This Cowardice Has to Stop!

When Sony pictures cancelled the interview because North Korea threatened them it was both cowardice and betrayal. Freedom of speech is completely meaningless if some two bit dictator can censor whatever he likes from the other side of the world.

Since then a number of cinemas started to playing Team America World Police as a protest - guess what Paramount pictures ordered these cinemas to pull it. Cowards!

Sony got hacked a couple of months back and that has now been blamed on North Korea by the FBI. The US government has told Sony there is no credible threat against them or the cinemas, they yanked it regardless. Sony, ironically, has never had executives that understand technology. I don’t know how many MMOs they have developed that have failed miserably due to either early release, insufficient support or plain old greed.

It is so wrong for Sony and Paramount to do what they did, simply because it greatly endangers our freedom of speech not just in America, but throughout the world. Even if somehow North Korea managed to pull off an attack on thousands of cinemas simultaneously no one would actually die. Maybe North Korea found some information in its previous attack on Sony and is using that as leverage to blackmail Sony.

You may ask, “who cares it looked like a stupid movie anyway?” As Obama said, “What if it was a documentary revealing important information to the public or a news story?” When you cave in to bullies all you do is encourage further abuse. Now countries like Iran and Russia might start using these cyberwarfare tactics as well.

This whole episode could be a small sample of what we may face in the future. There will now be a cyber arms race, if there isn’t already one. If countries start to use tit-for-tat cyber attacks it could degenerate into an all-out cyberwar. It could destroy the Internet we know, or at least make it unusable, but who knows really? Our entire global civilisation now depends on computers and the Internet, it’s a big worry.

Sony, Paramount you are arseholes, please stop shiting on us! And I’m really not sure if you can call this terrorism…

Relativity Bitches!

Recently to my horror there has been many science fiction novels, and in popular culture, that have absolutely no respect or understanding of the laws of physics.

One egregious example was in the novel that shall not be named (Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and someone else). In an early part of the book a person can’t go on a spacewalk because they are “travelling too fast”. I stopped reading at this point and went into a Nerdrage! Which involves a lot of exotic, sometimes invented, swear words.

Anyway, there is no air in space so it is not like going out onto the wing of an aircraft when it’s in supersonic flight. In fact the spacecraft will feel like it is going zero because in relation to the spacecraft you are anchored to you are in fact going zero relative to said spacecraft.

Yes there are micro meteorites throughout the solar system, but they are all in different orbits flying around all over the place. If a micro meteorite hits you and it is in an orbit very different to yours yes it could kill you, but whatever orbit you are in you are still going to have a similar chance of being hit by a micro meteorite.

So in the book they slow down to “zero” and make the repairs. But zero relative to what? According to the Monty Python Galaxy song:

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour, that's orbiting at ninety miles a second, so it's reckoned, a sun that is the source of all our power. The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see are moving at a million miles a day in an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour, of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'. …

Do you feel like you are moving right now? Of course, the answer is no you are sitting in a beanbag curled up reading your favourite blog with no sense of movement at all, unless of course said beanbag is on the back seat of a car and / or bus and / or you suffer from vertigo. The fact is you are travelling at a tremendous velocity with the Earth’s rotation and all the other things mentioned in the Monty Python song. You don’t feel like you are moving because everything around you is also travelling along with you. The exact same thing happens when you are on a spacecraft.

So back to this misunderstanding of physics in the book that shall not be named. That is one hell of a star drive that can slow to zero and then speed back up in a couple of hours. In fact this process is repeated pointlessly again and again all the way through the book. Can you imagine the amount of propellant mass they would have wasted - for absolutely no reason.

In one part of the book they do a “dangerous” rendezvous and docking between two ships at “great speed.” But again the ships were not going very fast relative to each other. It would be exactly, and I do mean exactly, the same as docking in Earth orbit - which is a slow relaxing and leisurely affair, most of the time.

What really set me off this morning was, ironically, the landing of the Rosetta Lander Philae on a comet. This is a fantastic achievement, but all these ridiculous reports, “it was like hitting a bullet with a bullet”, or it must have been “so hard” to land on an object going over 90 miles a second. It’s boneheaded stupidity. If you have an understanding of orbital mechanics and have a team of people behind you with software to help it is relatively easy to fly a spacecraft through the solar system.

