Are you smarter than a first grader?

This is a schematic drawing of a school bus. Which way is the bus going?

A) Toward the left
B) Toward the right
C) It could be going either direction.

First graders usually get this right. Make your choice, then check the "comments" section for the answer.

One year doesn't define a climate... BUT...

...you still have to be impressed by the data from the past year. The graph above comes from the Hadley Center for Climate Prediction; it shows 20 years of data left to right and one degree of variation top to bottom. Similar graphs from NASA and other places are compiled and discussed here. As the author says, "...this is an anomaly with a large magnitude, and it coincides with other anecdotal weather evidence. It is curious, it is unusual, it is large, it is unexpected..."

These data do not per se prove or disprove anything; it has been suggested that the decline in global temps during this past year as shown on the graph is a reflection of reduced solar activity. I'm not taking a position in this blog re "global warming" or "climate shift," and I post this today only because it's interesting data to consider.

Walking from England to India ...NOT

The BBC has carried a series of stories about a young man who announced his intention to walk 9000 miles from Bristol, England to Gandhi's birthplace in India. More impressively, he would carry only extra t-shirts, sunscreen, a knife, bandages, and an extra pair of sandals. Most impressively, he would take no money on his trip, relying instead on the "kindness of strangers."

He plans not to touch any money and is taking no credit cards or travellers' cheques. Asked about how he would manage without money, Mr Boyle said: "I've got a lot of faith in humanity." "I will be offering my skills to people. If I get food in return, it's a bonus." He says he is part of the freeconomy movement - a group which began in the US and aims to bring about a moneyless society.

He did receive a couple free dinners in England from other "freeconomists" and some "beeps and waves" from motorists, but then encountered freezing temperatures (in January - surprise!) and a hyperbolic "world's biggest blister."

He had to terminate the walk in Calais, France when he ran out of food. He could not speak French, and to his apparent utter amazement "...not only did no one not speak the language, they had also seen us as just a bunch of freeloading backpackers."

I can't imagine why.

March 3...

...is famous for many historic events, and is the birthday of such notables as Alexander Graham Bell, Jean Harlow, my car (8 years ago), but most notably of my cousin Karl, who lives in Barcelona. In honor of his musical talents I've embedded above an impressive photo of the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona.

An amazing Icelandic island homesite

For many people the ideal location for a home (or summer home) is on an island; some popular locations are along the coast of Maine, in the Thousand Island chain of the St. Lawrence Seaway, and of course in the Maldives. But for stark isolation, the ones around Iceland are incomparable. This photo absolutely intrigues me (but I have to admit, somewhat sheepishly, that the first thought that comes to mind when I look at them, is "how long does it take them to mow their lawn?")

Another impressive island site

Picture found on Pizdaus without accompanying story. All I can find from Wiki and Google is that the Liancourt Rocks are between Japan and Korea, and that the building shown may be a lighthouse rather than a private home. Still, one has to wonder, how do they build these things? It looks like there's a heliport on the left side for island access, and the other island has a ??road carved into it for ??leisurely weekend drives?

VERY disturbing video out of Iraq

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Or perhaps Afghanistan. Don't watch this unless you want to ruin your whole day/evening (it shows soldiers killing a puppy by throwing it over a cliff, then laughing). The availability of instant video capture with cell phones has resulted in a flurry of clips like these emanating from the combat areas, including a crippled puppy being terrorized, laughter after a kitten or puppy is killed during EOD (explosive ordnance detonation), and a dog being shot with a smoke round.

The video clip embedded above was originally posted on a Dutch website, where it already has 40,000 views*. Judging by the uniforms, these may be Blackwater mercenaries rather than U.S. soldiers, but the image portrayed to the world at large is the same.

*update. I wrote that on March 2. As of Mar 3 morning the video has had 182,000 views. The world is watching it, even if most Americans aren't.

further update Mar 3 night - now 228,000 views of the video. The soldier involved has been tentatively identified; Blackwater says he is not their employee. The Marine corps is investigating. Much speculation on Reddit as to whether the "puppy" is either a plush toy or an animal dead before being thrown, in which case it reverts to being a sick joke rather than an act of cruelty. I agree that the sound effects do not seem consistent in that they do not diminish with volume as the puppy gets further from the camera.

March 6 update. The video has been suppressed by YouTube. Those who wish to view it can still do so at the original Dutch website, where it now has over 400,000 views. Think before you click on that link, and remember one of the rules of the "internets" - what has been seen CANNOT BE UNSEEN.

