Yet another article on global warming & the end of the world.  If Al Gore and Stephen Hawking say it, then it must be true, right?

I've spent the last 16 years of my life studying, designing, and fixing problems with computer electronics.  As an expert in computer electronics, I'd like to tell you what the future of genetic research holds for society.  Within the next hundred years, humans will have vastly increased intellectual capacity.  Brain size, and therefore intelligence, will increase on the order of 25%.  We will manipulate babies genetically before they are born to ensure this happens, and while we're at it, we will add a third arm protuding from the chest, so you can keep both hands on the wheel while you talk on the cell phone in the car.

I'm an electronics engineer, an expert in my field, so of course people should accept my claims on this subject right?  I'm so smart, they just have to believe me.

Everyone has a right to their opinion, even expert scientists.  But why is it that when a scientist, even a famous and brilliant one, makes claims about subject matter completely out of his area of expertise, the media picks it up and claims it as proof?

If Albert Einstein were still around and told me that 2+2 doesn't necessarily equal 4, or that the theory of relativity was just a really good hoax, I'd believe him.  I might like to ask for some more details about how the hoax was pulled off, and what about all this other scientific study which seems to support the theory.  I might like to ask for a mathematical proof as to why 2+2 no longer equals 4, but so long as I don't believe he has anything to gain by lying about it, I'd accept his claims.

But when someone who is not actually an environmental scientist starts making claims about Global Warming, why should we give their opinions any more significance than Joe Blow on the street?  Of course famous and brilliant people are certainly entitled to their opinions on whatever subject they choose, just as anyone else.  That doesn't mean their opinion constitutes proof of the matter.  

Einstein is often noted as having been one of the smartest men in history.  But that's not really true.  He may have been the smartest mathematician or the smartest physical scientist (though Stephen Hawking is a serious contender for that spot), but that doesn't make him the smartest philosopher or the smartest linguist or the smartest, well, anything else!

Enter the media.  Famous, and in some cases, very intelligent people make claims that global warming is going to destroy our planet.  If they are environmental scientists, that gives more credence to their claims.  Even then, I'd want to know where they work and who is funding their research and whether the scientific community has reviewed and agrees with their work (to date, no expert claiming global warming can make this claim).  If they are politicians or actors or business moguls, their opinions shoudn't even be news (unless they happen to be passing legislation concerning the subject, in which case I hope they excercise their free speech and show us how much, or how little, they actually know on the subject).

The fact that so many people accept their claims as fact without checking the original sources, especially the media, who's job it is to check those sources, just really boggles my mind.

Well, just did my stint at the dentist, no cavities (woo hoo!).  Ever wonder what all that money paid to the dentist (or any other doctor, for that matter) goes to?  Some interesting things I noticed...

* The computers at the dentist's office, (including the one's in EACH treatment area) are far more up to date than the ones I use for my job, which is to help support and design new computer equipment...

* Used to be they'd take one or two X-rays a year, in a seperate room with a machine that scrolled around your head.  Now they have multiple smaller machines, in each treatment room, and they take like 12 shots manually.  This has got to cost a lot more... (and takes longer?)

* When we were all finished, they handed me a hot, moist, towel to wipe my face with, just like an international airline.  When did this start?

Not that I don't like it, or think it's nicer.  Heck, it's nice to wipe your face with a hot towel once in a while.  But it kills me that medical and dental care is so expensive, and they're spending the money on stuff like this that I could really care less about.  In fact, the one improvement they could make that would really thrill me is to get rid of that darn suction tube and let me drink water from a cup and spit in a sink like they used to when I was a kid.  I hate that suction tube!

Don't get me wrong, I have no trouble with Dentists making a lot of money, they went to school for it, they earned it, 'nuff said.  But why not lower prices and do away with all the frilly stuff?  Yeah, I know, competition.  If the dentist down the street has fancy equipment and hands you a hot towel and yours doesn't, and insurance is paying most of it anyway, where would you go?  I have noticed, though, that fancy equipment a good <insert profession here> does not make. 

I guess the market works against me in this regard!

Welcome to my blog, where I intend to discuss, life, the universe, and everything (to borrow a line from a favorite author!).    I guess this could be considered a test post, since I've never done this before... so, here are some random thoughts to get started with...  I hope they're not too boring!

• Who are "they"?  And if you become one of them, do "they" become "we"?

 

• Leading Worship - As you all know, one of the most wonderful, blissful things you can do in service to God...  Now if we can just do away with everyone else's ideas about how music should sound and what songs we should sing and whether we should practice one hour or two and on and on and on...  Remember, christians aren't any different than anyone else, even the ones up at the podium (or maybe especially the ones up at the podium?), they're just going to a better place after the curtains close...

 

• Why do all the new superhero movies have to, well, suck?  Batman Returns excepted, I'd rather sit down and watch the original Superman movies than go back to the theatre for Spiderman or Superman returns.  Yeah, I know the effects looks cool, but whatever happened to drama and suspense (or a well-written plot)?

 

• I cancelled my cable the other week.  Got tired of paying $50 a month for all those channels I have no need for.  Now I pay $9 a month and can still buy all the good shows on DVD after the season is over, or, better yet, buy them on iTunes and watch them the day after.  Now if we can just get Paramount and Sony/BMG to sign up for iTunes...

 

• My whole extended family (even my 11-year old daughter) thinks that the world is going to end from Global Warming...   Leave it to the MSM.  None of them will listen to me when I point them to articles and scientific studies debunking the whole myth and noting how little actual scientific data actually supports this wacky idea.  Check out Friends Of Science, actually READ the articles, especially this paper and tell me that you still think Montana's going to be waterfront property in a few years...  I'm not against stopping pollution and fuel efficiency and all that, but let's not destroy our economy in the name of junk science...

I guess that's about all for now... Just wanted to get something up on the board.  I'll follow up later, hopefully once per week or more, with some more in-depth stuff.  Until then, cheers!