Juxtaposition

I was bummed that he didn't come to Seattle on his tour, but I'll enjoy listening to the mp3 of his appearance in Silicon Valley.

Who Has Time For This?: Silicon Valley Loves Richard Dawkins

Posted by at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Plus recommendations on where to, and where not to, use them, based on the best use of the technology for the money without excessive wear on the lamps.

What C.F. Lamps to Use Where

Posted by at 9:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Financial and ecological consequences by delaying the inevitable though.

Think Progress » GLOBAL WARMING REPORT: Right-Wing Fiction vs. Economic Reality

Posted by at 7:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Crooks and Liars: White House Bars Hurricane Report

More in the front on the War on Science. Ugh.

Posted by at 6:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Atheist Ethicist: Well Founded Beliefs

Great treatise on how the inability for people to properly reason (I called it Illogicacy here after Innumeracy) leads them to make terrible mistakes that result in harm to others, often worse than those that society often feels harm society most.

This blog is really, really excellent, BTW. Really makes you think. Sometimes just think that you would have never come up with that or could never have expressed that so logically and eloquently.

Posted by at 7:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Technology Review: Cheap Drinking Water from the Ocean

A water desalination system using carbon nanotube-based membranes could significantly reduce the cost of purifying water from the ocean. The technology could potentially provide a solution to water shortages both in the United States, where populations are expected to soar in areas with few freshwater sources, and worldwide, where a lack of clean water is a major cause of disease.

Posted by at 6:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Think Progress: Sen. Inhofe: ‘Gore Is Full of Crap,’ ‘All Recent Science…Confirms This Thing Is A Hoax’

Wanker.

Posted by at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment

Here is why Bush's position is a joke: Thousands and thousands of embryos are destroyed every year in fertility clinics. They are created in petri dishes as part of fertility treatments like IVF; then they are discarded.

Exactly. It's half-assed ridiculous pandering to anti-science, life-regardless-of-the-quality-of-life religious zealots.

Posted by at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hat tip to my friend Kris who discovered this. I captured it for posterity:

In-Accu-Weather

Posted by at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wired News: Faked Research Results on Rise?

Chris Pascal, director of the federal Office of Research Integrity, said its 28 staffers and $7 million annual budget haven't kept pace with the allegations. The result: Only 23 cases were closed last year. Of those, eight individuals were found guilty of research misconduct. In the past 15 years, the office has confirmed about 185 cases of scientific misconduct.

A great recommended read is False Prophets: Fraud and Error in Science and Medicine which reviews several recorded cases of research fraud.

Posted by at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Wired News: Worst Tech Moments 2005

Not sure I entirely agree with all of these. Looks like Bush will make the 2006 list several more times given the additional illegal spying uncovered so far. A summary of the list:

• TiVo boxes betray their owners
• Commerce Department blocks .xxx domain
• PayPal blocks Katrina aid
• Space shuttle Discovery
• Bush corrupts the NSA

Here are some items that I predict for the 2006 list:

• Senator Ted Stevens': The Internet is a series of tubes
• Senator Inhofe, Charman of the Environment and Public Works committee, global warming is the greatest hoax ever
• Rewriting The Science, Scientist Says Politicians Edit Global Warming Research - CBS News
• Bush Administration: Generally anti-science (ideology trumps science/facts)

I'm sure there are many others. These were off the top of my head.

Posted by at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Stephen Hawking asked a great question: Yahoo! Answers - How can the human race survive the next hundred years?

He also made the news recently after a speech in China where he mentioned that he liked Chinese women The Daily Show had lots of fun with that, especially the longing look he appears to be giving the woman standing next to him.

Posted by at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Who Has Time For This?: CREATED BY A SCHOOL TEACHER!!!!!

Perfect real-life case of a company using deceit and faulty arguments to convince the public.  Too bad the FDA doesn't take a more active role in investigating these kinds of products and claims.  The placebo effect also makes people more apt to believe these products work.

Posted by at 10:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Boing Boing: Exact change wallet card

The answer is very cool (only 10 coins):

• 3 Quarters
• 1 dime
• 2 nickels
• 4 pennies

Posted by at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New Scientist News - Print me a heart and a set of arteries

This is so cool. Maybe we're not too far from the Star Trek

Posted by at 6:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Boing Boing: Prayer won't heal ya

A new scientific study shows that prayer didn't seem to help patients who underwent bypass surgery. In fact, some of the people who were prayed for did worse. The results of the study of more than 1,800 patients were published in the American Heart Journal.

So all the sports teams should think twice about relying on prayer to get to the championship. And think twice about god miraculously saving you. Evidence that things may just "happen" without divine intervention.

Posted by at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Panda painted onto single hair

Unbelievable.

Posted by at 5:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Adventures from the Technology Underground : Catapults, Pulsejets, Rail Guns, Flamethrowers, Tesla Coils, Air Cannons, and the Garage Warriors Who Love Them: Explore similar items

Mythbusters, except encouraging "do try this at home". Will have to get this book.

Posted by at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Science Toys

Make toys at home with common household materials, often in only a few minutes, that demonstrate fascinating scientific principles.

