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pharyngula | January 1, 2009This year's Edge question was What will change everything? What game-changing scientific ideas and developments do you expect to live to see? As usual, a lot of interesting people offered diverse answers, and you can read them all there.
You've probably got better answers. Feel free to leave them here in the comments.
pontiff | January 1, 2009Quantum Loonies
Alán Aspuru-Guzik
Brissie to Brizzle
Cohærence*
Complementary Slackness
David Deutsch's Blog
not exactly in focus
Physics and cake
Quantized Thoughts
Quantum Algorithms
Quantum Moxie
Quantum Quandries
rdv live from Tokyo
rose.blog
Shtetl-Optimized
we don't need no "sticking" room 408
Zeroth Order Approximation
Physics and Astronomy Propoganda
Andrew Jaffe: Leaves on the Line
Angry Physics
Arcane Gazebo
Asymptotia
atdotde
Backreaction
Cocktail Party Physics
Cosmic Variance
Dynamics of Cats
illuminating science
incoherently scattered ponderings
Information Processing
Life as…
gregladen | January 1, 2009Oldest American man dies at 112
America's oldest man, an African-American who befriended Louis Armstrong and voted for president-elect Barack Obama "because he's black," has died in Sacramento, California, his family said.
gregladen | January 1, 2009The best soccer team on the planet has just over a 1 in four chance of winning the world cup even it it makes it to the last stages of the season. I suppose this is because they play for, like, four hours and each side gets, like, zero or one points. So it's kinda like being really really good at flipping a coin. And I'm exaggerating only a little.
Or at least, that's how it is according to this blog post.
mspringer | January 1, 2009Real-life physics can be a pain.
New Year's Eve I went with an old high school friend of mine to meet some people and shoot fireworks. This concluded at a little before one in the morning, and after that we left. We wanted to catch up on what had been happening some more and so we drove around town for a few minutes before heading to our respective homes. Unfortunately we hit an unfamiliar gravel road (this is kind of a rural area) and in the process of turning around we got stuck in the mud. Well, I say "we". Both of us were stuck by virtue of being in the same vehicle, but he was…
grrlscientist | January 1, 2009tags: happy new year, hangover remedies, alcohol
Image: orphaned [larger view].
Okay, I know that some of you overindulged last night, especially since we are finally shedding GW like an abusive lover, so I was wondering what your favorite hangover remedy is? Can you share it with your fellow readers?
gregladen | December 31, 2008New Year Resolutions
~ Resolution Number One ~
No Empty Promises!
~ Resolution Number Two ~
ACTIVITY TERMINATED
...
grrlscientist | December 31, 2008tags: happy new year, New Year's Eve in Times Square, NYCLife
Happy New Year from Times Square, NYC!
Image: Richard Seaman [larger view].
Here's to a new year without GW to screw it all up.
pharyngula | December 31, 2008And if you want to hear New Year's greetings from a collection of godless geeks and weirdos, listen to the Two Smokin' Hot Freethinkers Podcast.
Here at the Pharyngula Phortress, we'll be ringing in the New Year with delicious root beer floats before toddling off to a good night's sleep.
grrlscientist | December 31, 2008Here's the latest blog carnivals that have been published for you to enjoy.
Everything Worth Reading, 11th edition. This blog carnival is similar to Carnival of the Vanities because it focuses on the best blog entry published on a blog each month, regardless of topic.
pharyngula | December 31, 2008Get ready for the War on New Year.
Apparently the forces of darkness are mounting an attack, this time on the Christian holiday of New Year's Day, which commemorates and worshipfully celebrates the anniversary of the day on which a Romanian monk miscalculated the year in which our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was born. In addition to the anticalendricals, it seems that the Chinese, Jews, and Muslims are all opting out and deciding to celebrate other days as their new year. More recently the ranks of these heathen have apparently been joined by the ancient Babylonians. Worse still, countless…
mspringer | December 31, 2008When I was a kid my younger sister used to play basketball in a city league and my family would go watch. The game clock would reach the final seconds of each period and the kids in the stands would count down. 3! 2! 1! Zero!
The clocks were such that with less than one minute remaining, the clock would display tenths of a second. This resulted in a problem that bothered me but probably no one else ever. So as soon as (say) the 5 popped up the kids would shout "5!" when in fact there were 5.9 - or really six seconds left. This lead to the inevitable embarrassing moment when everyone…
gregladen | December 31, 2008
... So, if you drive the boat downstream past the hippos they watch you go by, the big male feints attack a few times, you get past them, and everybody gets over it. Up ahead, the next pod of hippos has observed this, and they are waiting for your arrival....
Read the rest.
pharyngula | December 31, 2008When last I mentioned Terry Pratchett, it was unfortunate news: he's been afflicted with embuggerance. Now, though, there is cause for some jubilation, since a certain godless humorist and fantasy author has been awarded a knighthood for his services to literature. Three cheers for an honor well deserved!
He also has a new book, which I'll have to pick up. He must not be too deeply embuggered.
cwilcox | December 30, 2008To close 2008, this meme came from It's Alive! via GrrlScientist. 100 unusual experiences - let's see how I do... * means I want to!
Started my own blog
Slept under the stars
Played in a band
Visited Hawaii- Hell, I lived there.
Watched a meteor shower
Given more than I can afford to charity
Been to Disneyland/world - World.
Climbed a mountain
* Held a praying mantis
Sung a solo
* Bungee jumped
* Visited Paris - Does anywhere in France Count?
* Watched lightning at sea
Taught myself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
Had food poisoning
* Walked to the…
edyong | December 30, 2008Phew. Another year almost over and it's been a really good one. This time last year, I was still blogging at Wordpress, and it was only in late February that I beamed aboard the mighty ScienceBlog mothership. It's been a great experience and all in all, I've managed to rack up about 190 posts on new research (excluding reposts and random stuff), over 1,500 comments and over 400,000 page views in a year. Elsewhere, I published a book based on this blog, I wrote about 2% of another book called "Defining Moments in Science", and I wrote three features and several news pieces for New Scientist.…
grrlscientist | December 30, 2008tags: books, meme, five books I wish I'd never read, book review
Here's a meme that is a little bit different from the usual sorts because it is a negative meme. I usually celebrate all the wonderful books I read and review on my blog, but there are some books that I wish I had never invested the time into finishing. In spite of my "100 page rule" where I stop reading a book at page 100 if I still dislike it at that point, I sometimes finish books that I really really wish I had simply "lost" on the subway when I had the chance (I think "rehoming" books is the correct way to deal with…
cortex | December 30, 2008I'll have more to say about cities and the brain in the coming days, but I thought it was worth highlighting this thoughtful post by the economist Edward Glaeser on how NYC is "America's most resilient city":
When other cities, including Boston, experienced significant population declines from 1950 to 1970, New York City still grew, albeit modestly. Only during the 1970s, the years of my Manhattan youth, did the city a suffer major population decline.
However, New York managed to come roaring back, while other cities have just continued to fall. The secret of New York's post-1970 reinvention…
gregladen | December 30, 2008Obamadog. Barack Obama's first serious mistake since the election.
A true story starring Franklin Delano Roosevelt.