Filed under: Science, ScienceBlogs, Tech, Video, YouTube, cosmology, space blogs | Leave a Comment »
Richard Dawkins on TED
I’m trying out TED. What better way to do it than to post this great talk by Richard Dawkins: An atheist’s call to arms.
Filed under: Charles Darwin, Science | Leave a Comment »
“Going Galt” On Tobacco Taxes With E-Cigarettes
I’m not the only one, Ace of Spades HQ says:

“Going Galt” On S-CHIP [Komrad Vinnieovich]?
Thanks to President Barack Hussein Oteleprompter’s promise to not raise taxes on any family making under $250,000 a year (or $200,000 as an individual), some friends and I have decided that it’s a good time to quit using tobacco products. Because, after all, the new tobacco taxes only affect the rich. Or at least they will, because now only the rich can afford them.
Senator Lautenberg has $128,250 reasons to request the FDA halt e-cig sales and protect pharmaceutical companies and their gum, patches, and pills.
We switched to e-cigarettes three weeks ago and have not looked back. Technology trumps the taxman!
We like smoking, We refuse to quit, and the e-cigarettes are not taxed as a tobacco product. Plus they actually taste and feel like smoking even though the “Smoke” is only vapor.
Naturally there are already efforts to make the e-cigarettes illegal, so anyone interested in e-smoking had best get one while they still can.
You can still get NJoy e-Cigarettes at Costco’s web site. Just search for “NJoy”.
There is also a good forum with just about everything you need to know regarding e-cigarettes at the e-cigarette-forum. . Lots of information there about brands, form factor, refills, etc.
So far within the last three weeks … Politech, Idiocracy, several co-workers (5 actually!) and a brother-in-law have all made the switch. (Tobacco taxes in our state are already high and when combined with the new fed tax … suffice to say that tobacco prices are simply out of control)
Politech smoked one analog cigarette two weeks ago and found that he prefers the e-cig now.
Politech said that it tastes … cleaner. (plus he liked some of the other flavors available, like apple and banana)
Filed under: Economy & Business, Electronics, Freedom, Fun, Tech, Technology | 1 Comment »
Bush/Obama photo-morph
Judging by the current President’s decisions to continue with the many of the previous President’s policies , there is more truth to this photo series than some would be comfortable admitting.

ShrubMorph
Hattip: idiocracy
Also a housekeeping announcement, I have turned off comments for posts older than 240 days. I am doing this to control the endless spam, not to mention some trolls who have been commenting on really old posts lately. The troll brigade must hope that I’ll allow their crying, ranting and gnashing of teeth to go unchallenged if they comment on an old enough post. It was becoming tiresome.
Filed under: Art, Fun, Humor, Politics, satire | 2 Comments »
Great Cartoon …

An important message from the entertainment industry
Filed under: Tech | Leave a Comment »
EA “Spore” forum mod confirms Spore kill switch?
An Electronic Arts “Spore” forum moderator threatens to disable the entire game for a user’s simply having asked about SecuROM in EA’s forums. This would seem to confirm that Spore does in fact have a kill switch built in, which is something that the EA apologists have continually dismissed.
“SecuROM as [sic] been discussed and discussed so much and it causes arguments in threads. If you want to talk about DRM SecuROM then please use another fansite forum. If there is any change you will be able to read it on the official Spore site.
Please do not continue to post theses [sic] thread or you [sic] account may be at risk of banning which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore.”(emphasis mine)
The admission of the existence of some type of “Kill Switch” is very interesting. EA seems to say that you must conform your speech to only what they want you to say … or else.
Quite a revelation!
I’d love to see them do it actually, as it would place an exclamation point onto the Spore class action suit. That we talked about on SlashDot last week. Not only mislabeling, deceitful practices and hidden malware, but threats, intimidation and possibly a total loss of the use of the game if you say something that may irritate EA.
Over at the Spore forum, it seems like anything even remotely speaking ill of the game is now immediately locked, not just discussion of DRM. Look here and here and here and here.
Anything negative about the game is being locked and/or tossed.
Wow … way to stay classy EA!
Update: It looks like some of those locked threads have now been flushed down the memory hole entirely!
