04 September 2016

Link round-up for 4 September 2016

A new discovery about ancient Babylonian mathematics illustrates a key difference between science and religion.

Some of the toughest and most clear-headed resistance to Islamism comes from Middle Eastern people -- a fact which "identity politics" cannot cope with.

I've found this to be very true.

Cats just kinda know.

Robots, robots everywhere!

This Poke Mongo thing is getting completely out of hand.

Beware the onslaught of the militant lesbian farmers.

Mention was made last week of giant metal chickens.  But how about death metal chickens?

If you use Airbnb, click here.

Nine lives, one story.

Movie audiences are turning away from sequels and remakes (found via Zandar).

There's a simple reason why so many powerful women are blonde.

Not the end of the world, even if it looks that way.

If you ever have your wrists bound with zip ties, try this (found via TYWKIWDBI).

Green Eagle has more wingnut wackiness and wingnut lies.

Paul Wartenberg looks back on ten years of bloggery.

This isn't justice.

At the end of the road of delusion, the mad chicken farmer awaits.

They're not even trying to hide the purpose of voter ID laws any more.

After years of preaching sexual abstinence, Joshua Harris reconsiders (found via Republic of Gilead).

A protest in North Dakota deserves more attention. Things are turning nasty.

Franklin Graham says you and I are the problem.

Media normalization of Trump is bizarre and dangerous.

Conservatism depends on the Two Minutes Hate to survive, but they can no longer control who's the target.

Fundies flounder in response to the collapse of Christianity in the US (found via Republic of Gilead), but they're reaffirming their rejection of gays, to the point of this guy having a complete meltdown.

Wealthy Nick Hanauer has an important message for his fellow one-percenters.

The Bible says kill your relatives if they don't share your delusions.

If you want to punch a feminist, here are some opportunities.

Veterans speak out on Colin Kaepernick's protest; more on that here.  And this is the anthem he spurned.

Indiana's "religious freedom law" is still giving cover for nastiness.

First he ran a red light and hit her, then he shot her.

Here's another huge problem with the TPP.

The Anglican Church is splintering apart over how much to compromise with modernity.

Even by the normal standards of "miracles", this is really suspicious.

Fireworks?  Thailand shows us how it's done.

Here's a report on anti-gay agitation around the world.

A long time ago, a girl fell out of a tree.

This is a pretty far-out dress.

A transitional pterodactyl fossil offers fascinating insights into the evolution of ancient flying reptiles.

Progress is our job.

We're learning how plants transitioned to dry land, and made it habitable.

The Clinton Foundation does stuff like this.

The fundies have made their choice.  Now let them live with their hypocrisy.

Hillary should talk more about the world's biggest problem.

Those who could accept a Trump win are selfishly sacrificing others.

Huma Abedin remains a favorite target of wingnut conspiratardia.

Hackwhackers has reactions to Trump's Mexico trip.  The Field Negro is unimpressed with his "outreach" to black voters.  Much of his racism has libertarian roots.

Assange is getting hysterical about the possibility of Hillary winning.

If the Republicans are losers, they'll be sore losers.

Both-siderism is a lie; there is no equivalence between the parties or between the candidates.  The Republican party must be not just defeated, but destroyed.

[Image at top:  Hellenistic-era Babylonian tablet on calculating the position of Jupiter (see first link), found via Rosa Rubicondior]

12 Comments:

Blogger Paul W said...

thank you for the link, Infidel! I did steal the idea from you.

bit worried there's nothing about the impending proliferation of taco trucks. maybe you're saving that for next taco, uh next week. Mmmmm, tacos...

04 September, 2016 06:20  
Blogger Paul W said...

If you need any taco recipes for an upcoming article, Infidel, I'll do what I can to get Mama Wartenberg's special recipe.

04 September, 2016 08:24  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Too much of a chicken theme this week. But the taco truck meme seems to be spreading even without my help.

04 September, 2016 08:56  
Blogger Ahab said...

Robots ... uncanny valley ... aaahhhhhh ...

Either that West Yorkshire woman doesn't understand how Pokemon Go works, or bad drugs were involved.

The microburst photo was beautiful and disturbing -- it looks like the floodgates of heaven opened!

I'm surprised that the North Dakota pipeline protests aren't getting more media attention. Standing Rock's stand against Big Oil deserves attention.

I love how feminists come in all shapes, sizes, genders, and walks of life.

Cool! Not only did the flying wheel leave a neat pillar of smoke, but it came with a parachute!

If taco trucks are coming to every street corner in America, they'd better have kimchi tacos, or I'll be disappointed.

04 September, 2016 09:34  
Blogger Shaw Kenawe said...

From the Hillary HQ link:

"Let's make clear to our family, friends and neighbors that Donald Trump isn't so much a candidate as a walking national emergency. That he's nothing short of a hateful, dangerous bigot who is completely unqualified to be President of the United States. Because it's true."

I totally agree with this. I keep talking about this almost every day on my blog. The Maniac cannot be president. And I don't think he will be. With a little more than 2 months to go to election day, Trump will not be able to change the voting public's image of him as a raging racist demagogue.

Loved all the links.

04 September, 2016 15:58  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

The robot tarantula is a steal at $750. Still not sure exactly what I could use it for, though.

