The Martian

I watched the DVD of 'The Martian' today and as both an astronomy and science buff I was quite impressed with the attention to detail on the science part. However the plot was rather lacking but the acting skills of Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain made up for it. In summary it is about NASA astronaut Mark Watney (Damon) being marooned on Mars after the rest of his crew mates had presumed him dead and had to make an emergency departure from the red planet.  Reminiscent of other solo survival stories such as Robinson Crusoe and Castaway, he had to survive physically and mentally.  Yes he does grow his own spuds using Mars dust and human excrement for fertilizer.  However things go awry when he somehow blows up his Mars "house" which doubles as accommodation and potato greenhouse.  The rest of the story just drifts on from that. One scientific anomaly is Watney walking normally in a non-weighted spacesuit on a planet with 38% of Earth's gravity.  I think some scientific liberties were taken there.  All in all a reasonable film for the science buffs but don't expect a great storyline.

In praise of ... the double end bag

The double end bag or floor to ceiling bag is one of the most under-rated pieces of equipment in the boxing gym.  It is round football size bag that is attached to the floor and the ceiling by two pieces of elastic or bungee.  The elastic causes the bag to swing violently when you hit it, making it hard to hit the next time around.  So it helps you in your hand eye co-ordination and swing can be seen as an opponent's punch, meaning you can practicing your slipping and weaving skills at the same time.  So for me it is my favorite piece of boxing gym equipment.  Here is a perfect demonstration of it by Tim Bradley.

More left stupidity post Brussels

Every now and again I dip into the left wing blog, the Canary, to find out what the other side thinks. So after the Brussels atrocity I saw this rather terrible but typical article.  Here are some highlights from it

"As terrorist attacks hit Brussels on 22 March, anti-Muslim propaganda began to appear online." That's absolutely true but did the author think that without these terror attacks there would be none of this islamophobia?

"The general gist of the arguments was that: Muslims want to kill and subjugate them; ". Actually this is in someways true, there are passages in Koran which extols killing non-believers, in particular,

"Quran (2:191-193) - "And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing... ".

So in a way these views have some factual backing and what of the hard evidence?  Once Islam was established, through the Ummayad dynasty it went on a conquering spree, all the way up to the Loire Valley in France, where they were stopped (battle of Tours).  Even the Total War and Age of Empires strategy games depict this.  So in a sense what this article is accusing the right of is actually correct.

And what of the claim that Islam seeks to conquer the west, well this article mentions someone who is not backwards going forwards in implementing this modern day conquest.  I can also point to this clip of radical muslim protesters showing their honesty.

The article mentions the role Saudi funded Wahabism in all this -

"This is not to say that all Wahhabis are terrorists. However, combined with other factors (like marginalisation, for example) Wahhabi indoctrination can be particularly dangerous."

However it abrogates this by mentioning "marginalisation".  It is the terrorists who have marginalized themselves from the rest of society.

"To truly stop terrorism, our governments must first deal with Saudi Arabia’s support for Wahhabi hate preaching around the world. Then, they must work to end the war, exploitation and injustice around the world in which our governments and their allies have all too often played a role."

The article ends with the above paragraph, and mentions that "war, exploitation and injustice" are factors, however what it means by injustice from the muslim point of view is that some in the west are standing up to islamofascism and sharia law.

Brussels attacks

Towards the end of my working day, I heard about the awful events that unfolded in Brussels, which started with the bombing at Brussels airport and later at Maelbeek station.  As I write this there are 34 confirmed deaths and countless injuries.  When events like this happen on instantly thinks of terrorism and Islamic terrorism in particular.  Commentators are already linking this with the recent arrest by Belgian police of Paris mastermind, Salah Abdeslam, and it is seen as IS's response to the arrest.

As if by magic, the Guardian produces a terrible opinion editorial on the tragedy, this time written by Simon Jenkins, whom I don't associate with the usual useful idiot left. A couple of his points come to attention

"There is no way any community can make itself immune to terror attacks. Since they are random, no protection can defend that community from them. No amount of police work or surveillance, no deployment of armies or navies, let alone of missiles or nuclear weapons, can guard against them. Intelligence and surveillance can go so far, but the bombers and killers will get through any net."

Of course, ultimately no amount of surveillance can prevent this but one way to do this would be properly control your borders and regulate who can come in.  Again this is all down to border control and how you react to people of different cultures in your community.  If you let fear of racism inhibit your policing then this is the result.

"What is not stupid is seeking to alleviate, or not aggravate, the rage that gives rise to acts of terror, and then to diminish the potency of the incident itself. The first requires a wiser foreign policy than most western nations have shown towards the Muslim world over the past decade. The second is even harder to achieve. It demands patience and restraint in publicising terrorist incidents and in responding to them."

Again, like all those on the left, Jenkins blames the attack on western foreign policy, even though Belgium has little to do with the war on terror.  By blaming western foreign policy Jenkins is using the racism of low expectations.  That is muslims have no moral agency, instead they are influenced completely by events in foreign lands.  People become terrorists because they have made a moral decision to become one, foreign policy or not.

"The blanket media coverage assured for any act of violence is reckless."

The media coverage is not reckless, it is merely reflecting the seriousness of the event.  Unfortunately it appears the left is stuck in its own religious blind faith.
 

Calon Lan

I still love this song, it brings back lots of childhood memories in Wales.

Bell's Inequality explained mathematically

If you ever wanted to see Bell's inequality explained through mathematical formula and Venn diagram then watch this and enjoy!



E

#OscarsSoWhite

I'm not usually a fan of the Oscars but this year's awards ceremony provoked more mainstream reaction when commentators commented that there was a lack of black winners or nominees.  My rebuttal of this is that the Oscars are awarded for talent and not for race and black actors and actresses have won awards before.  It is a question of ability not of race. Its very strange these commentators make no comment about the over representation of a racial group in other areas such as professional sports(black), science (Asian) etc.  What's next?  When, for example, will we see normally endowed porn actors winning the best actor prize at the adult film awards?