Current Threat Advisory is Orange

Oh, the sheer experience of this trip doesn’t end! Right now I should be back in Toronto, in the office, in meetings all day. Instead, I’m sitting in O’Hare, trying to stay awake after a night of just three hours sleep.

Yesterday, we manage to wrap up on time in the Chicago offices of one of our business partners. I give credit to the careful forward planning. We’re a bunch of process oriented people – and having an agenda for meetings really does help. My original flight last night was at 8:20, but knowing that a storm was heading to Chicago, I arrived early at the airport, and got on the 5:20 flight. Whoo-hoo! Or so I thought.

Around 7:30PM, the snow storm hit the airport. Visibility was gone. I couldn’t see the top of the air traffic control tower. Around 8:30, I finally got to board the American Eagle plane. It was a small plane – an Embraer 145, proudly assembled in Brazil. It was packed. It was hot. But it was ready to go. Whoo-hoo! I’d be getting back to Toronto early, and the pilot told us that once we reached cruising altitude over the lake, the weather would be better. The plane got de-iced – and unlike Toronto, this happened right at the gate – then we made our way to the runway. It took an awful long time to get to the runway, and by the time we stopped, we were right back at a gate. Huh?

Apparently, the de-icing fluid is only effective for a short period of time after it has been sprayed on. We had used up our grace period. We had to be de-iced again. I wasn’t about to complain. Safety first – and I should know something about safety. I wondered about the de-icing fluid however. What the hell was it? It must be some chemical soup that was probably not good for the environment, and here it was being liberally used.

Again, we made our way to the runway, and again, it took an awfully long time, and I started to think that three times must be a charm, when we again found ourselves arriving at a gate. The pilot told us that again, we needed to be de-iced, and also refuel, as we had expended so much fuel exploring the airport in the snow storm. I can’t imagine the amount of jet fuel that was used just going nowhere, really slow. We had already spent two hours rolling around the airport. A minute later, the pilot came back on with the news that the flight was cancelled. Fuck!

I was put on the next flight, this morning at 7AM, and told my luggage was on the plane and it was going to stay there. I was given a choice of hotels, and randomly picked one. I stood outside in the windy freeze waiting for a shuttle bus to arrive, that was driven by a putz who had both feet firmly planted on the both the accelerator and brakes at the same time.

This morning I was back at 5AM for my 7AM flight only to find out it was cancelled and I was moved to the 8:45AM flight. The 8:45 was cancelled and I was moved to the 11:45. So here I am, sitting patiently, probably smelly, definitely in need of a toothbrush, and watching some guy in a purple pastel pants, walk by.

What happened to having my own chartered flight?

Being American

I'm sitting in the Corner Bakery Cafe, downtown Chicago, enjoying a chicken and mushroom stew with coffee. It's lunch time. I'm also giving my feet some rest, since I've been walking for the past couple of hours, taking random photos. The food is good, it's quiet and not too busy, and I can indulge in the bromidic adventurers trudging by. Lunchtime entertainment I suppose.

I flew into Chicago last night, from Toronto. My departure was planned at 6:30PM, but the plane didn't take to the sky until after 7:30. I was the only one on the flight. Yes, the only passenger. I walked on the plane, and the stewardess, an amiable black woman with a bit of a southern American accent, feinting incredulity, declared, "You! You!" I sheepishly told her I was sorry. She told me I could sit wherever I wanted, and so I took the seat at the front of the plane. As we were taxiing to the deicing station, she told me she wasn't going to do the usual safety demonstration, but pointed to where the exits were, and asked if I wanted something to munch on. I passed on what would have been a salt feast.

The flight was thankfully dull. The stewardess remarked a couple of times that it was like I chartered a plane for myself. I wondered while in the air that with no other passengers on the plane, and therefore no one else to share the carbon footprint with, I had probably done an entire lifetime of flying in that one trip. How am I ever going to do justice to the planet for that flight?

As we came into Chicago, the pilot came on the intercom with, "Sir. Yes, I am talking to our only passenger on this flight. Just wanted to let you know that we'll be at the gate in about 20 minutes." That was a first. Never had a pilot address me directly on a plane before -- and neither had I even chartered a plane for myself.

