Election Season

There is not much on the US news recently outside of the Elections. Seemingly the rest of the world just stopped in a great anticipation, to see who will be the next, great "leader of the Free World".

Thanks to our great Postal Service, I already voted by mail, refusing to wait in those enormous lines, like four years ago. The choice was pretty clear this year, despite the fact that, as it happened too often in the past, it was more the vote of opposition, than approval.

In my book, the most important factor in making such decisions is The Golden Rule in a form of "live and let live" (or sometimes, unfortunately, "live and let die"). For me, it mostly means living your a good life, helping others as much as possible, and letting them do the same, without imposing any of my own views and beliefs on them. As long as everyone plays nice and does not try to impose their ways on others, we should be fine.

Rationality matters as well. Since the President of the Unites States has rather imposing powers, I would not want anyone in the office, who drinks Kool Aid too often. We all have our own "blind spots" of rationality, some coming from our culture, upbringing, people we meet in our lives, and some coming from our hard-wired brains that are very difficult to override.However, believing in divining rods, homeopathy, prophets, translating golden plates by looking into a hat with magic stones, and similar things, is a NO-NO in my humble opinion. The same goes for believing in some alternative history of America and other places, that has absolutely no basis in science and reality. When somebody has power to make decisions that influence millions of people, I want at least to hope that reality and reason are the main decision points.

Hopefully, this crazy season of unreason will be over soon, and we can all go back to fighting simple, everyday stupidity in our lives.

Ride to Defeat ALS - HELP NEEDED!!!

As I mentioned before on this blog, I'm a part of a team to raise money for the ALS Association. We are doing it for a friend and co-worked who is affected by this horrible disease.
Our team is signed up for a 25 mile bicycle ride, which will take place on November 3rd in the Tampa Bay area.

We still need sponsors!!! I have been amazed to see that our team was able to raise over $6,500 in a few, short weeks. But we still need more. The money goes to the ALS Association, which helps not only the people affected by the Lou Gehrig's Disease as they go through this debilitating disease, but also provides invaluable resources and information to their families, to help ease their struggle as well.

Click on this link: http://web.alsa.org/goto/ptrzeciak and sponsor our team!!!

Thank you all for your help!!!

Quote of the Day - From a "Science-Loving" Politician

So, where are we heading as a country, if a person, who sits on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology says something like that:

“All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell, and it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who are taught that from understanding that they need a savior.”

Impressive and scary, given the fact that this guy, U.S. Rep. Paul C. Broun (R., Ga.), is partially responsible for making decisions that drive science and engineering in this country and potentially affect our future.

But... Mr. Broun is not alone on the committee. Salon.com has some additional "science-literate" politicians:

Least scientific members of the House Science Committee

It's also good to see the Science Guy, Bill Nye weighting in:

Bill Nye: Paul Broun 'Unqualified To Make Decisions About Science, Space, And Technology'

I guess, your brains are not really important in politics, but it should not come as a surprise after all. You can go pretty far in this country, believing that Jews came to America in 600 B.C. and left their story written on the golden plates that can be translated by looking into a magic hat with some stones in it... Priceless!

Ride to Defeat ALS - Support Needed!!!

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also here), or ALS for short, is a terrible, neurological disease, affecting people in their prime, usually in early to mid 50s. It debilitates a person rapidly, causing difficulty in speaking, walking and breathing, with a progressive muscle atrophy. The disease affects approximately 5 out of every 100,000 people.
There are some very well known people who suffered from ALS. Among them were: Lou Gehrig, a famous baseball player, and Stephen Hawking, the famous physicist, and author of "The Brief History of Time".

Like most of us, I did not know much about ALS until the day I found out that someone I know is affected by it.

So, now, in honor of a co-worker and a friend, Charlie, I'm taking part in the ALS Association's "Ride to Defeat ALS" here in Florida, which is a 25 mile bike ride on November 3rd.

To make a difference, help in funding research of this terrible disease and help those who suffer, I'm looking for donations to our team of bike riders.

My donation page can be found here: http://webfl.alsa.org/goto/ptrzeciak

Thank you for any donations!!! Every little bit helps!!!