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Some Thoughts About the WWF Energy Study, Nuclear Power, and Urbanization

By way of Digby, we come across this proposal of how to reach 95% percent renewable energy by 2050. Before I get to some of the issue I have with the study (which is actually pretty good), I want to lay out my general views on energy use. First, I'm not a 'fan' of nuclear power. While thorium-powered reactors would be a vast improvement over traditional reactors (and newer designs regardless of energy source would fail much more safely compared to older ones), even thorium isn't perfect. But what's really stupid are all of the calls for immediately stopping the use of nuclear power. (…

Fish drowning in stupid: GMOs and retroviruses collide!

Can anyone name one anti-GMOer thats not a self-indulgent, arrogant moron? Google News alerted me to this breathless expose by an Anne Hart: "Why farmed fish are genetically altered for faster growth with a carrier retrovirus" Now, for some reason I can only get this article via Google cache. Hopefully this means some editor pulled this article because its so mind numbingly stupid/arrogant/shrill. But somehow I doubt that. Frequent readers of ERV could probably fix Harts 'errors' themselves, at this point, but Imagonna do it anyway :) First, lets get this basic fact out of the way. Raving…

Not-so-self-correcting science: the hard way, the easy way, and the easiest way

Two recent events put in stark relief the differences between the old way of doing things and the new way of doing things. What am I talking about? The changing world of science publishing, of course. Let me introduce the two examples first, and make some of my comments at the end. Example 1. Publishing a Comment about a journal article My SciBling Steinn brought to our collective attention a horrific case of a scientist who spent a year fighting against the editors of a journal, trying to have a Comment published about a paper that was, in his view, erroneous (for the sake of the argument it…

My picks from ScienceDaily

Lots of cool stuff today: Nature Could Have Used Different Protein Building Blocks, Chemists Show: Chemists at Yale have done what Mother Nature chose not to -- make a protein-like molecule out of non-natural building blocks, according to a report featured early online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Nature uses alpha-amino acid building blocks to assemble the proteins that make life as we know it possible. Chemists at Yale now report evidence that nature could have used a different building block -- beta-amino acids -- and show that peptides assembled from beta-amino acids…

Maricopa, AZ, and the Definition of Big Sh-tpile

If you want to know what a housing bubble is, you only need look at Maricopa, AZ: In 2005, her husband, Zachary Campbell, accepted a transfer from San Diego to Phoenix to manage a recreational-vehicle store. For the first time, the Campbells figured, they could afford their own home, though that meant moving to Maricopa, about 20 miles from Mr. Campbell's store. They scraped together a $50,000 down payment to buy a new four-bedroom home in Maricopa, for $250,000. It came with black granite countertops, cherry kitchen cabinets and a pool in back. Today, Ms. Campbell figures, the home is worth…

Beer and Science 2

One Thursday evening near the end of July, people sitting outside a local ice cream parlor watched a neurobiology Ph.D. student wave his hand in front of his face in imitation of a robot learning to sense itself as separate from its surroundings. Despite the trains arriving at the station in the background and the microphone feedback from a rival talk at an outdoor coffee shop across the plaza, the audience was engrossed in hearing how this simple robot, mostly built of Lego and a camera, is able to explore its environment in the same way a baby does. All across the city of Rehovot,…

Another New Blog

There is a new blog on the block that may prove interesting, Letters from Babylon. It's a group blog and it will likely offer a relatively conservative Christian view of things. One of the contributors is Joshua Davey, who was the litigant in the Locke v Davey Supreme Court decision from the current term. This was the case that upheld a Washington law that gave academic scholarships to qualified students, but forbid them from using them to study theology. Joshua was originally going to study theology, but ended up changing his mind and he is now attending Harvard Law School. Though I am…

Quantum Measurement Lotto

Thoreau at Unqualified Offerings gets credit for inspiring two posts today with his proposed Murphy's Law experiment and this one, about an unrelated issue in quantum measurement. This is an analogy suggested by a colleague a couple of years ago, comparing the projection of a quantum wavefunction in the measurement process to the lottery. The classic example of this problem is something like the double slit experiment with single particles. You have some position-sensitive detector that we can imagine as being made up of a large number of pixels, each having some probability of detecting a…

Highlights from ScienceOnline2010 - From Blog to Book

This past weekend I was in Durham, North Carolina (my old stomping grounds) attending the annual ScienceOnline Conference that focuses on science communication in the digital age. I am pleased to report that Anton and Bora have built on their previous successes to accomplish something rare for a conference: it was both relevant and refreshingly innovative. In the next few posts I will highlight some of the workshops I attended and what the important message I got from the panelists involved: 1. From Blog to Book: Using Blogs and Social Networks to Develop Your Professional Writing (…

John Edwards: Environmental champion or dupe?