With the above in mind, here is a screenshot of the EA forum entry under discussion…
Filed under: DRM, Freedom of Speech, Software, Tech, Technology, Video Games, defectivebydesign | 2 Comments »
MS Blog Announces Windows 7 Plans for New and Improved Bloat
Talk about not learning from one’s mistakes…
The Windows 7 TeamThere’s a lot to building an org structure for a large team, but the most important part is planning the work of the team. This planning is integral to realizing our goal of improving the overall consistency and “togetherness” for Windows 7. So rather than think of one big org, or two teams, we say that the Windows 7 engineering team is made up of about 25 different feature teams.
In general a feature team encompasses ownership of combination of architectural components and scenarios across Windows. “Feature” is always a tricky word since some folks think of feature as one element in the user-interface and others think of the feature as a traditional architectural component (say TCP/IP). Our approach is to balance across scenarios and architecture such that we have the right level of end-to-end coverage and the right parts of the architecture. One thing we do try to avoid is separating the “plumbing” from the “user interface” so that teams do have end-to-end ownership of work (as an example of that, “Find and Organize” builds both the indexer and the user interface for search). Some of the main feature teams for Windows 7 include (alphabetically):
Applets and Gadgets
Assistance and Support Technologies
Core User Experience
Customer Engineering and Telemetry
Deployment and Component Platform
Desktop Graphics
Devices and Media
Devices and Storage
Documents and Printing
Engineering System and Tools
File System
Find and Organize
Fundamentals
Internet Explorer (including IE 8 down-level)
International
Kernel & VM
Media Center
Networking – Core
Networking – Enterprise
Networking – Wireless
Security
User Interface Platform
Windows App Platform
Though it’s fascinating to watch Microsoft alienate IT professionals by using such terms as “Plumbing” when describing operating system functionality, and yet still expect to be taken seriously, it’s really just a shame.
Microsoft’s Marketing people can keep assuming that IT folks are idiots who will buy into such nonsense and the IT folks will just keep using Windows XP for their current Desktop OS needs, all the while slowly migrating users to purely Linux, BSD or Apple Desktop environments (though the migration will go faster and faster as application developers catch on to the changing market). The IT folks will also likely keep pressuring the companies that they work with to follow their lead … just as when those same IT folks were alienated by, and migrated away from the Notes, Novell, and IBM-OS2 guys. Good luck with that Microsoft!
For those of you interested in a well performing version of Windows, take a good look at Tiny XP. It’s fast, it works, it’s bare minimum, and when you need a feature you can add it from your license copy of XP Pro. How is it that only the Windows user community can significantly “Improve” Microsoft’s OS?
Will Microsoft wait until Open Source OS’s have captured 20 percent of the market before actually engineering something new?
Windows must embrace true 64 bit, Multithreading, and need only run legacy applications in a Virtualized environment (Thinstall and VMWare are proof that this can be done, and done well).
MS needs to make optional such things as Internet Explorer, Media Player, and rid the OS entirely of all of the useless hidden DRM subsystems that eat away at Vista’s system performance (These hidden DRM processes do not serve Microsoft’s customers … you know, the people and organizations who actually PAY Microsoft’s bills).
Windows desperately needs “root” style user account and permission management (No! UAC security “theater” is not enough security).
I could go on all day, but it looks like running a copy of Windows Server 2008 is going to get you 90 percent of the way to “Windows 7″, and that all that this team seems intent on doing is re-adding the missing bloat.
Funny thing when reading the comments on the Team Blog, the MS team are currently being “gamed” into believing that perfecting Vista’s bloat is what the user community actually “wants”. These comments are obviously written by astroturfing stealth Apple and Linux commentors. It’s quite amusing really.
Filed under: Computer Industry, Computer Upgrades, DRM, GNU/Linux, Linux & OpenSource, Marketing, Microsoft, Tech, Technology, Vista, Weblogs, Windows Vista, Windows XP, blogs, defectivebydesign | 4 Comments »
This would make a great T-Shirt!
Thanks to
idiocracy for the heads up. Though this poster is not yet “officially” endorsed by B.H.O.’s campaign, the art is being pushed as their own “symbol” by some off his strongest supporters. The poster itself remains really funny in either case.
