Hypercubed Blog » Scepticism

Get out of credit card debt now

hypercubed — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:13:42 +0000

I know… the title sounds like a spam post. But it’s not. I’m not going to try to sell you anything. I’m simply encouraging you to get out of credit card debt… and now! I’m not in anyway a financial adviser and this is a technical blog so I am completely unqualified so I will pose this advice as a question. Why do so many people carry a running credit card balance when they don’t need to?

First of all, I love my CCs. They make purchases convenient and if you play your cards right you can get some great incentives (i.e. 3% cash back). But I fail to see the logic behind keeping a running balance. I’ve not had a running balance in years. I just decided one day… why? If I have savings that could cover the the current balance why not pay it off? By keeping a running CC balance you are basically borrowing money from the credit card companies at 15 – 20% annual interest. Then what are you doing with it? You are essentially loaning it to a bank, sometimes the same bank that loaned you the money in the first place, who pay you 1 – 2% interest. You are paying 13 – 19% just to shuffle money around on their books.

Some say they want to have money in savings in case of emergency. This logic fails me. If you were to use your savings to pay off your CC and then there is an emergency you can still use your CC. Whether you use your savings (and carried a CC balance) or use your CC in the emergency you’ll end up in the same place… in debt. Actually if you paid off your CC every month you would have an extra 13 – 19% in your savings. More if you use a cash back rewards card.

Unless you don’t have the money to cover the debt, in which case you should not have entered into it in the first place, I don’t see any reason to hold a balance. Pay off your CCs first. Ideally in an emergency you will have enough savings to cover it; if not use the CC. Am I missing something?

Links of the Week (Week #1, 2006)

hypercubed — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 18:01:10 +0000

Google Pack – Google Pack was release yesterday. Google Pack is an installer software that will install and update various software items including Google Earth, Firefox, and Adobe Reader. Sure you can install each of these on your own by going to each website, downloading and installing but Google pack makes it nice and easy especially for the novice.
PM: Debunking The 9/11 Myths – I previously spoke about A. K. Dewdney. Author of some of my favorite CS related books and many of Scientific American’s Computer Recreations articles. While researching that article I discovered that he has been actively promulgating 9/11 conspiracy theories. I read his articles and quickly can to the opinion that it was bunk. I had planned to do my own research debunking his conspiracy theories but the March 2005 issue of Popular Mechanics beat me to it, plus they did a far superior job then I could ever do.
Refuting the 9/11 Conspiracy Theories – A large collection of online articles that refute the 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Spoono – Photoshop Tutorials – Box Art – Neat little how to on creating virtual box art.
Ten CSS tricks you may not know – Some really useful CSS tricks.
Ten more CSS tricks you may not know – And some more.
The Pitch Drop Experiment – Interesting experiment to “demonstrates the fluidity and high viscosity of pitch, a derivative of tar once used for waterproofing boats.” The experiment has been running for 72 years.
The Top 10 Free Time Wasting Sites on the Net – Like it says top ten time wasting sites on the net. Don’t go here unless you have time to waste.

Turkeys are so stupid…

hypercubed — Fri, 25 Nov 2005 09:24:53 +0000

So today (yesterday) is (was) Thanksgiving. Like many Americans I ate turkey and failed to give any thought to what I’m thankfull for. While eating that turkey I once again heard the old tale "I heard that turkeys are so stupid they will look up at falling rain until they drown". Of course I had heard that before and I thought: "Interesting, wonder if that is true". That is the deeply rooted reaction I normally have to these types of "facts". Old habits are hard to break but that is the way people worked back in the B.G. years (before Goggle). Tall tales would be told and travel person to person without anybody being able to collect facts on the story. Each person wouldn’t know if the facts are true but not having an easy way to research it they would pass on the information themselves shrugging responsibility by prefacing their telling with "I heard…".

Well, like I said that was the bad B.G. days. I’m trying to rid myself of blind acceptance of "facts" and research things like this. So I once again consulted the great Google and discovered that in this case the tale is….. indeterminate.

