Papa Juhani Mikstuur

17 responses to “Papa Juhani Mikstuur”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Sep 11, 2009 at 6:07 am

   Made me a buyer… I found them all to be true, except the cleansing function. =)

   Counterpoint:

   "I have just visited my local branch of Britain’s biggest bookshop chain, and this is what I found: six books on astronomy and nineteen books on astrology. The real science is outnumbered three to one by the pseudoscience. There were twenty books on angels, which means that angels and astrology together (39) outnumber the totality of books on all the sciences (33). When you add in the books on fairies, crystal healing, fortune telling, faith healing, Nostradamus, psychics and dream interpretation, it is no contest. Pseudoscience outnumbers science by at least three to one, and I didn’t even begin to count the far larger number of books on religion.

   A recent Gallup poll concluded that nearly 50% of the American public believes the universe is less than 10,000 years old. Nearly half the population, in other words, believes that the entire universe, the sun and solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, the Andromeda galaxy, and all the billions of other galaxies, all began after the domestication of the dog."

   — RDFRS, a charity for reason

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2. 

   Dr DAD (Daniel A D’Auria MD)

   Sep 11, 2009 at 10:02 am

   I’m glad you added “religion” to your “counterpoint”. Religion has been the most successful impediment to the advancement of science in history. I won’t get started! From a medical standpoint, I am frustrated daily by the number of patients that will buy and consume a product off the shelves deemed “natural” (that has not undergone any formal testing), yet they will not take their prescribed medications.

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3. 

   Dr DAD (Daniel A D’Auria MD)

   Sep 11, 2009 at 10:02 am

   By the way…. will it degrease my engine??

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4. 

   Leino88

   Sep 11, 2009 at 1:38 pm

   you forgot the * at the bottom of the label , *"works only with estonian vodka"

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5. 

   Incredibly Witty Screen Name

   Sep 11, 2009 at 9:03 pm

   I see science, in many ways, becoming a new religion of its own. Have you seen not seen these types? They memorize a few facts, and declare pompously what is or is not possible. Have they tested any theories of their own? When they find one answer, do they think to ask the next question? No. They read one or two articles — if even that — and declare them gospel and then reason themselves into a box.

   How do we teach creativity? curiosity? independent thought? How do we save science from becoming just another mind control device?

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6. 

   Incredibly Witty Screen Name

   Sep 12, 2009 at 8:13 pm

   My post was based on a still subtly-smoldering frustration with one of my daughter’s teachers. I’m ok now. 🙂

   Eppie, you raise an valid point. Indeed, there is value to each side of the brain. Too much reliance on one or the other creates an unhealthy imbalance…the quest for enlightenment, then, would be the individual’s own efforts to bridge this divide within the self, to be both analytical and creative.

   It is interesting that once science and pseudoscience, as it has been termed, were considered part of the same discipline (at least to some extent). Astrology/Astronomy is one example. Medicine/natural healing is another. Armed religion destroyed much of this tradition – both the science and pseudoscience aspects as one – and a lot of wisdom was lost. It is only fairly recently that we have begun to relearn.

   I could not tell you anything about astrology. But I know a spoonful of honey does more for my winter colds than anything I could buy at the drug store. I know the ability to meditate did more for me in childbirth than modern pain relief. I wouldn’t expect honey to remove a tumor, nor would I hope to meditate my blood sugar levels into shape. But using both the intuitive and the scientific, together, can be quite rewarding.

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7. 

   j_silla

   Sep 13, 2009 at 7:16 am

   Must say that pseudoscience and even witchcraft, anything to do with the mysterious alternatives is big in Estonia. Clearly one of the most popular TV series is The Trial of the Clairvoyants. The 20 people hoping to have supernatural powers had to write down the answers, what they thought to be behind the curtain. One person said there is 2 people behind the curtain, most did not get close as there was 2 midgets playing chess behind that curtain. But this is just the first round, just wait for the finals. The power of desiring supernatural is one of the main driving forces for people, we all desire a mystery, a miracle, that is why films of that sort often become blockbusters. It is nuts, but this is really the country where people believe in supernatural healing rather then in good diet or sporting exercise. (well maybe not so, as in a town of 600000 people about 150 completed the run around the lake which was 14km and today 12000 people ran different distances 3km – 20km), the google translation of the show here
   But I think CERN is just as interesting and inspiring, a lot of science fiction has come out of it, which can lead to new ideas for science. The clairvoyants should take a look at the data coming out of it, I doubt they could say anything about it. I think pseudoscience is about hiding the lie and person who is more confident in the lying wins. It is easy to believe in a mystery as it is a natural desire, but as history shows it turns in to building clever systems to believe in like christianity and astrology. The biggest lies ever, now doubt at least one teaching virtue, and good moral, which would not have come from science.
   link I wonder when is LHC coming on line again, as the website don’t seem to say.

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8. 

   j_silla

   Sep 13, 2009 at 7:29 pm

   Eppie, tere, I would be happy to see the LHC find the so to say "god particle" as at the moment we really dont know what gives mass its mass. And if the Higgs does exist (say a particle of black matter) what changes? Being open minded is great, and freedom to choose if to believe based on emotions blindly that Papa Juhans Mixture is what I need is even better. I have blindly wanted to believe good people who have been led in to a lye by some other good people just because they desire to believe it, or they know it is false but their ego wont allow them to let it go. Anything that is unknown to us is a mystery, and it is so easy to speculate with things that are difficult or impossible to prove.

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9. 

   jurvetson

   Sep 14, 2009 at 10:29 pm

   Not at all… good reading after taking a sip of the Mikstuur…

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10. 

