But of course the madness will go on anyway

Oh, wow man, Immanuel Kant is completely full of shit.

ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2008) — Ohio State University scientists are finding that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.

Their research suggests that the development of a legal drug that contains certain properties similar to those in marijuana might help prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Though the exact cause of Alzheimer’s remains unknown, chronic inflammation in the brain is believed to contribute to memory impairment. Wenk’s work has already shown that a THC-like synthetic drug can improve memory in animals. The most recent research on rats indicates that at least three receptors in the brain are activated by the synthetic drug, which is similar to marijuana

Any new drug’s properties would resemble those of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant, but would not share its high-producing effects.

Or you could, you know, smoke some pot now and then.  If science took just half the energy they spend trying to take the magic out of pot and spent it on real problems the world would be a better place. But it's progress of a sort. I guess.

.

Are they sure they want to go to Mars?

This occurs to me frequently when I try to plug in a cable and it won't reach where it has to go, or I drop it and it catches on the one thing behind the desk that could possibly snag it: If this happened in space, we'd all die.

Space is full of stuff that stands a good chance of killing you even if it's working correctly as far as you can tell. They've got another tube of lubricant so the whole mission might not be wasted over a trifle, but it emphasizes how far away the repair shop is when you're in space, even if it's only 100 miles up. And land 'o' goshen, but what makes them think they can build a spaceship that will last all the way to Mars and back when they can't even make a grease gun that works?
And I wouldn't want to be the one who lost her tool kit first day on the job. What a rookie... ah ha ha ha haaaa! With luck it won't drift back into the station and knock off anything important.

And speaking of science, there's some cool x-rays over at Wired. I had some fun with this one:

.

Remind me: what century is this?

Did I say century? Because I meant millennium. From CNN:

Holocaust survivors to Mormons: Stop baptisms of dead Jews

Not that I care. According to my religion you are *all*deluded fools condemned to miserable pseudo-life.
.

Never thought I'd see the day.

Congratulations to 52% of American voters.

I have said it before and I'll say it again. Gary Trudeau is a genius. His cousin was P.M. of Canada, you know. Oh yes, for a long time.

.

THINK!

Expect long lines. Be firm. Bring ID. CHECK your ballot. 

It's up to you, citizen. Good luck.

.

Something?

What lives 20 picoseconds, travels one centimeter and then explodes in a shower of muons?

What the hell?

Don't know? Don't feel bad. Science doesn't know. Nobody fucking does. This mystery thingie has appeared in the detector (the old one) at Fermilab and science is baffled. If the result isn't some kind of screw-up then this appears to be a new particle with heavy implications for the Standard Model.

So what could it be? As it happens, Weiner and Nima Arkani-Hamed of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and colleagues have developed a theory of dark matter – the enigmatic stuff thought to make up a large proportion of the universe – to explain recent observations of radiation and anti-particles from the Milky Way.

Their model posits dark matter particles that interact among themselves by exchanging "force-carrying" particles with a mass of about 1 gigaelectronvolts.

The CDF muons appear to have come from the decay of a particle with a mass of about 1 GeV. So could they be a signature of dark matter? "We are trying to figure that out," says Weiner. "But I would be excited by the CDF data regardless."

Anyone feel a draft?

If you're old enough to vote, you are old enough to be drafted.

From Juan Cole:

The Coming McCain Military Draft

There has been almost no discussion in the press about the broader implications of John McCain's military policies.

McCain wants to keep a large military contingent in Iraq for some years to come.

He agrees that more US troops should be sent to Afghanistan. (Obama wants more troops for Afghanistan but will draw down the ones in Iraq so that is a wash).

McCain has joked about bombing Iran, accuses Iran of sending insurgents into Iraq, and pledges to stop Iran's nuclear research program. McCain has said, "There is only one thing worse than a military solution, and that, my friends, is a nuclear-armed Iran."

McCain has all but pledged a war on Iran. (In contrast, Obama says he will conduct direct tough diplomacy with Tehran).

McCain is also a hawk on Georgia in the Caucasus and if he is to remain credible he'd have to increase US troop presence in the Greater Middle East.

Although US military re-enlistments in the ten combat divisions have not fallen in the way some observers had feared, that statistic only speaks to the ability of the US military to maintain the status quo. Even that ability is in long-term question, as African-American enlistments, traditionally a significant proportion, slip.

But McCain is not about the military status quo. He is ambitious for further conflicts. The current US military is too small to handle yet another front, and to maintain, as McCain insists they must, the current ones.

My friends, there is only one way for McCain to make good on his hawkish foreign policy and his virtual pledge of more wars.

McCain will need to institute a draft for young American men (and, given the times, maybe for women as well).

If you are in your late teens and early twenties, or if you are a parent of a person that age, and you have strong views on a renewed draft, it should come into your decision about whether to vote on Tuesday and for whom.

.

Bien fait.

Some days it is a proud, proud thing to be a Canadian.

.