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Friday, May 30, 2003
Just in time for the summer . . .  Build the best paper airplane in the world. What makes it so special?- Folds progressively thicker where the wing joins the fuselage -- prevents distortion during windy days.
- Long tail gives directional stability.
- Can be flown with or without a tail.
- Flight is similar to a balsa wood plane rather than a paper airplane.
- Upturned wingtips percent wingtip vortex.
- Multiple folds of paper concentrate the center of gravity well below and forward of the wings for hang-glider stability.
posted by Walter Reade at 7:49 AM
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Freedom . . . French Style The French parliament has passed an anti-crime act which makes a criminal offence to insult the French flag or national anthem. Booing the Marseillaise now carries the risk of a fine of 7,500 euros and six months in prison.
posted by Walter Reade at 9:29 PM
Fireworks A quote from "Fireworks" by Ross Levatter -- a short story from the June 2003 issue of Liberty. A father explains to his child:Today, almost 300 years ago, our nation began a war for independence and human liberty. That is why we are a free and independent people today, with rights to life, security, safety, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. . . . If it weren't for that, we wouldn't be free to travel wherever the government allows us to go, wouldn't be free to choose among the government's list of acceptable books, wouldn't be able to worship in any religion recognized by the government. That's why liberty is so important. And remember . . . the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
posted by Walter Reade at 9:18 PM
WMD QuatablesFrom Counter Punch, Weapons of Mass Destruction: Who Said What When. Nice time line of quotes. From "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction" to "They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer" and everything in between.
posted by Walter Reade at 8:51 PM
Prestige and CredibilityPresident Bush will hold a three-way meeting in Jordan next week with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel and Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian prime minister, White House officials said today.
Administration officials said they saw little choice but for Mr. Bush to lend his prestige and credibility to the effort after the Iraq war. The article neglected to specify any details about who consideres Bush to have "prestige and credibility." And that is a shame. It certainly would have made some interesting news.
posted by Walter Reade at 6:44 PM
Germs, eh?The Bush administration is officially calling the mobile labs found in Iraq "units to produce deadly germs," and are "highly confident" in the assessment. And while this is "the strongest evidence to date that Iraq was hiding a biological warfare program," the case is far from clear cut.The officials acknowledged that they had discovered neither biological agents nor evidence that the equipment had ever been used to make germ weapons.
The trailer's hardware presented no direct evidence of weapons use. The best evidence of that, they said, was the trailers' close resemblance to prewar descriptions of mobile germ plants given by Iraqi sources.
A technical assessment alone "would not lead you intuitively and logically to biological warfare," an official said of the trailers. The best part of the pronouncement is the brilliant spin job. It seems that the less the mobile units appear to be biological labs, the more that proves Iraq was trying to disguise their intentions!"Relatively inefficient but ingenious" is how one analyst described the mobile factories.
Their inefficiency, he added, was probably rooted in a decision to design the plants with enough technical ambiguity so they could be disclaimed as germ factories if discovered. Iraqi scientists have said the units were used to produce hydrogen for weather balloons. But the intelligence officials dismissed that explanation as a cover story even while conceding that the equipment could, in fact, have been used occasionally to make hydrogen.
posted by Walter Reade at 6:38 PM
Wednesday, May 28, 2003
How to spin statisticsDoes hormone therapy raise the risk of Alzheimer's? The New York Times reports that it doubles the risk for women who start the treatment at age 65 or older. Not a big deal, according to researchers.Researchers said the risk to individual women was slight, and that even though the numbers worked out to a doubling of the risk, 23 cases for every 10,000 women should not be cause for alarm.
"A small number doubled is still a small number," said Dr. Samuel E. Gandy, vice chairman of the medical and scientific advisory council of the Alzheimer's Association, and director of the Farber Institute of Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. [Emphasis added.] I suppose it depends on what you consider a small number. The direct risk of hormone therapy is that 1 out of 400 women will develop Alzheimer's. Considering the debilitating nature of the disease, would you consider this "not a big deal"?
In a previous entry, I highlighted a Science News article that claimed, "On-the-job exposure to certain agricultural chemicals may be responsible for farmers' high rates of prostate cancer." What constituted this high rate of prostate cancer? It was an increase of only 14%!
This is why I love statistics.
posted by Walter Reade at 7:49 AM
Toxic Toilet Paper The May 24, 2003, issue of Science News has a blurb on toxic chemicals finding their way into the environment via recycled paper. Evidently, when chemically-laced thermal paper is recycled, toxins are introduced into such products as recycled toilet paper, which, when flushed, can release these chemicals into the water supply.
The authors didn't mention the obvious concern -- using a toxin-laden product to wipe your keister. I'm buying recycle-free toilet paper from now on . . .
posted by Walter Reade at 6:56 AM
Some like it hot McIlhenny has introduced a new flavor of Tabasco sauce onto the market -- Chipotle Pepper Sauce. The say, "It's our first pepper sauce that you can sprinkle on like a condiment, or really pour on like a steak sauce or marinade." And I'd have to agree!
I'm glad McIlhenny has extended their line to include the flavorful chipotle. (I love their Habanero sauce, but don't care much for their Green sauce or Garlic Tabasco.)
On the topic of hot sauce, if you haven't tried Religious Experience brand Apocalypse sauce, order some now. It is, in my opinion, the perfect hot sauce, combining significant heat with superbly fresh flavor.
posted by Walter Reade at 6:41 AM
Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Bush Websites A parody site packed full of content: whitehouse.org.
Self explanatory: toostupidtobepresident.com.
Lots of good stuff: georgewalkerbush.net.
The "official" re-election homepage: gwbush.com.
Bush Speaks photos: bushfordummies.com.
All his best quotes: dubyaspeak.com.
And many more from Google.
posted by Walter Reade at 5:42 AM
Monday, May 26, 2003
Where are all the Finnish Bloggers? This site will tell you where.
(I assume there are more than 136 Finnish bloggers.)
There are 2216 New York City bloggers registered.
posted by Walter Reade at 11:05 PM
Hillary loves the childrenAn e-mail making the rounds:Hillary Clinton went to a primary school to talk to the children about the world. After her talk, she offered a question-and-answer time. One little boy put up his hand, and the Senator asked him his name.
"Bobby."
"And what is your question, Bobby?"
"I have three questions. First - whatever happened to your medical health care plan; second - why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office; and third - whatever happened to all those things you took when you left the White House?"
Just then, the bell rang for recess. Senator Clinton informed the kiddies that they would continue after recess.
When they resumed, Hillary asked, "Okay where were we? Oh, that's right, question time. Who has a question?"
A different little boy put his hand up; Hillary pointed him out and asked him his name.
"Steve"
"And what is your question, Steve?"
"I have five questions. First - whatever happened to your medical health care plan; second - why would you run for President after your husband shamed the office; third - whatever happened to all those things you took when you left the White House; fourth - why did the bell go off 20 minutes early; and fifth - what happened to Bobby?"
posted by Walter Reade at 11:04 PM
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