Cartoon of the Day...

You had me at “carcass.” Har!

There's a Lot of BS Out There, Folks...

And American Express is doing their part to maintain the high levels of bullshit in our environment.  Here's an email from American Express explaining why they only allow letters in their passwords (no numbers, punctuation, or other “special characters”).  It's the purest kind of bullshit: information that is the exact inverse of the truth.

Sheesh, Amex, get your freaking act together!

Use ECC RAM!

My colleagues often make fun of me because I shut down and restart my laptop several times a day.  There are several reasons I do this, but one of them is to avoid accumulated memory (RAM) errors due to cosmic rays.  These errors occur more frequently than most people think if your computer doesn't use error correcting (ECC) RAM (and most laptops do not).  Here's an article that explains why this is true, and also gives specific estimates about the frequency of these errors. 

Bottom line: I'm going continue the behavior that I'm mocked for...

New Record for Clock Accuracy...

This new clock is accurate to within one second in 3.7 billion years, or (equivalently) one nanosecond in 3.7 years.  When I first started working in electronics, we thought a clock that was stable to within one millisecond per day was pretty hot stuff.  This new clock is over a billion times more stable...

Rain...

We got 1.42 inches (36 mm) of rain in the Friday/Saturday storm.  More, please!

Special Delivery...

Michael Yon is back in Afghanistan, and has filed his first report of this trip.  It's all about the Air Force crews who resupply the remote outposts in Afghanistan (of which there are many) – and, typical of Yon's work, it's full of evocative photos and detailed information.  He flew with one resupply mission and documents the whole thing...

ClimateGate: New Developments...

The hits just keep on comin':

Yet another egregious error in the IPCC report.  This time it turns out that their claim of AGW-caused 50% reduction in African agricultural production is not based on science at all.

In a good read, Walter Russell Mead discusses why climate science is in trouble.  And of all places, Canada's uber-liberal Globe and Mail publishes a skeptic-friendly piece by Margaret Wente on the great global warming collapse.

Color Photos from 1909 - 1915...

Fascinating collection of early color photography in Russia, by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. Click to enlarge the example at right.

The Benefits of Snowstorms...

From TJIC, too short and too monolithic to excerpt:

Apparently the seat of the national government is snowed in and everone is trapped in their houses.

I predict that with government officials unable to govern and convene press conferences, nationwide the economy will be stable and mass layoffs will be put on hold.

…at least until the plows get out there and let the politicians and bureaucrats back into their offices.

As he would say: Har!

Obama Likes Himself Pretty Well, Doesn't He?

NeoNeocon, who has some knowledge in the field, is quite disturbed by Obama's overt narcissism.  Her last paragraph chills me:

I’m not saying it will come to pass in exactly that way, and that Obama will declare himself to be a deity. In fact, I’ll even go on record as saying he won’t. Nevertheless, something is very wrong with this man, and it is growing stronger every day.

Spending $8.57 to save $1...

Gwynnie at Maggie's Farm does the math on the “Cash for Clunkers” program.  It ain't pretty.

Sarah Palin's Speech...

I watched Sarah Palin's Tea Party Convention keynote this morning on YouTube.  Awesome speech, and chock full of points I agree with.  Some nice comedic moments, too, like her one-liner aimed squarely at Obama: “How's that hopey-changey thing workin' out?”  There was relatively little that I flat out disagreed with, or that grated.  In particular, the overt religious ideology that permeated her book was absent.

The woman can sure give a speech.  I'll take her folksy, common-sense style over Obama's supposed oratory magnificence any day of the week. 

Could I support her in a run for President?  Possibly, though I don't think it's likely.  It's impossible to predict now what's going to happen in 2012, though one scenario being frequently batted around is an Obama vs. Palin matchup.  What would I do then?  Most likely I'd be torn between sitting out the election (for lack of a candidate I believed in) or voting for Palin as a way of saying “No more Obama!”

Watching her give this speech gave me another thought, though: it seems at least possible that Sarah Palin will emerge as the leader (or figurehead) of a political movement whose aggregate capability was attractive to me.  It would be, then, more like a team of people running rather than just Sarah Palin.  If that turned out to be the case, I'd find a vote for Palin much less troubling.

One prediction I think is a safe one: Sarah Palin will somehow be involved in the 2012 presidential race (even if not as a candidate), and her presence will make the race much more interesting – and probably more about the issues that I care about than otherwise...

Immortal Human Cells...

