Posts for 2005-10 by George Hernandez

2005-10-06t17:12:41Z | TAGS: Conservation. Faith; Philosophy;. Health. Make. Play. Quirky [Possibly NSFW]. Show Biz.
2005-10-06t17:12:41Z

Conservation

Gas pump speed bump for SUVs: Chrysler, Japanese show stronger sales _{[http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0510040047oct04,1,7936442.story]}
- I'm actually surprised. Usually American need more kicking in the nuts before they change. I used to be anit-SUV, but now I figure that using up the oil more quickly will make force us to convert to sustainable resources sooner.
- 'Sales of sport-utility vehicles ran out of gas in September, giving General Motors and Ford dismal results for the month while the Chrysler Group and major Japanese brands [esp. Toyota and Honda] gained ground.'
- 'The dramatic drop in truck sales hit hardest at GM, whose sales plunged 24 percent to 344,797 vehicles, and Ford, which fell 19 percent to 228,157.'
- 'Toyota, Honda and Nissan posted double-digit increases and all reported record September sales because of surging interest in passenger cars. Car sales were up 22 percent at Toyota and Honda and 26 percent at Nissan.'

Faith; Philosophy;

Cross-National Correlations of Quantifiable Societal Health with Popular Religiosity and Secularism in the Prosperous Democracies [http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/2005/2005-11.html]
- This study correlates religious prosperous democracies as having higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion than secular prosperous democracies.
- 'In the twentieth century extensive secularization occurred in western nations, the United States being the only significant exception (Bishop; Bruce; Gill et al.; Sommerville). If religion has receded in some western nations, what is the impact of this unprecedented transformation upon their populations?'
- 'Among the developing democracies absolute belief in God, attendance of religious services and Bible literalism vary over a dozenfold, atheists and agnostics five fold, prayer rates fourfold, and acceptance of evolution almost twofold. Japan, Scandinavia, and France are the most secular nations in the west, the United States is the only prosperous first world nation to retain rates of religiosity otherwise limited to the second and third worlds (Bishop; PEW).'
- 'By removing the need for a creator evolutionary science made belief optional. When deciding between supernatural and natural causes is a matter of opinion large numbers are likely to opt for the latter. Western nations are likely to return to the levels of popular religiosity common prior to the 1900s only in the improbable event that naturalistic evolution is scientifically overturned in favor of some form of creationist natural theology that scientifically verifies the existence of a creator. Conversely, evolution will probably not enjoy strong majority support in the U.S. until religiosity declines markedly.'
- 'In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy, and abortion in the prosperous democracies'
- 'If the data showed that the U.S. enjoyed higher rates of societal health than the more secular, pro-evolution democracies, then the opinion that popular belief in a creator is strongly beneficial to national cultures would be supported. Although they are by no means utopias, the populations of secular democracies are clearly able to govern themselves and maintain societal cohesion. Indeed, the data examined in this study demonstrates that only the more secular, pro-evolution democracies have, for the first time in history, come closest to achieving practical "cultures of life" that feature low rates of lethal crime, juvenile-adult mortality, sex related dysfunction, and even abortion. The least theistic secular developing democracies such as Japan, France, and Scandinavia have been most successful in these regards. The non-religious, pro-evolution democracies contradict the dictum that a society cannot enjoy good conditions unless most citizens ardently believe in a moral creator. The widely held fear that a Godless citizenry must experience societal disaster is therefore refuted.'
- 'The United States' deep social problems are all the more disturbing because the nation enjoys exceptional per capita wealth among the major western nations (Barro and McCleary; Kasman; PEW; UN Development Programme, 2000, 2004). Spending on health care is much higher as a portion of the GDP and per capita, by a factor of a third to two or more, than in any other developing democracy (UN Development Programme, 2000, 2004). The U.S. is therefore the least efficient western nation in terms of converting wealth into cultural and physical health. Understanding the reasons for this failure is urgent, and doing so requires considering the degree to which cause versus effect is responsible for the observed correlations between social conditions and religiosity versus secularism.'
- See the trend from J=Japan (most secular) to F=France to U=U.S. (most religious).
Kitzmiller v DASD [MetaFilter.com/mefi/45669]
- How onerous. This fires up MetaFilter to nearly a Presidential year level.
- 'Intelligent Design on trial! The ACLU of PA is blogging the current trial in Dover, PA between the parents of students and the local school board which wants to teach students Intelligent Design. Over at The Panda's Thumb, they're also keeping track of the goings on. The main ACLU website has statements from most of the plaintiff's experts in the case, including this long, well-supported pdf from philsopher Barbara Forrest, whose testimony is being used to dismantle the canard that ID is not Creationism. Over at the Legal Affairs Debate Club Beckwith and Laylock argued, last week, about whether teaching ID is legal. For background: this 2002 special report from Natural History Magazine on Intelligent Design Creationism. '
Seeing Creation and Evolution in Grand Canyon [NYTimes.com/2005/10/06/science/sciencespecial2/06canyon.html]
- These people are adults? In this century? Who can read? Who went to school? Who can experiment?
- 'For Mr. Vail and 29 guests on his Canyon Ministries trip, this was vacation as religious pilgrimage, an expedition in search of evidence that God created the earth in six days 6,000 years ago, just as Scripture says. That same week, a few miles upriver, a decidedly different group of 24 rafters surveyed the same rock formations - but through the lens of science rather than what Mr. Vail calls "biblical glasses." Sponsored by the National Center for Science Education, the chief challenger to creationists' influence in public schools, this trip was a floating geology seminar, charting the canyon's evolution through eons of erosion. "Look at the weathering, look at the size of the pieces," Eugenie C. Scott, the center director, said of markings in Black Tail Canyon. "To a standard geologist, to somebody who actually studies geology, this just shouts out at you: This is really old; this is really gradual." Two groups examining the same evidence. Traveling nearly identical itineraries, snoozing under the same stars and bathing in the same chocolate-colored river. Yet, standing at opposite ends of the growing creation-evolution debate, they seemed to speak in different tongues. '
- ' "I won't defend evolution," Dr. Scott said in exasperation one evening. "We don't defend the spherical Earth. We need to stop defending, as they put it, Darwinism, and just make them show they have a scientific view." '
  - Right on!
- ' "Ultimately, creationism is not just bad science to me, it's bad Christianity, it's Bible worship," said Mr. Gishlick, 32, a paleontology Ph.D. "There's just no reason to look at these patterns of layered sediment, or in the fossil record, or at the stars, and think that what you're seeing isn't what you're seeing. God doesn't require you to be stupid, to deny what you see, to deny what you know." '
  - Right on!
- ' She said she asked God whether her role as an evolution advocate was meant to be her mission. "I say, 'God, if this is wrong, if I'm wrong, please strike me with lightning, because I don't want to be walking down the wrong path.' " '
  - Ah there's her proof.
- ' "I don't really care how they reconcile Noah's flood with scientific things - it's about religion," protested Mary Murray, 54, an artist from Laguna Beach, Calif., who came with her biology-professor husband. "We shouldn't be talking about religion at all in the public schools." '
  - Right on!

