Eventually the road filled with mysterious beings coated in sparkles and green paint, their gossamer wings floating in humid Southern air. They were followed by a troupe of mournful vampires, a couple of Spider-Mans, Aeon Flux, Superman, a fleet of Klingons on motorcycles, a mass of Harry Potters, assorted characters from Babylon 5 and of course an entire phalanx of stormtroopers marching more or less in formation behind a gaggle of Princess Leias.

I really haven't had time to write up my own comments from DragonCon, but it was a really excellent weekend. Its an intersection between people who make things like role playing games and people who make things like space elevators. Its where the dreamers meet, and you can grasp onto outlandish ideas that will one day be considered everyday things.

Wired Dragon*Con Review

Few virus writers now want to hit the front pages, said Mr Hypponen, most prefer to have their creations sneak under the radar, rack up a few thousand unwitting victims who are then milked for money or saleable data.

It appears that Mr Essebar was intending to make money several different ways from the people caught out by the Mytob and Zotob viruses he is alleged to have created.

It seems we are entering a new era of organized crime online. Viruses are no longer the product of kiddies trying to prove they are capable of doing damage. Instead viruses have become a tool of spammers and adware installers.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Money motive drove virus suspects

Americans spend $5,267 per capita on health care every year, almost two and half times the industrialized world’s median of $2,193; the extra spending comes to hundreds of billions of dollars a year. What does that extra spending buy us? Americans have fewer doctors per capita than most Western countries. We go to the doctor less than people in other Western countries. We get admitted to the hospital less frequently than people in other Western countries. We are less satisfied with our health care than our counterparts in other countries. American life expectancy is lower than the Western average. Childhood-immunization rates in the United States are lower than average. Infant-mortality rates are in the nineteenth percentile of industrialized nations

The counter point to this perspective usually consists of "sick people aren't my problem" or "wealthy people get more convenient healthcare in the US then in Canada." I am constantly amazed to talk to Americans who actually beleive that Canada is a socialist country. This spin is the product of Rush Limbaugh's rantings during the Clinton years. "Socialism is bad, right? Thats what the communists did, and they were evil!"

The American healthcare system is both heavily regulated and wealth redistributed. Its just as socialist as anyone else's healthcare system. But it has the additional feature of generating a class of people with serious medical problems who are too sick to work and therefore don't get to participate in the wealth redistribution. Oh, and its more convenient for the wealthy because they never have to wait in line behind someone with a more serious problem unless they are at an ER. And its a hell of a lot more expensive.

Gripping onto a ideology for ideology's sake while it is literally killing you seems the very definition of irrational behavior. On the issue the United States is like the last guy back in the hood in New Orleans, sitting on his couch with a foot of standing water in his living room, slowly succumbing to the E.Coli because its his damn town and he'll be damned if he is gunna leave, even after everyone else is long gone...

Sounds like the Administration wants to get up off the couch and go for a swim. Don't worry about Europe hating us. If we keep going down this path they'll be laughing at us instead.

The New Yorker: The Moral Hazard Myth

Gasoline, diesel, anti-freeze, bleach, human waste, acids, alcohols... the floodwater is tea-colored, murky and smells of burnt sulfur. A thin film of oil is visible in the water....

...there do not appear to be any choices other than to pump the water into Lake Pontchartrain or the Mississippi River.

"...it's going to kill everything in those waters."

The water will leave behind more trouble -- a city filled with (toxic) mold.. Most of the buildings will have to be destroyed...

The secondary effects are going to be nasty. They are already warning of E.Coli in the water. New Orleans is essentially a tropical region. It used to have a Malaria problem. Presently rare mosquito based illnesses may start spreading out of the area...

CNN.com - Toxic water. Toxic Mold.

The North Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico regions can expect increased hurricane activity in the next 10 to 40 years.

The number of major hurricanes has more than doubled in the last six years. The increase is part of a long-term climate shift that is likely to persist for several decades,

From 2001.

Major Hurricanes Predicted to Increase in Years Ahead

flynn23 wrote:
I find it interesting that people will spew forth about string theory (even using the word theory to describe it), and then write 10 page diatribes about how intelligent design shouldn't be taught in schools.

