Wednesday, January 12, 2005

College course on UFOs? OK, this is hitting bottom for an academic institution: Santiago University is offering a course on "Unexplainable Air Phenomena" (if they are unexplainable, not just unexplained, what are we going to learn about them?), more commonly referred to as UFOs. Note the quote from the director of the course: "There is something happening out there and we don't know what it is." Yup, that pretty much sums it up! 8:48:41 AM    comment []

Global climate change, more evidence... Climate Change Dessicating the Planet, Researchers Conclude [Scientific American] Here is another important piece of scientific evidence that we are screwing with the world's climate, and that the effects are rapid and catastrophic. But of course the Bush administration will keep saying that there is still discussion among scientists (true, there always is discussion among scientists, it's the nature of science), and that therefore we ought to wait for further evidence. The problem with this apparently "reasonable" attitude is that the likely consequences of waiting too long may be both catastrophic and irreversible. A much more reasonable course of action is the so-called precautionary principle, according to which the stakes are so high that it is better to take action now -- at some economic cost -- rather than wait and pay much more dearly later. Unfortunately, of course, "now" is within an electoral cycle, "later" is way outside of it... It's like smoking and cancer: you may think that the link between the two is based on "just" a correlation, but wouldn't it be better to give up a bit of pleasure now rather than risk facing a horrible death later? The choice is ours (or is it?). 8:41:19 AM    comment []