Links - 19th August 2006

"Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth." - Lillian Hellman

"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." - George Bernard Shaw

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Princeton [PEAR] Remote-Viewing Experiments -- A Critique - "The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) program has produced a number of experimental reports discussing remote-viewing results and analyses. This work is reviewed with attention to methodological and statistical issues. The research departs from criteria usually expected in formal scientific experimentation. Problems with regard to randomization, statistical baselines, application of statistical models, agent coding of descriptor lists, feedback to percipients, sensory cues, and precautions against cheating. Many of the issues of remote-viewing methodology were identified by Stokes and Kennedy over 10 years ago. It is concluded that the quoted significance values are meaningless because of defects in the experimental and statistical procedures."

Stop Capitulating to Threats by Afshin Ellian - "I have encountered political-religious intolerance before. I know how it begins, how it develops. Let no one say that we are in the grip of Islamophobia or racism. Believe me – they are very different. Luther was not a Catholicophobe. He was critical of the church. Voltaire was not a religiophobe. He was simply critical of the intolerant manifestations of religion. Should the Reformation have been warded off on the grounds that Luther “must not stigmatise all Catholics”?"
By the person about whom it was said: "The idea that freedom is the cornerstone of politics is one reason why people like Mr Ellian, that Iranian who fled to Leiden, look hopefully towards America. His argument goes as follows. Islam's sacred texts can be read either in a spirit of militant intolerance or in a spirit of altruism—and the latter can prevail only in conditions of hard, open-ended debate in which nobody holds back for fear of giving offence. America's free-speech culture may have a better chance of fostering such a debate than European political correctness."

Security 'bad news for sex drive' - "A woman's sex drive begins to plummet once she is in a secure relationship, according to research."
Addendum: For men there is no difference

Slimline snaps that help holidaymakers to stretch the truth - "In some respects, things have changed since the 1970s, and in this digital age such painful moments of self-knowledge are apparently no longer necessary. In what is described as the latest “female-friendly” gadget to hit the high streets, a new digital camera will take pictures of you reclining like a beached sea mammal — and make you look thinner. The electrical chain-store Comet is selling the HP Photosmart R727, which contains a “slimcam” function. Set it to “slimcam”, and the camera “squeezes” the object at the centre of the frame without distorting the background."

Mary and me - "Kathleen McGowan claims to be a descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and has written a book to prove it. Heretic, player or the real deal? Decca Aitkenhead meets the rival for Dan Brown's crown "

Atheist Soldiers Demand to Be Recognized - "There are no atheists in foxholes," the old saw goes. The line, attributed to a WWII chaplain, has since been uttered countless times by grunts, chaplains and news anchors. But an increasingly vocal group of activists and soldiers—atheist soldiers—disagrees. "It's a denial of our contributions," says Master Sgt. Kathleen Johnson, who founded the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and who will be deployed to Iraq this fall. "A lot of people manage to serve without having to call on a higher power.""

The writing's on the wall for Italian graffiti artists - "A draconian law has been put before Italy's Senate, calling for a maximum penalty of two-and-a-half years in prison for graffiti artists who critics say are blighting the country's urban landscape and defacing much of its architecture... This month Mr Sgarbi, a connoisseur of Renaissance painting and a fierce opponent of most modern art and architecture, denounced most celebrated modern artists as members of a self-promoting mafia."

Goldberg Variations - Google Video - This should be the 1982 one. You can see the stupid broken stool he sat on, which was too short for him, and how he mutters to himself as he plays.

Eet smakelijk; bon apetit — The European compulsion to say "enjoy your meal" - "You'd say "Enjoy your meal" in the English-language translation. It's not the same, though — and it sounds odd on repetition. We simply don't have the phrase in our tradition. (A Spanish friend suggested that that is because the English have no cuisine. Speculation, that; but provocative I guess.)"
Another good page on the site: Alstublieft, a good Dutch word

Biometric passport cracked and cloned - "The biggest problem, Schneier wrote on his blog, is that passports will have a shelf-life of 10 years, during which time the technology will not only become antiquated but will almost inevitably be overtaken in sophistication by the methods for cracking it. Schneier wrote: "A passport has a 10-year lifetime. It's sheer folly to believe the passport security won't be hacked in that time.""

Don't spit and shout or smoke and squat. Mind your p's and don't jump queues - "Good manners may have been seen as something of a bourgeois affectation during Chairman Mao’s ultra-leftist Cultural Revolution but yesterday the Communist Party put its foot down on poor etiquette... In Japan, tourists ignore suggestions not to make a noise and frequently sing and shout in the hot baths, prompting other customers to leave. In Thailand, Chinese drop so much litter that the country has put up signs in Chinese characters reading: “No littering.” In Hong Kong, they don’t queue and in Europe they smoke where smoking is forbidden. Mr Qian said: “At airports around the world when you look at the messiest, noisiest group, it’s the Chinese.”"

David Copperfield says he's found Fountain of Youth - "Master illusionist David Copperfield says he has found the "Fountain of Youth" in the southern Bahamas, amid a cluster of four tiny islands he recently bought for $50 million."

Google Groups: CAPSoff - "Welcome to the CAPSoff group! Subscribe if you want to join the campaign against the CAPS key, or if you want to help us construct and run this campaign. Right now we're building the CAPSoff organisation, using only free Google services. Our slogan: STOP SHOUTING!"

Man pleads guilty in rocket-launch drug case - "They were smart enough to design a rocket that would shoot their drugs into space if they were caught by police. But they were not smart enough to remember to plug it in."

the Illuminati - "Another expositor on these hidden agendas and worldwide conspiracies is Jim Keith, who died on September 7, 1999, during surgery to repair a leg he injured at the Burning Man Festival. Keith, a former executive Scientologist and author of nine conspiracy books (including Saucers of the Illuminati) could see things the rest of us don't. Was this because he was better at seeing or because his imagination ran wild? He watches a Coke ad and sees fellatio and anal penetration. You can imagine what he sees or hears when he gives his attention to world history... A rational person might think many of the PCTs are joking. There are Internet sites that seem to be parody sites but it is difficult to tell, since there seems to be no belief, however inane or absurd, that the PCTs can't fit into their bizarre worldview. A rational person who never heard of Pat Robertson might well read his New World Order (Word Books, 1994) and think it must be a joke. Could anyone actually believe his rambling paranoia regarding Jewish bankers, Freemasons, Muslims, homosexuals, foreigners, etc.? Apparently so. Still, one wonders why PCTs exist and their numbers seem to be growing."