Judge Roberts Disqualified by Record

I think Sen. Brownback (R) of Kansas just put his finger on it. In a
discussion of Judge Roberts's record on civil rights, he said we shouldn't
look to his record as an attorney, but to his record as a judge, and then
he pointed out that he didn't have much of a record as a judge, some 52
cases in all, and really only one that went to the issue. So I immediately
agreed with Sen. Brownback (R) of Kansas and moved to dismiss Judge Roberts
as uniquely unqualified for the highest court in the land by simple virtue
of lack of experience, lack of any sort of record we can look to in order
to evaluate his qualities for the Supreme Court, much less the position
Chief Justice. How does a man with almost no judging experience even get
nominated to the most important position in Justice? This is incompetence
of administration beyond your Michael Browns and Michael Chertoffs and John
Boltons, and the rest of the ridiculous crew.

I remain astounded that anyone with any self-respect and education supports
the actions of this president.

Twin baby coffee beans.
Posted by Hello

Bear's Bird

Bear's Bird
Posted by Hello

Bear, the extra dog, caught a bird. Here's a photo. What happened to this blog? Did I receive a debilitating injury? No. I suddenly realized I was preaching to a room full of manikins, and the only people responding were the members of the choir. Say Amen.

University of Bath News - New machines could turn homes into small factories

University of Bath News - New machines could turn homes into small factories

The new system is based upon rapid prototype machines, which are now used to produce plastic components for industry such as vehicle parts. The method they use, in which plastic is laid down in designs produced in 3D on computers, could be adapted to make many household items.

However, conventional rapid prototype machines cost around £25,000 to buy. But the latest idea, by Dr Adrian Bowyer, of the University’s Centre for Biomimetics, is that these machines should begin making copies of themselves. These can be used to make further copies of themselves until there are so many machines that they become cheap enough for people to buy and use in their homes.

Dr Bowyer is working on creating the 3D models needed for a rapid prototype machine to make a copy of itself. When this is complete, he will put these on a website so that all owners of an existing conventional machine can download them for free and begin making copies of his machine. The new copies can then be sold to other people, who can in turn copy the machine and sell on.

This is the very primitive beginning utilization of this concept. Use your imagination and see where it could lead. Perhaps a quick read of Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman for those with tuckered imaginations.Nanoforge anyone?

A Family Tree in Every Gene--the title itself contradicts the article

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: A Family Tree in Every Gene

The principal error made in this article is that genes group together in populations because race is real, when in fact genes group together in populations because people believe in races and behave accordingly. Mr. Leroi suggests that "race" is somehow not a social construct, but a scientific reality, when it is far less defined than the scientific concept of species, which itself is easily demonstrated to be a social construct. It is a nomenclatural formalism. That it is useful for parsing populations is not argued against. That people can practically evaluate others with this social construct is happily granted. That these points justify the statement that "race" is a scientifically real and inescapable quality is hokum. I am at a loss to determine what could even motivate a desire to return race to a concrete popular usage when it is pointed out even in the text of the article that it has a vicious history. What if it weren't resurrected, but allowed to remain sidelined in the population like so many other shorthand concepts that are counterfactual or based on erroneous science? What loss? Newtonian mechanics remains the tool of the people, but no one is suggesting that it should be restored to scientific "fact."

I can see nothing in this article but a celebration of difference, of a person happy that he can define his race, like an American who can trace his ancestry back to English royalty in the 1600's crowing about his "blood."

More later. Feel free to help.

Journalists Push for Government Openness

Yahoo! News - Journalists Push for Government Openness

WASHINGTON - The Associated Press and seven journalism organizations are joining forces to promote policies aimed at ensuring government is accessible, accountable and open.

The Sunshine in Government Initiative seeks to combat what the member organizations see as increased government secrecy since the 2001 terrorist attacks. The coalition will lobby for legislation and seek to educate the public about First Amendment issues.

That seems like a good plan.

journalism
government