Suggest some science questions to ask the Presidential candidates

March 23, 2016 • 12:00 pm

A consortium of high-class science organizations, including those on the screenshot below, are asking for citizens to suggest science questions that can be put to the Presidential candidates. Click on the screenshot to go the pages, where you can both suggest questions or vote on the many already suggested.

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Some are good (“How do you plan to clean the plastic from the ocean?”), some are bad (“Do you believe in science?”) and some are mixed (“Do you believe in evolution?” which has a better subtext: “The science community fully believes in evolution, yet certain religious persons refute the evidence. Do you believe in evolution, or do you believe the scientific community (composed of our nation’s top scientists) to be wrong.?”).

Ir’s nice thought to collect these, and, as I recall, this endeavor actually got some candidates to answer questions in the past, but the chance that the answers will actually influence voters is close to zero. (That is, of course, despite the strong importance nearly all Americans give to science.”) They seem more concerned with questions like “What’s going to happen to my pocketbook?” or “How do we keep Hispanics out of the U.S.?”

Bangalore: Noms for all beasts

March 23, 2016 • 10:30 am

Bangalore is not a city of great historic interest; it is the IT and science capital of India, and has grown spectacularly since I first came here in the 1980s. Because of that, the western influence on merchandising is much greater than in other places I’ve visited here. This is, for instance, the only Indian branch of Krispy Kreme donuts I’ve seen. If you’re Indian, you’d be really foolish to have a Krispy Kreme air-filled sugar bomb instead of, say, a luscious rasmalai.

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And some “health foods” in a local store:

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Now some real noms: dinner last night, which included squash, a fabulous South Indian spicy crab dish, chappatis, vegetables, potatoes, rice, and “mutton” (the Indian term for goat):

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A South Indian breakfast this morning: idlis, sambar, coconut chutney, vadas (the savory fried donut-shaped thing made from lentils), sweets, and a cup of strong Indian coffee.

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Bonde, a sweet made from gram flour and rice flour; it was very good (as they all are):

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As usual, all the beasts and fowls were fed. Here’s the bird-feeding section, which contains a huge tureen of rice and chicken for the pigeons, crows, and kites. It’s walled off from the cat-feeding section, and the door closed after food is put out, all so that the cats can’t get the birds:

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Lots of cats showed up for yesterday’s afternoon feeding, but this is by no means the whole lot:

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This is the cat I’m trying to persuade Mr. Das to name “Jerry”. Perhaps “Wary” would be a better name!

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More god-osculation from National Geographic

March 23, 2016 • 9:30 am

Over the past year, I’ve taken note of (and been appalled by) the tendency of National Geographic to write uncritical articles about religion, miracles, and God. When I was young it was a magazine I’d devour avidly, for it was full of natural history, fantastic photographs, and travel stories.

Now under the aegis of Rupert Murdoch, the magazine and its parent organization are increasingly going the route of writing about religion. You can’t lose with that, right? Far more Americans want reassurance of eternal life than more information about deep-sea fish.

And so, thanks to Entertainment Weekly (EW; see also here), we learn that respected actor Morgan Freeman has descended to participating in a show that appears to be an uncritical look at “evidence” for God and, especially, the afterlife:

Morgan Freeman’s new National Geographic docuseries The Story of God will premiere April 3 at 9 p.m. ET. Each episode will follow the actor as he discovers the religious experiences and rituals in different parts of the world, traveling to places like Vatican City, Jerusalem, Egypt, Guatemala, and Texas.

“I have always been fascinated by God,” Freeman says. “It’s my quest to understand human faith and discover how our beliefs connect us all in one epic story.” The actor previously played God in Bruce Almighty and its sequel, Evan Almighty.

But this seems far more restricted than the story of belief in God: it seems to be more the story of what we think will happen to us when we die.

. . . The breadth of Freeman’s journey is evident from the very beginning of the series. In this exclusive first look at the first five minutes, the 78-year-old recalls the deaths of his grandmother and brother before he was 18. “Everybody grieves,” he says. “But some people have a certainty that helps them cope with grief — they are certain they will see their loved ones again in heaven. For some of us, it’s not quite that simple. In fact, it’s the greatest question we ask ourselves: What happens when we die?”

As images of Freeman visiting the Mayan temples in Guatemala and pyramids of Egypt flash, he explains his “epic journey” as one “to discover what we believe lies beyond death and why.”

The show really needs to absorb Voltaire’s famous dictum: “The interest I have in believing in a thing is no proof that such a thing exists.” In fact, that’s a statement that hasn’t been assimilated by any religion.

Do you think Freeman will interview any atheists who will tell him that beyond death lies the extinction of consciousness and conversion of our bodies into a putrifying mass that then gets nommed by worms and bacteria?

Have a look at the first six minutes, which EW has as a trailer. Click on the screenshot to go to the video page, where you’ll see that part of the show involves seeing “how science is trying to capture the soul”. And, of course, the show concentrates on near-death experiences.

