Cool Links

Barack Obama: 'no' to solar panels on the White House roof (but they would be awesome for everyone else)

Barack Obama: 'no' to solar panels on the White House roof (but they would be awesome for everyone else)

Sep 12 2010 | comment(s)

A quest to get Barack Obama to shout his commitment to solar power from the roof tops - by re-installing vintage solar panels at the White House - ended in disappointment for environmental campaigners today.

Yet it isn't right for him but is right for you, so subsidies for solar power will again be in the next round of 'stimulus' funding.   Let's get those solar power installers back to work!
Sugar Mamas get the shaft - Alltop

Sugar Mamas get the shaft - Alltop

Sep 12 2010 | comment(s)

You would think a guy would be grateful, but a paper from Cornell graduate student, Christin Munsch, says something entirely different.
Stem Cell Financing Ban Ends, for Now - NY Times

Stem Cell Financing Ban Ends, for Now - NY Times

Sep 10 2010 | comment(s)

A federal appeals court ruled today that federal financing of embryonic stem cell research could continue while the court considers a judge's order last month that banned the government from underwriting the work
The Science of NFL Football

The Science of NFL Football

Sep 09 2010 | comment(s)

The Today show wants to bring science to the masses - football fan masses, that is.   Enjoy Lester Holt stumbling over velocity vectors in this clip below!
FDA Tells Five E-Cigarette Makers Their Products Need FDA Approval - WSJ

FDA Tells Five E-Cigarette Makers Their Products Need FDA Approval - WSJ

Sep 09 2010 | comment(s)

The Food and Drug Administration warned five electronic cigarette makers today that they are violating federal law.  The agency said the products, which use a device to turn nicotine liquid into a vapor mist, are drugs that require FDA approval ...
Instruction and advice for the young bride of 1894

Instruction and advice for the young bride of 1894

Sep 09 2010 | comment(s)

Reprint of an article in The Madison Institute Newsletter, Fall Issue, 1894:

On the Conduct and Procedure
Of the Intimate and Personal Relationships
Of the Marriage State
For the Greater Spiritual Sanctity
Of this Blessed Sacrament
And the Glory of God


by Ruth Smythers
Beloved wife of The Reverend L.D. Smythers,
Pastor of the Arcadian Methodist Church
of the Eastern Regional Conference
Published in the year of our Lord 1894
Spiritual Guidance Press, New York City

Sample:
Google Instant - for those of you too impatient to finish typing

Google Instant - for those of you too impatient to finish typing

Sep 08 2010 | comment(s)

Google Instant is basically a way to show you results as you type, sort of like your browser's ability to complete a URL as you type it in.  Estimate: 2-5 seconds saved per Google Instant search and maybe even optimizing your search when you are not sure exactly what you want or how to spell it.

To allay concerns that results for improper words don't show up, like the first three letters of the word 'assign' showing you things you don't want your kids to see, filters are still in place and they say Google Instant is deactivated for slow connections.
Men, these are the dance moves that attract women! - LA Times

Men, these are the dance moves that attract women! - LA Times

Sep 08 2010 | comment(s)

The LA Times shows our Science 2.0 There's Science To Dancing Also article some love.
A study was done at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom identifying the dance moves that attract women to men. Here is what the research found...
Stop those boneheaded Facebook comments - CNN

Stop those boneheaded Facebook comments - CNN

Sep 08 2010 | comment(s)

Some Facebook tips from CNN guest columnists Andrea Bartz and Brenna Ehrlich, Ehrlich being editor at Mashable.com and Bartz editor at PsychologyToday.com:

Facebook gets a lot of attention for being, uh, your space -- a handful of entry fields in which to sum up your awesomeness, right down to the bewildering "Write something about yourself" box.

Researchers fixate on what your profile says about you, while increasingly complex pages, plug-ins and boxes (what are those all about, anyway?) make it clear that Facebook is all about you.

Still, at least one tab of your Facebook profile is largely left to others' devices: the wall.
Benchmark And Accel Partners Fund ResearchGATE - $5 Million?

Benchmark And Accel Partners Fund ResearchGATE - $5 Million?

