tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-219731272011-11-15T04:09:47.449Z"Orthodoxy is not thinking. Orthodoxy is not needing to think" - George OrwellThe Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.comBlogger2051100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1160575074155224352006-10-11T14:45:00.000+01:002007-02-14T10:43:42.730Z

According to a study led by Gilbert Burnham of Johns Hopkins University, there have been approximately 655,000 casualties in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003:Methods Between May and July 2006 a national cluster survey was conducted in Iraq to assess deaths occurring during the period from January 1, 2002, through the time of survey in 2006. Information on deaths from 1,849

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1159653057880263932006-09-30T22:48:00.000+01:002006-09-30T22:57:20.336+01:00

Via Mitchieville:from Maps of War.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1156967696818035642006-08-30T20:48:00.000+01:002006-08-30T20:57:26.616+01:00

Naguib Mahfouz, Egypt's greatest writer and the first Arab Nobel laureate, died today, aged 94.Here's an obituary from the Guardian.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1154529548038829542006-08-02T15:33:00.000+01:002006-08-02T15:43:23.646+01:00

Click to enlarge

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1154332130768810702006-07-31T08:38:00.000+01:002006-07-31T08:55:57.253+01:00

Thousands gathered in London's Trafalgar Square yesterday to protest against Israel's attacks on Lebanon. The photographs below were taken by me. More photos of the demo can be found here.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1153926752246147612006-07-26T16:10:00.000+01:002006-07-26T16:12:32.263+01:00

Here's a full, translated transcript of Al Jazeera's interview with Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrullah.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1153913749516348242006-07-26T12:17:00.000+01:002006-07-28T16:33:04.603+01:00

Israel's bombing of Lebanon enters its third week, with the most intense bombing yet taking place on Tuesday.The effect of Israel's air strikes on Lebanon is utterly devastating and is in violation of humanitarian law. 13 Lebanese were killed early this morning; most of Lebanon's cities have been attacked by Israeli war planes; entire villages in southern Lebanon have been 'flattened'; the

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1153911896048473422006-07-26T11:37:00.000+01:002006-07-26T13:02:32.273+01:00

The Evening Standard ran this dispicable front page last week.In an attempt to justify the civilian casualties it has inflicted, Israel claimed that it believed Hizbullah was using Lebanese children as sandbags. It doesn't surprise me that the Standard jumped on Israel's statement, but can intelligent people actually be fooled by this nonsense?The Standard's front page is but one example of

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1153388268459992572006-07-20T10:23:00.000+01:002006-07-20T10:38:48.020+01:00

WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC IMAGES BELOWIsrael continues to pound Lebanon and kill innocent civilians.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1152700154775479602006-07-12T11:29:00.000+01:002006-07-12T11:30:47.306+01:00

Syd Barret, founder and lead singer of the legendary Pink Floyd, has died at the age of 60 of diabetes-related complications.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1152695755111937722006-07-12T10:14:00.000+01:002006-07-12T10:18:01.563+01:00

Regular readers of this blog (if there are any!) will notice that I haven't posted anything for about 2 weeks.I've been preoccupied with other things recently, but normal services will resume soon!

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1151489763891372272006-06-28T10:57:00.000+01:002006-06-28T13:11:05.726+01:00

The Kapuas mud snake, Enhydris gyii, was recently discovered in the forests of Borneo. It is the first new snake species to be discovered in over 5 years. The snake is venemous, measures half a metre in length and is capable of changing colour.Scientists at Rice University have produced a film clip of carbon nanotubes, using standard optical microscopes and video cameras. The nanotubes in the

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1151065439971788062006-06-23T12:29:00.000+01:002006-06-23T13:28:46.833+01:00

These beads, discovered by archaeologists and dated to 100,000 years ago, are the oldest known examples of jewellery. The ancient ornaments were found at Oued Djebbana and Skhul, in what are now Algeria and Israel, respectively. They are made from the shells of Nassarius gibbosulus, a marine gastropod, and are perforated, so it seems that they were hung around the neck or wrist. The Algerian site

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1150549774875000122006-06-17T13:36:00.000+01:002006-06-17T14:09:35.000+01:00

(Nature)The millipede Illacme plenipes is the leggiest animal in the world - an adult of this ancient species can have up to 750 legs.There are 10,000 known species of millipede; this particular one is extremely rare, and has only been seen once before, over 80 years ago in California.The scanning electron micrographs above show the complex internal structure of I. plenipes. The fine hairs

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1150467386553517962006-06-16T15:05:00.000+01:002006-06-16T15:24:03.410+01:00

According to Seed Magazine, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will be spending $15 million next year on the "Unique Signiture Detection Project," the aim of which is to be able to identify terrorists from scents secreted in bodily fluids. The project is based on the idea, for which there is little evidence, that the Major Histocompatability Complex (MHC) genes of the immune system

