Wikipedia's Science 2.0 Article - I Call Poe


This article was inspired by Hontas Farmer's recent article and the subsequent comments: Science 2.0 - Darwinian Selection Of The Best Paper.

Iceberg Alley And Global Warming

In 1912 there were 1,019 icebergs reported in the North Atlantic shipping lane throughout the iceberg season.  Many of those icebergs were reported in April 1912.

This year, as of June 06 2010, no icebergs have been reported in that same shipping lane.

Is this evidence of global warming?

It is so intuitive to assume that, if  Arctic ice retreat is due to global warming, then a lack of Atlantic icebergs must also be due to global warming.

It doesn't work that way: there is only an indirect link between sea ice loss and iceberg melt mechanisms.


R.M.S. titanic

The Science Of Whitewash



A complaint often leveled against climate scientists is that they fake their graphs and that investigations into such fakery which fail to show fakery must accordingly be a whitewash.

I have news for these people.

All graphs are fake.

An argument often used in philosophy is that nothing can be known as 100% truth.  The same can more properly be argued from the findings of science.  Every bit of knowledge comes from human experience and judgment.  The human brain is easily fooled: illusions, hallucinations and mirages demonstrate this. 

Music - The International Language

Peoples of all cultures love music and song.

This article addresses two urban myths: that yodelling originated in the mountains of Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland and that it evolved as a means of calling from mountain to mountain.

Yodelling is fairly universal and is independent of terrain.  The greatest variation is in the choice of musical instrument to accompany the yodelling.  Modern musicians prefer guitars and electronic instruments.  Austrians tend to favor the piano accordian and acoustic guitar.  Other cultures favor the 'thumb piano' or lamellophone.

The Science Of Fiction

Tip of the hat to Eric Diaz for reminding me of the muse.


Long before writing was invented, amazing stories were told through the medium of the ballad and the saga.  Those old tall tales and modern science fiction often have a few common themes - ethics,  morality, gadgets and heroic deeds.  Gadgets run the full gamut  - from the bag of wind used by Odysseus to fill his ship's sails, to the talking computers and planet busters in movies.