You know something is wrong when...

... the person who seems to have their head screwed on best about the global political situation is the one flying planes into buildings.

Osama bin Laden delivered a new videotaped message in which he told Americans their security does not depend on the president they elect, but on U.S. policy. "Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al Qaeda," bin Laden said in the video aired on the Arabic language network Al-Jazeera.

from http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/29/binladen.tape/index.html

Parallels

The culmination of a university career's worth of apprehension drew a parallel in my mind today: I feel the same way about math as I do about spiders.

They're both beautiful, fascinating, and utterly terrifying.

Science Explains the Hangover

One of my friends was kind enough to send this link to me via email. Considering the number of old wives' tales on the subject, it's refreshing to read a well thought out and researched article.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/hangover.htm/printable

Ephemeral Sorrow

Artist: Nitin Sawhney
Title: Fragile Wind
Album: Human


haath pakad kar chalte rahe,
saath samundar chod gaye,
andhiyaari se roshni tak,
aa hi gaye hum aa hi gaye (hindi)

inside the dark, deepest part of my mind
through sunshine and rain
idle dreams keep me sane

we're only feathers in the wind
falling from the sky without wings
and though the world may fall
I know I see
sunlight through the rain over me

beyond the dark lie the hopes and the fears
innocent eyes watching as worlds collide

we're only feathers in the wind
falling from the sky without wings
and though the world may fall
I know I see
sunlight through the rain over me

haath pakad kar chalte rahe,
saath samundar chod gaye,
andhiyaari se roshni tak,
aa hi gaye hum aa hi gaye

inside my head i can be anything (x 5 and fade...)

You Just Don't Understand!

It's been a couple of weeks now since I finished the book, but Deborah Tannen's "You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation" was an interesting read. In essence, the book is a study of the linguistic differences between men and women in north american society.

Now, if you think anything like me, your first reaction will be something along the lines of: "How can you write about linguistic differences between men and women without generalizing horribly?". Well, you can't. And she doesn't. But in the end it isn't horrible, and in fact she makes note of the generalization and warns readers to be cautious of misinterpreting her conclusions.

Read skeptically, the book boils down to a study the contrasts of various linguistic styles, with the labels 'men' and 'women' applied to their stereotypical roles. Yet even the most traditional of readers will find themselves more than occasionally on the 'other side' of the conversational divide. Unsurprisingly, I found myself empathizing with the 'female' role in many cases; what was surprising was discovering the extent to which I actually use a stereotypical 'male' linguistic role.

What became apparent is that there is much more going on in everday conversation than I was ever aware of. Even if you agree with nothing she says, the process of thinking about it will undoubtedly be a source of insight. I would highly recommend reading this book.

Murphy's Law is just Thermodynamics

I was sitting in my structural design class today, arguably the most intellectually challenging course I'm taking, and this thought pops into my head. Why it couldn't have chosen some time when I wasn't preoccupied I don't know. Murphy's Law is just thermodynamics. Allow me to explain...

from: http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ENTRTHER.html

The first law of thermodynamics says that the total quantity of energy in the universe remains constant. This is the principle of the conservation of energy. The second law of thermodynamics states that the quality of this energy is degraded irreversibly. This is the principle of the degradation of energy.

Essentially the second law is saying that without external influence, the disorder of any system will increase if left to itself. A cup of coffee on a table, for example, will cool down if left to its own devices - it will never spontaneously reheat.

When Murphy's law states "If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong", by 'wrong' it means 'not according to plan' or 'not as expected'. Plans and expectations, of course, are an imposition of order upon the world. Thus is should come as no surprise that their order will break down, as entropy increases.

Further to that, Murphy's law gains influence as systems increase in complexity. A round pebble, for example, is fairly simple, and Murphy's law is unlikely to have any effect on it so long as the plan is for it to remain a round pebble. Build a pyramid out of little round pebbles, however, and the chance of something going 'wrong' increases.

Why BSE Isn't Going Away

Further evidence that humans are doomed by our own stupidity...


BSE-infected cow may have gotten into animal feed

from: http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2004/10/01/bse_041001.html

Last Updated Fri, 01 Oct 2004 14:20:24 EDT

OTTAWA - The diseased cow that sparked Canada's mad cow crisis in May 2003 was turned into feed and may have been mistakenly fed to other cows, CBC News has learned. Documents obtained through Access to Information show the Canadian Food Inspection Agency had discovered cattle at a number of farms were eating feed intended only for pigs and chickens. That feed may have contained the rendered remains of the diseased cow.

In 1997, the federal government banned the practice of allowing cattle to be ground up and fed back to other cattle, because it could spread bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

By the time BSE was confirmed in the suspect cow, it had already been made into feed. The agency estimated that feed was sold to as many as 1,800 farms and launched an investigation. They visited 200 cattle operations and found several cases where cows were exposed to the feed. Three cattle farms were quarantined and 63 cattle destroyed. Inspectors also learned there was frequent cross-contamination of chicken and cattle feed, and in one case, the farmer admitted he routinely gave chicken feed to cows.

The latest research shows just a milligram of infected feed is needed to trigger BSE in a cow, said Neil Cashman, professor of neurological disease at the University of Toronto. According to Cashman, Canada should not be feeding any animals any material rendered from a cow because feed mix-ups are so common. He adds that the risk to humans is infinitesimal. Cattle remains are still used as pig and chicken feed, but concerns about cross-contamination persist.

In June of last year, a group of international scientists urged Canada to stop recycling the most potentially infectious parts of cows, like the spinal column and the brain, into animal feed. The agency consulted industry, farmers, and trading partners about such a ban, but nothing has been put in place, says Sergio Taluso, spokesperson for the food inspection agency.

One lobby group argued changes must come now. "The only way to stop the transmission is to stop recycling animal protein into herbivores," said Mike McBain, of the Canadian Health Coalition. "And the [food inspection agency] has refused to do that because it's waiting for the signal from industry instead of intervening and telling industry what to do," said McBain.