along to see this movie, but nevertheless… the cheesy jokes and over the top symbolism that is cliche for any bad movie simply saturated this flick.  The wholesale destruction of various religious monuments gave a “God says eff you” feel to the flick, but he had to rub it in when the wave of destruction hit the Sistine Chapel and a crack running along the ceiling went OUT OF ITS WAY to split exactly between the fingers of God and Adam.  WOW.  Thanks for being so SUBTLE.

THAT’S what you call a happy ending? All of humanity is pretty much dead with almost a hour left to go in the film which centers around these arks that are to carry a minuscule percentage of the Earth’s population (mostly politicians and rich people) and their art to safety.  I wanted spaceships, I got arks. You just DESTROYED THE PLANET and you want me to care that John Cusack is stuck in a water-filled compartment? Check, please.  But at the end they had these few survivors prancing out of the ark onto new land and we’re supposed to be happy about this? I was totally expecting a rainbow and a dove like in all those cartoon versions of Noah’s Ark that I had to watch as a kid.

For all the complaining, it was worth it for the funny and to say I survived it, but I’d recommend only watching it if you have fast-forward as an option.

And if you are really worried about 2012, check out this cool visualization by Information is Beautiful. I have a small beef with the skeptics side which agrees that precession has a beginning or end point or a length of time for termination… I don’t think there is a particular end point, nor does precession changing by half a degree mean anything significant. Minor point, and if someone knows why they said that, I’d like to be corrected!

Then again, maybe we are in trouble…

Click for the rest…

Stephen Harper should stay home…

Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.

It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.

The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation. – TimesOnline Via HA

Anyone who now wants to gleefully throw all the warnings over Global Warming out the window, rush out and buy six SUVs which use fuel like a watermill uses water, just wait a minute here.  Read this first.

I’ve read a few of the leaked emails, and while there is definitely a problem here, I’m also glad that I’ve been reading about science and scientists, specifically their battle against those who call solid, undeniable science into question.  Complete morons can pounce on even the tiniest, most mundane and irrelevant crumbs and magically turn them into huge misconceptions which then take unbelievable effort from scientists to dispel.

Take this example: it will take me two seconds to type: “It’s a well-documented fact that Darwinism led directly to Nazism.”  Easy-peasy.  If I have some impressive-sounding title like Doctor Nadia Williams PhZ, Ft, MdSC, there are an awful lot of people who would assume without a moment’s hesitation that the letters I simply put together off the top of my head mean I know what I’m talking about.

Now, if you want to undo the damage I might have done there in under one minute, it would take you writing an article perhaps twenty times the length of the paragraph up there.  You’d have to make sure the audience understands what Darwinism is, address the fallacy of the Darwinism-Nazism link, perhaps delve into the origin of this misconception.  You’d then have to explain the abbreviations for degrees, show that no university in the world (I bloody well hope) has qualifications such as the ones I claim to have, perhaps research the institution I might claim to have studied through to earn the right to call myself ‘doctor’.

In your refutation, you can’t just suck facts from your thumb, you will have to go and research and verify your claims.  That means my five minutes’ effort to do damage can cost as many hours to undo, and even then, three quarters of my audience will probably never get to read your thoughtful, well researched reply.  They all will continue to believe Darwinism caused Nazism, and not only that, they’ll believe this is a well documented fact. I mean, that Doctor with all the degrees said so, didn’t she?

And in the time you’ve written your excellent rebuff of my claims, I will have written six more articles spreading lies.

To my mind the leaked emails have exposed a worrying tragedy: scientists can be so easily frustrated, tied up in trying to prove to those who can’t smell that crap stinks, that to me it looks as if they have become paranoid with making sure there are no tiny, irrelevant details in their research papers which can become weapons in the hands of the kooks. I remember once reading a heartbreaking piece from a young scientist who wrote a well researched paper, got it published, and had it so cut and hacked by the publisher that it said something completely different from the original.

Could it be that scientists have closed ranks, gone into a mode of being under siege?  If they did go so far as to act unethically to protect their hypotheses, I would ask: was this caused by a gradual move away from sound scientific method by the frustration of having to guard against fringe dissenters who could bog them down so easily and so thoroughly that they’d spend their lives clearing mud instead of doing the research that is vital to humanity’s wellbeing?

