Journeyman Pictures- and for that matter, SBS' Dateline of Australia- bring another video to the party today (it's SBS's version you're seeing). David O'Shea... well, even he's here for another go. We may have to look at O'Shea further.
In this case, O'Shea heads to Thailand's Tiger Temple. It's one of the country's premier tourist attractions; a visitor-friendly tiger sanctuary. It had a role in the first Amazing Race when the teams were told to go into one of the enclosures and then the tigers looked half-asleep and bored out of their minds. Because these are relatively tame tigers. You can even play with them.
O'Shea would like to let you know how those tigers got to be so tame. It's not a pleasant answer.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Well, Then It's Not Absolute Anymore, Is It
One thing we were raised to know in science class is that absolute zero means absolute zero. That is the absolute coldest that something can possibly get.
That still appears to be true. But not in the sense of lowest-possible-temperature. Just in the sense of coldness. You see, a team at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics over in Germany were able to create a temperature below absolute zero: they took some quantum potassium gas, got it down to a couple nanokelvins above absolute zero, and then, in true Doctor Who fashion, reversed the polarity. All of a sudden, they had a gas coming in a few nanokelvins below absolute zero.
What happened? Well, did you ever play SimCity for the SNES? There was a cheat you could exploit that, if you performed a certain set of actions regarding taxes and expenditures, would wrap you around from $0 to $999,999. That appears to be what happened here: the atoms went from the lowest energy rate possible to the highest. That is to say, they went from absolute cold to absolute hot.
And then before you know it, even though Ulrich Schneider, one of the heads of the project, is careful to try and tamp down speculation over potential applications given the limitations they observed, you're seeing perpetual-motion machines and all sorts of sci-fi errata being put on the table all over again.
Because if you can't trust absolutes anymore...
That still appears to be true. But not in the sense of lowest-possible-temperature. Just in the sense of coldness. You see, a team at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics over in Germany were able to create a temperature below absolute zero: they took some quantum potassium gas, got it down to a couple nanokelvins above absolute zero, and then, in true Doctor Who fashion, reversed the polarity. All of a sudden, they had a gas coming in a few nanokelvins below absolute zero.
What happened? Well, did you ever play SimCity for the SNES? There was a cheat you could exploit that, if you performed a certain set of actions regarding taxes and expenditures, would wrap you around from $0 to $999,999. That appears to be what happened here: the atoms went from the lowest energy rate possible to the highest. That is to say, they went from absolute cold to absolute hot.
And then before you know it, even though Ulrich Schneider, one of the heads of the project, is careful to try and tamp down speculation over potential applications given the limitations they observed, you're seeing perpetual-motion machines and all sorts of sci-fi errata being put on the table all over again.
Because if you can't trust absolutes anymore...
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Guilty, Perhaps
Reportedly, disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has told associates that he is considering admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs, in an attempt to repair his thoroughly demolished image.
What you want to think of Armstrong isn't the idea here, though I don't think highly of the guy right now. What you think of his ploy isn't the idea either. What I want to point out is this:
You just admitted it, you dumbass.
Telling someone that you're considering admitting to something is not a thing. You can't 'sort of' admit to something. You either do or you don't. There are cases in which someone falsely pleas guilty for a lesser charge What you've actually just said is, 'I did it, but I don't know if I want to face the music for it yet. For now, though, I still didn't do it.' The statement makes no sense. By publicly considering admission, you have already confessed. The official confession is little more than a cry for attention.
Well, darned if he won't get it.
What you want to think of Armstrong isn't the idea here, though I don't think highly of the guy right now. What you think of his ploy isn't the idea either. What I want to point out is this:
You just admitted it, you dumbass.
Telling someone that you're considering admitting to something is not a thing. You can't 'sort of' admit to something. You either do or you don't. There are cases in which someone falsely pleas guilty for a lesser charge What you've actually just said is, 'I did it, but I don't know if I want to face the music for it yet. For now, though, I still didn't do it.' The statement makes no sense. By publicly considering admission, you have already confessed. The official confession is little more than a cry for attention.
Well, darned if he won't get it.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Way-In-Advance Internal Programming Note
I'm going to be back in Los Angeles from May 15-21. Blogging is not going to be my highest priority during that time, though if my last two long-term hiatuses have been any indication, at some point during the trip I may well opt to put out a quickie update of some sort so the place doesn't get all dusty.
As usual, just a heads-up; I'll remind you again when we get closer to the date.
