As everyone knows, Jamaican Usain Bolt won the 100m with a new Olympic record. Caity Weaver reports that just before the 100m final began, some jerk among the spectators had been hurling abuse at Bolt and that just before the starter gun went off, he threw a green bottle at him that fortunately fell behind the athletes and did not distract him or cause a false start. [Read more…]
The Romneys’ horse Rafalca is still in contention at the Olympics. Although I promoted her as the ideal running mate for Mitt Romney, new information about her has considerably dimmed her chances of being selected, perhaps to levels even lower than those of Tim Pawlenty. [Read more…]
Via Pharyngula, I came across this article by Ian Murphy naming the five most awful atheists. Who are they? [Read more…]
From all early reports, it seems like the Mars Curiosity landing went off perfectly. So many things could have gone wrong, and almost any one of them could have resulted in disaster. [Read more…]
I went for dinner to a friend’s place last Saturday and the TV was on in their family room showing the Olympics. What was the event featured during this prime viewing time? Women’s beach volleyball. This event is apparently scheduled at times for maximum exposure. Who would have guessed that buff young bodies leaping around in skimpy bathing suits would draw viewers? [Read more…]
As sure as sunrise follows sunset, any tragedy that captures the public’s attention, such as the Aurora shootings, will be followed by thumb sucking articles posing the question “Where was god?” and then using up a thousand words to essentially say, “Hell if I know, but you must keep believing anyway.” [Read more…]
Given the decades of conflict between Arabs and Israelis, it is perhaps not surprising, though still regrettable, that young people will grow up with racist attitudes towards those they perceive as ‘the other’. A new survey of attitudes among Israeli Jewish high schools shows a disturbing level of bigotry towards Israeli Arabs and that religion, rather than being a force for good and a driver towards peaceful coexistence as its supporters like to claim, only accentuates those attitudes. [Read more…]
On Monday, August 6 at 1:30 am Eastern Time in the US, the Curiosity rover will land on Mars. The gravitational field on Mars being roughly twice that of the Moon, its atmosphere being so thin, and Curiosity being so big, all posed immense challenges to the scientists and engineers who had to figure out how to gently drop the vehicle onto the surface. It does not help that Mars is so far away that there will be a time lag of 14 minutes for communications to get from Earth to the spacecraft and vice versa, meaning that no adjustments can be made from Earth once the descent begins. [Read more…]
Ever since Tim Palenty withdrew early from the Republican nomination race, he seems to have been auditioning for the vice-president’s slot. I thought that he could be a likely choice, having views that are extremely conservative, enough to placate the party’s rabid base, but also able to project an amiable persona that would not alienate the rest of the electorate too much. Indeed it was for these very qualities that I was surprised that John McCain did not pick him in 2008 over Sarah Palin. [Read more…]
One of the worst consequences of wars, including the so-called ‘war on terror’, is that in the name of defense and safety they give the security forces increased and largely unchecked power. When people with power over others such as police, TSA and DEA agents, and other government agents can also avoid public scrutiny of their actions, it inevitably leads to abuse. [Read more…]