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1150121520154099632006-06-12T14:21:00.000+01:002006-06-12T17:16:28.106+01:00

Let's face it: what the U.S. and British governments refer to as 'intelligence' is actually nothing of the kind. The information obtained by the so-called intelligence agencies is often inaccurate or completely wrong, and there have been tragic consequences as a result, such as the killing of Jean Charles de Menesez two years ago and, more recently, the fumbled 'terror raid' in Forest Gate.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149835311270866812006-06-09T07:35:00.000+01:002006-06-09T07:41:51.300+01:00

"Arguably, over the last several years, no single person on this planet has had the blood of more innocent men, women and children on his hands that Zarqawi."U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The names of two people who certainly do have more blood on their hands than Zarqawi immediately spring to mind: Donald Rumsfeld and George W. Bush.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149774198277229602006-06-08T13:34:00.001+01:002006-06-08T14:47:24.966+01:00

Below is a translation of a letter written by Ayman Nour, smuggled out of prison by his wife (from The Arabist). Nour is the founder of the Egyptian political opposition party Ghad. He was charged with forging signatures to register his party, which was formed in October 2004. The U.S. pressed the Egyptian government into delaying his trial until last year's presidential election, in which Nour

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149756711637870722006-06-08T09:28:00.000+01:002006-06-08T09:53:43.653+01:00

This photogroah of a plume of volcanic ash spewing out of the Cleveland volcano in Alaska was taken by Jeffrey N. Williams, a flight engineer on the International Space Station.The volcano, located on Chuginadak Island, erupted on 23rd May. The ash plume visible in the photo is moving west-southwest from the volcano's summit and may have been as high as 6,000m (20,00ft.) above sea level,

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149676794839552702006-06-07T10:45:00.000+01:002006-06-07T11:43:36.800+01:00

Despite its rhetoric about spreading freedom and democracy throughout the world, the United States remains the biggest threat to peace. Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, one of the few people whose integrity remained intact throughout the Iraq war debacle, has said that the U.S. must abandon its 'war on terror' to stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). In a

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149615789245906442006-06-06T18:41:00.000+01:002006-06-06T18:43:09.256+01:00

Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia - fear of the number 666. So, the Antichrist has not appeared. But the day is not over yet...

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149499838029915842006-06-05T10:04:00.000+01:002006-06-05T10:39:04.776+01:00

(Slate)Last weekend marked the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, in which a protest for democratic reform by intellectuals, students and activists was violently suppressed by the Chinese government. Earlier this year, Google launched its Chinese search engine,

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149421566930632382006-06-04T12:24:00.000+01:002006-06-05T09:27:55.553+01:00

Let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is thenumber of a person. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six.(Revelation 13: 18)The remake of the 1976 film The Omen, in which an American ambassador, played by Gregory Peck, discovers that his son is the Antichrist, is released tomorrow (06.06.06). The age-old superstition about the number 666 originates in the Book of

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149250474507853892006-06-02T13:12:00.000+01:002006-06-02T13:19:37.883+01:00

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC, pictured, left) is a new particle accelerator which physicists believe may detect dark matter.The LHC has been installed in an underground tunnel, measuring 27km round, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, and is due to be switched on next year. The LHC is the most powerful particle accelerator to date. When switched on, it will

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149240374858448882006-06-02T10:18:00.000+01:002006-06-02T10:26:14.870+01:00

The BBC yesterday aired footage containing evidence that U.S. troops deliberately killed Iraqi civilians, within days of news of the Haditha massacre and its attemtped cover-up by the perpetrators. The U.S. military has now stated that it plans to teach its troops ethics.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149085523769859222006-05-31T15:03:00.000+01:002006-05-31T15:55:22.726+01:00

Following his recent visit to Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Blair went to Washington to report back to President Bush, and to speak at a press conference. "Despite setbacks and missteps," said President Bush at the conference, "I strongly believe we did and are doing the right thing [in Iraq]." The general public in America and the U.K., however, would disagree with this, and the popularity of both

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149083393548224812006-05-31T14:47:00.000+01:002006-05-31T14:55:26.736+01:00

Yesterday's Independent contained an extract from Chomsky's new book, Failed States.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1149008968310394202006-05-30T17:10:00.000+01:002006-05-30T18:25:07.693+01:00

(Kenneth Roux, FSU)Researchers at Florida State University have completed a two-year study to produce the most detailed images yet of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the infectious agent which causes AIDS. Lead researcher Kenneth Roux and his colleauges used cryoelectron microscopy tomography to produce the above image, which shows an HIV particle magnified 43,000 times. The image reveals

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1148989020757509562006-05-30T12:16:00.000+01:002006-05-30T13:19:41.276+01:00

(Reuters)(AP) While the occasional deaths of British or American troops in Iraq always makes the headlines, the deaths of Iraqis, including innocent civilians, takes place on a daily basis and usually goes unreported and, therefore, unnoticed. It now emerges that U.S. Marines murdered 23 innocent Iraqi civilians at Haditha, including a child aged 1, in revenge for the killing of one of their

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1148984961173496392006-05-30T11:27:00.000+01:002006-07-12T10:26:47.313+01:00

Scientists at Duke University and the University of St. Andrews have developed a material that could make objects invisible. [Read more...]

