Category: Uncategorized

Magnetic monopoles

Magnetic monopoles would be miraculous technology if we can scale up production. Hovercars are one of the more pedestrian uses, to give you an idea.

It’s not every day that you get to poke and prod the analog of an elusive fundamental particle under highly controlled conditions in the lab.” He added that creation of synthetic electric and magnetic fields is a new and rapidly expanding branch of physics that may lead to the development and understanding of entirely new materials, such as higher-temperature superconductors for the lossless transmission of electricity. The team’s discovery of the synthetic monopole provides a stronger foundation for current searches for magnetic monopoles that have even involved the famous Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

Politics of Fear

one might suppose that modern democratic states, with the lessons of history at hand, would seek to minimize fear or at least minimize its effect on deliberative decision-making in both foreign and domestic policy. But today the opposite is frequently true. Even democracies founded in the principles of liberty and the common good often take the path of more authoritarian states. They don’t work to minimize fear, but use it to exert control over the populace and serve the government’s principle aim: consolidating power.

2014-01-30:

Machiavelli notoriously argued that a good leader should induce fear in the populace in order to control the rabble. Hobbes in “The Leviathan” argued that fear effectively motivates the creation of a social contract in which citizens cede their freedoms to the sovereign.

ring a bell?

Bestek Wall Charger

The Bestek MRJ1870-1 wall charging station provides the best bang-for-the-buck in its class I’ve seen yet. Most travel chargers are inadequate for contemporary, gadget-laden needs. Compare it with another $20 charger I bought before getting the Bestek: the Belkin BST300. It has 3 power outlets and 2 USB ports. The catch is that USB ports share 2.1A, which can’t be relied on to simultaneously charge both an iPad-sized tablet and a second device. I actually couldn’t even charge a single iPad (4th-gen) alone on the ill-equipped Belkin charger.

Creationist Dumbication

Between this nonsense and the mindless waste of billions culminating this Sunday, no wonder the us gets its ass kicked. A lack of a truly educated public means only fast food jobs get created, and hence the middle class has stagnated for 30 years.

A large, publicly funded charter school system in Texas is teaching creationism to its students. Creationist teachers don’t even need to be sneaky about it—the Texas state science education standards, as well as recent laws in Louisiana and Tennessee, permit public school teachers to teach “alternatives” to evolution. Meanwhile, in Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, taxpayer money is funding creationist private schools through state tuition voucher or scholarship programs.

Gift from God

Not: The Internet is a source of temptations to be resisted. Not: The Internet is just the latest over-hyped communication technology, and remember when we thought telegraphs would bring world peace? Not: The Internet is merely a technology and thus just another place for human nature to reassert itself. Not: The Internet is just a way for the same old powers to extend their reach. Not: The Internet is an opportunity to do good, but be wary because we can also do evil with it. It may be many of those. But first: The Internet — its possibilities for encounter and solidarity — is truly good. The Internet is a gift from God.

This is not the language I would use. I’m an agno-atheistical Jew who lives in solidarity with an Orthodox community. (Long story.) But I think – you can never tell with these cross-tradition interpretations – that the Pope’s words express the deep joy the Internet brings me. “This is not to say that certain problems do not exist”. But still: The Internet is truly good. Why?

Exposing the War on Fun!

Kevin C Pyle and Scott Cunningham’s non-fiction, book-length comic Bad for You: Exposing the War on Fun! is a marvelous and infuriating history of censorship, zero-tolerance, helicopter parenting, and the war on kids. Bad For You covers many other subjects, from the demolition of America’s playgrounds to the panic of Dungeons and Dragons; from fear mongering over Internet predators and cyberbullies to the demonization of gaming and gamers. The final section, on zero tolerance and the conversion of American schools into police-states where children are arrested by armed policemen for sassing, possessing over-the-counter medication, and having “disruptive” hair colors, is the most frustrating of all.

Nicholas Roerich Museum

The Nicholas Roerich Museum is like a mini-Frick Collection but with a few exceptions–the museum is free, and all the artwork and artifacts were painted and discovered by Nicholas Roerich himself. Housed in this 3-story Upper West Side town house are over 200 works of art ranging from paintings of the Himalayas to scenes from historical references to sketches from his early days designing sets for Russian ballets like The Rite of Spring composed by Igor Stravinsky.