The big worry is that one of those micro meteorites could damage the spacecraft, or maybe a software glitch could kill it. Its on-board computer could crash. Robotic spacecraft often have to be in space for a very long time as they build up speed and momentum using multiple gravity assists. Space is a harsh environment that could destroy a spacecraft before it has a chance to complete its mission.

Orbital mechanics is not hard. The speed you are going really doesn’t matter (unless of course you are going really really fast - a percentage of the speed of light). Docking or undocking a spacecraft is not like docking or undocking two aircraft at supersonic speeds in an atmosphere, that truly would be stupid and suicidal.

Another gripe is a small one about the game Wolfenstein: The New Order all round a very good game. But, in the moon level I thought it was a little strange how the gravity appeared to be Earth normal instead of 1/6 of the Earth’s gravity. I thought, whatever, but then I made a prediction to myself. I bet myself that’s the instant I walk out the airlock onto the moon’s surface the gravity will somehow revert to 1/6 of a G. Sure enough I was proved correct.

Maybe the Nazis had discovered how to control gravity, if that was the case, why was I launched to the moon on a chemical rocket? Or why didn't they make the whole area around the base Earth gravity as well? So obviously, in this fictional universe the Nazis haven't discovered how to control gravity. But how did the moon know to change the gravity the instant I stepped out of the base? Maybe the developers of the game believed that gravity is the result is of having air to breathe?

All these examples are incredibly stupid and increase the level of ignorance of the greater community - a great evil in my book. And it is a problem that never needs to happen. There are plenty of physicists and other scientists out there who would gladly advise the creators of these sorts of works. Many would probably do it for free. I myself have been asked to be a consultant for a science-fiction novel and I did for free.

Scientific principles and theories can be difficult for some people to comprehend simply because it is not their field. I studied science throughout high school and studied science at university, subscribed to New Scientist and tried to understand Einstein’s General theory of relativity. Alas, I am shit at maths so got into computer programming instead (the computers work out all the sums). And now I write.

Things That Drive Me Nuts - Bigots

When I see an example of bigotry I get psychotically angry - it ruins my day. It makes me truly ashamed to be a member of the human race (yes I know I said this at the end of my previous post). What’s set me off this morning was a ticker on ABC 24 that I sometimes watch in the morning. It said, “Company to remove halal certification due to pressure from social media.” (Halal is basically the Muslim version of the Jewish kosher.) This made me a bit angry so I immediately visited Professor Google and typed those words in.

Apparently a small business in South Australia, the Fleurieu Milk & Yoghurt Company, had many posts on their Facebook page and received a torrent of hateful emails accusing them of supporting terrorism because they paid $1000 to have their yoghurt products Halal certified. The bigots believe the racist spam-emails that get sent around saying that the money paid for Halal certification goes to support terrorists.

According to Halal Australia the organisation responsible for halal certification in Australia, “A one-off application processing fee of $110.00 (inclusive of GST) for the first site and $55.00 (inclusive of GST) for each additional site is payable regardless of the outcome, and that processing will not commence until such payment is received.” Also “The application processing fee stated above is separate to the costs for halal accreditation and certification, which will be estimated (with a quote provided)…” This separate fee according to various sources can be as high as $27,000 per month.

I have asked Halal Australia what exactly the fees are and is it true that they are up to the exorbitant fee of $27,000? And they got back to me immediately:

In regards to the fees and charges you have mentioned, we have heard about it but have no idea who does charge such as amount and why it is so. Without any first-hand knowledge we don't prefer to make any comment about it. Certainly we normally charge what is fair and reasonable and the companies are mostly happy about our fees structure. Which is basically similar to what the Kosher certification body would charge for the certification for the Jewish community.

The other oft quoted propaganda by anti-Muslim bigots is that the funds generated by Halal Australia go to fund terrorism. As you know funding terrorism is highly illegal in Australia with very long prison terms attached. Such a prominent group would not be able to get away with funding terrorism (if the AFP are on the ball). It would also greatly damage their reputation. Halal Australia has come out fighting strongly defending themselves and their own religion distancing themselves strongly with radical elements who call themselves Muslims. They even go so far as to say “Islamic” terrorists are actually against Islam.

