Neptune, Triton, and a poem

Hmm, Scary Go Round has a story on Atlantis (it starts here) so I think this week I’ll look at Neptune. Both of the following pictures were taken by Voyager 2 (that’s V’ger to you Star Trek people) back in 1989 or so and the credit is NASA/JPL. The first is of the planet itself [...]

Women in Afghanistan

Back in April there was a big outcry about a bill that Afghanistan had passed that severely restricted women’s rights. Because of the outcry, President Karzai said the law would be reviewed. So far nothing has happened–if Karzai was as outraged as this article says that seems a bit weird. Perhaps, this article is more [...]

No gay marriage in California, for now

The California Supreme Court has upheld the referendum that approved a ban on same sex marriage (it does allow those already married to stay married). Their decision rested on what can be decided by referendum:
“After comparing this initiative measure to the many other constitutional changes that have been reviewed and evaluated in numerous prior decisions [...]

A real world question about torture

People who defend torture always seem to come around to the ticking time bomb question (in fact, the Bush administration thought a nuke had been smuggled into NY City). The idea that we should shape our policy around a on in a billion happenstance doesn’t seem to bother them (if a person saved New York [...]

Hubble takes its leave and a poem

I forgot to put this up yesterday. Well, wait mans for no time. Or something. Anyway, here’s a picture of the Hubble telescope just prior to its being released (Credit: NASA):

I think it’s a good picture, it was taken through a window and almost looks more like a painting than a photo.
And a poem:
If you [...]

Regret means more than saying you’re sorry

 A report out of Ireland about schools run by the Catholic church:

found that sexual molestation was “endemic,” committed by offenders who were often transferred to other institutions rather than dismissed or turned over to authorities.

…
Nonetheless, it wasn’t tough enough for some of the victims. Many are angry that the report includes no names of alleged offenders, [...]

Obama and State Secrets

In this morning’s speech, President Obama mostly hit the right notes but basically called groups like the ACLU stupid:
We see that, above all, in how the recent debate has been obscured by two opposite and absolutist ends. On one side of the spectrum, there are those who make little allowance for the unique challenges posed [...]

Space walk or conspiracy?

NASA has some pictures showing astronauts working on the Hubble telescope and I have to ask if they’re real:

Really, the effects here are terrible. A black background? Did they forget to put in the background picture? And what’s with all the aluminum foil?
In all seriousness, the work is expected to be finished today (it seems to [...]

Civil war over in Sri Lanka

The Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka have been defeated and its leaders have been killed. This is a good thing, the LTTE was a terrorist organization that cared more for its leaders than their supposed cause. Whether this is a very good thing will depend on what happens now, will the grievances of the Tamils be [...]

Hate Crime

Jeff Jacoby has an article about Hate Crimes legislation. He shows he isn’t bad as some:
Every crime that would be covered by the bill is already a felony under state law. Each one can already be prosecuted and punished. Its name notwithstanding, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act will not prevent any hate crimes. [...]

More on Binyam Mohamed

Back in February, the Obama administration had argued that a case against Boeing should be dropped because it might reveal state secrets. They lost that argument with an appropriate judicial rebuke:
The court said the government could ask judges to conduct a case-by-case review of whether the disclosure of specific documents would jeopardize national security. But [...]

The shuttle Atlantis and a poem

The shuttle (seen here against the sun, Image Credit: NASA/Thierry Legault):

is in orbit to fix and to update the Hubble telescope. Here’s the Hubble in the cargo bay of the Atlantis (Credit: NASA):

This is to be the last shuttle mission to the Hubble and is supposed to keep it functioning until at least 2014.
Now to [...]

Now Obama is against release of photos

President Obama is now against the release of photos that show the abuse of prisoners:

President Obama declared yesterday that he would try to block the court-ordered release of photos showing US troops abusing prisoners, abruptly reversing his position out of concern the pictures would “further inflame anti-American opinion” and endanger American forces in Iraq and [...]

NH to have gay marriage

NH governor Lynch says he will sign a revised gay marriage bill if new language is added:
I. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a religious organization, association, or society, or any individual who is managed, directed, or supervised by or in conjunction with a religious organization, association or society, or any nonprofit institution or organization operated, [...]

Parts of you belong to us

I like this:
Ms. Girard took a genetic test to see if her genes also put her at increased risk for ovarian cancer, which might require the removal of her ovaries. The test came back positive, so she wanted a second opinion from another test. But there can be no second opinion. A decision by the [...]

What’s going on in Sri Lanka?

I haven’t posted much about the situation in Sri Lanka, because I’ve been waiting for papers to try to explain things. For example, one of the reasons for the civil war was that the Tamil minority were discriminated against by the Sinhalesemajority (as usual, some of the core problems were brought about by colonialists–mainly the [...]

Comparing things is un-American

I’m really confused about the backlash against comparative effectiveness research (CER). Hilzoy looks at this (and links to this paperby Jerry Avorn) and is as confused as me:
You’d think that doing research to figure out which treatments are most effective would be an obviously good thing. But no: it is, apparently, the first step on [...]

Capitalist rationing is fine

Via Steve Benen, there is healthcare rationing in the US:
Medical crews told him he needed a blood test, chest X-rays and probably a CT scan to check for head injuries. And he certainly should have had treatment for major road rash, including raw scrapes on his face, neck and hands.
But the 31-year-old editor for a [...]

Do we really want that much innovation?

The Boston Globe has an article about CEO pay (the paper it’s based on is here). Given what’s happened in the last few years, I find things like this a little annoying:
What this means, as a practical matter, is that much of the recent populist backlash against executive incentives, and the US government’s move to cap [...]

Nebulas, Galaxies, and a poem

Today I decide to look at the big picture:
First here’s a picture of the Crab Nebula taken by the Hubble telescope (Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Hester of Arizona State University):

and here’s a picture of the Ant Nebula (Credit: NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope):

but nebulas are too puny for my vision today, so let me also [...]