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Who we honor and recognize in this country
Kimberly and I recently drove to Las Vegas for The Amazing Meeting 9 sponsored by the James Randi Educational Foundation. We've long been fans and supporters of Randi and occasional readers of magazines like the Skeptical Inquirer, but this was our first TAM ( Read more... ) -
The tea party vs Sharia Law
I've been hearing, with increasing bafflement and amusement, about yet another crusade by Christian fundamentalists who identify with the so-called American Tea Party. This time their bogeyman is the application of Sharia (Islamic) Law by American courts ( Read more... ) -
Nuclear power in Germany -- cooler heads will ultimately prevail
So Germany has announced that they're going to abandon nuclear power ( Read more... ) -
Defcon: overhyped, overpriced, and poorly run
It's now Sunday in Las Vegas. For most of the weekend I've had a terrible head cold, probably picked up on the plane ride here ( Read more... ) -
My first DEFCON
I'm posting this from DEFCON in Las Vegas. It's my first; I'd been hearing about it from a friend for the past few years and she finally talked me into it ( Read more... ) -
Why are we still using credit cards?
It seems to me a scandal that at the end of 2009 our protocols for financial transactions STILL require me to give every vendor everything he needs to impersonate me to someone else. I.e., this thing called a "credit card number". And my name, card expiration date and CVN ( Read more... ) -
Well, duh....
The American Psychological Association says you can't change your sexual orientation, and trying to do so can cause harm ( Read more... ) -
MARS-500
The MARS-500 project is a Russian simulation of a round trip space flight from Earth to Mars and back. It is being conducted near Moscow ( Read more... ) -
Government spending is not a zero-sum game
Libertarians Conservatives often argue that the economy government spending is a zero-sum game, and that government spending it necessarily decreases everyone's standard of living.
I strongly disagree; the economy is most definitely NOT a zero sum game. The big variable is productivity. This number drops quite a bit when lots of people are out of ( Read more... )