    NYCandre

    Sep 16, 2009 at 1:28 am

    (skipping for now that interesting discussion) quick comment this photo really needs basic retouching to give it justice, it’s a good shot the bottle needs some pop to avoid being upstaged too much by the brighter drink – Quicktime as a photo retouching / organizing machine, NOT – they really are not the same as iPhoto (I guess, since i don’t use it) nor as good as the ultimate in simplicity and power (in my opinion) as Google’s free Picasa.
    (oh , yes Picasa was finally made available for Macs earlier this year)

    Really easy to retouch this photo with two sliders, and simple to organize locally too with tags. Small price to pay, have to be careful to resist the temptation to install Google’s desktop search etc.

    (Feel free to replace your photo if you wish.. )

    

    Some day Canon will incorporate these in-camera enhancements, but till then it’s Picasa, also eons easier an faster than Photoshop

    PS. Time to upgrade to the G11 (also contribute to the GNP and help the GS et al pump up the S&P 500 😉 – turns out, Canon *already* has incorporated that feature in the latest G11 with "ICC":

    (from Canon’s site:)
    Intelligent Contrast Correction
    DIGIC 4 also makes possible the new i-Contrast (Intelligent Contrast Correction) system, which controls the compensation level in pixel units to brighten dark areas while leaving bright areas unchanged for better images where the main subject is dark, and more natural transition. The PowerShot G11 can even use i-Contrast in playback mode to adjust images that were shot without the setting activated.

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11. 

    jurvetson

    Sep 16, 2009 at 4:42 am

    Wow – that is so much better. Should leave the original there for comparison methinks.

    Feeding my camera habit…. I was about to get a new waterproof Canon… and noticed the new Canon S90… It even looks like a Lumix from the top, with their signature f2 – 4.9 and 28mm

    The G11 is very interesting. 1/4000 sec is plenty fast for rockets…
    1cm macro too!!

    My G9 is 12.1 MP and the G11 is 10MP.

    Finally, a step back in pixels!! I had predicted a reversal in pixel count ever since I noticed the degradation of image quality as a given camera lens & body, like the Casio Exilim, went up in pixel count for the same size sensor (less light/pixel). I would love to see a 10 MP full-sensor SLR (not using pixel skipping, but bigger pixels with a max of 10 MP shots).

    Tough choices!

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12. 

    NYCandre

    Sep 16, 2009 at 6:47 am

    Indeed – Canon did reverse the more is better trend it itself slavishly followed. And the G11 is a nice upgrade.. except that in reality there are now some *really different* choices.

    To reward the *real* innovators I’d go with the Olympus E-P1. Panasonic was shrewd enough to NOT risk anything by making their first micro 4/3 look SLR like. Then pounded on the retro but logical look of the E-P1. And now Leica has totally "legitimized" that direction further with the X1.

    The E-P1 is not perfect, but the E-P2 is bound to continue this excellent new direction. It has the cool factor written all over it too, in body stabilisation, possibility to use practically any old SLR lens with an adapter.. My heart says Oly tho right now my mind says Panny – faster autofocus etc.

    PS. re " degradation of image quality as a given camera lens & body, like the Casio Exilim, went up in pixel count for the same size sensor (less light/pixel) " :
    Turns out that with normal daylight photos (ASA 100-200) the higher pixel/ density count does turn out more resolution thanks to basic averaging S/N square root math and ongoing advances in circuitry/ algos. It should *only* be at higher ISO (800+) that image quality is visibly degraded. See "Contrary to conventional wisdom, higher resolution actually compensates for noise" from DxO at
    http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Insights/More-pixels-offset...!

    For the cognoscenti *the* P&S to have is the 4 year old 6 megapix Fuji F30 which sells nowadays used for more than the new equivalent Fuji’s. Talk about brain damaged marketing.. For small P&S my favorites are still the Fuji with Super CCD (currently F200EXR) just because they are unbeatable in low light / high ISO performance. The Canon S9 is fine too, tho a little too pedestrian to my taste – and guaranteed obsolete within 6 months. Fuji’s Super CCD’s are a more unique/ durable proposition.

    (Slightly OT) it is a dirty open secret that *in principle* all lenses should be redesigned to be simpler, considering that distortions can be dealt with in software. Some of the tech disruptive components are there already: Stanford’s Open Source Camera *and* uber geek and reality conscious French company DxO – all that is needed is a lens design company without baggage. Oh and some glue, funding, etc. With the standard digicam market pretty much saturated, these advances are happening faster with the ubiquitous cellphone cams.

    And right now one can already get better results with Canon’s inexpensive but high quality fisheye 2.8 lens corrected with DxO than with the far more expensive L ultrawide Canon lenses (!!!).

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13. 

    jim.windle

    Sep 17, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    Ever read the label on a bottle Angostura Bitters? The claims sound pretty similar. I hope the pristine forests weren’t near Sillamae where the Soviets mined oil shale for its uranium content for a while and built a facility for refining imported uranium ore.

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14. 

    NYCandre

    Sep 17, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    The label now has an added note " Guaranteed to make you glow especially in the dark"

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15. 

    NewsFromYalta

    Sep 25, 2009 at 2:25 pm

    where in tallinn did you buy it? haven’t seen it around but would love to get my hands on this stuff.

    Reply
16. 

    jurvetson

    Sep 28, 2009 at 3:58 am

    a street vendor near the lookout over vana Tallinn

    Reply
17. 

    distributorherbalmurah

    Mar 22, 2015 at 6:20 pm

    How to become a distributor herbal

    Reply