World War II: The Historian's view

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Ideas / how_good_was_the_good_war

I came to this one via Metafilter, which is hitting on all cylinders today. It's a good update for those who don't follow recent historical analyses of WW II. Few American papers would dare today to print this.

The Triumph of the Will: How to believe the earth is cooling down.

George Monbiot Junk Science

...For the past three weeks, a set of figures has been working a hole in my mind. On April 16th, New Scientist published a letter from the famous botanist David Bellamy. Many of the world’s glaciers, he claimed, “are not shrinking but in fact are growing. ... 555 of all the 625 glaciers under observation by the World Glacier Monitoring Service in Zurich, Switzerland, have been growing since 1980.”(1) His letter was instantly taken up by climate change deniers. And it began to worry me. What if Bellamy was right?

He wasn't. It turns out Bellamy was deluded and, based on his age and prior reputation, is perhaps now a bit demented.

That's the story, however. In an appropriately footnoted article, more like a journal article than an essay, Monbiot tracks down the source of some common statistics championed by those who wish strongly to believe that the earth is not getting warmer. He follows the numbers to the door of ... Lyndon Larouche.

Larouche. That is one heck of an influential nutcake.

Monbiot has done a fantastic job. This article deserves to be featured in many a university.

Dominionism - a term for the ideology of the violent christian theocracy

Orcinus

Orcinus has a long posting on totalitarianism. It's all interesting, but this quote from a Chris Hedges interview stood out. Dominionism is a good word. Emphases mine.

...If you look at the ideology that pervades this movement, and the term we use for it is dominionism, it comes from Genesis, where the sort of founders of this movement, Rousas Rushdoony and others, talk about how God gave man -- this is a very patriarchal movement -- dominion over the land. And dominionists believe that they have been tasked by God to create the Christian society through violence, I would add. Violence, the aesthetic of violence is a very powerful component within this movement. The ideology, when you parse it down and look what it's made up of, is essentially an ideology of exclusion and of hatred. It is a totalitarian ideology. It is not religious in any way. These people quote, as they did at this convention, selectively and with gross distortions from the Gospels. You cannot read the four Gospels and walk away and tell me that Jesus was not a pacifist. I'm not a pacifist, but Jesus clearly was. They draw from the Book of Revelations the only time in the Bible, and that's a very questionable book, as Biblical scholars have pointed out for centuries, the only time when you can argue that Jesus endorsed violence and the apocalyptic visions of Paul. And they do this to create an avenging Christ.

They have built a vision of America that is radically -- and a vision of this -- and latched onto a religious movement or awakening that is radically different from previous awakenings, and there have been several throughout American history. In all religious revivals, Christian religious revivals in American history, the pull was to get believers to remove themselves from the contaminants of secular society. This one is very, very different. It is about taking control of secular society. And, of course, I think, as you and others have done such a good job of pointing out, they have built this dangerous alliance with the neoconservatives to essentially create across denominational lines. And we saw this at the convention with the, you know, radical Catholics with -- even there were even people from the Salvation Army; they have recently begun reaching out to the Mormons -- a kind of united front. Those doctrinal differences are still there and still stock, but a front to create what they term a 'Christian America.'

Interesting quote on involving Mormonism, I've wondered about that. I have only studied the early religious awakenings, but I can believe we are entering new terrain in our history.

There's more in the post.

The bell curve of evil - Josef Stalin and Joseph Kony

Economist.com | Justice versus reconciliation

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group led by Joseph Kony, a man who thinks himself semi-divine, has spent the past 18 years slaughtering peasants, enslaving children and slicing off the lips and noses of conscripts it suspects of disloyalty...

...Mr Kony's gang has reportedly abducted more than 20,000 children. Some are forced to fight, some to carry bags, others to have sex with the fighters. By way of initiation, many are obliged to club, stamp or bite to death their friends and relatives, and then to lick their brains, drink their blood and even eat their boiled flesh.

Sure, Stalin killed perhaps 1000 times as many people as Joseph Kony had. Stalin had the opportunity and talent to fully maximize the harm of his evil. And yet, without that opportunity, he might have been just another vile and nasty thug.