As usual, just a heads-up; I'll remind you again when we get closer to the date.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
India Pigs
The United States has grappled for years about its ability to provide healthcare to its citizens, particularly its poorest citizens, and its ability to do so at an affordable cost to those citizens.
For all its faults, though, for the most part, when someone does receive healthcare, they know what's being done and what the treatment they get is supposed to do.
Then there's India.
Many Indians live in extreme poverty and are unable to pay for even the cheapest, most basic healthcare. In fact, some resort to selling their organs on the black market to people who often pay them less than the promised amount for the organs after they've been removed, because hey, you're recovering from major surgery now, what are you going to do about it? As such, if someone is to receive healthcare- and if you're in the 'untouchable' caste, you're headed to the back of the line- it is likely going to have to be free and specially provided in many cases. And in many cases, multinational pharmaceutical companies are willing to provide that healthcare.
Just not the healthcare that the people receiving it are told they're receiving. Since what appears to be 2005, people from the untouchable caste have been given vouchers to help pay for healthcare costs. Many of these people have been escorted to the front of the line and told the entire cost would be picked up. What they were not told- and what they could not read from the agreement because of rampant illiteracy and documents given to them in deliberately unfamiliar languages- was that they were not to be getting the treatment they were supposed to get. Instead, they have been used as unwitting guinea pigs to test out new drugs before they're placed on the market to sell to, oh, let's say you. Whatever happens to these patients, happens. And hundreds of times every year, what happens is that the new, untested drug ends up killing them, or giving them new health problems. The BBC article linked above tells of, among other stories, one healthy three-day-old baby that the family was told needed a polio vaccine, given forms to sign in English- a language they don't understand- then given one such untested drug, and promptly developed chronic bronchitis. The families are not compensated.
Today, India's supreme court has called on the pharmaceutical companies to end this practice and ordered that the Directorate of General Health Services, the position in charge of the trials, be stripped of authority. The overarching government agency, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, was found earlier this year to be colluding with the pharmaceutical companies to speed up approval of the drugs for Indian consumption; several of those drugs are not permitted to be sold in the United States, Canada, Australia or the European Union. They've ordered that future trials be placed under the authority of the Union Health Secretary, viewed as a more trustworthy position.
At least two Indian states, Bhopal and Madhya Pradesh, have banned drug trials outright due to the unreliability and lack of ethics; Bhopal is particularly sensitive to this as some of the victims were previously survivors of the Union Carbide gas leak in that state in 1984. Efforts are being made to bring the trials back to both, though if things don't improve, one wonders if more states will join them.
For all its faults, though, for the most part, when someone does receive healthcare, they know what's being done and what the treatment they get is supposed to do.
Then there's India.
Many Indians live in extreme poverty and are unable to pay for even the cheapest, most basic healthcare. In fact, some resort to selling their organs on the black market to people who often pay them less than the promised amount for the organs after they've been removed, because hey, you're recovering from major surgery now, what are you going to do about it? As such, if someone is to receive healthcare- and if you're in the 'untouchable' caste, you're headed to the back of the line- it is likely going to have to be free and specially provided in many cases. And in many cases, multinational pharmaceutical companies are willing to provide that healthcare.
Just not the healthcare that the people receiving it are told they're receiving. Since what appears to be 2005, people from the untouchable caste have been given vouchers to help pay for healthcare costs. Many of these people have been escorted to the front of the line and told the entire cost would be picked up. What they were not told- and what they could not read from the agreement because of rampant illiteracy and documents given to them in deliberately unfamiliar languages- was that they were not to be getting the treatment they were supposed to get. Instead, they have been used as unwitting guinea pigs to test out new drugs before they're placed on the market to sell to, oh, let's say you. Whatever happens to these patients, happens. And hundreds of times every year, what happens is that the new, untested drug ends up killing them, or giving them new health problems. The BBC article linked above tells of, among other stories, one healthy three-day-old baby that the family was told needed a polio vaccine, given forms to sign in English- a language they don't understand- then given one such untested drug, and promptly developed chronic bronchitis. The families are not compensated.
Today, India's supreme court has called on the pharmaceutical companies to end this practice and ordered that the Directorate of General Health Services, the position in charge of the trials, be stripped of authority. The overarching government agency, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, was found earlier this year to be colluding with the pharmaceutical companies to speed up approval of the drugs for Indian consumption; several of those drugs are not permitted to be sold in the United States, Canada, Australia or the European Union. They've ordered that future trials be placed under the authority of the Union Health Secretary, viewed as a more trustworthy position.