One Nation, Under a New Obama Salute
If a Los Angeles creative agency gets its way, Sen. Barack Obama will see fans meet him with his own salute like the one above. “Our goal is to see a crowd of 75,000 people at Obama’s nomination speech holding their hands above their heads, fingers laced together in support of a new direction for this country…
Idiocracy would like to see that too! We wonder if The Loyalty Inc. marketing company was involved with Microsoft’s Zune advertising!
Filed under: Art, Fun, Humor, Opinion, Poli, Political opinion, Politics | Comments Off
Yahoo! Taking DRM Servers Offline … No Music For You!
You know, somehow, “We told you so” just doesn’t quite say it…
Yahoo! Music Store taking DRM servers offline, freezing out customers
In a move which at best could be described as unsurprising, Yahoo! has announced that it’s taking its Music Store DRM license key servers offline come September 30th… and freezing customers from ever registering their music with another computer. Ever.
TechDirt asks:
Did Yahoo Not Pay Attention To What Happened When Microsoft Pulled The Plug On Its DRM Server?
Yahoo! sent out an email to users noting that its DRM server will be shut down, preventing the “buyers” from moving the songs to new computers. This seems doubly ironic, given that Yahoo’s last two music bosses, David Goldberg and Ian Rogers had spoken out against DRM. While neither is still with the company, it’s rather amusing that Yahoo is now helping to prove the point.
Even the L.A. Times has some Opinion about this move:
Yahoo pulls an MSN Music (only faster)
This afternoon, Yahoo alerted customers of its erstwhile downloadable music store that it would no longer provide support after Sept. 30 (download the cheerful e-mail here).
Update: Yahoo tells Information Week it will reimburse users on a “case-by-case” basis, (so you may have to grovel, plead and beg them a little to continue to exercise your usage rights … but that’s ok, because you’re not really a Yahoo! customer anymore, you’re just another dried up revenue stream)
Yahoo! may possibly offer reimbursements or MP3 versions … or not … depending on Yahoo!’s latest whim (and whomever you happen deal with if and when you contact them). The FAQ is here.
If you were foolish enough to buy into DRM encumbered media, Yahoo!’s screwing you out of your music is really your own fault. DRM is simply bad juju all around that only hurts “Paying” customers.
Even though you may lose a track or two because of Yahoo!’s DRM we really should all be happy that Yahoo!’s music is finally being sold DRM-free on Rhapsody. (Hint: If you don’t want to grovel and beg Yahoo to keep that which you already paid for, rip your Yahoo! DRM encumbered media onto CD and then convert the CD to flak or a high bit-rate lossy format)
Update 2:
Yahoo! has announced what you can expect when you grovel, plead and beg them to continue to exercise your music usage rights…
Yahoo offers coupons for music that stops working
Yahoo Inc. is offering coupons or refunds to users who find songs they bought inaccessible after Sept. 30, when the company shuts its music-download service.
The company said Wednesday it is offering coupons on request for people to buy songs again through Yahoo’s new partner, RealNetworks Inc.’s Rhapsody. Those songs will be in the MP3 format, free of copy protection. Refunds are available for users who “have serious problems with this arrangement,” Yahoo said.
Yahoo opted to shut down its system to avoid “delaying the inevitable.”
You can get to your music, but only if you do a few tricks first…………..I do that to my dog.
First I show him a doggy treat. Then I tell him to “Sit”. Then I place the doggy treat on top of his nose … then I wait … and wait … until I see he starts to drool, then I let him actually eat the treat.
“Good dog!”
Great Fun!
Filed under: Tech | Comments Off
Next Generation SSDs Delayed Due to Vista

Vista is the gift that just keeps on giving …
Speaking during SanDisk’s second-quarter earnings conference call, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eli Harari said that Windows Vista will present a special challenge for solid state drive makers. “As soon as you get into Vista applications in notebook and desktop, you start running into very demanding applications because Vista is not optimized for flash memory solid state disk,” he said.
This is due to Vista’s design. “The next generation controllers need to basically compensate for Vista shortfalls,” he said.
“Unfortunately, (SSDs) performance in the Vista environment falls short of what the market really needs and that is why we need to develop the next generation, which we’ll start sampling end of this year, early next year,” Harari said.