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1148851052421557792006-05-28T22:13:00.000+01:002006-05-30T12:01:37.726+01:00

I've added a new feature, which you've probably already noticed (if you're a regular visitor).The news pictures slideshow above was created on Slide.com. After activating the control by clicking on the slideshow, you can read the description of a photo by hovering your cursor over it, or access the original news story by double clicking on a photo. The slideshow requires Macromedia Flash Player.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1148651938879140382006-05-26T14:56:00.000+01:002006-05-27T10:08:38.930+01:00

A militant from the al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, an offshoot of Fatah (Mohammed Salem/Reuters). Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, has given Hamas an ultimatum. If the new government does not back a proposal to recognize Israel and renounce violence, Abbas will call a national referendum on the issue.The proposal was drafted by Palestinian militants, from different factions, who are

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1148633724132508982006-05-26T09:54:00.000+01:002006-05-27T12:16:49.693+01:00

(Image from Shaml, the Palestinian Diaspora and Refugee Centre.)May 15th (Monday of last week) marked the 58th Anniversary of al nakhba, or the catastrophe, when 750,000 Palestinians were displaced or expelled from their homes in historic Palestine, which became the state of Israel. The events leading to the establishment of Israel are still fiercely disputed. The official Israeli version is that

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1148627124920305132006-05-26T07:38:00.000+01:002006-05-26T08:05:25.100+01:00

It comes as no surprise that genes involved in the circadian rhythm, or 'biological clock', are implicated in cancer. Circadian rhythms (from the Latin circa, meaning 'around', and dies, meaning 'day') are roughly 24-hour physiological cycles which occur in most organisms, from plants and animals (including humans) to fungi and bacteria. These rhythms are important in determining behaviours such

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1148468547067490532006-05-24T11:16:00.000+01:002006-05-25T08:51:47.723+01:00

(ESA/NASA/K Sharon/E Ofek/Tel Aviv U/Caltech)This new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the kaleidoscopic effect of a cluster of galaxies. Concentrations of matter, such as galaxies and dark matter, produce what cosmologists call gravitational lenses, which refract light rays emitted from objects behind them, leading to multiple images those objects. In the above image, a massive

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1147989898552218742006-05-18T22:47:00.000+01:002006-05-19T20:11:56.276+01:00

According to an index devised by a Ph.D. student at the Max Plank Institue for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, carbon nanotubes are the hottest research topic in physics, with more papers being cited more times than papers in any other field.Carbon nanotubes are sheets of graphitic carbon wrapped to form cylinders which have extraordinary properties. Although very light, they are among the

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1147869208068550632006-05-17T13:02:00.000+01:002006-05-17T13:35:45.173+01:00

"Turkestan, Afghanistan, Transcaspia, Persia - to many these names breathe only a sense of utter remoteness or a memory of strange viccisitudes and of moribund romance. To me, I confess, they are the pieces on a chessboard upon which is being played out a game for the dominion of the world."These words are just as applicable today as they were when written in 1898 by Lord George Nathaniel Curzon,

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1147812725654588092006-05-16T21:40:00.000+01:002006-05-16T23:06:25.113+01:00

These tiny worms, which have been genetically manipulated so that some of their nerve cells fluoresce, are being used to investigate how the human brain forms memories, and physicists have discovered "hollow golden cages" made of 16-18 gold atoms.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1147447273101884342006-05-12T16:01:00.000+01:002006-05-12T16:21:18.843+01:00

A survey of 350 skulls from Neolithic (4,000- 3,200 BC) sites in southern Britain reveals that approximately 5% had healed depressed fractures while 2% had unhealed injuries. Statistically, this means that there was a probability of 1 in 14 that a New Stone Age Briton would incur a head injury. Most of the skulls examined had injuries on the left side, consistent with attacks by right-handed

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1147260723508929052006-05-10T12:12:00.000+01:002006-05-10T15:32:54.176+01:00

Sandmonkey has pictures of a demonstration in Washington D.C., whose participants are protesting against the release of Alaa Abdel Fatah.Alaa is the most prominent of Egypt's approximately 800 bloggers, and was one of several dozen arrested by the Egyptian government for supporting an independent Egyptian judiciary. Sandmonkey notes that:"Currently there are about 48 of them detained, 6 of them

