Chinahand's Random Stuff

[Chinahand]

A while ago I was whinging about Blogs and Declan made a suggestion that instead of putting stuff into a blog posting I should put it into a "Thoughts of Chairman Chinahand" Thread.

 

I thought it was a bit self-indulgent, but ... well I just couldn't think of a place to put this posting - it isn't personal enough to be a blog post and its too much of a fragment to be worthy of a thread all of its own.

 

So Chinahand's Random Stuff is born! Expect to see occassional stuff added here overtime. It will probably be a bit nerdy!

 

I admit this probably isn't the most interesting post to start it off but anyway ...

 

There is something rotten in the state of ... America.

 

You've got to take in an awful lot of back story in this "Editorial" - but I think it is worth getting though that to the conclusion - that parts of the US media have totally lost the ability to distingish between factual reporting and political lobbying. I believe this is increasingly accurate and massively dangerous for American democracy and, because the US is the most powerful state in the world (and a falling one at that, and hence prickly about its declining influence), the rest of the world.

 

Without an accurate basis to underpin knowledge all you have is dogma. The right left split in the US is increasingly just dogmas with no basis in fact at all, with political lobbyists increasingly happy to make up or cherry pick its facts to fit its dogma. This is massively dangerous, but seems to be growing unchecked.

 

Denial creationism is in my view one of the most dangerous phenomena of modern politics. How to stop it?

[mæŋksmən]

One of your better postings.

And i must say against your natural tendency to stay on the side of the majority.

Although the link you put up just sounds like an i told you so about global warming that you have been argueing.

Edited April 6, 2010 by mæŋksmən

[Chinahand]

The blog Why Evolution is True recently had a competition to "recommend one nonfiction book that you think everyone should read, and explain in no more than three sentences why we should read it. The book need not be about science, though those entries are welcome too."

 

I was busy at the time and after thinking what book I'd recommend I quickly scrolled through the entries to see if anyone had beaten me to it and recommended my choice.

 

I was slightly disappointed when a few entries down there was my choice, and so i never bothered writing my three sentences. But now the winner has been announced and guess what - my recommendation for one nonfiction book which I think everyone should read - Douglas Adams' Last Chance to See - won!

 

So now I've got to come up with 3 sentences to explain why I agree it is simply a book everyone should read!

 

Douglas Adams' Last Chance to See is simply a book which no body owns, you read it and then pass it on to somebody else who does the same and it slowly disintergrates into creased dog-eared paper. There is a certain humanity in all Douglas Adams' writings, but this book documenting the plight of the world's most endangered animals, the environments they live in and the people working to save them adds to this a certain wisdom warning us all about the damage we our doing to the planet. Adams' gentle and off beat humour is made to be shared, either through recounting his anecdotes, or by passing on his book to someone else, I cannot recommend a better book, or a more important subject - please read this book, and then pass it on to somebody else!

 

[Moghrey Mie]

A while ago I was whinging about Blogs and Declan made a suggestion that instead of putting stuff into a blog posting I should put it into a "Thoughts of Chairman Chinahand" Thread.

 

I thought it was a bit self-indulgent, but ... well I just couldn't think of a place to put this posting - it isn't personal enough to be a blog post and its too much of a fragment to be worthy of a thread all of its own.

 

So Chinahand's Random Stuff is born! Expect to see occassional stuff added here overtime. It will probably be a bit nerdy!

 

I admit this probably isn't the most interesting post to start it off but anyway ...

 

There is something rotten in the state of ... America.

 

You've got to take in an awful lot of back story in this "Editorial" - but I think it is worth getting though that to the conclusion - that parts of the US media have totally lost the ability to distingish between factual reporting and political lobbying. I believe this is increasingly accurate and massively dangerous for American democracy and, because the US is the most powerful state in the world (and a falling one at that, and hence prickly about its declining influence), the rest of the world.

 

Without an accurate basis to underpin knowledge all you have is dogma. The right left split in the US is increasingly just dogmas with no basis in fact at all, with political lobbyists increasingly happy to make up or cherry pick its facts to fit its dogma. This is massively dangerous, but seems to be growing unchecked.

 

Denial creationism is in my view one of the most dangerous phenomena of modern politics. How to stop it?

 

 

I guess we can't do much about USA and Fox but we can keep an eye on what is reporting in media here on the island and check it with reality.

[Chinahand]

Interesting article on the Turin Shroud - really really basic stuff - like the ratio of head length to body size and arm lengths are basically impossible unless the corpse in the shroud was massively deformed. But Gothic art of the 13th century regularly used similar distortions as they fitted with artistic sensibilities of the time.

[Chinahand]

I said it would be geeky!

[jimbms]

This reminds me of a little game we used to play in the army, On payday a group of us would each sign a pound note and go to different bars in the garrison and buy a pint with it, the winner was the first one of us to get a signed note in his change after 2 days had passed and the person who signed the note had to buy the winner a 12 pack of beer.

[Chinahand]

Compare drinks to cakes and other sweet stuff - gosh you can get alot of calories in a cup!

 

Clicky do!

 

No wonder obesity is such a problem nowadays.

[Chinahand]

How buggered our we?

 

 

[Chinahand]

Next time someone goes on about the cultural influences on drinking show them

:

 

[jimbms]

Ah Bushy's webcam No.4

[Chinahand]

Sense of scale - from the highest mountains to the deepest seas.

[Chinahand]

The History of Science as an underground map!

 

Link

 

Its an amazingly detailed graphic showing how different scientists have influenced not only their own, but other fields of science.

 

All the big names are there - plus lots of footsoldiers most of whom you'll never have heard of (Gunnar Kallen anyone?) who have done the basic gathering of evidence and ideas to inspire those occassional geniuses who help shift paradigms! Towards the end it gets a bit populist - I'm pretty certain Brian Cox is only there for his TV work - journeyman scientist though he is, doing his bit, but I suspect there are more influential scientists out there without Cox's rock star appeal! But I quibble - its a fascinating piece of work, showing how individuals carrying on the work of their predecessors have expanded humanity's understanding of the world and universe.

 

A more complex version would also need sociologists and economists attempting to understand humanity's place within all this wonder, maybe that's for a latter version!

[Chinahand]

Which way does she spin?

 

If its always one way, look at her with your peripheral vision.

 

Sometimes when she reverses it can take an age to get her to spin back the other way.

 

I can remember as a young'un being mesmerized by this illusion making the old airport radar seem to reverse.

 

[Chinahand]

I found the 60 symbols web site recently and have enjoyed exploring it.

 

, slightly uncomfortably, touches on typical Chinahand territory at the start, but when the scientists discuss their favourite astronomical features their love of their work and nature comes out!