Harari said this challenge alone is putting SanDisk behind schedule. “We have very good internal controller technology, as you know…That said, I’d say that we are now behind because we did not fully understand, frankly, the limitations in the Vista environment,” he added.
Filed under: Computer Industry, Computer Upgrades, Microsoft, Software, Tech, Technology, Windows Vista | Comments Off
The largest collection of Darwin’s work in history, now on the web!
This is awsome!
Darwin’s private papers online – the largest publication of Darwin’s papers in history. Read about it here. Browse the papers here.This site contains Darwin’s complete publications, thousands of handwritten manuscripts and the largest Darwin bibliography and manuscript catalogue ever published; also hundreds of supplementary works: biographies, obituaries, reviews, reference works and more.
Almost all is online only here: such as 1st editions of Voyage of the Beagle, Zoology, Descent of Man, all editions of Origin of Species (1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th & 6th); important manuscripts: Beagle Diary & field notebooks, Journal, transmutation notebooks and Autobiography.
I know I know … “Darwin’s work is just a bunch of THEORIES!”
UPDATE:
Yep, Evolution sure is a theroy … and sound scientific theory can be used to predict things … like this: Lizards Rapidly Evolve After Introduction to Island
In just a few decades the 5-inch-long (13-centimeter-long) lizards have developed a completely new gut structure, larger heads, and a harder bite, researchers say.
If Darwin’s work is inaccurate about anything, it seems that the speed of the Evolution process may be somewhat underestimated.
If an island full of lizards can evolve so drastically in a mere thirty years, with what mankind is currently doing to itself, just how drastically are we affecting our own evolution?
Filed under: Charles Darwin, DNA, Internet Freedom, Noteworthy, Politics, Research, Science, education, intelligence, internet | Comments Off
Microsoft sees future IT workers as simple “truckers and longshoremen”
In an article describing Microsoft’s mainstream containerized data centers (named “C-Blox”) Microsoft general manager of data center services Michael Manos says his vision of the future of IT is IT workers who look more like “truckers and longshoremen than traditional IT workers”.
Microsoft To Mainstream Containerized Data Centers With C-Blox
Microsoft has developed its own specifications that include, for example, configuration for electrical components and the layout of physical servers, for its containers. Those specs make Microsoft’s containers different from anything on the market today, and a potential opportunity for future Microsoft products. The containers, which Microsoft calls C-blox, are largely self-contained and will require very little hands-on maintenance.
“The doors are closed, and because of the level of automation in our systems, we can run it and accept a certain amount of failure over time,” Manos said. Manos argues that it is more cost effective to build redundancy and automation into Microsoft’s data center applications and allow some hardware to fail than it would be to physically manage such a large data center. The hands-off approach also means design can be tweaked to allow for maximum cooling and energy efficiency without worrying about how accessible the systems are to human hands. Of course, Microsoft also builds backbones that link power, cooling, and bandwidth among the containers.
In the C-blox world, a truck drops off a data center container and then picks it up again in a few years when Microsoft is ready to switch over to new hardware. Administrators will only enter the physical C-blox in the rarest of occasions. “In that sense, your IT workers look more like truckers and longshoremen than traditional IT workers,” Manos said. It will also allow Microsoft to run the entire Northlake facility with a continuous staff of little more than 20 or 30 employees.
So are we now to believe that a “truckers and longshoremen” skills shortage shows need for an increase of the 85,000 H-1B visas already available? A related question; is Microsoft’s Michael Manos merely arrogant or is he simply stupid?
Thanks to Corbis for the image.
Filed under: Microsoft | Comments Off
Blu-ray BD+ Cracked as Expected
In July 2007, Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group (BD+ Standards Board) claimed that ‘BD+, won’t likely be breached for 10 years.

BD+ Unbreakable for 10 Years says Richard Doherty of Envisioneering GroupRichard Doherty a Media analyist with Envisioneering Group says ” BD +, Unlike AACS, Which suffered a partial Hack Last Year, Won’t likely be breached for 10 years.” Doherty said “and if so The damage would effect one film and one player.”
He also said BD + Offers 4 time the safeguards on top of aacs against piracy. All Blu-Ray Players are equipped with BD +.
