September 18, 2006
Relative Safety
The new issue of Scientific American (Oct 2006) includes the following little factlet on page 18:
A better understanding of the real risk of terrorism could help defeat efforts to instill fear and provoke an excessive response. Even including catastrophic events such as 9/11, the odds of the average American being a victim of terrorism in the air or elsewhere in a given year is roughly one in 500,000, experts have calculated. Comparatively, Americans face a roughly one in 6,500 chance of dying in a car accident within a given year, according to census data. "When my friends ask me, 'What can I do to travel more safely?' I tell them to drive really carefully to the airport," says Brian Michael Jenkins of the Rand Corporation.
September 13, 2006
House
PZ Myers eviscerates the latest episode of House. It's a shame, really. I like the show for the same reasons as Myers; it's about an atheist doctor. But even I thought this recent episode did not belong in the reality-based community. Myers points out the details.
September 04, 2006
Cheaper Than iTunes!
Now comes word from the nytimes that a label named Brilliant Classics has released the complete works of Mozart on a 170 CD set that can be had for about 70 cents per disc at Amazon.com.
At that price, and based upon the nytimes article and the reviews at Amazon.com, it's probably worth a shot.
I wonder how long it will take to rip it into iTunes? I wonder how good the online tags for each CD will be?