At least two Indian states, Bhopal and Madhya Pradesh, have banned drug trials outright due to the unreliability and lack of ethics; Bhopal is particularly sensitive to this as some of the victims were previously survivors of the Union Carbide gas leak in that state in 1984. Efforts are being made to bring the trials back to both, though if things don't improve, one wonders if more states will join them.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Revise And Extend My Remarks
Holy crap, did I ever hit you with the loading times yesterday. Or at least, I hit me with the loading times yesterday.
This won't be nearly as bandwidth-intensive. Lucas Reilly of Mental Floss came up yesterday with a particularly interesting list: 12 historical speeches nobody ever heard. These are speeches that were written and prepared, but then for one reason or another were never given. First on the list concerns Apollo 11; nobody knew for sure if the mission would end up being a success, and as a precaution, an in-case-of-emergency speech was drawn up in the event that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin found themselves stuck on the moon and unable to return to Earth. Thankfully, it never had to be used. Other items on the list include an in-case-of-failure D-Day speech from Dwight Eisenhower, a speech drawn up alongside Nixon's resignation speech in which Nixon intended to fight to retain his office (a speech that became impossible to give after the 'smoking gun' tapes came out), the speech John F. Kennedy was going to give in Dallas the day he was assassinated, some Mitt Romney 47-percent damage control, and Sarah Palin's victory and concession speeches, which the McCain campaign forbid her from giving because she'd done enough damage already.
What I'm going to do is add a few items to the list that Reilly left out.
*Paul Robeson was a black singer popular in the 1920's and 30's, who had an ideological awakening watching the Spanish Civil War, which drifted him towards Communist sensibilities. This proved to be not exactly advantageous when McCarthyism came into vogue. He was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956, blacklisted him, and denied a travel visa that would have allowed him to continue his career in Europe. If you've never heard of Robeson, this is why. The committee didn't want you to, and it became increasingly hard over the years to hear him even if you went out of your way to do so. Robeson had a speech he intended to present to the committee; he was refused permission to give it. Here it is.
*Another entry from the House Un-American Activities Committee. Here's German playwright Bertolt Brecht's statement, also unread. Brecht fled Germany in 1931 to get away from the Nazis, then fled back to Germany in 1947, the day after he gave the testimony he did give. Brecht almost didn't show up, and as such narrowly avoided turning the Hollywood Ten- the ten people blacklisted for refusing to testify- into the Hollywood Eleven.
*In 1963, John Lewis, member of the House (D-GA) since 1987, was invited to speak at the March On Washington, which you will know as the venue in which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his 'I Have A Dream' speech. Lewis's planned remarks were rather confrontational, and he was asked to say something more comfortable to hear. Here's what Lewis said, and here's what he wanted to say.
*Joe Paterno was fired rather abruptly by Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. He didn't speak much publicly about it, but there was something he had written up. Paterno died with the statement ungiven; after his death, it was released to the players and, eventually, it found its way to the media. That statement is here.
*Finally, in 1987, Budd Dwyer, Pennsylvania state treasurer, shot himself in the middle of a press conference. Dwyer had been convicted the previous year of taking a bribe from a computer company in exchange for a government contract. The day after he shot himself was supposed to be the day of his sentencing hearing. The unread statement, available on his Wikipedia page along with the portion he did read, gives the impression that he intended to read the whole thing, but lost his nerve at some point- perhaps realizing that reading the unread portion might make someone try to stop him- and decided to just get it over with. When he did, he handed three aides three manila envelopes, containing his organ donor card, a suicide note to his wife, and a letter to Bob Casey, who had taken office as governor just two days prior.
Not exactly a housewarming present.
This won't be nearly as bandwidth-intensive. Lucas Reilly of Mental Floss came up yesterday with a particularly interesting list: 12 historical speeches nobody ever heard. These are speeches that were written and prepared, but then for one reason or another were never given. First on the list concerns Apollo 11; nobody knew for sure if the mission would end up being a success, and as a precaution, an in-case-of-emergency speech was drawn up in the event that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin found themselves stuck on the moon and unable to return to Earth. Thankfully, it never had to be used. Other items on the list include an in-case-of-failure D-Day speech from Dwight Eisenhower, a speech drawn up alongside Nixon's resignation speech in which Nixon intended to fight to retain his office (a speech that became impossible to give after the 'smoking gun' tapes came out), the speech John F. Kennedy was going to give in Dallas the day he was assassinated, some Mitt Romney 47-percent damage control, and Sarah Palin's victory and concession speeches, which the McCain campaign forbid her from giving because she'd done enough damage already.