American Airlines probably wanted to treat me to completely new experiences last night. I was the only one on the plane, and I had checked one piece of luggage. Think they could manage to screw that up? Another new experience for me. I had never lost my luggage before. It wasn't the clothes I was worried about. I had actually packed some of my work materials in the luggage so I wouldn't have to lug it in my backpack. I also experienced the calm, uncaring and bureaucratic service of people who trust their processes. The ladies at the baggage counter told me with a smile that there was nothing they could do, other than log the baggage as missing and put a trace on it. They couldn't afford to care. There was a line of whiners and complainers behind me. Hopefully they get danger pay. And I couldn't complain until I had waited for an hour and a half -- because that's how long you need to wait to give the process that didn't work for me, to work.

I left the airport and went to get my rental. I had asked for the cheap, compact car, since I just needed to drive a short distance to Oak Brook and through downtown Chicago. Another new experience awaited me. I got a Dodge Durango SUV, a substitute, at the same price. Not only had I done it to Mother Earth with my chartered flight, here I was being set up to poison the air of Chicago. {Sigh)

I got the hotel after 11PM, after not getting lost driving from O'Hare to Oak Brook. I checked in, and then the only place I could find for supper was Taco Bell. I ordered a taco combo, which was disgusting, but I poured hot sauce over it to make it palatable. It was accompanied with a barrel of pop, which I had a sip of.

This morning, I grabbed a quick bite from the free breakfast the hotel offered. There were no mugs and no plates. It was styrofoam or place the eggs on my hand. I avoided the bacon and ham, even though, after the chartered flight and SUV, it almost felt like a betrayal. I am sure I disappointed the gods who were conniving my faith in America.

My luggage finally made it to the hotel around 10AM this morning as I was readying to face Chicago. Which was good, because it allowed me to brush my teeth and wash away the previous day. I skipped the expressways, and drove through side streets to get to downtown Chicago. I turned up the 80s rock on Sirius radio, and with my orange poofie on (my youngest prefers goofie), I didn't feel the least bit afraid as I drove through some neighborhoods (here's the missing "u" for when I get back home) that have probably never seen better days. I was one with the people, although I got a Samuel L. "Mutha Fucking" Jackson look from a strapping gentleman who jaywalked in front of me. I showed respect. I slowed down to avoid him hitting me.

Lunch was more real than breakfast. It was hearty, if I can say that to describe good food served on styrofoam plates, bowls and paper cups. Good, but what a waste. I'm not sure what the problem is. The Chinese do make real plates, mugs and utensils.

Stupid Women

The NYTimes chronicles a female circumcision event in Indonesia, where women take their daughters, usually before their 14th birthday, to have their genitals brutalize by older women who should really know better. It's a sickening, misogynic act, practiced to keep women in a station of life -- made much worse by women who offer up their daughters to this torture. The thumbnail image to this post is of a 9-month-old baby, who had her genitals mutilated. Backwards -- culturally and religiously. Some places of the world, people are still living in the dark ages.

Stephen Lewis: Tomorrow's Past Matters

I had the second opportunity to see, and more importantly, listen to, Stephen Lewis, this past Monday. Lewis, now in his 70s, was the keynote speaker at on Ontario Heritage Trust event, celebrating their 40th Anniversary. In attendance, on his 86th birthday, was the Trust's chairman, Lincoln M. Alexander. Lewis, while stretching his usual répertoire of being the voice of the poor, the underprivileged, and women, especially in the third world, to the cause of preserving the heritage of Ontario -- remained a remarkable speaker as ever. His topic didn't demand his usual appeal to emotion -- but it nevertheless tugged at the strings when he made mention of UNESCO's championing the allocation of millions of dollars for five national parks in the Congo, while the region remain the most dangerous place in the world for women.

To paraphrase the eloquent poetry my youngest daughter used to describe the talk: for Lewis, words are like an artist's palette; it's wondrous to watch and listen to him make use of them; shape them; play with them; and make them respond to his whim. He is a master orator. One should never pass up the chance to listen to him speak. You can see what I mean below. And for another's take on the night, see this link.

Stephen Lewis' Final Address from the XVI International Conference on AIDS, Toronto, August, 2006.

Related links:
The following links to articles describing brutal violence against women in the Congo. The facts are disturbing, but they remain facts.

• Rape Epidemic Rasies Trauma of Congo War -- New York Times
• Congo's tormented women -- The Star
• U.N. Says Its Workers Abuse Women in Congo -- The Washington Post
• "Not Women Anymore…" -- MS Magazine

The following links are safe.

• Our Common Future -- Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development




The following are part of a Special Section published in the Star, counting down to Earth Hour on March 29. See the special section for more essays.

