Monthly Archives: February 2016

Never Heard Of Him

Moschino cigarette-themed fashion show featured burnt dresses and cigarette pack handbags with “Fashion Kills” warnings.   And from Simon Clark, on the Irish election: …James Reilly, the former health minister who turned the war on tobacco into a personal crusade, … Continue reading

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Why aren’t we in an Ice Age?

In a time when everyone worries about global warming, I tend to worry more about global cooling. We’re currently living in a brief interglacial period. The last one, about 100,000 years ago, only lasted a few thousand years before lapsing … Continue reading

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Tallness Kills

Via Facebook: …research has shown that cross country skiers are an average 6 inches shorter than basketball players, and that they tend to live seven years longer. Centenarian Japanese people are even an average 4 inches shorter than those who … Continue reading

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Belief and Disbelief

I’m no great mathematician. But I probably do more mathematics these days than I ever have before. I have an ever-expanding RK4 Newtonian simulation model of the solar system, which I’ve recently extended to include the Oort cloud of distant … Continue reading

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Voting With Their Middle Finger

Politics everywhere is hotting up: In the USA, Donald Trump got 46% of the vote in the Nevada caucus. That’s his highest margin yet. And it looks like he’s benefited from Jeb Bush dropping out of the race. Next week, on … Continue reading

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Laws don’t just “bubble up” from nowhere

From the Economist, an argument for the futility of leaving the EU (my added emphases): The Johnson-Gove argument goes something like this: unlike many continental countries, Britain has an unbroken tradition of liberty and representative democracy (a “golden thread”) dating … Continue reading

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A New WHO Logo

I was looking at the WHO logo last week, and, remembering that this organisation now saw the principal threats to human health to come from eating, drinking, and smoking, I wondered if I might start on some much-needed work to … Continue reading

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Don’t Leave Public Health to Public Health Experts

H/T Harley: West Virginia lawmakers have county smoking bans in their crosshairs. For the second consecutive year, Republican legislators are moving bills that would allow county commissions across the state to revoke clean indoor air regulations and other public health … Continue reading

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EU Referendum Campaign Begins

So the EU referendum will be on 23 June. Michael Gove has joined the Brexit camp. His statement at Guido: …The ability to choose who governs us, and the freedom to change laws we do not like, were secured for … Continue reading

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Suppressing Even The Memory Of Tobacco

H/T Harley for this Australian story: The owner of a popular Irish pub in Perth is seeing red after the Western Australia Health Department told him to remove his tobacco memorabilia signs or face prosecution and hefty fines. Almost every … Continue reading

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