Dan Olmsted is pissed at Autism Speaks and wants them to shut up and go away, all because of Dr. Dawson's coverage of the IOM report this past week.

King Solomon is credited with a lot.   He knew everything, he could turn lead into gold, conjure demons and become invisible. Jamaicans even credit him with discovering marijuana.  If you know the Captain Marvel comic book superhero, the keyword he uses to change from Billy Batson to Captian Marvel is an acronym, SHAZAM - the S stands for Solomon and Solomon gave Cap wisdom.(1)

But he was also the prototype for Faust.  According to the Talmud, written around 500 A.D., Solomon cut a deal with the devil to build the great temple of Jerusalem – with disastrous consequences.

I've seen cephalopods pop up in a few video games here and there, but The Game Bakers' Squids is the first one that looks both adorable and fun enough that I want to play it. (Which is a big deal, for me--I don't make time to play video/computer games the way I used to. Though, there was that time a few months ago when we had some friends over and played through the original 16-color version of Monkey Island . . . )

Despite the hopes of most and the preconceptions of many, news from the Lepton-Photon conference in Mumbay, India, report that the Standard Model is as alive and strong as it has ever been. Indeed, the recent searches for Supersymmetry by ATLAS and CMS, now analyzing datasets that by all standards must be considered "a heck of a lot of data", have returned negative results and have placed lower limits on sparticle masses at values much larger than those previously investigated (by experiments at the Tevatron and LEP II).

If you're one of those cultural mullahs who thinks smoking causes lung cancer - even a cigar or a pipe - you can stop reading.  This article is not for you.   I have never smoked a cigarette in my life but gradual efforts by the modern temperance movement to ban smoking everywhere(1) should be resisted by anyone claiming they care about independence, tolerance and diversity.(2)

Do you know what a creepmeter measures?  Measurement is the heart of science.  What distinguishes science from opinion or philosophy is measureables.  The root of science is facts that are determined by actual observation, compared, then extended into predictions.

Any good measurement has three parts: the number value, the units you're using, and the error.  If I say I am 6 feet tall, that's a number (6) and a unit (feet), with a presumed error of 'within an inch or two'.  All three parts are crucial.

One of the stranger claims of anti-science hippies is that there is not only a difference between 'organic' food (and apparently 'inorganic' food, whatever that could be) in structure - and if you believe that, go read Huffington Post, I won't take it personally - but also in nutrition.

In 2008, a fossil tooth and finger bone were found in a cave in Siberia. After analysis it turned out to belong to a new species of human, now known as the Denisovans. In 2010, a draft of the Neanderthal genome was released, providing indications for potential interbreeding with our ancestors. In the same year, analysis of the Denisovan genome also revealed indications for potential interbreeding.

Now, a new study, published in Science, states that these interbreeding events could have boosted the human immune system.

Harry Lonsdale called me out of the blue last year,saying that he would be passing through Santa Cruz and wanted to discuss an idea he had. Well sure, I said, so we picked a day for him to visit. I had never heard of Harry, but when he showed up, right on time, we immediately hit it off. Harry turned out to be one of those rare people who are full of energy and ideas, generous and willing to share, someone who gets things done. He would have been wonderful in politics, and in fact ran twice as a Democrat for Oregon's senate seat, losing close races to Mark Hatfield. (He wrote a book about his experience: Running: Politics, Power and the Press, available from Amazon.)

Journalism as an occupation with ethical standards was a 20th century invention.  For a brief, shining moment in time, journalists were interested in truth and newspapers flourished.  Truth is subjective, of course, and so are editors who set the tone of newspapers and during the time when the press had power across all society, editors were on the left and the right.   Newspapers reached everyone, multiple times each day.

Today, the 'fourth estate', as Edmund Burke termed it in the 18th century, still has considerable power - it makes presidents and brings down companies - but it is less trusted than it was two generations ago.