Uncategorized
tlambert | February 12, 2010Looks like they are going to show video of the debate at Saturday 11.22pm AEDT, and Sunday 3.39pm 10.01pm AEDT on A-PAC. You can watch here.
gregladen | February 12, 2010You remember the Summer Olympics in China. And now you are enjoying the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. But let us never forget the Fall Olumpics:
jwilbanks | February 12, 2010Getting ready to head up to Tech4Society's final day. I'm on a panel called the tipping point, about how to scale social entrepreneurial success beyond a local region or state. My instinct is to say "pack your suitcase and start traveling" but that's not very helpful. Even if it's how I have been approaching the problem.
Yesterday I wasn't on a panel. It was a good moment to do some listening. I sat in on a few panels, but was most moved by the trends in Africa session. In other trends panels, the trends were things like "open source" - positive trends. In Africa it was all about how…
mspringer | February 12, 2010Recently I bought a plug-in power meter, along these lines:
It's a nice little invention to have. You can measure both instantaneous power consumption as well as total energy used. Given that and your power bill, you can see how much it costs to run a particular appliance in real time. The answer is usually "not much", since it doesn't really matter if a toaster oven uses 1500 watts but is only on for two minutes. On the other hand, a computer and monitor that use 300 watts but is on for hours ends up costing a significant amount over the course of a month.
Right now the power strip…
grrlscientist | February 12, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is almost here once more and it is still seeking submissions for Monday's edition of this blog carnival! Can you help by sending URLs for well-written blog essays to me?
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days.
The most…
gregladen | February 11, 2010Nobody read this.
Salty, my friend. I wrote the following after seeing your blog post.
Salty, it is certainly true that you are not an antisemite. I never said you were, and I never insinuated you were. I made a statement in which I suggested that some of the thing you had been saying in comments could easily look to an outsider like antisemitic comments (because of their overall form or other features). I took pains to make sure that in that statement to give clear indication (in two separate phrases) that I was talking about appearance, and that I personally did not think this.…
gregladen | February 11, 2010According to Isis. Check it out. Then come back here. I don't want you hanging out over there.
gregladen | February 11, 2010Whale Wars: Cat and Mouse Games
How to change global patterns of consumption (of seafood) Vertical Agitation in Action
Stop Japan From Killing Week: Thou Shalt Not Kill Unless It's Fast
gregladen | February 11, 2010But first a little basketball....
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Oh, by the way, the next commenter who refers to me as a "Glen Beck" is banned forever and can never by my friend. Do you understand? Good.
gregladen | February 11, 2010Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
jwilbanks | February 11, 2010I did an interview recently where the author, clearly having done some homework, called out an old quote of mine arguing that ideas aren't like widgets or screws, that they're not industrial objets.
I'd said that a long time ago, inspired by John Perry Barlow's Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace. Here's the money quote: "Your increasingly obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws, in America and elsewhere, that claim to own speech itself throughout the world. These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no more noble than pig iron…
gregladen | February 11, 2010Does "CardioFuel" (the dietary supplement) work?
Genetic research ties autism to 'trust hormone'
Placebo Effect Explained (Note: The "explanation" is rong! See this.)
cortex | February 11, 2010One of the lingering questions in decision science is the extent to which game theory - an abstract theory about how people can maximize their outcomes in simple interactions - is actually valid. It's a lovely idea, but does it actually describe human nature?
As usual, the answer depends. With few exceptions, lab tests of game theory find that real human beings sharply deviate from the predictions of game theory. We don't maximize gain, often because of misperceptions about risk. But people have actually performed better (i.e., we act like Von Neumann tells us to act) in the field. For…
gregladen | February 11, 2010How difficult is it to distinguish between knee-jerk criticisms of religions and well-reasoned arguments? I would personally state this is quite simple by looking at the premises of the argument, but this oversimplifies a very complex issue....
Explore Atheistic Aggression at Mors dei.
ddobbs | February 11, 2010
Sources of subsidy in the production of news: a list
I was asked to speak recently at a conference organized by Yale University with the title âJournalism & The New Media Ecology: Who Will Pay The Messenger?â This irritated me. The question should have been âwho will subsidize news production?â because news production has always been subsidized by someone or something. Very rarely have users paid directly the costs of editorial production.
via jayrosen.tumblr.com
At the recent Rebooting Science Journalism talk at ScienceOnline 2010 (and in posts here) I expressed optimism that…
pharyngula | February 11, 2010I have to say that my opinion of Iowa has gone up in my short visit here. Not only have Iowa Democrats beaten back an attempt by Republicans to outlaw gay marriage, but the University of Northern Iowa Freethinkers and Inquirers has organized a whole Darwin week of talks — lots of talks, and all that I saw were remarkably well attended. I'm sad to say I have to drive back today, because I'd really like to hear Hector Avalos's talk tonight. If you're in the area, you should check it out.
Also, if you're near Cedar Rapids tomorrow night, you should go to the Flying Spaghetti Monster fundraiser…
illconsidered | February 10, 2010Anyone going to be in Sydney with a video camera?
I happen to be in Australia now, but Sydney is a far cry from Ulverstone...
I can't tell from the debate description if there will be any rebuttal time. If not it will be one of those kinds of debates that even Sarah Palin can look good in.
Regardless, Go Tim! : )
gregladen | February 10, 2010Scientists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine reported that mothers who had high levels of phthalates during their pregnancies were more likely to have children with poorer scores in the areas of attention, aggression and conduct.
I've not read the paper, but you may find the SciAm report of interest. Hat tip Ana.