Thursday, May 16, 2013

Potential Projects

So, being the fairly competent geek that I am, I often look for projects to do, to improve and expand my skills and knowledge. However, it can be hard to do so, considering my lack finances for such things. Therefore, I try to look for extremely low (or even no) cost projects to tackle. Like this blog. I've got plenty of free time, just not enough other resources.

What would you like to see? Stuff that I've thought about doing, but have seen done better elsewhere, include tutorials on various technologies, and aggregated data sets. I've considered starting a sort of "non-censored media", but haven't seen a demand for it. What it would be, is basically a database of political fallacies, as well as reporting on various issues - without clever editing to benefit a specific party at the detriment of another. All bias should be removed before it is published. Only the truth, or admission of an inability to find it, should remain.

Coming up, regardless of whether you like it or not, are some more well-thought-out rants from yours truly.



Monday, May 13, 2013

Myths and Misinformation

Contrary to popular belief...
  1. Cell phones don't cause cancer. If you get cancer from a cell phone, it's probably because you ate some of the plastic or part of the circuit board. The radio waves from cell phones are incapable of harming us in any direct fashion. They are non-ionizing, and therefore safe. This one has been reviewed so many times, it's pointless to post evidence. Nonetheless, here's an article for you.
  2. Cell phones don't cause fires at gas stations. Again, it's been reviewed so well, it's not even worth citing evidence - however, I'll link a video here, because I found it interesting. Basically, this myth likely originated from youngsters igniting gasoline with static electricity.
  3. The "Race for the Cure" (Komen foundation) does not donate all of its money to research for finding a cure to cancer. Besides the obvious logic (paying its staff, buying those t-shirts and ribbons, et cetera), most of the money goes to mammograms. This may not be a bad thing, but it's hardly the best thing. For younger women, they don't really do any good, whether or not they do any harm. Also, mammograms can potentially increase the risk of breast cancer for certain people. See links here, here, herehere, herehere, and here. Want to know the best way to prevent cancer in young women? Look here.
  4. Men can get breast cancer. It's not as common or likely for men as for women, but it can happen. See here.