Fear

This is an interesting article I read this morning with a few little interesting points in it. Firstly I had no idea that Pakistan had such things as porn cinemas. Bearing in mind how fundamentalist they seem to be over there I'm far more surprised at their existence than the fact that they get bombed. In fact I'd say that such an occurrence would be a pretty sure bet.

Secondly one of the quotes reveals a level of racism even within Pakistan between it's different ethnic groups. Commenting on the ladies performing in these films one man said "These are not Pashtun women. These are Punjabi." Oh well, that's all right then.

But my favorite quote is from one of the managers of such a place, bemoaning the effect that bombings are adversely affecting his business, who said "People are afraid to come" Quite!

Stupidity

When DZ goes to social gatherings, he's often disheartened by the fact that everyone he meets there seems to be some sort of utter fuckwit. I suppose it's a curse associated with having an intellect the size of Brazil. Only recently I was cornered by an ignorant bore telling me how the world energy crisis was easily solvable but the solution was being supressed by "BIG OIL". When he finally got to describing the process it was clearly nonsense but he was convinced, having seen it explained on that most reliable of sources, youtube. When I tried to explain the flaws, including deviation from basic laws of physics, he immediately glazed over and I realised that I would be better off talking to the barmaid, who at least was nice to look at. I got to wondering, how is it that you can't get through to stupid people. That there is a section of society so refractory to education that you may as well not bother, and put them to work up chimneys and down mines at the age of 5. And then I saw this, which explains everything.

Ormus scam 3

I've had an odd comment on one of my previous posts which I suspect has come from a modern day believer in alchemy. I wonder if his name is Percy.

The medical profession

“In the words of the philosopher Sceptum, the founder of my profession: am I going to get paid for this?”
― Terry Pratchett

Jesus & Mo

DZ has been a fan of "Jesus & Mo" for some time and has occasionally reproduced some of the cartoons here. Inevitably the site has come to the attention of those who must not be offended, and they have insisted it is taken down. The author of J & M has refused. good for him. Long may he draw.

Opression

Religion is all about control. Control of women, children, finances, sexuality, the list is endless. A prime example of this is found here where a prominent Israeli politician is criticised by religious bigots because he has "let" his son date a non jew. Let? The son is 23. He doesn't need his father's permission in any aspect of his life. Mr Netanyahu seems fairly laid back about it. Good for him. As for those who are hand wringing and bleating about this. perhaps they should be reminded that human beings are autonomous individuals, entitled to make their own decisions. That religious belief doesn't give you the right to dictate how others conduct their lives. I don't suppose they'd listen. Perhaps it would be more direct and to the point just to tell them to fuck off.

ORMUS scam again

A week or so ago I posted on a newish scam where plain silica is being sold as ORME, the elixir of life. The synthetic process for this is quite simple. The modern day alchemist takes a quantity of Dead Sea salt, which is 20% silica. This is not soluble in water but can be dissolved in alakali. The alchemist dissolves his salt in Sodium Hydroxide, otherwise known as caustic soda. Neutralising the pH of this solution, by the addition of acid, will cause the silica to precipitate out as a white gel. This gel is what is sold as ORME, having magically acquired gold in the process, and in a "high spin state" too.
Now any GCSE chemistry student knows about titration. Ensuring that the amount of acid is exactly right to neutralise the alkali without leaving a surplus of either the acid or the alkali.
But lets remember that the people making this stuff are not exactly Nobel prize winning scientists. They're odd little gnomes who believe in transmutation and other pseudoscience, who've made the stuff in their kitchen, as if they were making fudge. The likelihood that these loons are going to be able even to understand, let alone perform, proper titration is pretty unlikely.
So if you buy ORME from one of these airheads bear in mind that it could well still be contaminated with Caustic Soda, or battery acid, neither of which you really want to be gambling with ingesting.