Be Nice to Management

In my sister's company, management is under a lot of pressure. To alleviate the problem, HR has sent out a message to all employees:

"In order to make working conditions acceptable to management, all employees are asked to prioritise positive reporting over real work. Ideally, you should not spend more than 40% of your time actually working. The rest should be spent making credible looking reports where problems, delays, lost accounts, heavy losses and so on are either not mentioned at all or phrased in such a way that they look like progress. With this in place, management will be able to sleep much better at night."

I am Genetically Modified

One can make a long list of pseudo-science movements: creationists, homeopaths, climate change deniers, astrologers, vaccine-autism scare mongers, and so on. To that list I would like to add a large portion of the GM Food opponents.

It is very rare to see any scientifically valid criticism of GMO. Most of the arguments I see against it are of the type "people are worried, so we should not use it, so we do not worry people", an argument that is set up to worry people. And then there are arguments against a particular genetically modified crop, where some obscure report has hinted at the possibility of a risk. Now, I have not seen any valid such report of any of the approved GMOs. And even if there had been, that would have been a argument against that particular GMO - not against all of them. It would not have been an argument against GM as a solution.

Looking at what a genetic modification is, it is not mystic in any way. It is not "unnatural" like inhaling burnt nicotine and tar. GM is a matter of moving genes around, just like organisms already do in nature.

Every single one of us is a genetically modified version of our parents. We have a different set of genes, a mix from our parents and we have a few mutations, most of which are harmless. We are all mutants. Say that together everyone: We are all mutants!

That is nothing to be scared of. Nothing is perfectly clean in this world. We are surrounded by weak radioactive rays, to cheer those up who are scared of radiation, and we have a few mutations. That is just what the world is like.

GM does not introduce anything new - no new poisons or drugs. It is simply a shortcut to breed new variants quicker. Man has bred new variants of crops for thousands of years, and if we had not done so, we would still be nomadic hunter gatherers without cities, writing, roads, hospitals, theatre, films or smart phones.

In some situations, GMO could be ecologically safer than other crops. If a new insect threatens some crops, it is possible that we have the choice of using either a resistant GM variant of the crops or to apply chemically produced insecticides. The immune GM variant may simply be resistant, while the insecticide is accumulated in the food chain and could harm other animals. If we are so scared of GMO that we ban them, the harmful insecticide is the only way out.

Anyhow, this does not mean that we necessarily have to let all GMO loose. Just like with other new technology, we need to study it and control it. Any scientifically valid study about its issues or advantages is welcome. Any reasonable criticism is welcome. This blog post does not bring up all aspects. What happens if the speed of evolution increases dramatically with our food with more and more GM? Will we have the time to verify long term effects of the combinations of all modifications, if development suddenly goes faster than our control institutions? What happens if non-verified GMOs are released in countries that cannot afford proper verification? Can we be sure that no GMO will take over as invasive species?

I do not have answers to those questions, and I would like to have them. However, completely banning GMOs is not the right way to get the answers.

This flower is not genetically modified as far as I know, but it could have been. A flower that is bred or genetically modified to its current genotype would smell as sweet.

Don't take my opinion, get your own one!

There is something strange with people who believe in something so strongly that they try to promote their opinion to others. Most of us get opinions and stubbornly stick to them for the rest of our lives - mostly out of convenience. But some people not only have opinions, they are so naive that they think their opinions are better than the opinions of everyone else.

If there are more than four billion people who do not belong to my religion, that is a fairly good indication that simple logic is not enough to convince thinking people that my religion is the only true one. In other words, my belief is not built on common sense. I do not mind carrying an opinion that is not built on common sense, but why would I inflict it on others?

There are exceptions to the majority rule, of course. In the 17th century, Galileo was right with his minority heliocentric world view, because he had telescopes, and hardly anyone else did. But how many people today who desperately try to convince others of their own opinions build them on scientific instruments that no one else has access to?

Besides, the world would be a pretty boring place, if we always all were of the same opinion.

But I could be wrong, of course.

