Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Georgia spruces up for Bush visit
Georgia is getting alot of attention lately because of the Bush visit. Natalia Antelava for the BBC in Tblisi writes a rather uncritical report of the visit. Many Georgians I have spoken to are not only pissed off at the Bush visit, but are angry at Saakashvili. Natalia notes: Yet Georgians do not seem to…
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Delay hits Mars radar deployment
Everything is not going so smoothly, but hopefully this will be ironed out. Deployment of a radar on Europe’s Mars Express spacecraft has been delayed after the antenna boom released on Wednesday did not fully straighten out. Officials said 12 out of 13 segments that comprise the first boom had deployed successfully, but segment 10…
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Creation of Black Hole Detected Today
Fascinating news from the cosmos: A faint visible-light flash moments after a high-energy gamma-ray burst likely heralds the merger of two dense neutron stars to create a relatively low-mass black hole, said Neil Gehrels of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. It is the first time an optical counterpart to a very short-duration gamma-ray burst has…
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Huge radioactive leak closes Thorp nuclear plant
This looks like a right mess… A leak of highly radioactive nuclear fuel dissolved in concentrated nitric acid, enough to half fill an Olympic-size swimming pool, has forced the closure of Sellafield’s Thorp reprocessing plant. The highly dangerous mixture, containing about 20 tonnes of uranium and plutonium fuel, has leaked through a fractured pipe into…
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Xbox 360
Endgadget have the scoop on the new Xbox from Micrsoft. It is apparently to be called the Xbox 360.
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George Galloway and Paxo duke it out
George Galloway managed to walk off an interview with Paxman, just after Paxman congratulated him on winning his seat. [Via Richard]. The transcript is not entirely accurate, I have highlighted the missing words. JP: We’re joined now from his count in Bethnal Green and Bow by George Galloway. Mr Galloway, are you proud of having…
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Astrology vs Religion
Professor Reville of UCC has an interesting article in today’s Irish Times on the subject of astrology. After analyzing the practice he reaches the following conclusion: Astrology makes large claims that are extremely improbable from a scientific viewpoint. In order to take these claims seriously it would be necessary to have extraordinarily strong evidence. On…
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Zoom Airlines
Anyone wanting cheap tickets to the lovely town of Halifax Nova Scotia, or even the city of Toronto should check out the prices with Zoom Airlines – they seem pretty reasonable. And its out of Belfast direct to Hali! I do highly recommend a visit.
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Iran slams US over nuclear stance
Over at the UN, Iran is not too happy with the US – what’s new. Iran has escalated its war of words with the US over Tehran’s nuclear programme, calling Washington’s arsenal a major threat to global peace. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi demanded assurances that the US would not launch a nuclear strike on…
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Europe Will Survive a French Non
Mark Leonard, author of Why Europe Will Run the 21st Century, argues that the EU will survive in the event of the French voting no. He notes in Foreign Policy that: It is possible that a French no vote could result in the EUâs sticking solely with its current treaties, or that the other 24…
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