Aug 23 2006
0

Gas and Houses are still cheap.

Posted by | business | No Comments

Average house price in the US, Aug 2006: $230,000 Average house price in the UK, Aug 2006: $376,600 Average gas price per gallon in the US, Aug 2006: $3.04 Average gas price per gallon in the UK, Aug 2006: $6.46 There will almost certainly be a recession in the US soon, caused primarily by inflated gas and house prices. One will continue to go up and the other will crash – a problem for people who own houses and drive cars, i.e. are long in real estate and short on gas. But these prices are actually very, very cheap compared to places like the UK, which didn’t go into recession with much larger costs and similar wages. The principal difference being the rate of consumption. average home sales prices in all regions of the united states

Read More
Aug 22 2006
0

America was secular in 1776

Posted by | religion | No Comments

Percentage of Americans who identified themseves as ‘church members’: 1776: 17% 1990: 62% The statistics for Britain now (10%) and at the height of Empire (possibly 70%), are similar. It is possible that Christianity in America today is a form of nationalism rather than spiritualism, rather like Victorian Britain. Exclusive Graphs

Read More
Aug 22 2006
0

Dave Winer on the JonBenet story.

Posted by | crime | No Comments

Dave is right on to keep banging on about the morbid obsession with the JonBenet story. My take is that this is somewhat apallingly taking the place of a light relief story, like a dog on a skateboard clip. Current geopolitical stories in the Middle East in particular are difficult to grapple with or find a clear cut answer to – so when a Paedophile is wheeled in, people find no moral ambiguity there, and just react on gut without having to think, venting their anger with a ‘burn the witch’ chorus. To saturate the news with this makes Paedophile baiting a form of light entertainment distraction, although nobody will admit to the fact, which is very disturbing.

Read More
Aug 22 2006
0

Bad Science

Posted by | science | No Comments

Kathy Young for Capital News 9: “By the end of the week, the universe could be expanding, with the addition of three new planets to our solar system.” Hilarious. Given the relative size of the known Universe to our solar system, this is the equivalent of saying: “By the end of the week, the earth could be expanding, with the addition of three grains of sand on a beach in Florida.” Capital News 9 | 24 Hour Local News | HEADLINES | A cosmic change

Read More
Aug 21 2006
0

Were the first US Presidents Atheists?

Posted by | religion | No Comments

Jonathan Miller’s: A Brief History of Disbelief Pt. 1 “God is an essence we know nothing of, until this awful blasphemy is got rid of, there will never be any liberal science in the world.” John Adams US President 1797 – 1801 “The clergy believe that any power confided in me will be exerted in opposition to their schemes – and they believe rightly.” Thomas Jefferson US President 1801 – 1809 “I have seldom met an intelligent person whose views were not narrowed and distorted by religion.” James Buchanan US President 1857 – 1861 “My earlier views on the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation have become clearer and stronger with advancing years.” Abraham Lincoln US President 1861 – 1865

Read More
Aug 21 2006
0

Fakes on a Plane, was the online buzz faked?

Posted by | media | No Comments

Fakes on a plane – was the online buzz faked? “After months of online buildup and frenzied media attention, Snakes on a Plane turned out to be just another horror flick…The R-rated thriller became an Internet and media darling by catering to bloggers and online fans” I suspect that Snakes on a Plane went one step further than Subservient Chicken, to try and create buzz from the ground up, by seeding online communities with fake blog postings. Wherever you looked, all the talk about Snakes on a Plane was smattered with superlatives – ‘best movie title ever’ etc. – it smelled as if those comments were being seeded by flacks. If I’m right, then there is hope that webloggers are actually less brainwashable than mainstream media, because the excercise looks like it may have failed. USATODAY.com – ‘Snakes’ rattles Web hype

Read More
Aug 20 2006
0

Is America a Religious Nation?

Posted by | religion | No Comments

One Nation under God, upholding democracy and the principals of the Ten Commandments? – Actually no, America was founded on the opposite, and was all the better for it. Which country has a constitution which declares ‘one nation under God’, America or Iran? Iran Were the majority of the people on the Mayflower fleeing religious persecution? No. (Most people who fled to America were fleeing persecution FROM religious people. By 1776 America was a secular as modern Europe, while Europe was as religious as current day America.) Does American law contradict the Ten Commandments? Yes, capitalism is based upon the idea that coveting things is not that bad after all. Did the American Constitution mention God? No Is the American Constitution based upon purely democratic principles (i.e. majority rule)? No, it specifically protects minorities from majority voted laws which persecute. Is America a Christian Nation?

Read More
Aug 20 2006
0

Dolphins are not intelligent.

Posted by | trivia | No Comments

Dolphins have had a rough time lately, they used to be considered intelligent and kind – then researchers pointed out that they gang rape females to death when mating. Now it turns out they they may not even be intelligent. In fact they may be not be much smarter than a goldfish. Their big brains are mostly fat with very few neurons. Research shows dolphins dimwitted but happy

Read More
Aug 18 2006
0

Dell Hell

Posted by | technology | No Comments

Michael Dell once said that to fix Apple, they should: “shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders”. Apple is doing just fine, it survives on true innovation, but perhaps Dell should be shut down now. Profit Falls by Half at Dell – New York Times Three days after its announcement of a vast safety recall, Dell reported little but bad news yesterday: profits down by half, and an informal Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its accounting.

Read More