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The Plot Of The Week - Same-Sign Dileptons

The Plot Of The Week - Same-Sign Dileptons

May 22 2011 | comment(s)

The plot of the week is actually a table this week. A histogram with several background components can be extremely informative, but sometimes a table provides more detail and one can focus better on interesting features.

The table below has been produced in a CDF search for events containing same-sign lepton pairs: a striking signature of new physics, faked by very few processes. Because of the paucity of Standard Model sources, even relatively small new physics signals can emerge in such a sample. The CDF analysis is based on 6.1 inverse femtobarns of proton-antiproton collisions collected at the Tevatron during Run II. Let us see what the table tells us.


If Wishing Made It So: Why Offit's Words Will Always Fall On Deaf Ears

If Wishing Made It So: Why Offit's Words Will Always Fall On Deaf Ears

May 22 2011 | comment(s)

The vaccine-injury crowd  is inoculated against reason, evidence, and appeals to civic duty and compassion for the suffering of millions. Those of us who've spent time in the trenches with them know it all too well. You can acknowledge that vaccine injuries do occur. You can commiserate on how tragic those are, how we need to always continue to do more, to make vaccines as safe as possible, but it falls on deaf ears. As long as you follow those acknowledgements with the statement that the accumulated body of replicated science shows no connection between vaccines and autism, vaccines and asthma, vaccines and MS, vaccines  and SIDS, you are the enemy. You are a pharma shill. Or a pharma whore. You're a sheople. Or you're blind to reality.
An Ode To The Health Miracle That Is Coffee

An Ode To The Health Miracle That Is Coffee

May 22 2011 | comment(s)

There are perennials in the plant kingdom, flowers that bloom each year, and in culture as well.  Each year, for example, there will be a new go-to cliché in football.    Many of us who have watched for a long time can even tell you what year a broadcast was made by which cliche was in use.

Quiz:  If I say they play "smash mouth football", what year was I thinking?
Grímsvötn Ash Plume

Grímsvötn Ash Plume

May 22 2011 | comment(s)

Grímsvötn Ash Plume

Grímsvötn, an ice-capped volcano in the south of Iceland is currently erupting.  The ice cap is quite extensive and thick, so unless there are unknown sub-surface fissures, extensive local flooding is unlikely to result from the eruption.

The volcano is likely to melt only the ice immediately over and adjacent to the caldera.  Melt water intrusion into magma can increase the production of tephra, as happened with last year's eruption of Eyjafjallajökull.  However, the ice cap of Grímsvötn is so thick that the erupting volcano will probably do no more than melt a hole through the icecap.
Ayurveda is

Ayurveda is "science" of mind and soul and body

May 22 2011 | comment(s)

Ayurveda consist of two words ‘Ayur’ and ‘Veda’. It is a Sanskrit term and it literally means the science of life (Sharma, 1979). The scope of Ayurveda is vast. It not only deals with the prevention of disease and promotion of health and longevity but it also cures the disease. It also deals with rejuvenation. It can also be called the science of living and it is upveda of Atharva veda. It treats an individual as a whole and not only the symptoms or the affected parts, unlike modern medicines. India due to its unique variety of geographical and climatic factors had a rich and varied flora of medicinal plants.
Waste disposal : Organic waste, plastic waste and paper waste for recycling

Waste disposal : Organic waste, plastic waste and paper waste for recycling

May 22 2011 | comment(s)

In European city and particularly in Germany one has to keep three bags one for the organic waste ( a wooden container kept in the garden with a outlet at the base and inlet at the top which will convert the organic waste into compost) , one for plastic waste which will be recycled, and one for paper waste. Besides this the glass disposal according to colored glass was also meant for recycling the glass . If we could follow the same system in this country also or globally also it will help preserve the nature and result in recycling of organic matter , plastic and paper and also glass. This will also save people from bad smell coming out of heaps of garbage.
To Be Is To Be Measured (Part 1)

To Be Is To Be Measured (Part 1)

May 22 2011 | comment(s)

Quantum mechanics allows us to perform the following experiment (see the article by David Mermin in Physics Today Vol. 38 No. 4):

Rapture This

Rapture This

May 22 2011 | comment(s)

Folks went apeshit over Stephen Hawking speaking his belief that heaven is a fairy tale. Some crazy fool insisted the rapture was today. And the world turned on. And on it will turn.