I don't think that ID should be taught in schools. I think that its OK to discuss String Theory in schools. (Whether it SHOULD be taught is a different matter which relates to the importance and suitability of the material that I don't have an opinion on. ) The reason is subtle, but critical.

Intelligent Design is not a mathematical model. Neither is the Theory of Evolution. String Theory is. Bringing String Theory into a discussion about Evolution and ID is really an Apples to Oranges comparison. Physics is a completely different pursuit then zoology, which has different constraints and methods.

Mathematical models provide a way of thinking about processes that cannot be observed. They are accepted to the degree that they explain experimental evidence, and they are useful for correctly predicting results of future experiments and phenomina related to the model. Almost all of the "knowledge" that we have about physics and chemistry consists of mathematical models designed to fit experimental results. Very few of these things are referred to as Laws, and only in the context where mathematical proofs can be presented which eliminate alternative possibilities.

Quantum phenomina are hard to understand. Ultimately it is not something that we can ever know anything about, because the phenomina are too small to directly observe. All we have are experiments, and models that fit those experiments. This is true even of 100 year old ideas like what atoms consist of. We really have no idea what atoms consist of. There is no way to know. However, we have experiments, and models.

One such model is the Bhor Model. The Bhor model has been taught in school for nearly 100 years. At the time it explained all of the experimental evidence available. It is also totally wrong, and everyone knew that from the start. The model includes this number called the Bhor Radius that Bhor literally pulled out of his ass because it balanced all the equations. There are newer experiments that invalidate the Bhor Model, and there are more mature models that explain those experiments. We're still asking questions.

There is no one the in world of physics who actually thinks we know what atoms consist of. We don't. We will never know. But we have models that work. We have vast Chemical Engineering and Materials Science industries that produce lots of real stuff that actually works that rely heavily upon mathematical models like the Bhor Model and String Theory.

Now, Quantum physics is strange. We have a lot of trouble with it primarily because the experimental results seem completely preposturous. Information moving... [ Read More (0.8k in body) ]

RE: Dark matter highlights extra dimensions

In a decision with dangerous implications for competition, consumer choice, reverse engineering, and innovation, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled against three software programmers who created a free, open-source program to allow gamers to play games they purchased with others on the platform of their choice. The court held that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibited the reverse engineering needed to create the program and that "click-wrap" and "browse-wrap" licenses are enforceable to prevent reverse engineering.

This is bad. Naked Emperors.

EFF: DMCA/Click Wrap Anti-Reverse Engineering upheld

It's not well known, but FEMA hires temporary federal employees to do the same kind of disaster work as the Red Cross has been doing for years; disaster assessment and casework. I am not sure of how to get into these jobs, as FEMA never told me how I got onto their lists; I suspect it was CERT training.

If you are interesting in being on the list for responding to incidents like Katrina this is information on how to get involved.

Does anyone here have any experience with the Citizen Corps. Having watched two disasters like this in the US in recent memory its hard to sit on the sidelines and let other people deal with it...

Boing Boing: Federal temporary jobs in disaster recovery, a HOWTO

President George W. Bush said federal relief efforts in Gulf states ravaged by Hurricane Katrina are so far are "not acceptable.''

NOLA mayor agrees. WTF is FEMA doing?!

Bush blasts releif efforts

Michael Brown also agreed with other public officials that the death toll in the city could reach into the thousands."Unfortunately, that's going to be attributable a lot to people who did not heed the advance warnings," Brown told CNN."I don't make judgments about why people chose not to leave but, you know, there was a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans," he said.

They are not letting people leave. The Astrodome has stopped accepting people. Rattle's theory is that they have a disease problem and so they don't want to evac people until they are ready to quarantine them. This spin, however, is terrible. Some people couldn't leave. Some people didn't get the memo. The Governor of Mississippi has gone on record saying that as of Friday they had no idea it was going to be this bad, so blaming the people on the street is unconsionable.

CNN.com - FEMA chief: Victims bear some responsibility - Sep 1, 2005