What I'm going to do is add a few items to the list that Reilly left out.
*Paul Robeson was a black singer popular in the 1920's and 30's, who had an ideological awakening watching the Spanish Civil War, which drifted him towards Communist sensibilities. This proved to be not exactly advantageous when McCarthyism came into vogue. He was called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956, blacklisted him, and denied a travel visa that would have allowed him to continue his career in Europe. If you've never heard of Robeson, this is why. The committee didn't want you to, and it became increasingly hard over the years to hear him even if you went out of your way to do so. Robeson had a speech he intended to present to the committee; he was refused permission to give it. Here it is.
*Another entry from the House Un-American Activities Committee. Here's German playwright Bertolt Brecht's statement, also unread. Brecht fled Germany in 1931 to get away from the Nazis, then fled back to Germany in 1947, the day after he gave the testimony he did give. Brecht almost didn't show up, and as such narrowly avoided turning the Hollywood Ten- the ten people blacklisted for refusing to testify- into the Hollywood Eleven.
*In 1963, John Lewis, member of the House (D-GA) since 1987, was invited to speak at the March On Washington, which you will know as the venue in which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his 'I Have A Dream' speech. Lewis's planned remarks were rather confrontational, and he was asked to say something more comfortable to hear. Here's what Lewis said, and here's what he wanted to say.
*Joe Paterno was fired rather abruptly by Penn State in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. He didn't speak much publicly about it, but there was something he had written up. Paterno died with the statement ungiven; after his death, it was released to the players and, eventually, it found its way to the media. That statement is here.
*Finally, in 1987, Budd Dwyer, Pennsylvania state treasurer, shot himself in the middle of a press conference. Dwyer had been convicted the previous year of taking a bribe from a computer company in exchange for a government contract. The day after he shot himself was supposed to be the day of his sentencing hearing. The unread statement, available on his Wikipedia page along with the portion he did read, gives the impression that he intended to read the whole thing, but lost his nerve at some point- perhaps realizing that reading the unread portion might make someone try to stop him- and decided to just get it over with. When he did, he handed three aides three manila envelopes, containing his organ donor card, a suicide note to his wife, and a letter to Bob Casey, who had taken office as governor just two days prior.
Not exactly a housewarming present.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Happy- Well, Mostly Happy, Anyway- 2013
Let's just have fun today. New Year's celebration repository!
Auckland, New Zealand:
Sydney, Australia:
Tokyo, Japan:
Seoul, South Korea:
Taipei, Taiwan:
Hong Kong:
Beijing, China:
Singapore:
Bangkok, Thailand:
India was very sober in its celebrations, as they're still mourning the death of the gang-rape victim, whom Indian law prevents from being identified:
Dubai, UAE:
Moscow, Russia:
Johannesburg, South Africa:
Berlin, Germany:
Amsterdam, Netherlands:
Paris, France:
Barcelona, Spain:
Edinburgh, Scotland:
London, England:
Casablanca, Morocco:
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
Bogota, Colombia:
Montreal, Canada:
New York, United States:
Toronto, Canada:
Nashville, United States (unofficial; the official one is here but in my opinion inferior):
Las Vegas, United States:
Sacramento's celebrations were cancelled because some yutz thought it a good idea to take his gun along, shoot five people and kill two of them during the celebrations. So let's move on to...
Seattle, United States:
Honolulu, United States (they always get jobbed in these things; everybody conks out after New York):
Auckland, New Zealand:
Sydney, Australia:
Tokyo, Japan:
Seoul, South Korea:
Taipei, Taiwan:
Hong Kong:
Beijing, China:
Singapore:
Bangkok, Thailand:
India was very sober in its celebrations, as they're still mourning the death of the gang-rape victim, whom Indian law prevents from being identified:
Dubai, UAE:
Moscow, Russia:
Johannesburg, South Africa:
Berlin, Germany:
Amsterdam, Netherlands:
Paris, France:
Barcelona, Spain:
Edinburgh, Scotland:
London, England:
Casablanca, Morocco:
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
Bogota, Colombia:
Montreal, Canada:
New York, United States:
Toronto, Canada:
Nashville, United States (unofficial; the official one is here but in my opinion inferior):
Las Vegas, United States:
Sacramento's celebrations were cancelled because some yutz thought it a good idea to take his gun along, shoot five people and kill two of them during the celebrations. So let's move on to...
Seattle, United States:
Honolulu, United States (they always get jobbed in these things; everybody conks out after New York):
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