Featured Articles

"Jaws" For Giant Squid

Mar 27 2011 | comment(s)

I just stumbled across a list of favorite ocean flicks, posted at The Film Pilgrim. The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo make a necessary appearance, as do epic disaster shows like Titanic and The Perfect Storm.

Then there's Jaws, which (arguably) prejudiced a generation or more against great white sharks forever. Not a bright day for interspecies understanding.

And then there's 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, to which the Film Pilgrim says: "I don't think there’s ever been a movie which greater depicts the ferocity of the giant squid." May I just say: the totally inaccurate, fictional, unsubstantiated ferocity!
Earth Hour Yawn

Earth Hour Yawn

Mar 27 2011 | comment(s)

What's the environmental equivalent of those emails that ask you to stick it to oil companies by not buying gas on a Tuesday?   Earth Hour.  Started in 2007 as sort of a well-meaning placebo (think carbon credits, without having to spend any money) it has technically spread to 130 countries but the participation - people who shut off their lights from 8:30-9:30 p.m. last night - has dropped significantly, even though they claim a billion people participated (like Million Man March and Iraq war protests, knock 80% off claims).
A Pattern Of Difference

A Pattern Of Difference

Mar 27 2011 | comment(s)

Methodological Stuff:

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

The Pattern Library:

1.       A pattern of Difference
Autism, Community, Personality Traits, And The Chasm That Threatens

Autism, Community, Personality Traits, And The Chasm That Threatens

Mar 27 2011 | comment(s)

Spend anytime in the online autism community, and you'll find a rich cast of characters offering a diverse perspective on what it means to be autistic. From clinically diagnosed autistics in early adulthood to late middle age to individuals who have self-identified as autistic, I've had the chance to read over 130 autistic bloggers on the directory, in addition to other autistics whose writings appear in print, on websites, forums, and facebook. 

Freshwater Squid . . .

Freshwater Squid . . .

Mar 27 2011 | comment(s)

. . . don't exist.

But because it's finger squid season in Texas, I've been reading up on the closest approximation to a freshwater squid: the Atlantic brief squid, Lolliguncula brevis. It's a pretty great name for a pretty great squid. The latin name just rolls off the tongue: lolly-gunk-you-lah. And "brief"? Like these? Oh wait, those are squid briefs, not brief squids . . .

I think the brief squid was named for its diminutive size.
New Energy Source Discovered

New Energy Source Discovered

Mar 26 2011 | comment(s)

New Energy Source Discovered

... what do we find today, now that the internet is so common and so many people are using it to communicate and share ideas?

A new energy source, that's what.

Ahren Paulson has recently published his discovery of a new source of energy which could fuel the world's power stations.

The new energy source has the added advantage of reducing the incidence of trolling on climate - related blogs.


Hat tip to Daniel Bailey for - indirectly - leading me to the above news story.
Mel Gibson and Kanye West: Use as Directed

Mel Gibson and Kanye West: Use as Directed

Mar 26 2011 | comment(s)

(Or, if you prefer, "Employing Utilitarian Eudaemonism.")

Today's lesson will be about ad hominem attacks. Ad hominem attacks are “attacking the messenger, rather than the message.” This happens in every facet of life you'd care to contemplate, but, because it is timely, I wish to talk about celebrity. For instance, Charlie Sheen, (no wait, he's useless anyway.) Ok, how about Mel Gibson? (A man who is a talented actor and filmmaker.) So you're boycotting his new film, eh? Why? (You say, “He's a racist, anti-semite, wife-beater, etc.”) I say, “Oh, and...” Not because I agree with his stance but because you are using Mel Gibson incorrectly. (Check the instructions.)

Heavy Weapons, Armor, Aircraft, And Revolution

Heavy Weapons, Armor, Aircraft, And Revolution

Mar 26 2011 | comment(s)

Successful Revolutions and Unsuccessful rebellions follow a common pattern: those who hold the heavy armored weapons and aircraft usually win in the street.  This is one major reason why the participation of elements of the military are very often critical in revolutions, and why the Egyptian revolution succeeded in the way that it did while other attempts at revolutions such as the 1989 Tienanmen square attempt failed, the Shiite uprising in 1991 failed, and the Iranian Green movement also failed.

The Obama Precendent In International Humanitarian Law

The Obama Precendent In International Humanitarian Law

Mar 26 2011 | comment(s)

President Obama's recent actions have set a clear black line which repressive governments now cannot cross.  By targeting and destroying Qaddafi's heavy weapons, navy and air-force, in the timely and precise way the US military is specialized to do, it shows when, and what the United States is willing to do to enforce international humanitarian norms, while also limiting the roles the US is willing to play in such enforcement, if NATO and other countries will step up and affirm their obligation to international norms of human rights.  This line is crossed when dictators use heavy arms or aerial bombardment on their own people

Patterns

Patterns

Mar 26 2011 | comment(s)

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

The Pattern Library:
Nuclear plant disasters and dangers of nuclear energy use in peace and war.

Nuclear plant disasters and dangers of nuclear energy use in peace and war.

