Forward from [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Akira Kawasaki) > [Original Message] > From: What's New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 7/28/2006 2:02:47 PM Subject: [BOBPARKS-WHATSNEW] What's New Friday July 28, 2006
WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 28 Jul 06 Washington, DC 1. BLEEP: IT IS PHYSICS THAT UNLEASHED THIS PLAGUE ON MANKIND. Some suggested that I take refuge behind the Geneva Convention or the Eighth Amendment rather than watch the film What the Bleep Do We Know. It was penance for allowing myself to be used on ABC's Primetime, where Adam Dreamhealer attributed his awesome power to "quantum mechanics." In "Bleep" every spiritual claim becomes an example of "consciousness" acting through quantum mechanics. In physics, unfortunately, the word "consciousness" is invariably followed by bullshit. Having found a way to make incredibly precise predictions at the atomic level, we chose to ignore the fact that we don't understand it. After all, QM has transformed the world. We now flaunt the fact that no one understands quantum mechanics. We have begun to enjoy being high priests of a mystical religion. It's like giving Mass in Latin. 2. THE CAST: PHYSICS IS NOT AN INOCULATION AGAINST FOOLISHNESS. Nor does it rule out mendacity. Two Ph.D. physicists, William Tiller and John Hagelin, who were in "Bleep," are afflicted with both conditions, and have been in WN in the past. Just look for them in http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/search.html . In "Bleep," Hagelin again claimed, as he has countless times, to have reduced violent crime in Washington, DC in the summer of 1993 by the meditation of 1,000 TM "experts" in unison. I was at the press conference a year later when he reported that the reduction was 18%. "18% relative to what" a puzzled reporter asked? "Relative to what it would have been if they had not been meditating," he replied. In fact the DC murder rate during that period was the highest ever recorded. More on Tiller and Ramtha next week. 3. KANSAS: WILL VOTERS WAKE UP FOR TUESDAY'S PRIMARY ELECTION? Voters don't pay attention to School Board elections unless there is a problem. Well, there's a problem: Creationists have a 6-4 majority. It can be solved; 4 creationists are up for election. 4. NASA: "OUR HOME PLANET" IS REMOVED FROM MISSION STATEMENT. On 3 Feb, after NASA climate scientist James Hansen told the NY Times he was being harassed for speaking out about greenhouse gas emissions http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN06/wn020306.html , NASA Chief Michael Griffin issued a "scientific openness" policy. However, on 6 Feb, the phrase, "understand and protect our home planet," was quietly removed from the NASA mission statement. It had been cited by Hansen to justify his remarks. 5. GLOBAL WARMING: PASSING THE HAT FOR A FOSSIL FUEL APOLOGIST. AP today reports that Patrick Michaels, one of the last global warming deniers, told officials of Western coal-burning utilities that he's running out of money to "analyze" scientific critics. He's professor of environmental science at U. Virginia and senior fellow of the libertarian Cato Institute. It's OK to be a lobbyist, as long as you don't pretend to be a scientist. THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND. Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the University of Maryland, but they should be. --- Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org What's New is moving to a different listserver and our subscription process has changed. To change your subscription status please visit this link: http://listserv.umd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=bobparks-whatsnew&A=1
