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moral compass online since 1998
Friday, June 2, 2006
ANCIENT CHINESE CITY DISCOVERED
ShanghaiDaily.Com is [http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/05/31/281219/The_sands_of_time.htm|reporting] on a pretty incredible archeological find in northern China, on the edge of the Taklimakan Desert. Turns out they found a huge city there that dates back 2200 years. A couple of really bizarre things about it are:
1) It's so old there is no reference to the city in any existing historical records.
2) Among the four people of the period found buried within the city walls all were Caucasian. What white folks were doing in China 2200 years ago is a puzzle.
Pretty fascinating, huh?
1) It's so old there is no reference to the city in any existing historical records.
2) Among the four people of the period found buried within the city walls all were Caucasian. What white folks were doing in China 2200 years ago is a puzzle.
Pretty fascinating, huh?
ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER US MILITARY MASSACRE
A week ago today, I [http://thepete.com/usg-probes-possible-massacre-by-marines/|blogged about a possible massacre committed by US Marines against innocent Iraqi civilians]. In the past week it's become depressingly obvious that this wasn't a "possible" massacre but an actual one.
Well, a week has gone by and http://News.BBC.co.uk [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5039420.stm|reported yesterday] that a video has surfaced that shows 11 dead Iraqi civilians with gunshot wounds. See, the US military said that the 11 Iraqis were killed when the building they were in collapsed on them. The US military also says the people inside were shooting out and that there were only 4 people that died.
The video apparently shows 11 people with gunshot wounds and no weapons.
Whoops!
The general idea now is that the US military rounded them up in the building and executed them.
Hm, should I stop calling this the Iraquagmire and start calling it "Vietnam Lite"?
Well, a week has gone by and http://News.BBC.co.uk [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5039420.stm|reported yesterday] that a video has surfaced that shows 11 dead Iraqi civilians with gunshot wounds. See, the US military said that the 11 Iraqis were killed when the building they were in collapsed on them. The US military also says the people inside were shooting out and that there were only 4 people that died.
The video apparently shows 11 people with gunshot wounds and no weapons.
Whoops!
The general idea now is that the US military rounded them up in the building and executed them.
Hm, should I stop calling this the Iraquagmire and start calling it "Vietnam Lite"?
So, Next Tuesday is My Birthday--you know, 6/6/6?
I've been contemplating this day since I was a kid--well, actually ever since I saw the original film The Omen, really. What would happen on 6/6/6? Since it's my birthday would I turn into some sort of demon? I even wrote a short story about a guy who deals with this possibility.
I figured if there was going to be any sort of hubub about it, it would have happened already. In a way it has happened. There was an article linked to on DrudgeReport.com that I didn't click through to about a pregnant woman who wanted to induce birth so that she wouldn't give birth to her child on 6/6/6. I did find [http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=102038|this article from May 30, 2006] that talks about what might happen on Tuesday. Here's a clip:
Don't ANYBODY buy me that Ann Coulter book for my birthday!! Though, I wouldn't mind not having to pay to see that crappy Omen remake. If you haven't seen the original, go rent it--it's awesome. Even an Atheist like me can enjoy it because it assumes the viewer is a non-believer like Gregory Peck is in the movie.
As for Hollywood being lame and using the date out of some disgusting urge to capitalize on the date, I've posted before about this: duh! The movie is about the son of Satan who is born on JUNE 6!! What's next? Railing on the producers of ID4 for releasing their movie July 4th?
The point is, this shows you how lame this supposedly Christian America is. We're too scared of Muslim terrorists to really care about Satan's kid being born. To me it's absurd to be afraid of either, but still, for a country that keeps begging God to bless it, we're not too up on the whole Christian-lingo.
Ah, well. I'll probably spend the day at home, enjoying my DVD copy of the original Omen or perhaps watching a whole buttload of anime. I'm not big into parties and oh yeah--I just got a temp gig starting today (Friday) so I'll probably end up having to work on my birthday.
If that's not Satan's work, I don't know what is!