For and Against

“Are you for gun control?”
“Absolutely.”
“I am against gun control. Let the guns free, I say. Every adult who can prove no criminal record, no psychological problems, no genetic link to violence, and a practical need for weapons that cannot be satisfied in any other way should be able to buy a gun.”
“Sorry, I tuned out there. I cannot be bothered to listen to what you gun lovers say. Anyhow, gun sales is a serious business, and it should clearly be regulated. It should not be permitted to sell guns on Christmas day. Not before noon anyhow.”

“Are you against abortions?”
“Absolutely.”
“I am for abortions. In situations where one makes a medical choice between the life of a mother and a very young embryo, I think the mother should have the right to terminate the pregnancy to save her own life.”
“Sorry, I tuned out there. I cannot be bothered to listen to what you abortion enthusiasts say. Anyhow, I’m against abortions, and I think they should only be allowed when at least one parent or a doctor recommends it, and only when the embryo is younger than, well, a few months or so.”

What Everyone Needs to Know about Derivative Financial Instrument in Deep Space

Absolutely nothing.

Five foods to never eat - time wasting infomercial

The five foods are

• orange juice
• margarine
• artificial sweeteners
• wheat bread
• soy products

Or low-fat muffins or healthy cereals or something like that, but there is no clear list in the infomercial video that is flooding the internet right now.

I post this blog just because the title "5 foods to never eat" eat annoys me. It is clearly written as a sensationalist catch phrase to attract viewers who are prepared to waste 30 minutes of their lives and then buy products from the company behind the video.

It is a good idea to google around for health benefits for different foods.

It is not a good idea to list foods to never eat, as all humans are different and we have different dietary needs depending on our age and health.

Bananas contain potassium, and that can be good for you.

Disclaimer: I have not watched the video myself. All I write above are things I have collected from google searches on the video. If you read this blogpost until here and are upset that I made you lose three minutes of your life, it is at least less than the 30 minutes the infomercial takes.

Ten Questions Atheists cannot Answer

1. How did life arise on earth?
2. How many galaxies are there in the universe, exactly?
3. If there was nothing before the Big Bang, how did it know when to start?
4. What’s the evolutionary advantage of dental caries?
5. Did Cambrium end on a Thursday?
6. What was Jack the Ripper’s real identity?
7. Can’t the frogs in my garden shut up, so I can get some sleep?
8. Can God create a wall so high that he cannot jump over it?
9. Where did I leave my slippers yesterday evening?
10. What on earth is going on in creationists’ minds?
11. Wasn’t this supposed to be just ten questions?

Superfluous University Degree

You do not need a degree to succeed in life. You can replace one with

• hard work 
• unique talents
• a large amount of luck.

If you cannot guarantee these three, you are probably better off with a degree.

An Efficient Circle

In my sister's company there was a division that was incredibly productive last year. They produced tons of memos and presentations and product plans. Unfortunately, no result of all this ever reached any customer. 

There were three departments involved in the release cycle, and they depended heavily on each other. Doug, the head of Delivery, was stuck waiting for Eric, head of Effects to produce output, which Eric could not possibly come up with without input from Filip, head of Fagocytosis. Filip was all eager to provide all that was needed, and each week he sent a reminder to Doug to deliver the necessary information for Filip to provide his tasks.

At the end of the year, an external consultant delivered a report in which he was very pleased with the information flow between Doug, Eric and Filip. There were no less than 156 mails sent between them during the year, each containing reminders that they were waiting for each other's deliveries.

Venus transit 2012 in France

If you observe the 6 June 2012 Venus transit in France, these are the times you should remember:

5:50. Sunrise. The transit has already started.
6:37. Venus starts exiting the sun.
6:55. Venus has fully exited the sun.

Even though astronomy is supposed to be an exact science, I'm as agnostic as ever here, that is all the figures here are approximate, as far as I'm concerned. 

Some further tidbits:

• Don't look at the sun. When the sun rises, it is very unpredictable how bright it will be with the current weather conditions. It is possible that you could look at it immediately after sunrise, but that is likely to change very quickly. So, don't look at the sun.
• You probably will not see very much. Venus is just a tiny dot on the sun.
• If you want to be confused by much more facts, check for example the web site of the Observatoire de Nice and this local transit time calculator. 
• Some web sites call this the 5th June Venus transit instead of the 6th. That is because the transit starts when the time has not yet struck midnight in the Americas.
• It is probably going to rain.

Update: It did not rain, but it was cloudy.

♀