• On lessons from paradise -- Robert Bateman in the Star on the Island School, a paradise in the Bahamas, where students go to unplug from the world.
• On our greatest treasure -- Stephen Marche in the Star, talking about the Leslie Street Spit.
• On Lake Erie's demise -- Margaret Atwood in the Star, lamenting the slow death of Lake Erie.

Going Hungry in the Global Food Chain

The NYTimes has an article on the changing food chain. There used to be a time when we ate what was grown locally. That was a long, long time ago. With the advent of packaged foods, we could eat foreign food anytime, anywhere, as long as we could afford it. Then came the global shipping industry, making it even easier to eat foreign. Foreign foods didn't need as much packaging anymore, as fresh food can be expedited just about anywhere. Even with shipping, foreign food could be had for cheap. So while we in the industrialized nations bulldozed our farmlands and poured concrete for crop after crop of suburbia, we were secure in the knowledge that the developing world was there to continuously provide slop in our biggie-sized troughs.

We should have known that it wouldn't last. Economically, environmentally and socially, it was not sustainable. We fought economics long and hard, assured in our industrialized superiority to the developing nations of the world. With careless disregard, we sacrificed third world development at the altar of consumption. And the environment: we're awakening only too late to realize what we've done to ours, and trying to convince the aspiring third world to learn from our mistakes. Only no one is listening. It's with irony how it's coming home to roost.

Global energy demand is driving the conversion of some foods to energy to feed our consumable habits. Higher oil prices are impacting the cheap binge of food globalization. It's getting harder and harder to sustain the economics of purchasing foods from the developing nations. Our keenness to assuage our environmental guilt has gotten us fixated on local food production. It may all be a little too late to really steer clear of the impending disaster -- one that we will feel economically, socially and environmentally -- but at least some of us have finally heard the warning. For the rest of you still on that unsustainable high: just remember you were warned of what was coming and but too stupid to change your ways.

Hope for the Dream

On Martin Luther King Day, Barack Obama addresses parishioners at Martin Luther King's church. He's honest, and takes on what's wrong not only in America, but across the world -- the lack of empathy for our fellow men and women. It's one hell of a powerful speech. He takes on homophobia, anti-semitism, xenophobia and lack of hard work to do the right thing.

Obama is too good for America. The man preaches tolerance, truth and respect, in a profession that doesn't value those things. You've got to wonder how long he's going to last. How long will the machine of politics tolerate his flirting with restoring America to its people?

For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays - on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system.

And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community.

We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.

Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. It is played out on television. It is sensationalized by the media. And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation.

So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds. The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others - all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face - war and poverty; injustice and inequality. We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late.

Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts.

See his speech on AlterNet. [The above transcript comes from AlterNet.]

Waiting to Die

This image was taken by Kevin Carter of a starving child struggling to a UN food station, a kilometre away, in 1993. A vulture patiently waits for the child to die. Kevin Carter won the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography in April. In July, he committed suicide.

"I am depressed ... without phone ... money for rent ... money for child support ... money for debts ... money!!! ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings & corpses & anger & pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners...I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."

Today, despite photos like these, children continue to starve around the world, including in our city. How can we look at ourselves in the mirror?

Bush: The Environmental Genius

We’ve been had. The world has been hoodwinked by an environmental genius. I’m still shocked by the realization. It suddenly dawned on me this morning that it’s all been a farce. Wow. Such deception. Such acting ability. The lies, the blatantly moronic actions and seemingly idiotic policies. All pure genius.

It all makes sense now. In the 90s, Dubya knew that Global Warming would cause irreversible damage to the world. Never mind Manhattan and polar bears, Bush knew from his PhD in Geography that countless millions in the lowlands of Bangladesh were in danger, and that if Gore got elected he would try the useless tactic of convincing industry to change, at which he had been failing since the 60s. Heck, Al even invented the internet to convince people and it still didn’t work. Something had to be done. Enter George.