You've got to hand it to John Edwards. He's always trying to do the right thing, or at least appear to be doing the right thing. Last week he announced that his campaign for the White House will be a sustainable one, through the use of the latest fad in environmental circles: carbon offsets. It's a nice idea in theory -- facing the reality that one can't tour the country without producing significant amounts of greehouse gases, he's going to pay someone else to compensate for his emissions. But I've never been too enamored of the idea, and last week one of my favorite science journalists,…

Kurzweil still doesn't understand the brain

Ray Kurzweil has responded to my criticisim of futurist fortune-telling. It really just compounds the problems, though, and gullible people who love Ray will think he's answered me, while skeptical people who see through his hocus-pocus will be unimpressed. It's kind of pointless to reply again, but here goes. His first point is silly. For starters, I said that we would be able to reverse-engineer the brain sufficiently to understand its basic principles of operation within two decades, not one decade, as Myers reports. I don't care. I didn't make an issue of his timescale in the first place…

How Do You Prepare For The Unimaginable?

I've been reading a lot of Casaubon's Book lately. I usually come away from it feeling like I ought to convince Mr. Z to move back to southwestern PA with me so the two of us can become gentleman farmers and live sustainably after peak oil - maybe we can live out our days in mom's house and garden in the backyard, as my grandfather used to, or buy some nice cheap land out in the countryside in Greene County, and I'll raise chickens, and maybe we'll even have goats, or... I think FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!!!!!! we are all so fucking SCREWED!!!!!!!!! Even those crazy ass folks who are moving out…

A great gesture on the part of pharmaceutical companies indeedâ¦

By Lindsey Realmuto As of January 1, 2009 we can all rest assured that pharmaceutical companies may voluntarily stop barraging our physicians and nurses with free mugs, pens, and trinkets carrying drug logos. PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry trade group, has updated their industry marketing guidelines, and the companies that choose to comply with them will stop giving free logoed items to prescribers. Thank goodness! Now I feel safe that my doctor is free from the shackles of industry influence. Returning to reality, what we as patients and consumers should be more concerned about is how…

In the Forest Kitchen Garden

Permaculture books telling you how to grow things abound.   They are many, varied and wonderful.  For some reason, however, permaculture books telling you how to EAT what you grow in interesting, creative and delicious ways are not, in fact, very abundant.   This is a pretty serious gap, given that in many cases, it is actually easier for people to take up gardening than it is to fully figure out what to do with the abundance of things they produce.  While most of us know what to do with an occasional handful of kale or greenbeans, the culinary education (poor and limited) of most of us just…

Can We Repair or Transform the Science-Ecology-Agriculture Nexus? (Part 2 with Chris Henke)

Pt. I | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 --- Part 2 with Christopher Henke, discussing his book Cultivating Science, Harvesting Power, follows below. All entries in the author-meets-blogger series can be found here. WF: Now I can get back to the interpretive framework and your own concepts when understanding your empirical evidence. "Repair" is a guiding framework for you here, a way of approaching, understanding, and explaining your research findings. So what do you mean, repair? CH: We use the term repair in everyday life to describe the process of fixing things---sociologists use repair as a…

Job Posting: Science Librarian, York University Libraries

Come work instead of me! Below is a posting for a 3-year contractually limited appointment in my unit. I'm chair of the search committee, so feel free to ask away with any questions about the position. I'll answer them to the best of my ability given the limitations of being on the committee. As it happens, I'll no longer be the department head of Steacie Science & Engineering Library during the three year period of the appointment. For the first year, the successful candidate will be replacing me while I do a one-year acting Associate University Librarian appointment. The second year, I'…

Job Posting: Science Librarian, York University Libraries

Come work instead of me! Below is a posting for a 3-year contractually limited appointment in my unit. I'm chair of the search committee, so feel free to ask away with any questions about the position. I'll answer them to the best of my ability given the limitations of being on the committee. As it happens, I'll no longer be the department head of Steacie Science & Engineering Library during the three year period of the appointment. For the first year, the successful candidate will be replacing me while I do a one-year acting Associate University Librarian appointment. The second year…

Science In School

The fourth issue of Science In School online magazine is out. It is full of cool articles. Let me just point out a couple: Eva Amsen wrote about Science Fairs. There is a nice review of Kreitzman & Foster's book Rhythms of Life: The Biological Clocks That Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing. Finally, how to use the movie 'Erin Brokovich' to teach about chemistry and environment.

