About
Earl Aagaard’s opinions about everything that interests him. Og also enjoys gardening, travel, reading, woodbutchery, and lots of other stuff.
Categories
Monthly Archives
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- May 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- Complete Archives
- Category Archives
Join Og's Mailing List
Powered by ExpressionEngine
OgBlog.net
Thursday, January 31, 2008
CAN YOU SQUARE A FOUR-DIGIT NUMBER IN YOUR HEAD?
ARTHUR BENJAMIN can…..faster than ordinary people can do it on a calculator.
He’s got a day job as a mathematician, who “moonlights” as a Mathemagician, and he’s just plain incredible. At the end of his show, he even does a five-digit square in his mind!! AND explains how he’s doing it.
FINALLY…...A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS TO SCIENTISTS WHO PUBLICLY CONSIDER INTELLIGENT DESIGN
BEN STEIN has made it, and you can see it in the theaters beginning next month.
WHO: Ben Stein, in the new film EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed
WHAT: His heroic and, at times, shocking journey confronting the world’s top scientists, educators and philosophers, regarding the persecution of the many by an elite few.
WHEN: Coming to a theater near you Spring 2008
WHERE: Ben travels the world on his quest, and learns an awe-inspiring truth…that bewilders him, then angers him…and then spurs him to action!
WHY: Ben realizes that he has been “Expelled,” and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired – for the “crime”
of merely believing that there might be evidence of “design” in nature, and that perhaps life is not just the result of accidental, random chance.To which Ben Says: “Enough!“ And then gets busy. NOBODY messes with Ben.
Science • Intelligent Design • Politics • Domestic • (0) Comments •
TIME MAGAZINE SAYS THAT CRAIG VENTER HAS “CREATED LIFE - ALMOST”
Working with only the four basic nucleotides that make up all DNA — adenine, cytosine, guanine and thymine — he has assembled an entirely new chromosome for an entirely new one-celled creature. Insert that genome into a cell — like inserting a disc into a computer — and a new species of living thing will be booted up. Venter hasn’t done that yet, which is why even he won’t say that he has technically invented life. He has, however, already shown that a genome transplanted from an existing cell to another will shut down the host’s genetic programming and bring its own online. If that cellular body-snatching works with an ordinary chromosome, there’s little reason to think it won’t with a manufactured one.
Oh, please…….. “Create life”?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
“OUR FRIENDS THE SAUDIS” ARE AT IT AGAIN….WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHAT’S GOING ON?
It’s actually not too complicated, you know…...just use your imagination for a moment.
What game are the Gulf Arabs playing? Pretend for a moment that you are ruler of a mythical state called Gulfistan, and I am your national security adviser. You have asked me to prepare a memo on our strategic situation.
So, what will you, the national security adviser, tell your Sheik? If you have any brains at all, and if you want the Sheik to smile on you for more than the next 30 days, you’ll need to tell him the truth, whatever your own preferences (or his) might be.
These are dangerous men who threaten our security. Your Majesty, wisdom dictates that we not chose sides in their quarrel. We need good relations with the Americans: they are our biggest customers, they will defend us against any foreign enemy, and the weapons they sell us make us look stronger than we are. But we need good relations with the Iranians too. Iran is so close, we can feel its breath on our faces, from OPEC to Iraq. Were Iran to subvert us, by inciting our Shiite minority or encouraging terror, it could burst our bubble.
How to accomplish both of these objectives…..? Ah, if you can’t think of that one on your own, then you’ll need to READ THE WHOLE THING
YOU’VE HEARD THE QUESTION: BUT IS IT ART?
That’s one that definitely seems to fit the bill here….
Steven has also recently created another version of the Golden Gate Bridge, but this time with one toothpick!
AT THE SITE, you can see the “one-toothpick Golden Gate” and there’s also a link to his 13-foot, 30,000 toothpick version, now at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
DO YOU *REALLY* WANT A NANNY-STATE?
I mean…..I know Hillary has promised to take care of you, but are you really ready for THIS?
France has declared free shipping illegal. In 1981 France passed a law making it illegal for book sellers to offer more than 5% discount on the list price, (who wants big discounts on books right?). This was done to protect French book stores from competition from supermarkets and other new retailers. Amazon.fr has run into trouble with their offering free shipping on orders of €20 or over (it’s $25 in the US), and a court has ruled that this violates their protectionist law.
To their credit, Amazon.fr has defied the law, and paid the 1,000 euro per day fine. However, after a month, the fine may be raised, so that paying it becomes prohibitive. There’s more, so before you vote for President Nanny, READ THE WHOLE THING
WELL, IF *THIS* IS TRUE, OUR PROBLEMS WITH THE MIDDLE EAST MAY BE TIME-LIMITED
We have a problem in the Middle East, mostly because we’re dependent on that region for our liquid fuels. The money we pay is used, in part, to fund aggressive actions against us and our interests in many parts of the world. If we could find a substitute for about 15% of our petroleum needs, we might very well see the decline of prices, of influence by radical regimes, and of violent actions in many parts of the world.
Some have pinned their hopes on ethanol made from corn, but that’s not terribly efficient, and it runs up corn prices besides…thus hurting some of the world’s really poor people. What can we do?
Here’s some good news…..
Reading
- BlogsForDummies :)
Web resources
- Arts & Letters Daily
- Ravi Zacharias
- Southern Adventist University
- The SAU Biology Deptartment - where I work with a bunch of very neat people.
- Venezuelan news—FROM Venezuela