Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo
February 28, 2009
February 26, 2009
February 6, 2009
Scans for Back Pain Ineffective
Normally, knowledge is power, but this result is consistent with a body of research that shows that most chronic back pain is not due to structural problems, but rather muscular strain and tension which can best be addressed by stress relief and relaxation (including meditation).
Patients suffering from lower back pain often undergo X-rays or imaging scans to detect the source of the problem. But new research shows scanning to find the source of back pain may do more harm than good.
Researchers from Oregon Health and Science University in Portland reviewed six clinical trials comprised of nearly 2,000 patients with lower back pain. They found that back pain patients who underwent scans didn’t get better any faster or have less pain, depression or anxiety than patients who weren’t scanned. More important, the data suggested that patients who get scanned for back pain may end up with more pain than those who are left alone, according to the report published this week in the medical journal Lancet.
Obviously the scans themselves don’t do more harm than good. It’s the use that some doctors make of the scans to justify aggressive treatments like surgery that are often unnecessary and have side-effects.
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2 Afghans face death over translation of Quran – Yahoo! News
You read this sort of thing, and you first wonder if its a hoax, but apparently it’s not. Two Afghans are being charged with a capital crime for printing a translation of the Quran without parallel Arabic text.
Zalmai pleaded for forgiveness before a January hearing, saying he had assumed a stand-alone translation wasn’t a problem. “You can find these types of translations in Turkey, in Russia, in France, in Italy,” he said.
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February 5, 2009
Holographic Principle
Fascinating article about new interpretation that allows four-dimensional space time to be represented in three dimensions by dropping a dimension of space.
The idea is that just as a flat hologram can create the illusion of three dimensions from data stored in two dimensions, the three dimensions of space that we observe may actually be a holographic projection of two-dimensional data.
And somehow, representing it this way makes gravitational theory and quantum theory easier to reconcile.
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February 4, 2009
A Pro-Choice Rebuttal
My pro-life friend, Wintery Knight, has written a post on why he believes life begins at conception and abortion should be banned. Since I wrote a substantial comment, I’ll reproduce it here.
I think the pro-life from conception position is morally obtuse. Rejecting revelation as a source of “objective” moral laws, I see the goal a a utilitarian one of reducing suffering.
The fact tha the embryo has different DNA from the mother is of little consequence to me. Mutated cancer cells may have different DNA, and we all favor removing them.
The relevant argument is, when is the fetus capable of suffering? How cognizant is it of its suffering? How does its suffering compare to the suffering of other sentient beings?
I suspect that the fetus before birth is less cognizant of suffering that is an adult chicken. I do eat chicken, so I can’t claim I’m unwilling to allow a chicken to suffer. But termination of life can be done quickly. I’m more concerned about the quality of life during the duration of life.
I make an effort to buy cage-free eggs, because I think that as long as the chickens are alive, they should be resonably comfortable.
I recognize my argument could be used to justify mercy killing of non-sentient humans–e.g. patients in a coma. I don’t think that that would necessarily be a bad thing, but I’m afraid it would create a slippery slope to abuses and mistakes, and sentient human beings would be killed. Therefore, I would say it’s reasonable to place a firewall around all born human life, and say it can never be terminated (setting aside the issues of war and capital punishment).
I don’t think it’s necessary to place such a firewall around the fetus. The slipperiest consequence would be the termination of a viable fetus, which while capable of feeling pain, is certainly not able to understand its pain in any intellectual way, and probably not as smart as an adult chicken.
Nevertheless, I do think it’s reasonable to use viability as a standard in another way. If the mother no longer wants to carry the fetus, and the fetus is possibly viable, why not induce labor and allow the fetuses that are capable of surviving the chance to survive by being born? (and presumably be put up for adoption)
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