Iran's newly elected president, Hassan Rouhani, has launched an all-out diplomatic charm offensive lately, even reportedly saying that the Holocaust was "reprehensible". That's a far cry from the former president who was a nut who sponsored international conferences of Holocaust denials ( Read more... )

The new president of Iran has a point when he suggests there is a double standard when it comes to the scrutiny given to Iran's nuclear program versus that given to Israel's probable possession of nuclear weapons. I would agree that at some point, Israel should join international non-proliferation agreements and that its possession of nuclear ( Read more... )

At the risk of inflating Dr. Sheldon Cooper's over-sized ego even further, I have to say that the Emmy for best actor in a comedy series definitely went to the best actor this time around. Congratulations, Jim Parsons!

I've long had my deep suspicions of the pharmaceutical industry, for reasons ranging from shady business practices to the abundance of dangerous prescription drugs that somehow make it to market to the highly suspicious pattern of SSRI's found in the bloodstreams of so many perpetrators of mass shootings. But sometimes you have to wonder just how ( Read more... )

I think it's well past time that we got rid of these damn things. And if a nuclear bomb falling into a field where three of its four safety mechanisms then failed isn't enough to convince someone of that, maybe the 1995 incident where a Norweigan rocket studying the Northern Lights nearly caused Russia to launch its nuclear arsenal will do the ( Read more... )

Well it's Friday again and that means another round of articles about cool things going on in the world of science. But first, I've been thinking a lot, as I tend to do, about the Singularity, that school of thought about the future of humanity and intelligence that's captured the imagination of so many scientists, engineers, technophiles, and ( Read more... )

Um. Am I the only one who sees an obvious problem with this theory? And yet, the obvious problem is not brought up in the article and no one's brought it up in the comments either ( Read more... )

As the lackluster jobless economic "recovery" continues, a recent study finds that in 2012, the top ten percent of earners took home nearly half the nation's entire income and the top one percent took home over 19% of the nation's income. According to a New York Times analysis, it's the worst income inequality the nation has seen since the ( Read more... )

Before getting to Science Friday, I thought I'd mention a few things about Star Trek Into Darkness, which I watched last night. As with the 2009 reboot, the critics who said this movie was so horrible are completely off base. Overall, it's a well-done movie. However, it's not as good as the 2009 movie. It's certainly not as good as Star Trek II ( Read more... )

Not that I procrastinate or anything, but I bought the 2013 edition of the World Almanac and Book of Facts today -- only a month or two before the 2014 edition comes out. I also picked up the 2014 Writer's Market.

This evening's going to consist of enjoying some peace and quiet at home, where I'm finally getting around to watching Star Trek Into ( Read more... )