Darwin 200

A few of us wild and crazy evo people, including Richard Dawkins, wrote up pieces for an issue of the BBC Focus magazine. You'll find me arguing with Steve Jones about whether evolution has stopped, Richard Lenski is highlighted, and Carl Zimmer makes an appearance. If you've got a flash player, you can read it online right now. It's pretty good stuff, if I do say so myself.

Patrick McGoohan, Creator of The Prisoner, Dead at 80

"All that remains is . . . recognition of a man." Patrick McGoohan, the creator of one of my favorite television series, The Prisoner, has died at 80. The Prisoner was a challenging and entertaining series that explored civil liberties, privacy, individuality, and democracy. My favorite episodes were Free for All and A Change of Mind. The good news is that these and all the other episodes are available online free at AMC.

Help Save Serbia's #1 Science Blog

Remember the threat of closing the KOBSON blog? Well, Danica was a brave warrior for Open Science and published an article about this at a much more prominent place: on Global Voices Online. While this may not be an immediate positive move for Danica's own career, it is a good move towards persuading the powers-that-be in Serbia that the way forward is towards more openness, not the opposite.

There is nothing I like doing more than herding cats!

Business customers and children can be tough to manage online, but can you imagine managing scientists! They are already hard enough to satisfy in their native environment offline (e.g., to look beyond the usual metrics when awarding tenure). I know, I am making links in this post so cryptic, you'll just have to click to see what on Earth I am talking about and make your own connections...

How Logical Are You?

tags: logical, online quiz You Are Incredibly Logical Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic You think rationally, clearly, and quickly. A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer! How Logical Are You? The one thing that bothered me about this quiz is that it didn't say how many I got correct. I assume I got all of the answers correct, though. How about you?

What European City Do You Belong in?

You Belong in Dublin Friendly and down to earth, you want to enjoy Europe without snobbery or pretensions. You're the perfect person to go wild on a pub crawl... or enjoy a quiet bike ride through the old part of town. What European City Do You Belong In? What's your city? My other city (depending upon how I answered question 5) was Amsterdam. tags: online quiz

Are You an Idiot?

I am 13% Idiot. I am not annoying at all. In fact most people come to me for advice. Of course they annoy the hell out of me. But what can I do? I am smarter than most people. Take theIdiot Test@ FualiDotCom What was your score? And I want to know how I managed to score 13%? Was it because I answered "yes" to those Kurt Vonnegut questions? tags: online quiz

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

You Passed the US Citizenship Test Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct! Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test? How did you do? I almost missed one of the questions (more below the fold) Question 5; the year that the Constitution was written was .. 1787, but I went back and forth between that date and 1786. I finally just guessed that it was 1787. tags: online quiz

Let us know how was ScienceOnline2010 for you

If you have participated in ScienceOnline2010 (including virtually), please let us know the good and the bad about it and help us make the next year's event even better. Just go to this online form and fill it. Give us details. Every year we carefully study your responses and incorporate much of your ideas and critiques in the planning for the next event. Thanks

Sarah Palin: Dumber than a rock

tags: Sarah Palin, politics, satire, humor, streaming video Sarah Palin has such a good idea to put the federal checkbook online -- it's such a good idea that Coburn (R), Obama (D) and McCain (R) already beat her to it .. in 2006. Like, duh! But I shouldn't criticize Sarah because she gives hope to all brain dead poodles that they too, may one day become vice president. [0:53]

Anthro Blog Carnival

The ninety-sixth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Testimony of the Spade. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! The next vacant hosting slot is already on 4 August 21 July. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.

Swedish Heritage Blog

The Swedish State Board of National Antiquities, Riksantikvarieämbetet, has been putting more and more useful things on-line in the past few years. The most recent addition is a blog in Swedish, K-bloggen, where a number of Aard readers and buddies of mine are writing some interesting stuff. Go, see, comment, learn the Swedish word for cultural resource management! Say after me please: "cull-TOUR-mil-yur-VOARD".

Kaga Foil-Figure Pre-Print On-Line

I'm proof-reading pdf files of Fornvännen's summer issue, including a note I've written about the Kaga foil-figure die. It's full of ugly hyphenations, but contentwise it's OK. So I've put the file on-line here for all you guldgubbar fans. Update 21 April '08: And here's the final printed version. [More blog entries about archaeology, Sweden, darkages, vendelperiod; arkeologi, vendeltiden, Östergötland, Linköping.]

