Posts Tagged ‘science’

When I see stories like this one I’m convinced that the only reason why the current White House hasn’t gotten behind this idea is that they can’t be sure how they will vote:

“We affirm that all cetaceans as persons have the right to life, liberty and wellbeing,” they said in a declaration after a two-day meeting led by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).

Oh and it gets better wales have ethics

He said that sperm whales have sonars to find fish that are so powerful that they could permanently deafen others nearby if used at full blast. Yet the whales do not use sonars as weapons, showing what Whitehead called a human-like “sense of morality.”

Liberty pundit adds the snark:

Right to life, liberty, and well-being? You mean, like, health care? Do we give them food stamps if the schools of smaller fish they so mercilessly eat by the hundreds thin out for a season? Do we require colonoscopies and breast-cancer screenings? Do we make abortion services available? Shouldn’t killer whales be culpable for their criminal acts when they kill a dolphin?

Are we going to stop at whales? Here’s the indication that we won’t: Participants at a University of Helsinki conference said ever more studies show the giant marine mammals have human-like self-awareness, an ability to communicate and organize complex societies, making them similar to some great apes.

Apes. Monkeys. Whales. Dolphins.

Is this going to lead to voting rights? Is that what’s behind this?

How long before the Massachusetts Supreme Court gets a brief concerning Whale Rights? Will they be eligible for heathcare and drivers licenses?

It takes an awful lot of education to be this foolish.

Let’s take a peek around a few blogs in the field guide:

We will start with Cynthia Yockey who explained what liberal taxation did to a once thriving film industry in Maryland:

Maryland’s film industry caught my eye. Not too long ago, the Baltimore-Washington area was third in the country after Los Angeles and New York for film and TV production. However, thanks to Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley and a Democratic-majority legislature full of believers in high taxes and big government — who also, disastrously, have no comprehension whatsoever of the concept of competition, or the remotest inkling that they were in one where the film business was concerned AND WINNING — Maryland’s film industry has been almost completely destroyed

The mindset was explained thusly:

“It’s like, if I gave you one dollar and you gave me back 20 cents, you’d still have made 80 cents. But the state doesn’t think of it as making 80 cents. They just think, ‘Hey, we gave you 20 cents!‘”

Not the best news plan if you want to create jobs, does anyone else have a different plan?

At American Freedom Barbara Espinosa is not thrilled with the president of Mexico these days:

How will drones be able to stop the violence, sure it can pinpoint a location and take a picture? The use of drones will help law enforcement patrol the border more effectively.. That is a big problem the real conservatives have with the GOP.
Build the fence and push for it. All Democrats are trying to do is acquire a new voting populace. He has no intention of enforcing existing laws. And Calderon is NOT on our side. What has he done to take care of his own populace? What has he done to create jobs, REALLY fight the corruption? I call BS and if you really represent us, you will too.

She has some VERY GRAPHIC EXAMPLES of what is going on just over the border.

The Lonely Conservative’s headline and first paragraph says it all:

Millions of Deaths Be Damned! Dalai Lama is Still a Marxist!. No wonder his people live in exile and poverty. Ironic that they’re in exile from a Marxist land. When it comes to Marxist ideology common sense never has been in vogue.

You would think Tibet never happened. Robert Stacy has a suggestion.

Meanwhile on a different subject Andrea of the Job corps fraud blog finds the bugs in the system bedbugs that is:

While trolling the internet for buried stories about Job Corps mis-management I found a Facebook Page called The Scupper. This is no ordinary page mind you, its author is apparently a student/staff who wanted to share the truth behind the bed bug infestation at Flint/Genesee Job Corps Center… The Scupper’s site is replete with pictures and information that has so far been successfully white-washed by its “business community liaison ” Verona Terry. She/he did a great job downplaying the seriousness of the situation and minimizing the size and scope of the infestation.

It certainly doesn’t inspire confidence.

and finally speaking of confidence DaScienceGuy notes a problem with people who fund research:

What bothers me is that I have been reading a lot of history books. There is no doubt in my mind that scientists, engineerings, experimentalists, etc are responsible for things like the wheel, things like the laser….All manner of stuff.

Modern day politicians and companies have the folks who fund this research so scared that if a project doesn’t work they’ll be fired that you almost can’t get research funded that is anywhere risky. You almost have to prove it will work before you can get funding to make it work.

How do you make REAL progress doing this. Sure you can make incremental progress made but real revolutionary process can’t be done.

Of course it would be a lot easier to fund science if people weren’t making stuff up.

My review through the Amazon Vine program of the Book The Science of Doctor Who due to be released May 27th 2010 is available at Amazon.com here.

I actually got this book in the middle of lent and only finished it recently. It really wasn’t worth waiting months for.

What the Bible is and what it isn’t

Posted: March 9, 2010 by datechguy in catholic, opinion/news
Tags: , ,

One of the things that generates a lot of debate concerning religion is the nature of the bible. This is a subject that has entranced scholars for centuries.

If you want to study and understand history and western civilization you have to know the bible. Even the great atheists such as Christopher Hitchens understand this as true, but in my opinion it is even more important to understand two things about the Bible:

What it is designed to be.

What it is not designed to be.

First of all what is the purpose of the bible…
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