Health

146 Reasons Why Sugar Is Ruining Your Health [Rheumatic.org/sugar.htm]. Complete with 146 references too. I dunno --I still like Krispy Kremes.

Make

Symbols [metafilter.com/mefi/45579]
- ' ✚ ☾ ♢? The addition of a third protective symbol (fourth, if you count this happy lion) will allow the Magen David Adom of Israel to join the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies after over 50 years. It might look odd, but a lot of other symbols we take for granted have interesting recent origins. ☮ was designed in 1958. ☣ was created by Dow in 1966. ☢ first appeared as a doodle in the 1940s. The symbols of the planets have many origins, but here on earth, the origins of ☺ remain so convoluted that it might take a fictional "symbologist" to sort it all out. '
  - The red cross of the Red Cross is neutral and not specifically Christian because it was a reversal of the Swiss flag. However the Christian association of any cross cannot be ignored so I think a new "red crystal" symbol is a worthy secular attempt.
  - Nice trivia on the other symbols too.
- 'Switzerland plans to convene a conference by the end of the year at which the 192 countries party to the Geneva conventions will be asked to approve the red crystal, a red square tilted on its edge against a white background.'
- So instead of a CRoss or a CRescent, you get a CRystal? How succinct and secular. The Brights had their logo contest and didn't come up with anything nearly as good. Would the Internationa Red Cross/Crescent rename themselves as the International Red Crescent?
- I need a photo of a Red Crystal crew rescuing some poor chump smashed into a tree that's right next to a black diamond ski run sign.
- Related: Red Cross [W].
Photoshop Magic Melts Prison Bars [Wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69035,00.html]
- I don't know anybody in prison but if I had a loved one in prison or if I ended up in prison, then something like this would provide hope. (This makes me sound like a bleeding heart, eh?)
- 'For $10, Friends Beyond the Wall takes your prison visiting room photo, crops you and your loved one out of it, and digitally inserts you into one of dozens of exotic backgrounds. Instead of standing in front of a cinder block wall, you can be seen leaning on your Jaguar, on safari in Africa or taking a virtual honeymoon in Morocco. '

Play

Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time [MuseumOfHoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/]
- I usually dislike hoaxes and April Fool's Day joke because of my loose grip on reality, but I like #4:
  - 'The Taco Liberty Bell. In 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell from the federal government and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called up the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell is housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed that it was all a practical joke a few hours later. The best line inspired by the affair came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale, and he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold, though to a different corporation, and would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.'
- and #7:
  - 'Alabama Changes the Value of Pi. The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Before long the article had made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly made its way around the world, forwarded by people in their email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by a physicist named Mark Boslough.'

Quirky [Possibly NSFW]

Snake bursts after gobbling gator [news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4313978.stm]
- Weird. The exact same thing happened to me the last time I was at the all-you-can-eat buffet.
- 'An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps. The Burmese python tried to swallow its fearsome rival whole but then exploded. The remains of the two giant reptiles were found by astonished rangers in the Everglades National Park. '

Show Biz

Superman Returns.
- Picks up five years after Superman II (i.e. ignores the events of Superman III and Superman IV).
- 2006-06-30 release. Directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men and X-Men 2). Warner Brothers.
- Note that the Superman's usual straight red is darkened so that it's almost maroon.
- Related:

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