In today’s AnyDVD Press release:
Press Release: AnyDVD HD now with BD+ support
Film studios that have switched to Blu-ray may have crowed a little
too early because the much-praised BD+ copy protection is an ad
absurdum affair now, too. With today’s release of version 6.4.0.0 of
AnyDVD HD it is now also possible to make backup security copies of
Blu-ray discs protected with BD+.Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group will have to revise his
statement from July, 2007 regarding BD+: “BD+, unlike AACS which
suffered a partial hack last year, won’t likely be breached for 10
years”. It is worth mentioning that since he made that statement only eight months have gone by.
AACS marketers should however be heartily congratulated for harvesting millions from their “marks” (the stupid media companies). AACS always was and still is a masterful example of the big con.
Meanwhile it looks as if Sony may have incoroporated stolen technology for their Blu-ray system; Sony Blu-ray Under Patent Infringement Probe
Filed under: Copyright, DRM, Entertainment and Media, Freedom, High Definition video, MPAA, RIAA, Tech, Technology, Television, defectivebydesign | 1 Comment »
Travel Inside the Nucleus to See How DNA Replicates
Via the Biosingularity Blog: In this video see an animation of DNA Wrapping and also a neat visualization of how DNA is actually copied in living cells.
Hattip Snowcrash
Also look for more Free Science Videos and Lectures Online at YouTube. Take a look at theFree Science Videos and Lectures website.
Filed under: Computer Animation, DNA, GooTube, Research, Science, ScienceBlogs, Tech, Technology, intelligence | Comments Off
Senate Report Debunks “Consensus” on Man-Made Global Warming.
Good news for those of us interested in putting the “Science” back into “Scientific Debate”

U.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007This blockbuster Senate report lists the scientists by name, country of residence, and academic/institutional affiliation. It also features their own words, biographies, and weblinks to their peer reviewed studies and original source materials as gathered from public statements, various news outlets, and websites in 2007. This new “consensus busters” report is poised to redefine the debate.
Many of the scientists featured in this report consistently stated that numerous colleagues shared their views, but they will not speak out publicly for fear of retribution. Atmospheric scientist Dr. Nathan Paldor, Professor of Dynamical Meteorology and Physical Oceanography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, author of almost 70 peer-reviewed studies, explains how many of his fellow scientists have been intimidated.
This new report details how teams of international scientists are dissenting from the UN IPCC’s view of climate science. In such nations as Germany, Brazil, the Netherlands, Russia, New Zealand and France, scientists banded together in 2007 to oppose climate alarmism.
(Emphasis added by PoliTech)
Read the whole U.S. Senate Article here. I will try to post a link to the report in it’s entireity when it becomes available.
UPDATE: Complete Report: (LINK) Complete Report without Introduction: (LINK)
UPDATE 2: In answer to some heated messages recieved regarding this post:
The excitement in science comes from exploring a topic from every possible angle and to try to comprehend how things function. To adhere to the scientific method, a scientist must be open-minded, and not be influenced by preconceptions and prejudices that exist because of political, religious, or other predispositions.
Science can only thrive on the repeated challenge of every explanation, where a scientist may even take particular satisfaction in finding something wrong with a traditional or time-honored theory. Such scientific challenges allow for strengthened scientific understanding. By this process new answers can raise additional questions, thus further refining our knowledge.
Skepticism is essential to good scientific research, and rather than trying to silence skeptics, serious science invites skepticism as contributory. So the global warming debate can only benefit from traditional scientific skepticism.
I have posited many times that many Global Warming zealots as well as many Global Warming skeptics actually subvert the scientific process, by ceasing to think objectively, and choose to concentrate on only presenting one side of the equation, like lawyers defending a viewpoint on trial.
Nonetheless some of the topics focused on, by the skeptics and zealots alike, are indeed acknowledged as legitimate research subjects.
However it’s reasonable to point out that the accumulation of environmental, political and religious perspectives in the midst of the actual science and research has occurred from both sides in the global warming debate, and has reached the point where the noise of zealotry is drowning out the music of science.
The point of this post (and others like it) is to illustrate this fact. We need much more hard science and much less heated hyperbole in this discussion. Unfortunately the political players on the left and right are using climate change science as some kind of political bludgeon, causing the layman to gravitate to one extreme side or the other, while purposely muzzling, or otherwise hindering the actual science of the subject.