I figured if there was going to be any sort of hubub about it, it would have happened already. In a way it has happened. There was an article linked to on DrudgeReport.com that I didn't click through to about a pregnant woman who wanted to induce birth so that she wouldn't give birth to her child on 6/6/6. I did find [http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=102038|this article from May 30, 2006] that talks about what might happen on Tuesday. Here's a clip:
Next Tuesday will be 6/06/06. June 6, 2006 will be a big day for conspiracy and end-of-the-world theorists. LiveScience.com reports:
With 06/06/06 looming (June 6, 2006), authorities in some cities are worrying prophecy theorists or hate groups might read something ominous into the date and use it as an excuse to stir tension. Some expectant mothers are making birthing appointments to ensure they avoid the date, according to The Sunday Times in London.
And for others, it is a marketing opportunity. 20th Century Fox's remake of "The Omen" and Ann Coulter's book, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," will both come out June 6.
Don't ANYBODY buy me that Ann Coulter book for my birthday!! Though, I wouldn't mind not having to pay to see that crappy Omen remake. If you haven't seen the original, go rent it--it's awesome. Even an Atheist like me can enjoy it because it assumes the viewer is a non-believer like Gregory Peck is in the movie.
As for Hollywood being lame and using the date out of some disgusting urge to capitalize on the date, I've posted before about this: duh! The movie is about the son of Satan who is born on JUNE 6!! What's next? Railing on the producers of ID4 for releasing their movie July 4th?
The point is, this shows you how lame this supposedly Christian America is. We're too scared of Muslim terrorists to really care about Satan's kid being born. To me it's absurd to be afraid of either, but still, for a country that keeps begging God to bless it, we're not too up on the whole Christian-lingo.
Ah, well. I'll probably spend the day at home, enjoying my DVD copy of the original Omen or perhaps watching a whole buttload of anime. I'm not big into parties and oh yeah--I just got a temp gig starting today (Friday) so I'll probably end up having to work on my birthday.
If that's not Satan's work, I don't know what is!
Thursday, June 1, 2006
BILL MAHER'S NEW SHOW ON AMAZON.COM?
Yep, you read that right. Bill Maher, the guy who called the Internet "CB radio" back in the late 90s has the first (that I know of) big-budget talk show on the 'net. He claims it's the first ever talk show on the web but he's wrong. The 5 Minute Show was on the 'net back in 2003 and I'm sure even that wasn't the first show to have guests on the web.
ANYway, the show is called Amazon Fishbowl and since it's hosted by Bill Maher, you know it's going to be a pretty decent show. I always like his comedy and this show is no exception to his track record. The only weird thing is him not being able to say "blow job" (and other "swear" words) because the Amazon audience is apparently G-rated. I'm used to his foul mouth on his HBO show. Ah well, at least it's Bill Maher and you don't even need cable to watch it!
Anyway, check it out at Amazon.Com/fishbowl and see what you think. There are some obvious product-placement type deals, but it's kind of cool since that's how TV got started, too. Sponsors wouldn't just have their products featured on the show, the show would have a product's brand name above the show title. Hence, Amazon Fishbowl. Another example of the overt sponsorship is the segment where an author of a book delivers it to a person who ordered it off of Amazon.com with the help of UPS.
So, we get a plug for Amazon.com, the author of the book and UPS, too. In fact in the first ep we get a plug for The Sopranos, as well, since the book was The Goomba Diet by some dude on that show. It was a bit surreal watching the UPS driver featured in the segment (a handsome looking black guy) admit that he now wanted to become a goomba himself.
Ahem.
ANYway, another (less) blatant plug for a product available on Amazon.com was when the Dixie Chicks were on playing a couple tracks off of their new CD.
They still make CDs?
ANYway, while there were obvious and in-your-face commercial aspects to the show, it still had Maher's wit to entertain me. So, I'm going to recommend it and probably watch it again. It runs like a YouTube movie--flash player and easy to just have up in the background.
The bad news for habitual collectors like me is that you can't download the episodes.