I’m also quite puzzled by why these emails should now scupper Obama’s proposals re cap and trade, and other measures against the effects of climate change, as that seems to be what quite a few opinion pieces online think will be the effect.  Hopefully that’s just the extreme opinions, but perhaps that just proves exactly what I’ve tried to say.  From the article I linked to above:

But do these revelations justify the sceptics’ claims that this is “the final nail in the coffin” of global warming theory? Not at all. They damage the credibility of three or four scientists. They raise questions about the integrity of one or perhaps two out of several hundred lines of evidence.

Science has to work a hell of a lot harder to be believed than to be disbelieved.  If you had to constantly fight against that, perhaps you, too, would start cutting corners.

I am a hypocrite.  Two weeks ago I got all freaked out when Mohawk said the “L” word. 

My plan to ignore it was foiled and I was forced to be an adult and honestly discuss it when he iniated a conversation about his saying the word and my reaction…or lack thereof.  I told him my reservations about the very little time we’d been seeing eachother.  And that he shouldn’t just say it to fill a silence or because “he felt like it shoudl be said” but only if he actually feels it.  We left it at that.

Despite my discomfort with him liking me more than I like him he’s a great guy and I have fun with him so we continued to date.  We spent most of this weekend together saw Zoo Lights, went to Northwest Trek, and caught some of the high school football playoffs. And all day Saturday I had this urge to say the “L” word.  And I refused to do it for a myriad of reasons:

•  Its still ridiculously too soon
• I just made a big deal of his saying it.
•  It wasn’t the right time or place. 
• Each time I’d think it something stupid would be done or said that would make the saying of it awkward. 
• What if he HAD just been saying it to fill the silence it would now be my turn to be awkward…I dislike awkward.

So instead I’d just look at him and smile, kiss him, bite my lip, or lay my head on his shoulder until the urge passed…which is to say: until I forced the urge away.

We got back to my house cooked dinner and started watching a movie. It was after midnight by this time and he was falling asleep on the couch so I kissed his cheek and out blurted “Iloveyou” rushed garbled and barely audible.

THE FUCK!? Why doesn’t my mouth listen to me? How is it that my brain decided not to say something and my mouth did it anyway?

I could justify it, if it shouldn’t be said for no good reason then it shouldn’t NOT be said for stupid reasons either.  But I stand by my rule that it should only be said if its felt and I’m so emotionally broken I dont know what it feels like.  So maybe my mouth should listen to my brain until I figure it out.`

As I’ve not really been following this issue, I think I have more questions than answers. First question is why? What is banning minarets going to do? What is the goal? To force the Muslims already there out? To keep more Muslims from coming into the country? Because from my vantage point, which I realize isn’t a good one, it just makes the Swiss look really racist, bigoted, and close-minded, and I’ll just leave it there for now.

I’m just perplexed, but I know I shouldn’t be. I mean, what is the point? What does banning a minaret have to do with immigration, extremism, etc.? Well, as a Muslim, I won’t ever be going to Switzerland, I can tell you that. And if America did something like this, I’d probably have to start really questioning whether I wanted to stay here. Because it’s banning head scarves first, then minarets, why not just ban the religion of Islam altogether and ban Muslims from coming into the country and get it over with? But I guess minarets represent people’s ignorance and fear of the unknown, and they represent their already preconceived prejudices, and they feel like banning minarets will keep them safe at night or something, and they can use the excuse/reasoning that “we don’t dislike Muslims they are fine but minarets represent extremism or terrorism” or something. Congratulations Swiss for making yourselves look like a bunch of stupid racist people. At least to me here in America.

And I was really hoping they’d not do this, but somehow knowing they probably would. And I just feel angry and indignant, but ignorance, prejudice and racism usually has that affect on me anyway. And I kinda want to laugh, like banning a minaret is going to actually protect you from anything. Or make things better for you. All it’s going to do is make you look really ignorant and stupid. It’d all be really humorous, I feel the urge to laugh now as I’m typing this actually, if it wasn’t also so scary. What will they ban next? What measures will they take against the Muslims next? And which countries will be next to do this?

I’ll definitely remember this the next time anyone wants to tell me how open-minded Europe is. Well, perhaps if you’re talking about some countries where smoking pot and homosexuality and assisted suicide is legalized, but as far as Islam and Muslims are concerned, I don’t think I want to live in Europe. Islam and Muslims are definitely topics that the Europeans seem to be very close-minded on.

