Sunday, September 30, 2007

Good Article, Bad Example

Naomi Wolf wrote a good How-To article on how to turn a democracy into a fascist state. However, her example of the 2006 Thailand Coup as an example of a process of turning Thailand into a fascist state is wrong. It's closer to the truth to view the coup as turning a proto-fascist government of Thaksin Shinawatra into a proto-democratic state. In this respect, the U.S.A. is in even more trouble than Thailand since there's nobody to stop the process of fascism. It might be wise to heed the advice of this retired soldier.

I wrote my voluminous impression of the coup in the past. After a year, I have to say that I'm quite disappointed with the result. There are so many things that could have been done by the people who seized power to prepare Thailand for a stable democracy. Instead, it's quite likely that Thailand will go into more vicious cycles of failed democracy after this coming election since many of the same politicians who bought votes will likely be in the parliament again.

BTW, you can see Naomi Wolf in talking about her book in this video clip.

If You Have To Die, Try To Die In Chilled Liquid

It seems that injecting cold saline solution into the body after the heart stops can prevent enough cell death that you can be resurrected!

There is another related news article about reviving the dead here.

Here is an excerpt from the first news article:

61-year-old Bill Bondar is living proof that people can be brought back from the dead.

"I didn't know I died, I didn't feel anything, I still don't believe it," Bill said.

"I looked at his face, and I was looking at a dead man," Bill's wife Monica said.

It happened just after the couple left a jam session. Bill collapsed outside their home, lifeless.

"That was the most frightening thing I ever saw in my life and I knew my husband was gone. He was gone," said Monica.

Paramedics were able to restart his heart, but that's just part of the battle. Cells continue to die, and there can be damage to vital organs like the brain, that could be fatal.

Friday, September 14, 2007

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The World Really Needs Peaceful Muslims' Help

These pictures left me speechless and very sad. We should all be able to live and let live, but fundamentalist nuts from various religions are spoiling it for everyone.

“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Top Censored Stories

Top 25 Censored Stories of 2008, of 2007, of other years. You can find out about Project Censored here.

It's good to hear news that didn't make it to the mainstream. It sharpens my conspiracy theory instinct and it is true quite often :-)

In Thailand, it seems that most mainstream news outlets exist only to make money and keep the population numb enough for the Pyramid of Capitalist System. We should have a list for Thailand too.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Superstition Is Not Limited To Human!

In 1948, there was an experiment by B.F. Skinner that showed that pigeons appeared to exhibit superstitious behaviors.


Full paper is here.


I think the result might be applicable to why human perform rituals, pray, bribe karma wheel, buy lotteries, etc. I also wonder whether animals have their religious thoughts too.


I like to collect these animal examples because, based on what we learn from animal and human behaviors, I believe that biology created human morals and religions through evolution of societal units and it's up to the us, not supernatural mechanisms, to make sure that bad deeds got punished and good deeds got rewarded. I don't believe that human require special treatment from nature in terms of mechanisms that shaped us.


A few books that shaped my thinking about this matter:
In the last book, bacteria show cooperative behaviors that might be examples of what we would call moral behaviors. That book, along with The Blind Watchmaker started my education in evolution.