:(
ANYway, the show is called Amazon Fishbowl and since it's hosted by Bill Maher, you know it's going to be a pretty decent show. I always like his comedy and this show is no exception to his track record. The only weird thing is him not being able to say "blow job" (and other "swear" words) because the Amazon audience is apparently G-rated. I'm used to his foul mouth on his HBO show. Ah well, at least it's Bill Maher and you don't even need cable to watch it!
Anyway, check it out at Amazon.Com/fishbowl and see what you think. There are some obvious product-placement type deals, but it's kind of cool since that's how TV got started, too. Sponsors wouldn't just have their products featured on the show, the show would have a product's brand name above the show title. Hence, Amazon Fishbowl. Another example of the overt sponsorship is the segment where an author of a book delivers it to a person who ordered it off of Amazon.com with the help of UPS.
So, we get a plug for Amazon.com, the author of the book and UPS, too. In fact in the first ep we get a plug for The Sopranos, as well, since the book was The Goomba Diet by some dude on that show. It was a bit surreal watching the UPS driver featured in the segment (a handsome looking black guy) admit that he now wanted to become a goomba himself.
Ahem.
ANYway, another (less) blatant plug for a product available on Amazon.com was when the Dixie Chicks were on playing a couple tracks off of their new CD.
They still make CDs?
ANYway, while there were obvious and in-your-face commercial aspects to the show, it still had Maher's wit to entertain me. So, I'm going to recommend it and probably watch it again. It runs like a YouTube movie--flash player and easy to just have up in the background.
The bad news for habitual collectors like me is that you can't download the episodes.
:(
UNDERGROUND ECOSYSTEM REMINDS US LIFE FINDS A WAY
Wow, this is pretty cool. [http://hunews.huji.ac.il/|The Hebrew University of Jerusalem] is [http://hunews.huji.ac.il/articles.asp?cat=6&artID=631|reporting] that archeologists have discovered a huge cave that play host to a surprising underground ecology. Here's a clip from the above-linked article:
Pretty amazing, huh? No light--just water and a small amount of heat and you've got life. The planet Earth is a crazy place.
I just wish we could spend a little less on war and a lot more on science. Just think of the discoveries that are lying underneath our noses...
UPDATE 6/4/6: Just found another article that I think better describes the events surrounding this cave than the one I cited above. It's [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/01/MNGMGJ5MIN1.DTL&science|a June 1, 2006 article] from the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com. Here's a clip:
I don't think the article from Hebrew University even mentioned the kid who discovered the cave. Anyway, so check out that SFGate article for more (and more concise) details regarding this amazing find.
In a press conference on the Mt. Scopus campus of the Hebrew University, the researchers said the discovery came about when a small opening was found, leading to a cave extending to a depth of 100 meters beneath the surface of a quarry in the vicinity of Ramle, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. The quarry is operated by cement manufacturer Nesher Industries.
The cave, which has been dubbed the Ayalon Cave, is “unique in the world,†said Prof. Amos Frumkin of the Hebrew University Department of Geography. This is due mainly to its isolation from the outside world, since the cave’s surface is situated under a layer of chalk that is impenetrable to water. The cave, with its branches, extends over some 2½ kilometers, making it Israel’s second largest limestone cave. It is to remain closed to the public to permit further scientific research.
The invertebrate animals found in the cave – four seawater and freshwater crustaceans and four terrestial species – are related to but different from other, similar life forms known to scientists. The species have been sent to biological experts in both Israel and abroad for further analysis and dating. It is estimated that these species are millions of years old. Also found in the cave were bacteria that serve as the basic food source in the ecosystem.
Pretty amazing, huh? No light--just water and a small amount of heat and you've got life. The planet Earth is a crazy place.
I just wish we could spend a little less on war and a lot more on science. Just think of the discoveries that are lying underneath our noses...
UPDATE 6/4/6: Just found another article that I think better describes the events surrounding this cave than the one I cited above. It's [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/01/MNGMGJ5MIN1.DTL&science|a June 1, 2006 article] from the San Francisco Chronicle and SFGate.com. Here's a clip:
Matan Avital, an 18-year-old student from Beit Horon near Jerusalem, stumbled across the animals this month while exploring a newly discovered network of underground tunnels in a cement quarry near the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway.