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1147175386660831792006-05-09T12:47:00.000+01:002006-05-09T14:12:00.906+01:00

Portugese Man of War New research by a team at the University of Heidelberg shows that prey coming into contact with the tentacles of a jellyfish are stung within one-millionth of a second, making the jellyfish sting one of nature's fastest mechanisms; and a three-year study by marine biologists at the Sea Mammal Research Unit of St. Andrews University has found that dolphins call each other by '

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1147080989522023102006-05-08T10:31:00.000+01:002006-05-08T11:09:50.810+01:00

Images obtained by the Census of Marine Zooplankton project. View the entire high-resolution gallery, and a movie clip.New Scientist reports that:"The latest research cruise in the ongoing Census of Marine Zooplankton project pulled weird and wonderful looking organisms up from as deep as 5000 metres...By collecting a comprehensive sample of zooplankton and sequencing all the species' genomes,

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146933021703312972006-05-06T17:27:00.000+01:002006-05-06T17:30:21.726+01:00

The Sultan's time-travelling elephant is in London until tomorrow.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146832083217068222006-05-05T12:51:00.000+01:002006-05-05T14:24:37.476+01:00

Zoom in The U.S. National Security Archive has just released 30 recently declassified documents which show that President Nixon was provided with evidence of Israel's nuclear program soon after he came into office in 1969. Using the documents, Avner Cohen of the University of Maryland's Center for International and Security Studies and William Burr of the National Security Archive describe the

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146828874522664772006-05-05T12:28:00.000+01:002006-05-05T12:34:34.543+01:00

The dread associated with the anticipation of a painful event, such as a visit to the dentist, activates regions of the brain involved in processing pain stimuli. [Read more...]

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146820089174090832006-05-05T09:13:00.000+01:002006-05-11T21:02:44.433+01:00

The far-right British National Party (BNP) made big gains in yesterday's local elections, nearly doubling its number of councillors when it won 11 seats in Barking and Dagenham, 3 in Epping Forest and 3 in New Sandwell. Although there were predictions that the BNP would capitalize on dissatisfaction with the Labour Party, the party's gains are far greater than was expected, prompting Russell

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146815781705477592006-05-05T07:31:00.000+01:002006-05-05T08:56:21.836+01:00

A report published yesterday by the Select Committee on Science and Technology says it is "disappointing" that the University of Sussex has proposed to close its highly-rated Chemistry department. The university has decided that "retaining a chemistry department in its present form for the long-term would cost an extra £750k, with no guarantee of long-term success in recruitment or research

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146762999007785732006-05-04T18:11:00.000+01:002006-05-04T22:03:15.073+01:00

Researchers from Texas and Utah have combined CT scanning and computing to produce detailed three-dimensional images of mouse embryos. [Read more...]

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146753432329672422006-05-04T14:28:00.000+01:002006-05-04T17:33:49.816+01:00

The government of incoming Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to be sworn in today, and Olmert will put his programme to the new parliament. The programme contains plans to redraw Israel's borders, and Olmert has told the Knesset that the future borders would look very different from those of today. Olmert plans to pull some of the Jewish settlers from isolated West Bank settlements. The new

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146660309966871972006-05-03T13:01:00.000+01:002006-05-03T13:51:09.653+01:00

The black-tailed godwit, Limosa limosaOnly about 600 pallid squills, Scilla morrisii, remain Hippopotamus amphibius Gazella dama The Mallorcan midwife frog, Alytes muletensisThe World Conservation Union (IUCN) has released its 2006 Red List of Threatened Species. The number of known threatened species is now 16,119, a small increase on the 15,589 species named in the last Red List, which was

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146576896954532182006-05-02T13:48:00.003+01:002006-05-02T17:26:55.286+01:00

According to the Report of the Independent Panel for BBC Governors on Impartiality of BBC Coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, the Beeb occasionally fails to give a "full and fair account" of the situation in the Middle East, although, in general, the reporting of the conflict is very good: "What the BBC does now is good for the most part - some of it very good...but it could and should

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146556541284445032006-05-02T07:31:00.000+01:002006-05-02T08:55:41.423+01:00

IAEA Board of Governors, Vienna, Austria.Mohammed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), presented his report on the Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Islamic Republic of Iran, to the UN Security Council last Friday. The report states that Iran has refused to halt enriching uranium but cautiously notes that the IAEA was unable to

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146233715915816322006-04-28T14:50:00.000+01:002007-03-16T06:12:13.856Z

Bernard Lewis will celebrate his 90th birthday on May 1st. Lewis is Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University and is considered to be the foremost scholar of Islam in the West. He has published numerous books and scholarly essays on the history of Islam and acted as an advisor to President George W. Bush before and during the invasion of Iraq. It was Lewis who coined the