Why did these two non-stories capture so much attention in a world where so many other things should have more weight? Why would anyone be surprised an atheist wouldn't believe in heaven and a true believer might go a bit overboard and think he could predict the second coming?
Disproving Local Realism

Disproving Local Realism

May 22 2011 | comment(s)

Modern physics has disproved direct realism: There is no locally realistic description of our world possible. Although I have already explained this differently at several places, for example by refusing 'real stuff' as being a good explanation for what is ‘at the bottom’, it is worth to prove it once rigorously. Let me present the simplest established proof in the simplest possible version that I can come up with. Everybody claiming interest in the interplay between science and philosophy should have gone through this proof at least once and I did my utmost to make it as easy as possible: Only three angles are considered and probabilities almost completely avoided by instead talking about natural numbers like 50.

WikiLeaks Shows Torture Works

WikiLeaks Shows Torture Works

May 21 2011 | comment(s)

As Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, devolved into a one-trick crusade against America in general, and George W. Bush in particular, he ironically began to do the one thing he did not want to do; he validated the Bush approach of using 'enhanced interrogation' on terrorists by documenting the instances so historians can see how much it helped.

The detainment approach, and Guantanamo Bay, have been shown by 765 illegally-obtained Wikileaks documents to actually be a crucial part of one of the most successful intelligence operations in history.  Oops.
Newest Motherhood Fashion - Home Births On The Rise

Newest Motherhood Fashion - Home Births On The Rise

May 21 2011 | comment(s)

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists doesn't like births outside expensive hospitals and recently issued a statement disapproving of the practice.   Regardless,  mothers, Caucasian at least, are not listening and a new analysis shows that home births, common throughout history but declining since 1990, jumped up again after 2004.  An increase of 20 percent.

28,357 home births occurred in 2008 - 0.67 percent of the approximately 4.2 million births in the United States, which may sound negligible but it is the highest reported proportion since 1990. This change was largely driven by a 28 percent increase in home births for white women, for whom more than 1 percent of all births now occur at home.
Randy 'Macho Man' Savage Dies in Car Accident

Randy 'Macho Man' Savage Dies in Car Accident

May 20 2011 | comment(s)

Randy Savage, the "Oh Yeaaaah!" Macho Man with the unnatural tan and the gravelly voice, died in a car accident in Seminole, FL.   Savage, 58, apparently had a heart attack while driving and hit a tree.   If you ever heard him during a television broadcast, you likely thought he was having a heart attack at the time.    His neck was always bulging and virtually nothing he said was without hyper-exaggerated emotion.
3 Things Sci-Fi Movies Get Right

3 Things Sci-Fi Movies Get Right

May 20 2011 | comment(s)

In the movies, aliens and evil empires want to kill us.  Despite their advanced technology, they end up landing ground troops to do so.  Worse, the forces of evil-- alien or human-- tend to be lousy shots.  How unrealistic is this?

1) Aliens who come to earth want to kill us.

This isn't unreasonable. "Hawking's Conclusion" is that aliens are hostile, "looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach".
Cubs At Red Sox - A Reason Even Non-Fans Should Watch Baseball

Cubs At Red Sox - A Reason Even Non-Fans Should Watch Baseball

May 20 2011 | comment(s)

The Cubs have gone longer than any team in baseball without winning a World Series.   Before that, the Sed Sox were commonly regarded as the Sad Sack's of the game, even though the Cubs had historically been far worse.  But the Red Sox lifted "The Curse of The Bambino" in 2004.

