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Bill Hammack's Video & Audio on Engineering

Bill Hammack's Video & Audio on Engineering

Isaac Asimov on the Thrill of Lifelong Learning, Science vs. Religion, and the Role of Science Fiction in Advancing Society by Maria Popova “It’s insulting to imply that only a system of rewards and punishments can keep you a decent human being.” Isaac Asimov was an extraordinary mind and spirit — the author of more than 400 science and science fiction books and a tireless advocate of space exploration, he also took great joy in the humanities (and once annotated Lord Byron’s epic poem “Don Juan”), championed humanism over religion, and celebrated the human spirit itself (he even wrote young Carl Sagan fan mail). The conversation begins with a discussion of Asimov’s passionate belief that when given the right tools, we can accomplish far more than what we can with the typical offerings of formal education: MOYERS: Do you think we can educate ourselves, that any one of us, at any time, can be educated in any subject that strikes our fancy? Page from 'Charley Harper: An Illustrated Life' MOYERS: Is it possible that this passion for learning can be spread to ordinary folks out there? Painting by Rowena Morrill

Dubai Architecture- The Burj al Alam, or The World Tower. Upon completion it will rank as the world's highest hotel. It is expected to be finished by 2009. At 480 meters it will only be 28 meters shorter than the Taipei 101. The Trump International Hotel & Tower, which will be the centerpiece of one of the palm islands, The Palm Jumeirah. Dubailand. Dubailand will be built on 3 billion square feet (107 miles^2) at an estimated $20 billion price tag. Dubai Sports City. Currently, the Walt Disney World Resort is the #1 tourist destination in the world. The Dubai Marina is an entirely man made development that will contain over 200 highrise buildings when finished. The Dubai Mall will be the largest shopping mall in the world with over 9 million square feet of shopping and around 1000 stores. Ski Dubai, which is already open, is the largest indoor skiing facility in the world. The UAE Spaceport would be the first spaceport in the world if construction ever gets under way. Some other other crazy shit...

Creationism – Are We Winning The Battle and Losing The War? One of the major ambitions of my life is to promote science and critical thinking, which I do under the related banners of scientific skepticism and science-based medicine. This is a huge endeavor, with many layers of complexity. For that reason it is tempting to keep one’s head down, focus on small manageable problems and goals, and not worry too much about the big picture. Worrying about the big picture causes stress and anxiety. I have been doing this too long to keep my head down, however. The answers to these questions are different for each topic we face. Over my life the defenders of science have won every major battle against creationism, in the form of major court battles, many at the supreme court level. Despite the consistent legal defeat of creationism, over the last 30 years Gallup’s poll of American public belief in creationism has not changed. Meanwhile creationism has become, if anything, more of an issue for the Republican party. Louisiana is the model for this.

Science Says: Lungs Love Weed Breathe easy, tokers. Smoking marijuana in moderate amounts may not be so bad for your lungs, after all. A new study, published in this month's Journal of the American Medical Association, tested the lung function of over 5,000 young adults between 18 and 30 to determine marijuana's effect on lungs. After 20 years of testing, researchers found some buzzworthy results: regular marijuana smokers (defined by up to a joint a day for seven years) had no discernable impairment in lung activity from non-smokers. In fact, researchers were surprised to find marijuana smokers performed slightly better than both smokers and non-smokers on the lung performance test. Why? MORE: 5 Reasons Not to Smoke Synthetic Weed For most of human existence, cannabis has been considered a medicine. Attitudes are changing, however. As marijuana enters the mainstream, studies like the one published in JAMA might dispel false assertions about the plant's deleterious health hazards and promote its medicinal benefits.

Scientists, not politicians, should set scientific priorities When Chairman Lamar Smith said that America depends on taxpayer-financed research to fuel the scientific breakthroughs and innovations that have driven our economy for the last several decades, he was absolutely right (“If everything is a priority, nothing is”). That’s what makes the rest of his justification of “America COMPETES”, H.R. 1806, so confusing. Instead of reinforcing America’s leadership across the sciences, the bill arbitrarily cuts funding for two of the NSF’s divisions – Geosciences and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences. Americans rely on NSF’s preeminent scientists and well-respected peer review process to advance the grant proposals that hold the most promise, but H.R. 1806 declares Congress to be the ‘expert’ in what qualifies as scientific innovation, allowing them to pick winners and losers among scientific disciplines. Looking at the innovations that have come from research sponsored by those divisions doesn’t make his rationale any clearer.

