NeuroLogica Blog Jul 14 2015 Why Pluto is Important As I write this post we are just minutes away from the closest approach of the New Horizons probe to Pluto, the farthest world we have thus far explored (24 minutes and counting). It’s an exciting moment, not just for astronomy buffs or science enthusiasts, but for humanity. I’m glad to see an appropriate level of excitement among the media and the general public. Quotes for Everything - Get daily quotes on Twitter. Follow us on Twitter and get more daily quotes!Don't forget to stop by the Motivational Quotes of the Day.Starling Fitness: Fitness weblog from the authors of The Quotations PageHear Motivational Quotes set to music at Affirmation StationStarling Travel: Travel weblog from the authors of The Quotations PageFind out what happened Today in History (Scope Systems)You can include these quotations on your own Web page.Read classic books, essays, plays, and poetry online at The Literature Page. If an author's name is highlighted, you can click it for more quotations by that author. Click on a quotation for more information about it, or click on the icons next to each quotation: View further information about the quote or link to it on its own page Email the quotation to yourself, or to a friend View notes about the quotation
Seven Warning Signs of Bogus Science Robert L. Park, Ph.D The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is investing close to a million dollars in an obscure Russian scientist's antigravity machine, although it has failed every test and would violate the most fundamental laws of nature. Fallacy List 1. FAULTY CAUSE: (post hoc ergo propter hoc) mistakes correlation or association for causation, by assuming that because one thing follows another it was caused by the other. example: A black cat crossed Babbs' path yesterday and, sure enough, she was involved in an automobile accident later that same afternoon. example: The introduction of sex education courses at the high school level has resulted in increased promiscuity among teens. A recent study revealed that the number of reported cases of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) was significantly higher for high schools that offered courses in sex education than for high schools that did not. 2. SWEEPING GENERALIZATION: (dicto simpliciter) assumes that what is true of the whole will also be true of the part, or that what is true in most instances will be true in all instances.
The Rogues Gallery Sam, an SGU listener, brought this to our attention the other day (thank you, Sam.) A new podcast has hit the iTunes shelves. It is called Scripture on Creation. And of course, it is correctly categorized under the ‘Religion and Spirituality’ category, isn’t it? Nope. It is in iTunes ‘Science and Medicine’ category. The Likability Of Angry Birds [Infographic] The following chart helps you clearly understand your own feelings about the different classes of Angry Birds. Clearly, bomb birds are like the top secret fighter jet while the green bird is more like duct taping a rifle to the Wright Brothers plane. Check out the full graphic after the break. (via The Oatmeal) Tagged as: angry birds, infographic, webcomics
Back to School Month: Peak Oil 101 : Casaubon's Book Every so often someone comes up to me with fiery eyes and raring for a battle and says “I don’t believe in Peak Oil” or “I don’t believe in Climate Change.” When this happens, I think they expect me to argue with them, and I do. But isn’t the argument they expect – my standard response, correct almost 100% of the time is not to make the case for peak oil or climate change, but to argue “Yes, you do, in fact, believe in them.” Telling other people what they believe is a chancy business, but I feel reasonably confident in doing so, because when someone says they don’t believe in peak oil or climate change, they don’t really mean it. In fact, I’m fact I’m willing to lay odds that you and I have 98% agreement on peak oil – no matter how much you think we don’t, no matter who you are. With the exception of a few flat earthers who would deny there was ever an ice age or a few abiotic oil wackaloons, everyone believes in peak oil and climate change.
Run Jesus Run a.k.a. The 10 Second Gospel Run Jesus Run: aka the 10 second gospel Made in 4 days for the Experimental Gameplay Project - theme "10 seconds" Instructions: click on the Flash object to start. You have 10 seconds to redeem the humanity. Arrow keys: Run. Bad Astronomy Well now, this is an interesting discovery: astronomers have found what looks like a "super-Earth" – a planet more massive than Earth but still smaller than a gas giant – orbiting a nearby star at the right distance to have liquid water on it! Given that, it might – might – be Earthlike. This is pretty cool news. We’ve found planets like this before, but not very many! Right-handers can be made to think like lefties - life - 26 March 2011 WHETHER right or left-handed, people associate "good" with their dominant side. But if that displeases you, it can be changed. A team led by Daniel Casasanto at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, showed 13 people who had had strokes a cartoon character in between two squares, and told them that it "loves zebras and thinks they are good, but hates pandas and thinks they are bad".
The Authoritarians (Home Page Preface Written in 2006) OK, what’s this book about? It’s about what’s happened to the American government lately. It’s about the disastrous decisions that government has made. It’s about the corruption that rotted the Congress. It’s about how traditional conservatism has nearly been destroyed by authoritarianism. tracking nanotech Bone is one of nature’s surprising “building materials.” Pound-for-pound it’s stronger than steel, tough yet resilient. Scientists and the important role citrate plays, work that may help science better understand and treat or prevent bone diseases such as osteoporosis. Using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory scientist and Iowa State University chemistry professor Klaus Schmidt-Rohr and his colleagues studied . By understanding the nanostructure of naturally occurring materials, researchers may be able to develop new light-weight, high-strength materials that will require less energy to manufacture and that could make the products in which they are used more energy efficient.
A Tool too far: A Systems Perspective of Targets There can be few things that provoke more emotive responses in public sector workers than the subject of targets. Centrally imposed targets have been cited as underlying factors in many of the recent major public sector scandals including MRSA infection rates, Staffordshire Hospital and Baby P. Recently, some senior local authority managers, including some who are members of SOLACE, have released a report ( ) providing evidence of the damage that is being done by targets in their services. Perhaps an indication that targets are falling out of favour (for the time being at least) is the quiet withdrawal of an Audit Commission report, , from open download.