If there’s one thing that gets me a bit miffed in the scientific community, it’s a lot of people’s scathing and derogatory comments about natural medicines, those who are natural medicine practitioners, and those who turn to natural medicine.  While on one hand I understand and fully agree with the view that practices such as acupuncture and homeopathy sometimes don’t make scientific sense, I feel there’s a rigidness in the thinking of a lot of negative opinions about natural medicines I see online which doesn’t sit well with me.

I was raised with homeopathy, and took my first antibiotic ever in my life when I was eighteen.  As a mother of young children, I preferred natural medicines as that was what I knew, and knew to be safe.  Please don’t misunderstand me here, I mean if the child was overtired and couldn’t sleep, not if it was deathly ill.  My daughter went to hospital when she got pneumonia, I’m not at the level where I’ll watch my child die while I faithfully give it some drops.

I had the good fortune to meet a pair of brothers who practiced homeopathy in Pretoria, South Africa: Ryan and Sean Penny.  I have to add here that practice of homeopathy is more regulated there.  I was quite shocked to come to Ireland to get the impression any old quack can just hang out a sign and declare himself a homeopathic doctor.  In SA, you have to first get a university degree, as far as I know. It’s a five-year course.  Before any skeptic reading this says: “Hmph.  Five years studying fairy tales doesn’t make any difference,” let me just point out that I’m sure doctors don’t spend their time in training learning only about medicines.  It’s about identifying disease, isn’t it?  From a quick look, it seems the degree in homeopathy includes anatomy, physiology etc. The difference lies in what you prescribe once you’ve identified what’s wrong with the patient.

Anyway, Sean Penny became our family doctor, so to speak, and this man really, to me, represented the attitude a doctor should have who specialises in natural medicines.  He never hesitated to recommend antibiotics (the law in South Africa allowed a homeopath to recommend, but not prescribe, antibiotics).  This happened when I got tickbite fever, and when one of my children had an ear infection.

Sean used a variety of natural medicines, importing herbal preparations from China in some instances, if I remember correctly.  I therefore don’t know if it is strictly correct to call him a homeopath – he used a variety of homeopathic and herbal medicines, but also prescribed dietary changes.

The difference I’ve found between him and the medical doctors I’ve dealt with, is that Sean tended to be much more holistic in his approach.  He didn’t just look at you, trying to match a medicine to your ailment, he tried to match a cure to your ailment.  And there is a difference there.

So the first point I want to make is: not all practitioners of natural medicine are anti-mainstream.

The second thing that comes to my mind is this: yes, clinical trials have had mixed results, often showing that homeopathy specifically has worked no better than placebos.  That’s fine.  What do I do now, then, with my own experience of trying natural medicine at times when I really just didn’t think it would work, and finding it did? That its efficacy exceeded my expectations?

Do I dismiss the experience of a friend who was very anti-natural medicines, but in desperation went to a Chinese herbal doctor when repeated courses of antibiotics just wouldn’t stop her son getting ear infections again and again and again.  She didn’t hold out much hope, it was a last-ditch effort as she was out of options.  Next time I visited, she was a believer: the ear infection the child had suffered from had cleared up, and not returned.

Another friend, a gifted and highly trained, qualified physiotherapist (no, not a chiropractor, a physiotherapist) told me once that she used a set of magnets applied in accordance to acupuncture principles.  The term she used was ‘acu-pressure’.  She shrugged (very down-to-earth, I love her to bits) and said: “I know there’s a lot of debate over the whole acupuncture thing, but all I know is, it works.  How, I’m not sure, but it does.”  Bear in mind, it wasn’t as if she announced loudly to the patient that she would now apply acupuncture-based treatment.  She applied good physiotherapeutic practice, experimented with this added treatment and found through applying it quietly that when she did, she got better results.

I know this is not by a long shot scientific evidence on which we should now rely unquestioningly.  However, I feel personally affronted when those turning to natural medicines of whatever description are ridiculed as gullible idiots.  There are instances where mainstream medicine simply does not work for some people, or for some illnesses.  Individuals try natural alternatives and find, often to their enormous surprise, that it works FOR THEM.  Why now attack them as morons like a pack of dogs?

Focus on those places where these things go wrong, such as when people are allowed to practice natural medicine without being properly regulated or qualified.  Focus on fanatics who encourage people to go off life-saving drugs in favour of natural medicines.  I am with you in condemning this.  To my mind, natural medicines should be seen as a support of mainstream medicine, and an alternative treatment for smaller ailments.  My regular doctor has remarked before that my body responds well to antibiotics, and I believe this is partly because I use it only when natural medicine is not appropriate or effective.

