Archive for August, 2007

Shrimponomics

Friday, August 31st, 2007

Here is an interesting blog post analyzing theories about why people are eating more shrimp than was previously the case. In short, people without training in economics seem to focus more on the demand side than people with such training.
One response that surprised me was “a rise in the number of vegetarians who will eat [...]

A closer look at the War Museum controversy

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Still pondering the controversy about the display in the Canadian War Museum, I decided to go have a look at it first-hand. On the basis of what I saw, I am even more convinced that the display is fair and balanced, and that it should not be altered in response to pressure from veterans.
Here, you [...]

The Climate Emergency Fast

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

On September 4th, an organization called the U.S. Climate Emergency Council is holding a 24-hour fast meant to further raise awareness about global warming. As such gestures go, it seems like quite an appropriate one. The burdens of climate change are likely to fall most heavily on the poorest people and there is good reason [...]

Random numbers

Thursday, August 30th, 2007

Truly random numbers are hard to find, as patterns tend to abound everywhere. This is problematic, because there are times when a completely random string of digits is necessary: whether you are choosing the winner of a raffle or generating the one-time pad that secures the line from the White House to the Kremlin.
Using random [...]

Melting ice

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

The Earth is developing a bald spot. No wonder so many states are clamouring to assert their Arctic claims. Of course, if they find substantial quantities of fossil fuels down there (while expending a good bit just looking) it will only make things worse.
In addition to the image above, Neal sent me this animation.
[Update: 7 [...]

The Great Dying

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

251.4 million years ago, the earth experienced the most severe extinction event ever recorded. The Permian-Triassic (P-Tr) extinction event (informally referred to as the Great Dying) involved the loss of 90% of all extant species. This included about 96% of all marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species.
There are a number of theories about [...]