Imagine this world

An article at phys.org tells us there are poop robots now. They run on human waste. Let's let our imagination run wild for a moment.

The machines become much more intelligent than us, and take over -- but they still need us. More precisely, they need our poop. So they construct small cages for us where we're all sitting on toilets and can't move an inch. Food is poured down our throats -- a liquid diet that ensures our poop is highly useful to the machines. All of humanity is shackled.

Tell me how this scenario differs from our egg farms. Does it remind you of the cows from whom we obtain milk? And isn't it kinder than when we line animals up to slaughter them? At least the poop robots let us live.

Please tell me why come it's okay for us to do this to animals who are less intelligent than we are, while the idea of super-intelligent robots doing it to us is unthinkable? Seems to me it's exactly the same act.

Disposing of the dead

I was fascinated by a NYT story about a death ritual in India.

MUMBAI, India — Fifteen years after vultures disappeared from Mumbai’s skies, the Parsi community here intends to build two aviaries at one of its most sacred sites so that the giant scavengers can once again devour human corpses. 

Vultures, bears, crows, whatever -- I think something should benefit from our bodies after we die. It just makes sense. Why cordon our bodies off from nature?

Assad kills Syria's internet

Syria's Assad has killed 48,000 of his own people. If anyone needs to hang, it's this guy. Today, we learn he's cut the internet throughout Syria.

The internet is the tool of the people. It frightens megalomaniacal leaders because they don't want their "subjects" to be able to communicate with each other. They might organize or obtain real information. Can't have that.

The internet has become humanity's lifeblood. I'm not sure everyone realizes this. The internet must never be controlled, misdirected or filtered in any way. And certainly it should be impossible for someone to turn it off. Yet that's exactly what Assad did. And there are many other leaders who'd like to do the same thing. Information is the enemy of despots.

We must ensure that there is always a free internet. In fact, we must be willing to fight for this ideal -- and die for it, if necessary. It's that important. Without the free flow of information, democracy is a pipe dream.

Russian megalomania

I love this:

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court on Thursday ruled that the video of punk band Pussy Riot's performance in Russia's main cathedral is extremist and ordered it to be removed from the web. 

Well, that's that. It'll be off the web by 11 pm, I imagine. Made me laugh.

When my iPad is charging, I die a little

I cannot believe how essential my iPad has become to my existence. The battery lasts forever so I've only charged it twice since I got it. Last night, I charged it during the evening hours.

Brrrrrrr. Even a few hours without my iPad is unbearable. I couldn't believe how many times I went to reach for it, only to realize that it was charging. I was lost.

I've become a fierce user of dictation. I talk to my iPad all day long -- and I've learned how to get the most out of dictation. There are hardly any errors, of late. So all day (and night) long, I'm talking ideas into my iPad. It's been stellar, truly. There is no easier, simpler way to get your ideas into your computer, than talking to it. And when the notes are on my iPad, they're also on my desktop Mac, my Macbook Air and my iPod Touch. And even if I lose all of those devices, the information is saved in the cloud. Heaven!

I'll never charge my iPad again while I'm awake. The loss I feel is too keen. I need my iPad to survive. That's the way it is, and this transformation only took a couple of weeks. Desktops are dead. Laptops are dead. Long live the iPad!

Recurrent negative thoughts? Here's a solution.

This sounds way too simple to be true, but it's been confirmed experimentally. If you don't want to read the article, the short version is this:

If you have negative thoughts that you'd like to get rid of, write them down on a piece of paper -- and then throw the paper away. This actually works. And conversely, if you want to incorporate a new, positive message, write it down on a piece of paper and then keep the paper in your pocket or purse.

It sounds insane but after all, we are merely the hairless monkeys of Earth. Perhaps we shouldn't be so surprised when a simple technique like this works.

You have to wonder about that anti-gay crowd

Hat tip to Ed Brayton on this. He quotes from an article about Russia's inane charges against Madonna for championing gay rights during a concert. Apparently, the hearing on the matter was hilarious, even to Russians.

The ruling came after a one-day hearing that bordered on the farcical. During it, plaintiffs claimed that Madonna’s so-called “propaganda of perversion” would negatively affect Russia’s birthrate and erode the nation’s defense capability by depriving the country of future soldiers. At one point, the judge threatened to expel journalists from the courtroom if they laughed too much…

You really have to wonder about these religious-right, anti-gay loons. To even say such a thing -- that Russia's birthrate would plunge because the word "gay" was mentioned during a concert -- seems to indicate that the people making the charges experience same-sex attractions. Why else would they think this is a logical outcome of even mentioning teh gay? They must be fighting their own internal demons. They want to be gay, they want to act on the feelings that nearly overpower them. Therefore Madonna saying there's nothing wrong with being gay will cause hordes of men to seek out other men for sex.

Anti-gay loons are closet cases. I've always said this. And seeing this play out in a Russian courtroom only intensifies my suspicions.