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146151880207008622006-04-27T16:16:00.000+01:002006-04-27T16:45:16.236+01:00

Political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, of the University of Chigaco and Harvard, respectively, have been criticized as anti-Semitic after the publication of their essay, entitled The Israel Lobby and American Foreign Policy, in the London Review of Books last month. Juan Cole has started a petition to defend Mearsheimer and Walt against the charges; it can be signed here.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146147240447047882006-04-27T14:38:00.000+01:002006-04-27T15:15:55.916+01:00

Ali Larijani, Iran's chief negotiator, at a conference on Iran's nuclear program in Tehran yesterday. "If you think by frowning at us, by issuing resolutions...you can impose anything on the Iranian nation or force it to abandon its obvious right, you still don't know its power," said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a rally in Iran today, adding that "We have obtained the technology for producing nuclear

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146051054164059482006-04-26T12:26:00.000+01:002006-04-26T14:10:15.860+01:00

This week's Economist contains a survey of the new digital media (weblogs, wikis, podcasts and online journalism). Just as Johannes Gutenberg's invention of movable type in 1448 revolutionized the mainstream media of the time - the manual transcription of texts by monks - so digital media is revolutionizing the mainstream media of today. Paul Saffro, a director of the Institute for the Future,

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146050063726832892006-04-26T12:08:00.000+01:002006-04-26T12:17:43.700+01:00

Ali G interviews Noam Chomsky, who, according to the New York Times, is "arguably the most important intellectual alive". In my opinion, there is no argument. Chomsky is the most important intellectual alive.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1146036706765331762006-04-26T08:20:00.000+01:002006-04-26T08:33:42.546+01:00

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian who the Bush administration believes is the leader of al-Qa'eda in Iraq, shows his face for the first time since the start of the Iraq war 3 years ago. He appears in a video clip taken last Friday and posted on the internet yesterday. Speaking in Arabic, Zarqawi says:"Your mujahideen sons were able to confront the most ferocious of crusader campaigns on a

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145982282377631442006-04-25T16:47:00.000+01:002006-05-10T04:31:54.750+01:00

On Monday this week, the day after Osama bin Laden released a message recorded on audiotape, President George W. Bush addressed the Orange County Business Council in Irvine, California:"I based a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true. One, I believe there's an Almighty, and secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145957210531804252006-04-25T10:26:00.000+01:002006-04-25T15:29:08.130+01:00

Three bombs ripped through the Egyptian tourist resort of Dahab on the south-eastern coast of the Sinai peninsula early yesterday evening. The bombs were detonated almost simultaneously at around 5.15pm GMT, killing at least 30 people and wounding several hundred others. At least 20 of the dead are believed to be Egyptians.The attacks took place at the height of the holiday season; the hotels in

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145955260289142492006-04-25T09:53:00.000+01:002006-04-25T13:03:43.296+01:00

Islamic extremism (or 'Islamism,' either term being preferable to 'Islamic Fundamentalism') was born in Egypt in the late 1920s. During the inter-war years, the country was occupied by the British military. The Nationalist Wafd movement, led by Saad Zaghloul, opposed the presence of the British, as would anyone whose country is being occupied by a foreign military power.In 1928 Hassan al-Banna

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145948169500288812006-04-25T07:27:00.000+01:002006-04-25T08:00:52.940+01:00

Below is an edited translation of the audiotape recorded by Osama bin Laden, obtained from Al Jazeera.Praise be to Allah, Lord of the world, prayer and peace be upon our prophet Muhammad, his kin and all his companions.Peace, Allah's mercy and blessing be upon you, as I am directing this speech to all the Islamic Umma, to continue talking and urging them to support our prophet Muhammad, and to

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145884227187494292006-04-24T13:20:00.000+01:002006-04-25T07:13:42.260+01:00

According to data published by the the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have increased by "only" 15.8% during the years 1990-2004, while the country's economy has expanded by over 50% in that time.Although, according to the report, emissions of methane and nitrous oxide by the U.S. have been reduced from 1990 levels by 10% and 2%, respectively, there has been a

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145625877373825822006-04-21T14:15:00.000+01:002006-04-21T16:24:50.186+01:00

In an interview with Bill Cunningham on Cincinnati, Ohio's 700 WLW radio station, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld rebuts the criticism by seven retired generals of his management of the Iraq war thus:"The implication that there was something wrong with the war plan is amusing almost because of the fact that the war plan’s fashioned by the combatant commanders and it’s reviewed in great

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145551476562344202006-04-20T17:39:00.000+01:002006-04-20T19:00:56.473+01:00

Palaeontologists have discovered the fossilized remains of a snake with hind legs. The find has made biologists reconsider the evolutionary origins of snakes. [Read more...]

