Time Warner Cable — Worst Customer Service Ever

[Please visit despair.com for a demotivator for every occasion.]

And now on to the text of a letter that we sent to the president of Time Warner Cable. All I can say is that if you have any other option for your TV and internet access, take it. I don’t. So I’m stuck with this complete and utter load of crap.

Everybody Kills Hitler On Their First Trip

Here’s a humorous time travelers’ forum.

International Association of Time Travelers: Members’ Forum Subforum: Europe – Twentieth Century – Second World War

To be different, I intend to go back to about 70-80,000 years ago. The population of humans was then just 2-5,000 people. I intend to hunt them down and kill them, thus eliminating the source of a great percentage of the suffering in the world. See you later … or not.

There’s a Rep for that …

(Readers who’ve come here from Dvorak will recognize this as a post from there by Eidard. Thanks Eidard!)

Genesis Explained Scientifically

Madoff Goes Global

Here’s an excellent write-up that describes the ways in which we are stealing from future generations to feed ourselves and the parallels between doing so and any other Ponzi scheme.

PONZICONOMY: Our global pyramid scheme

I’ve read Plan B 2.0, an excellent book, and notice that there is a link to a new version Plan B 4.0 by Lester Brown.

Don’t forget, the article doesn’t even mention the fact that not only is the oil at the pump a subsidized and limited resource, so is the oil we pour on our corn as fertilizer.

That’s right, industrial fertilizers are petroleum products. We’re eating oil!! That can’t be good for either our health or our long term prospects in terms of a very large population dependent on a fossil, non-renewable, resource.

Neil deGrasse Tyson on UFOs

Neil is always great for simultaneous education and laughter … an impressive talent.

Thanks to Rich who adds that if you were expecting to see someone bite someone’s ear off, that was his brother Mike deGrasse Tyson. (OK, we sort of came up with that together. I was considering not admitting any part of it.)

Time Lapse Ice Loss Video

This video makes a great visual demonstration of climate change by actually showing ice loss over time.

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Artificial Pancreas with current CGM technology?

My doctor has lately been telling me that Minimed/Medtronic is going to close the loop very soon now in providing an artificial pancreas based on today’s CGM and pump technology. Given my own experience, as well as the responses I’ve gotten to my post Continuous Glucose Monitoring with Medtronic/MiniMed Updated, I find this rather difficult to believe. I’m curious whether anyone reading this blog would actually trust their lives to CGM technology telling your pump how much to pump, removing yourself from the loop. However, this peer reviewed article seems to confirm his comments.

Personally, even if I have a way to override this, I would be very uncomfortable with it. For starters, I find the device to accurately track my blood glucose about 80-90% of the time at most. Then, there’s the issue of the 15-20 minute lag. Further, I sometimes have issues with slow insulin absorption, especially during long drives. Unless they combine this with their old implantable pump technology that delivers insulin into the renal vein and unless they find a way to continuously monitor blood glucose rather than interstitial glucose, I think I’m going to have to pass on this.

Another Blind Watchmaker

MoJo gives away aluminum bottles to combat Fiji Water

Despite an intensely green image, Fiji water is among the least environmentally and socially conscious waters on the planet. All bottled water is bad, especially in areas like the U.S. that have potable and frequently tested tap water. Note that water brands that are actually pure spring water are not required to test their quality at all, though most do at far lower frequencies than public tap water is tested.

Still, Fiji water has remained immune to the outpouring (so to speak) of attention that at least the environmentalists are giving to the issue of bottled water with all of its plastic waste and CO2 emissions from trucking it around the country (or worse, shipping it halfway around the world).

Check out this great Mother Jones cover that really gets the point across.

Insulin Infusion Set First Day Blues?

I’m curious if anyone else is having trouble with high blood sugars on the first day of a new infusion set. I have noticed an issue with this, despite gradually increasing my fixed prime over time. I notice that on the first day of an infusion set it appears to take some time for the site to really begin to absorb the insulin.

