Doubtful

All:

I still get consistent hits on this blog. Even after I took off the picts of Gerard Way!

I have linked to the Whispers from the Earth series of posts since the Sichuan quake has stirred interest in earthquake precursors. This has also been published in The Anomalist No. 13: Intermediate States. I would like to keep this blog going as a commentary on Fortean phenomena but life events take their toll as usual.

I have decided to go to grad school to study the interaction between science and the public. Some of you who know who I am also know that I have a family, a house, a garden, a dog, a full-time job, and I like to talk to my neighbors, read, watch TV, play the Wii and do everyday normal things. I also ran three blogs including this one. I have to cut something somewhere. My PC hard drive is perpetually giving me hassles so the decision has been made for me. No time for blog updates right now.

Someday, I hope to share my views in another blog, maybe a new book. As always, feel free to comment. I’ll still be listening and would love to chat (that is, unless you are trying to convince me that the full moon physically influences behavior. If that’s the case, I’ll probably just humor you.)

All the best.

Now, everyone calm down. I don’t think emo kids are crazy. But, I do wonder about a few. I have posted before that the most hits I get are for the pictures of Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. It’s obvious people Google images of G and visit my site (just the photo) and comment (on just the photo). I can’t tell you how many say “I luv U Gerard, marry MEEEEE!” I get scared at that.

Yo, I am not affiliated with the band. I am not them. I do not want to hear your love odes to your fantasy man. Please. Stop.

So, I am removing the picts. Administration of comments like this is getting old. I don’t authorize most because they are in some foreign language or are too odd to allow.

It does make me think that there are many kids who have seriously lost touch with reality (srsly!). I think they need help and I’m not the one to do that. Life between 12 and 20 are pretty gnarly times - your body and your brain are on natural drugs, you are trying to find your place in the world, the world pretty much sucks all around. Sorry about that. But, you mellow out and things get better. MUCH better. I am hoping those kids make it through OK.

Earthquake in Illinois! Is this the end times?

Hot-underground-fictional-place-for-sinners, no!

And, I’ll go on record to say End Times stories are totally silly. The world has been going downhill since we humans got here in (more-or-less) present form a million years ago. Enough of that tangent. It was just to get attention anyway.

It’s pretty darn cool to experience an earthquake but, putting things into earthly perspective, this is no big deal. No one was hurt. If there were no buildings, liquer stores and knick-knacks, no damage would have been done. When natural events like this happen, one would hope that interest would be generated in the science and explanations behind it. No, we get a lot of rampant speculation. People make correlations that have no basis in reality because our brains are designed to find patterns and connections. Thus, it must be the end of the world. Folks, stranger things happen all the time. Let’s not be scared of them, let’s embrace the challenge of discovery!

I did notice my favorite anecdotal earthquake precursor stories crop up once again in the midwest - animals sensing the earthquake. It appears from all the stories that people’s pet cats, dogs and birds were riled up hours, minutes and seconds prior to the event. Seconds before, animals can perceive something amiss with the usual sounds or vibration before us humans perceive these waves. Hours and minutes prior, could they be sensing the emissions of builtup stress in the rock, electromagnetic waves, infra- or ultrasound, gas release, air ionization, etc.? Most certainly they can. Not everyone’s dog or cat showed concern. I read reports from the local news that some pets slept right through. Others were shaken after the event just like their humans.

From our understanding of earthquakes, we know that the strain builds over time. Those conditions modify the immediate environment. See my article on Whispers from the Earth. I have been compelled by the evidence and theories of plausible mechanisms to explain the occurrences, that some animals, even people, are able to perceive precursors of earthquakes. It’s not unreasonable; it’s not kooky; it’s not even paranormal. It’s factual that animals perceive the world differently than we do. I think a lot more folks understand that now.

Evolution explains the way things are. There is no God at work there, things happen according to natural rules (policy and general guidance). It’s a beautiful thing. Nature is the designer. Don’t be afraid to embrace Natural Design. Here’s why it’s OK to love evolution.

1. Scientists are cool, crazy evangelicals are not.
2. You will piss off crazy evangelicals (cool).
3. You have a better chance of getting a good paying job (because you will automatically be smarter than the average person).
4. A stylized fish with legs and a wrench is cute on your car.
5. You will understand your doctor when he gives you health information.
6. Change through time explains a lot about life.
7. The zoo and natural history museums become tremendously more interesting.
8. You won’t drive yourself crazy trying to figure out why God created parasites.
9. You will have a small appreciation for even the worst things in life - like kudzu, MRSA and influenza pandemics.
10. You can appreciate what is really important in selecting a “mate”.
11. It’s not hip to be dumb and ignorant, for example - see George W. Bush.
12. You view life as one big, interconnected web, through time, in which we are all related.
13. Accepting things the way they are is a lot less stressful than living a lie.