If you don’t feel the same, that’s your prerogative.  But don’t make me out to be an idiot just because I disagree with your views.

BBC News

And we all know God can’t be bothered to discriminate between the guilty and the innocent…

Friends, since quite some time, I have been hearing about a catastrophe to occur in 2012 that some retarded journalists have been spreading on the news channels. The channels have been rerunning this nonsense since quite some time. Not only they mislead the people but this might also spread some sort of panic among people. To clear all the doubt I am providing below a detailed rebuttal to all of their nonsensical claims.

The ones in upright letters are the claims and ones in italics are my replies.

Scientific experts from around the world are genuinely predicting that five years from now, all life on Earth could well finish. Some are saying it’ll be humans that set it off. Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause. And the religious folks are saying it’ll be God himself who presses the stop button…

Ohh…..but not one prominent scientist’s name features in any such claims. And the religious folk have been spreading such propaganda since the time world started. Armageddon and apocalypses has been their very effective tool to mislead people. Is there a limit to retardese??

1. Mayan Calendar
The first mob to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a bloodthirsty race that were good at two things:
Building highly accurate astrological equipment out of stone and
Sacrificing Virgins.
Thousands of years ago they managed to calculate the length of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days, only 34 seconds out. The Mayan calendar predicts that the Earth will end on December 21, 2012. Given that they were pretty close to the mark with the lunar cycle, it’s likely they’ve got the end of the world right as well.

It would be a disgrace if human race with all its Herculean development, starts to even minutely believe in what an ancient tribe predicted. If they were so good, their race shouldn’t have gone extinct. Moreover even if they really measured the distance of moon (which I don’t believe anyhow), its no reason to believe what they predicted. Distance between earth and moon is a fact but 2012 catastrophe is a prediction. There lies the main difference.

2. Sun Storms
Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery: our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic, and it’s supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the Earth with so much radiation energy, it’s been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse, and calculations suggest it’ll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012.

Solar storms have been occurring since the start of life on earth. They are a constant process. Its not something new and will occur in 2012 only. And solar storms indeed might be a problem but the problem will not be as to devastate the whole earth. Sometime back, solar storms let out particles which did affect our cables etc but to say that it will wipe out us is like saying that an insect will come up and eat up all the human beings. We have our magnetic core inside the earth which acts as a shield against many a particles and radiations emitted from the sun. 

 
3. The Atom Smasher
Scientists in Europe have been building the world’s largest particle accelerator. Basically its a 27km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the Universe tick. However, the mega-gadget has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it’s properly even a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They’re predicting all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.

This has to be the most ridiculous of all the claims. The particle accelerators have been since long time and the smallest of all particles like electrons, protons are thrashed in it.  And a black hole forms of starts with mass more than 4 times sun’s mass. A mini black hole cannot be created.  It’s like saying that we take 1 kg of Helium and Hydrogen; we can make a mini sun. And also, black holes don’t crush anything, they engulf it and completely break it. And noone knows what happens after that. How could anyone say that the earth would become a blob of basketball size. Too much of scientific ignorance.  

 
4. The Bible says…
If having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn’t bad enough,religious folks are getting in on the act aswell. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between Good an Evil, has been set down for 2012. The I Ching, also known as the Chinese book of Changes, says the same thing, as do various sections of the Hindu teachings.

Ever since all the religions have evolved, all of them talk about some sort of catastrophe. We have surpassed so many such claims till now in 2008. There is no reason to take anything seriously here. The sole continuation of the dominance of religions depends upon the continued fear of the people of something unknown. Thats how religion strives. Well, thats for religion ..and more of it is not within the purview of the matter being discussed.

 
5. Super Volcano
 
Yellowstone National Park in the United States is famous for its thermal springs and Old Faithful geyser. The reason for this is simple – it’s sitting on top of the world’s biggest volcano, and geological experts are beginning to get nervous sweats. The Yellowstone volcano has a pattern of erupting every 650,000 years or so, and we’re many years overdue for an explosion that will fill the atmosphere with ash, blocking the sun and plunging the Earth into a frozen winter that could last up to 15,000 years. The pressure under the Yellowstone is building steadily, and geologists have set 2012 as a likely date for the big bang.