All along he had a seven step plan to save the world:

1. Get Jeb elected in Florida and stack the Supreme Court. Make sure the people of Florida have no chance to express who they really want as president, and steal the 2000 election.
2. At all costs, slow down the flow of oil. George knew that the only way to stop global warming was to stop the burning of fossil fuels. What better way than to shut down the oilfields in the world’s second largest reserve? He needed a way to destroy the Iraqi infrastructure, but congress would never give him the cash. Unless. With the help of his Dad’s CIA peons, he convinced his country that they were under threat, and that his one-time friend Saddam was really a tyrant with WMDs. George was determined to save us, even if it meant sacrificing thousands of young Americans, breaking international law and risking jail time by ignoring the Geneva Conventions.
3. Set the US economy up for collapse by spending exorbitant amounts of money destroying Iraq to drive the government into serious debt, all the while getting Greenspan to encourage banks to lend money to people who couldn’t afford it, creating over confidence in the growth of the economy and a housing boom, enabling millions of contactors to buy massive new F350 trucks, and driving consumer debt to all time highs.
4. Build up international trade, especially with China, so that the world’s economies are all tied together and he can affect them all. Use the American consumers’ confidence to get them addicted to cheap plastic goods from China. Encourage the Chinese to use lead paint in their toys and pesticide in their pet foods.
5. With Iraq oil production stopped, and American consumers buying lead-laden Chinese Barbie dolls by the container ship load, oil prices would rise, and he could now encourage farmers to grow corn for ethanol, guaranteeing steep rises in food prices, and pretty much everything else.
6. When the Chinese toy buying is at its peak, expose the lead and pesticide use, causing consumer panic and the rejection of Chinese goods.
7. Sit back and watch the collapse.

With oil and food prices so high, and the mortgage market imploding, the stock market will collapse sending the entire world into a recession.

With recession comes unemployment. High gas and food prices mean that people will only be able to afford food and not much else. Consumers will even be scared to buy cheap Chinese products.

The result: the consumption of fossil fuels for everything from F350s to air travel to Chinese Barbie doll factories plummets, cutting greenhouse gasses enough to stop Global Warming and save the people of Bangladesh from losing their homeland.

Freakin’ brilliant.

© Darren Harnett 2008.

Loving Torture

A training manual on torture awareness given to Canadian diplomats has included the US and Israel on a list of countries where prisoners risked being tortured. Under pressure from the US and Israel, Canada has now removed them from the list. WTF? There is enough evidence that the US and Israel sponsor the torture of prisoners ... this is yet another example of Harper waxing GW's behind with his lips. We're a sovereign nation. Don't we ever think for ourselves?

Isuma TV

I've come across the garden variety video sites in my travels on the internet, and they are the usual fare. Only a few cater exclusively to original content from filmmakers that I would want to see. Today I came across a site that hosts films I definitely want to see. Isuma.tv is a Nunavut based video site for and by indigenous peoples from around the world, founded by the producers of Atanarjuat The Fast Runner and The Journals of Knud Rasmussen. It's a site with a noble goal -- to try and get indigenous stories, told by indigenous peoples, to a wider audience -- even if you don't understand the language of the films. The site also restores old videos and digitize them for the internet age, ensuring their preservation for future generations.

The site's content comes from filmmakers who wish to share their creation, free, to the world. In return for allowing Isuma.tv to hosts their films, the site links to sites where the films can be purchased. The site asks viewers of the films to donate to the site to ensure it can be maintained. If viewers find the content of value, the site believes their audience will pay. I hope for their sake that their business plan is sustainable, cause what Isuma.tv does is very special.

Desert Green

Guess who's building a green city? Well, to build a city -- from scratch -- needs loads of cash and an autocracy. A western democracy and industrialized nation could never pull it off, as the many self-serving interests and pork would choke the attempt. There wouldn't be any interest anyway -- we're too vested in the status quo to make the investment. To pull off such an audacious goal, you must have the need buy your praises. There are only a few places in the world where that could happen. Booming China, and the oil rich Middle East. China is already terraforming its past in its race to modernize -- and are even pursuing some environmentally respectable city plans. To go fully green though, you'd have to go to the Middle East -- Abu Dhabi to be exact.

Plans are in place to raise a zero-emission city from the desert sands of Abu Dhabi by 2016, with limited occupancy for some of the planned 100,000 residents available by 2009. Masdar City will embrace renewable and sustainable energy like there will be a tomorrow, without oil. The city will rely on wind and solar power for electricity and a desalination plant to supply fresh water. There will be no cars in the city, and factories in the city may rely on biofuels. One of the first buildings to be set up in the city will be a university that will focus on sustainability studies. The goal is to develop local talent to build out and sustain the city.

That's forward thinking. Hopefully this will inspire social change as well.

Computing on Clouds

Well, apparently Google invented cloud computing. Or that's what you'll get out of this BusinessWeek article, that profiles the 27-year-old Christophe Bisciglia, chief-cloud-guy, at Google. Have a read, as it gives a good sense of where Google is heading, and why they will take over the world if they're successful. Worse case scenario: Terminator or the Matrix. It will make us wish for the days when Microsoft dominated the computing market. Watch out future, here we come!

