Imagine if 100% of children got vaccinated. The rate of autism is above 0%, so some children will then be diagnosed with autism.
So then the percentage of autistic children who had previously been vaccinated would be 100% — perfect one-way correlation…
Medium is based on the belief that the sharing of ideas and experiences is what moves humanity forward. The Internet is the greatest idea-sharing tool ever imagined, but we’ve only scratched the surface of its capabilities.
An interesting web publishing platform from the people who made Blogger, with some interesting voices writing for it.
The truth is but a simple thing. To a person, there is only one truth, reflected in the real world around them.
A lie, however, is different. It is far more complex. A lie is part of an alternate reality. This alternate world is similar to the real one, but where there is a lie, it differs. To maintain the lie, it is necessary to live not in the real world, but in this alternate reality. If the alternate reality is forgotten, then the lie will fail, and the truth will be revealed. Thus, concentrating on the details of a carefully constructed and believable alternate reality is an inescapable part of the lie.
Alternate realities, however, are not to be trifled with. Once created, they cannot be escaped. Reconciliation with the real world is not possible. The only way to sustain the lies throughout the alternate reality, is for more lies to be created. Thus, the more time that passes, the more they draw those living within them ever deeper. Lies upon lies, lies within lies, such are inevitable to maintain the alternate reality. So those within, are trapped – forevermore with the burden of maintaining the alternate reality, in all its ever-increasing complexity. Impossible to keep track of, that complexity will be eventually, and then what?
Such it is with lies.
The longest-running web comic still around, with one strip published every day, no exceptions, since June 12, 2000. That’s a lot of comic. Well worth a read, if far future space mercenary fiction interests you, of course.
Today is the first day of May — the start of the third month of Autumn here in the Southern Hemisphere. In Melbourne, Autumn is a time of highly varying weather, between sun-filled, balmy days, and cold, miserable days filled with wind and rain, but as May comes, so too come more cold days, as the last remnants of summer are blown away in gusts of damp, freezing winter air. The days flee more rapidly in Autumn, too, with daylight saving ensuring the loss of a whole hour of sunlight in the evenings (to be given to the morning). Gone are the evenings of light and warmth, to be replaced by swift nights, only to be retreated from to hide.
Thinking back, the speed in which this change comes about seems exceedingly rapid, for only a couple of months ago Melbourne was in the throes of summer, and one hotter than most other on record. Very slowly did it seem that the days got shorter, and the air cooler, and we even hoped for a quicker decent into winter, sweltering as we were in the unbearable heat. But now all that is gone, a distant memory to be thought of even fondly – how strange our minds work indeed. Now as we travel under the golden leaves and dark skies of autumn all we can wonder of is when the weather may be warm again.
Big Fossil Fuel has funded the climate scepticism and denial industry since it became apparent that using their product was destroying the atmosphere. Now, the same lobby is funding the study and advocacy of the geoengineering industry.
Scary, indeed.
Well, I haven’t posted anything for a while. But, that’s because I’ve been in Sydney, Australia! As opposed to Melbourne, Australia, where I usually spend my time. Anyway, now I am back, and enjoying (or not) the heat of Melbourne. Several things, however, interested me about Sydney, and of course I am going to write about them here.
The first thing I noticed when I arrived was the weather. Although I was only there for a week or so, the difference between the climates of the two cities struck me. Sydney was much more humid than Melbourne, somewhat tropical, and was also much cooler (though not, apparently, in general). As a result, it was much easier to move around outside, and there was none of the dry, dehydrating wind I find common in Melbourne.
Anyway, enough of the weather — I’m back in Melbourne now and will have to deal with the 37-degree heat in other ways. So what is Sydney itself like?
Compared to Melbourne, Sydney is (or at least seems) big. The CBD itself seems to stretch on forever, and a quick stroll between Darling Harbour, on the West side, and Circular Quay to the North became an hour-long slog (we never made it). The sense of size is further compounded by the high density of the apparently never-ending suburbs. Indeed, some of the population centers, even those close to the CBD like North Sydney and St Leonards have skylines that seemingly would rival those…
The latest website I have been working on is a new WordPress blog (in fact, the first WP theme I have made) for my good friends over at the Economics Student Society of Australia, a new club at the University of Melbourne (where I study and work).
The website based on WordPress, however a complex theme had to be developed for their needs, as they wanted many different custom pages not normally exposed by the WordPress engine. This is evident on the home page, where the posts are organised in an irregular fashion, and there is a listing of the categories on the site.
Anyway, check out the site at http://economicstudents.com/, and if you have any comments just post below.
There are millions of different iOS games (or so it seems), and many of them are of high quality and original concept. Not many, however, have held my attention for more than a few days — perhaps they were fun during that time, but ultimately the gameplay grew old, the graphics too familiar, and I moved on to look at other things. A few, however, have become classics for me, that I play again and again, no matter how old they are (though most in this list aren’t particularly old). These games to me are all innovative, with interesting gameplay, but are also very polished, and are truly enjoyable just to experience, even if one is not very good at playing them. I have listed some of these few below.
The current season in Melbourne is summer. On Tuesday, the maximum temperature was 20 degrees (centigrade). Today it was 23. However, by Saturday it will apparently have risen to 31 before falling to 20 again next Monday. This city is very inconsistent – we truly do have four seasons in a day.
Apparently the reason why our weather is so variable is because we are stuck between the cold Southern Ocean to the south, and the central deserts of Australia to the North. If the wind blows from the South, then we are basically in the middle of the ocean, with cold, wet wind and lots of rain. If it blow from the North, then we are in the desert, and get hot, dry wind (but no sand like Sydney gets, fortunately). In fact, when the weather is hot, people always speak about waiting for the “cool change” — for the wind direction to change.
Anyway, I’m feeling particularly cold at the moment, so I thought I’d write this in warning, in case any of my non-Melbourne readers were thinking of coming. Bring your jackets in summer, and your swimming gear in winter! Ok, maybe it doesn’t get that warm in winter.