You Are Likely to Be Eaten by a Grue

Of special interest to Nathan, evidence that the process of dissertation writing is the same across disciplines: > work on dissertation You spend three hours reading five articles which have nothing to do with the dissertation. > work on dissertation You spend twenty minutes online reading about baseball. > tear out hair Taken. You find the Elvish sword. (Today's a Lab Day, so you're mostly getting silly posts...)

American Atheists all over the place

The American Atheists conference will be in Minneapolis on 21-23 March, and yes! The registration information is now online! I'll be there, let's see lots of others there, too. If you want more details, besides the info on the web, Ellen Johnson, president of American Atheists, will be the featured guest on Atheist Talk on Air America Sunday at 9am. Tune in!

An Amazing Infographic on Coffee

Your morning caffeine fix is but a drop in the global bucket that makes coffee the number two most traded commodity in the world after petroleum. But with 100 million Americans like you drinking coffee every day, the bucket easily overflows to make the US the world’s top coffee consumer... Courtesy of: Online Finance News by Financesonline.com Click on the graphic to visit the source.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The thirtieth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at The Greenbelt. Archaeology and anthropology to satisfy even the most demanding of connoisseurs! While I'm at it, Dear Reader, let me ask you to please send me some good archaeological photographs or drawings, with a brief explanation of what they show, to be published here on Aard. Fame and link love can be yours!

Anthro Blog Carnival

The twenty-sixth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at The Primate Diaries. Archaeology and anthropology to rusticate your masonry and bevel your edges until your mind dissolves in bliss. The next open hosting slot is on 5 December. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me. No need to be an anthro pro -- come as you are.

Gold Bracteate Paper On-Line

Back in August, I blogged about a paper I'd written on the chronology and iconography of Migration Period gold bracteates. It was published around the New Year and is now also available on-line in English. Please tell me what you think! Rundkvist, Martin. 2006. Notes on Axboe's and Malmer's gold bracteate chronologies. Fornvännen 2006:5. KVHAA. Stockholm. [More blog entries about archaeology, migrationperiod, Sweden, Denmark; arkeologi, folkvandringstiden, Danmark.]

Anthro Blog Carnival

The seventy-fifth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Ad hominin. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is on 7 October. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The seventy-fourth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Natures/Cultures. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is on 23 September. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The sixty-fourth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Quiche Moraine. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is on 6 May. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The sixty-first Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at the Moore Group Blog. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is on 25 March. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The sixtieth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Middle Savagery. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is on 11 March. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The fifty-ninth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at A Very Remote Period Indeed. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is on 11 March. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The fifty-fourth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Moneduloides. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is on 17 December. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. No need to be an anthro pro.

Radio Reminder

Just a reminder for anyone who is interested in listening, I'll be appearing on the Jim Babka show, Culture Repair, at 5 pm eastern time to debate the 14th amendment with Herb Titus, former dean of the Regent University Law School. To listen online, click here. High quality streaming is available with a subscription, and lower grade streaming is available for free on channels 1 and 2.

On the Move

I am in the middle of moving today, getting ready to dismantle my computer and move it to the new house. Phones and internet are scheduled to be hooked up sometime tomorrow, so I should be back online by evening tomorrow. In the meantime, I've got a few posts scheduled to go up tomorrow morning for your entertainment. Try not to trash the place while I'm gone.

Science Journalism Awards

Via EurekAlert, the American Association for the Advnacement of Science has announced the 2006 winners of their science journalism awards. Most of the written pieces are available online, so if you're looking for science-y things to read, this could be a good source of material. None of the winners are bloggers, and there's no blogging category. I guess it's Advantage: MSM! For the moment, at least...

“Dolphins used to look like humans and lived in Atlantis”

While the Weekly World News may be on the verge of extinction (although it still seems to be surviving online), at least Pravda labors on to deliver the truth… Recent studies of Australian scientists indicate that Atlanteans, the people who lived on a legendary island first mentioned by Plato, may have been the ancestors of dolphins. Huh. Like we're supposed to believe a bunch of Australians.

Most new species are insects

Taxonomists are busy, busy people. Their efforts in the year 2006 have just been released by Arizona State University's Institute for Species Exploration. Within insects, here's the breakdown by order: The Institute has also compiled a whimsical "Top Ten" list of their favorite new species. source: International Institute for Species Exploration. 2008. The Status of Observed Species Report 2008. online at http://species.asu.edu/pdf/sos.pdf

A request

Does any reader have a scan of this picture of William Butler Yeats? I've seen it on some versions of the complete works of Yeats, but the only version I can find online via GIS is 404ing and is small (~300x300). Also, does anyone know the providence of the photo? Email me at john dot lynch at gmail dot com if you have any leads. Thanks.