A Booming Poverty Market

Micro-lending was such a novel concept to help the poor, help themselves. It started with not-for-profit organizations, lending to the poor in developing countries -- lending really small amounts of money to help folks start a small business and give themselves a sustaining chance. And it is still going strong around the world, sustained by not-for-profits -- but these days, the greedy feeding frenzy of for-profit business is taking over. The thing about lending to the poor is that most often, they are honourable, trusting people. Getting a loan establishes them in the group on their way out of the hovel, and they would do anything to not default on that status -- anything, including not going into personal bankruptcy. The poor also tend to be uneducated and unaccustomed to the sophistication of modern banking. They care only about how much they regular payment needs to be, and how long they need to make them. They are ripe and ready to be plucked. Easy pickings for those that know better. For-profits know better, and so they taken advantage of the poor, putting them on the slippery slope of 100% APR, with interest rates charged against the full amount of the load, even if the principle is lowered by repayments.

Evil. Absolutely evil! BusinessWeek is carrying an article on for-profits that target the poor in Mexico, and are doing more harm than good. That is what happens when a business caters to its shareholders, and only its shareholders, with no care for the society it serves. Totally pisses me off.

Dark is Cool

It's blacker and than black, darker than dark ... it's a material made of the ever versatile carbon nanotube, configured to reflect 0.045% of all light shone on it. The material was created by researchers at Rice University who were never as cool as the kids who wore black when they were younger. The material will be used to make really black jackets.

80 Million Tiny Images

It's a visual dictionary of all the nouns in the English language, arranged by semantic meaning, and linked to 79,302,017 images culled from image search engines. Randomly click on the tiny images to see a popup of the hidden word and thumbnails representing the word. Totally cool ... in a "I not sure why they did this" kinda way. See the related research paper on the work for the techno-babble.

Harry Potter & The Well of Scammers

Nigerian scambaiting at its best -- here the baiter got the Nigerian scammers to copy, by hand, the entire contents of a Harry Potter novel. It doesn't get any better!

Making Waves

We saw David Suzuki tonight! He delivered the keynote, albeit a short keynote, at the Naked Ape Party -- which raised funds for the David Suzuki Foundation and the New Leaf Yoga Foundation. Suzuki was cool -- for those who find environmentalists and what they do, cool. Suzuki's keynote focused on the environment, naturally, and our place in it. His key message, we are the environment. There is no way to separate us from the environment. The environment isn't out there, separate from us. It is everywhere. Every molecule we breathe in has been circulating the planet since the time of the dinosaurs; we are made of the stuff that has been around since life took hold on Earth -- and in the great emptiness of space, we should realize that Earth is the only home we have. We need to stop using it as a garbage dump.

Of course, Suzuki was mostly speaking to the converted. His message was delivered to those who already know, and are hopefully doing their little bit to save the world. Hopefully. It can be done in baby steps, and Suzuki isn't one to just tell us there is a problem -- he's also offering suggestions -- even suggestions you and I can put into practice. None of it is hard stuff. It's all easy, and just require awareness and the choice to do the right thing for ourselves, our world and future generations. It will also make you feel good about yourself -- after all, who wouldn't feel good about being a hero? Even "in a sea of pollution, one can still make waves."

This was shown at the party: the Rick Mercer Report with David Suzuki.

Severin Suzuki delivered this message on behalf of children around the world in 1992, to the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. She was 12 years old at the time.

U2 performing Bad in 1985, at Live Aid -- bad 80's hair and all. This was performed by Tara MacLean at the party. (Catherine MacLellan and Chris Murphy also performed at the party.)

Electricity from Body Heat

Scientists have developed a more efficient thermoelectric silicon nanowire that could be used in generators to covert heat from various sources, including the human body, to electricity. While the physics of the new nanowires are not fully understood, the results are. Previous nanowire-based converters were not efficient for production, but if the promise of these new nanowires hold through, we could see countless applications hitting the market. The US DOD & DOE would definitely be interested, but so would commercial interests. Think of powering your laptop or other gadgets and toys using your own body heat ... makes power trips to the local fast food trough almost excusable.

Giant White Glove

What happens when you take Michael Jackson, well, his white glove, and throw in some Java coding? You get a giant white glove. Don't ask why. But if you do, see the White Glove Tracking open source project.

