The Denial Tango

Earnestly pointing our the absurdity, dishonesty and nonsense of those who deny the reality of Human Caused Climate change is necessary, ( see for example here, here, here, here, here and here but sometimes the only response is to laugh.



“Denial Tango”, by Men with Day Jobs

You say the planet’s warming, but I’m convinced it’s not
Last Tuesday it was rather cool, today it’s not so hot
And if it’s getting hotter, I’m sure it’s not by much
Prob’ly due to sunspots, volcanoes or some such
Or maybe it’s the Chinese, that make more smoke than us
I know there’s many more of them, so let them catch the bus
One thing I am sure of, no need to make a fuss
Fire up those smokey chimneys and sing

Denial … I’m in denial
Don’t talk to me of independent studies or scientific trial
I’m in denial … deep in denial
And as the waters rise around me I’ll just hold my breath and say
It isn’t so

I call myself a skeptic, And I believe it’s so
I’m skeptical of anything, I just don’t wanna know
Don’t give me CSIRO or IPCC
I want some wacky viscount with an architect’s degree
He says it’ was much hotter X million years ago
I know that killed a lot of dinosaurs but they were rather slow
It’s just a lot of scientists that think they’re in the know
But I know I know better, let’s sing:

Denial … I’m in denial
When I see those eco-nazis, I raise my arm and shout Sieg Heil
I’m in denial … deep in denial
And as the waters rise around me I’ll just hold my breath and say
It isn’t so

Those fires are not raging, No floods deluge the land
Those hurricanes and tornadoes are just flashes in the pan
The animals are doing fine, No species dying out
And half the bloody climate isn’t choking in drought
The ice is not receding, from either polar cap
I’d go with Tony Abbott, It’s just a load of crap
This round-the-world disaster is an evil greedy trap
‘Cause everybody knows the world is flat

Denial … I’m in denial
Don’t talk to me of independent studies or scientific trial
I’m in denial … deep in denial
And as the waters rise around me I’ll just hold my breath and say
It isn’t so … oh no

As the waters rise around me I’ll just hold my breath and say
It isn’t so … oh no

Don’t wanna know
As the waters rise around me I’ll just hold my breath and say… glug glug glug

The Colour of Magic: The Film

This is the first episode of the film version of Terry Pratchett's book, The colour of Magic.























The story continues here.

Sir Terry Pratchett

For those who have not read any of the Discworld Novels this is how Terry Pratchett opened the first one, The Colour of Magic :

In a distant and second-hand set of dimensions, in an astral plane that was never meant to fly, the curling star-mists waver and part ...

For those aficionados of the Discworld series (and I know that there is at least one amongst my Facebook Friends) this conversation with Terry Pratchett includes a reading from his next book, Snuff.

Although the books might be described as fantasy (a description that Pratchett rejects) the interview shows he has a great sense of the realities of this world.



For the first episode of the film version of The Colour of Magic follow this link.

Maths lessons can be fun

Laughing at the deniers

It is important to continue to point out the absurdity of the climate deniers, but sometimes all we can do is laugh at them.

The video below is the Hungry Beast's take on climate denier stupidity.



In a similar vein here is a post laughing at the Muslim Haters.

Here are the lytics:

In the media landscape there are climate change deniers and believers, but rarely are those speaking about climate change actual climate scientists...

yo....we're climate scientists.. and there's no denying this Climate Change Is REEEEALL..

Who's a climate scientist..

I'm a climate scientist..

Not a cleo finalist

No a climate scientist

Droppin facts all over this wax

While bitches be crying about a carbon tax

Climate change is caused by people

Earth Unlike Alien Has no sequel

We gotta move fast or we'll be forsaken,

Cause we were too busy suckin dick Copenhagen: (Politician)

I said Burn! it's hot in here..

32% more carbon in the atmosphere.

Oh Eee Ohh Eee oh wee ice ice ice

Raisin' sea levels twice by twice

We're scientists, what we speak is True.

Unlike Andrew Bolt our work is Peer Reviewed... ooohhh

Who's a climate scientist..

I'm a climate scientist..

An Anglican revivalist

No a climate scientist

Feedback is like climate change on crack

The permafrosts subtracts: feedback

Methane release wack : feedback..

Write a letter then burn it: feedback

Denialists deny this in your dreams

Coz climate change means greater extremes,

Shit won't be the norm

Heatwaves bigger badder storms

The Green house effect is just a theory sucker (Alan Jones)

Yeah so is gravity float away muther f**cker

Who's a climate scientist..

I'm a climate scientist..

I'm not a climate Scientist

Who's Climate Scientists

A Penny Farthing Cyclist

No

A Lebanese typist

No

A Paleontologist

No

A Sebaceous Cyst

No! a climate scientist! Yo! PREACH~!

Written and performed by Climate Scientists, Dan Ilic, Duncan Elms and production by Brendan Woithe at Colony NoFi.

The decoy muslim threat

The Onion is a wonderful satirical website. It is easy to became VERY ANGRY with all of the nonsense that we hear today, but maybe the best solution is to laugh at the loons:


Al Qaeda Populating U.S. With Peaceful 'Decoy Muslims'

Here is an Australian approach to laughing at the Islamophobics:

The Cigar Song

Here is an entertaining song by Brad Paisley about an insurance scam.



I became aware of this story when I received the email below from a friend:

You couldn't make this up!

BEST LAWYER / INSURANCE STORY OF THE YEAR,
DECADE, AND POSSIBLY THE CENTURY.

This took place in Charlotte, North Carolina. A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against, among other things, fire.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires' ... The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued and WON! ( Stay with me. )

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the 'fires'.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART...