"I went down to check out an underground lake we found in this huge cavern when I noticed there were tiny animals swimming around in the water," Avital said. "We managed to catch one, and when we showed it to the experts, they said they had never seen anything like it before. It was a totally new animal.
I don't think the article from Hebrew University even mentioned the kid who discovered the cave. Anyway, so check out that SFGate article for more (and more concise) details regarding this amazing find.
YES, THE ARCTIC USED TO BE HOT, SO??
From [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/01/science/earth/01climate.html?hp&ex=1149134400&en=2f528bcdb926c336&ei=5094&partner=homepage|a June 1, 2006 article] at NYTimes.com reports on findings that say the Arctic used to be like Florida year-round. Here's a clip:
Now, DudgeReport.com and, I assume, other conservative-types who want to pretend that Global Warming isn't real are using this story as fodder. "See? NATURALLY, the Arctic used to be tropical--so we can all continue driving our SUVs and you can get off our backs" seems to be the attitude of cons using this example to downplay GW.
The catch is that GW doesn't have to be the only reason to get off the oil and make other energy-conserving changes. We're hooked on oil--foreign oil. Find new energy sources and you cure the oil wars. No more giving a crap about what Chavez, Saddam or any other oil-leader thinks about us. If we find other sources of energy, other ways to make plastics, other places for fuel to come from we can remove the sensitivity of our lives--the mini-rollercoaster ride that we go on every time there is a hurricane or more talk of an Iran Attack.
Think about not caring what it will cost to get yourself to work tomorrow. You can't do that now, can you?
The real danger, to me, about this story is that we know that greenhouse gasses from cars, factories and so on are trapping the heat in. However, there was that blast of GH gasses that occured back in the day. The thing is, we don't know where those gasses came from. What if whatever event caused the gasses to show up were to happen again today on top of the GH gasses we already put out there?
Then it's Star Blazers-time and we've got to build underground cities and send a space battleship off to another world to bring back an Earth-saving device.
Of course, we don't have space battleships yet, so basically, we're screwed.
The first detailed analysis of an extraordinary climatic and biological record from the seabed near the North Pole shows that 55 million years ago the Arctic Ocean was much warmer than scientists imagined — a Floridian year-round average of 74 degrees.
...
The new analysis confirms that the Arctic Ocean warmed remarkably 55 million years ago, which is when many scientists say the extraordinary planetwide warm-up called the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum must have been caused by an enormous outburst of heat-trapping, or greenhouse, gases like methane and carbon dioxide. But no one has found a clear cause for the gas discharge. Almost all climate experts agree that the present-day gas buildup is predominantly a result of emissions from smokestacks, tailpipes and burning forests.
Now, DudgeReport.com and, I assume, other conservative-types who want to pretend that Global Warming isn't real are using this story as fodder. "See? NATURALLY, the Arctic used to be tropical--so we can all continue driving our SUVs and you can get off our backs" seems to be the attitude of cons using this example to downplay GW.
The catch is that GW doesn't have to be the only reason to get off the oil and make other energy-conserving changes. We're hooked on oil--foreign oil. Find new energy sources and you cure the oil wars. No more giving a crap about what Chavez, Saddam or any other oil-leader thinks about us. If we find other sources of energy, other ways to make plastics, other places for fuel to come from we can remove the sensitivity of our lives--the mini-rollercoaster ride that we go on every time there is a hurricane or more talk of an Iran Attack.
Think about not caring what it will cost to get yourself to work tomorrow. You can't do that now, can you?
The real danger, to me, about this story is that we know that greenhouse gasses from cars, factories and so on are trapping the heat in. However, there was that blast of GH gasses that occured back in the day. The thing is, we don't know where those gasses came from. What if whatever event caused the gasses to show up were to happen again today on top of the GH gasses we already put out there?
Then it's Star Blazers-time and we've got to build underground cities and send a space battleship off to another world to bring back an Earth-saving device.
Of course, we don't have space battleships yet, so basically, we're screwed.
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