Civil Defense PSA

Civil Defense PSA

Back when Fukushima had it’s issues due to an earthquake moving the entire island of Japan 8 feet [http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/japan.earthquake.tsunami.earth/index.html] over, Randall Munroe over at XKCD had not yet gone off the rails, and posted an interesting and highly useful infographic [https://xkcd.com/radiation/] on radiation levels. For people who hadn’t been trained in radiation dosimetry, it certainly is a damned useful way to visualize the degree of hazard associated…

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"No Evidence..." and Other Bullshit

"No Evidence..." and Other Bullshit

First – I was wrong [https://thelastredoubt.com/2016/09/isis-again-coincidentally.html]. I wrote that I “have yet to hear insistence that Islam had nothing to do with it.” – and I hadn’t – but only because I didn’t dig further into the official statements by Cuomo, de Blasio, etc. We’re getting responses like [http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/17/us/nj-explosive-trash-can/]: > Bomb experts will analyze the device and how it was made, according to CNN senior law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes. “It co…

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Human Systems vs Machine Systems

Human Systems vs Machine Systems

Recently at XKCD [https://xkcd.com/1726/]: This is almost a perfect example of why so many computer geeks are progressives – they have faith in the ability of systems to adjust how people behave rather than adjusting those systems to how people work. Of course reality is never that black and white. If I’m starting up a steam turbine, or a computer, there may be leeway here and there, but certain things haveto happen before certain other things. Period. In this case, people have to adapt to th…

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