News Stories

[Simon]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Not like anything is going to change....Mubarak used to be backed by the military. He is simply handing the power back to them.

Yeah, there's a certain irony in celebrating what's technically a military coup (according to the Beeb at least, the constitution says power should go to the Speaker of parliament when the president resigns). One report I heard made the point that many junior officers in the army are sympathetic to the protesters, so it'll be interesting to see whether that keeps their superiors honest in what may or may not be a smooth transition to democracy.

Sucks to be an unpopular Middle East autocrat right now though, I imagine a few leaders are having urgent discussions with their security chiefs...

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by Ravenblitz

Tanker with $200 million in oil hijacked off Oman

so oil price gonna skyrocket... really no protection on these valuable goods what's the use of the EU coalition patrolling on this part of the ocean

One tanker isn't going to matter. Also, if there was no international effort at patrolling there, the piracy would be far worse than it is.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Kamui4356

Also, if there was no international effort at patrolling there, the piracy would be far worse than it is.

There have certainly been some successes but the pirates still seem to be doing quite nicely thank you - there are a lot of "unconfirmed reports" of multi-million dollar ransoms floating around, and it only takes one of those to make up for a string of failures. Short of fixing the situation in Somalia or bringing in some kind of convoy system it's hard to see how the attacks can be stopped.

Also, I guess pizza delivery outfits that serve the State Department are doing well at the moment:

Lahore shootings fuel US-Pakistan row

[yezhanquan]

Originally Posted by Simon

Yeah, there's a certain irony in celebrating what's technically a military coup (according to the Beeb at least, the constitution says power should go to the Speaker of parliament when the president resigns). One report I heard made the point that many junior officers in the army are sympathetic to the protesters, so it'll be interesting to see whether that keeps their superiors honest in what may or may not be a smooth transition to democracy.

Sucks to be an unpopular Middle East autocrat right now though, I imagine a few leaders are having urgent discussions with their security chiefs...

In Egypt's case, the military is in the picture ever since Nasser and 1952. Close to 70 years later, it's still same old.

[flying ^]

geez look how far the Super Powers have fallen (USA included!)

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news...ATION-SCIENCE/

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by flying ^

geez look how far the Super Powers have fallen (USA included!)

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news...ATION-SCIENCE/

I thought than the situation was bad buut not that bad...

[don_Durandal]

Originally Posted by flying ^

geez look how far the Super Powers have fallen (USA included!)

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news...ATION-SCIENCE/

Oh wow. As if some people rejecting the evolutionary process wasn't bad enough, now they're as far back as geocentrism. We're beyond cultural decadence now, it's a downright fall back to the middle-ages.

[ganbaru]

Pakistan court orders arrest of ex-president Musharraf
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNew...71B0W720110212

[Netto Azure]

Originally Posted by flying ^

geez look how far the Super Powers have fallen (USA included!)

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news...ATION-SCIENCE/

You know what's funny about Polling:

Polled and Confused

Along with the polled American's personal finances, taxes loom large in his mind. He has, somewhat uncharacteristically, followed the tax fight in Washington closely. He has no idea the Obama administration gave him a huge tax break in 2009. Still, he is firm in his conviction that he does not want his income taxes to go up this year, deficit be damned, and would not mind it at all if Congress hiked them for billionaires. So what is he making of the recent tax compromise, or third stimulus? (He tends to forget about the first one.) It's the $64,000 question, in Washington at least. And early signs are that he likes it, on balance. He supports the two-year tax-cut extension, if not the compromise for the fat cats, and supports the other measures contained within it, like the unemployment benefits.

But the polled American is not sure whether the government should be doing so much to aid the economy in the first place. And, for her, all bets are off if the tax compromise becomes known as Stimulus 3.0 (or 2.0). She barely liked the 2009 stimulus when Congress passed it, and she certainly does not like it now. (The financial regulatory reform bill? She's made her peace with that.) Yet, in an enduring example of the polled American's propensity for containing multitudes, she likes virtually all of the elements of stimulus, such as the tax breaks, unemployment insurance, infrastructure investment, and bolstered food stamps—a case of the parts besting the sum, apparently. And she thinks the country needs more of those provisions. She also supports an increase in the minimum wage.