Bigotry can be very dangerous and can result in hideous atrocities. What the Nazi regime did to Europe during the Second World War was purely evil. Many German people were made to believe that bigotry against Jews, foreigners, the disabled - it’s a very long list - was perfectly justified. Thousands of disabled people were “euthanized,” 6 million Jews along with Gypsies and homosexuals were sent to the gas chambers. This is what happens when bigots are not held to account.

Today bigotry has found a new outlet on social media. It allows us normal people to connect instantly with a global group of friends, but it can also be used by the tiny minority of people with extreme views to find each other, offer support and make their views very public, without the danger being verbally assaulted or run over by an angry cripple.

There are bigots who are in denial, frequently starting sentences with, “I’m not a racist but…” If you are one of these people - you are indeed a fucking bigot.

Now unfortunately there is an extremely scary “country” that has popped up calling itself the Islamic State. The fighters of this state have committed terrible atrocities mostly against other Muslims. They use indiscriminate tactics such as suicide bombing, mass public executions, televised executions, summary executions, crucifixion and the prominent display of severed heads. From my understanding of the Koran this sort of barbaric behaviour is downright un-Islamic and I have taken to calling the Islamic State, the Not So Islamic State. Just like the Nazis these people are the worst kind of scum, criminals who often kill for no apparent reason - this is profoundly against the Koran.

Real Muslims need our support in this very difficult time. Back home some of their relatives are suffering greatly. Bigoted and racist behaviour just makes the issue so much worse. Muslims are being physically and verbally assaulted on a daily basis. Shock jocks and tabloid newspapers try to inflame the situation to get more listeners and readership. Anti-halal campaigns, and the other stuff, make it more dangerous for all of us as disaffected young men of Muslim heritage, some of whom have probably never read the Koran, get their heads filled with bullshit from supporters of the Islamic State. They see the hate directed towards their communities, they get angry and want to do something.

By being a bigot you are not a patriotic Australian, in fact you are doing damage to our society and helping the Islamic State find recruits. We are lucky in Australia to have never suffered a large terrorist attack on our soil. Anti-Islamic bigots make it a whole lot more likely to happen.

In my book a bigot is basically a terrorist.

Things That Drive Me Nuts - The Human Race

I find it so difficult to believe that there are still climate sceptics around. It also scares and angers me. There seems to be a growing tide of scepticism of science and downright ignorance of it. Now this would not be such a bad thing - if it wasn’t killing people.

The anti-vaccine brigade started by the evil Andrew Wakefield has created epidemics of whooping cough and measles in many Western countries and some children die of these infections.

The ignorance and fear of the Ebola virus has made some politicians bring in some ridiculous policies such as forcing uninfected people to go into quarantine even though they show no symptoms. A person suffering with the Ebola virus is not infectious if they show no symptoms. Also it can only be transmitted by direct contact with bodily fluids.

This unsupportive environment is probably preventing many people from helping to control Ebola. The Abbott government continues to ignore pleas from health professionals and scientists to commit some of our resources to control Ebola.

I think the people that are the most dangerous are the climate sceptics. These people do not realise that we rely on this planet for everything - we need to look after it. The climate has already become one degree warmer and we are seeing increasingly wild weather. Any honest person that spends time outside will agree the weather now is different to what it was 10 years ago. Add two, three degrees the ice caps could collapse raising sea levels by three metres inundating large areas of the Earth’s surface displacing hundreds of millions of people. The gulf stream could stop making winters in Europe longer and harsher.

Climate denial scares me, because of the utter devastation that could be caused by human induced climate change. If the worst does happen it could completely change our world and not for the better. Millions of people could die, many will be displaced and it could also destroy the global economy. The knock-on effects could spark disease outbreaks, made worse by all the children who have not been vaccinated, and start wars further destroying the planet.

Part of me thinks, sure have your silly beliefs, but for God’s sake be logical about them. Be a climate sceptic, but still put solar panels on your roof because it saves you money. Stop investing your money with coal miners, because it’s dirty and pollutes the environment. Vaccinate your children because it’s what your doctor advises - they didn’t go through medical school for nothing. Governments send every resource you can to stop Ebola so it doesn’t arrive on our shores.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to happen. The current approach of simply repeating that global warming is a threat, that vaccines have saved more lives than any other medical intervention and that Ebola is not to be feared does not work.

