Chirac reveals that Bush pleaded with him about invading Iraq on the basis of faith:

Incredibly, President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to thwart Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse.

Honest. This isn’t a joke. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God.

Now out of office, Chirac recounts that the American leader appealed to their “common faith” (Christianity) and told him: “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.”

Read the rest of this article.

In the spirit of boy scout badges, check out the Science Scout badges. Some which I may claim:

The “Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah, I’ve got a radio gig” badge.


The “quantum mechanics… I soooo get it” badge.

The “science deprives me of my bed” badge (LEVEL II).


The “non-explainer” badge (LEVEL I)- Where the recipient can no longer explain what they do to their parents.


The “I will crush you with my math prowess” badge.

The “has frozen stuff just to see what happens” badge (LEVEL III).


The “destroyer of quackery” badge. (In which the recipient never ever backs down from an argument that pits sound science over quackery.)

An interesting essay in The Edge about necessary changes in the model of university teaching.

Fold-it @ home is a game that lets players try to find lower-energy configurations for folded proteins. This may have applications in drug design among other things. The game has already revealed a 13-year-old protein folding prodigy, and has resulted in results that beat what PhD-holding biochemists have achieved.

A funk song video made out of many different youtube videos, very funky!

A report on a fire in an underground coal mine that has been raging for half a century. Such fires are common, very hard to extinguish, and produce enormous amounts of CO2.

Just last night there were raised fears of a pandemic of swine fever in Mexico city - universities, schools and kindergartens were closed for the day, and bosses were asked to be tolerant of absences today. There are an estimated 1000 cases and 45 deaths reportedly caused by the virus.

On a solar cooker that can be put together for US$5.

Brilliant people: a profile of Freeman Dyson in the NYT, and an essay by Terry Tao on how a ship can sail faster than the wind.

Kyrgyzstan has been the victim of a strong cyberattack.

Check out this beautiful set of photos from an abandoned shipyard.

The first ipod? [via Boingboing]

I've read a couple of books by Roberto Bolaño recently, and recommend him. Read here about his last book.

Here are some techniques that induce allucinations with simple tricks.

The probes Spirit and Opportunity go on exploring Mars, 5 (Earth) years after arrival. Their projected longevity was just 3 months.

In mid-2007 one of Spirit's wheels got stuck, so Spirit has been dragging it since. This, together with dust accumulation on the solar panels, has restricted somewhat how much it can wander.

Opportunity, on the other hand, is thriving. As summertime approaches with its solar energy bounty, it is set to do a 15 Km overland trip to an interesting crater named Endeavor. Good luck!

Today I've been reading about low-tech refrigerators - electricity-free, they can keep food up to 10oC lower than ambient, using evaporation as the cooling mechanism. First I bumped into this piece of news about a young English woman and her invention; then I read up about Zeer pots, used throughout Africa. They're an adaptation of an ancient design. In northeastern Brazil the local people use similar earthenware jars to keep water fresh.

Later on I found this old design also based on evaporation, called an absorption-gas refrigerator. The Icyball was designed in 1927, and run on anything combustible. Part of it is heated, which in turn keeps the other side close to 0C for a day or so. This design has been improved recently, to run on non-toxic liquid (the original used ammonia). Check out a short video about this invention.

Frozen soap bubbles (via boingboing)