Countdown to withdrawal: The Iraq war in numbers

170,000 The number of US troops in Iraq at the peak of the invasion in 2003

135,000 The number of American service personnel in Iraq on 1 June 2009

4,303 The number of US military deaths

2,200 The number of Iraqi doctors and nurses killed during the conflict

92,438 The minimum number of documented deaths of Iraqi civilians

80,000 The number of mobile phones owned by Iraqis before the war, compared with the estimated 17.7 million handsets owned by the population now

500,000 The number of Iraqis who were living abroad before the invasion, compared with the estimated 2 million expats who are living overseas now

138 The number of journalists killed

2.41 million Current oil production at Iraq’s oilfield, down from 2.58 million before the war

$674bn The estimated cost of the war in Iraq, equivalent to £407bn

Via TechCrunch

Yes, that is right, according to a press release in 2002:

Over the past eight years, Megatons to Megawatts has eliminated weapons-grade uranium equivalent to 6,000 nuclear warheads by converting it to clean-burning fuel for nuclear power plants. By already completing about one-third of our 20-year goal of eliminating 500 metric tons of weapons-grade uranium, this milestone achievement has measurably reduced the threat of nuclear terrorism Noun 1. nuclear terrorism – the use of a nuclear device by a terrorist organization to cause massive devastation or the use (or threat of use) of fissionable radioactive materials; “assaults on nuclear power plants is one form of nuclear terrorism” in the world.

The benefits to both the United States and Russia are substantial and will continue to grow. By 2013, at the contract’s scheduled conclusion, we will have eliminated 500 metric tons of weapons-grade uranium–the equivalent of 20,000 nuclear warheads.

And while Obama is continuing much of the same ridiculous foreign policies as his predecessor, here is to hoping that he expands the denuclearization (weapon) talks with Russia. He is scheduled to meet later this year to discuss decommissioning even more nukes. So with any luck, these radioactive pits will one day power homes and businesses instead of living on the tip of a missile.

For more on the Megatons to Megawatts program, here is the official brochure (PDF) and the WNA has a more thorough, web-friendly explanation.

Also, for a quick laugh: Barack Obama’s Facebook Feed via Peter Klein

And here are two somewhat conflicting articles on the economy in North Korea. The first is from Newsweek which says, “the North doesn’t have to rely on the black market to support itself.”

Yet a new piece from AFP discusses just how much regular/common/normal folk depend on black and grey markets to obtain consumer goods. Thus, the tie breaker goes to the interview with Andrei Lankov whose statements seem to affirm the AFP report.

And the sacrilegious wiki link of the day: Gospel of Judas. Honorable mention: Goulash Communism

Via BK Marcus and Geordie Rose

Why stop there? Why not vote on the mass of the Higgs boson? Heck, next session, why not vote and fill in the missing quantities for the Millennium Prize in mathematics?

Unsurprisingly, many members of the Board are adherents to creationism and have pushed forth various new laws and resolutions to change the wording in various text books.

If nothing else, this should serve as a case for why taxpayer-financed Board’s of education should be abolished. Consequently, the easiest and fairest way to remove politics from the science room is doing just that, axing all the committees and barring future oversight.

Thus, in addition to a separation of church and state there should also be a separation of science and state as well as separation of education and state.

When pigs fly

So that will probably not happen on this side of the singularity, but while creationism is in the news, I wanted to point out a germane comment that Gene Callahan made the other day (Gene usually confuses me, but this one is concise and to the point):

Early evolutionary theorists who were theists:

St. Augustine: A man brilliant enough to realize, by 400, that Genesis “should not be taken too literally.”

al-Khazini, al-Jahiz, Ibn al-Haytham, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, Nasir al-Din Tusi: All developed Islamic theories of evolution in the Middle Ages.

Leibniz, Herder: Devout theists who developed theories of evolution in the 18th century.

James Burnett, Lord Monboddo: Theist and early advocate of the idea that men descended from apes.

I could keep going, but you get the point, fundamentalist: The idea that the theory of evolution was “devised by atheists” or “devised to support atheism” is a lie propagated by fundamentalist websites, and easily disproven by spending 15 minutes browsing the Internet.

There is a game being played with this stance (“Every line of the Bible must be taken literally or else!”) and the name of the game is “Holier than thou” — it’s about getting an ego boost, not about acting as a Christian.

Do a quick google search on those names and you’ll see Gene’s thesis is more than substantiated. In fact, the three entries “History of evolutionary thought,” “Islamic Golden Age,” and “Early Islamic Philosophy” are good reads as well. Gene also points to Anaximander and the ancient Greek philosophers that discussed organic (biological) evolution.

But then again, these guys were obviously on the dole of the Big Evolution – Big Textbook establishment!

Reasons not to believe

The one other blurb I recently came across that ties into all of this was a post from Michael Shermer on Biblical Patternicity. Irrespective of your belief system, his whole post is worth a read as he does a good job showing how creationist groups like Reasons to Believe (RtB) use postdiction (as opposed to prediction) as a methodology.

The reason this struck my fancy is that 8 years ago, when I was deconverting from Christianity/creationism, it was actually debates hosted by RtB that began to untwist my own nutty worldview I had been taught. Oh the irony!

And then there wasn’t light

The only other comment I have regarding the Texas situation is that these luddite literalitists are doing no favors to Western civilization as their rigid fundamentalist thinking is similar to the Islamic literalists of yore. Guys like Chief Mufti, his janissaries and the ulema did wonders to “enlighten” the advanced, sophisticated Arab world of the 16th century (Hint: they helped destroy it, much like the Wedge potentially can do).

See also: You cannot believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible…
Why Intelligent Design is not Scientific
Stellar Appreciation Day
How long did it take for the rings to form around Saturn?
Long distance phone calls in outer space
Are Half-Lives Legit or Just Something Sagan Liked?
Fighting debris with debris creates more debris
Admitting You Are Wrong On Easter
Intelligent Design and the Light-Year

[B]etween 5% and 20% of the population becomes ill and 36,000 people die — a mortality rate of between 0.24% and 0.96%.

To add some more perspective, roughly 38,000 people die each year on US highways.

Or in other words, unless it morphs into something portrayed in 12 Monkeys, this will probably be a lot more hype than is warranted (the LA Times piece also notes that the virus has been decoded and scientists worst fears have been assuaged).

Now get back to investigating congresscritters!

And be sure to check out Walter Block’s new book on private roads.

- Are running shoes a waste of money? (Daily Mail). Should you also eat like a caveman?

- Universities will be ‘irrelevant’ by 2020 (Desert News). See also, “Will the University Survive?”

- Unskilled and Unaware of It (PDF). Funny journal article that explains the behavior of the annoying Cornell grad down in accounting. Classic concluding remarks. Via Geordie Rose

See also: Flame Warriors