Real Kato Blog: Miscellany

Brain dump of thoughts from the last week.

Is it just me, or is the story of James Kim one of the saddest things you've ever heard? I just can't imagine the level of desperation that family must have felt... and the level of anguish they must be feeling now. Amy and I talked about this a bit, and we decided that if we're ever in a similar situation (stranded in the wilderness), we will stick together no matter what. If there's anything worse than dying with your loved ones near you, it's dying alone. And anyway, an important survival tip is this: if you've got good shelter, stay put.

The military is testing a new non-lethal weapon that will make you feel like your skin is melting off. It's called the "Goodbye Weapon", and uses millimeter waves to cause your skin to heat rapidly. Within seconds, the pain will produce an instinctive avoidance reflex... in other words, you'll run.

The point of the weapon is for crowd control, and other situations where non-lethal force is needed. But I have one important question: is it really such a good idea to rely on a weapon that could be turned against you using a mirror?

So soon there'll be no more trans-fat used in cooking in New York City restaurants. I applaud this legislation. It may seem heavy-handed, but there are two important principles at work here: one, that the government should use legislation to protect public safety when capitalism alone will not; and two, we should respect the weight of scientific data when making public policy. We've got several recent instances of politicians using bogus science to advance a position: the abortion anesthesia bill, the refusal to enact or enforce emission controls, the whole Intelligent Design thing... it's refreshing to see politicians actually respecting the broad consensus of scientific evidence.

And finally, Bolton and Rumsfeld are both gone? It's like Christmas came early this year.

Permalink 1 Comment