March 2011
66 posts
Schroedinger's Cat
Am I the only one who doesn’t really like it? It is sort of cute from a historical perspective, but if someone asks you about it and what it means, I don’t think it really helps them understand quantum mechanics any better. Besides it is just a poor example. A cat’s wavefunction is way way WAY too unstable to ever be put into a superposition of states.
Analogies
These are awesome.
I'm conflicted about Libya
I really want to support the U.S. action. I do. Gaddafi is a tyrant and a nutjob. I think this rebellion has a better chance of success with the help from the U.S. and the rest of the coalition.
Here’s the ‘but.’ There are other rebellions going on. Why aren’t we helping them? The answer is that it is not in our interest. Take Bahrain. The government has met protests with violence. Bahrain is good friends with Saudi Arabia, our ally and petroleum pusher. So we won’t help out Bahrain’s people no matter how fucked they are because it isn’t in our interest.
For me this delegitimizes any claim to our actions being for moral or humanitarian good. It’s just the big U.S. doing what it always does, using the military to further its interest.
Part of me says, “Who the cares as long as it saves some peoples’ lives?” The other part says, “Acting morally when it suits you isn’t really acting morally at all.” So I don’t know. What do you think?
The Liberal Life: No Belgian Church Escaped Instances of Sexual Abuse →
liberal-life.tumblr.com
An investigation found that sexual abuse occurred in ALL of Belgian’s Catholic Churches:
Investigators, working with the support of the Belgian Catholic Church received 475 complaints of child abuse committed in the 1950s through to the late 1980s by Catholic clergy.
“We can say that no…
I don’t know what else to say about this. It happens so often that I think we are now jaded to it. Just think for a moment though, about how many lives have been ruined. Think about the pain and shame that the victims feel. Think about the horror you would feel being sodomized as a child. Think about the rage and pain the parents feel.
Now consider all that, and think about the cowardly cover ups and callous disregard the church has shown.
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When Republicans profited from the miserable economy to sweep up huge wins in last fall’s election, most political watchers figured they knew what was coming: budget cuts, privatization of more government functions, and tax cuts for the wealthy. The push to dismantle public sector unions has been a bit of a surprise, but not a jarring one.
But what seems to have thrown everyone — save for a handful of embittered and neglected pro-choice activists — for a loop is the way Republican lawmakers at both the national and state levels have focused so intently on the uteruses of America. Republicans appear to believe that the women of America have wildly mismanaged these uteruses in the four decades since the Supreme Court gave them control over them — and now that Republicans have even a little bit of power, they’re going to bring this reign of female tyranny over uteruses to an end.
After all, the Republican House speaker, John Boehner, has identified limiting women’s access to abortion and contraception as a “top priority” — this with the economy is in tatters and the world in turmoil. Boehner’s and the GOP’s abortion fixation raises an obvious question: Why now, when there are so many other pressing issues at stake?
” —What’s really driving the GOP’s abortion war | Amanda Marcotte, Salon (via pantslessprogressive)I'm watching "Unwelcome: The Muslim Next Door"
On CNN. It follows the story of a congregation of Muslims in Tennessee as they face opposition from the townsfolk about the building of a Mosque.
As an atheist I always feel a bit strange talking about this matter. I am so used to trying to peel religion apart, to exposing it’s illogical nature and the damage I think it does to society. So how can I use the same breath to defend the rights of these people to build a mosque where they please? Easy.
Its their fucking right. They own the land, and they can do what they want with it. Plus there is this little thing called the Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of religion. If a bunch of people want dance naked in a circle and worship the sun god, its no ones business to stop them. You can say to them as I do, that it is all a big waste of time and there is no sun god, but I don’t want to live in a world where the government tells you what to believe, how to dress, and what to do with your own property as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else.
Rand Paul 2012? →
theatlantic.com
I knew this would be inevitable. I thought it would be Paul or Rubio who would try to step up and be the “GOP Obama.” (Young Senator who is riding a large wave of recent support from the “grassroots” to presidential nomination)
If Paul or Rubio gets it, don’t be surprised if they go the same route that Obama did, and choose an older congressmen who ran for president before to be his running mate.
I don’t know a damn thing about Rubio. I am conflicted about Paul. On the one hand, he is a nut and would be a terrible President. On the other hand, because he is a nut he might be easy for a Democrat to run against. On the third hand, maybe a Rand Paul Presidency would make the country realize that it needs to get its shit together. Like waking up next to someone unpleasant after a bender.