Lets take mount Everest as our super volcano since no volcano can be bigger than it. The total volume of Mt. Everest is 2413 cubic kilometers. Out of this volume lot of it will be comprised of molted magma. Not less than half of it. Now lets assume rest half is ash. So we have around 1206 cubic Kms of ash. Out of that, only some part will be thrown out to the atmosphere. The surface area of earth itself is 510,065,600 sq. Km. Is it imaginable that that much ash will cover whole of earth? No. Remember the calculation is for Mt Everest, this so called super volcano will definitely be lesser that it in volume.
 
6. The Physicists
This one’s case of bog-simple maths mathematics. Physicists at Berekely Uni  have been crunching the numbers. and they’ve determined that the Earth is well overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they’re claiming their calculations prove, that we’re all going to die, very soon – while also saying their prediction comes with a certainty of 99 percent- and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it occurs.

I don’t think any physicist deserves to be called one, when he predicts something but will not say the reason for saying such. They are nothing but failed astrologers seeking some desperate attention.

7. Slip-Slop-Slap-BANG!
We all know the Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field that sheilds us from most of the sun’s radiation. What you might not know is that the magnetic poles we call north and south have a nasty habit of swapping places every 750,000 years or so – and right now we’re about 30,000 years overdue. Scientists have noted that the poles are drifting apart roughly 20-30kms each year, much faster than ever before, which points to a pole-shift being right around the corner. While the pole shift is underway, the magnetic field is disrupted and will eventually disappear, sometimes for up to 100 years. The result is enough UV outdoors to crisp your skin in seconds, killing everything it touches.

The shift of poles is something noone knows when it repeats even if it does repeat. And even if it does shift, the earth’s magnetic core will always produce magnetic field which shall act as a shield against the radiations. Fields don’t vanish out of the blue. They are a property of a substance just like water has surface tension wherever it is. 
Moreover if the shift has already started, why don’t we have crisp skinned dead bodies everywhere in the streets? A pole shift may damage phones line, satellite comms. and all those processes which gets affected due to the magnetic field but it would happen that all of us just one fine day get out of the house and get fried.

The journalists esp the hindi news channels in their race for high TRPs resort to all sorts of gimmicks. One of them is to induce a fear into the public. Please don’t pay attention to such brainless propaganda. These journalists have absolutely no knowledge of science and the universe. All they know is to pick some info from here and there and show it as breaking news.

Lastly, I would like to say that the world might end in 2012 but in a different way. That is through a nuclear war. If we don’t stop our petty prejudices from ruling our decisions we might end up in a situation where a nuclear war would be indispensable. And then my dear friends, our home, in fact our only home will be destroyed. The beauty of life which blossomed sometime a million years ago as a single cell would be lost. And remember, we haven’t been able to find life anywhere near earth. Just imagine how precious it is. Don’t hate your fellow human, for even millions of light years far from here, there isn’t a life form similar to him.

SMH

Key quote: …the Police Commissioner ordered his officers to dance in uniform on Vulaono’s stage.

From dictionary.com -
Racism: a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule others.

I’m not sure why I was so surprised
But I was
I thought that racism was a white person disease
This week (black Friday) I learned different
I learned that most people are ethnocentric and
people that I thought should know better are not exempt

I was waiting outside to get a great deal on a computer
I figured that 3 hours waiting to save $250 meant that I was making over $80/hour
and that made the wait palatable

There was a kid of Middle Eastern decent in the line
He could not pronounce “microwave” correctly because his native tongue could not make the “w” sound
After a few hours in line this kid struck up a conversation with a native Spanish speaker
They talked about many things and eventually about the fact that this woman had a son the boy’s age
It was then that the boy made what I consider to be a racist comment
“I think I know your son. Does he play soccer?”
The mom replied, “No, he plays trumpet in the youth symphony.”
Just because this woman’s son is Hispanic, the boy thought he played soccer. Really? Shouldn’t he know better. Lesson of the day learned.

Then the mom, to which he had been speaking, made her own comment a few minutes later that just about knocked me over. She began to make fun of Chinese people and the way they speak. This was even more of a surprise to me because there were two Chinese girls just in front of me in line. Lesson reinforced.

As part of the dominant society I take for granted that those who are put down should be joining together rather than working against each other. I guess racism is truly colorblind.

The following video brings to mind these possibilities:

• Dana Perino is really really STUPID
• Dana Perino thinks the rest of us are stupid
• Dana Perino is delusional and should be committed immediately
• Dana Perino slipped and perhaps said something she shouldn’t have.  If there were no terrorist attacks during the Bush administration then what was 9-11 who was really behind the attacks?