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November 28, 2005 What do you use all the time, rarely think about, and hope to never
see? Answer: your sewer pipe. Want to know how I know? Well, I'll
tell you. I know because the one at my house is about seventy five
years old and needs to be totally replaced. Now, just in case you
don't know this, sewer pipes are graded downward pretty steeply. Mine
starts at about three feet as it leaves the house and goes down to
about, oh I'd say, maybe twelve feet at the street end. Also when
these pipes are as old as the one here is they tend to be made of
what has become known as Orangeburg pipe. Basically this stuff is
pipe whose wall is made of ground wood fibers bound together with
resin, and covered with liquefied coal tar pitch. Think really thick
black cardboard and you've got the picture. Yes sir, this stuff really
sucks! Fortunately your home owners insurance doesn't cover wear and
tear on plumbing stuff so you'll probably get stuck with the whole
bill which, as you may have guessed, is in the thousands. Great stuff,
truly! Uprooting trees and plants, ripping out out sidewalks and much,
much more.
November 27, 2005
Joseph Nicholas Lawlor
Hale and Healthy! What else is there to say? November 25, 2005 November 16, 2005 On the Politics of Torture (Just one slave's opinion.) To start with let me be clear about something, in an emergency if you know the code to disarm the bomb that's going to kill one of my kids, and I ask you for it, and you refuse to give it to me; I am absolutely going to break your arm, give it a good, solid, grinding twist and ask you again. In short you are going to tell me or very shortly wish you had. That's not what we're talking about here. That's an emergency situation and an individual decision. The ethics of emergency situations is a complex issue and in the end comes down to questions of intent, certainty of knowledge and what the individual concerned can or cannot live with. What we're talking about today is the institution of a policy of torture. The formal granting of exemptions for certain agencies to commit atrocities and to have the full protection of the law while doing so. We're talking about our government seeking and granting itself permission for some individuals to torture other individuals. This is a direct contradiction of the most basic principles of individual freedom, liberty and justice and must be opposed in no uncertain terms. We cannot maintain our values, unless we apply those values to everyone, everywhere, equally. (As an aside, where this can not be done it is the values themselves that must then be questioned.) More than this, we should ask ourselves, what kind of people we are and want to be? I would maintain that torture itself is impractical even from a militaristic point of view. The intelligence it garners in unreliable at best and it is deadly to both the overall objective (ie: the long term of establishment of peace and democracy) and the morale of our troops. As Shakespeare in 'Henry the V' says ". . . we give express charge, that in our marches through the country, there be nothing compelled from the villages, nothing taken but paid for, none of the French upbraided or abused in disdainful language; for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner." Also how can we expect decent treatment of our own POW's if we engage in such a policy or practice? From a moral perspective remember that everything we do, we have to live with for the rest of our lives. Everything we ask our troops to do, they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. I understand that we are trying to protect ourselves from terrorist but at what point does the price of protecting ourselves become too high? This is like the nuclear weapon question. We have enough nuclear weaponry right now to destroy the entire planet some 300 times over. What exactly is the point of that? With that kind of fire power, if you really want to destroy the other guys you don't need missiles or delivery systems, you can just detonate the weapons in their silos and the effect will be much the same. If we engage in (or accept) a policy of torture then, to borrow a phrase, "the terrorists have already won". After all, at that point, are we any better than the terrorists? Indeed, don't we at some point become the terrorists, and the terrorists become noble freedom fighters? What are the principles we are fighting to protect in the first place? Go read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution again. To expand on this I would further maintain that torture of any living organism is morally unacceptable. To feed myself or my family I can kill and clean an animal, but I would not enjoy doing so. ( Hence comes the trade of butcher.) Neither would I torment it or cause it to suffer one moment more than necessary. I find the torture of animals reprehensible and question the mental health of anyone of derives pleasure from such a thing. I think the Native Americans had a pretty healthy view on animal relations in that they respected the animals they hunted. At their best they used the entire animal for their needs, nothing was wasted, and they even ritualized the respect and gratitude they felt towards the animals. Many of us could learn a lot from that example. In any case, I am against any government granting itself any official sanction or permission to torture anyone, anywhere. Also check out Crypto-fascist Haberdasher who has this to say: "They're either so miserably contemptuous of all of us, or else so appallingly incompetent, that they fail to see the disconnect here. -We don't torture, fuck no! -We just want permission to, if we have to. -Not that we would. -Not that it's any of your goddamned business. -Don't you trust us? -Why do you hate our troops? This is what passes for a progression of thought among the right-wing today." Good stuff! Go read the whole entry "Follow the Lady". Also check out: Christians and lions over at This Modern World.
November 15, 2005 November 14, 2005 F'get about it!!!
November 11, 2005 November 10, 2005 Tim Brazeal cannot confirm or deny "Project
X".
November 9, 2005 "Revelations"
is on Google Video
November 8, 2005 Making
robotic muscles 1,000 times faster than human muscles You knew it was coming! This is a story about a breakthrough in bionics
related to speed, cost and ease of manufacture. Soliton waves and
light activated conducting polymers, very cool stuff. November 7, 2005 Here are a couple of pictures from one of our recent trips down
to the MD Renaissance Fair.
November 5, 2005 Joint Optical Reflective Display (JORDY) Considering the full history of the name Geordi
La Forge,
November 4, 2005 Liquidmetal:
Redefining Metals for the 21st Century The stuff of Starships. With this and Transparent
Aluminum what else do we need? Take note of how almost no one
is reporting on this. It makes me wonder what else is being developed
that we never even get to hear about.
November 3, 2005 Our new theme this month will be: I loved this movie growing up. I know, watching it now, it's pretty
dated as far as special effects and stuff but I don't care. It's still
a classic. My friend Pete and I both loved it. We read the book, collected
the comic books and even watched the short lived and almost completely
awful television show. (See the 'Archives' picture below.)
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