I guess the Pentagon truly hates its employees and does not want to support the troops. They have started asking for some enlistment bonus money back from soldiers who get injured and aren’t capable of finishing their enlistment. I suppose next they’ll be asking the families of dead soldiers for a refund as well, the US military leadership disgusts me. Read the whole story at KDKA, hat tip to Ed at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. Ed points out an independent organization you can use to actually support soldiers at AnySoldier.com.
Cell Phone Jammer Foolishness
Last weeks edition of The McLaughlin Group had the stupidest debate ever.
Chatter Zapper.
Is it a new wave of technology, or is it an anti-wave? They’re called cell phone jammers, capable of voiding any conversation within 20 feet. This combative technology has been called “revenge tech” or “design noir” or “annoyance tech.”
We’ve all been there. You’re sitting on a sold-out train, a crowded bus. It starts with a cell phone ring, some zany, cacophonous sound. Then the person sitting next to you picks up her cell phone. The agony begins; first the retelling of her day, then it is a round of “He said, she said,” then what’s for dinner.
Unobtrusively you reach over and take out your “revenge tech” device — zap. That takes care of that.
I think it’s a pseudo-problem. It’s a pseudo- problem, because technology will now devise a jam-proof telephone or the chatter will not work.
-John McLaughlin
The reason I call this the stupidest debate ever on the show is that jammers are illegal, period. They have been illegal my whole lifetime and they will remain illegal as long as humans want to have usable radio technology. This is not a new technology, as long as there has been radio there has been radio jamming technology. They are confusing a new product with a new technology and ignoring the reality of the FCC rules.
In case you don’t think jammers will get you into deep trouble, here’s the FCC penalty.
Fines for a first offense can range as high as $11,000 for each violation or imprisonment for up to one year, and the device used may also be seized and forfeited to the U.S. government.
For more information and the rules for other countries see this Wikipedia article.
**** UPDATE ****
More information at this newer post
Blogroll update
Rob Knop of Galactic Interactions has posted that he is closing down his blog. I will miss his contributions to teaching an astronomy newbie like me about some of the coolest discoveries in the field. I will also miss reading his perspective on other issues that so often made me think more deeply about the issue. Farewell Rob and I wish you all the best in your endeavors.
There is some consolation in knowing that Phil will still be giving me great information on astronomy and that I now have room to add someone else to my RSS reader and Blogroll.
Who should I add? That’s a tough decision, there are more excellent blogs out there than I can possibly keep up with. While my inclination was to add a science blog to replace the science blog that is gone, PZ pointed me to a post today that really struck a cord with me.
The blogger who I’m adding is Greta Christina who I have read other excellent posts by in the past including this excellent post that was part of the recent Skeptics Circle. Another earlier post, Short Memories: AIDS Denialism and Vaccine Resistance, had also impressed me with her thoughtful writing and humor.
The post from Greta that I read today, Atheists and Anger, I found very informative.
I get angry when advice columnists tell their troubled letter-writers to talk to their priest or minister or rabbi… when there is absolutely no legal requirement that a religious leader have any sort of training in counseling or therapy.
And I get angry when religious leaders offer counseling and advice to troubled people — sex advice, relationship advice, advice on depression and stress, etc. — not based on any evidence about what actually does and does not work in people’s brains and lives, but on the basis of what their religious doctrine tells them God wants for us.
This really struck a chord with me because my Dad felt the same way as Greta and taught me to see the truth in this position. As I’ve written previously, my Dad was an American Baptist Minister the sect of Baptists who teach the absolute necessity of complete freedom of religion and equal rights with tolerance for all (ref. Roger Williams, Martin Luther King Jr.). He always taught everyone that mental and physical illness need to be addressed by medical and mental health professionals not religious professionals. In fact he told me that both times he moved on to new churches it was mainly due to church members too often trying to use him as a free substitute for mental health professionals. My Dad felt his proper role was to give advice on issues of faith and anyone who asked for help with non-faith issues he tried as hard as possible to get them to go to an appropriate professional.
Good Washington Post Articles
I ended up reading a couple of good articles from the Washington Post today. The first is, On Vaccines, Immune to Reason, tip of the Dr. Doom mask to Orac for pointing this out to me.
I somehow stumbled on this other WaPo article today as well. The article is a year and a half old but well worth reading the whole thing.
IPCC and Al Gore win the Peace Prize!
As you should have heard by now, the IPCC and Al Gore have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Congratulations to the 1000’s of people working with the IPCC and to Mr. Gore. All of you deserve to be recognized for your hard work on this critical issue.
I like Scientific American’s blog post about this, Nobel committee to climate change deniers: “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries.”
Then go see the crazed responses from denialists that Tim has rounded up for our amusement over at Deltoid: Gore Derangement Syndrome.
Arrrgh, they're at it again
The wackos are at it again promoting the false claim of more soldiers dying in peace time than in war time. Here’s a good post bringing sanity back to the discussion also check out my previous post on this, Ignoring reality and faking the stats, for actual data from the DOD.
More OTA information
Over at the denialism blog there is a post with a nice history of the OTA. There is also a list of links to other blogs who have posted on this subject at the end of the article, thanks for the link Mark. After you’ve made up your mind that we need the OTA back, go sign the petition and if you can, write or call your senators and congressman to ask them to bring back the OTA.
(I’m sure my three readers will all come to this conclusion because they are obviously very intelligent, they read my crap musings).
More Moonie info
I watched some of “The Stand” on the SciFi channel recently so I can’t resist saying, M-O-O-N that spells theocracy. 😉
Ed Brayton has posted two more articles in his series “Bad Moon Rising” over at Michigan Messenger. Two more excellent posts in this so far excellent series, read part 4 here and part 5 here.
Some good mainstream Rachel Carson and DDT coverage
On this weeks Bill Moyers Journal they had nice coverage of the Rachael Carson and DDT topic, you can watch and/or read the transcript online. They also have a good article on their blog “E.O. Wilson on Rachel Carson” more show information here.
In the blogosphere, Tim and Bug Girl both pointed out a good new post by Aaron Swartz at FAIR , “Rachel Carson, Mass Murderer?“. Also, I’ve been pointed to more good posts on this topic by Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, see DDT and Rachel Carson .
Of course there is always tons of great info this topic via Tim of Deltoid here and Bug Girl here, here and, here.
The Rev. Moon and his Unification Church
Ed Brayton has been writing a series of articles for the Michigan Messenger on the Rev. Moon and his church entitled “Bad Moon Rising”. I remember when the Moonies first appeared in the US I was around 15. I thought they were just another silly cult that wouldn’t go far and would hopefully disappear. My Dad, an American Baptist minister at the time, told me he thought they’d be around a long time and he was concerned about their potential to cause problems here in the US. Well after reading Ed’s three articles I have to say, Dad, you were right.
Paul Hutchinson's Blog 