OJ287: Really, really BIG!

The most massive black hole known, has been discovered -- weighing in at a massive 18-billion Suns. And it gets better. This black hole is so massive, it has another black hole, weighing about 100-million Suns, orbiting it. The smaller black hole makes a complete orbit of the larger one every 12 years, ploughing through its accretion disk twice during an orbit. Each time the smaller black hole moves through the larger's accretion disk, huge outbursts of radiation is released, causing the system to brighten. The two black holes form the heart of the quasar QJ287. As general relativity predicts, astronomers have observed the decay of the smaller black hole's orbit. At the rate of decay, the smaller black hole will be swallowed by the larger in 10,000 years.

Dharavi: Asia's Largest Slum

Dharavi is reportedly one of the biggest slums in the world, with a population of more than 1 million people, spread over an area of 175 hectares. Unless you live in a slum, you probably can't fathom this level of congestion. Stuck in the middle of Mumbai, between the city's two main railway lines, Dharavi is rapidly evolving into a city within a city. It is a place where the unwanted of India's caste system are kings -- where an informal economy is humming away, creating products that make it all the way to the shelves of big boxes in North America and Europe. It's a testament to the human condition that such a place exists -- and despite the odds, such a place is working.

Read more in:

• The Economist: A Flourishing Slum
• National Geographic: Dharavi: Mumbai's Shadow City
• BBC News: Life in a Slum
• Dharavi via Google Maps:

View Larger Map

Beauty, Eh!

Never judge a book by the cover ... so we're told, cause you never know what's lurking beneath the covers. But how often do we actually heed those words? Everyday we practice our prejudices -- even when we know better, our subconscious betray us. Biologically, there may be something there. The way someone looks, usually is a good indicator for what we can expect from them. It has served our species well in the past. We are prejudiced. We can't help it.

We are attracted to the beautiful. They are showered with love, while the ugly are avoid. And while beauty may be subjective, there are definitely quite a number traits that we all agree on as being beautiful. Those are usually associated with how healthy a person appears to be: skin and hair for example are very susceptible to illness. Studies also show that the beautiful are also smarter -- scoring better at general intelligence than those less attractive. So prejudices aside, your first take on someone may actually be an accurate judge.

Which sorta explains my household. There are a bunch of really beautiful people in my house -- and damn smart too. Go figure! :)

Related reading:

• To those that have, shall be give -- the Economist article that prompted this post.
• Intelligence tests with higher g-loadings show higher correlations with body symmetry: Evidence for a general fitness factor mediated by developmental stability -- Mark D. Prokosch, Ronald A. Yeo, Geoffrey F. Miller; Department of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
• Facial attractiveness -- Randy Thornhill and Steven W. Gangestad.

Smaller is Stronger

Science has long known that at the nano-scale, materials get stronger. Take a sheet of nickel for instance: you can bend it with little force; but a nano-sized piece of nickel would require far more force to deform. Although this has been well known for sometime, what hasn't been known is why that happens. Until now.

Materials deform because of existing defects in the planes of the materials crystalline structure. As force is applied to a macro-sized material, these defects increases, colliding with each other and multiple. In effect, with the right amount of force, you can cause a runaway increase in defects in a material, which results in deformation. In nano-scale materials however, the opposite happens. As force is applied, defects in the material dissipate in a process called mechanical annealing. In effect, as force is applied to nano-scale materials, the material becomes stronger, as defects disappear. (With enough force however, defects return and rapidly increase, resulting in deformation -- but that's a lot more force than it would take to deform a macro-scale material.)

Ain't that cool?

Physics is Fun

Physics is sooo much fun! Click and play.

Updated: Jan. 25, 2008

Science, Evolution, and Creationism

The US National Academy of Sciences and Institute of Medicine has just published Science, Evolution, and Creationism -- a book "designed to give the public a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the current scientific understanding of evolution and its importance in the science classroom." In the book, the Academy makes it quite clear that evolution is central to modern biology, yet continues to be challenged in the classroom by proponents of creationism and intelligent design. The Academy states in the book that science and religion can coexist, and present different ways of understanding the world.

This book is an update from previous versions published in 1984 and 1999. The Academy is trying to appeal to religious moderates in the face of rising religious fundamentalism in the US and educate the masses of uneducated in the US (aka: the general public).

