What’s Happening Wednesday

One of the biggest problems in getting people to understand things is that people are just unable to grasp and process complicated datasets. The world is a complicated place, and sometimes the answers to questions are anything but easy. Presenting data is one of the most crucial functions a statistician must learn - and it’s […]

Science Thursday

Fly Me to the Moon

Joe Rogan was on Kevin&Bean this morning. For the most part, I’ve liked this guy. His UFC commentary is usually pretty good, his stand-up isn’t bad and he’s pointed out how many comics joke-steal. He hosted Fear Factor, but hey, we all need to pay rent. But after today, I can’t support him anymore. He’s […]

Light the Reactors

I still cannot understand why we even have to debate nuclear power in this country. It’s far cleaner and more efficient than coal or oil. With current technology, we could power fission reactors until the sun burns out. It isn’t perfect - but to be honest, there will always be trade-offs for industrialized society. It […]

One Invention to Rule Them All

Sometimes in my whimsical moments I dream of going back in time - far back - and becoming the greatest inventor the world has ever seen. I mean, think of all the things I’d know! I’d be a combination of da Vinci and Nostradamus. I’d make Tesla look like a copycat. The Royal Society in […]

Quick Hits for Wednesday

Just some minor thoughts I guess:

CNN recently covered “The Secret” - they got some skeptics opinions, and they make a whole lot of sense.  Cancer survivors? Sexual assault victims? Holocaust prisoners? It’s your fault - your negative thoughts attracted bad things!
Yahoo finally does something to get a bit of a leg-up on google. They’ve integrated […]

Mr. Wizard on Letterman

Oh That’s Some Bad News

Man, nothing worse than hearing that one of your childhood icons has passed. 8( Apparently Mr. Wizard, AKA Don Herbert, died today. Bill Nye was a pathetic amateur compared to Mr. Wizard. I used to watch him all the time as a kid. (That shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who knows me)
This guy was […]

The End of an Era

For a long time now, 6 years in fact, I have been an active member of the grid.org distributed computing project. But now, the project has ended and they are closing down. I helped work on research into cancer, anthrax, proteome folding and smallpox. I do believe that this project and my contributions were helpful […]

So very, very close

Almost there - and this was was a bit of a surprise so soon. I thought it would take another 3-5 years. But I’m pretty excited for the sake of excitement!
Scientists, for the first time, have detected an extrasolar world that could harbor forms life as we know it. It’s a heavy planet, 1.5x the […]