(no subject)

Michael Crichton's 2003 speech on the disgraceful state of science merging with politics.

When Lomborg asked for space to rebut his critics, he was given only a page and a half. When he said it wasn't enough, he put the critics' essays on his web page and answered them in detail. Scientific American threatened copyright infringement and made him take the pages down.

Further attacks since have made it clear what is going on. Lomborg is charged with heresy. That's why none of his critics needs to substantiate their attacks in any detail. That's why the facts don't matter. That's why they can attack him in the most vicious personal terms. He's a heretic.

i miss Michael Crichton rather a lot.

(no subject)

Congress's book banning law.

i have hundreds and hundreds of books. i have a few that are at least a hundred years old. i have no intention whatsoever of getting rid of those books. but i'm a private citizen, not a book seller, nor a library. libraries could get decimated by this law. nice job, Congress.

BEWARE SPOILERS IN COMMENTS

holy cow, Burn Notice! that was...guh.

if you're a fan and you haven't watched the summer finale, which airs tonight, you'll really, *really* want to watch.

(no subject)

John Hughes died.

i am very, very sad. Some Kind of Wonderful was my favorite of his teen films, even over The Breakfast Club which i deeply enjoyed.

Godspeed, Mr Hughes.

Dallas, this is Ruben James....

the roomie shocked the holy hell out of me when, in the middle of my re-watch of Prisoner of Azkahban, she informs me that 2 Akula-class Russian submarines are patrolling the East Coast.

yes, our east coast.

huh. maybe they miss John Hughes, too? either that or we've somehow slipped back into 1985. it would certainly make Putin happy.

there's a link at the bottom of the story to their source story at the NYT.

absolute best comment to Gizmodo post: "Now Commander... that torpedo did NOT self-destruct. You heard it hit the hull, and I... was never here."

and kudos to Gizmodo itself for: One ping only, Vasily.

eta:

Google news is reporting it as well, listing the NYT as breaking the story.

amusingly, they link to NORAD's website, which has a blurb on the front page that loosely translates to either, yeah, we know about the subs. stop calling, or, as the roomie suggested, yes, we see you.