Strange Clouds

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

They are called Morning Glory clouds and, says NASA, no-one is quite sure what causes them.

This shot was taken by photographer Mick Petroff from a plane near the Gulf of Carpentaria and posted online by NASA.

A Morning Glory cloud can roll for 1000 kilometres at altitudes up to two kilometres high.

These, over Burketown in Queensland happen every spring, says NASA.

The picture above reminds me of this:

Huge flying craft of some sort produced wakes in a cloud layer in this image captured by a NASA environmental satellite.

(Washington, D.C.) In a startling image collected by a NASA environmental satellite over two years ago, evidence of huge objects flying through the atmosphere can been seen in the wakes they produced in a low cloud layer.

The image shows evidence of several unidentified objects of varying sizes, all flying in formation, at a very low altitude over the Indian Ocean. The area is too remote to be covered by radar.

ecoEnquirer asked famed image analysis expert William B. Davis his opinion of the image. “This is truly amazing”, said Mr. Davis, between long drags on his trademark cigarette. “I’ve drawn these black lines (see image, above) where I think the UFO’s are located, based upon the cloud wakes they produced. It looks like several smaller craft and one large lead craft are all escorting a huge Mother ship of some sort. The Mother ship looks to be at least several miles in diameter.”

Based upon the wakes produced in the clouds, Mr. Davis said the flying objects were travelling at a very great speed — about 4,000 to 6,000 miles per hour. Their great size is sure to challenge generally accepted size ranges for UFOs, which are usually approximately the size of human-piloted aircraft.

“Spaceships of this size would be difficult to hide from humans, which is likely the reason why they are flying in such a remote region”, explained Davis. “Kind of reminds you of that movie, ‘Independence Day’, doesn’t it?”

Stephen’s Stag Party

My brother Stephen:

Inglorious Basterds

I really enjoyed this movie. Reviewed below:

We had a sneak preview of Quentin Tarantino’s new film, Inglourious Basterds, last week at the Museum. The screening was introduced by Harvey Weinstein, and Tarantino hosted a Q&A after the film joined by Melanie Laurent, the female lead.

I will confess that I was nervous about this screening given the nature of our audience and the distinct possibility that some might have come to see the film thinking it was a serious movie about a serious history. Well, it’s not. I had seen the movie several weeks ago in a mid-town screening room. It is, in parts, stunningly violent, and it departs from historical fact in both intended and unintended ways.

By now, most people are aware of its premise: a rag-tag group of Jewish soldiers are dropped into occupied France to kill — and scalp — Nazis in dramatically violent ways. The denouement involves the kind of revenge that some people dream about: A movie theater filled with Nazi leaders and the German High Command that is…. well, I won’t spoil it.

Now, we were careful to warn everyone about the explicit violence and the fantasy nature of the film, but nevertheless, as I scanned the faces of the audience as they arrived at the Museum, I was concerned.

My worries were misplaced. With one or two exceptions, the audience remained throughout the screening, and the general reaction to the film was overwhelmingly positive. I think Inglourious Basterds has every prospect of becoming a sensational success. It is brilliantly acted, with sharp and intelligent dialogue, and is chock full of subtle –and not so subtle– film allusions. I also think that it will attract its share of criticism from those who will claim that it trivializes the Holocaust, champions revenge at the expense of morality, and devalues historical truth.

Harvey Weinstein anticipated such criticism in his introduction to the screening by saying the first words of the film are, “Once upon a time,” emphasizing its fable-like character. And Quentin Tarantino responded to one critic during the Q&A by saying, “It’s a war movie, dude.” For my part, I am perfectly willing to suspend my disbelief — and perhaps some of my better judgment — in the face of such a thoroughly entertaining and well-made movie.

Word of the Day: Bacchanalia

Bacchanalia 

1. a festival in honor of Bacchus. Compare Dionysia.
2. a drunken feast; orgy

Why I Am a Conservative on Health Care Reform by Dr Andrew Weil

I hold that nothing could be more wild, unconstrained, and downright liberal than the path medicine has taken in just the last 20 years — an unprecedented bacchanalia of excess and contempt for traditional American values.