Also 18% of Americans also believe the Geo-Centric view of the Solar System. :/

[ganbaru]

Thousands rally for democracy in Algerian capital, 400 arrested
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1904949/

[Kamui4356]

Originally Posted by Netto Azure

You know what's funny about Polling:

Polled and Confused

Not surprised. Most people form their opinions about bills based on talking points they hear on 24 hour news channels. When you ask them about their beliefs without mentioning the names of bills though, they often hold a completely contradictory opinion on it.

Also 18% of Americans also believe the Geo-Centric view of the Solar System. :/

Still better than the Russians.

[Ithekro]

My mother use to teach High School students. She had a geography test where they had to name the countries, capitals, and major bodies of water in and around North America. They were given a filled in sample to study and everything. This is in California no more than 30 miles away from the Pacific Ocean. You would be surprised how many though that that body of water was the Atlantic Ocean...and other problems. She didn't think she'd be able to do much with them after that.

These were 10th or11th grade students back in the mid-1990s.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

My mother use to teach High School students. She had a geography test where they had to name the countries, capitals, and major bodies of water in and around North America. They were given a filled in sample to study and everything. This is in California no more than 30 miles away from the Pacific Ocean. You would be surprised how many though that that body of water was the Atlantic Ocean...and other problems. She didn't think she'd be able to do much with them after that.

These were 10th or11th grade students back in the mid-1990s.

For geography it is actually ok....I flunked middle school geography all the way, even during my 'O's.

Those kind of facts are actually more of rote memory than understanding and application of rudimentary logic : the only thing I understood in geography are the weather patterns, natural disasters and "pseudoculture". Unfortunately, I wasn't able to score a single of the 10 marks for arguing that "culture is learned", so "pseudoculture is just a paradigm shift over time".

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

For geography it is actually ok....I flunked middle school geography all the way, even during my 'O's.

Those kind of facts are actually more of rote memory than understanding and application of rudimentary logic : the only thing I understood in geography are the weather patterns, natural disasters and "pseudoculture". Unfortunately, I wasn't able to score a single of the 10 marks for arguing that "culture is learned", so "pseudoculture is just a paradigm shift over time".

yeah... there's a small amount of basic facts one needs to be able to construct logical thoughts or find their way around. We're a hunter-gatherer species - our brains are tuned for this sort of thing. Most societies have an expectation of a minimum set of General Knowledge and it isn't looking good in the US at least.

"Where do I live?" ... is really the question those California students were implicitly asked and they failed. I, on the other hand fail when asked about, say, Chinese provinces or today's version of the Baltic states. I still accidentally say "Soviet Union" and "Czechoslovakia". However... people in the US *should* be able to this well at least: http://xkcd.com/850/ (done by real Americans though obviously in a select minority).

There's also this: http://xkcd.com/503/

However... with the recent illumination that ~20% of the US and Russian populations think the Sun goes around the Earth (geocentric model)..... we're doomed, I say.

[Anh_Minh]

Eh. That means 80% don't. It's better than it was a few centuries ago.

[GundamFan0083]

Originally Posted by Netto Azure

You know what's funny about Polling:

Polled and Confused




Also 18% of Americans also believe the Geo-Centric view of the Solar System. :/

...I'm at a loss for words...that's just...unbelievable.

[Ithekro]

Well...there is the Flat Earth Society. About the only real world organization that really gets under by skin because I spent a good amount of time growing up traveling by air. At a point were you can see the curvature of the Earth. That and those that believe all the moon landing were faked. Easiest proof aside from the large amounts of evidence that we went is the simple one from Cold War politics. If the United States of America had faked the moon landing, the Soviet Union would have been all over them in seconds. Especially since it was more or less a political stunt against the Soviets to go there first.

[flying ^]

now this made me chuckle
i hope it's not photoshoped



source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/11/feb11/

[Ithekro]

Something a little different on the subject of space travel and Mars.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41541199...ace/?GT1=43001

500 days or so experiment to see how people live and work and such in an enclosed enviroment such as a trip to Mars and back may take.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

500 days or so experiment to see how people live and work and such in an enclosed enviroment such as a trip to Mars and back may take.

Don't be fooled, it's a front for the NHK.

Imbō!