In science, explanations must be based on evidence drawn from examining the natural world. Scientifically based observations or experiments that conflict with an explanation eventually must lead to modification or even abandonment of that explanation. Religious faith, in contrast, does not depend only on empirical evidence, is not necessarily modified in the face of conflicting evidence, and typically involves supernatural forces or entities. Because they are not a part of nature, supernatural entities cannot be investigated by science. In this sense, science and religion are separate and address aspects of human understanding in different ways. Attempts to pit science and religion against each other create controversy where none needs to exist.

Whether this education of America will actually work is up for debate. I'm not going to be an optimist on this one. Those that believe have no reason to want the education. They already have their belief that religion is correct, and science is the work of the devil. And on that score, they're already preparing for the battle.

Intolerance

Intolerance is a well practiced; well documented; universal; and comes in many guises. Even in Canada, we're not safe from intolerance. Someone may hate you for reasons you can't begin to imagine. It could be the colour of your skin, your religious affiliation (or lack thereof), your political ideology or sexual orientation. I just came across a forum posting, titled, Why Gays Fight Back. The content is very disturbing. It contains graphic images of the intolerance towards gays from around the world. There is an image of a 3-year-old Ronnie Parris, killed by his father for being potentially gay. Ronnie's father belongs to an evangelical church that preaches a strong anti-gay message.

There is only one reason to be intolerant -- and that is to be intolerant of intolerance itself. We can all make a difference if we speak up against intolerance when it is happening. The worse we can do is remain silent.

What have you changed your mind about?

The Edge Foundation has published their annual question, with responses coming in from 165 of our great thinkers. As usual, the question is weighty, with the answers thought provoking -- hopefully enough to spur an intelligent dialogue. The question:

When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy. When God changes your mind, that's faith. When facts change your mind, that's science.

WHAT HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND ABOUT? WHY?

Science is based on evidence. What happens when the data change? How have scientific findings or arguments changed your mind?

On the surface, the question doesn't appear to have much depth, and could easily lead to a dismissal of the answers as being the navel gazing of those who consider themselves the intellectual elite. Such a dismissal, however, would be very narrow minded. As a society, we tend to look down on those that change their minds -- pointedly dismissing them as being inconsistent and never being able to stick to an opinion or conclusion. And yes, there are those who deserve such dismissal, since their change of mind is usually precipitated not by new input, but by the swing of group opinion. They change their minds because they don't have one. Being open to new input, never dogmatic of opinions, and allowing oneself to be swayed by facts, is a state that should be valued by society.

In the worst case scenarios, people look for or concoct facts to support their opinions -- outright dismissing or destroying facts that run counter to their opinions. Just look at the state the world finds itself in today: human-made environmental disasters; wars; diseases; and there's little timely response when new evidence is presented. The early warnings are dismissed as the cries of Chicken-Littles by those who have fixed opinions. In the world's preeminent democracy, one government outright dismissed evidence for climate change for nearly eight years, going so far as to bar scientists from documenting and publishing facts contrary to the political opinions of the government. To support the opinions of the government, facts were created to support an unjust war. Elsewhere in the world, the religious establishment continue to support and promote ancient dogma without evidence, resulting in some instances, the death of innocents. Businesses place much stock in the status quo -- fighting change when their very survival depends on assimilating new facts and responding to them.

Changing one's mindset based on new evidence is very important. Holding on to unsupported opinions is dogmatic at best, and highly dangerous for those in positions of authority. Let's hope the Edge Foundation generates some dialogue with their question this year.

Killing the Dinosaurs

What killed off the dinosaurs? Asteroid impact has been the leading candidate in most scientific circles -- with Fred, Barney and the great flood in others -- but now a new argument has been put forth in the book What Bugged the Dinosaurs? Insects, Disease and Death in the Cretaceous by George and Roberta Poinar. In the book, the Poinars suggest that the extinction of dinosaurs, which may have occurred from hundreds of thousands to millions of years, could have been caused by the appearance of insects and the diseases they carry. The authors don't discount the effects of geologic and catastrophic events, but contend that those events by themselves couldn't have led to the slow death of the dinosaurs. The Poinars have accumulated a lot of evidence for diseases to back up their claims, via insects preserved in amber and dinosaur feces. They also suggest that insects played a further role of changing the vegetation of the planet, favouring more flowering plants. The combination of diseases and a dwindling food supply could have put the final nail in the dinosaur coffin.