The GOP’s Misplaced Rage

by Bruce Bartlett

Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett writes that the Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.

Where is the evidence that everything would be better if Republicans were in charge? Does anyone believe the economy would be growing faster or that unemployment would be lower today if John McCain had won the election? I know of no economist who holds that view. The economy is like an ocean liner that turns only very slowly. The gross domestic product and the level of employment would be pretty much the same today under any conceivable set of policies enacted since Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Until conservatives once again hold Republicans to the same standard they hold Democrats, they will have no credibility and deserve no respect.

In January, the Congressional Budget Office projected a deficit this year of $1.2 trillion before Obama took office, with no estimate for actions he might take. To a large extent, the CBO’s estimate simply represented the $482 billion deficit projected by the Bush administration in last summer’s budget review, plus the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, which George W. Bush rammed through Congress in September over strenuous conservative objections. Thus the vast bulk of this year’s currently estimated $1.8 trillion deficit was determined by Bush’s policies, not Obama’s.

I think conservative anger is misplaced. To a large extent, Obama is only cleaning up messes created by Bush. This is not to say Obama hasn’t made mistakes himself, but even they can be blamed on Bush insofar as Bush’s incompetence led to the election of a Democrat. If he had done half as good a job as most Republicans have talked themselves into believing he did, McCain would have won easily.

Conservative protesters should remember that the recession, which led to so many of the policies they oppose, is almost entirely the result of Bush’s policies. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession began in December 2007—long before Obama was even nominated. And the previous recession ended in November 2001, so the current recession cannot be blamed on cyclical forces that Bush inherited.

Continued here.

District 9

I went and saw this movie today. I didn’t know anything about it beforehand, except for the trailer which didn’t give much away.

THIS MOVIE IS AWESOME!

Go and see it. It is not what you expect.

See this movie.

Wake Up America

Why is the country with the fattest people resisting healthcare reform?

The need for healthcare reform in America is a no-brainer. It is obvious to all of us who don’t live in America.

I’ve lived in America and have been through the health system. I’ve seen how people are afraid to go to the doctor because of consequences with insurance companies. I seen people who have gone to the emergency room and have received enourmous bills. I’ve seen the terrible extortion of prescription drug prices (the same drug costing 400% more with a brand name than without). I’ve seen the shameful behaviour of MedicAid.

I do not understand why Americans appear unconcerned for their friends and relatives without insurance. Everyone knows someone without insurance, or a good-as-useless “catastrophe-only” policy.

Here in New Zealand government healthcare covers everyone in the same way that everyone gets an education. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than America? Yes. We also have private hospitals and healthcare and I have full-cover medical insurance which costs me US$290 per year.

If I go through the public health system I won’t go broke. If I need a blood test it is free. If I accidently crash my car into someone I won’t be sued. In New Zealand we cannot sue for personal injury which means that the fear of litigation doesn’t hang over everyone’s heads. If you were raised in USA then you probably cannot imagine what it means to live without this constant threat.

America, you need to break free from your fears and catch up with the rest of the Western world. Delaying healthcare reform means remaining with the unsustainable status quo. GWB had an eight-year opportunity to fix healthcare, but instead spent USA into oblivion.

Go and see the documentary Sicko by Michael Moore. It’s very accurate. It made me laugh, but it will make you cry – because you are missing out.

Waiting for your country to get its act together with healthcare doesn’t excuse you from taking responsibility for your own health. This article here by Dr Deepak Chopra highlights this point. He points out that sodas and sugary drinks are now the main source of calories in the American diet!

The formula for health is this:

Health = Nutrition divided by Calories

Therefore eat lower calorie food with higher nutritional density – ie mostly plants.

Vortex Cannon Blows A House Of Bricks Over

The BBC series “Bang Goes the Theory,” whose tag line is “Get ready to put science to the test,” has a fascinating video on the web in which presenter Jem Stansfield “builds a vortex cannon to pick up where the big bad wolf failed to blow over a house of brick.” Watch the amazing results below.