Kony, on the other hand, may be "one in a million", among the top 1000 most fundamentally evil men of our world. I suspect even Saddam, bin Laden, Mao and Stalin would find him somewhat repulsive, though Mengele might recognize a kindred spirit.

There may yet be hope for a weak justice. The ICC is not strong, but it is persistent. Very persistent...

... the ICC [International Criminal Court] is determined to succeed in northern Uganda. Its credibility is at stake. Catching Mr Kony may take years or even decades. But unlike other international tribunals, the ICC is permanent. There is no time limit for its work. Its indictments, once issued, remain in force until the indictee is either tried or dead. It can wait for Mr Kony, who may incidentally be running out of hiding places.

His fellow Acholis hate him. His friends in Sudan are turning their backs on him. Donors are pressuring Mr Museveni to pacify the north (and to abide by constitutional term limits, but that is another story). Mr Kony might hope to hide in a state that is not a party to the ICC. But who would want him?

Gamma ray burster - black hole birth?

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Blast hints at black hole birth

Gamma Ray Burst 050509b may have come from the collision of two massive neutron starts in a mature elliptical galaxy.

To the surprise of the astronomers, the brief burst came from the outskirts of an old elliptical galaxy.

"This was remarkable," said Professor Bloom, "it seems to be coming from a fairly old galaxy, a galaxy with no new stars being formed."

"We have never seen a Gamma Ray Burst coming from an old galaxy like this before."

Astronomers divide Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) into two types. The long duration type seems to come from the collapse of young massive stars into black holes.

The short duration type - like GRB 050509b - appears to come from the collision of two neutron stars (which also result in black holes) or a neutron star and a black hole.

We live in a reasonably mature elliptical galaxy. These are the galaxies that, based on a data point of one, can support technological civilization(s). This burst of gamma rays might represent the demise of whatever might have been in that galaxy.

I'm trying Copernic Desktop Search 1.5 again -- because they claim to index Eudora

Faughnan's Tech: Copernic/AOL: current leader in the sponsored (freebie) Windows desktop search race

I think Yahoo Desktop Search (X1 freebie) is the best PC desktop search tool -- except it doesn't index Eudora. X1 commercial does -- for $80. There was rumor of a Google Desktop Search plugin, but it's not there yet. So, for home, where I use Eudora still on my PC, I'm going to try Copernic 1.5 again.

Update to come.

The genetics of anxiety: the shortened serotonin transporter gene

FuturePundit: Gene Version Prevents Cingulate From Suppressing Amygdala Fear Response

In most people the cingulate downregulates the amygdala. In persons with short copies of the serotonin transporter gene this downregulation fails. The active amygdala produces the sensation of anxiety.

SSRIs act by altering the production of the serotonin transporter protein, thus their delayed therapeutic benefit.

This appears to be a significant breakthrough.

Strange mercies - the bomber lives, the child dies

Michael Yon : Online Magazine: Rounding Up Bombers

An odd follow-up to the story of the child Farah, dying in the arms of a US soldier.

"Deuce Four" capture five men they believe (with good reason) to be terrorists planting IEDs (they're terrorists since they attack Iraqis -- if they were attacking just our guys they'd be insurgents). One is badly wounded in the fighting:

LTC Kurilla ordered the medic to try to save him. So they took him to same hospital where Sgt Davis died last week; the same one that little Farah never made it to, and there he is, still alive, his bombing days are over.

It would be a bitter irony if this man had built the bomb that killed Farah and the other children.

The $10 toy that's a densely entrained neural network

Boing Boing: Cool Tools on 20Q, a twenty-questions gadget

This is how Skynet gets going.

Burned into its 8-bit chip is a neural net that has been learning for 17 years. Inventor Robin Burgener programmed a simple neural net on a DOS machine 1988. He taught it 20 questions about a cat. He than passed the program around to friends on a floppy and had them challenge the neural net with their yes/no answers to the object they had in mind. The neural net learns only when it plays a game; no data is added except for the yes/no answers of visitors. So the more people who test it, the more they teach it. In 1995 Burgener put the now robust neural net onto the new web where anyone could play it (that is, train it) 24 hours a day. And they did. Burgener's genius was to turn the hard tedious work of training a neural net into a fun game for humans.

