onsdag, september 30, 2009

A Lecture by James "The Amazing" Randi

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Some Lesser-Known Inventions of Benjamin Franklin

In the annals of history, few men have had as great an impact on the human condition as Benjamin Franklin. If we were to get specific and name those other few men, they would be Imhotep, Caligula, Robert Oppenheimer, and Jakob Dylan respectively. But this article isn't about them. This article is dedicated to Ben Franklin, a man who played a vital role in not just shaping our beautiful country, but also in establishing it as a land of unparalleled innovation and technological prowess.

Franklin is most famously known for inventing bifocals, which enabled bisexuals to see the error of their ways. Other famous inventions credited to Franklin include lightning rods, mints, odometers, and fire departments. While he wasn't the first man in the world to store urine in a mason jar, he was the first man in America to do so.

As most of you are aware, Benjamin Franklin recently passed away. In honor of his passing and in celebration of his astonishing contributions to the realm of invention, I thought we might spotlight some of his lesser known creations.

Link

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Man chops off tongue, offers it to goddess

AHMEDABAD: In a bizarre incident, a 35-year-old man, Ramveer Singh Baghel, cut his tongue and offered it to

appease goddess Amba at a temple
in Meghaninagar on Sunday morning. Devotees, who found him bleeding
profusely from his mouth, treated him like a deity and anointed his forehead instead of rushing him to the hospital. Surrounded by devotees, he had not received any medical attention till late evening on Sunday. Baghel too has chosen to stay in the temple.

“He is a devout man and kept fasts and other religious penance twice a year for Navratri and Chaitri Navratri. This Navratri, he was being guided by a sadhu to eat just once a day and chant mantras continuously. He told me in gestures that he dreamt on Saturday night that Mataji appeared before him and asked for a sacrifice. He chose to offer his tongue,” said Suresh Baghel, his uncle.

Baghel, who is unmarried, migrated from Bhind, Madhya Pradesh some 20 years ago. He stays at Kismatnagar in Meghaninagar and works as painter for building contractors. Early on Sunday, devotees thronging the Amba Mata temple spotted Baghel at 5 am with blood oozing from his mouth. When they enquired, he pointed to the deity’s feet where they saw his tongue lying. A blade was also found in a corner of the temple. The devotees then washed off the blood stains and gave him a fresh pair of clothes.

As news spread that a man had chopped off his tongue, people started pouring in to see him. Some even garlanded him and took out a small procession in his honour. “His tongue is still lying in the temple. There is no chance of corrective surgery now. The devotees are not ready to take him to a hospital,” said a local resident on condition of anonymity.

BR Pandor, deputy commissioner of police said, “There is little we can do until a police complaint is filed. However, we are trying to ensure that the man at least gets some medical attention.”

Link

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tirsdag, september 29, 2009

Benefits of Vaccination Joseph Albietz

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mandag, september 28, 2009

Dick Dale - Nitro

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søndag, september 27, 2009

As Boys Grow Riff

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Disappearing Rights?

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Delusions Defined

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Metal Søndag 27. september


Slayer - South of Heaven
Def Jam, 1988

Etter suksessen med det ekstremt raske og brutale Reign in Blood var det mange som forventet at det neste albumet skulle være enda raskere. Slayer gjorde det eksakte motsatte og gav ut et album som var flyt opp med mer midttemporiff. South of Heaven droppet mye av det raske tempoet til forgjengeren, men i gjengjeld er dette et mørkere album. Ingenting av tyngden og brutaliteten er borte, den er bare i en langt mer ondskapsfull form.
Hver låt har virkelig mørk atmosfære over seg som bare Slayer kan skape. Det er nok av album innfor både thrash, black metal og death metal som er mørkere, men ikke slik som South of Heaven. Det er en virkelig unik atmosfære på dette album som ingen har klart å gjenskape, ikke en gang Slayer.
I tillegg til atmosfæren, har South of Heaven noen av de beste headbangerpartiene de noen gang har spilt inn. Dette er virkelig gode gamle Slayer fra før de ble påvirket av idiotiske trender på 90-tallet.

Dette er det siste Slayer albumet som kan kalles en klassiker. Resten av deres diskografi er for det meste bra nok hvis man ser bort fra et og annet album, men her slutten på Slayer som et genialt og relevant band innfor thrash.

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Legions of Crows er et britisk black/doom band som har gitt ut en demo. Du kan høre dem på deres Myspace.

Nå over til metal musikkvideoer.

