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Look at me I'm popular and crazy! Anti-Vax/Germ Theory Denialist Mr.Bill Mahr
The Internet is full of stupid. Heck, I contribute the odd time as well, but just when you think it cannot get any worse cue the Peddlers of Woo for that next rung lower on the Ladder of Fail. People who believe that the chain of causality is wrong in the following example:
You are exposed to a microorganism—>you get sick….
They actually argue for the opposite.
You get sick—>and from your sickness comes the microorganism.
Concordance does a masterful job of describing exactly how deep this particular rabbit hole of crazy goes.
Private enterprise never misses an opportunity to diminish our rights in the pursuit of profit. The CBC reports from the Kingdom of Saud:
“Saudi Arabia and the Canadian makers of the BlackBerry have reached a preliminary deal on granting access to users’ data that will avert a ban on the phone’s messenger service in the kingdom, Saudi officials said Saturday.
The agreement would likely involve placing a BlackBerry server inside the kingdom to allow the government to monitor messages and allay official fears the service could be used for criminal purposes, the telecom regulatory officials said.”
What is all the fuss about? Well apparently, the BlackBerry uses some pretty nifty encryption, making emails and documents send via BB hard for governments easily decode.
“That will guarantee the kingdom’s ability to see communications and data exchanged on BlackBerry handsets, he said. Al-Mohammed said talks were ongoing and declined to provide more details pending an announcement, which he said was expected soon.”
Saudi Arabia often sets the tone for the rest of the Middle East when it comes to issue such as this, now other countries are coming to RIM with similar demands.
“The deal could have wide-ranging implications for several other countries, including India and the United Arab Emirates, which have expressed similar concerns over how RIM handles data.”
Of course, the profit motive handily pushes aside any sort of privacy concern private citizens may have.
“RIM is quite smart. They’re seeing this is a very lucrative market. They don’t want to take themselves out of this market,” he added.”
Woo haa! That is exactly how long it takes for industry to flush your rights down the crapper.
I suppose one should not be too worried, Saudi Arabia make no airs about being democratic or protecting the rights of its citizens. They were going to shut down the BB service if RIM did not do anything to “fix” the privacy problem. So perhaps this is the best compromise that could be worked out for all involved. I imagine there is a tech fix coming to add another layer of encryption so the Saudi business people who use the BB can continue to work with minimal government interference. And so the privacy/public security race continues…
What I find interesting about this story is the conflux of several important issues regarding privacy and how intrusive the state can be with regards to ‘protecting the national interest’. I think we need to come down on the side of the individual’s privacy. The state does not need to know the contents of my personal messages sent over the Internet (they already do for the most part, but for arguments sake).
I agree there are many strong cases to be make for the state’s right to know, for instance tracking down people planting bombs in schools and coordinating via the Internet. The problem is that, people who use the Net for such nefarious activities will not be communicating via the normal means, they will be using their own cryptography or codes to send their messages.
The sweeping measures (see Patriot Act) implemented will not stop half-way smart, dedicated people. I wager they snap up the stupid ones all the time, so we get a measure of protection versus the incompetent. I do not however think the privacy loss the for great majority of us is worth protecting us from the Stupid.
I hope that the Saudi point of view on this issue is not mirrored through out the world, as it would be a detriment to reasonable private communication everywhere.
Shattered lives, ruined families, revenge bombings. The regular SNAFU in Iraq, thanks to the benevolent Western powers.
The phrase mentioned above will, for many people, always have a slightly ironic connotation. The Iraqi people are still without an effective governing body. What makes the news now though is many people are killed when sectarian violence escalates and innocents die.
“The death toll from explosions at a market in Iraq’s second-largest city has risen to 43, Iraqi officials said Sunday.
They added that as many as 185 people were also wounded in Saturday’s blasts.”
The swampy sectarian stew that is Iraq continues to churn and froth, claiming more victims with every explosion and gun battle. The gormless words from the US about Afghanistan ring hollow for much of the world looks to the US’s first project; ‘Nation Building’ in Iraq looks a lot like anarchy.
