One of my favorite things about the holidays is hearing from people about things they believe/don’t believe/feel strongly about/don’t care about, etc. It’s also fun to follow up online. I think many people who “live” online don’t realize how few people properly use the internet to find even basic information. This is changing, but slowly.

I’ve really been pleased with Wikipedia lately, which I often find to be more than enough information to satisfy my curiousity about even fairly complex topics. It came in very handy on all these topics discussed over the past few days in Minnesota as we geared up for the Turkey overdose:

Splenda is almost certainly very safe while Stevia, an alternative sweetener, is largely untested. So why do some people choose the unknown over the known, taking more risk but thinking they are taking less? They be silly sweeties.

Sunburn through glass is a surprisingly complex topic. In general it seems glass offers little UV-A protection (cancer and skin damage warning) but does protect against a lot of the UV-B which causes the burning. Moral: Avoid exposure with or without glass.

Israel and Palestine Frankly, the more I study this the more confusing it becomes. I was optimistic a few years ago as two-state plans started to blossom, but now think peace of the type we enjoy here in Uncle Sam’s Land may be unattainable. I see these key problem points for at least another generation: 1) Israel: right to exist 2) Palestinians: right to return 3) Borders for Palestine and Israel.

Richard Dawkins and Atheism His style and approach seems odd to me – more combative than strategic if Dawkins’ goal is to do more than *preach* to the atheists in the choir.
I just want to know if the conscious computers that come about around 2020 are going to believe in God or not. I’ll accept their conclusion.

…. later, circa 2020 …

42 ! ?