Sep 08 2010 | comment(s)

Oddly, the company won’t disclose the size of the round, other than to say it’s a typical series A round, which implies $5 million or so.
Classic UFO Battle Waged Online - Livescience

Classic UFO Battle Waged Online - Livescience

Sep 07 2010 | comment(s)

Are airplane pilots more reliable witnesses than others, lending more credibility to UFO sightings?

Rob Britt at Livescience: An interesting argument is playing out in the Space section of MSNBC. It began when veteran space reporter James Oberg questioned the foundation of a new book about UFOs called "UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record."

'Newt', the Pixar/Disney film you'll never see - except for this artwork

'Newt', the Pixar/Disney film you'll never see - except for this artwork

Sep 07 2010 | comment(s)

You've probably never heard of "Newt" unless you are an animated film aficionado.   Not to worry, Disney/Pixar has cancelled it anyway.  Nothing new, studios cancel things all of the time if they don't pan out as being quality stuff.   

But on their Facebook page they at least posted some cool art from the cartoon-you-will-never see.  Smart move.  They will get a ton of free attention for a picture that people likely would have hated and so didn't want to finish.


Retro Science Fiction: Harrison Ford Discusses Star Wars In 1977

Retro Science Fiction: Harrison Ford Discusses Star Wars In 1977

Sep 07 2010 | comment(s)

In 1977, Harrison Ford had a sporadic career and was mostly a carpenter but he had done another film with George Lucas and sat down with KXAS-TV reporter Bobbie Wygant to discuss it. The new project? "Star Wars". Next stop: mega stardom.
CERN wants patents on its taxpayer-funded developments

CERN wants patents on its taxpayer-funded developments

Sep 06 2010 | comment(s)

CERN owes its historic aversion to patenting to its 20 European member states, says spokesman James Gillies. They pump millions of euros into the organisation every year to help develop new technologies – and don't want to have to pay to use the inventions in their own country. "So we have to square a circle: how do we protect the technology without double-billing member states?"

Last week, it struck a deal with the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to ensure that it profits better from its engineers' innovations.
A cunning bid to shore up the ruins of the IPCC - Telegraph

A cunning bid to shore up the ruins of the IPCC - Telegraph

Sep 05 2010 | comment(s)

British newspapers have always been more contrarian than US ones when it came to global warming coverage.   One skeptic thinks the damaging IAC report last week didn't go far enough.
An economic analysis of which journal to choose for your publication: Dianthus Medical Limited

An economic analysis of which journal to choose for your publication: Dianthus Medical Limited

Sep 04 2010 | comment(s)

In line with my article today, How To Make Open Access Better: Make Publishing Free Too, here is an economic analysis of which journal to choose for your publication.
Dorothy wanted to submit to PLoS One, whereas Al wanted to submit to a more prestigious journal. The advantage of publishing in PLoS One is that they have a very high acceptance rate and are fast 
What Social Science Does—and Doesn’t—Know: City Journal, Jim Manzi

What Social Science Does—and Doesn’t—Know: City Journal, Jim Manzi

Sep 03 2010 | comment(s)

Unlike physics or biology, the social sciences have not demonstrated the capacity to produce a substantial body of useful, nonobvious, and reliable predictive rules about what they study—that is, human social behavior, including the impact of proposed government programs.

The missing ingredient is controlled experimentation (read on)
Ye cannae change the laws of physics - Or can you? Economist

Ye cannae change the laws of physics - Or can you? Economist

Sep 03 2010 | comment(s)

RICHARD FEYNMAN, Nobel laureate and physicist extraordinaire, called it a “magic number” and its value “one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics”. The number he was referring to, which goes by the symbol alpha and the rather more long-winded name of the fine-structure constant, is magic indeed.

Move over Britney, Lady Gaga’s in physics now - Symmetry Magazine

Move over Britney, Lady Gaga’s in physics now - Symmetry Magazine

Sep 03 2010 | comment(s)

For years, the Britney Spears Guide to Semiconductor Physics has been floating around the Web intriguing, amusing, educating, troubling, or infuriating different people. Doing one better, pop star Lady Gaga is now immortalized in the name of a published physics paper.
Stephen Hawking: God was not needed to create the Universe

Stephen Hawking: God was not needed to create the Universe

Sep 02 2010 | comment(s)

The Big Bang was the result of the inevitable laws of physics and did not need God to spark the creation of the Universe, Stephen Hawking has concluded.