“In other violence Sunday, a car bomb exploded near a school and a cluster of stores in the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah west of Baghdad, killing two people and injuring four.”
I am going to use the discussion points found on RichardDawkins.net as the basis of this feature.
Calilasseia is the author of the post and deserves many rich accolades for assembling so much useful information in one spot. This constitutes an open thread of sorts, please leave your opinions and observations in the comment section.
Enjoy!
[10] Specious and asinine creationist “probability” calculations.
I’ve already dealt at length with this in this thread. Don’t bother posting copy-paste bullshit from Stephen Meyer or other creationist blowhards from the Discovery Institute or AiG with respect to this, because what they have disseminated IS bullshit. So-called “probability” calculations erected by creationists are based upon assumptions that are either [1] never stated so as to avoid having their validity subject to critical scrutiny, or [2] when those assumptions are stated, they are found to be based upon well known fallacies. The link above addresses two of those fallacies in some detail, namely the serial trials fallacy and the “one true sequence” fallacy. If you post bullshit about “probability” supposedly “refuting” evolution or abiogenesis, virtually all of which arises from the same tired, previously debunked sources, then you will simply be setting yourself up as a target for well deserved ridicule.
[11] The tiresome conflation of evolutionary theory with abiogenesis (with Big Bang side salad).
A favourite one, this, among the creationists who come here. Which always results in the critical thinkers going into petunias mode (read Douglas Adams in order to understand that reference). Since so many creationists are woefully ill-educated in this area, I shall now correct that deficit in their learning.
Evolutionary theory is a theory arising from biology, and its remit consists of explaining the observed diversity of the biosphere once living organisms exist. The origin of life is a separate question, and one which is covered by the theory of naturalistic abiogenesis, which is a theory arising from a different scientific discipline, namely organic chemistry. Learn this distinction before posting, otherwise you will simply be regarded as ignorant and ill-educated.
While we’re at it, evolutionary theory does not consider questions about the origin of Planet Earth itself, nor does it consider questions about the origin of the universe. The first of these questions is covered by planetary accretion theory, the second by cosmology, both of which arise from physics. As a consequence of learning this, if you subsequently erect the tiresome conflation of evolutionary theory with the Big Bang or the origin of the Earth, be prepared to be laughed at.
Part of the problem when dealing with the issues of Rape and Rape Culture are the implicit messages that are built into our patriarchal culture. Full marks to Scotland for starting to tease out one of the threads that holds us back from seeing women as people instead of members of the sex class.
There are certain things you do not see coming. The Spanish Inquisition, rogue asteroids, Sarah Palin and other unfortunate occurrences that interfere with humanity in significant ways. But this, this ladies and gentlemen, this is something that eclipses the awesome of finding a hidden tub of caramel mocha ice-cream in your freezer.
We have this!
Mr.Laraque, once responsible for chasing a rubber disk, but mostly in beating other people into goo, is now one of two deputy leaders of Canada’s Green Party. The CBC intones:
“The federal Green Party is hoping a former NHL tough guy will help beef up the party’s presence in Quebec.
Green Leader Elizabeth May on Saturday named Georges Laraque as a deputy leader of the Green Party of Canada.”
Wow.
Mr.Laraque will certainly have his hands full, although I have no doubt Georges will rise to the occasion. He is a very social individual, even hosting a radio show here in Edmonton while he played for the Edmonton Oilers. I think he probably has the charisma to do well in politics. I’m curious as to see how other politicians react when they debate Mr.Laraque as I am sure they know that in his former occupation he role was to apply his fists to other peoples noses.
Mr.Laraque has no skeletons that might haunt him, unlike NDP candidates of past that have said bad things on the intertoobz, but Mr.Laraque has engaged in at least what I would term questionable product sponsorship.
Carboned Water Beer Replacement Beverage? Blech.
It could be worse. Good Luck Green Party!
Astrophysics caught a magnificent break when they registered a huge burst of X-rays emanating from a galaxy in our neighbourhood.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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