According to snopes.com this "fact" is false because turkeys do not have binocular vision (eyes in front) they cannot look up at rain. They would need to look sideways. Ok, so that makes sense but does that mean that they never drown in rain? Tom Savage, a poultry scientist in the Oregon State University Animal Sciences Department, says that turkeys do appear to be looking at the sky but the behavior is a genetically-caused nervous disorder called tetanic torticollar spasms. However, PETA says that turkeys point their beaks skyward to streamline their bodies and therefore minimize exposure to rain. Ok, so turkeys may in fact appear point their beaks skyward but it is not because they are stupid it’s either a nervous disorder or they are trying to keep them selves dry. But do they drown? Tom Savage, our OSU poultry expert, says he has never heard of this actually happening. The PETA website says it doesn’t happen. Cecil Adams at straightdope.com says that young turkeys do die in rain but not from looking up. Instead they die from exposure because the young turkeys down is vulnerable to the effects of weather.

In contrast to all this according to University of Illinois at least some turkey experts speculate that turkeys are curiously looking at raindrops falling from the sky have been known to actually drown in this position because their tiny nostrils make the prefect receptacle for the falling rain. However, according to Howard Kaufman Turkey Farms and Shepherds Hill farm and Gardens they have raised turkeys outside and have never lost one to drowning in the rain. According to Aristotle’s turkey facts turkeys can drown if they look up when it is raining. Karen Davis, PhD disagrees.

Ok, so we have to go to a score card:

	True	False
snopes.com		X
Tom Savage, Oregon State University Animal Sciences Department		X
PETA		X
Cecil Adams, straightdope.com		X
Anonymous turkey experts at University of Illinois	X
Howard Kaufman Turkey Farms		X
Shepherds Hill farm and Gardens		X
Aristotle’s turkey facts	X
Karen Davis, PhD		X
Count	2	7

So 7 to 2 says that it’s false. In all fairness Tom Savage, Howard Kaufman Turkey Farms, and Shepherds Hill farm and Gardens all say that the have simply never seen it happen but even without them it is still leaning towards a false.

So Google didn’t provide a strait answer on this one but I’m thankfully for the ability to do the research. I’m also thankfully that in a few thanksgivings from now when my son asks me "Do turkeys really drown in the rain." I can give him an informed answer rather then the typical "I heard…". And the one thing I’m most thankful for this Thanksgiving is, of course, my son.

Five-second rule

hypercubed — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

So I recently was caught in a discussion about the five-second rule.  You know that rule that says if you drop a piece of food on the floor it is ok to eat if you pick it up within 5-seconds.  One person said that they thought the rule was disproved.  I disagreed and said that I thought the rule was proven correct by a high school student science experiment.  With such a disagreement there is only one thing to do� consult the all-knowing oracle or wisdom (that would be Google).  So I did the �research� and discovered that the 5-second rule was proven false� but yet true at the same time.

High school student Jillian Clarke studied the five-second rule as part of summer internship in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Her study won an Ig Nobel Prize for Public Health in 2004.  In the most literal sense Clark�s study disproved the five-second rule.  Clark showed that foods dropped on intentionally pre-contaminated tiles (hard surfaces) were contaminated in less than five seconds.  It appears that five seconds has no bearing on the how contaminated the food will get.  If you drop your food on a contaminated floor it should not be eaten.

So this seams pretty straight forward� right?  Snopes marks this one as an urban myth.  But wait a minute!  They are missing a vital part of Ms. Clarks study.  The details above are from Ms. Clarks 2nd experiment where she intentionally pre-contaminating ceramic tiles with E. Coli, dropped various food products for various amounts of time, and then measured the E. Coli count on the food.   However, the first part of her experiment (details here and here) Ms. Clark and her team took swab samples of floors at various locations around her campus.  They showed that the bacteria levels where not high enough to cause significant contamination of your food product.  It is noted that this is more then likely due to the types of surfaces sampled.  They measured dry hard surfaces.  It is likely that soft damp surfaces will have higher bacterial counts.

So in the literal sense the 5-second rule as it is stated is correct for some floors.  If food that falls on your kitchen floor sits for less then 5-seconds it is, most likely, ok to eat.  Matter of fact if the food is on the kitchen floor more then 5-miniutes it is probably ok to eat.  But nobody would suggest you apply this �rule� to food dropped on your damp doggy bed.  Besides what doesn�t kill you makes you stronger� right?