Motörhead - Sacrifice
En av mine absolutt favoritt metal musikkvideo.

Brainstorm - All Those Words

Týr - Hold The Heathen Hammer High

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lørdag, september 26, 2009

Clues That Ghost Hunters Might Be Fake

The paranormal investigators on the Sci-Fi Channel's series Ghost Hunters stress that they are skeptics, men and women of science who set out to disprove hauntings, unlike their unscrupulous competition.

Take, for instance, the observational skills employed as they point at "shadowy masses" which always appear wherever the film crew isn't looking and outside the range of the 6+ stationary cameras deployed in every case. Consider the custom-made contraptions which light up when ghosts pass by, and certainly not when manipulated by the user or poorly calibrated. Note how they isolate Electronic Voice Phenomena, segments of audio in which spooky voices respond to the investigators' questions, often accompanied by background noise levels that are jarringly different from the rest of the recording.

Unfortunately, Ghost Hunters has come under scrutiny following last year's live Halloween investigation in which a ghost viciously pulled Grant Wilson backwards three times, causing the investigator's collar to move slightly downward while his hand fiddled with something in his right pocket.

Link

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Feng Shui for Home Providers



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fredag, september 25, 2009

Blasphemer Bear Challenges You...

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tirsdag, september 22, 2009

Debunking 9/11 "Truth:" Pentagon & Flight 77

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søndag, september 20, 2009

Metal Søndag 20. september


Iced Earth - Iced Earth
Century Media, 1991

Iced Earth er uten tvil det mest kjente power metal bandet fra USA. I motsetning til mange europeiske power metal band, så har de ikke glemt hva power betyr (hvis man ser bort fra senere album). Er du en tilhenger av power metal har du nok sannsynlig hørt klassikeralbumene deres med Matt Barlow på vokal, men har kanskje unngått dette albumet fordi du har hørt dårlige ting om vokalen til Gene Adam. De negative tingene du har hørt stemmer for det meste, men har du hørt på mye 80-talls heavy metal og thrash, så burde du ha utviklet en immunitet imot vokal som ligger litt på kanten når det kommer til kvalitet. Så lenge du ikke er for følsom når det kommer til vokal er det ingenting som burde hindre deg fra å digge riffene.
For det er riffene som er dette albumets sterke side. De er mer thrash riff enn power metal riff, så er du en fan av power thrash er dette albumet for deg. Det er absolutt et Iced Earth album, men det er et stort seg ifra de senere albumene, så selv om dette er det første albumet er det kanskje ikke det beste albumet å starte med hvis du skal utforske Iced Earth.

Dette albumet er langt fra noen stor og viktig klassiker, men det er hvor et av power metalsjangerens mest kjente band startet. Liker du thrash med et hint av power metal er det ingen grunn til å unngå dette albumet.

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Leak er et groove metal band som har gitt ut en demo. Du kan høre dem på deres Myspace.

Var på Glassheim i går og så hard rock bandene Wild Side, Badmouth og Kingdom Come. Ikke metal, men liker du hard og tung musikk, så sjekk dem ut siden de var gode liveband.

Nå over til metal musikkvideoer.

Melvins - Into The Void
Black Sabbath cover.

Epica - Never Enough

Kreator - Impossible Brutality

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lørdag, september 19, 2009

RDF TV - Saddles and Domes: Evolution of the Giant Tortoises - Richard Dawkins

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fredag, september 18, 2009

The 9/11 Conspiracy





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They Might Be Giants - Science is Real

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onsdag, september 16, 2009

Joe Nickell reflects on DragonCon 2009

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tirsdag, september 15, 2009

Putting faith in its place

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How Islamist gangs use internet to track, torture and kill Iraqi gays

Sitting on the floor, wearing traditional Islamic clothes and holding an old notebook, Abu Hamizi, 22, spends at least six hours a day searching internet chatrooms linked to gay websites. He is not looking for new friends, but for victims.

"It is the easiest way to find those people who are destroying Islam and who want to dirty the reputation we took centuries to build up," he said. When he finds them, Hamizi arranges for them to be attacked and sometimes killed.

Hamizi, a computer science graduate, is at the cutting edge of a new wave of violence against gay men in Iraq. Made up of hardline extremists, Hamizi's group and others like it are believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 130 gay Iraqi men since the beginning of the year alone.

