Climate Change

Here’s an interesting video I found about global climate change. It doesn’t so much argue whether climate change is real as the possibly futures we can have depending on what we actually do. It’s pretty compelling stuff:

Of course, there is one small hole: if we do decide to act, we have to make sure what we actually do will help. Just because a scientist or an environmental group says something is good for the environment doesn’t necessarily mean it is.

For example, there’s a huge taboo today against nuclear power plants because of the radioactive waste they produce. In fact, there’s such a strong opposition to them, we end up building more coal-fired power plants which release tons and tons of carbon into the atmosphere, just so we don’t have to worry about the few pounds of radioactive waste  (and, in fact, fossil fuel power plants produce over a hundred times more radiation than nuclear plants anyway).

This behavior is completely bizarre. We should be shutting down fossil fuel plants and building nuclear plants as fast as possibly, but we don’t simply because nuclear power has this connotation of being “unenvironmental”.

So Let’s See How The Last Year Panned Out

Last year on the Other Blog I wrote a typical bashing of a horoscope that was about my birthday. Now, since it is my birthday again, I can look back and see how accurate it was (hint: not at all). I mean, in science you can go back and confirm theories as much as you like. So why not in astrology? (hint: because it’s bull$#@%)

I actually haven’t read it, so I’ll be interest to see what was predicted for me and everyone else whose birthday was November 10th. Anyway, let’s go through it:

     This year brings the perfect mix of whirling excitement and cozy comfort, as your personal life expands and settles in at different times of the year.

Yes, but everyone’s life does that every year. Unless you’re a hermit or something.

     You’ll make three important new friends before the new year begins.

Nope. In fact, I barely talk to any of the people listed in the old post anymore due to transfers and different scheduling.

     Your living situation becomes more accommodating in March.

Sort of, maybe. Again, my plans really didn’t pan out as I had expected. I’m really only getting caught up in the past couple months or so.

     Travels thrill you in August.

In August I went nowhere. Nowhere with girls, anyway.

     Gemini and Libra adore you.

Again, I still know no one that were born in the relevant months. I did get back together with my ex-girlfriend, but she’s an Aquarius. Actually, maybe I’m mistaken in thinking these’s are meant to be star signs. Gemini means twins and Libra means a balance. Hmmm…in Battlestar Galactica, the planet representing Gemini is called Gemenon, which is known to be highly religious. Hmmm…maybe I am bringing balance to religious nutbags by being non-religious, and vocally so, especially now.

Hey, also, I have, in the past, gone on dates with two girls who are twins  (not at the same time, of course). And balance could be the…um…sort of…um…oh! Richmond, Virgina! Wait, what?

My head asplode.

     Your lucky numbers are 25, 3, 13, 28 and 48.

Yeah still nothing. No 3-ways or 48-ways for me this year. Although I did vomit about 28 and bashed my head against the wall 13 times while watching Expelled, just to see how it was (hint: completely wrong and blatantly offensive to me).

So, yeah, that horoscope sucked. Maybe next year the horoscope next year will be more accurate (hint: no). Anyway, stay tuned to this…um…website as I unveil Horoscope II: The Wrath of Khrap.

Michael Jackson is Alive!

Or at least that’s the theory that’s probably going to start going around a la Elvis Presley. They’ll probably say things like “He just got tired of being a celebrity and faked his death to live the rest of his life quietly”. Expect at least several people by the end of this year claiming to spot him somewhere, most likely in widely disparate locations that have no connection to each other whatsoever.

Expect the internet to help fuel the conspiracy theorists, since they’ll be able to quickly disperse information amongst each other.

Starting in 5…4…3…2…1…

Bizarre Beliefs

One of the things about being a skeptic and questioning your own beliefs is that it can lead to some pretty strange combinations. This is mainly because individual beliefs are often completely unrelated to one another. I have a sort of “General Rule” that I think most people would agree with: people should be able to do whatever they want, provided they do not harm anyone else while doing it (or, at least, engaging in activities that can easily and relatively likely harm someone else). Or, more formally, people have the fundamental right to choose their own lives, provided they don’t infringe on that same right of others.

For one, as I posted before, I support the total legalization of drugs. If you want to get stoned, shoot up, swallow acid tabs, etc. that’s your decision. It would be wrong of me to impose my choice on you to not do drugs. Whenever you get the government involved, you are doing exactly that: imposing your decisions on other people who may not share your values.

That belief is commonly associated far left side of the political spectrum. But I recently found that, if I am to be true to my beliefs, I must embrace a position which is typically associated with the far right.

I must support the choice of people to bear arms. A gun is completely inert, unless someone is there to operate it. A gun cannot choose to shoot someone of its own free will, because it doesn’t have free will. So, as long as someone is responsible and doesn’t go shooting the place up, they’re not harming anyone, so they must be allowed to own a gun.

I even extended this line of thought to the Assault Weapons Ban. An assault weapon is just a really big gun, and so should similarly protected. I was immediately bewildered at the fact that, logically, i should oppose both laws which ban assault weapons and drugs, even though they seem like complete opposite politically.

In fact, that not only did I support personal choice on both issues, I realized that they were really the same issue! They are two facets of the much broader issue: who gets to own what? And the answer, if it is to be in line with my General Rule above, is that everyone should be allowed to own both, if they so choose.

Well, not everyone. Like, you know, not children. And actually, I think of gun ownership much like driving. If you screw around and deliberately cause accidents and run people down, you should be barred from driving. Similarly, if you mow down a crowd of people with an AK-47, you should have it taken away from you. Perhaps it would be better to consider gun ownership, like driving, a privilege, but one that is by default available to all adults initially.

Strange.

I also designed a little image, because I like designing little images, to highlight my beliefs:

Swine Flu Quackery

As usual, whenever they’re some public scare, whether it’s about some illness, terrorism, the Earth passing through a comet’s tail which contains cyanogen, etc. it seems like there’s always some quacks out there trying to scam the public with fake cures.

Fortunately, some people are willing to inform and education rather than con. Some people are the Young Australian Skeptics. They’ve created a public notice warning the public about possible homeopathic cures about H1N1:

 

Remember:

1) Homeopathic medicine doesn’t work. Period.

2) Vaccines do not cause autism. Period. (This will be important once they develop a vaccine for H1N1).

3) Only medical science has any chance at finding a real cure. Period.

Believing 1 and/or 2 leaves you vulnerable, not just to swine flu, but to any and all other easily cured diseases. In short, believing these things can kill you. And your loved ones.

The Human Soul

I came across this article on Yahoo! today about the origin of the idea of a soul. It claims that the idea of a soul possibly came about as far back as 200,000 years ago, when humans first started talking.

What’s really interesting to me is that, despite all the scientific and technological breakthroughs made in the time since, so many people still believe in the concept of a soul. The idea came from so long ago, in a age where superstition and ignorance were standard, yet people seem to think that out of all the various religious and social beliefs that we now know to be 100% wrong, they managed to actually get one completely right.

I think it’s more likely that the humans of the past were just completely wrong about everything. Once they started actually objectively observing nature and experimenting, then they could say for sure what is and what isn’t. And once they starting doing that, they became us.