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Tuesday, September 23, 2014

What does a $3000 Armani suit, a tea towel, and Kevlar body armour have in common?

The simple answer is they are made of cloth.

The real answer is that they don't exist in and of themselves. 

Thursday, September 18, 2014

The Farmer's Almanac is an anachronism

According to the wikipedia page on the Farmer's Almanac:

Weather prediction has always been a major feature of the Farmers' Almanac. The Almanac Publishing Company claims readers of the Farmers’ Almanac have attributed an 80 to 85 percent accuracy rate to the publication’s annual forecasts. However independent studies that retrospectively compare the weather with the predictions have not shown them more accurate than chance.

This Almanac may have acted as a guide for farmers but it has shown to have no redeemable value given you are as likely to get it right by guessing or flipping a coin. That is like leaving it to chance

Science is never perfect.  Weather prediction is less than that standard.  But when we understand more we apply more to the problem.  But it's always improving and it's better than chance. You are safer with a real weather prediction than any other method because it is MORE reliable than chance.
Science gives answers and they are better than 50 -50 and clear why.  There is clarity in an honest answer
Here are your choices:  Flip a coin or consult a weather forecast.

The Farmer's Almanac is not worth any interest. It's another old tradition we could do better without. It is an anachronism and if you believe in science you should examine your beliefs about this book.

So there is no reason reporters should use the Farmer's Almanac to predict weather phenomena. They shouldn't give it any press time, they shouldn't ask anyone about it.  Why does it command any respect? The only remarkable quality is that it is an old book with an totally ineffective prediction formula.

If only saying an idea once changed the world, then people would speak softly....instead the loudest words remain.

Monday, September 15, 2014

The Illusion of Sovereignty and Scotland

Max Keiser's Scottish Independence Farce

At the end of Adam Smith's (one of the world's most famous Scots) The Wealth of Nations - which you can download for yourself at the link,  he laments his English king's delusion of control of the American colonies.  He pleads to reason for others to see that you can't control a single people, let alone one across the ocean, without any useful means to do it. As soon as Americans decided to kick out the British soldiers and refuse to pay England the control was lost. 

It must have been a contemporary topic of the time to work it's way into this real economic-meaty book.   But the reality is the same today as it was 300 years ago.  Only the instruments that make a difference should men care about. Sovereignty comes not from ideas but from objects that define the difference.  A flag is a lifeless piece of cloth.  A name is a placeholder for an amalgamation of things. 

Society has realized that money is more powerful than the sword, and for nations banking has become the real currency of civilization.  To be independent yet have no currency is to be subservient to another regime. To allow another country to set your interest rates is to have no control of your destiny.  To make it harder for your citizens to secure loans is to fail them.

So why is Scotland so interested in a flag (symbolic sovereignty) and so unconcerned about financial independence (real sovereignty)?

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Send Polar Bears to Antarctica

If humanity wants to save polar bears, then why not move some of them down to Antarctica?

That would spread the species out to avoid catastrophic extinction, introduce them to a new food source (penguins), and widen their habitat.

Instead of sympathetic ads symbolically supporting polar bears why don't we do something concrete and actually save them?

Monday, September 8, 2014

Math function treasure trove: NIST Digital Library Of Math Functions

Recently, I was searching for a way to convert LaTeX into XHTML format and in the process I found the NIST Digital Library Of Math Functions
Here is the index:

NIST Digital Library Of Math Functions 




When you are in the need of a proper function, the best option is to start from a respectable version.  NIST is a tireless engineering and science bastion on the overwise random nature of the internet.






Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Sin is a meme and not a good one



Pope Francis declares evolution and Big Bang theory are real and God isn't 'a magician with a magic wand' 

It's great the Church is coming around to accept the physics-based explanation of the Universe and origins.  But this approval or validation is not necessary.  Science doesn't care what the Church thinks about it.  The Church is a participant in science as demonstrated by their astronomical interests.  But Science ignores praise over the cold criticism of peer review.

Of greater importance is the acceptance of evolution.  Now that's an admission that will have far reaching consequences for the Christians that still hold onto the belief the Earth is 6000 years old.

On the other hand, it's not cool that he's decided that God isn't a magician and that there was a genesis of the Universe from the Big Bang.  He's offering an alternate theory as to the universe's creation.  Unfortunately, he is not authoring a paper and submitting it for review by scientists.  If he did that, he would have to submit all the proof of his postulates along with his theory.  That would be the true test for the existence of God.

The arrogance of the Church, as cool as Pope Frank may be, is that they decree their views and do not submit to examination.