The fallacy of climate activism

This may appear to undermine a number of my earlier posts. However, in this case, I think the point is extremely important. We must begin to recognize and tell the truth of the true nature of our problems. That said, we must also use every weapon in our arsenal to fight for the preservation of the environment to the best of our ability. Most likely the only tool that will actually be worth a damn will be birth control. Yet, we must still do all we can to reduce our ecological (including carbon) footprints while at the same time taking action to reduce the number of feet. The regulars on this blog will remember that I have already argued that the planet cannot support even 300 million of us, let alone 6.7, 8, or 9 billion. So, in that sense, this article is still somewhat consistent with my prior posts. However, I cannot recall previously gotting to the point of wording the issue such that climate change is a mere symptom of a much larger problem, one that involves not only too many people, but people with a completely failed view of the finite planet on which we depend for our very lives every single day.

The fallacy of climate activism

How to be a computer expert

Courtesy of xkcd

Of course the problem with this is that although it is literally true, those who need such instructions can’t read flow charts.

McKibben/Colbert Discuss The Number 350

Here’s a great video of Bill McKibben on the Colbert Report as they discuss NASA findings why 350 is the most important number on earth right now. I’ll leave any commentary for later.

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An Illiterate Empire

Here’s an interesting take on today’s American society from a Pulitzer Prize winning author. I won’t bother to say that the first person to say “Voltaire who?” loses since anyone who doesn’t know likely won’t make it that far in this article.

Forget Red vs. Blue — It’s the Educated vs. People Easily Fooled by Propaganda

P.S. If the title of the article cited here pissed you off, guess which category you’re in.

Rubber ducks help best with computer science

For anyone who doesn’t write code, this will seem a bit strange. For those of us who do, it’s quite normal except for the name being given to it, rubber ducking. Often when some problem escapes a programmer for longer than it should, calling someone over for “a second pair of eyes” is the surest way to solve one’s own problem. The very act of explaining the problem to someone else and walking through showing the code is frequently the fastest way to find the problem, even though the problem may be found and corrected before the listener even fully understands the problem.

Rubber ducks help best with computer science

New York: Our bears are smarter than your bears … and some hikers

Bear-Proof Can Is Pop-Top Picnic for a Crafty Thief

This is very cool, IMNSHO. I like that Yellow Yellow can open a canister with which some hikers struggle. I also found the possibility of some level of teaching of other bears to be fascinating. I love this stuff!

I am glad that they are not talking about harming or removing this non-aggressive bear. I hope that someone will realize that the right solution is probably to put permanent truly bear-proof steel structures at the documented camp sites in the Adirondacks. Perhaps I’ll send email to the Adirondack Council.

Thanks rit.

Lily Tomlin on Private Health Insurance

Still current years later …

Thanks Yefim.

Correction, after posting this, I did some more searching and found that this is a current campaign from California One. I had thought it was from SNL. Is still hilarious. Somehow when I watched it the first time, I failed to notice the California One statement at the end.

California One Care

Homo Sapien Kills Neanderthal in Iraq War 0

A homo sapiens (though not any particular homo sapiens) is suspected in the killing of a homo neanderthalensis between 50 and 75 thousand years ago. As there is no statute of limitations on murder, the investigation continues, albeit with little hope of finding the suspect.

OK, I’m mostly joking about the Iraq War and about any murder investigation. Further, I mean no insult to Iraqis and am not implying that today’s Iraqis are Neanderthals.

Anyway, the article makes an interesting read about a case where we have reason to believe a homo sapiens did kill a neanderthal, long a question in the debate about the role of homo sapiens, if any, in the extinction of neanderthals.

Human Stabbed a Neanderthal, Evidence Suggests

Note that since the word human may be applied to any member of the homo genus, I have a bit of a problem with the Live Science headline. Though, they do get it correct in the text of the article for anyone who bothers to read more than just the headline.

Thanks to Jan for the find.

Climate: World’s Largest Health Threat

According to a study published by the British peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet together with University College London researchers, climate change is the biggest health threat of the 21st century.

Read the BBC Report here:

Climate ‘biggest health threat’

Or, download the full, 18.9 MB, 41 page, PDF from The Lancet at the link below.

Managing the health effects of climate change

Disclaimer: Please note that they are calling this a commission report, rather than a research paper. One of the climatologists called it to “the Stern Report for medics.”

Also available on The Lancet’s site are an Editorial and Comment, and a podcast.

No. I have not yet read the full PDF or downloaded the other content from The Lancet yet.