Chatter
tfk | April 2, 2007Someone told me Muslims don't drink alcohol. Does that include beer? Maybe I need to rethink this whole Yunis Khan deal.
tfk | April 1, 2007The Discovery Institute almost fooled me with their Michael Egnor impersonation. We know the real Egnor was just testing folks like me out, and that we fell for it. My apologies to the real Dr. Egnor, I almost believed there really were people who didn't think bacteria evolved, that medicine hasn't improved since Galen, or that science has learned nothing since Linnaeus.
tfk | April 1, 2007In preparing myself for Taner Edis's presentation in two days (April 3rd, 7 pm in the Alderson theater), I've done some reading about Islamic perspectives on science.
It turns out that there's a group in Turkey called Harun Yahya. They've worked with American creationists like Ken Ham and Duane Gish, but have really improved the arguments. If Ham and Gish are the Henry Ford's of creationism, Harun Yahya is the Toyota, cheaper, higher quality, and more efficient. The fact of the matter is, I'm sold, and not just on creationism.
Part of what Harun Yahya has going for it is the way it…
tfk | March 31, 2007Via Stranger Fruit:
You scored as Justice (Fairness). Your life is guided by the concept of Fair Justice: Everyone, yourself included, should be rewarded and punished according to the help or harm they cause.
"He who does not punish evil commands it to be done."--Leonardo da Vinci
“Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”--Dwight D. Eisenhower
More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...
Justice (Fairness)
95%
Kantianism
70%
Utilitarianism
65%
Existentialism
50%…
omnibrain | March 21, 2007I started a thread on the old Omni Brain asking what the coolest name in science was. These are a few we came up with:
James Intrilligator (Psychology - vision)
Ray Jackendoff (Psychology - language)
Dr Martin S. Angst (Neuroscience - Pain)
Dr Jules Angst (Psychiatry)
There are some great names out there yet to be discovered! Share your favorites?
omnibrain | March 20, 2007It was one year ago today that I made the first post to Omni Brain. I never imagined we would do this well.
In the last year Omni Brain has undergone many many changes, the biggest of which have been Sandra of Neurofuture fame joining the blog, and moving to ScienceBlogs.
We started with not-even 3000 page views in our first full month and now receive tens of thousands of page views and visitors - which is pretty great for a smart ass little science blog! Our Technorati ranking has also grown by leaps and bounds; near 14,000 today.
Thanks everyone, for reading and for all your lively…
j7uy5 | March 19, 2007Sunday,
I drank some unusually good tea. It was green tea, mostly,
with some added ingredients: young hyson and dragonwell teas, orange
peel, peppermint leaf, jasmine flowers, lemon verbena, marigold
flowers, blue malva flowers, and pineapple flavor.
It was Revolution Tropical Green Tea. The logo has the R in a
circle. like this:
If you are curious, their website is here:
href="http://www.revolutiontea.com/index.html">http://www.revolutiontea.com/index.html
It is hard to know why I liked this tea so much. Partly, it
is because of the complexity of the flavor, and the fact that…
goodmath | March 16, 2007 One more bit of personal blogging, and then it'll be back to the math. You may have noticed
that I haven't been as active in the discussions on my posts for the last few weeks as I
would normally be. There are two reasons for that; one I've mentioned before - my father's illness.
The other is actually something good.
As of today, I'm unemployed. Briefly.
After 11 years at IBM Research, I decided to change jobs. Today was my last day working for IBM. One week from monday, I'll be starting work for Google, as a Software Engineer at their New York lab. Nothing against IBM - it was just time…
goodmath | March 15, 2007 In general, I haven't talked much about personal stuff on the blog, unless it related to
something else that I was already talking about. This post is going to be an exception to that.
There's a bit of a scienceblogs flamewar that started up, with Rob Knop, a new SBer on one
side, and a bunch of atheistic SBers on the other. I pretty much think arguments like this are a
total waste of time: Rob isn't going to convince PZ that he's not a delusional idiot for being
religious; PZ isn't going to convince Rob that he is a delusional idiot. It's all just
ranting.
