Sendecki's Blog » The World

In case you were wondering…

Daniel — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:53:57 +0000

We’re still here. Has CERN’s Large Hadron Collider destroyed the earth yet? Click here for updates:

http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

CERN’s 17-mile long atom smasher was just turned on and we’re awaiting reports on how the tests have gone. The Large Hadron Collider did experience “small electrical problems” overnight, but the world did not blow up.

Map of countries that have not implemented the metric system

Daniel — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:51:43 +0000

All countries across the globe have officially adopted the metric system except the United States of America, Liberia and Burma (Myanmar).

Feet, yards, inches, miles, gallons, ounces, these may mean something to some people around the world, while others struggle with online converters or, worse, software designed to convert these values, that are not reliable most of the times.

“The money would be pretty good/ if a quart of milk were still a dollar/ or even if a quart of milk were still a quart”

—Cowboy Junkies, “A Horse in the Country”, from Black Eyed Man, (1992).

The Junkies lyric is a reference to the mid-70s when Canada was shifiting to the metric system which meant that an imperial quart shrunk by about 14 percent into a litre.

Canada passed the metric enabling legislation, as I discoverd, in the late 60s, and began the changever in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Had we waited a few years to pass this legislation, we’d still be on the Imperial/Avoirdupois system.

But come on. Liberia, Burma and the US? Map discovered via Digg! Click here to read the entry.

Stop Trying To ‘Save’ Africa

Daniel — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:17:11 +0000

Via Uzodinma Iweala and the The Washington Post comes this article. Iweala claims that the West, consumed by guilt at the political and humanitarian crisis it is creating and has created in the Middle East, has now turned to Africa to clear its conscience. Writes Iweala:

This is the West’s new image of itself: a sexy, politically active generation whose preferred means of spreading the word are magazine spreads with celebrities pictured in the foreground, forlorn Africans in the back. Never mind that the stars sent to bring succor to the natives often are, willingly, as emaciated as those they want to help.

Read the rest of the article here.

Andrew J. Bacevich: I Lost My Son to a War I Oppose

Daniel — Tue, 29 May 2007 11:43:15 +0000

A must-read article from Andrew J. Bacevich—a writer and vocal critic of the war—who lost his son in Iraq. The article is from the Washington Post, discovered via digg.com.

From the article:

Memorial Day orators will say that a G.I.’s life is priceless. Don’t believe it. I know what value the U.S. government assigns to a soldier’s life: I’ve been handed the check. It’s roughly what the Yankees will pay Roger Clemens per inning once he starts pitching next month.

Bacevich goes on to write:

Money buys access and influence. Money greases the process that will yield us a new president in 2008. When it comes to Iraq, money ensures that the concerns of big business, big oil, bellicose evangelicals and Middle East allies gain a hearing. By comparison, the lives of U.S. soldiers figure as an afterthought.

Just an excellent article. Just goes to show how politicans don’t have to actually support the troops, as long as they say they do.

By the way, if Roger Clemens makes his 22 scheduled starts this year, he stands to make $47,979.79 per inning. It’s the going price for an American life.