Santa and his Elves are often portrayed as the last bastion of the classic toy. You know, the solid wood thing with no parts that move on their own, no Allen wrenches for assembly, and makes Dad’s back hurt as he hauls it trans-Atlantically back home after celebrating the holidays with family back in the States because solid wood is heavy. The kind of toy that is powered not by batteries but by imagination[1]. Continue reading “Santa, You Elegant Bastard”
Mixed emotions over PZ Myers’ condescending response to a 12-year-old child‘s email supporting creationism[1], reminded of a very interesting conversation I had with my father at a dinner this holiday season. Lemons and lemonade, people.
During our conversational meanderings, we touched on the debate between creationism[2] and evolution. We did not directly discuss the political/social issues surrounding the teaching of evolution in schools[3]. Rather, we discussed the difficulty of convincing individuals that evolution is right and creationism is wrong. Continue reading “I’ll Trade You an Evolutionary Theory for Your Creationism”
They are both “forever”.
The US Postal Service (USPS) announced that, starting in 2011, all new first-class stamps will be FOREVER stamps. I’ve been arguing for this long before the first FOREVER stamp, probably since about 2001, when I saw the use of such stamps in the UK firsthand. Usually, I claim that no one ever listens to me[1]. Not today. Continue reading “What do Diamonds and Stamps have in common?”
I did not see this article until I had drafted, edited, and posted my piece on Airport Body Scanners. Included in that piece was a speculative note (note 2; read the notes people) about the disconnect between “our” definition of a successful attack and the definition of a “successful” attack by terror networks.
So much for speculation. It turns out that “our” definition is not “their” definition. In fact, Al Qaeda is using what we would call a failed “attack” as an example of a successful attack:
Al Qaeda’s choice of a demonstration was to use parcel bombs (called Operation Hemorrhage — a classic name for a systems disruption attack). These low cost parcel bombs, were inserted into the international air mail system to generate a security response by western governments. It worked. The global security response to this new threat was massive. –John Hood
Are the new backscatter x-ray airport body scanners going to give you skin cancer? Probably not. And when I say probably, I mean really really really unlikely. The risk posed by these scanners is well within the “if you are worried about this, best not ever leave your house or turn on the light switch” type parameters we consider “safe” for all our other modern “conveniences”. For an excellent discussion of their safety, go read Mike’s post “Airport Body Scanners Won’t Give You Cancer” now. I’ll wait for you to come back. . .
. . .ok, welcome back. That was pretty solid, eh? Mike does good work, no?
What is curious about this debate is its absolutist nature.
The scanners will give you cancer.
– or-
The scanners are the only way to stop the terrorists.
In the rest of our lives, we regularly balance probabilistic risks with probabilistic benefits all the time, and reject absolutist thinking as childish. Continue reading “Airport Body Scanners: Not Much Risk, Even Less Benefit?”
The Finch and Pea 