Oh, National Geographic, I beseech you in the bowels of Ceiling Cat, think it possible you may be mistaken.

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h/t: Tyler

Probable ISIS connection to Brussels bombings

March 23, 2016 • 7:30 am

Let us first remember that there are other forms of divisiveness besides religion that impel terrorism: today is the 10th day after the suicide car bombing that killed 38 in Ankara, Turkey: most likely the work of a Kurdish separatist organization. The death toll was nearly the same for yesterday’s bombings at the Brussels airport and a downtown metro station: 34 so far, with about 100 injured.

There’s now little doubt that the Brussels bombings were the work of Muslim terrorists: ISIS has claimed credit for them (and warned that more such attacks are in the offing), and the Belgian police have released photos of three men who were probably responsible for the airport bombing. The Belgian police have now identified two of the suspects:

The brothers were identified as Khalid el-Bakraoui, 27, and Ibrahim el-Bakraoui, 30, whom the police had been searching for since the March 15 raid on an apartment in the Forest district of Brussels, the radio station RTBF reported, citing police sources. A third attacker has not been publicly identified, and is still at large.

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Note the gloves on only one hand of both men to the left: a curious thing that might have been noticed. But even if it had, the bombings would have proceeded, since detonation requires only the press of a button. As the New York Times reports:

Belgian officials have identified the three men in the photo as central suspects in the bombings at the airport: Two of them, in black and wearing single black gloves on their left hands, were thought to have been killed. The third, wearing white, is still being sought in the attack, which along with another bombing at a train station was quickly claimed by the Islamic State militant group.

The image offers potential clues to the techniques and mindset of the suspects, though it cannot alone provide answers.

First, the gloves on two suspects prompted speculation that they were hiding detonation devices. In the Paris attacks on Nov. 13, hostages held by the Islamic State attackers inside the Bataclan concert hall reported seeing the gunmen pacing the hall with detonators in their hands. And next to the bodies of those who set off their explosive vests, officials found electrical wire, nine-volt batteries and melted plastic believed to have been part of the detonation mechanisms.

It also seems likely that the explosion was caused by triacetone triperoxide (TATP), probably hidden in the suitcases of at least two of them men. TATP is the explosive of choice for ISIS attacks in Europe.

Among the ways a TATP bomb can be ignited is through an electrical charge, using a simple battery and wiring that can be held in the palm of one’s hand, explained Jimmie C. Oxley, a professor of chemistry at the University of Rhode Island, considered a leading expert on TATP.

I’m not sure if the wires have to be connected to the explosives in the suitcase, or if any such wires can be seen in the blurry photo .

Finally, there’s one more clue:

A third hint to the Islamic State’s protocols for terrorist attacks may be evident in the faces of the suspects.

Their beards seem to be trimmed close to their faces, in contradiction of the strict Islamic codes practiced by the Islamic State in the territories they control in Syria, Iraq and Libya, where men are not allowed to trim their facial hair. But the Islamic State has instructed its operatives to shave their beards while in Western countries so they blend in better, according to court documents.

And of course there’s ISIS’s own statement:

Islamic State issued a statement saying its attackers chose the sites “carefully” and were “wrapped in explosive belts and carrying explosive canisters and machine guns.”

“Thanks be to God for his accuracy and success, and we ask God to accept our brothers among the martyrs,” the terrorist group said.

We will hear, if this proves to be ISIS’s work, that this is not an act of “true Islam,” but a perversion of the faith. That’s bogus. There is no one “true Islam”, any more than there’s one “true” Christianity; and, to greater or lesser degrees, all faiths are perversions of rationality.

I have no solutions to offer to this kind of terrorism, or to the ISIS problem. All we can do is be appalled at the brutality of those who thank God for killing so many innocent people, and to mourn them, their friends, and their loved ones. The same goes for the deaths in Ankara, motivated not by religion but by ideology. It’s hard to deal with enemies who place little value on their own lives.

Wednesday: Hili dialogue

March 23, 2016 • 6:30 am

It’s March 23, and, sadly, my insomnia has returned in India, though, given the noms and slow pace of life, I have no reason to be sleepless. (It’s due to pure anxiety: fear of not falling asleep.) But I do my best. On this day in history, Patrick Henry delivered his famous “Give me liberty or give me death” speech in 1775 in Richmond, Virginia, further inspiring American revolutionaries. On March 23, 1808, Lewis and Clark, having reached the Pacific Ocean on their epic journey across North America, turned around and headed for home. In 1919, Mussolini established his fascist movement, and, in 1933, Hitler was made the dictator of Germany. And, on this day in 1983, the highly overrated Ronald Reagan proposed his ill-fated Strategic Defense Initiative to shoot down incoming missiles. Nobody thought it would work and, thank Ceiling Cat, the expensive albatross was never hung around the nation’s neck.