Red and Green Table illusion

The green area is the SAME SIZE and the SAME SHAPE as the red area. Found in J-Walk this morning.

Amazing shadowgraphy

I originally titled this entry "shadow puppetry," but that's a separate artform of Southeast Asia. The artist in this video clip just projects shadows on the wall using his two hands; it's sometimes hard to believe that no props were used.

Bill Clinton endorses ... Barack Obama !!

I had heard about these videos; thanks to J-Walk for featuring them. The first is Hillary Clinton's new TV spot which, though less intense than the one by Rudy Giuliani I featured two months ago, still carries overtones of fearmongering.

The second video depicts Bill Clinton campaigning for John Kerry in 2004. I know some viewers of this blog don't (or can't) click on videos, so here is the text of his comments -

"One of Clinton's laws of politics is, if one candidate is trying to scare you, and the other one is trying to make you think, if one candidate's appealing to your fears, and the other one's appealing to your hopes. You better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope."

No Cow Left Behind

"Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer told Congress yesterday that he would not endorse an outright ban on "downer" cows entering the food supply or back stiffer penalties for regulatory violations by meat-processing plants in the wake of the largest beef recall in the nation's history...

Cows that cannot stand up are supposed to be kept out of the food supply in part because they may be infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. The disease is extremely rare in the United States, but of the 15 cases documented in North America, most in Canada, the majority have been traced to downer cattle..."

More details at the Washington Post. There are of course more causes for downer cattle than BSE, but when regulations aggressively ban passive cigarette smoke and insignificant quantities of asbestos, one would think that more caution would be exercised regarding prions.

Prosthetic leg for an elephant

"The new canvas leg was created for Mocha, a female elephant being cared for by Thai vets. The animal was severely injured when she stepped on a landmine at the Thai-Myanmar border, losing her front right leg in the blast. But now experts at the Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital ... have come to her aid - hoping she can soon be set safely free on her own four feet again."

Original story linked at A Welsh View. The realist in me would have to note that if the animal is "set free" the prosthesis will soon become inadequate for a growing pachyderm. But the story does illustrate 1) the evils of unexploded munitions like land mines and cluster bombs, and 2) the essential good nature of most humans.

The "three-kick rule"

An attorney went duck hunting in rural Minnesota. He shot one which fell into a farmer's field. As he was retrieving it, an elderly farmer arrived and asked him what he was doing.

"I shot a duck and it fell over there, and now I'm going to get it." The farmer replied, "This is my property and you are not to enter it." The indignant lawyer said, "I am one of the best trial attorneys in the U.S. and, if you don't let me get that duck, I'll sue you and take everything you own."

The old farmer smiled and said, "Around here we settle disagreements like this with the "Three Kick Rule." The lawyer asked, "What is the Three Kick Rule?"

The farmer replied, "Well, first I kick you three times and then you kick me three times, and so on, back and forth, until someone gives up, and then the other one gets the duck."

The attorney decided that he could easily take the old codger. He agreed.

With his first kick the farmer planted the toe of his steel-toed work boot into the lawyer's groin and dropped him to his knees. His second kick nearly caved in the attorney's chest. The lawyer was writhing in pain when the farmer's third kick broke his nose and knocked out a tooth.

The lawyer managed to get to his feet and said, "Okay, you old fart, now it's my turn."

The farmer smiled and said, "Naw, I give up. You can have the duck."

Requesting the Right to Die

... former school teacher Chantal Sebire, 52, begged for the right to end the "atrocious" suffering inflicted on her by the disease which has rendered her face unrecognisable because of growing tumours.

"An animal would not be allowed to endure what I have to endure," she said from her home in central France, asking French media and Mr Sarkozy to allow her a dignified death.

She suffers from a rare disease called esthesioneuroblastoma, which attacks the nasal cavity. It has left her blind and has robbed her of almost all other senses, leaving her in terrible pain.

"In 2000, I lost my sense of smell and taste, and then the tumour evolved and ate into my jaws, before attacking the eye socket. I lost my sight in October last year," she said.

The disease causes "atrocious bouts of pain that can last up to four hours at a time".

(Any commentary by me would be superfluous. Original story at this Australian website; cited in A Welsh View yesterday.)

Addendum: See this post for information about Ms. Sebire's eventual death.

An incredibly ironic "Bushism"

"A clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces that tend to divide people up inside their country are unbelievably counterproductive."

(Rwanda, Feb. 19, 2008. Found in Slate.)