The Earth Is Dying, and It's Our Fault!

The fact that the situation the earth is in is grim should come as a surprise to very few readers of this blog. Most people who (I can imagine) read this are at least somewhat aware of the environment (another assumption, since pretty much only people I know read this). The problem isn't you, though, it's everybody else.
I just watched a very good video on youtube entitled "HOME". It was a video (movie really) about the sorry state our planet finds itself in. Not just global warming, but over consumption, overpopulation, deforestation and a host of other calamities that the world faces. All brought on by man, and our (some times lack of) technological advances. Did you know, for instance, that it takes 13000 liters of water to raise 1kg of beef? I didn't (ok, I did, but not until I went to an expo here in Brussels where I was told). "That's impossible", you say. "Cows don't drink that much!". This is entirely correct, they don't. What they do do, on the other hand, is eat. Lots. This water comes from the crops that are grown to feed the cows. Agriculture uses up 70% of the world's water consumption. Scary figured, but we've got to eat, right?
Back to the problem at hand; you don't need to be told that the planet is in peril, you probably already know. The people who need to be told are the people who would never go out of their way to watch a 93 minute movie about the state that the planet is in. Partially because they don't care (the bad people), and partly because the thought hadn't even crossed their mind (lost souls in a sense, people who might actually be willing to help save the planet, if they only knew it was in trouble).
I want you to show them this movie, and others like it ("An inconvenient truth" by Al Gore comes to mind). I want you to tell them that the planet is dying, and something had to be done quickly, lest we all die with it.
The mantra that you should live in the now and appreciate life is correct. It's also, at the same time, terrible advice. If you only live in the now, with no thought to past or future, your eyes only ever on the present, then you wouldn't see what is happening to the planet. You wouldn't see the progression from bad to almost infinitely worse.
People need to know that the planet is loosing resources faster than we can put them back, and people need to know that there are things they can do, small things and large things, that can help make things right again. Examples of small things are: take your power company up on that offer for green power. Sure it might be slightly more expensive (ours weren't, we saved 25% by switching) but it's good for the environment. Another thing is: leave the car at home. Especially in summer (and especially if you live in brussels! for fuck sake people, it's like a zoo here!). Take the subway or bus or even walk. It's a nice day, enjoy it while you can. Before you know it, the oxygen content in the air you breathe might be too low (ok, that probably won't happen for a long time, but it's coming).
You could also consume less. I'm not just talking about putting down the fork (I'm looking in your direction America, you fat fucks), but also just buy fewer things. If you consume less, the world has to expend less resources making the shit you purchase. If we could recycle everything with 100% efficiency, consumption wouldn't be a problem, but since we're a bit low on nano-disassemblers at the moment, you're just going to have to buy less shit. I'm sure your existing TV is good enough. You don't actually NEED to buy a brand new car. There are literally thousands of little things you can do to make your planet a better place (if you're reading this from off-world, I'm sure there are things that you can do to make whatever planet you're on a better place too). Think about how you live, and what you consume, and how much waste you produce. You might not think about it, because you don't throw it away in the garbage can, but you do produce a lot of industrial waste by the things you choose to purchase. Vote with your wallet. Buy environmentally friendly stuff, if you have the option.
I could talk forever on this subject, but in closing let me say this: you cannot pass the buck on this, and expect others to do it for you. If we don't all get together and start making the world a better place, there won't be a planet left to sustain humanity. Please think of what you're doing, and think about the planet.

Waterboarding IS Torture

I was reading today about waterboarding. I don't know what triggered it, but an hour of fascinated wikipedia clicking later, and I knew enough to categorically declare waterboarding torture.
I also read that there are some reported and admitted cases of the US using waterboarding to interrogate prisoners in morden times (the last 5-10 years). I'm sure there are also a bunch of false reports, but the fact that there is even one substantiated and confirmed report makes me sick to my stomach.
While the concept of torture is an interesting one, from a scientific point of view, subjecting humans to anythin remotely close to what I have read about today is nothing short insane.
Victims will say anything to escape the torture. Sometimes interrogators are lucky and they go after someone who actually has something of value to disclose, but if it was me on that board, I'd admit to the whole holocaust if it meant that I didn't have to be tortured.
Some might call me wek minded, but torture is an attrocity, and anyone performing it should receive the harshest possibly punishment.
Totrure shoudl not be performed. In any way shape or form. There can be no exception here whatsoever. Even the Geneva Convention backs me up on this one.