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145547217816888332006-04-20T15:23:00.000+01:002006-04-21T15:19:24.016+01:00

Astronomers have known for years that an immense object is pulling our galaxy, and millions of others, towards it at a velocity of 14 million miles per hour. The object, named the "Great Attractor," has, for years, remained elusive - astronomers knew neither what it was nor where it was located. A team of astronomers at the University of Durham have now identified what they believe might be the

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145532427616438302006-04-20T11:59:00.001+01:002006-04-20T12:33:39.666+01:00

The world's worst nuclear accident took place at Chernobyl on 26th April, 1986. Ukraine, Belarus and areas of Western Russia were worst affected by fallout of radioactive material.Below are a few images by the award-winning Dutch photographer Robert Knoth. They are part of the Fallout exhibition, which runs until 14th May at the Oxo Tower in London. Entry to the exhibition is free. Ukraine: An

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145522553294744382006-04-20T09:40:00.000+01:002006-04-20T10:57:17.400+01:00

NASA astrophysicists have used a supercomputer to simulate the gravitational waves produced when black holes merge. [Read more...]

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145449505431844142006-04-19T12:27:00.000+01:002006-05-01T14:37:21.446+01:00

The BBC today reports that Hussein "personally signed documents ordering the killing of 148 Shia villagers in Dujail in 1982". During the run-up to the Iraq war, the Bush administration and Prime Minister Tony Blair's government repeatedly told us that Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons on "his own people," the Kurds of Halabja in 1988. This served to remind us of how brutal a dictator Hussein

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145431766288303172006-04-19T07:34:00.000+01:002006-04-19T10:15:55.333+01:00

The ancient Egyptians, as Herodotus noted, were an extremely religious people, who spent every day of their lives preparing for the afterlife.Modern Egyptians are also extremely religious, and there are certain customs and rituals related to death which were practised in the time of the pharaohs that are still practised today.The ancient Egyptians believed that a soul could only pass into the

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145363703069535452006-04-18T13:21:00.000+01:002006-04-18T13:36:31.870+01:00

Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have for the first time used autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (AUAVs) in data-gathering missions to track pollutants over the Maldives.Groups of three aerial drones were flown in a vertical formation allowing the simultaneous reading by onboard instruments of conditions above, inside and below clouds. The package of instruments on each

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145351963647533642006-04-18T09:40:00.000+01:002006-04-18T10:49:40.023+01:00

Seven retired high-ranking U.S. generals have criticised Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's handling of the Iraq war and called for his resignation.One of the generals, John Batiste, was senior military assistant to Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. "If I were still in uniform, I couldn't do this. I would be arrested," Batiste told the BBC News website. "Strategically [the Iraq war] has

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145349208768316302006-04-18T09:04:00.000+01:002006-04-18T09:35:15.450+01:00

Reconstructed cast of a Mapusaurus skullPalaeontologists have unearthed the fossils of what they believe was one of the biggest carnivorous dinosours ever to have walked on the face of the Earth.The creature has been named Mapusaurus roseae, measured up to 42 feet long, and is believed to have lived about 100 million years ago. Rodolfo Coria of the Carmen Funes Museum in Plaza Huincul, Argentina

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145270625412245342006-04-17T11:28:00.000+01:002006-04-18T13:45:51.750+01:00

The Bush administration continues searching for a 'smoking gun' to justify the imminent military action against Iran.Images published yesterday by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) allegedly show newly built tunnel entrances to a uranium conversion facility (UCF) complex at the Natanz plant in Isfahan, Iran's third city, located 340km south of Tehran."This entrance is

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1145115412030655142006-04-15T16:02:00.001+01:002006-04-15T17:32:54.386+01:00

According to the UK Interdependence Report, Britain uses more than 3 times its share of world resources, and "if the whole world wanted lifestyles like those enjoyed in the UK, we would need 3.1 planets".Britain's 'ecological debt day' is 16th April - that is, if, at the beginning of the year, Britain consumed only its own resources, they would run out on that date, after which the country would

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144930183121025992006-04-13T12:45:00.000+01:002006-04-16T12:03:38.860+01:00

This is a computer-generated image of a nano-scale vehicle consisting of a single-molecule, built last year by scientists at Rice University in Houston, Texas.The car has a chassis and axles and its wheels are composed of buckyballs - naturally-occurring molecules containing 60 spherically arranged carbon atoms.The vehicle is a mere 4 nanometers (billionths of a metre) wide. The length of 20,000

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144910039156151752006-04-13T07:18:00.000+01:002006-04-13T10:36:29.076+01:00

