Archive for December, 2011
December 31, 2011
2012
I think I am an optimist and always have high hopes even if they are not often matched by my expectations or what actually transpires. But somehow the hopes remain.
A list of hopes can however be unending. So for 2012 I list just 10 – in no particular order or ranking:
- that the killing stops
- that the food that is already plentiful and available can be distributed to all those who are in desperate need
- that India win the 4-Test series in Australia (though they were thrashed in the first match)
- that the Euro splits into two
- that the extremists of all kinds become marginalised and irrelevant
- that alarmism and sensationalism and belief systems are eliminated from science (though it undoubtedly helps to get funding)
- that having ethics replaces slavish compliance in politics and business
- that the do-gooders stop imposing their beliefs and telling others what is good for them
- that politicians realise that they are just civil servants, and
- that belief systems (whether in religions or economic theories or global warming) are subordinated to track records and evidence
Tags:Hopes for 2012
Posted in Trivia | Comments Off on 2012 – Ten Hopes
December 30, 2011
A young friend recently faced a number of less than easy options regarding his employment and his career and our discussion turned to behaviour in the face of uncertainty and fears:
The fundamental characteristic of courage in actions is that the action remains central and fear is then the constraint or barrier to action which must be subordinated. I have heard it said that courage lies in confronting fear or defeating fear but this, I think, misses the central point. The focus of courage is on the actions not on the fears. Whatever purposeful action has been decided proceeds even though fear exists. Defeating the fear is not the focus where the action then becomes secondary or merely a by-product.
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Tags:behaviour, Courage, Cowardice, Fear, Foolhardiness, Judgement
Posted in Behaviour, Philosophy | Comments Off on On courage and foolhardiness
December 28, 2011
The long running saga for the purchase of 126 combat aircraft for the Indian Air Force (worth in excess of 11 Billion $) is coming to a head between the 2 short listed – the Eurofighter Typhoon (UK, Germany, Italy and Spain) and the French Rafale. In April, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin’s F-16IN Super Viper, the MiG Corporation’s MiG-35 and Saab’s Gripen NG were eliminated after the technical evaluation leaving Dassault’s Rafale to compete with the Eurofighter built by a 4-country consortium. The winner is likely to sell a further 80 – 100 aircraft in a second phase. One requirement that the suppliers will be judged on is the extent to which technology transfer will take place and the extent to which Indian industry can become sub-suppliers. Rumours in the Defence Ministry are indicating a decision in the first half of January 2012.
The political support for the Eurofighter has reached its peak with a joint letter written by the leaders of the four supplier countries to the Indian Government welcoming India as a “fifth partner country”.
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Tags:Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, Eurofighter versus Rafale, India, Indian Air Force, Indian MRCA competition, MMRCA
Posted in Aviation, Defense, India | 4 Comments »
December 25, 2011
It is the 25th of December of the year 2011 of the Gregorian Calendar and it is the anniversary of the day of the birth of the Invincible Sun (Dies Natalis Solis Invicti).
More correctly, of course it is the presumed date of the birth of the Earth’s revolutions around the Sun. This revolution would have existed even when the Earth was just an amorphous conglomeration of gas and particles orbiting the Sun and still waiting to coalesce as the Earth. Since the seasonal celebrations could never be suppressed, it is the date which was hijacked as the day of the birth of Christ (first recorded in 354AD), some 1,657 years ago. But Natalis Solis Invicti goes back much longer than that. And to the best of our knowledge that was about 4,540,000,000 (±1%) years ago.
And while the celebrations around the world at this dark time of the year remain of vital importance in the human calendar, its relevance as the birthday of Christ has become largely meaningless. It is the celebration of renewal, of the beginning of a new year, of the coming lengthening of the days after the winter solstice which pre-dates Christian tradition and will continue long after its inevitable extinction. It is the certainty of belief that the earth will continue to revolve around the Sun and all that follows from that which lifts the human spirit.
Here the sun rises today at 08:48 and sets at 15:05 – a day-length of just over 6 hours. But the days are getting longer and already by next Saturday the day at this latitude will be 6 minutes longer. Over the next 200 days the length of each day will increase by an average of more than 3 minutes each day and by high summer the length of the day will be around 17 hours. And it is the affirmation of this renewal, this anticipation of what is to come and the reconfirmation of “certain” belief in Sol Invictus which lifts my spirit.
And so my greetings to all on this day to celebrate the day of the birth of the Invincible Sun.
Tags:25th December, Christmas, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, Gregorian Calendar, Sol Invictus, Sun, Winter solstice
Posted in Solar science | Comments Off on Sol Invictus: Greetings on Dies Natalis Solis Invicti
December 23, 2011
That psychology is a discipline and a field of study is indisputable. That the study of human (or animal) behaviour is a worthy field and that experimentation and research are well worth pursuing is also obvious. But I am of the view that it is far from being a science. Psychology can be considered to be a pre-science similar to alchemy. And the practitioners of psychology are similar to priests and shamans and witch-doctors and other practitioners of magic. Inevitably the field contains many charlatans.
During 2011 the high profile cases of Marc Hauser and Diederik Stapel where data was faked (and no matter which way the pill is coated they both fabricated data to suit their theories) only reinforces my view that their behaviour was essentially narcissistic and not uncommon in the burgeoning fields of psychology. In both cases inflated egos led to the creation of their “signature” hypotheses followed by the fabrication of data to prove their conclusions – which had already been reached! I am inherently suspicious of psychologists who are supposed scientists but who are seduced by the fame and fortunes of press adulation or tenure or who become Agony Aunts on TV.