The worst part is that there is no oversight. There is noone to monitor the monitors. Supposedly the police are to be the monitors. If you do anything wrong, they punish you. (police / legal system). This isn't the case though, because the military can do things the police can't, and they don't have to tell you about it. What's worse is that the intelligence agencies do even worse things, and it's not that they don't have to tell you about it, but peopel never find out.
Even if countries have strong willed leaders who are against these sort of things, intelligence organizations, such as the CIA for instance, do whatever they damn well please, and noone is the wiser.

The torture has to stop. Humans need to be treated like humans. Not even when they are proven guilty should human treatment be abandoned. There is never a reason for torture.
And even if there was, what if you've got the wrong guy? What if your assumptions are wrong? What if he doesn't know anything? There are so many "what if"s that any argument for torture can be swiftly dealt with by the massive amount of uncertainty surrounding the authorization of torture.

Governments publicly declare that they are against torture (most of them anyway), but when pressed on specific issues (like waterboarding), they squirm and shed responsibility by claiming that a specific interrogation technique isn't classified as torture.
Anything that more than basically a heated conversation with possibly some screaming should be considered torture. Inflicting pain or the threat of pain, both mental or physical, is torture. There are no two ways about it.

Some of you, undoubtably, would say that there are exceptions. Much like how banning certain forms of expression and thought might seem convenient, who determines where to draw the line?
A lot of people would love to ban nazi symbols and racist speech. Make it a punishable offense. This might seem, by most, as an aceptable thing to do, but who's to say that the next "bad" thing isn't being republican. Or muslim.
If we let governments get away with this sort of thing there is no going back. There is no revoking the privilege. History shows that privileges given to governments are never given back.

The problem, as with most things human, is that there is no easy solution to the problem of government. Humans are inherently power-hungry, and they will do all they can in a position of power to make it last longer, or get elevated into a position of more power. One could argue for direct democracy, that everyone votes on all the issues, but that's not feasible. Besides, most people don't care about most decisions anyway, nor are they informed enough to make a proper decision.

I realize that we are moving away from the central issue here, which is that torture is bad, but this issue arises due to the fact that there is very little the population can do about the behavior of the government. Fear is an excellent way of controlling a population, and most governments have mastered it and made it an art.

Don't believe everything you hear. Question everything. Make sure that you know the facts.
You should even question what I wrote here. Don't take my word for it, investigate!

Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature

I just read this wonderful piece on psychologytoday.com about "Ten Politically Incorrect Truths About Human Nature". It confirmed some thoughts that I had had previously, and gave me some new insights as well. I can't imagine anyone who would not benefit from reading this article. Women, in particular, should read this. It is actually more an insight for them than it is for men.

The descriptions says

Why most suicide bombers are Muslim, beautiful people have more daughters, humans are naturally polygamous, sexual harassment isn't sexist, and blonds are more attractive.

The article can be found here.

Externalized Memory

I've come to depend more and more on externalized memory. By externalized memory I mean things like a todo-file on my desktop, or a post-it on my keyboard, or the calendar in my phone.
If it wasn't for the calendar in my phone, I would never remember things. I'd be at home with no food in the fridge if it wasn't for my calendar.
I think externalized memory is both good and bad, but too much reliance on it is detrimental to the human mind. I knew that I was bad at remembering things, so I started using my calendar. The problem is that when I started using my calendar, I stopped practising my memory for the kind of things i put in the calendar. The good thing is that I don't forget things now, but the bad thing is that stuff that doesn't get written down gets lost in the noise.
For another example, lets look at a GPS navigation system for you car. It helps you find your way with absolutely no problem. I personally don't have one (no money), but I've used them in other people's cars, and they are absolutely wonderful. The problem is that you loose your manual navigation skills when you use one. I know that relying on a map when plotting a trip through multiple countries, or when going to a specific address inside a city can be a bitch, but if you rely completely on your tools, then you can't operate when you are without them.

Now, this could analogously be applied to any computer or mechanization of any task in the world, but you can make distinctions between good loss of memory and bad loss of memory.
If you take a robotic welder in a car factory, chances are you would never ever want a human being in that position, so the fact that the humans no longer know this skill by heart doesn't really matter much, whereas in the GPS example, if you can't find your way around the city you live in without navigational equipment, you are properly fucked.