The news here is that over 400 distinguished scientists have expressed a dissenting view of climate change data to the Anthropogenic Global Warming hypothesis.
The existence of this much scientific dissent indicates that the so-called “consensus” about AGW does not in fact exist.
For if there exists significant “dissent” then there can by definition be no “consensus”, can there?
Filed under: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Environmental Religion, Global Warming, Junk Science Propaganda, Politics, Science, fakes and frauds, junk science | 8 Comments »
Wall-Mart Puts the Muscle on Warner and BMG to Ditch DRM
You all know those stories we hear about the E-v-i-l Wal-Mart muscling the poor manufacturers and distributors to lower prices. Well this time Wally World is using its power for the forces of Good!

A Tipping Point For MP3s(waaaay down the article we find this little nugget of good news)
… mass merchant Wal-Mart [is] alerting WMG and Sony BMG that it will pull their music files in the Windows Media Audio format from walmart.com some time between mid-December and mid-January, if the labels haven’t yet provided the music in MP3 format.
Good news!
Update: Wal-Mart … Wall-Mart … what can I say? I’m not fixing it, go ahead and laugh all you want.
Update: This post was picked up by SlashDot. Quite a discussion went on over there.
Filed under: Computer Industry, DRM, Economy & Business, Entertainment and Media, Freedom, Internet Economy, Internet Freedom, MPAA, Music, RIAA, Rights & Freedoms, Tech, Technology, defectivebydesign, iPod, internet, mp3 | Comments Off
Safe Portable Nuclear Battery on the Horizon
Like DDT, and anthropomorphic global warming, the exaggeration about the dangers of nuclear energy have been driven by the media and extremist political groups to the point of the ridiculous.
One would think that in a free society you would find at least some factual reporting regarding science. Unfortunately it seems to ever be the case that when given the choice of reporting actual facts or instead publishing breathless Fear Uncertainty and Doubt, the FUD always seems to be the choice … FUD simply sells more advertising.
As with other overly exaggerated fears from the past the fear of nuclear energy may one day seem as silly to people in the future, as the fear of sailing off the edge of the world seems to people of today.
Nuke’s tells us some News about a Safe Portable Nuclear Battery that is the size of a hot tub.
New technology takes on energy crisis.
The portable nuclear reactor is the size of a hot tub. It’s shaped like a sake cup, filled with a uranium hydride core and surrounded by a hydrogen
Invented by scientist Otis Peterson, Hyperion’s patent for a hydride reactor is still pending.
atmosphere. Encase it in concrete, truck it to a site, bury it underground, hook it up to a steam turbine and, viola, one would generate enough electricity to power a 25,000-home community for at least five years.
Combine that news with this report which describes several studies that suggest Media and extremist fringe-group driven fears about radiation and nuclear energy are proving to be grossly exaggerated.
That darned Scientific Method destroys yet another crackpot consensus hypothesis. (extremists please take the time to click and read that link)
Is Atomic Radiation as Dangerous as We Thought?
A mounting number of studies are coming to some surprising conclusions about the dangers of nuclear radiation. It might not be as deadly as is widely believed.
The findings hardly jive with the popular image of the atom as evil incarnate. Nightmarish scenarios of lingering illness and birth defects on an apocalyptic scale populate nightmares.
Welcome to the new nuclear energy age! Now lets make some “glow in the dark jokes”.
Filed under: Albert Einstein, Energy, Environment, Environmental Religion, Junk Science Propaganda, Research, Science, Tech, Technology, intelligence, junk science | Comments Off
Challenging the Hypothesis of Man-Made Global Warming
Interesting Article is worth the read.

A Scientific Basis for Doubting Man-made Global WarmingThe scientific basis for challenging the theory of man-made global warming is large and expanding. Entire books are being written summarizing the many weaknesses. However, for an excellent 12 page summary of some of these weaknesses a recent paper by Willie Soon, Art Robinson, and Noah Robinson, (SRR) is difficult to match.
link to study…
Most people do not appreciate the simple rules of science, of hypothesizing, predicting outcomes, collecting data, testing hypotheses, replication of findings, discussions, peer reviews, etc. Thus, when an advocate, who in this case is a leading lawyer, (and also a scientific imposter) claims impending doom, huge doubts and red flags are raised. When Mr. Gore says that the scientific debate is over, he is making a statement of uninformed hope that the testing and review will stop. This is not science.