Charles Gross writes in The Nation about the Marc Hauser affair and concludes:
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Tags:Diedrik Stapel, Harvard University, marc hauser, psychology, Science, Scientific misconduct, Tilburg University
Posted in Academic misconduct, psychology, scientific misconduct | Comments Off on Data fabrication by Hauser and Stapel strengthen the view that psychology is no science
December 20, 2011
Hiroaki Matsubara
Hiroaki Matsubara has been Professor of Cardiology and Vascular Regenerative Medicine at Kyoto Prefectural University’s School of Medicine since 2003 and was earlier at Kansai Medical University.
A Japanese investigative website (http://blog.m3.com/Retraction/) has found 12 published articles where manipulation of images is very likely. The suspicious images in the papers published by the Matsubara lab are carefully deconstructed by Abnormal Science in an ongoing series of posts: here, here and here.
Joerg Zwirner of Abnormal Science comments:
(Part 1) Taken together, articles 1-5 are distinguished by the extensive reuse and mutual exchange of data, in particular Western and Northern Blot bands. A single band has been reused up to eigth times in distinct blots in Kidney Int. 2002.
It is apparent that band images from ‘real’ blots may have been digitally reassembled into new blot images pretending to be derived from distinct experimental settings. Since ‘reconfigured blots’ have been densimetrically scanned and the results illustrated in tables and figures, we are presumably confronted with a case of severe data fabrication. …..
(Part 2) ….. The images on the left were derived from nude rats, the images on the right from C57BL/J mice. ….
Apparently, histological images have been modified by the exchange/addition of image fragments. According to the figure legend, “five fields from two muscle samples of each animal (n=10) were randomly selected, and capillary density was shown as the capillary/muscle fiber ratio.”
Can we call this practice experimental science or should we term it digital art?
Apparently, anything goes.
(Part 3)….. Of note, the only coauthor on all 12 articles is Hiroaki Matsubara. The sheer scope of the alleged manipulations in these 12 articles is reminiscent of the research misconduct investigations at Borstel/Germany into the work of Prof. Bulfone-Paus and at NUS/Singapore into the work of Prof. Melendez.
The Japanese M3 Blog is run by just one person with its readership mainly among doctors but apparently runs a serious risk of being shut down by legal threats as has happened with an earlier investigative blog.
Tags:Alirio Melendez, Hiroaki Matsubara, Japan, Kyoto Prefectural University, manipulated images, Scientific misconduct, Silvia Bulfone-Paus
Posted in Academic misconduct, Japan, Medicine, scientific misconduct | Comments Off on Suspicious goings on at Kyoto Prefectural University
December 19, 2011
North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong-il passed away yesterday at the age of 69.
He will be succeeded (probably) by Kim Jong-Un but exactly who he is is a matter of some speculation.
My crystal ball tells me that the reunification of Korea will be a reality within 5 years. The scenario I see is that after much noise and threats the North will ask for help – mainly for food. S Korean industrialists will get heavily involved in these “compassionate” projects and will develop the North Korean market in the interests of their own conglomerates. And then the changes will escalate and will be irreversible.
Nearly all countries and even China publicly support the reunification of the Koreas. But this will be a much more traumatic process than the German reunification – which was not cheap and is not complete even after 20 years. With a population of about 50 million in the South and about 25 million in the North it will inevitably seem like an “acquisition” of the North by the South. While the 25 million is a mouth-watering additional (and captive) market for the industrial conglomerates of the South, the social pressures of what should be seen to be a “merger” appearing to be an acquisition would place an unprecedented and formidable challenge for the politicians of the South. The politicians themselves have a reputation for being in the pockets of the various chaebols and whether they will have the vision and skill to manage the social upheaval remains to be seen.
Though the process may well start within the next 5 years, it will likely take much longer to complete than the German experience.
Kim Jong-Un
Tags:Kim Jong-il, Kim Jong-un, Korea, Korea reunification, North Korea
Posted in Business, Korea, Politics | Comments Off on Kim Jong-Who and the reunification of Korea
December 18, 2011
BBC:
Václav Havel, the Czech Republic’s first president after the Velvet Revolution against communist rule, has died at the age of 75. As president, he presided over Czechoslovakia’s transition to democracy and a free-market economy. He oversaw its peaceful 1993 split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Havel first came to international fame as a dissident playwright in the 1970s through his involvement with the human rights manifesto Charter 77.
.. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on Twitter: “Vaclav Havel was one of the greatest Europeans of our age. His voice for freedom paved (the) way for a Europe whole and free.”
In the early 1990’s I was once trying to sell a district-heating and power plant to be built in Ostrava in the then Czechoslavakia. Eventually the project did not go forward with the split in 1993 into Slovakia and the Czech Republic but I had the opportunity (and the privilege) to once present the project to President Vaclav Havel. He was a playwright by profession but his questions were pointed and precise. I found him remarkably sharp and capable in grasping the finer points in technical and economic arguments.
The Charter 77 declaration is here: Charter 77 declaration
Czeck President Vaclav Klaus (L) as he succeeds outgoing President Vaclav Havel (R) in 2003. SNA File photo
SNA: Havel passed away on Sunday after a protracted respiratory disease, just after turning 75 October 5.
“It was Havel who invited me to the emerging Civic Forum,” said Klaus in an official address Sunday, referring to the platform that led then-Czechoslovakia to democratization away from the communist regime.
The two Vaclavs went on to become arch-rivals in their visions for the development of the Czech Republic.
RIP
Tags:Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Václav Havel, Velvet Revolution
Posted in Czech Republic, Politics | Comments Off on Václav Havel – RIP
The k2p blog 