The title of this post is a 'Freudian slip'. It is unfortunate that the person who is most influential in modern psychiatry is the sex-obsessed cocaine addict Sigmund Freud, because many of his theories are nonsense. A prime example of a ludicrous Freudian theory is the Oedipus complex, according to which every male child has a subconscious desire for a sexual relationship with his mother. Freud

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144840079457085242006-04-12T11:31:00.000+01:002006-04-12T12:19:50.956+01:00

The uranium ore obtained by mining contains 3 different isotopes, or forms, of uranium - 99.3% of the mass consists of heavy-weight uranium atoms, 0.7% of middle-weight atoms and less than 0.01% of light-weight atoms. In other words, for every 1,000 atoms of naturally-occurring uranium, 993 will be heavy-weight and 7 will be middle-weight.The nuclei of all 3 isotopes contain 92 protons - this is

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144837786090250932006-04-12T10:58:00.000+01:002006-04-12T11:30:42.230+01:00

"I am officially announcing that Iran has joined the group of those countries which have nuclear technology," stated Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in a televised speech yesterday.Iran's uranium enrichment, resumed in February, is intended for peaceful means, insists Ahmedinejad.The 164 centrifuges that Iran claims are now operational can produce low-level enriched uranium for nuclear fuel

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144752632139425532006-04-11T11:24:00.000+01:002006-04-12T09:45:18.063+01:00

Washington policy makers have officially renamed the 'War on Terror'. They are now calling it 'the Long War,' and warn that it is a global conflict likely to last at least 20 years.Generals at U.S. Central Command (Centcom) are planning 'fourth-generational warfare,' and the Pentagon has started releasing details of how it plans to fight this new kind of conflict. These plans include increased

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144691084473236952006-04-10T18:40:00.000+01:002006-04-10T18:51:17.090+01:00

Computer-generated image of a DNA strand passing through a nanopore.A theoretical method of DNA sequencing using nanpores is discussed on the neurophilosopher's blog.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144674574496961652006-04-10T12:59:00.000+01:002006-04-10T16:41:49.826+01:00

In the shadow of the world's highest mountain is an unknown biodiversity hotspot containing many exotic and unknown animal and plant species.Scientists from Conservation International report the discovery of previously unknown species discovered in the mountains of Southeast China and Nepal. The Red Panda, Ailurus fulgens Aphaenogaster antsThe wingless grasshopper, Kingdonella The katydid

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144664890023163132006-04-10T10:51:00.000+01:002006-04-10T11:37:01.000+01:00

According to an article by Seymour Hersh in the current issue of The New Yorker, the Bush administration's plans for military strikes against Iranian nuclear installations are well advanced.Hersh further claims that clandestine operations by U.S. Special Forces are already underway in Iran, and that the use of tactical nuclear weapons is being considered. Although military strikes against Iran

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144660539652685952006-04-10T10:07:00.000+01:002006-04-10T10:20:18.183+01:00

This image of the Tarantula nebula was taken by the Very Large Telescope, an array of four 8 metre-wide telescopes in Chile's Atacama desert.The Tarantula nebula is 1,000 light years wide and 170,000 light years away. The centre of the nebula contains at least 200 massive stars. There are new stars forming all over the nebula, which is large enough and bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144408995985415082006-04-07T11:44:00.000+01:002006-04-07T12:23:18.606+01:00

The sound processing centre in the left hemisphere of the brains of fast language learners is larger than in the right hemisphere, and is also larger than the same area in the left hemisphere of slow language learners' brains. ( Narly Golestani)New research which suggests that fast language learners have larger sound processing brain regions containing more white matter than slow language

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144394423831002052006-04-07T08:11:00.000+01:002006-04-07T14:55:46.070+01:00

The release yesterday of a translated codex may lead to a reinterpretation of the story of Judas Iscariot.The 31-page papyrus, written in Coptic and believed to date from the 3rd or 4th Century AD, was discovered near the Egyptian town of Beni Masar in the late 1970s. It contains the Gospel of Judas and may be a copy of an older text written by Gnostics around 150 AD. The codex, which was found

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144392220666658122006-04-07T07:22:00.000+01:002006-04-07T07:43:41.126+01:00

Electron micrograph of an H5N1 virus particle (CORBIS). A dead swan found in Cellardyke, Fife, has tested positive for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus. It is unlikely to be an isolated case, and 14 more birds are being tested for the virus. It is birds, not people, who are at risk, as the H5N1 strain is not easily transmitted from person to person. "It's not eating the flesh or eating

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144314857834960412006-04-06T09:58:00.000+01:002006-04-06T13:20:58.873+01:00

Palaeontologists have discovered the remains of a crocodile-like animal which they believe marks the transition between fish and land animals.The well-preserved fossilized organism, which has been named Tiktaalik roseae, was discovered in Arctic Canada, and should give scientists greater insights into the evolution of life on Earth. The animal has features characteristic of both fish and land

