Why should there not be ‘stuff’, or ‘real things’ instead of weird quantum mechanics at some microscopic scale? In other words, how can we accept that direct realism is wrong without getting too ‘difficult’.

Accepting that the world is in some sense in our minds is not aimed at encouraging ‘spirituality’ or whatever the euphemism for religious craziness is nowadays. I have none of that! Not even any switching on of consciousness once we add a little quantum magic to a zombie’s brain. There is indeed a deep connection* between consciousness and quantum physics, but for this article here, let’s forget about that connection.

The Oldest Arctic Ice


The oldest non-glacial ice in the northern hemisphere is a small remnant of the former Ellesmere Ice Shelf which began  forming about 5500 years ago.  That remnant is breaking up.  Where the ice shelf has vanished the fjords are free of perennial ice for the first time in 3000 to 5500 years.  It seems likely that very soon the oldest non-glacial ice will be a mere 5 years old, or less.

    Methodological Stuff:

1. 1. Introduction
2. 2: Patterns
3. 3: Patterns, Objectivity and Truth
4. 4: Patterns and Processes

The Pattern Library:

Having examined PBS's Autism Now in an earlier posting and noting its overall negativity, I'd like to turn to a documentary on autism that I can recommend: Todd Drezner's Loving Lampposts.

The PBS series on autism, Autism Now, has aired all of its segments now. The extended transcripts of interviews are available online, as well.

You might think that those who are skeptical (or downright intransigent) on a CO2 basis for global warming are bigger wasters of energy or greater polluters than those who accept climate science.

Not so.   Skeptics are just as green.   Their reasons may simply be different.

If you Google calculating the date of Easter, you are likely to get any number of top responses from SEO-friendly content farms that go something like "Easter is the first Sunday after the first full Moon following the vernal equinox", which is great for trivia but the how of that is great Easter science.

ADVANCELL has initiated a phase IIb clinical study of the Company's ATH008, for the treatment of the palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome, also known as hand-foot syndrome, a painful side-effect of certain chemotherapies such as capecitabine and fluoropyrimidines. No treatment currently exists for this condition. ADVANCELL expects to launch the product on the market by the end of 2015 or beginning of 2016. 

Based on last week's indictment of vaccine-autism researcher Dr. Poul Thorsen for money laundering and mail fraud, the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD), a Maryland-based non-profit organization, is calling for further investigation. 

Dear earnest wingnut,

Thank you for sending me a copy of your 20-page monograph containing your brilliant new paradigm which The Physics Establishment are seeking to squelch,  Having been squashed at times by the T.P.E., I can heartily sympathize.

I am writing back to you because you don't seem as crazy or scary as most.  Also, your paper had good spelling and grammer.  Your elementary English teacher told the truth-- spelling matters.  So I read the thing.  And by 'read' I mean I fully read the first page and the conclusion, but sort of skimmed the middle.  It'll have to do.