Forget the first sentient AI arising from a global defense grid. It will be a sentient child's toy in 2025 that takes over.

Cyborg nation

Boing Boing: Monkeys treat robot arm as bonus appendage

Monkeys integrate a robot arm as an extra appendage, not a replacement. Of course they also have working tails ...

Dr. Octopus would be proud.

86% of Alabamians want a verbal opening school prayer

and I don't think they mean a prayer to Krishna...

Auburn University News

SURVEY FINDS ALMOST ALL ALABAMIANS ARE RELIGIOUS AND WANT PRAYER BACK IN SCHOOL

AUBURN – Nearly all (96 percent) of Alabamians surveyed profess to be religious, no surprise in a state which is in the heart of the “Bible Belt.” Similarly, there is overwhelming support for a return to prayer in state schools.

These are among the findings of a recent Ask Alabama public opinion survey, conducted by the Center for Governmental Services at Auburn University. Ask Alabama releases periodic results of polls on topics of interest to Alabamians.

The vast majority (92 percent) favors silent prayer or meditation at the opening of the school day, with only slightly less support for open verbal prayer in class. A similar number favors prayer at the beginning of school sports events.

“This indicates that Alabama’s residents perceive the benefits of formal school prayer in the public schools far outweigh any concerns regarding separation of church and state,” says Ask Alabama director Jim Seroka. “Most Alabamians clearly prefer that court-imposed restrictions on public prayer in schools be relaxed.”

Opinion on religion in class instruction is more moderate. When questioned on preferences between the theory of evolution versus creationism or intelligent design, only 8 to 12 percent favored teaching one explanation over another.

“Most agree that religious-based explanations should be given a place in the public school classroom,” notes Seroka. “However, if given a choice, most Alabamians (62 percent) would prefer public school teachers be able to present both religious explanations and evolutionary theory.”

Other findings of the Ask Alabama poll on Alabamians and Religion in the Schools include:

* 47 percent of Alabamians surveyed characterize themselves as very religious.

* 49 percent consider themselves to be somewhat religious.

* Only 3 percent consider themselves as not religious.

* 86 percent support an opening school prayer; 11 percent discourage it.

Houston, we have a problem.

Forget all this stuff discounting the importance of theology and religion in US politics. These numbers blow that away.

I think we can assume all the prayers are to be Christian; I doubt they're thinking of rotating a few prayers to Allah, Krishna and Buddha and maybe a Wiccan chant or two.

The news report doesn't break the numbers out very well, but I assume from the above that only about 10% of Alabamians would favor teaching standard biology in science education.

Looking for a silver lining in these numbers, I suppose Alabamian secularists (there might be five of 'em) might be able to ask that Creationism be explicitly labeled as a religious explanation and natural selection be explicitly labeled as a scientific explanation. I'm more comfortable with that than with the fakery of the "intelligent design" agenda.

Better to completely sacrifice any vestige of Protestant-State separation than to corrupt the meaning of words.

I wonder if "America the Protestant" will end up being a big issue in the upcoming Senate races?

The law as a weapon: suing for unpleasant reviews - Maui X-Stream and CherryOS

DrunkenBlog: Deconstructing Maui X-Stream

A Mac OS Blog has a very long post about Maui X-Stream, CherryOS, and the abuse of the law to suppress communication. Bottom line, the somewhat anonymous author of this OS X hobbyist site had to retain legal counsel. Once he'd retained counsel, he went to town on Maui X-Stream.

Allegedly Maui X-Stream is a fraudulent enterprise that illegally used open source code to create a semi-fake product that supposedly allowed PC users to run OS X software on their machines. Many bloggers exposed their maneuvers and the company then withdrew the product. Subsequently it's hired lawyers, perhaps working on contingency, to threaten reviewers with a "slander" suit. One possibility is the lawyers are looking primarily for 'out-of-court' "settlements" (aka shakedowns) and they'll split the earnings with Maui X-Stream. Of course that's only one possibility, perhaps Maui X-Stream feels they were badly done by and they're paying the lawyers good money up front.