Never underestimate the power of stupidity. She probably thought Pokemon are invisible Japanese robot monsters or something.

My first thought is that the Thai space program is more advanced than we thought. They're already testing flying saucers.

04 September, 2016 16:03  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Shaw: It's incredible that anyone takes this ridiculous and disgusting man seriously as a potential leader of 320 million people. Granted, there are those who want a raging racist demagogue, but everyone else needs to wake up. This isn't a game. It isn't even a normal election.

04 September, 2016 18:01  
Blogger Pinku-Sensei said...

Re: "Movie audiences are turning away from sequels and remakes." I'm a fan of the Razzie Awards to recognize bad major studio movies. One of the categories is "Worst Sequel/Ripoff/Remake." I'm sure this year will produce a bumper crop of potential nominees, and there are four months left!

05 September, 2016 11:33  
Anonymous Blurber said...

On the Babylonians:

This was a wonderful achievement by the Babylonians. They were using:

Velocity x time = (meters/second) x (seconds)
= meters and, when the seconds are canceled,
= distance

Using the day as unit of time, as the Babylonians did, gave a very good approximation of the total distance traveled by Jupiter over the months and years.

Nowadays the unit of time increment is taken to be infinitesimally small, since this permits calculation of the distance moved over any time interval, as required in precise space navigation. When the distance and time approach an infinitely small amount they are called ds and dt which requires the calculus to handle.

As above, ds/dt x dt = ds, which is a differential equation, and adding all the ds over any amount of time gives the total distance. This addition is referred to as integration, which the Babylonians were doing, albeit crudely.

This was all figured out by Isaac Newton in the mid 17th century which led Einstein to say, in effect, that Newton had had the best idea anybody every had:

β€œIn order to give his system mathematical form at all, Newton had first to invent the concept of the differential quotient, and to draw up the laws of motion in the form of total differential equations β€” perhaps the greatest intellectual step that it has ever been given to one man to take.”

05 September, 2016 14:54  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Pinku: It's very likely, and I hope the trend toward playing it safe via sequels and remakes loses steam soon. Very few great movies are sequels (Aliens was an exception), and most of the films that are great were notable for their originality, or were at least based on novels or short stories rather than other movies.

Blurber: Thanks for the explanation. The Babylonian contribution to human progress doesn't get the recognition that it should -- access to Babylonian science and mathematics in the 6th century BC helped to start the golden age of Classical Greece. This tablet dates from the Hellenistic period several hundred years later, when the influences had begun to flow the other way.

The fact that they were using a technique considered an early precursor of calculus in 300-100 BC suggests what the Classical civilization could have accomplished if it had hit on the idea of positional notation -- and if it had gone on flourishing instead of being destroyed by religious fanatics.

05 September, 2016 16:58  
Blogger Ranch Chimp said...

Been cruising through some of your round- up here ... You know, that Rosa Rubicondior writes some interesting stuff, alot way over my head and thinking, but it still is very interesting/ fascinating stuff, browsing over a few today on science and religion, evolution planting life on land, and that Allkauren koi/ pterosaur piece ... I alwayz wondered what I would have gotten into in life if I went to high school and college/ university ... but I figured I would have probably wanted to get into archeology or something related I reckon.

That Huffpost thing on Pokemon Go has a funny twist (even though some is not funny), only because I know people who played it, including my daughter and her husband ... and heard of shit here in Dallas that was crazy as far as what some folks have done playing it.

WWJD and the militant lesbian farmers was pretty cool, sounds like something for Rob Zombie, Al Jourgensen or Joe Christ to do for a movie ... just thought it would be pretty cool. I liked listening to Rush years ago at work ... he'd come up with some crazy shit too (just for fun) ... one of my favourite right wing YouTube preachers is Paul Begley, known for his phrase opening "are you serious!?" (he has that Koala Bear look too) ... dude is really funny if you got some time to burn just to listen to, he has more end dayz stories too, than you can shake a stick at! {:-)

Thanx for the zip- tie thing ... pretty easy and makes sense, although when cops zip you, they do it behind your back ... but still cool to know.

As far as winners and losers in movies and remakes, etc ... I dont get to go to many, but the sequel thing in some never really seems as good as previous from my experience ... the last 2 movies I went to over the last several months would have been "London's Falling" and "Money Monster" ... more action type shit, but I enjoyed that big screen view too! There was a sci- fi type one that came out back then I also wanted to see, but cant remember the bloody damn name of it ... had to do with some alien shit I think of them coming to earth, if I could remember the damn title, I would check out the DVD.

LadyThatsMyDick (sorry I meant skull{:-) robots were cool ... I just think the future of robots will be exciting at least, may even make some cool sexual companions ... also the piece on the Standing Rock Sioux and not being MSM covered is true ... but I been actually keeping up with that myself, but didnt do a posting on it (I mean like, there is so much shit that I wanted to post on as it is).

That microburst thing (Cool Thing Of The Day) were great pics ... I actually seen a few of those in person.

Later Infidel ....

06 September, 2016 08:25  
Blogger Infidel753 said...

Somebody should make a movie about lesbian farmers from outer space who arrive riding robot pterodactyls and tie up all the Christians with zip ties so they can take over control of all the Earth's taco trucks. It would be thoroughly contemporary.

06 September, 2016 18:51  

Post a Comment

<< Home