After the lawyer cashed the cheque, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!

With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine. This true story won First Place in last year's Criminal Lawyers Award contest..

ONLY IN AMERICA .... NO WONDER THE REST OF THE WORLD THINKS THEY'RE NUTS!

The heading of this email is somewhat ironic as the story was made up, as shown here, here and here .

For more information on email hoaxes see this post.

Wind and Mr Ug

This is a lovely video story, from Vi Hart's Site . How quickly do you get the point, or do you have to wait for the end?



It is fun to play with moebius strips, but if you haven't got the time to make one and test what happens when you cut it in two (as happens at the end of the story) then the video below provides the answer, along with some other interesting properties of moebius strips.



So will Wind see her dog again? The answer is a bit tricky! Answers in the comments.

Escher used the idea of Moebius Strips in some of his designs; the one below is one of his most famous pieces.



This video is another great variation of a Möbius Strip theme.



Vi Hart is obviously a Harry Potter fan. She composed a seven movement musical tribute the the Harry Potter Series, called the Harry Potter Septet. Here is a video, from the Septet, of a of a song that uses Ginny Weasley's singing valentine from the Chamber of Secrets.



Here is more of Vi's Harry Potter music.

The New York Times printed an article on Vi Hart which can be found at this link.

Proof for the Non-existance of God

These posts discuss the issue of the existence of God ...

.. but my favourite writing on this topic is from Douglas Adams in his wonderful book, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galexy ...

Jeep

"Want proof the Willys Jeep -- the original military-spec off-roader -- was a work of engineering genius? Watch six soldiers drive up, hop out, tear one apart, put it back together and drive away in four minutes."
Happened in Halifax , Canada .

My Blackberry Is Not Working!

Spoiler Alert

Link to cartoon here.

Source: XKCD A webcomic of romance,
sarcasm, math, and language.

XKCD Convincing

A joke for geeks.


For a larger version click on the graphic.

This comic is from XKCD, A webcomic of romance,sarcasm, math, and language. Here is the link to the cartoon.

Trick Shots

Illusions

It was only after I published this post that I realised that the font that blogger uses, makes the title of this post illusory, or atleast ambiguous - iiiusory or lllusory?










Which way does she dance, and can you make her go the other way?



Impossible Motion



Ten illusions in 2 minutes:



This final set aren't actually illusions, instead they are clever ideas from graphic artists:

Ping Pong Penguin

Another fun video from YouTube:

Simpsons and Banksy

This is the Couch Gag of a Simpsons episode that recently aried in the US:



It starts off dark and gets darker - Bart dolls stuffed with kitten fur and a chained unicorn used to punch holes in DVDs.

The sting in the tail: the sweatshop is in the basement of 29th Century Fox, the makers of The Simpsons!

It has been claimed that this sequence was inspired by reports that The Simpsons was animated in South Korea.

The opening sequence and couch gag were written by graffiti artist and political activist Banksy, whose tag appears prominently.

Banksy's identity is a closely kept secret. The following video investigates Banksy and attempts to discover who he is:



Banksy's work is edgy, ironic and creative, often with a strong message. This video shows many of Banksy's works ...



... and this link contains many photos ...

This is not the first association of Banksy with The Simpsons as this link shows.

My home town became briefly famous for painting out one of Banksy's works.

Here is a post with an interesting take on Banksy. The site is fun as it satarizes white, citified, liberals, like me.

Time Warp Tony and the Thinking Voter

These ads say it all.

Abbot as Riff Raff and Hockey as a Sumo Wrestler!



Gruen Nation produced an add for The Greens. Sadly the ABC denied The Greens request to use it during the campaign.

The tag line is just so right!



On the other hand, after the election The Chaser had this take on Greens voters:

Magic Gopher

Introduction

A friend recently sent me this link to a puzzle.

Click on the link and try out the puzzle before continuing. (If the "music" annoys you it can be turned off at the top right of the screen.)

Spooky!

Before explaining the puzzle I will walk through an example.

The number I picked is 26.

Add 2 and 6 together to get 8.

Subtract 8 from 26 to get 18.

Here is the symbol chart; carefully note the symbol to the right of 18.



The gopher displayed that same symbol as shown below:



Basic Explanation

Obviously if there was anything "psychic" really going on then the mathematical and symbolic process would not be necessary. It follows that there is some trick in the process.

The basic point is that the maths always results in a number that is a multiple of 9. In the symbol chart all multiples of 9 have the same symbol. Check in the symbol chart above to confirm this. Of cause multiples of 9 are: 9, 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72 and 81. The numbers 90 and 99 cannot be produced by the process that the gopher describes. (For example, 99 - 18 = 81). For the explanation of why the process always produces a multiple of 9 see the Matematical Explanation section below.

Every time that you do this puzzle a different symbol chart is used, but always multiples of 9 have the same symbol. Here is another example:



So all the gopher has to do is display the symbol for multiples of 9 that are used in the chart that he shows you.

Mathematical Explanation

Some basic maths can explain why the process will always produce a number that is a multiple of 9.

A two digit number can be written as:

10a + b (note 10a is and equivalent way of writing 10 X a)

The gopher asked us to add the two digits together which can be written as (a + b)

He then asked us to take the sum of the digits away from the original number, which can be written as:

10a + b - (a + b)

=10a + b - a - b

Rearranging we get:

10a - a + b - b

The b values cancel (ie b - b = 0) so

10a - a

= 9a

All results of the maths are multiples of 9. In the worked example, the number is 26. In that case a = 2 and b = 6 and 9a = 9 X 2 = 18, a multiple of 9.

German Speed Bump