NH to add gay marriage?

The NH Senate has joined the House in voting for gay marriage. The Senate and House bills are different, so now it goes back to the House. This shouldn’t be a problem, but there is a problem with Governor Lynch who has said in the past that he’s against gay marriage–the bills passed 13-11 and [...]

Google understands i?

I think I used to know this, but forgot (I am old). Google has a built-in calculator and gives answers like:
e^(pi * i) = -1  and ln(-1) = 3.14159265 i
Yay, it likes imaginary stuff. It will also convert numbers into roman numerals:
2177 = MMCLXXVII
and will add in hexadecimals (among others–the 0x says that we’re looking at [...]

Libertarians whine

Over at Cato, Libertarians are having a discussion about how to bring about a libertarian state somewhere. It was kicked off by Patri Friedman who says that they should give up on the US and democracy because:
Democracy is the current industry standard political system, but unfortunately it is ill-suited for a libertarian state. It has [...]

More on torture

Via Tom Tomorrow, Mark Danner has two long reports on torture based on the Red Cross’ report. Together they make it obvious that there was torture (and show how simple things become torture: standing, sitting, being in a box, …) and how the Bush administration used the debate on torture to to turn the discussion [...]

Jupiter and a poem

Hmm, I haven’t put up any pictures of the largest planet in our system. So here are a few:
first is a near-infrared picture of the full planet (Photo Credit: NASA, ESA, and Erich Karkoschka (University of Arizona))

this next one was taken by the New Horizon’s spacecraft as it flew by in 2007 (Image credit: X-ray: [...]

Why did the US torture?

As more information comes out, it becomes more and more difficult to know why the Bush administration turned to torture. This op-ed by an FBI interrogator notes that they got information without using torture:
It is inaccurate, however, to say that Abu Zubaydah had been uncooperative. Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers [...]

But we need secret elections to stop intimidation

People who want to keep out unions, always say they’re against the Employee Free Choice Act because there needs to be a secret ballot so that the unions can’t intimidate workers. Let’s see what such a fair election is like:
An N.L.R.B. judge concluded that management had committed so many serious violations of the law — [...]

183 times in a month?

I have always thought that someone should go to jail for the torture by US agents, but I used to think it should only be the people who set it up. Now, I’m not so sure:
The C.I.A. officers used waterboarding at least 83 times in August 2002 against Abu Zubaydah, according to a 2005 Justice [...]

Bush Justice Department memos released

The memos written by the the Bush administration’s Office of Legal Council have been released by President Obama. This is a good thing, but Obama is still holding to this:
This is a time for reflection, not retribution. I respect the strong views and emotions that these issues evoke. We have been through a dark and [...]

Finals and a poem

Today I give the first of my two finals.
In commemoration,  here’s a picture of the Galaxy triplet Arp 274 (it won the Space Telescope Science Institute’s ‘You Decide’ competition. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)):

Ok, I’m not really sure how it’s a commemoration, but anyway here’s a poem [...]

Somalian Piracy

Lindsay has a post about pirate porn. She worries about the glorification of the killing of three teens and wants to see some transparency.
I think the Boston Globe has a good editorial on this:

The ultimate cause of the pirate crisis in the Gulf of Aden and a swathe of the Indian Ocean was the collapse [...]

Tufts President: Unions are for others

The President of Tufts, Lawrence Bacow, seems to be a bit tone deaf. He has put a letter (via here) up about the attempt by the Tufts Employee Association to form a union for the administrative, technical, and clerical employees. He has also put up a ‘fact’ sheet, which is a typical anti-union letter: it will cost [...]

Vegetarianism is an eating disorder?

Time magazine has an article about this study on the association of eating disorders and being a vegetarian. Like most studies there are things you can argue with, such as:

Responses categorized as healthful weight-control behaviors included “exercised,” “ate more fruits and vegetables,” “ate less high-fat foods,” and “ate less sweets.” Less-extreme unhealthful weight-control behaviors included “fasted,” [...]

Earth Rise and a poem

This is a little old, but here’s a video taken by Japan’s Kaguya mission of the earth rising:

And here’s a new poem:
Peeling layers one at a time
Uncovering past and Mortality
Looking tattered and red
Do we go further
Or back?

RIP: Dave Arneson

The two creators of Dungeons and Dragons (or the official site) are now both dead.  Gary Gygax died last March and Dave Arneson died yesterday. Between the two of them they were responsible for much of the RPG fantasy world (and thus for much of the explosion of computer games).
Play a game, roll some dice [...]

Vermont votes in gay marriage

Vermont is now the fourth state to allow gay marriage (joining Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa) and the first that voted it in (so no complaining about ‘activist’:
The House recorded a dramatic 100-49 vote, the minimum needed, to override Gov. Jim Douglas’ veto. Its vote followed a much easier override vote in the Senate, which rebuffed the [...]

Baseball 2009

The 2009 baseball season is now underway (the Braves beat the Phillies 4-1 yesterday–I link to the Boston Globe to help prevent its demise). The Red Sox will have to wait a day though as its raining quite hard here in Boston.
My predictions are:
AL East: Tampa Bay
AL Central: Cleveland
AL West: LA
AL Wildcard: Boston
NL East: NY
NL [...]

Millionaire mathematician

Hmm (via),
In 1999, a slight, unassuming man approached architects Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe with a whopping proposition: Build a house with curves, glass and a concert hall. No deadlines, no design restraints. The final cost: $24 million, nearly every penny the man had saved over 60-odd years.
…
The home’s owner is equally eccentric. Jim Stewart, who [...]

Karzai=Taliban?

It seems that Karzai might care more about getting elected than women’s rights. One of the problems here is:
The final document has not been published, but the law is believed to contain articles that rule women cannot leave the house without their husbands’ permission, that they can only seek work, education or visit the doctor [...]

Gay Marriage

Iowa allowed gay marriage for two hours in 2007 and now will allow them for at least a while:
Opponents can try and persuade Iowa lawmakers to address the issue, but state Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said it’s “exceedingly unlikely” gay marriage legislation will be brought up this session, expected to end within weeks. [...]