Life Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice If you’re like most people, you keep your money in the bank (or several banks). But you may also want keep a little stash at home, so that it’s easily accessible in case of an emergency. It used to be a habit we associated with our grandparents, but after the banking crisis of 2008 and 2009, even young consumers started keeping at least some of their cash within reach. Companies that manufacture and sell home safes reported significant sales spikes during the recession, a trend that wasn’t unusual: during tough, uncertain times, people prefer to keep their money where they can see it. Not everyone wants to spend a couple hundred dollars or more on a home safe, though.

Top Sites That Make Science Awesome posted by Elizabeth Harper on April 24, 2013 in Internet & Networking, Computers and Software, Family and Parenting, Kids, Guides & Reviews, Fab Websites :: 0 comments Though you may remember science class as dull, much has changed. The Internet has done the impossible and made science a lot more accessible, bringing scientists and science enthusiasts together to share and discuss the most interesting discoveries of the day. Online, you can find fascinating science news and explanations on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and more if you know where to look—and it's all a lot more interesting than any high school science textbook. Here's the best of what's out there. Exploring space from you desktop NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APoD) Just like the title says, this NASA site provides a high-resolution space photo every day with a description written by a professional astronomer. If you like what you see, there's an archive going back to 1995 full of wondrous images. StarTalk Radio Vi Hart

How to Replace Six Vital Documents This post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman. Could you produce your birth certificate, car title, or an old tax return at a moment’s notice? You’re supposed to store vital documents in a fireproof box or keep them in a safe-deposit box, but how many of us actually do that? The good news is that if you’ve lost important pieces of paper, you can replace them — and it might be easier than you think. Birth certificate You need a birth certificate for everything from enrolling in school to getting a marriage license (if you don’t have a passport). NameBirth dateGenderParents’ namesPlace of birth Replacing a birth certificate costs $10-$20, depending on the state. Social Security card A Social Security card can be required for a number of things, such as applying for a job or enrolling in college. U.S. driver’s licenseState-issued, non-driver identification cardU.S. passport Plus one of the following proofs of citizenship: Car title Hoping to sell your car?

Science isn't a democracy: debunking the strategies of science denialism 2.4k Shares I’ve always considered all forms of denialism, whether it’s climate change, creationism or the latest antivaccine lunacy, to be based on the same type and quality of arguments. It is essentially holding a unsupported belief that either science is wrong or, worse yet, is a vast conspiracy to push false information onto innocent humans. One of the “tools” often used by science deniers is trying to convince the casual observer of a science democracy – that is, there is some kind of vote, and some number of “scientists” are opposed to the consensus. I’ve often joked that science deniers all get together at the World Denialist Society meetings and compare notes. Others have observed this convergence in denialist strategies. The answer…is that creationists and climate change deniers have a lot in common — most especially in their assertions about science itself. Moreover, they deny not just these principles, but also the idea of science itself as a way of knowing about the world.

The Daily Miscellany Project Seeks to Build Map of Human Brain The Obama administration is planning a decade-long scientific effort to examine the workings of the human brain and build a comprehensive map of its activity, seeking to do for the brain what the Human Genome Project did for . The project, which the administration has been looking to unveil as early as March, will include federal agencies, private foundations and teams of neuroscientists and nanoscientists in a concerted effort to advance the knowledge of the brain’s billions of neurons and gain greater insights into perception, actions and, ultimately, consciousness. Scientists with the highest hopes for the project also see it as a way to develop the technology essential to understanding diseases like and , as well as to find new therapies for a variety of mental illnesses. Moreover, the project holds the potential of paving the way for advances in artificial intelligence. Photo “Every dollar we invested to map the human genome returned $140 to our economy — every dollar,” he said.

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