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About the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
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Scientific expertise lacking among climate change ‘doubters’
According to Stanford researchers’ analysis
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The Last Patriarch of Constantinople?
At CNN, with additional analysis at GetReligion.
A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center
Great picture at APOD
Why are these people shooting a powerful laser into the center of our Galaxy?
Phil Plait explains:
The laser shoots up into the sky and excites atoms in the upper atmosphere, causing them to glow. That makes an artificial and very bright star in the sky! The telescope can then use that star to track the distortions in the atmosphere and compensate for them, allowing the images it makes to be incredibly clear and sharp.
With the laser, modern computers, and adaptive optics astronomers have solved a problem with Earth-based optical telescopes that goes back to Galileo.
Note that this is a technique for visible light observations. Space-based observatories are needed for the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that are blocked by the Earth’s atmosphere.
Dear Nintendo:
At Bug Girl’s Blog.
I have heard Bug Girl on panels at Convergence the last two years. Always informative and entertaining.
Joss Whedon teaches Physics
mia_mcdavid has been introducing our foster daughter, carpe_noctum_93, to the wonders of Joss Whedon’s creation, going through our complete DVD collections of both Buffy and Angel. Back in July I heard Jennifer Ouellette speak at Convergence, and decided it was time to read her book, The Physics of the Buffyverse.
Behind the fantastic properties of the vampires, demons, etc., there is actually a lot of good physics in the series. From electricity and the mechanics of martial arts to the Many World Interpretation of quantum mechanics, the writers of the series drew upon wide variety of concepts in physics. Ouellette neatly disentangles the real science from the fantastic elements, maintaining a witty style quite appropriate for the subject matter. It is absolutely non-technical—no math needed (Though that reminds me that I want to read her latest book).
Punched cards for lacemaking
Going back to the past to survive
Cluny sold off its modern Raschel machines – the huge, computer-driven automatons which now make mass-produced lace a relatively cheap product across the world.
And decided to rely on its old, 19th-Century Leavers machines, which make lace of an intricacy that is hard to copy.
Facebook, Roman style
At Gizmodo
Wine for reading
Getting Amazon Kindle for PC running in Ubuntu under Wine
There are several versions of these instructions out on the web. I chose this version because it
- was detailed
- had specific details for Ubuntu
- was current (01/08/10 is a European style date, as you can see from the other entries here).
The instructions worked and I have Kindle for PC up and running on Ubuntu 10.04. It felt somewhat unnatural to specify Windows 98 as the OS version, but I will get over that :-)>
This was my first taste of wine. It went down easily and I think I want more :-)>
Cannabis Catering
At Boing Boing
“…gourmet meals laced with pot.”
I am looking forward to seeing this as the theme ingredient on Iron Chef!
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 