Recent content by RunDMC

Bill Gates uses donations for political and business gain. While this is 'giving to charity', it can't be called true 'philanthropy'.

Didn't some economist once propose that since business always involve some form of finance, banks would end up owning everything (since they always take their %)? I think it is vital that we continue to question the models of economy and society we set up for ourselves. In fact, I'm...

I wouldn't get bent out of shape over this. If the Nazi's had one the war, they'd be putting up memorials of their own. Victors always write the history books, but various trends and ideas return from time to time. You get neo-this and neo-that. An old idea with new paint. In the last...

Three men go to a hotel and decide to share a room. The room costs $30 per night, so they each leave $10 at reception and head upstairs. Later the concierge recalls that tonight is the twenty-five-dollar special. He gives the bell hop exactly five one-dollar coins(/notes, depends on your...

Being realistic, the US probably won't use 'nukes' on Iran the way they used 'nukes' in WW2. Do depleted uranium weapons count as 'nukes'? If so, the US deploy 'nukes' all the time! (http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/DU_Zimet-13Nov05.htm )

Rene Descartes tried to say that since a TOE includes absolutely everything -- including notional concepts such as 'three angles in a triangle always add to equal two right angles' -- things that are true of the world according to a TOE are also true of the notional concepts (barring a...

'Giants' of staggering proportions generally suffer from acromegaly, a condition that was only recognized as a disease in the 19th century. In acromegaly, a tumor of the pituitary gland (known in medical parlance as a macroadenoma) releases large amounts of growth hormone, causing abnormal...

When the Rainbow Warrior was bombed in New Zealand, only the most whacky conspiracy theorists thought it was the French Govt. Sometimes the whacky conspiracy theorists get it right. The only question is, how often?

Find a good European news service from a country where dead bodies on the TV is less of a taboo. That way, you can see all the actual violence and killing in Iraq without having to watch emotive pre-clips from 60's Vietnam. I think there's actually something to that. Americans don't tend to...

The 'we can build our own superfood' team remind me of the story about the zoo keepers in (I think) China who made a food specifically for their bengal tiger. The nutrients were matched and carefully proportioned, vitamins and suppliements carefully considered along with the age and weight of...

Yikes, sorry, still looking for the link, it is supposed to be on the ACT minister's site amongst the media releases, but I can't find it. I did however, find this: "The latest draft of the Anti-Terrorism Bill was about to be forwarded from the Commonwealth Office of Parliamentary Counsel, but...

Well, perhaps a bit of an over-reaction, but the clause in the 'sedition' section that has everyone upset is 'disaffection with the Government'. (huh?) The maximum penalty if I recall, is 7 years jail. The former 'sedition' law which is part of the existing crimes act allows for such...

The Australian Government is not perfect. Sorry, just had to get that one out before it becomes illegal here. At the rate we're going, it looks like a statement such as the one above will be outlawed at about 3pm today local time. I hope they don't pass the law retrospectively, or I'm a...

Some UN officials actually named the incident as an example of state-sponsored terrorism. But who cares about the labels? The results are the worst part. :frown:

Actually, as much as I admire Clinton, he was at the helm during the US missile attack that destroyed the Al-Shifa Pharmaceutical Factory in Khartoum. The claims by Clinton and the US administration that the factory was making a chemical component of nerve gas have largely been discredited. The...