Mar 25 2011 | comment(s)

While my late Professor Dr Neumann was showing me a museum on the outskirt of a German town , the instruments to fight each other were swords . He commented " The most significant progress makind has made is to develop instruments of mass destruction. Nuclear bombs present on the surface of the earth can destroy the entire earth several times. The peaceful use of nuclear energy has been proposed by several nations. However if the most advanced nation of the world find it difficult with all their knowledge, technology and will power to contain the nuclear disasters what will happen if such disaster will take place in not so technologically advanced country with limited resources and manpower and will to fight it out - the nuclear disaster.
Which Science Kills More People?

Which Science Kills More People?

Mar 25 2011 | comment(s)

Which science kills the most people each year?  Prompted by a quote-- "guns don't kill people-- physics kills people." ('3rd Rock from the Sun') -- it's time we look at which science really is the deadliest.

So let's set up the big three: Physics, Chemistry and Biology.  In a Hollywood movieland world, Physics would be the clear winner on early deaths.  Car crashes, gunshot wounds, bicycle accidents, falling down, people hitting each other, and that biggie called 'war' are all physics-driven deaths.
Actos May Help Prevent Diabetes - But You Probably Don't Want It (Yet)

Actos May Help Prevent Diabetes - But You Probably Don't Want It (Yet)

Mar 25 2011 | comment(s)

The big news in the diabetes world this week is a new article in the New England Journal of Medicine (link here) about how Actos (scientific name: pioglitazone) can help prevent the development of diabetes in folks with prediabetes.  The American Diabetes Association has a handy page for helping determine if you have "prediabetes" (link here).  If you're looking at HbA1c, it means that you are between 5.7% and 6.4%.
Patterns, Objectivity And Truth

Patterns, Objectivity And Truth

Mar 25 2011 | comment(s)

If we have done away -like postmodernism- with the notion of absolute truth, and we are living in a life-world where observers with limited knowledge try to 'make sense' of their envirnoment, then we we have certain freedom to define other forms of truth.

1. Introduction
2: Patterns
3: Patterns, Objectivity and Truth
Friday Fossil

Friday Fossil

Mar 25 2011 | comment(s)

This week's friday fossil is Tribrachidium.



Tribrachidium is from that oddest of time periods, the Ediacaran, and because of that we can partly excuse it for its weirdness. It's basically an Isle of Man flag with frilly bits at the edges:


The Quote Of The Week

The Quote Of The Week

Mar 25 2011 | comment(s)

"The observed exclusion limit is found from the point where the 95% quantile (dotted
line) crosses the median value of the distribution of Q values for the QCD prediction
(dashed line). This occurs at Lambda = 9.5 TeV. The expected limit is Lambda = 5.7 TeV. [...]
As a cross-check, a Bayesian analysis of F(mjj) has been performed, [...]. This analysis sets a 95% credibility level of Lambda > 6.7 TeV. The expected limit from this Bayesian analysis is 5.7 TeV, comparable to the CLs+b expected limit. While the observed limit from CLs+b analysis is significantly higher than the Bayesian results, we have no basis on which to exclude the CLs+b result a posteriori."
A pi in the face of Republicans

A pi in the face of Republicans

Mar 25 2011 | comment(s)

A new bill, sponsored by Alabama Congresswoman Martha Roby, is going up before Congress - HR 205, The Geometric Simplification Act, which declares the Euclidean mathematical constant of pi to be precisely 3. Here's a blurb from the article:
"That long-held empirical value of pi, I am not saying it should be necessarily viewed as wrong, but 3 is a lot better," said Roby, the 34-year old legislator representing Alabama's second congressional district, ushered into office in the historic 2010 Republican mid-term bonanza.
Arctic Ice March 2011 Update #2

Arctic Ice March 2011 Update #2

Mar 24 2011 | comment(s)

Arctic Ice March 2011 Update #2


The melt season of 2010 ended with a low extent and with little ice older than two years. There are strong indications that the winter of 2010 - 2011 did not compact and thicken the sea ice as much as would normally be expected.

Arctic sea ice extent averaged over December 2010 was 12.00 million square kilometers (4.63 million square miles). This is the lowest December ice extent recorded in satellite observations from 1979 to 2010, 270,000 square kilometers (104,000 square miles) below the previous record low of 12.27 million square kilometers (4.74 million square miles) set in 2006 and 1.35 million square kilometers (521,000 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average.
...
Hemichordate Revealed: 525-Million-Year-Old Fossil Of Tentacled Creature

Hemichordate Revealed: 525-Million-Year-Old Fossil Of Tentacled Creature

Mar 24 2011 | comment(s)

Researchers have discovered a 525-million-year-old fossil which belongs to a group of tentacle-bearing creatures which lived inside hard tubes. 

The creature belongs to a group called pterobranch hemichordates which are related to starfish and sea urchins but also show some characteristics that offer clues to the evolution of the earliest vertebrates. About 30 species of pterobranch are known to exist today although 380-490 million years ago a group of these animals called graptolites were common across the prehistoric oceans.