I haven't really mentioned this before, because in my family there's an unspoken tradition that you don't speak about good things before they happen, in case you jinx them ( Read more... )

A new paper has been released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, entitled "The Global Religious Landscape - A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Major Religious Groups as of 2010". It's getting a lot of press over the fact that the report says that "Unaffiliated" is at 16.3%, making it the 3rd largest grouping after ( Read more... )

I'd previously posted about how DHS-sponsored law enforcement "fusion centers" are utterly failing in their assigned goal, to help local law enforcement work with federal authorities to identify and prevent terror attacks. Instead, they seem to be just another pork barrel.

Now, Senator Tom Coburn has released (PDF) a damning report on the Urban ( Read more... )

This is a rather scary patent filed by Verizon. It's entitled "METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR PRESENTING AN ADVERTISEMENT ASSOCIATED WITH AN AMBIENT ACTION OF A USER". Okay, so what's an "ambient action"? Well, according to the patent, it could include "eating, exercising, laughing, reading, sleeping, talking, singing, humming, cleaning, playing a ( Read more... )

Minnesota State Patrol has a "Drug Recognition Evaluation" course, intended to teach officers how to recognize individuals under the influence of various intoxicants. But, hey, experience is the best teacher, right? It's alleged that two officers involved with the program provided marijuana to individuals who had been lawfully detained during " ( Read more... )

Ever hear of Beeologics? Well, they were one of the premier firms researching Colony Collapse Disorder in bees. I say they "were", because it turns out they were bought by Monsanto last year - this, after several studies implicated a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids in CCD ( Read more... )

Ever hear of "fusion centers"? They're what the DHS came up with after 9/11 to "close the gap" between federal and local law enforcement, to make sure that tips about potential terror plots got passed up the food chain in a timely manner. Except, since I'm blogging about it here, you can probably guess that that's not happening, according to a ( Read more... )

An odd little factoid for you:

In 2010, the US government spent (PDF file, see page 2) $10.17 billion on classification and protection of secrets.

In 2009 (not the same year, but close enough), the US retail confectionery (i.e. candy) market (PowerPoint deck, see slide 10) was $29.3 billion, $16.9 billion of that on chocolate ( Read more... )

City councilors in the Icelandic town of Mosfellsbær are proposing that the town build a museum featuring Icelandic wild animals, as a tourist attraction.

Residents, however, have other ideas.

The Residents' Movement is proposing a museum dedicated to the vulva, saying it would have "more to offer", and "symbolically contribute to gender equality ( Read more... )

At a conference last week, NASA physicist Harold White gave a talk about ongoing experiments at the space agency, designed to see if "warp drive" (essentially, faster-than-light travel without violating the laws of physics) is feasible, among other things.

Miguel Alcubierre, a Mexican Physicist, first proposed a model for warp drive way back in ( Read more... )