The 'curse', if you are unfamiliar, went like this:  In 1918 the Red Sox won their fifth World Series, the most by any club and added proof of their dynasty.  They won using the pitching (and hitting) of George Herman Ruth, commonly known now as Babe Ruth, The Babe, The Bambino, the Sultan of Swat, the Colossus of Clout, and too many others to name. 
Decision Theory In Basketball - Why Russell Westbrook Should Pass More To Kevin Durant

Decision Theory In Basketball - Why Russell Westbrook Should Pass More To Kevin Durant

May 20 2011 | comment(s)

To reach the NBA Finals, Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder needs to pass more, especially to his teammate Kevin Durant. That would be the message that two researchers would send to Thunder coach, Scott Brooks, if given the chance. Matt Goldman, a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego, and Justin Rao, a research scientist at Yahoo Labs recently named Westbrook as the biggest “chucker” in the NBA because of statistics showing that he shoots much more often than he should, while Durant is classified as an undershooter, whose team would benefit from him taking more chances.
So The Rapture Is Saturday - Luckily The Grey's Anatomy Season Finale Was Last Night

So The Rapture Is Saturday - Luckily The Grey's Anatomy Season Finale Was Last Night

May 20 2011 | comment(s)

"Did you know the Rapture is May 21st?"  I asked Mrs. Science 2.0.   "That's tomorrow.  Are you prepared?"

"The season finale of Grey's Anatomy was last night, so I am okay, " she replied.

"What about date night tomorrow?   If I make dinner reservations for 6:05 and the world ends at 6, do I still get credit for trying?   Saving 8 bucks isn't worth it if you're mad at me."

"You love to triangulate.   Work on that from a few angles and tell me what you think the right answer is."
Roswell UFO - Stalin Did It, Says Book

Roswell UFO - Stalin Did It, Says Book

May 19 2011 | comment(s)

Unless you have culturally been living under a rock, you have heard of Area 51 - Roswell, New Mexico.   Supposedly an alien spacecraft came down there in 1947 and a vast government conspiracy sprung up to build the thing and keep it secret for nearly 70 years.

Annie Jacobsen, journalist and contributing editor at the LA Times (they are thrilled about that plug) says the UFO was just a Soviet spy plane that came down due to weather.    But that isn't the end of it.    The Soviets, no strangers to eugenics, had staffed it with genetically engineered pilots, 'alien-like' children aged 12 or 13 and Stalin hoped to cause some panic in the U.S., a la the Orson Welles radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" in 1939.
Satoshi Kanazawa And The Freefall Of Evolutionary Psychology

Satoshi Kanazawa And The Freefall Of Evolutionary Psychology

May 19 2011 | comment(s)

Last weekend, Satoshi Kanazawa wrote in Psychology Today that black women are considered less attractive than other women but black men are considered more attractive than other men.   Being a good evolutionary psychologist, he set out to do a 'whatsupwiththat?' article and map some data to that topology and piece the whole thing together.
'What's Your Sign?' No, Try 'Obama or Palin?' To Find A Mate

'What's Your Sign?' No, Try 'Obama or Palin?' To Find A Mate

May 19 2011 | comment(s)

Astrology, like everything else from the 1970s except "The Godfather" movies (and maybe "Star Wars") is better left to the past.   It can't realy tell you anything at all about another person.

However, a study in the Journal of Politics last month says a mate's politics might tell you a lot, at least in regards to how well you will get along in the future, so forgot horoscopes or folk wisdom about opposites attracting - if you are holed up in a compound in Montana, you should find a mate who is a militant kook too, likewise if you are convinced your Prius is saving the environment, you should find someone who is also educated by advertising.
Look Inside A 'Spring' Storm On Saturn

Look Inside A 'Spring' Storm On Saturn

May 19 2011 | comment(s)

Saturn may look like a nice place to visit through a telescope but once each Saturn year (that's 30 years to you and me) 'spring' arrives in the northern hemisphere of the giant planet and things go nuts.