Next is the abstract and a link to the paper mentioned in the article above. Also worth taking the time to read. The summery contains a lot of good factual information, the PDF of the entire paper is chock full of fact based goodness. There’s even a PowerPoint!
Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide
A review of the research literature concerning the environmental consequences of increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide leads to the conclusion that increases during the 20th and early 21st centuries have produced no deleterious effects upon Earth’s weather and climate. Increased carbon dioxide has, however, markedly increased plant growth. Predictions of harmful climatic effects due to future increases in hydrocarbon use and minor greenhouse gases like CO2 do not conform to current experimental knowledge. The environmental effects of rapid expansion of the nuclear and hydrocarbon energy industries are discussed.
Hattip: Junkscience.com
Image Credit: Thanks to jupiterimages.com!
Filed under: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Global Warming, Nukes, Oil, Politics, Research, Science, education | 1 Comment »
Nuke is back at WP
Welcome back Nuke!
Filed under: Noteworthy, WordPress, blogs, internet | 1 Comment »
Heroes of the Writers Strike
Filed under: Copyright, Entertainment and Media, GooTube, Humor, Internet Economy, Opinion, Television, YouTube, satire | Comments Off
Idiocracy – Tattoo
One Horsepower Car … Literally One Horse!
By way of idiocracy and AutoBlog: Politech Presents The … Fleethorse!

One Horsepower Car … Literally One Horse!
idiocracy is asking if this idea is serious or satire. PoliTech says it’s seriously stupid!
But funny!
Here is the site: FleetHorse.com
Filed under: Energy, Environment, Environmental Religion, Fun, Global Warming, GooTube, Humor, Politics, Science, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Tech, Technology, Video, fakes and frauds, junk science, satire | 4 Comments »
LG DVD Drive: 8X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 8X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-ROM 16X CD-R 16X CD-RW 32X CD-ROM CD, DVD: 2MB BD, HD: 4MB Cache SATA Super Multi Blue BD Burner and HD DVD Reader
Really! Thats the name of the LG Model GGW-H10NI DVD Burner.

What an absolute joke. Not the LG Product, (it’s a nice drive although a little pricey) but this whole Optical Media standards war that has been ongoing for the last ten years or so.
Which technology can use this alphabet soup idiocy to actually win the optical standards war and nuke all of the Optical media and drive competition? The answer is flash memory. If you wonder why Flash media will make ALL optical media obsolete, check out the ease of use, plus continuously plummeting pricing and exponentially increasing capacity.
Plug it in, it just works, no worrying if your media format won’t play nice with your equipment. Because Flash memory actually has a “Standard”. The Standards game being played by the optical media companies will be their undoing.
Filed under: Computer Hardware, Computer Industry, Computer Upgrades, Console & Videogame, DRM, Economy & Business, Electronics, Entertainment and Media, Tech, Technology, Television, defectivebydesign | Comments Off
Castro; Dead, Zombie, or Animatronics?
The news is out that “It’s official: we can unequivocally declare that it wouldn’t be inaccurate to assume that there isn’t reason to not believe that Fidel Castro may or may not be dead (maybe)” Which is how the headline was submitted on Fark
If you want to keep up on what’s going on in Cuba and get to the real news from Cuba, check out The Kill Castro Blog.
As for Castro bieng an Animatronic … check out LBJ here and tell me you don’t see the similarities.
Filed under: Castro, Cuba, Freedom, Poli, Political opinion, Politics, Rights & Freedoms, Wars, blogs, speech | Comments Off















The portable nuclear reactor is the size of a hot tub. It’s shaped like a sake cup, filled with a uranium hydride core and surrounded by a hydrogen

I recently came across an old Gateway Performance 1400 that needed fixing. Generally a PC this old is to be considered “Scrap” and usually I advise the client that it’s time for the dreaded replacement. Then comes the painful process of moving of data, apps, and all of the other nightmarish stuff that comes to the small business owner requiring a computer upgrade.