Dreaming of Obama

America is so looking for something different -- for change -- and they voted recently in Iowa for change. Barack Hussein Obama answered the call of a demoralized, distressed and cynical America. America has taken a look at the candidates before them, and saw just more of the same -- embarrassment -- except for Obama. In Obama there lies hope -- America sees hope -- even through his missteps, chalked up to naivety and inexperience. The guy actually appears to be genuine. If there are flaws, America will not see them -- that is the state of the American public. So abused by their democracy, Americans are pinning dreams on Obama. It's an infatuation; a state of hero worship.

So what can go wrong with this love affair? Obama could totally screw it up by making a huge political mistake. Clinton could still whip his ass in the primaries and take the pole in the Democrats race to the White House, although she would have to thread carefully, as an all out attack on Obama could backlash on her. This is politics, and a surprise that no one predicted could still happen. I've read in the press evocations of Bobby Kennedy when hopes for Obama are discussed. I suppose that's the other thing that could go wrong -- Obama could be shot. And that would totally suck for America and the rest of the world.

Updated: January 6, 2008.

The Star's columnist David Olive has an excellent commentary on the Iowa results, and why Americans are chosing Obama over Clinton.

When the history of this campaign is written, it will be noted that Obama's message hewed more closely to Bill Clinton's winning 1992 formulation of unity and hope than Hillary Clinton's did.

Despite her gender, Hillary Clinton blends into the pack of her fifty- and sixty-something white rivals on both sides – all experienced pols who, in varying degree, are held responsible for a country that Americans consistently tell pollsters is headed in the wrong direction.

Obama came back with a variation on Bill Clinton's 1992 assertion that "Americans are sick and tired of being sick and tired." Obama then evoked one of the least-cited but most important lines uttered by Martin Luther King Jr. on the Washington Mall in 1963: "We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now."

Obama is the son of a Kenyan economist and a Kansas mother with slave-owning ancestors. He chose to be a black American rather than a multiracial one. But Obama is conspicuously impatient with adversarial politics, racial and otherwise. He frames poverty, chronic unemployment, and out-of-wedlock pregnancy not as issues of racial victimhood, but as a betrayal of founding American ideals of fairness that has been no less punishing to Appalachian whites than inner-city blacks. Obama also bluntly chastises his audiences for substituting video games for parenting.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

100% Hydrogen Fuel Cell cars are here! They're just a bit small. The H-racer is a toy car from Horizon Fuel Cell, a company that develops fuel cell technology for real-life cars. The H-racer comes with its own hydrogen refueling station that generates hydrogen for the car using solar energy and water. It retails for $115US and can be ordered directly from Horizon. Now how cool is that?

Related:

• The Race to Build the Supergreen Car -- Wired Magazine
• Are the Auto Industry's Arguments Against California's CO₂ Rule Just Hot Air? -- Autopia from Wired.com

Nazi Business

Cracked.com has a cynical piece on five well known brand names and the role they played in supporting Nazi Germany. The companies are Siemens, Bayer, IBM, Volkswagen and Hugo Boss. What did these companies do to support the Nazi war effort? Hugo Boss made the uniforms worn by the Nazis -- and you can probably recognize the Nazi influence in today's Boss wear. Volkswagen created the Beetle to be the affordable wonder car every German could own. IBM supplied the Nazis with systems to keep an inventory of Jews and others, allowing the holocaust to be executed efficiently. Bayer (then part of IG Farben) produced the Zyklon-B gas used in the gas chambers. And Siemens was the Nazi infrastructure machine -- everything from railways to the gas chambers themselves.

Those five are not the only businesses to prosper and support Nazi Germany. There were many others -- and they weren't limited to German companies. Businesses around the world, including Western Europe and the US, saw the opportunity Nazi Germany represented and some even sympathized with their pursuit of a master race.

Of course, it was only just business. It wasn't like those companies were actually killing people. Really. They were just making a killing from the killing. Not much has changed today of course. Around the world, business continue to prosper from the murder of innocents. Think you're not using a product or service that either directly or indirectly is responsible for murder, war, pillage, rape? Think again.

Blackwater Trounced

Surprise-surprise. Blackwater has dropped its membership in the mercenary industry group, the International Peace Operations Association. IPOA was engaging Blackwater in a review of their processes to ensure they were complying with IPOA's Code of Conduct -- a code that stresses human rights, corporate ethics, International Humanitarian Law, transparency, accountability, and responsibility and professionalism in relationships with employees, clients, and partner companies. Blackwater apparently didn't like the scrutiny -- so it withdrew its membership from IPOA.

Bet no one saw that one coming.

GlobalAware