I believe it is time to get nasty. Tell them they are stupid idiots endangering the planet - because it’s the truth. Politicians don’t shy away from calling ISIS fighters dickheads. I think climate sceptics and their ilk need to think twice about bringing their views up in public similar to the way we treat racism (yes I think it is potentially that bad). They aren’t going to change their views even if the Earth turns into a second Venus (That's a joke by the way is very unlikely that this will occur), so we need to limit the air these views get as much as we can.

Sometimes, I am ashamed to be a member of the human race.

Democracy 2.0

Many people are losing their faith in democracy these days with continuing corruption scandals plaguing Australian politics and the balance of power in the Senate being bought by Australian billionaire Clive Palmer.

In the late 19th and early 20th century when modern democracy was still getting going many European nations were still ruled by royalty and those that were democracies were only partially so with only certain ethnic groups, the landed gentry or males entitled to vote.

In this atmosphere it was not certain that democracy would become the dominant form of government throughout the world. German sociologist Robert Michels believed that all representative democracies would end up being an oligarchy. Oligarchy is defined as: “a small group of people having control of a country or organization.” Michels believed democracy was of a waste of time as the powerful would simply manipulate the democratic process and remain in power. Michels solution to this was to ditch democracy in favour of fascism - and we all know how that turned out.

After humanity’s failed experiment in fascist dictatorship Europe was being reconstructed and much of it was under control of another totalitarian regime the USSR. Spain after a bloody civil war remained under the control of fascist dictator Francisco Franco. It wasn’t till the 1980s that it became apparent that the USSR could not continue, by that time the remainder of Europe had transitioned to democracy, the Berlin wall came down and Germany was reunified.

For all its success modern parliamentary democracy still has that problem identified by Robert Michels. The election of Clive Palmer and the Palmer United Party in the Senate proves that a democracy can easily be turned into an oligarchy. The rich and powerful in almost all democracies have special access to politicians. Would it be easy or even possible for you to speak to the Prime Minister? Rupert Murdoch has dinner with the Prime Minister every time he visits the US. I bet Tony picks up the phone every time Rupert calls.

The oligarchic nature of our democracies is particularly apparent in the United States. Many people from the big Wall Street investment banks have been appointed to prominent positions such as the board of the US Reserve Bank. In 2008 when a ridiculous sub-prime mortgage bubble exploded taking down the majority of the world’s economy it was the criminal actions of Wall Street bankers that were to blame.

Not one of these people has been brought to justice - in fact many of them received multi-million dollar golden parachutes and bonuses and now live in the lap of luxury never having to work again. Meanwhile, the small-time mortgage brokers, who were bullied into obtaining fraudulent loans at threat of losing their job, are now in jail for what their superiors ordered them to do.

Why haven’t these people been brought to justice? Because, they are the real power behind the American government. With the American two-party system it is incredibly difficult for somebody to get elected without having huge amounts of monetary support from the military industrial complex and Wall Street. These large corporations spend billions of dollars supporting American politicians - and they want value for money. If those politicians don’t do what their benefactors wish they can forget about being elected next time.

This allows corporations to have an enormous amount of influence over, if not complete control, over the direction of American policy. In fact the whole sub-prime mortgage crisis was caused by insufficient regulation. This lack of regulation was introduced because of pressure from former executives now appointed bureaucrats, lobby groups and big business. When it all went bad, as many economists predicted it would, it wasn’t a problem for big business as the government just bailed them out and they continued getting their million-dollar bonuses.

Australian governments are similar to this but we do have some laws to keep money from influencing politics - with not much success look at Clive Palmer. The government listens way too much to big business. Just have a look at what is currently happening to the mining sector. There has been huge investment and huge government support for the mining boom over the past 20 years. Now many of these new iron ore and coal mines are coming online and starting to push the value of iron ore and coal down which in turn has caused the collapse of several small mining companies.

The mining boom has also inflated the price of the Australian dollar which has caused many manufacturing businesses to close or to move overseas. Car manufacturers also manipulated the Australian government into giving them greater and greater subsidies with the promise that they would continue to build cars in Australia. They took the money and then reneged on the promise to continue Australian operations.

So now Australia is faced with a collapsing mining sector and a manufacturing sector that is a shadow of its former self. The reason why we have got in this mess is because Australian Federal governments of both major parties have been more concerned about big business and the economy than the Australian people who elected them.

