The Unsustainable World. Fukushima, Japan: An Announced Disaster.

The truth most people prefer not to hear.

"The world began without man, and it will end without him." (Claude Lévi-Strauss Tristes Tropiques)

Fukushima nuclear power plant after the tsunami. (by Digital Globe)

There’s a whole host of reasons why this world has become unsustainable. Japanese nuclear disaster is a shining example of apocalyptic events that loom large over our future thanks to deep-rooted stupidity most modern human beings display. Let’s face it, we had it coming.

I’m at a loss to understand what kind of thinking process led Japanese luminaries to come up with the bright idea of constructing nuclear power plants in the most seismically active part of the planet. It was British and US companies who raised them, and they didn’t understand (or much more likely didn't give a damn about) the INSANITY of their decision, either. Why anyone in his right mind would slap the most destructive bomb on this planet to date right on the seashore that is at the highest risk to suffer from tsunamis and earthquakes flies in the face of common sense. Unless they (the boffins) aren’t, as I’ve always suspected, in their right mind.

What are the dangers of genetically modified viruses?

A virus

Most people never stop to consider the dangers of genetic engineering technique, they just expect it to make pretty babies, correct genetic diseases or create little-eating and fast growing cattle, but men in the street hardly ever take time to look into the technology itself.

The bottom line is that external genetic material is introduced into the host cells (say, GM corn grain) by means of either specially crafted viruses, called viral vector, or bacteria like E-coli that assimilate well foreign DNA, carrying the genes in question precisely because virus has the ability to reproduce and invade other organisms (and bacteria multiply exponentially) — otherwise viruses would be useless.
The increased virulence of E-coli epidemics (and infections in general) in the 20th century could have been caused by such specially crafted bacteria.

Forensic Psychology. Crime, Accident or Suicide?

"Now and then there is a person born,
who is so unlucky that he runs into accidents
which started out to happen to somebody else"
(Don Marquis, life of mehitabel).

Crime scene investigation

Brainstorming is about finding the answers to moot questions, as well as getting to the truth behind the appearance or finding logical explanations to situations that apparently make no sense. In short, thinking differently.

The other day I heard about a case of a 19-year-old guy who got run over and killed by a lorry on his way home from a party in the small hours of the night. The driver admitted to having dragged the body for about 400 metres before he finally managed to brake to a screeching halt. At the trial the lorry driver claimed the boy came out of the blue, so that there was no time for him to react. The breath test ruled out drunken driving, but he did exceed the speed limit and the foglamps weren’t on.

Brain-twister. The answer.

Looks like no-one has managed to crack the puzzle, so I got down to work. It took me quite some time,  mainly because I approached the task as if it were Riemannian geometry, but it turned out to be much simpler.
The first step is to rearrange the numbers to make 34 in each row, column and diagonal. You’ll see that numbers 1, 8 and 13, 7, 9, 2 stay put, while numbers 15, 5, 12, 10, 4, swapped places with numbers 11, 6, 16, 14, 3. So all you have to do is cut the square 1 along the red lines and switch pink and blue figures to form the square 2.

     

square 1  1 15 5 12 8 10 4 9 11 6 16 2 14 3 13 7

square 2 1 11 6 16 8 14 3 9 15 5 12 2 10 4 13 7

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Should we fear aliens? Part II: First Contact — Glad Hand.

Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity (NASA)

“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet.” “Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach. If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.” — Stephen Hawking.

Although I’ve already expatiated at length on the reasons why we should fear aliens, it turns out there’s yet another cause for alarm — our infinite fatuity and brainlessness. The other day I heard one of these stories on the news that make you wonder if it’s Orson-Wells’-recital-of–The-War-of-the-Worlds style hoax, or the powers that be are once again kidding the populace. In times of economic crisis, UN decided to splash out and assigned a Malaysian boffin to greet aliens on behalf of the entire humanity.

Does absolute Good and Evil exist?

Musings on the nature of Absolute Good and Evil.

"Are there, infinitely varying with each individual, inbred forces of Good and Evil in all of us, deep down below the reach of mortal encouragement and mortal repression — hidden Good and hidden Evil, both alike at the mercy of the liberating opportunity and the sufficient temptation?" — Wilkie Collins.

Absolute Good vs. Absolute Evil.
(Satan before the Lord,
Corrado Giaquinto.)

“In religion, ethics, and philosophy, the phrase, Good and Evil refers to the evaluation/judgement of objects, desires, and behaviours on a two-way scale, with one direction being morally positive ("good"), and the other morally negative ("evil"). "Good" is a broad concept but it typically deals with an association with life, continuity, happiness, and prosperity. Evil is simply defined as the opposite of Good. Depending on the context, good and evil may represent personal judgments, societal norms, or claims of absolute value related to human nature or to transcendent religious or philosophical standards.” (Based on Wikipedia definition)

Immanuel Kant

 “The only objects of practical reason are therefore those of good and evil. For by the former is meant an object necessarily desired according to a principle of reason; by the latter one necessarily shunned, also according to a principle of reason. “ — Immanuel Kant.

 The big question is whether there is absolute Good and Evil, although it’s part of a bigger question — if so why? Whetstone for human spirit? For the thrill of it? Is it a local phenomenon or it’s valid for the rest of the universe(s)? But that’s like asking WHY God exists. Makes the mind boggle. I’m afraid we’ll have to settle for the answer 'Because He Does' in the foreseeable future.

The greatest con artist ever?

'In fact, to gull a fool seems to me an exploit worthy of a witty man.'  — Giacomo Casanova.

A Teacher

 You can’t deny it takes a special talent to pull off a brilliant swindle. Believe it or not, but the following story really happened. To me it qualifies as one of the best scams of all times. This masterpiece of swiz took place in a remote village somewhere in the Far East in the late seventies.

One day the village school decided it was high time to give their pupils some fancy education, which came down to teaching them foreign languages.

For now unknown reasons they picked French, but the snag was that their chances of finding a French teacher in such a wilderness were as slim as of spotting a kangaroo in their local forest.

Unbelievably, though, they were in luck — a recently recruited history teacher happened to know some French, or so he claimed, and was happy to double as a French coach.