Thursday, December 28, 2006

Snakes predict earthquakes days in advance

Can they pick Lotto numbers though?

Times of India
China has come up with an earthquake prediction system which relies on the behaviour of snakes[...]

[...]"Of all the creatures on Earth, snakes are perhaps the most sensitive to earthquakes," bureau director Jiang Weisong was quoted as saying[...]

[...]"When an earthquake is about to occur, snakes will move out of their nests, even in the cold of winter,"[...]

9 comments:

discoriggall said...

small minded liberals? What's small minded about trying to understand different perspectives?
And noone's crying here.
I'm not crying about American Conservatives; I'm angry about their warped world view. I read and listen people from the entire political spectrum, and atriotic conservatism is among the most narrow minded and paranoid. So obviously I am pleased its' influence is waning.
We welcome in a new liberal order - the neo-con age is almost over, woohoo! Hypocritical little b*tches every last one.

Who are you to say who would offer their lives and for what, anyway?
Even though it was 60 years ago, yes I am of course grateful that the US joined WW2 - but that doesn't mean I should support anything they do subsequently. I see no evidence that was part of 'the deal'.
You think it's a crime to be 'liberal'? Your country must be screwed - it's a good thing in Europe. It means you are open minded, tolerant, understanding, and that you uphold freedom of expression, and the diversity of life. Good things.
Conservatism means tradition, dogma, introverted nationalism. Bad things.

Purple Avenger said...

It means you are open minded, tolerant...

Tolerant of near double digit unemployment rates too it would seem...and tolerant of Islamist nutbars.

How's the secular liberal utopia doing on those suicide rates BTW? Oh...not too well it would seem.

If the workers paradise is so ducky, what is it about Europe that makes them off themselves more than the Americans?

Purple Avenger said...

Oh, and you can lick my salty balls if you don't like the line about the American soldiers. Is my blog and you don't have to like it or read it.

If that offends you or hurts - too bad.

discoriggall said...

near double figures, as we now include the former Soviet Block countries; very weak economies. The old "Western Europe" is pretty comfortable, with similar unemployment to the US.
And if I'm being a bitch about it; we don't have trailer parks, either.
And suicide rates? God knows, but a lot of the high figure countries are the Slavic countries(and ex-Soviet block), which gave us some of the most depressing literature ever, so maybe it's part of their culture.
The UK is below the US, and, fascinatingly, most of South America is too!
People in the EU generally kill each other less than in the US, that much is clear.

Purple Avenger said...

The old "Western Europe" is pretty comfortable, with similar unemployment to the US.

Really? OK we'll ignore Germany for now.

Belgium hovering around 8%
France hovering around 9%
Spain hovering around 9%
Italy hovering around 10%

The only "old western europe country" that's close to the USA is England.

The rest of you wankers are in the 2X range.

discoriggall said...

Europeans don't hate America, you know.
Not huge fans of Mcdonalds, though we eat it, and we like to watch US AND EU cinema... and maybe we disagree with your foreign policy sometimes (but not all the time).
Doesn't mean the EU hates the US.
Believe me, there's much more antagonism BETWEEN European states, than there is between EU and US people.
Belgium seems to hate itself so much it's almost splitting up.
The Fins think the Swedes are gay, and the Norwegians are weird. Most countries think 'France' is arrogant, and Germany too powerful (and boring). The Brits are too cold, the Italians never get anything done... it's endless. People just don't have the time to "hate America".
But we're trying to get along - it's not easy, considering how long we were literally at war with each other for.
So there's higher unemployment? There's also a social safety-net, and though it's expensive, it keeps people more or less off the streets...

Purple Avenger said...

There's also a social safety-net, and though it's expensive, it keeps people more or less off the streets...

...and unmotivated. Why work when there's the dole to take care of you and hard work is rewarded with huge amounts of earning being confiscated?

I worked with a guy at IBM in Boca Raton Florida who came from IBM in Denmark. He had the same job here as he did in Denmark, same pay grade, etc.

In Denmark he could afford a small apartment and a scooter. Here he bought a house, had two cars, and a water ski boat.

He had no intention of going back and had applied for US citizenship.

People vote for systems with their feet my friend.

Purple Avenger said...

Oh, and try going over to Kos FiredogLake or any of the left wing blogs and see how long your comments will last if you attack the blog authors. Real "tolerant" bunch they are when it comes to dissent.

By now you've noticed your comments are curiously enough...still here...and will stay, because I actually am tolerant, and truly don't give a damn what anyone wants to rant about here unless they're a spambot selling viagra.

discoriggall said...

I don't read 'left' blogs... and I appreciate your tolerance of me, that's cool.
For me, political argument is 'free'... in that it should never be taken personally, and there are no limits within that space.
I have often found I get on very well with people who I have argued with very aggressively, and disaggree with very strongly -
because I respect the opposition (even if I say the opposite in an arguement), and enjoy the 'fight'.

Also, a lot of 'left' people piss me off, cause they're often dogmatic and pious too. Please send me some links so I can go and shout at them too!
I'm sure I'll be back angrily soon enough.