In a totalitarian state the government suppresses speech. It is the genius of capitalism that in our nation lawyers-gone-bad can now serve a similar function. The market will find a way!

The primary defense is daylight, lots of daylight. United, we can still win this one. If we don't speak now, it will only get worse.

On Al Qaeda in 2004 and Eckankar in 1979: the believers and the cynics

VOA News - US Forces Arrest Key Insurgents in Iraq

A US Colonel reports that captured insurgents are often quite cooperative:

Colonel Chase reports that the mid- and higher-level insurgent leaders are more likely to provide information than lower-level insurgents, who, he says, are often more ideologically committed than their leaders. 'These are not ten-feet-tall dedicated, die-hard terrorists for the most part, particularly the higher in the level,' he said. 'Certainly, the low level (insurgents) appear to be people that are dedicated to a cause, but the mid- and high-level (insurgents) are very quick to turn on each other.'

Ordinarily I'd write this off as good basic propaganda practice. Except, it reminds of me of something from a past life.

As a college student who looked remarkably naive and even younger than his young years, I was often approached by a variety of cult recruiters, from Eckankar to the Moonies to the Scientologists. For some reason I enjoyed attending cult meetings (I had no money, so my hobbies had to be inexpensive) and I'd routinely accept if I had the time -- excepting remote compounds where one might have a long hard walk home.

What I discovered was that the initiates and lower level staffers were genuine true believers. Unsurprisingly they were often wounded and troubled. Above them, however, were a revolting set of cynics who, I suspect, enjoyed the perks of power. To most adults these rotters were quite unconvincing, but they knew how to manipulate the vulnerable. They were also good at spotting ringers like me, and making sure we weren't invited to the "next level".

I can believe that a terrorist/insurgent organization might have quite a bit in common with those cults. Troubled, lost souls to blow themselves up -- true believers all. Above them, the most vile of cowards.

Which is to say, maybe Colonel Chase is telling the truth after all.

Grokker - Visualizing search results

Grok Faughnan

Grok was coined by Robert Heinlein, in 'A Stranger in a Strange Land'. It had a meaning of deep & mystical understanding. Good name for a visualization tool.

This was a commercial product, but now it runs in Java for free (ad supported). They're using Yahoo for results. I've tested in Firefox PC, I'll try Mac in an update.

The above search is on my last name; a handy testing tool for me! :-).

Grokker is certainly interesting. I'll play with it.

Krugman nails the Bush "plan" for social security: future cuts to prevent ... future cuts?!

The Final Insult - New York Times

But Mr. Bush isn't calling for small sacrifices now. Instead, he's calling for zero sacrifice now, but big benefit cuts decades from now - which is exactly what he says will happen if we do nothing. Let me repeat that: to avert the danger of future cuts in benefits, Mr. Bush wants us to commit now to, um, future cuts in benefits.

At last, someone noticed this. The alleged "Bush plan" now (supposedly) calls for means testing benefits and cutting them for the "wealthy". All very fine and progressive, but it's a benefit cut. It also emphatically demonstrates that government can't be trusted to fill the "deal" for past benefits; though I assume this could be "grandfathered" (in which case it might not help very much).

Even if I had an ounce of faith and trust in President Bush, I'd still look askance at this "plan". Since I have zero faith or trust in Bush or the Republican Party, it's a non-starter. The odd disadvantage of one-party government is that there's no true negotiation, hence no basis for trust -- especially given Bush's track record. The professor continues with devastating hits:

Suppose you're a full-time Wal-Mart employee, earning $17,000 a year. You probably didn't get any tax cut. But Mr. Bush says, generously, that he won't cut your Social Security benefits.

Suppose you're earning $60,000 a year. On average, Mr. Bush cut taxes for workers like you by about $1,000 per year. But by 2045 the Bush Social Security plan would cut benefits for workers like you by about $6,500 per year. Not a very good deal.

Suppose, finally, that you're making $1 million a year. You received a tax cut worth about $50,000 per year. By 2045 the Bush plan would reduce benefits for people like you by about $9,400 per year. We have a winner!