Secular Blasphemy

President Barack Obama

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 06:27:24 GMT

No Florida recount this year, as Obama wipes the map with a 338-141 electoral college victory, even though the popular vote at this time appears quite a bit closer than the opinion polls predicted.

51.3 percent to 47.5 percent with 73 percent of all U.S. precincts counted

The outcome was, however, never in doubt. McCain conceded just after 11 pm EST.

Although McCain had criticized Obama during the hard-fought campaign as too inexperienced to be president, the Arizona senator said that "in a contest as long and as difficult as this campaign has been, his success alone commands my respect for his ability and perseverance.

"But that he managed to do so by inspiring the hopes of so many millions of Americans who had once wrongly believed that they had little at stake or little influence in the election of an American president is something I deeply admire and commend him for achieving."

McCain told his supporters that it was natural "to feel some disappointment. Though we fell short, the failure is mine, not yours."

The Dems strengthened their hold on the House, and picked up at least five Senate seats for a 56 member majority, leading to a total domination of US politics over the next two years at the least. The GOP averted a total disaster by holding on to enough seats to prevent a Senate super-majority, however. A small comfort on a day where the Democratic party enjoys one of its greatest triumph in living memory.

PS: This election commentary from The Onion cracked me up.

Last thoughts on US election

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:54:42 GMT

Voters in the US unfortunately have to put up with the fact that people around the world all have a strong opinion on their election.

Often, foreigners do not respect the fact that many decisions taken by US elected officers and legislators don't affect them nearly as much as it affects US residents, and certainly not the same way. A good American candidate for, say, Egypt or Belgium, may not be a good candidate for Americans.

Moreover, foreigners do not realise that even those who follow the campaign pretty closely from abroad are not nearly as close to the events at hand, or receives as much information as the interested US voter. Those who brand Americans as 'ignorant' based on their preference of the wrong candidate should at least entertain the possibility that US voters are actually basing their decisions on more intimate knowledge of how the candidates' policies will affect their daily lives.

So, that out of the way, let me simply violate what I just wrote.

Like many people, I started out liking McCain and believing him to be a very honorable man and such a rare thing as a politician dedicated to public service for the right reasons. Many of his decisions are debatable, obviously, but his motivations have been, I think, good. As the campaign has progressed, I am quite appalled by the level of attacks he has thrown at his opponent, especially in the last desperate weeks, and for that I think less of him. I am also very unimpressed with how he has run his campaign, even acknowledging that the perfect storm of Bush fatigue and a financial crisis made it an uphill struggle from the start.

Barack Obama started off as a superstar enigma, and, guess what, he is still a superstar enigma. Based on his past record and some of his statements, he appears to want to push the US much further left than it has ever been. His positions on free trade and naivete about America's enemies make me cringe. Then again, there is a difference between running for and holding office, and I think if anything, Obama is an intelligent man, knowing that a country's long-term foreign policy positions are his to nudge, if he becomes president, and not his to overturn in a few years.

Unless all opinion pollsters and political analysts in the entire world have been dead wrong for weeks, we will soon enough find out what President Barack Obama really stands for.

In that case, the US should brace itself for a sustained attempt by America's enemies and rivals to test Obama's character and resolve once he takes office. It is a given that countries like China and Russia, not to mention Iran and various terrorist organisations, will put in a serious effort to test the mettle of any new president (remember the U.S.-China spy plane incident). If the president's name is Obama, with his declared intentions for dialogue with even the most extreme enemies, these tests will be stern.

Why the press is shafting McCain and giving Obama a free pass

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 06:29:05 GMT

Politico's Jim VandeHei and John F. Harris tries to explain why the media, including themselves, are extremely biased towards Barack Obama and against John McCain:

The Republican once was the best evidence of how little ideology matters. Even during his “maverick” days, McCain was a consistent social conservative, with views on abortion and other cultural issues that would have been odds with those of most reporters we know. Yet he won swooning coverage for a decade from reporters who liked his accessibility and iconoclasm and supposed commitment to clean politics.

Now he is paying. McCain’s decision to limit media access and align himself with the GOP conservative base was an entirely routine, strategic move for a presidential candidate. But much of the coverage has portrayed this as though it were an unconscionable sellout.
Since then the media often presumes bad faith on McCain’s part. The best evidence of this has been the intense focus on the negative nature of his ads, when it is clear Obama has been similarly negative in spots he airs on radio and in swing states.
It is not our impression that many reporters are rooting for Obama personally. To the contrary, most colleagues on the trail we’ve spoken with seem to find him a distant and undefined figure. But he has benefited from the idea that negative attacks that in a normal campaign would be commonplace in this year would carry an out-of-bounds racial subtext. That’s why Obama’s long association with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was basically a nonissue in the general election.
Journalists’ hair-trigger racial sensitivity may have been misplaced, but it was not driven by an ideological tilt.

Are they really saying that Obama gets a free pass because journalists are worried about coming across as racist?