NO deaths greatly exaggerated

hypercubed — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Over the last several weeks many websites and the main stream media have been running multiple stories on the Katrina rescues and aftermath. The reports of rape, murder, and piles of bodies at the Superdome and the Convention Center were extremely disturbing. However, now that the horror stories have stoped and recovery has started where is the news? Well, apparently these sites are mute for a reason… because they were all duped. While the conditions in New Orleans were horrible beyond anything I have ever experienced the rumors of deaths and violence have been greatly exaggerated. This article posted at NOLA.com give great details of the reality found in the aftermath. No evidence of murdered babies and not the rumored hundreds of bodies. Will major websites and the main stream media take responsibility and clear up the disinformation? We’ll see… we may have to leave it to the bloggers that don’t have to save face:

Deaths greatly exaggerated in New Orleans
exaggerated crime in katrina aftermath
Rumors of deaths greatly exaggerated: Widely reported attacks false or unsubstantiated
Exaggerated reporting on the SuperDome in N.O.?

[Edit: I removed a reference to a particular website. This article was not about them in particular but directed at the misinformation sources in general.]

Robertson Blames Hurricane on Choice of Ellen Degeneres to Host Emmys

hypercubed — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In a follow-up to my previous articles on hurricane Katrina and Pat Robertson (here and here) is this article in the prestigious news site Dateline: Hollywood. According to the article Robertson is now blaming Katrina on the choice of Ellen Degeneres to host the Emmy Awards. He has a point this time… he notes that last time Degeneres was chosen to host the Emmys, in 2001, the September 11 terrorism attacks took place shortly before the ceremony. We all know that post hoc ergo propter hoc (after this therefore because of this) is one of the most profound logical arguments known to man.

By the way in case you don’t get it Dateline: Hollywood is a satire site. Apparently many people didn’t get it. But I really don’t blame them with Pat’s track record. If you want to read some of his memorable quotes please look here. Some of the best:

Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.

Many of those people involved in Adolf Hitler were Satanists, many were homosexuals – the two things seem to go together

I know one man who was impotent who gave AIDS to his wife and the only thing they did was kiss

[Via: BoingBoing]

Pat Robertson blames Katrina on…

hypercubed — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I mentioned that Pat Robertson blamed hurricanes in Florida on gays (or more correctly Florida’s support of gays). Well, it seams that he is now blaming Katrina on a single person in particular. You’ll be surprised who it is.

[Via: www.ridingsun.com]

Katrina was caused by….

hypercubed — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think it may be a natural response. But like many other natural feelings (like the strong urge to steal children’s candy when it looks better then your slim fast) it is one that needs to be avoided. I talking about the strong desire to blame natural disasters on someone (or something). I think we all seek answers after a major event. We want to know why, how can this happen, how can we prevent this next time. Unfortunately sometimes we jump to conclusions that are simply poor and sometimes dangerous.

In the wake of Katrina we are all shocked and horrified. The 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Tsunami’s, Columbia, and now this (did I miss any?). The 2000′s are turning out to be a tough millennium. But do we really have to blame Katrina on something?

Director of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Endowment’s research center appears to be saying that Katrina is punishment for not believing in Islam.

In 1998 Pat Robertson said “hurricanes and other natural disasters would sweep down on Orlando, Fla., because gay men and lesbians were flocking to Disney World on special “gay days.” Well, all I can say is that his Operation Blessing charity is not getting my donation. Read about use of operation blessing’s resourse to support Pat’s diamond mine.

Maybe the closest is RKF Jr. He blames global warming. Although global warming probably played a factor in the hurricanes this season he specifically George Bush, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, and the Republican Party for their failure to support the Kyoto protocol. Which you should know is a farce and that humans are not causing global warming.

The truth is that Katrina is an extremely unfortunate event that is part of a natural waether cycle. Maybe if we spent more time learning from previous events rather then attempting to place blame we could have reduced the impact of this hurricane.

What can I do?
You should first look into donating through your companies if possible. Most major corporations offer matching funds for charitable donations.
Donate to organizations like the RedCross or others.
Click here to offer free housing to those who so desperately need it.