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144306279973281542006-04-06T07:16:00.000+01:002006-04-06T07:52:45.973+01:00

Last week the permanent members of the UN Security Council - the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China - agreed on a statement demanding Iran's immediate suspension of its uranium enrichment program. A U.S.-led military strike in Iran now seems both inevitable and imminent. Prime Minister Tony Blair would like to think that Britain still has power and influence in the world. This is a delusion.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144220004336205062006-04-05T07:45:00.000+01:002006-04-05T07:53:24.380+01:00

According to theory, the universe contains webs of dark matter filaments. Dark matter cannot be directly observed, but its existence is inferred by the gravitational forces it exerts on heavenly bodies such as galaxies. A team of British and Spanish astronomers now provide evidence that galaxies are arranged around the dark matter that surrounds them. Observations suggest that many galaxies are

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144173017316863762006-04-04T18:34:00.000+01:002006-04-04T18:50:17.376+01:00

A Republican senator has recommended that an evangenlical Christian be appointed to a high-ranking post at the Pentagon. George Allen, senator for the state of Virginia, recommends in a letter to Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, that Lieutenant General William G. ("Jerry") Boykin should lead the U.S. Special Operations command. Lt. Gen. Boykin is currently the Pentagon's undersecretary for

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144170634415979572006-04-04T17:17:00.000+01:002006-04-04T18:10:34.556+01:00

British Defence Secretary John Reid yesterday called for changes in international law to reduce the constraints on British soldiers by the Geneva Conventions. Reid discussed three key issues - the treatment of prisoners, pre-emptive strikes and intervention in humanitarian crises. The U.K. and U.S. are restricted in these areas by international law which, he said, was out of date and

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144152422121859342006-04-04T13:03:00.000+01:002006-04-05T18:33:33.070+01:00

A researcher at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina dips a biodegradable bladder-shaped scaffold into growth medium. The engineering of human bladder tissue in the lab and its successful transplantation into humans is discussed on the neurophilosopher's blog.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144060032939466062006-04-03T11:19:00.000+01:002006-04-03T11:27:13.213+01:00

Today's Guardian provides details of a torture programme operated by the British authorities in Germany during the early years of the Cold War.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1144046021917953152006-04-03T07:21:00.000+01:002006-04-03T07:37:03.556+01:00

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has accompanied U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on a surprise visit to Baghdad, during which the two expressed "impatience back in Washington and London about the delay" in forming an Iraqi government. Reading between the lines, the message delivered by Mr. Straw and Ms. Rice is : Having taken it upon ourselves to enter Iraq and liberate it's people

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1143989413776659592006-04-02T15:35:00.000+01:002006-04-02T15:59:02.636+01:00

"They have forgotten how to dieAnd so extend their killing life.I and my tumour dearly fight.Let's hope a double death is out.I need to see my tumour deadA tumour which forgets to dieBut plans to murder me instead.But I remember how to dieThough all my witnesses are dead.But I remember what they saidOf tumours which would render themAs blind and dumb as they had beenBefore the birth of that

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1143802596079220482006-03-31T11:55:00.000+01:002007-04-01T21:50:43.336+01:00

Combat suits that can change colour for camouflage, change from flexible to rigid and impenetrable in a split second and contain artificial muscles to augment the soldier's own strength and biosensors and drug delivery systems to diagnose and treat wounds; vehicles that are undetectable by radar; insects fitted with microelectromechanical systems to carry out remote-controlled reconnaissance

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1143791200761504302006-03-31T08:39:00.000+01:002006-04-02T15:57:20.530+01:00

"To see the world in a grain of sand and a heaven in a wild flower, To hold the world in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour".William Blake, "The Augaries of Innocence".The image above is a scanning electron micrograph of a grain of salt (left) and a peppercorn. It was taken by David McCarthy and was the winner of the 2005 Visions of Science Photographic Awards.

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1143738196234176962006-03-30T17:57:00.000+01:002006-03-30T18:16:31.763+01:00

Image courtesy of NIMH, Child Psychiatry Branch, and MIT Technology Review.The above image comes from a 15 year study, conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, into the links between intelligence and development of the brain. The findings suggest that brighter children have a thinner cerebral cortex in their early years, but that their cortex then undergoes

The Big Thinkernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21973127.post-1143730946968931712006-03-30T15:34:00.000+01:002006-03-30T21:27:34.106+01:00

The solar eclipse from the space station. An image of the beginning of the eclipse, taken in Pakistan, with the crescent moon, or hilal, of a mosque in the foreground. The Muslim calender is based on the lunar cycle; the appearance of the hilal marks the beginning and the end of the Muslim month.An image of the eclipse taken from Greece by the Williams College Eclipse Expedition, superimposed on

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