Notable births on this day included Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749), originator of the most famous non-accommodationist slogan, Emmy Noether (1882), and Erich Fromm (1900). Those who died on this day include Elizabeth Taylor (2011). It’s Pakistan Day in Pakistan, and tomorrow is Holi, the Indian spring holiday with Hindu antecedents. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili refuses to lend Andrzej a helping paw:

Hili: I’m afraid…
A: What are you afraid of?
Hili: That you will have to get the pen that fell off your desk out from under this sofa yourself.
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In Polish:
Hili: Obawiam się…
Ja: Czego się obawiasz?
Hili: Że ten długopis, który spadł z twojego biurka, to będziesz sam wyciągał spod tej sofy.

And, out in Winnipeg, Gus continues to shred his box. There’s very little left by now:

Finally, to enjoy this lovely white peacock displaying, courtesy of reader Barry and the Wonderful Nature Facebook page, click on the screenshot below. It’s one of the most stunning examples of sexual selection I know.

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Noms for humans and cats, Bangalore

March 22, 2016 • 11:00 am

It’s possible that I will die in Bangalore from overeating. Though most of the food we’re served at Mr. Das’s house is vegetarian, guests are also offered meat and fish dishes, and at least four different desserts, which are my weakness. Moreover, this happens three times a day: at 8:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 8:30 p.m.  Here’s last night’s (Monday’s) dinner, served after we arrived. This is a “light” meal, as the largest meal is served at midday. Starting at 12 o’clock and going clockwise, the “drumstick vegetable” (aloo datta curry: Moringa oleifera), rice, ghee (clarified butter to be put on the rice), aloo dum (potatoes and other vegetables), daal (lentils) and (middle) chicken stew. This was accompanied by mango chutney.

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As an appetizer, we had puffed bread (lucchi) and fried eggplant, which when plated looked like a smiley face.

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Each dish is served to you by cooks, who repeatedly press you to take refills. Can you imagine?

The selection of desserts (I had at least a bit of each). From top: rosagoola (invented by Mr. Das’s great grandfather and now a pan-Indian sweet), gulab jamun, prabhu bhog (a cottage cheese sweet), and rasmalai (sweetened cheese balls sunk in a rich, cardamon-flavored milk sauce). Go here to see the full selection of sweets. As Mr. Das assures me, “each day something new will appear.”

I can assure you that these are the highest-quality Indian sweets I’ve ever had. You may think you’ve had a gulab jamun, but unless you’ve had the one made by K. C. Das, you’ve had an inferior version.

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Labanga latika (sweet flour coating around a condensed milk filling, held together with cloves):

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A close up of K. C. Das’s famous rossogolla:

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Lunch today was a copious affair. Top row left to right: daal, unidentified vegetable, fish stew, shrimp, unidentified vegetable, spiced paneer (Indian cheese made from yogurt). Bottom row, right to left: fried onions with poppy seeds, unidentified vegetable, chicken, and rice. There were also chappatis (flattened circular bread), as I am north Indian in my choice of starch.

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My post-dinner, pre-dessert sweet, a container of K. C. Das’s famous sweetened yogurt, with a thick creamy crust on top.

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A plate of assorted sweets from the Das shop, with a rossogolla at top left. They tried to make me sample all of them, but I tried about four, and only a small bit of each:

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For after that, there were more jamun, rossogolla., and prabhu bhugh. The only thing that can follow this is a nap. It’s said that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, but in this case what doesn’t kill me will make me fatter!

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The cats are fed equally well. They get fish and chicken with rice (I’m dubious about the rice) at 7:30 a.m., along with milk that has been boiled and cooled, and then chicken again at 4 p.m.  Here’s Mr. Das cooking the fish (tilapia) in the morning:

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The housecat Goonda (“rowdy”), who has but one functioning eye, awaits his breakfast:

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The fish, chicken, and rice are distributed among plates. Each cat gets a separate plate to prevent intercat warfare:

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One of the several feeding stations on the roof. Note that there are litterboxes as well; all the cats appear to be box-trained. Many more cats appeared in the afternoon feeding.

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There are about 30 cats here, both feral and residential, but most live on the roofs or outside. (At one time there were 85 cats!) About a third of the present cats have names. I persuaded Mr. Das to call one of the unnamed ones “Jerry”. He objected that that cat, a lovely black one with white paws, was a female, but I told him that “Jerry” could be a woman’s name, and showed him a photo of Jerry Hall. That did the trick.

Explosions kill 28 in Brussels

March 22, 2016 • 6:42 am

It’s not such a good morning after all. After regaining access to the Internet, I have learned about the horrific explosions at both the Brussels airport and subway, killing at least 28. Given the recent capture of terrorist suspect Salah Abdeslam and arrest of four others, all in Belgium, this may be terrorist reprisal. It’s immensely saddening to think of the family and loved ones of those who were killed and wounded, surely asking themselves “Why us?”