I got this spam email today and I just had to share…
Dear Sirs!
MetalPromExport is one of the largest leading companies in the Shipbuilding Industry. Through constant attention to innovation and investment in its facilities it aims to increase productivity and quality in line with customer’s requirements. During of latest years the company has enlarged its business both in domestic and international arenas with turn-key business solutions. MetalPromExport builds a wide range of vessels including, naval vessels, tailor-made oil/chemical/stainless steel tankers, container vessels, tug boats, arctic & pelagic trawlers and research vessels, offshore vessels and private luxury motor boats. MetalPromExport aim is to play a major role in the development of the domestic and international arenas of Shipbuilding Industry.
Total Area: 95.243m²
Covered area: 30.746m²
Annual Steel Processing Capacity: 20.000 tons / year
Commercial vessel building up to 200 m and 50.000 DWT
Two slipways with 150m, 100m length for new building facilities
Closed production halls and painting hall with collapsible roofs for transferring of blocks: 5500m²
2 lifting capacities gantry cranes: 300 ton and 200 ton
With a strong corporate background and specialist personnel MetalPromExport offers the following services:
Design
Construction
Project management
System integration
Refit & Repair after sales service
At this moment our shipyard has Oil/Chemical Tankers from 3.000 DWT till 12.000 DWT with different level of readiness which can be floated within the few months.
We are looking forward to your response to our E-mail in order to take up the matter further. All our contact details are signed herewith & please do not hesitate to contact us for any further clarifications in the matter. If you ready to discuss our further cooperation that please connect with our representative Mr. Evgeny which will arrive in India from 21th till 27th of January 2012.
Red State is a great movie. It’s about an extremist religious group killing people and a resulting standoff between them and government agents. The group is similar to the Westboro Baptist Church, only with more murder and lots of guns.
I found it to be totally unpredictable and full of surprises, which is rare in my experience. It was also pretty thought-provoking. At the end, I wasn’t sure who the real enemy was.
It’s extremely violent and pretty gory at times, but if that doesn’t bother you I definitely recommend it. It’s available for streaming on Netflix.
I read a book called Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith by J. Anderson Thomson Jr. MD and Clare Aukofer (I believe it was Penn Jillette who recommended it). It attempts to explain why humans have a natural susceptibility to believe in the supernatural by describing various behavioral adaptations in our species. It even goes into some of the physiology and brain chemistry involved.
Some of parts I found most interesting were about the evolution of our species and reasons some of the social adaptations were successful. It also includes an explanation for our natural cravings for food high in sugar and fat, which I found interesting. The overly positive reactions in our brain to sugar and fat are leftover adaptations from when these were very difficult to obtain (there were no grocery stores for cavemen apparently).
It also had interesting insights into psychology and several studies of the brain and behavior of young children. There were many less obvious things that were revealed which really got me thinking.
Overall, I found the book pretty interesting. It’s short and definitely worth reading if you have any interest in evolution, psychology, or religion. I’ll close with an interesting quote:
“Children have been described as ‘intuitive theists.’ Children show what is called promiscuous teleology, a basic preference to understand the world in terms of purpose. This contributes to what we now know about children’s belief. Children will spontaneously adopt the concept of God and a created world with no adult intervention. At heart we are all born creationists. Disbelief requires effort.” [1]
[1] Thomson, J. Anderson; Aukofer, Clare; Richard Dawkins (2011-06-01). Why We Believe in God(s): A Concise Guide to the Science of Faith (Kindle Locations 766-769). Pitchstone Publishing. Kindle Edition.
I was thinking about how it was unfair that blind people aren’t allowed to drive cars just because they can’t see anything. I guess it is important to be able to see where you are going and where things are on the road. Not driving is one solution, but I have scienced together a better solution.
Lots of modern cars come equipped with all kinds of sensors to help bad drivers not crash all the time. One of these devices is the parking sensor, as seen below.
Look out!
So they have already adapted sonar to be used in cars, so all we need to do is put a bunch of more powerful sensors all over the car to generate a map of the environment. Here’s a technical diagram I made in Paint:
Scientific diagram
From the data generated by the sensors, we can create a 3d soundscape with objects represented by different tones. All we need now is a good set of 7.1 headphones to send the generated soundscape through.
When this system is implemented, we can stop discriminated against blind people or people who just want to read a good book on the road. Bats, dolphins, and submarines can see with sound and now you can, too!
I made a previous post making the case for legalizing marijuana, but I’ll go one big step further and say that all recreational drugs should be legal to use. Before that, though, I want to clarify that I don’t use any recreational drugs, and generally disapprove of their use (especially the addictive drugs). Though a little LSD never hurt anyone…
It’s a fact that people all over the world have access to these substances whether they are legal or not. The government can’t control them to any degree of effectiveness. Prohibiting a substance simply gives up all control of the substance to the criminals.
Allowing a reputable company produce potentially harmful substances sounds infinitely better than trusting criminals to do the same. I believe that if drugs are legalized, it would not only make them safer to obtain and use, but it would put dealers out of business and drive away the cartels.
It’s also my opinion that people should be allowed to put whatever they want into their bodies, as long as doing so doesn’t put others in danger. If they do something bad while under the influence, then they accept responsibility for those actions.
I read a book called 
