Skeptic's Notebook

Jun 16 2013 ∞

Streets of the Lower 48 | Ben Fry

+ ∞

US Rivers in the Contiguous 48 | Nelson Minar

Jun 09 2013 ∞

May 10 2013 ∞

“” Compared with Illinois, which has the nation’s second-largest number of high-risk sites, more than 950, but tighter fire and safety rules, Texas had more than three times the number of accidents, four times the number of injuries and deaths, and 300 times the property damage costs.

— After Explosion, Texas Remains Wary of Regulation | Ian Urbina, Manny Fernandez & John Schwartz | NYT | 09 May 2013

May 08 2013 ∞

Sky Crane | Geoff Manaugh | BLDGBLOG | 08 May 2013

May 04 2013 ∞

I went to the largest gun show in Arizona awhile ago and tweeted…

Unbelievable how many cars are at University of Phoenix stadium for a gun show
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Line for tickets is 20 yards and snakes back and forth like 5 times. Also, lots of kids and strollers yfrog.com/kk4oyttj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Seriously. I count four strollers in line. At a gun show
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Fairly unsettling to me that anyone would need field surgical gear in the US yfrog.com/od67611675j
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

QuickClot is handy stuff though yfrog.com/gzevnvsj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

In today’s episode of cognitive dissonance: yfrog.com/ocaqzhj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Israeli gas masks apparently protect against nuclear weapons. Those crafty Jews. Keeping all the best tech yfrog.com/h8d1yiij
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

By far the most distressing thing here is the preponderance of tactical rifles chambered for rounds not practical for game hunting
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

This entire idea is kind of bad. But having a troop of the kids wandering around kitted out in BDUs is way worse yfrog.com/gywpkblfj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

. @jeremyscahill should I pick one of these up for you? yfrog.com/es7ggjj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Think they’ll sell me the name tape by itself? cc: @jeremyscahill yfrog.com/nvravoj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

For the more fantastically inclined weapon collectorsyfrog.com/h047imdwj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Yes. He is in fact drinking a Budweiser, has a pony tail, is wearing a BDU jacket and gun shopping yfrog.com/esi4zcyj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

WTF? yfrog.com/gzdwhlaj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Overweight vendors wearing ACU pants. Awesomeyfrog.com/j2lofxfj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Of course there’s Nazi memrobelia for sale here. Of course yfrog.com/kgpmycgj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Massage tables at a gun show. File under: sentences I never thought I’d write yfrog.com/kjhmvraoj
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

These Young Desert Marines are the creepiest thing ever. Check out the kid’s ribbon collection twitter.com/petulantskepti…
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Just so all my new readers are clear. I’m pro gun and bought a new hunting rifle. I only have issues with militancy and “tactical” rifles
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

If your rifle is only useful for shooting coyotes and people you should reexamine.
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Just left. Will try to write up some stuff later. Have to go sight new rifle first
— Petulant Skeptic (@petulantskeptic) October 29, 2011

Comments

Apr 30 2013 ∞

“” It has been four decades since the former first lady Betty Ford went public with her breast-cancer diagnosis, shattering the stigma of the disease. It has been three decades since the founding of Komen. Two decades since the introduction of the pink ribbon. Yet all that well-meaning awareness has ultimately made women less conscious of the facts: obscuring the limits of screening, conflating risk with disease, compromising our decisions about health care, celebrating “cancer survivors” who may have never required treating. And ultimately, it has come at the expense of those whose lives are most at risk.

— Our Feel-Good War on Breast Cancer | Peggy Orenstein | NYT | 25 April 2013

Apr 29 2013 ∞

“” Like the dim remnant on the left that insists communism has yet to be tried, neoliberals will say that the free market still does not yet truly exist. Against this fantasy of market freedom, The Wire is saying: Look, this is how capitalism works.

— The Rebirth Of Tragedy | John Gray | Prospect | 08 June 2012

Apr 22 2013 ∞

A dazed and confused koala photographed on a former pine plantation (via Western Advocate)

Apr 16 2013 ∞

Shards of Turquoise Ice Jut Out of the World’s Largest Lake | Alice | My Modern Metropolis | 17 March 2013

Apr 08 2013 ∞

“” Through mandatory minimums and three-strikes laws, legislatures have redistributed judges’ power over sentencing to prosecutors, who essentially decide how a guilty defendant may be sentenced by choosing among possible charges. And public defenders are overworked in part because prosecutors bring too many cases for defenders to handle.

— Pleading Out: America’s Broken Public Defense System | Simon Waxman | Los Angeles Review Of Books | 18 March 2013

Apr 02 2013 ∞

“” A 2009 paper in The Veterinary Journal concluded that ‘every one of the 50 most popular pedigree-dog breeds has at least one aspect of its physical conformation that predisposes it to a disorder’.

— Beauteous Beasts | Emily Anthes | Aeon | 25 March 2013

Mar 28 2013 ∞