The deputy leader of the group, which is based in Baghdad, explained its campaign using a stream of homophobic invective. "Animals deserve more pity than the dirty people who practise such sexual depraved acts," he told the Observer. "We make sure they know why they are being held and give them the chance to ask God's forgiveness before they are killed."

Link

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Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America'

A British film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.



Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie.

The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.

Link

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søndag, september 13, 2009

Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug dies at 95

Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the "green revolution" who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger and saving hundreds of millions of lives, died Saturday in Texas, a Texas A&M University spokeswoman said. He was 95.

Borlaug died just before 11 p.m. Saturday at his home in Dallas from complications of cancer, said school spokeswoman Kathleen Phillips. Phillips said Borlaug's granddaughter told her about his death. Borlaug was a distinguished professor at the university in College Station.

The Nobel committee honored Borlaug in 1970 for his contributions to high-yield crop varieties and bringing other agricultural innovations to the developing world. Many experts credit the green revolution with averting global famine during the second half of the 20th century and saving perhaps 1 billion lives.

Thanks to the green revolution, world food production more than doubled between 1960 and 1990. In Pakistan and India, two of the nations that benefited most from the new crop varieties, grain yields more than quadrupled over the period.

Equal parts scientist and humanitarian, the Iowa-born Borlaug realized improved crop varieties were just part of the answer, and pressed governments for farmer-friendly economic policies and improved infrastructure to make markets accessible. A 2006 book about Borlaug is titled "The Man Who Fed the World."

"He has probably done more and is known by fewer people than anybody that has done that much," said Dr. Ed Runge, retired head of Texas A&M University's Department of Soil and Crop Sciences and a close friend who persuaded Borlaug teach at the school. "He made the world a better place — a much better place. He had people helping him, but he was the driving force."

Link

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Norman Borlaug Documentary Trailer

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Metal Søndag 13. september



TNT - Knights of the New Thunder
Vertigo, 1984

TNT er uten tvil det mest kjente 80-talls hard rock bandet fra Norge. Selv om de hovedsakelig et hard rock band, så er Knights of the New Thunder heavy metal tvers igjennom. Det er litt kommersiell 80-tallsrusk her og der, men det er tøffe riff og høy pitch metalvokal fra begynnelse til slutt.
Vekk er den norske lyrikken fra det første albumet, og inn er trangen til å bli virkelig store i USA (noe de nesten klarte). Knights of the New Thunder har alt tradisjonelt heavy metal album fra 1984 skal ha, noe som gjør det fryktelig utdatert. Men dette er selvsagt ikke noe problem siden ingen hører på heavy metal for å være inn og trendy. Det er uansett noe man burde være obs på hvis man hører for det meste på mer moderne metal.
En stor forskjell fra det første albumet (hvis man ser bort fra at lyrikken er på engelsk) er at vokalist Dag Ingebrigtsen er byttet ut med amerikaneren Tony Harnell. Han har en betydelig mer renere og høyere pitch enn Dag Ingebrigtsen. Han passer godt inn med den stilen som var med inn på det amerikanske hard rock markedet på 80-tallet, og var dermed et viktig steg for å slå igjennom i USA. En annen viktig forskjell er at det flere virkelig tøffe riff som kommer nær tidlig power metal.

Er du en nordmann har du null unnskyldninger for å ikke ha dette albumet. Når det kommer til norske metalklassikere er dette albumet viktigere enn en rekke black metal klassikere. Liker du 80-tallsmetal burde du sette på dette album nå og la minnene komme tilbake.

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Chaos Descends spiller god gammeldags death/thrash. De har gitt ut en demo som du kan høre på deres Myspace.

Nå over til metal musikkvideoer.

Master's Hammer - Cerná svatozár

Piledriver - When I Saw Yer Face

Symphony X - Set the World on Fire

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torsdag, september 10, 2009

TNG edit 34 - "a frank evaluation"

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RDF TV - Insurance Policy: Two Eggs, One Survivor - Richard Dawkins

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tirsdag, september 08, 2009

Earth Science

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Miyuki Hatoyama's Most Bizarre Things I Encountered

Read a political website or watch the news and you might get the idea that US President Barack Obama is an alien from a very distant and very Marxist planet. It's not that pundits think he's an alien, they just don't get why he can't prove that he is not from Pleiades by releasing his Planet Earth Citizenship Card! What does he have to hide?

Obama isn't the only world leader terrifying countrymen with potential otherworldly associations; incoming Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has earned the nickname "ET" because of his strange demeanor. Unlike Obama, Yukio Hatoyama isn't trying to hide that he's an alien.

