Earth Hour

So tonight is Earth Hour. its a widely publicized event thats been gaining popularity over the past few years. At first, I loved the idea of this: turning everyones lights off for an hour and enjoying an hour of a much darker sky, maybe even some more stars! Its like that episode of Hey Arnold! when arnold wanted to see halleys comet, but all the lights in the city made it too bright, so he got everyone to turn off their lights so they could see the comet. In truth though, earth hour is barely a blip. Even the most optimistic estimates of energy savings during the one hour blackout puts it at the level of stopping China's carbon output for a total of 45 seconds. Not really much at all. However, it does send a message: light pollution is changing our environment. Animals aren't able to sleep at night near lit roadways and high-density development, and some lights stay on for nobody, wasting electricity through the night. I hope people take earth hour and bring it into their own lives, turning their lights off more often then theyre not being used, and being conscious of energy usage. Together, we can make the world brighter by turning off the lights :)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/03/27/3174771.htm?site=sydney

Go Figure...

So it just so happens that going to church is linked to obesity. we all know that correlation does not equal causation, but its certainly something I've observed. Maybe they should preach more about eating healthy and staying fit rather than allowing people to pray their fat away, lol

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/briefs/articles/90042095?Study%3A%20church%20going%20linked%20to%20obesity

Business is Scary

Following the buzz over AT&T announcing talks to buy T-Mobile, the FCC is stepping in, raising questions over anti-trust worries, but their reaction is lukewarm and nonconfrontational. The scary thing about this isnt just the fact that it will create a company larger than that of Verizon, but that it will offer phones and connections on both networks, essentially removing any competition between rival networks or accessibility options. Unless verizon comes up with some magic new technology to beat the new goliath, we may be looking at a national megacorporation of mobile communication. Verizon, you best be shaking in your boots.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-20046467-94.html?tag=mncol;txt

iPad issues

It seems to be that the more widespread a product becomes, the more sensitive it is to small issues. Every company knows that their product will not be 100% perfect, but when something is as hyped and well-sold as the iPad 2, one small error for 1% of owners can turn into a news-worthy story. Computers freeze all the time, its part of owning a computer. I myself consider the iPad a computer in itself, so when one of the programs designed for it encounters a small error, you restart it, apologize to whomever you were chatting to, and go on. No need to whine

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/03/23/users_report_freezing_issues_with_facetime_on_apples_ipad_2.html

Winter aint over yet!

Its been nice and warm the past few weeks here in Jersey, but winter decided to make a return this morning. It may be raining now, but I woke up to a surprise 2 inches of snow on the ground. not bad for the end of march.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/winter/2011-03-23-winter-weather_N.htm

First Post!

Welcome to the blog. Its dedicated to putting a pragmatic spin on news stories, questioning  dodgy reporting, and looking at the Zeitgeist from my perspective.

First things first: This huge scare over the nuclear leak in Japan. While yes, it is important to be wary of any nuclear problem, given the intense technology, money, and engineering, it also means that all that money which has been poured into the nuclear plant has probably gone to SOMETHING meant to keep it safe. Think about this: 3 of the 6 reactor building have been destroyed, yet the max level of radiation detected in humans was 3.6 milliseiverts. In laymans terms, thats slightly more than a mammogram, and slightly less than a CT scan, a routine procedure performed every day on thousands of patients in hospitals worldwide. You don't see them complaining about radiation and popping potassium iodide supplements every day. Its time to look at everything in perspective and realize that now that the authorities seem to have stabilized the situation at Fukushima Dai-Ichi, we probably wont be seeing any catastrophic meltdowns or radiation sickness.

Heres some brave footage of the firefighters working to cool down the reactors inside the plant.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8400791/First-footage-from-inside-Fukushima-nuclear-plant-as-firefighters-battle-to-cool-reactors.html