But as part of it, PZ made a…
tfk | March 14, 2007Chris Mooney is on tour, and will be in KC:
Thursday, May 10, Time TBA
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
1000 E. 50th St.
Kansas City, MO 64110
* Public lecture with Matthew Nisbet of Seed's "Framing Science" blog.
Should be an interesting event.
goodmath | March 11, 2007 PZ, Bora, Orac, John, and others have all put up posts about a list of the 50 most significant Science Fiction and Fantasy works of the last fifty years. As the reigning Geek-Lord of ScienceBlogs, I figured that I had to weigh in as well. Here's the list: the one's that I've read are bold-faced.
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien.: A work of true brilliance. I have no idea how many times I've read it; all I can say is that I don't think I've gone for longer than two years without re-reading it since I first encountered it in sixth grade.
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov. :…
omnibrain | March 11, 2007Would you like to join the ScienceBlogs NCAA pool?
Do you want to try to beat your favorite bloggers?!
Email dave--at--wordmunger--dot--com for the login and password.
I don't know if there are any prizes - but perhaps we'll come up with something.
j7uy5 | March 8, 2007
This
is supposedly the earliest known octopus, being from the middle
Jurrasic, found in France. Think old.
Happy
birthday, PZ Myers!
omnibrain | March 8, 2007Well, since everyone else is doing it I guess I'll jump as well.
Do you want to be on the blog roll?? Let us know in the comments section and we might add you if you f'n rock!
One thing I won't add - personal blogs with stuff like, "I met Tommy's family today and boy was I scared at first but by the end of the day his parents were like part of my family and stuff blah blah blah" [edit by Sandra - unless you also write about the cutting edge neuroscience research Tommy and his family are doing].
Also, do you have any thoughts about this blog? Any comments? Suggestions?
tfk | March 6, 2007Via Peezee.
, you're now logged in!
Below you'll find your test result. After, continue on to your
homescreen to discover what we're about.
continue to OkCupid homescreen >
Rogue Ninja
You scored 7 Honor, 2 Justice, 6 Adventure, and 8 Individuality!
You are as quiet as the wind, deadly as a viper and you follow no master. You are a Rogue Ninja. Let no one say you are without honor, lest they meet a quiet and questionable end.
Dress as you like and keep your knives close. You'll do just fine
My test tracked…
omnibrain | March 6, 2007Do you want to read Omni Brain on your cellphone?!?!?!?!?
Yeah I knew you did.
Go to this website for the mobile version:http://winksite.com/omnibrain/blog
Every mobile site also has a Winksite ID. They are the quickest way to navigate
to a site before you have bookmarked it on your mobile phone.
Launch your mobile Web Browser and enter the URL "winksite.com".
Once at Winksite, click "Direct Access", then enter the Winksite ID
for the site you wish to visit. The Winksite ID for
"Omni Brain" is #19733.
I'm not so sure this guy gets web access on his phone - but if you have one a couple years…
tfk | March 5, 2007Tony Ortega, formerly of our own Pitch Weekly, will be the editor in chief of the Village Voice:
Ortega, 43, who started his career with New Times (now Village Voice) Media in 1995 at the Phoenix New Times, will take the reins on Cooper Square later this week, according to Village Voice Media executive editor Michael Lacey.
"It’s an incredible newspaper, an incredible opportunity, and something that I’ve dreamed about for a long time," Ortega said of the Voice editorship. "If you are in the alternative press, and you’re ambitious, that’s always the Mount Everest of the alternative world. I…
tfk | March 2, 2007Just when you thought you were done with science blogging anthologies for another year, they start taking submissions for next year's.
tfk | March 1, 2007GMail was broken today, so if you sent me any emails today, you may want to resend them.