For the first time in nearly three months, Fortuna smiled upon me every so briefly this morning. While waiting in an impossibly long line to buy a Red Bull, a new register opened taking only credit/debit cards. It saved me maybe ten minutes. Such a small thing really, but when Fortuna Mala seems to throw at me something new ever day, I'll take a brief respite and welcome any measure of good luck.
Thus, today's Morning Coffee is brought to us by Fortuna and Red Bull. May they both give me wings today. Although, I'll bet Fortuna won't come around again for another three months. But I'll always have my Red Bull…
The other day the Prime Minister of Israel admitted that Israel had nuclear weapons. He did not do so directly; it was more obliquely. Iran is already latching onto that statement, saying that Israel is a destabilizing factor in the region. I think this admission raises an interesting possibility. I would not be surprised if Iran now comes clean with their nuclear weapons program, and does so fairly justified and comes out better than they otherwise would have. They could argue that their nuclear weapons program is justified as a measure of self-defense. They could say that they have a legitimate fear of an Israeli first strike. That would not be outside the realm of possibility; the Israelis have done that before. I'm not sure if this was a mere slip of the tongue, or a veiled threat to Iran. Either way, I don't think it was a good move.
The whole proliferation issue is a moral quandary anyway. You've got nations that have nuclear weapons, and some with a very substantial stockpile, telling other nations that they cannot have them. Nuclear weapons are an undeniable status booster, so many nations view them as their way of getting to "the big boy table." I will say that some regimes shouldn't be trusted with nuclear weapons, but I'm not convinced that all current nuclear powers always act rationally either. The Israelis surely do not trust the Iranians to be responsible with nuclear weapons and material, and they fear proliferation of either a full blown weapon or radiological material to Hezbollah, et al. But similarly, Iran probably does not trust Israel to possess them responsibly. It's a cycle: One nation has them, the other nation feels it needs them to provide a deterrent, then each nation builds more and more in an attempt to gain a nuclear edge. It happened once in history. It's happening in Pakistan and India. It might happen in East Asia (Japan/North Korea?). This situation might be interesting to monitor.
Big study in Africa regarding circumcision. Wouldn't you know it? Their results state that circumcision cuts the risk of HIV in half. I read this article and I find many holes in their science. Frankly, I don't think it's a science issue. I think it's a religious/cultural one. The spottiness of their science points out the obvious to me. The National Institute of Health is an American organization, staffed by Americans mostly, who are Christian mostly, who have American and Judeo-Christian values. What's one of those values? Circumcision of course. I think the evidence is anecdotal at best, and the stats merely point to the answer these people wanted. Some HIV specialist from Harvard lauds the news as "very exciting." He's been arguing for years that circumcision slows the spread of HIV/AIDS. The study does not seem to track the amount of sex each man had, the specific sexual acts performed, whether or not their sexual partners had HIV, or anything that would give this study merit. The only thing it says is that a lower number of circumcised men in this study happened to contract HIV. Without context, it means little. The Harvard expert says, "Lots of wealthy elite have already done it. It prevents STDs, it's seen as cleaner, sex is better, women like it. I predict that a lot of men who can't afford private clinics will start clamoring for it." All said by a guy who likely lost his foreskin at birth. How does he know that sex is better? This guy is jealous and simply wants all others penises to look like his. If he can't forcibly convert these pagan bastards, then by god he'll at least convince them to make their genitalia appealing to the lord's sensibilities. He'll get them somehow. Next, baptism in holy water will miraculously cure malaria, all you have to do is accept the Jeez in your heart and repent your sins and the malaria will disappear right along with your foreskin.
The removal of the foreskin will do nothing to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa; you can still get it. In fact, millions of people with no foreskin have still contracted HIV and other STDs. The only thing that will slow the spread of these things is the teaching and instilling of good sex ed in these people, not the application of your religious fix-all cure.
Lastly, astronauts had to take shelter from a violent solar storm. Somewhere, someone is trying very hard to connect this storm to global warming and the "man-caused" build up of greenhouse gases. Mark my words. More quasi-science.
Word of the Day: Contemn: (verb (used with object)): to treat or regard with disdain, scorn, or contempt. Credit to a reader who sees the value of the WoD, and wished to see it keep its current "flavor."
On This Day in History: The Wright Brothers make their first attempt to fly at Kitty Hawk, NC. They crash. Three days later, after making repairs, they would be given a can of Red Bull, Fortuna would grace them, and they would make history, and forever change our world.
"I have struggled to see why it's so easy to push me aside. I no longer believe that you were ever on my side."
"I'm sorry, it's a habit." - Unattributed.
"Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters." - Nathaniel Emmons.
"Adsis, Mars! Ecce, Mars! Sum Primo Questor! Hi cruenti viri tibi dati sunt a me!"
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