How can we fix this? For starters we need to take money out of politics. Ultimately, I think Robert Michels was probably accurate in his depiction of representative democracy. The solution is not totalitarianism and there are a number of things we can do to make the current system more “representative.”

Maybe we need to take the representative out of our democracies and create direct democracy systems that allow the general public to participate directly in politics. Parliamentary representative democracy is hundreds of years old - it’s time to update it.

The Abbott Government’s Response to Ebola Is Evil

I believe it is the responsibility of every government of this planet to commit resources and people to fight Ebola in West Africa. By doing this they will save thousands of lives and prevent cases of Ebola in their own countries.

Tony Abbott’s excuse for not committing people to the fight against Ebola is that they will not be able to evacuate them if they catch the virus. This sounds reasonable when you don’t think about it, but what it is really saying is that somehow Australians are worth more than the Africans they are going to save.

There are lots of individuals going on their own to West Africa to help, but governments have far more resources than individuals. Many more people would voluntarily sign up for a mission to Africa if it was supported by the Australian government. If they got Ebola and couldn’t be evacuated well they would be treated in the same clinic they were working in.

The Australian government’s view on the Ebola crisis is stupid and shortsighted. This disease would be doing tremendous damage to the affected countries wreaking havoc worldwide.

Other countries are committed to fighting Ebola with the UK and the US sending thousands of people and setting up multiple treatment centres. Australia doesn’t have the resources of the US but they will understand if we send a smaller force. The world will remember Australia’s response and be less likely to help us when we need it.

Like it or not we are now a global society. The world is interconnected in a way it has never been before. We all have responsibilities as global citizens. Our governments also have global responsibilities.

Basically, ignoring Ebola like our government is doing borders on evil. It means that more people will die from Ebola. It also damages our reputation. Do we want to be seen as a petty and cruel country, only concerned about ourselves, valuing our citizens above any other, a country that lets people die when it could render aid?

I have signed a petition telling our Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop to send aid to Liberia.

Things That Drive Me Nuts - “Serious” Artists

I recently saw the trailer for the movie Whiplash which made me psychotically angry. This movie, according to the trailer, is about an aspiring jazz drummer and his drill sergeant Hartman like teacher.

Why did this trailer make me so angry? Well, go back several years to when I was at Boxhill Institute studying professional writing and editing. I was in a class to learn about the classics of literature from the Iliad to Shakespeare. Our teacher dragged us to a performance by the Bell Shakespeare company at a tiny theatre at Monash University in Clayton.

We were a little late, but my brother and I paid at the box office and were immediately refused entry even though they were letting other able-bodied people in through the rear door which gave access to a flight of stairs. Being in electric wheelchairs we needed to go around outside and gain access through a side door. We were told this would “flood the stage” with light and ruin the performance. Apparently the creator of the Bell Shakespeare company John Bell has certain requirements when performing at a venue one is complete control of that venue when his company is performing.

He was quite willing to discriminate against two disabled people for his “artistic vision”. What a cunt. Anyone else who did something like this would be raked over the coals, but it was just sort of accepted as being his right as an artist. He takes his art so seriously that he is willing to completely ignore the feelings of other human beings that get in his way. Where have we heard this sort of thing before? Oh that’s right Nazi Germany.

Yes I am calling John Bell a Nazi.

In a similar way the so-called teacher depicted in Whiplash is a rude son of a bitch browbeating and humiliating his students. But he is doing it for the student’s own good to bring out their best! This sort of behaviour is unacceptable, always has been and always will be. You don’t need to be brutal to get the best out of people. The best way is to support people with humour, compassion, imagination and equality. To give them the confidence to be who they want to be and to pursue their dreams. But that’s another story.

When it all boils down to it artists like John Bell are entertainers. They might try to believe what they are doing has tremendous artistic and cultural significance - pull your head out of your arse. Even if you do believe that, why can’t you have fun doing it? Why is art more important than people? What gives him the right to discriminate?

I hate humourless serious artists almost as much as I hate Nazis, as in a similar way they believe they are superior to the majority of human beings and that somehow they can behave in a way that would simply not be accepted in the wider community. I think it is about time they learnt how to behave themselves.