Sorry I haven’t been keeping up this blog for those of you who might be subscribed. Every so often I feel the need to speak out in the hopes that someone might hear me.

This made me say “Yea!”. From the first I heard of Airborne, and other things like Cold-eeze, Zicam and the like, the warning bells rang loudly. If it sounds too good to be true…

I hate herbal remedies. Not because they don’t work but because too many people think that “herbal” is better. Herbal is herbal, that’s it; usefullness or betterness is not implied. People will think “natural” is better. Well, if herbal and natural remedies were so great for everything, why did we have to develop western medicinal drugs? Put simply, herbal remedies may not hurt you. (And that’s a big “may”, because they just might.) But, you waste lots of money for nothing. Sure, I enjoy my herbal tea and have been occasionally fond of pick-me-up drinks, but I don’t expect miracles from them. That is, I don’t expect them to cure the common cold or really give me wings.

Here’s a revelation for those of you who say “It works for me! I haven’t been sick at all!”: I have daily contact with children in day care and elementary school and work in a large office building. I have not had one major illness this year. I had one minor bout of sniffles lasting about 5 days but it was not too disruptive. My system fought off the onset of some achyness within a day several times since last fall without the aid of any magic concoction. Therefore, I can honestly say I haven’t been sick much this past season at all. I attribute this to three things - 1.) I get regular sleep. When I feel poor, I try for even more. 2.) I don’t eat much junky food. One treat a day and fast food makes me feel rather yucky. 3.) I use saline nose spray to keep me from getting recurrent sinus infections.

I will bet you will find plenty of doctors who say my solutions are tremendously safe and very effective. You won’t find that for poor Airborne. I snigger at those who swear by this stuff. Then, I wish that there was a way to really help you understand that anecdotes are not science. It’s kind of depressing how in these modern times, misinformation and misunderstanding still is so prevalent.

I am UNHAPPY in a big way. How dare Congress propose such a huge bag of nonsense!

“Affirming the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation’s founding and subsequent history and expressing support for designation of the first week in May as `American Religious History Week’ for the appreciation of and education on America’s history of religious faith.”

First, what follows in the resolution would be false. America was founded for the people, by the people. Not for God, by God. Second, what is Congress doing blatently crossing the line by endorsing a specific religion? Third, why doesn’t Congress work on something constructive and important for a change!

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=hr110-888

This is bad, really bad. For everyone. There is no good outcome if the U.S. continues down the road to becoming a Christian theocracy. We’ve been well on our way with Bush. Huckabee would be his worthy successor. No matter what religion you are or if you are no religion, you must speak out against this. Please contact your representative and object to the distortion. If the government endorses a religion, that is one giant step away from freedom for all. We must remain tolerant of all belief systems, life styles and viewpoints. Anything else is un-American.

Do not rely on politicians to recite U.S. history. They distort and lie on this topic just like they do about most else.

Visit here for what you can do.

I felt very sad when hearing of the death of Benazir Bhutto. I admired her extreme courage and determination, her vision and her cause. The world has lost a powerful leader who happened to be a woman.

I’m sad on many fronts these days, nearing the end of this year. I have a completely illogical aversion to odd numbers and 2007 did not bode well from the start. I still fear for the coming year with the election and disgusting hype that comes along with it.

These days, I’m as certain as a scientist could reasonably feel “certain” that history will remember the Bush - The Sequel years as the darkest time of U.S. politics. We’ve lost so much, including our way.

I long for a day when religion won’t play a part in politics. I’m terrified at the thought that we might continue on the road to Christian facsism. In 2008, I wish for freedom and tolerance around the world. I wish I could do more than wish about it. I contacted my Congresspersons many times but they seem to be deaf, dumb and blind. It makes me very worried. We’ve let the executives of politics and business lead us far off the best path and the sheeple followed without thought, cheering.

So, 2007 ends with sadness about the state of the country and the whole world. There is some hope: I am glad to see greater acceptance of environmental consciousness and of atheism. It’s a good thing we change the calendar at some arbitrary marker so we can at least get just some sense, however contrived, that there is a chance to regroup and move forward.

Jamie Lynn Spears’ pregnancy provides parents of girls between 7 and 14 with a golden opportunity to talk about birth control. Just do it. It’s easy. It’s absolutely necessary.

Abstinence isn’t going to cut it. That’s actually been proven. Let’s face it - kids that are too young still have sex. If you are a wise and caring parent, you encourage them to be smart about relationships but you also teach them about birth control so they don’t derail their lives with a child before its time.  The young girls in poor neighborhoods don’t have the resources that the Spears’ have to care for a child (though I would question celebrity parental skills). A 16 year girl living in relative poverty may not be able to graduate and establish her independence with a child in tow. It’s very sad. She may become a burden to society instead of an asset.