Hours and hours of fun just _reading_ about what you can build.

I've built a couple of the things on the site before. Will have to dig up some of my electronics stuff from the basement!

Posted by at 10:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Atmospheric Optics

Very beautiful photographs and explanations of optical effects in nature.

I never knew there was a "fogbow"

Posted by at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

WorldNetDaily: Paraplegic breakthrough using adult stem cells

This is truly great news and will be even better if it holds up to peer review and brings about additional breakthroughs. It is proof positive of a couple of things:

• The critical importance of stem cell research of all kinds for treating serious afflictions and diseases. The research here was done using adult stem cells, but embryonic stem cell research may hold even more promise for finding cures in general.
• The fact that this breakthrough came from outside the US is a warning of the failure of the US policy on stem cell research and the republicans likening "stem cells" to abortion and creating a false stigma.

In an apparent major breakthrough, scientists in Korea report using umbilical cord blood stem cells to restore feeling and mobility to a spinal-cord injury patient.

The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cythotherapy, centered on a woman had been a paraplegic 19 years due to an accident.

After an infusion of umbilical cord blood stem cells, stunning results were recorded:

"The patient could move her hips and feel her hip skin on day 15 after transplantation. On day 25 after transplantation her feet responded to stimulation."

Posted by at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Butterfly wings work like LEDs

When scientists developed an efficient device for emitting light, they hadn't realised butterflies have been using the same method for 30 million years.

Posted by at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hubble & Spitzer Space Telescopes on Yahoo! News Photos

Beautiful, wonderous, cool stuff.

This undated infrared image captured by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, released by NASA on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005, shows colossal pillars of cool gas and dust that provide scientists with an intimate look at the star-forming process. The image reflects a region in space known as W5, in the constellation Cassiopeia 7,000 light years away, which is dominated by a single massive star. (AP Photo/NASA, JPL, CalTech)

Posted by at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. - Sex And Happiness: What's The Connection?

If I had to choose, I'd choose more sex over wealth even before reading about this study :-)

In a recent preliminary and unpublished study, "Money, Sex, and Happiness," researchers from Dartmouth College and Warwick University (UK) found that people who consider themselves happiest are those who are having the most sex. The study does not claim that having sex causes happiness or vice versa. But of the 16,000 people in the research sample, happiness was associated with sex for both women and men and people under and over the age of 40. And despite the notion that money can buy happiness, researchers found little — if any — connection between increased wealth and long-term happiness.

Posted by at 9:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Teleportation -- Facts, Info, and Encyclopedia article

Teleportation, or teletransportation, is the process of moving objects (or more likely with present techniques, (A particle that is less complex than an atom; regarded as constituents of all matter) elementary particles) from one place to another by encoding information about the object, transmitting the information to another place, such as on a (A communication system based on broadcasting electromagnetic waves) radio signal, and creating a copy of the original object in the new location. The notion of teleportation was first conceived in the course of the Golden Age of (Click link for more info and facts about 20th century) 20th century (Literary fantasy involving the imagined impact of science on society) science fiction (Creative writing of recognized artistic value) literature by authors who considered necessary a form of on-the-spot intangible conveyance tools to hold up the narratives of their tales.

Posted by at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This site has a great overview of Bayesian statistics (the basis for bogofilter , why my email is still useful). Also look for information on common misinterpretations of statistics and statistical error rationale for why lie detector tests are less than useful.

cause, chance and Bayesian statistics: a briefing document

Posted by at 8:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This calculator for the lethal dose (toxicity) for caffeine reminded me that even water has an LD50 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LD50

Intraperitoneal Mouse LD50 (for water): 190 g/kg
Intravenous Mouse LD50 (for water): 25g/kg

The alt.drugs FAQ has info too on LD50

Posted by at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Very interesting.

Genetic flaw leaves felines without sweet tooth

Now, there's a scientific theory explaining, at least in part, why cats have such snobby eating habits: genetics.

Researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and their collaborators said Sunday they found a dysfunctional feline gene that probably prevents cats from tasting sweets, a sensation nearly every other mammal on the planet experiences to varying degrees.

Posted by at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Telegraph | News

How do homing pigeons navigate? They follow roads By Caroline Davies (Filed: 05/02/2004)

Researchers have cracked the puzzle of how pigeons find their way home: they just follow the main roads.

Zoologists now believe the phrase "as the crow flies" no longer means the shortest most direct route between two points. They say it is likely that crows and other diurnal birds also choose AA-suggested routes, even though it makes their journeys longer.

Posted by at 7:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Pandagon: A compromise I can really stand behind

This is a great idea. A lot of adult stem cell treatments may now or in the future benefit from embryonic stem cell research so these foes better hope they or their family members never get Leukemia...

In-vitro fertilization generates hundreds of thousands of embryos that are simply stored or destroyed for no gain. It is ridiculous to not allow the use of these to further cures for diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

The majority of the country cares about science and progress and healing.

Posted by at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)

An Index to Creationist Claims

An online Index to Creationist Claims that debunks many of them, with references.

Posted by at 3:26 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)