Day: August 18, 2007

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/08/sleuths-break-a.html

Sleuths Break Adobe’s San Jose Puzzle, Find Pynchon Inside
By Ryan Singel EmailAugust 17, 2007 | 2:15:58 PM
Categories: Hacks and Cracks

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Two men, who both may have well have been named Arnold Snarb, were wandering around San Jose looking for a good time. Instead they stumbled on a deep puzzle embedded in the landscape. Specifically, four mysteriously changing, huge LED semaphores on an Adobe building in San Jose.

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Wow. A lot of people with too much time on their hands.

Now the question … … why?

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http://www.townhall.com/columnists/column.aspx?UrlTitle=tragic_implications&ns=ThomasSowell&dt=08/14/2007&page=2url

Tragic Implications
By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, August 14, 2007

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The other recent tragedy that has held the nation’s painful attention — the mine cave-in in Utah — also has implications that few seem to notice.

We could have far fewer men going down into those mines in the first place if we could use other readily available and economically viable substitutes for coal, such as nuclear power or more of our own oil.

Here too, politics is the problem. The only “alternative energy sources” that are on the political agenda are those few very expensive options that environmentalist zealots approve.

Nuclear power is not on the green zealots’ approved list, even though nuclear power is widely used in other countries.

Some say nuclear power is not safe. But nothing is categorically “safe.” The only serious question is how its safety compares to that of alternative ways of generating energy.

Ask the families of the trapped miners if they think mining is safe. Ask them if they would rather face the grim reality of a death in their family or the hypothetical possibility of inconveniencing some caribou in Alaska.

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I didn’t think of that. It’s about comparing the relative risk.

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http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/08/why_would_anyone_nasas_trust_c.html

August 17, 2007
Why Would Anyone Trust NASA’s Climate Data Now?
By Marc Sheppard

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Every soldier in this vital information war knows it’s difficult enough to do daily battle against dramatically over-hyped propaganda with any optimism of triumph. Enemy warriors wield swords forged from hyped projections, shocking news, cataclysmic films and disinforming TV programs. Ours brave the battlefield armed only with a firm grasp of the facts and the wherewithal to draw cogent conclusions from them.

Now it appears our adversaries may have successfully infiltrated what are imperatively neutral data-bases, attempting to render our only weapons useless.

If the science were truly settled, then why would they so fear a fair fight?

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Messing with the data?

Sounds like some of my high school and college chemistry classes where I knew the right answer and fudge the numbers to come out.

One of my rare A’s came when, following closely the instructions given, I couldn’t verify some scientific principle or other. I couldn’t even close enough to fudge it. Argh! So, with the deadline fast approaching, I just said “*&^%$#@” it and turned it in as it was. Not knowing that everyone was getting similar results, they other didn’t have the “courage” of their convictions and they were fudging. It was a glum day when everyone was turning in their stuff and bragging about how they got it right. I felt like the village idiot. (Probably was.)

Hey, it was done. And, as my sainted grandmother used to say “what’s done is done.”

Imagine my shock when that Monday, I was called to the front of the class, and the good Brother asked me “How stupid are you? Don’t you know <I really forget the bozo’s name who’s law we were supposed to “prove”.> XYZ’s law?”. I was ready to soil my shorts since sessions like this usually ended with physical abuse, mental torture, or as yet another trip to the principal’s office for delayed mental and physical abuse. So I mumbled something like, “I knew the right answer but that’s the results I got”. Snickering all around. The the Brother says, “Good. You may be a dumb as a rock, but at least you’re honest. Here’s your A. The instructions were wrong. Everyone else gets an F”. Wow!

So from thence on, I learned my lesson. Just let the chips fall where they land.

In the case of this article it appears some of my classmates have gone into “global warming research”, which should probably be called “global warming fudging”.

:-)

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