Uncategorized
gregladen | December 21, 2010
Looking at Landesberg's tvography and filmography, I note that there must be an entire genre he was big in that I am utterly unaware of. But I did watch Barney Miller, and he was good in it as the Edgy Skeptic with Quirks. Was he the first intellectual cop in the modern era of US based TV crime and cop shows? Imma say he was.
esiegel | December 21, 2010"Equipped with his five senses, man explores the Universe around him and calls the adventure Science." -Edwin Hubble
I promised you, this week, we'd be taking a look at the power of the Hubble Space Telescope. Yesterday, we looked at Eta Carinae, but today, I decided to look a little farther. Have a listen to a little classic Pink Floyd as a treat today, and their hit,
Have a Cigar.
Sketch credit: Patrick Van Beeck.
Yes, I know Hubble was a pipe man, but I'm talking about the Cigar Galaxy, otherwise known as M82. Visible with a small telescope or even good binoculars, M82 has been studied…
gregladen | December 20, 2010The person who never seems to be able to operate, or be happy with, these modern digital cameras. The person who more often says "Oh, I'm so upset, I couldn't get a picture of that because this damn camera never works right" or the person who goes to take a shot but then quietly puts the camera away realizing it's full and remembering that one does not quite know what one does when the camera is full. And so on.
I know a number of people who are utterly incapable of using a digital camera, even though those same people are highly intelligent, flexible, and able to easily do things that…
stoat | December 20, 2010#2 in the Is A Tosser series, begun by Andrew Marr. But Boris is a bigger tosser because - hard to believe I know, but there are really no limits to some people's credulousness - he takes Piers Corbyn's predictions of a new ice age seriously.
Boris hedges his bets, of course: Is he barmy? he asks (errr, try asking anyone who has attended a scientific meeting at which Piers has turned up to ask a "question" which actually turns into a long exposition of his theory). Then Boris gets hideously snarled up trying to have it both ways Nothing he says, to my mind, disproves the view of the…
gregladen | December 20, 2010Move On Dot Org will be transferring funds to various non-profits, or otherwise be supporting them. Unfortunately, I don't think Moveon has a rule against religious non-profis. But I do, and so do you. Please suggest a non-profit or two for me to nominate. If you area member of moveon as well, you can do this too.
Here are the guidelines:
Nominated organizations must be non-profit groups focused on causes, consequences, and solutions relating to the economic crisis. They may provide direct services such as homeless assistance, jobless help, child services, food assistance, etc., or they…
gregladen | December 20, 2010(If you're mailing your presents and don't want to spend an arm and a leg.)
As part of my annual service to my readers who can't think of what to give to those friends and relatives who insist on exchanging gifts this time every year, I present two categories of goodies, cheap and not so cheap. For additional ideas see these posts.
Cheap but cool:
A tiny tripod. I love my tiny tripod. I've taken it around the world with me, and I keep it in my car at all times, just in case. I don't use it that often, but when I do, it makes me very happy. The one I use is some version of the Pedco…
sastyk | December 20, 2010I broke my little toe this weekend, which I mention because while it is completely unimportant (the only things you can do about broken toes is tape and whine, I'm good at both ;-)), I'm using it as an excuse to take some time off this week and post lightly over the next couple. Don't ask me to explain how a broken toe affects my ability to type, or why I'm using it as an excuse to spend more time on my feet baking cookies and cleaning house instead of sitting quietly at the computer. It makes no sense, but after a busy, hectic first half of the month, i figure the majority of my readership…
gregladen | December 19, 2010A friend of mine has asked me to spread the word that we are looking for a missing person, Joe Sjoberg (pronounced Show-Berg). He is probably in the upper Midwest somewhere.
MISSING: JOE SJOBERG from MADISON, WI
ARTICLE IN THE ATLANTIC:HERE
FROM JOE'S BROTHER:
Right now the last true piece of evidence had him in Madison, but we've heard of car sightings in Minnesota.
Its likely he's in Wisconsin but he could be anywhere as he's been missing for almost a week. If you're in the MN-WI Area Please Print This Flyer and Post It Around: http://bit.ly/gQ4BtJ
Joe Sjoberg (pronounced: SHOW-BERG…
tlambert | December 19, 2010S. Fred Singer isn't pleased with Merchants of Doubt, so tries to play gotcha!:
Oreskes' and Conway's science is as poor as their historical expertise. To cite just one example, their book blames lung cancer from cigarette smoking on the radioactive oxygen-15 isotope. They cannot explain, of course, how O-15 gets into cigarettes, or how it is created. They seem to be unaware that its half-life is only 122 seconds. In other words, they have no clue about the science, and apparently, they assume that the burning of tobacco creates isotopes -- a remarkable discovery worthy of alchemists.…
gregladen | December 17, 2010Below the fold. Ten points if you can identify the significance of the law firm mentioned in this recently released video.
Hat tip Cain
gregladen | December 17, 2010As I'm sitting here ordering things on line and last minute for people's Christmas presents (there, I said Christmas. Take THAT Bill O'Really!) I thought I'd make a few suggestions for my readers.
For the K-6 age scientist:
The 7-Function Binoculars For Kids An inexpensive science trans-formative toy, the "Binoculars for Kids" which also transform into a microscope, magnifying glass (good for observing bugs, starting little fires, or both at the same time), includes a compass, and a signal mirror to warn off the helicopters.
This cool Head Light, again for kids but actually quiet…
gregladen | December 17, 2010And may I take this opportunity to note that, with respect to the Justice Department's defense of DADT over recent months, Barney Frank, Barack Obama, and I are in complete agreement.
drorzel | December 17, 2010
Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » QCut
"Let me end this post with a request: I want all of my readers to visit the YouCut page, and propose that quantum computing and theoretical computer science research be completely eliminated. Here's my own CAREER Award; go ahead and cite it by number as a particularly egregious example of government waste.
See, I'm hungry for the honor (not to mention the free publicity) of seeing my own favorite research topics attacked on the floor of the House. As we all know, it's child's play to make fun of theoretical computer science: its abstruseness, its…
gregladen | December 16, 2010A repost, of sorts:
I am amazed at the giddiness amongst Christian Fundamentalists that has fomented from the mere utterance of a holiday greeting by Richard Dawkins. The counter-insurgents in the War on Christmas ... the Red White and Blue, squeaky-faced smirking shits that call themselves commentators or preachers are creaming in their jeans. But they are also stepping over the line, and I'm calling them on it.
Read the rest here
mspringer | December 16, 2010All right, I'm gonna delay the next installment of the quantum bouncing ball for a brief diversion. I have a friend who's also a physics grad student, and he suggested that we along with a few other fellow students form a yet-to-be-named unofficial club whose raison d'etre is to get together every few weeks and do interesting Mythbusters-style science for no good scientific reason. After all, we are fortunate enough to be surrounded by expensive cutting edge equipment and brilliant people, and we should have some scientifically interesting fun.
One suggestion for something we might try was…
gregladen | December 15, 2010This is the day, in 1890, that Sitting Bull died. He was fatally shot by two tribal police officers while being arrested in order to keep him from influencing an ensuing Native American movement that threatened the Great White Father (Benjamin Harrison at the time). He is probably most famous for his role in the defeat of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer in the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876, but he was a prominant member of the Lakota (Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux) community for his entire life, recognized as an important shaman.
Image from the Smithsonian