Just to add, I’ll highlight the complete disregard that the fundamentalist religionists have for the life of these young women. Nothing is so telling about the health and prosperity of a society than the status of its women. If it were left up to the fundamentalists (of all religions) women would be relegated solely to the role of broodmares, subservient to their husbands. Their religious texts support this view. I deeply resent that. Ask your Presidential candidates ‘what is the role of a woman in society?’. Their answers may be very telling.

There is a news release posted via Science Daily entitled “Large Earthquakes May Broadcast Warnings, But Is Anyone Tuning In To Listen?”

This is exactly the point I’ve made previously in my series of posts and published in Intermediate States: The Anomalist No. 13. Previously, conventionally, seismologists have concentrated on seismic signals as precursors. That has been less than a resounding success. There was plenty of good data to suggest they should be looking elsewhere. It appears looking elsewhere isn’t too expensive in this case. This is promising news. It would not appear that it is the catch all for accurate prediction for every quake, even every large one because the mechanisms might be unique for some. But, it is a good start to shift the view away from the ground to the air.

The bigger question arises when the observations catch a new signal. What do they do then? Scientific disaster prediction is a horrible, nasty business. If you are unsure about a coming event, do you send out the warning in order to save lives with the potential that you make everyone mad and less trusting if nothing happens. Do you risk economic hardship for people and life disruption that accompanies an evacuation? Or, do you keep quiet and risk the guilt if people die unnecessarily? It’s an extremely hard question.

I believe the answer is one of public understanding of science and community preparation.

If citizens in hazards zones understand the risk and the error potential in prediction, all warnings should be clearly broadcast. No panic should ensue and the public should be prepared to follow a well-planned, secure procedure. Well, what are the odds of that happening? Not under current leadership.

I heard a very forward-thinking idea today from a climate change specialist who said the we should not only be actively working towards alleviating the global warming problem but (perhaps more importantly for the moment) preparing for disasters better than we do now because more are coming. We’ve all see how disgracefully the U.S handles disasters, even when there is adequate time to prepare. There are few valid excuses, in this age of technology, scientific prediction, and mass communication that we can’t get our act together and live through a tsunami, coastal flooding, hurricane, volcanic eruption or earthquake.

My daughter, (age 9) likes Green Day and Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters). She doesn’t share my affection for My Chemical Romance but I figure it might grow on her. Note that all three bands swear on occasion and have the Parental Warnings on their products.

For Xmas two years ago (when she was 7), she wanted the “Bullet in a Bible” DVD – the Green Day concert film. I thoroughly enjoyed it myself. She spent a weekend up at my folks around that time. I told her she’d better not bring the DVD. Grandma and Grandpa wouldn’t necessarily approve of the F-bomb dropped a few times. (Not to mention they would not appreciate the tunes.)

When I told a colleague (who is my age and has a taste for Alice in Chains and porn videos) that she thought Green Day was dreamy, he looked at me cross-eyed. “They swear a lot in their songs. You let her listen to that?” Friggin’ hypocrite…

Of all things, if the kids hears some slang words from Dave, Billie Joe or Gerard, I’m pretty sure they won’t be warped for life. In fact, she may not know what “fuck” literally means but she knows it’s not a word to be used in conversation. It’s a word that has a strong emotional tag that is useful for artists and writers. It isn’t derogatory towards a person; it’s become rather neutral.

[Aside: Remember when they weren’t allowed to say “bitch” or “ass” on TV? I remember when that most excellent waste of TV time “Dynasty” would throw “Bitch” around and everyone would gasp. How times have changed. I was, like, 10 and wasn’t allowed to watch it much.]

I would rather she understand that there are different styles of language to be used in different situations when appropriate. I don’t accept that MTV bleeps out the words “murder” or “shit” or any reference to drugs. That’s sort of dumb since they exhibit little restraint in showing videos with disgusting hot-pantsed women shaking their asses for pimps. I guess they think glorifying women as sex objects and showcasing the hedonistic excesses in life is fine.

I would rather she learn lessons about art and freedom of speech. If that means she hears the F-bomb used as an expletive (not a verb), I’m OK with that. So, I let her know that people DO judge you on what you wear, how you act and what you say. It’s up to you to chose how to express yourself but there may be consequences.

There are days when I wish I could cuss away at the world but it’s not my purpose to express anger to the masses and rile them up. When I do use the F-bomb on occasion, those around me know I’m really pissed off. Thus, it retains its power.