He's even married to one! His wife, Miyuki, claims she visited Venus on a triangular spaceship.

In a book titled Most Bizarre Things I Encountered Miyuki Hatoyama describes strange events including her 1970 abduction and visit to the surface of Venus ("extremely beautiful and very green") and a past-life friendship with actor Tom Cruise ("He was Japanese in his past life"). She also thinks she is making a film with Tom Cruise even though they have not met outside the context of a past life.

Link

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søndag, september 06, 2009

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution - Richard Dawkins

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My Deconversion Part 3: Prayer, Miracles and Superstition

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Misrepresenting Atheism

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Metal Søndag 6. september


Ensiferum - Ensiferum
Spinefarm Records, 2001

Folk og viking metal var noe som tok form utover 90-tallet og som eksploderte utover 2000-tallet. Alle mulige nye band som spilte melodiøs death og black metal med folkemusikkinspirerte melodier på enten tradisjonelle instrumenter eller keyboard oppsto rundt omkring i Europa. Finland var den nasjonen som ble hardest rammet av denne eksplosjonen og alle mulige fjollete band dukket opp. Keyboardmelodier og allsang lå tykt over landskapet og lyrikk om mytologi og fantasy ble inn på det kommersielle metal markede.
Et av de bandene som virkelig sto over sine landsmenn var Ensiferum. De var ikke redde for å la metaldelen av musikken stå fremme i lydlandskapet og heller være litt mer sparsom med keyboards, og de forsto virkelig at metal handler om kule riff. Vokalen er en fin blanding av black metal vokal blandet med mykere vokal i refrengene og hele albumet er fylt opp med virkelig episke melodier. Dette er alt det virkelig god folk og viking metal skal være.

Digger du melodiøs metal og episk fantasylyrikk er Ensiferum alt man trenger. Dette albumet er som skapt for sene kvelder når man ønsker å mimre over tidligere vikingtokt og eventyr.

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Vent er et tysk black metal band som har gitt ut to demoer så langt. Du kan høre dem på deres Myspace.

Jeg var på konsert på Glassheim i går.
Første band var black metal bandet Angst Skvadron. De klarte og være ganske atmosfærisk og originale, og generelt et bra nok liveband. Det er ikke så mye mer å si dem egentlig.
Neste var Svölk som virkelig spilte solid heavy metal. Man følte virkelig at de gav 110 % der oppe på scenen og at de virkelig var der for å spille metal. Vokalisten signerte albumet deres for meg da jeg kjøpte det etter konserten.
HAIL! Var siste bandet og hovedattraksjonen. De var et coverband som spilte kjente og kjære metalklassikere, men de var ikke akkurat noen amatører. Det var Andreas Rudolf Kisser fra Sepultura på gitar, David Warren Ellefson fra Megadeth på bass og selveste Tim "Ripper" Owens på vokal. Unødig å si det, men det var jævlig kult å høre på.

Nå over til metal musikkvideoer.

Ex Deo - Romulus

Swashbuckle - Cruiseship Terror

Icon - On Your Feet

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lørdag, september 05, 2009

Dårlige konspirasjonsteorier

Hva gjør egentlig en konspirasjonsteori dårlig? En dansk professor har sett nærmere på hvordan argumentene blir skrudd sammen når vi skal overbevises om UFOer, planlagte mord eller juks med månelandinger.

Link

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fredag, september 04, 2009

Homeopathy & Nutritionists vs Real Science!

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torsdag, september 03, 2009

More Golden Crocoduck nominees

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onsdag, september 02, 2009

Lingvisters fornemmelse for snø

Har eskimoer et uendelig antall ord for snø? Ikke det? Men hvorfor tror så mange av oss det, og hva sier det noe om? Eskimospråk, oss selv, eller om begge deler og vel så det? Lingvist Eli Anne Eiesland rydder opp i språk, myter og tenkning rundt språk, folk og idéer i denne artikkelen.

Link

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Hollywood vinner over historiebøkene

En ny amerikansk undersøkelse viser at unge studenter har en tendens til å erstatte faktabasert kunnskap om historiske begivenheter med feilinformasjon fra Hollywood.

Link

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Brian Dunning's inFact - Wheatgrass Juice

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Brian Dunning's inFact - The Pacific Garbage Patch

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Brian Dunning's inFact - The 2012 Apocalypse

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tirsdag, september 01, 2009

Everybody Is Born An Atheist



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No sense pretending

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