Time Cube

hypercubed — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Maybe I’m late on this but I just ran across Gene Ray’s TimeCube website (wikipedia). I love everything cubic (especially Hypercubic) but this site is so whacked. It is some sort of rambling of a deranged lunatic with a wacky ass theory of everything. His theory is basically that everything is cubic (whatever that means). I mean this guys is so damn off it is insane…. literally.It would be impossible for me to go through all his theories and debunk them. Not because they are true but because they are incoherent (and awfully formatted). Plus we all know the theory of everything is that everything is hypercubic! Just for fun here is my fictitious argument with Gene Ray:

I think Cubic, I am wisest. You think self, you are evil.

Well, I think Hypercubic so I am wiser then you, Mr. Ray. If you are R and I am H then R=X^3 but H=X^4 which means H=R^4/3 so I am you to the 4/3 power.

I will give $1,000.00 to any person who can disprove 4 days in each earth rotation.

How about starting with the definition of a day according toMW: “The period of rotation of a planet (as earth) or a moon on its axis”. You can keep the money for your psychology bills.

I am not allowed to lecture at the word animal academic institutions, for they fear my wisdom will expose and indict the pedant hirelings as betrayers of dumb-ass students – the dung heads who allow their freedom of speech to be suppressed without a whimper, unbelieveable. Word animals will feel the wrath of Cubic curse.

Maybe because we word animals know your are dung head schizophrenic lunatic.

My wisdom so antiquates known knowledge, that a psychiatrist examining my behavior, eccentric by his academic single corner knowledge, knows no course other than to judge me schizoprenic. In today’s society of greed, men ofword illusionare elected to lead and wise men are condemned. You must establish aChair of Wisdomto empower Wise Men over the stupid intelligentsia, or perish.

Thank you. Proof that you have been diagnosed schizophrenic. Well, I’m Hyperphrenic… beat that!

There is no human entity, just human Cubics – as in 4 different people in a 4 corner stage metamorphic rotation – never more than 1 corner at same time.

Does that mean that you and I are the same person? But I proved above that I am you to the 4/3 power. I think that means we are both 1 (1^4/3 = 1) or is it zero (0^4/3 = 0).

Nature has no choice but to bring forth a hell upon evil cubelessness. Know it to be of your own making.

Again you are simply wrong by a power of 4/3. Cubelessness is evil, Cubeness is evil^3, convert to Hypercubism or you will bring forth hell upon your self. Hell, exists is a place we can’t reach, namely a forth direction or dimension. That is where hell resides and will come forth from a forth direction…. you’ve been forth warned.

A mother and baby are the same age, as a 1 day old baby has a 1 day old mother.

Ok, I have to hand it to you Mr. Ray for this one. I agree entirely.

Honestly the mother quote is pretty good. Think about it. If you want even more fun take a look at the guys HTML. Played havoc in my WYSIWYG editor (outlook) when quoting it.

Black as a thousand midnights

hypercubed — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As I was riding home from work today I hear the phrase “black as a thousand midnights” on the radio. I found it pretty strange to talk about blackness as something that can be superimposed. Isn’t blackness the lack of color? If you look at the amount of light present in one midnight and add up a thousand of them I think you would get a pretty bright night. It got me thinking of what other silly phrases I can think of that have this same logic (or lack of).

As cold as a thousand ice cubes. (each cube is less then 0C (270 K) so 1000 should be about 270,000 C or 45 times as hot as the outer surface of the sun).

As quiet as a thousand mice. (a quiet room is 40 dB or 10^-8 W/m^2. If we take this as the intensity of a mouse then a thousand would be about 10^-5 W/m^2 or 70 dB, almost shouting).

As empty as a thousand vacuums. (can you get less stuff then nothing?).

Slow as a thousand turtles (a thousand turtles traveling at 4 mph all travel at 4 mph but if we add that would be 4,000 mph, about twice the SR-71 speed record).

As fast as a thousand beams of light. (nothing can travel faster then c so it must be c).

As dense as a thousand black holes. (Can you get any denser then a singularity).

As boring as a thousand English classes (ok, I can understand that one).