Now, this 'distant and undefined figure' is the massive favorite to become the next President of the United States. Journalists have not attempted to get beyond his campaign's hype. They don't know him, and they don't attempt to get to know him, before he is swept into the most powerful position in the world.

Don't get me wrong. McCain has run an awful campaign. Obama has run a brilliant one, which at least offsets some of his inexperience factors.

Honestly, I think McCain would be a perfectly mediocre president, especially facing a hostile Congress which would call on his talent for compromise and bipartisanship. I think his experience will keep him from massive blunders (counter-argument: his own campaign!), but I also doubt he will do particularly well.

With Obama, it can go both ways. He may be as brilliant as he comes across. He may become a fantastic president. Just as likely, or even more, he may now reach his incompetence level and come crashing down as an absolutely Carteresquely horrible one. Unfortunately, no attempt has been made by the media to really examine this possibility before it, quite possibly, happens.

Scientists made mice forget painful memories

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:01:29 GMT

Scientists have been able to selectively eliminate painful memories in mice:

Working with mice, the researchers found that a particular protein has a crucial role in the formation of memories.
Making the mice over-produce this protein while recalling a specific and painful event caused the memory to be completely eliminated.
The scientists say that in the long-term it should be possible to develop a pill that wipes out traumatic and fearful memories in humans.
Dr Joe Tsien, of the Brain and Behaviour Discovery Institute in Georgia said: "First of all I should emphasise the methodology is not applicable to the human clinical situation yet.
"However, it does suggest molecular paradigms which we can explore to perhaps achieve the same kind of effects in humans - but those are probably years or decades away."
Dr Tsien said the technique might one day be applied to war veterans who "often suffer from reoccurring traumatic memory replays after returning home".

Sure, that is one application.

Now, I can also see a heck of a lot of politicians who will want to be able to say with a straight face, 'I cannot remember that.' Then again, politicians seem to be able to obtain selective memories without any drugs.

High-speed art

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:56:48 GMT

WebUrbanist has collected some amazing pictures by seven great high-speed photographers, and links many more.

Link via GeekPress.

Update: Jonathan links some very old high-speed pictures of nuclear explosions, taken with the rapatronic camera. Thanks!

New axis of evil hurt by oil price drop

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:27:47 GMT

An economic downturn may make us poorer, for some time, but it may also make us safer. A drop in the oil price is certainly bad news for some of the bad guys.

Leaders in Tehran, Moscow and Caracas have gloated as the financial crisis has hobbled the United States and its Western allies. Analysts say that the three swaggering petro-states are the most vulnerable oil producers to the steep price declines. From a record high of $147 (£85) a barrel in July, crude oil is now trading at around $70 after dipping to its lowest level since August 2007.

Deutsche Bank estimated in a recent research note that Iran and Venezuela need an oil price of more than $95 a barrel to balance their budgets, and Russia requires a price of $75. That compares to a break-even figure of $55 for Saudi Arabia.

Russia has cleverly prepared itself for the inevitable downturn, Venezuela and Iran hasn't. Ahmadinejad in particular is dependent on extra oil revenue to bribe people into voting for him, much like his pal Chavez. With much lower oil revenues, some of the nastier regimes in this world may experience an economic humbling far more serious than what the west is experiencing. The west, after all, are still producing stuff.

Alas, the real root of all evil, the west's 'friends' in Saudi Arabia, are bound to benefit anyway.

Study: the net is good for your brain

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:19:20 GMT

Good news, guys:

For middle aged and older people at least, using the internet helps boost brain power, research suggests.
A University of California Los Angeles team found searching the web stimulates centres in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning.
The researchers say this might even help to counter-act the age-related physiological changes that cause the brain to slow down.
The study features in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

The net still forces us to make decisions, which is good for the brain.

Alas, it also makes it darned more difficult to focus your brain power. Sometimes I wonder if I should diconnect my work PC from the net a few hours every day.

It feels good to be a Banksta

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:45:35 GMT

I used to be a fan of the webcomic Sinfest, but at one point I found it to be somewhat out of good ideas. However, over the last weeks Sinfest has been on a roll about the bailout and general financial woes.

Click the back and forward buttons; lots of good ones there.

And, yes, I know that Wall Street turned to Manic Monday euphoia yesterday, and Asia has responded by going ecstatic this Tuesday (Tokyo up 13 %). Last week it was a massacre. So what heavy medications are these people really on?

The wizardry of politics

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:37:47 GMT

Victor Davis Hanson decries consevatives who are jumping ship on John McCain:

But to believe that truth would be–if we remember that scene in Tolkien’s Two Towers–to trust the grating harsh voice of Gandalf detailing the dangers of Saruman rather than the mellifluous charm of the latter who in soothing tones outlines his own victimhood.

Ilya Somin responds:

To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen: I served with Gandalf in numerous D&D campaigns; I knew Gandalf from reading the Lord of the Rings umpteen times; Gandalf was a friend of mine. And John McCain is no Gandalf.

Indeed. And Lord of the Rings-based political parables are just wrong.