The first line of human cells capable of reproducing ad infinitum (hence the label “immortal”) were derived in 1951 from a tumor on the unfortunate Henrietta Lacks.  Her cells have been used in thousands of medical experiments and tests, and they're still in use to this day.  Here's the fascinating story, which is the subject of a new book by Rebecca Skloot.

Do It Yourself: Physics Experiments

Nice collection of do-it-yourself physics experiments...

The Ross Sisters: Hoy, Hoy!

Solid potato salad.  One hardly knows what to say...

Flying Bridge in the Netherlands...

The unique drawbridge pictured at right (click to enlarge) is on the western edge of Leeuwarden, Netherlands.  The locals call it the “Flying Bridge”.  Here it is on Google Maps.

The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana...

Read this and you'll learn something – but probably not what you're thinking...

Weatherman Attacked by Pelican...

And I'm not sure which is funnier – the pelican's attack or the weatherman's reaction.  Pelican and weatherman both survive, though the latter declares himself “permanently scarred”...

How to Fail a Test...

If you don't know the answer to a question on a test, what do you do?  Here's a nice collection of some creative answers to that conundrum (one example at right, click to enlarge)...

Oldest Known Bird Ancestor, Reconstructed (Even Color!)...

Scientists from Yale have reconstructed what Anchiomis huxleyi must have looked like (at right, click to enlarge).  A. huxleyi lived in what is today China some 160 million years ago, and is the oldest known feathered dinosaur (and presumed ancestor of today's birds)...

Free Physics Text...

A free, open source physics text, in eBook form.

Declaration of Independence, Remixed...

Pluto Changes...

The Hubble telescope has captured the most detailed images of Pluto ever taken.  There are plenty of mysteries for the scientists to dig into, and some interesting and heretofore unknwn (apparent) seasonal changes discovered.

This reminds me of an interesting comment I saw in an interview I read the other day.  An unnamed engineer at NASA (one of the “renegades” who's trying to change NASA's course) asserted that for the cost of the manned Hubble repair missions we could have launched 5 more advanced space telescopes.

I have no way to verify that assertion, but it gave me an idea that I'm pretty certain is accurate.  The idea is based on the easily observable fact that most of the cost of a mission like the Hubble telescope is in developement: the design of the instruments and the infrastructure on Earth to support the mission.  Actually constructing and launching the mission isn't free, but it's a much lower cost than the development.

So if we're going to develop the next generation Hubble, why build just one?  Why not build, say, five of the things – and launch them a couple of years apart.  By doing this we'd have a relatively long-lived project, reusing the same development and Earth-bound infrastructure.  The years between launches would provide time to “tweak” the design to handle issues raised by earlier missions.

It strikes me that this is very similar to what the U.S. Navy does with ships and boats.  The first ship or boat of any particular class (such as the Los Angeles class of submarines) is followed by some number of almost-but-not-quite identical sister ships or boats – with the design tweaked to fix issues found in the earlier examples, or to incorporate improved technology.  But basically the design is the same, only the details change.

Why not for our unmanned robot space explorers as well?

Retarded Attorneys?

The U.S. Department of Justice is looking for trial attorneys.  Specifically:

The Civil Rights Division encourages qualified applicants with targeted disabilities to apply. Targeted disabilities are deafness, blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralysis, convulsive disorder, mental retardation, mental illness, severe distortion of limbs and/or spine.

Yes, really.  You just can't make this stuff up...

Ramirez Nails It...

$104.3 Million...

For the statue at right (click to enlarge), by Alberto Giacometti.

I'm just astonished when I see something like this.  I feel like I must be missing the genes that provoke the excitement and passion that someone must feel, given their willingness to part with that much money to own this thing.

Me, I'd pay someone to haul that thing away if it should somehow end up in my yard or my home.  I'd be afraid it would scare my dogs...

This About Sums It Up...

Via my lovely wife:

Remember when Ronald Reagan was president, we also had Bob Hope and Johnny Cash still with us...

Now we have Obama … no Hope and no Cash!

AGW: Himalayan Glaciers Blackening...

One of the IPCC report's more dramatic predictions was that anthropogenic global warming (AGW) would cause the Himalayan glaciers to disappear entirely by 2035.  Recently that date was shown to be entirely based on a mis-reported study by a single scientist who disavows that result (so much for the IPCC's peer-reviewed science!).  But the IPCC stands by their assertion that global warming is responsible for the shrinkage of the Himalayan glaciers.

AGW skeptics have long asserted that there were many other possible reasons why the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking.  One of the more commonly cited reasons was particulates in (mostly Indian) air pollution reducing the albedo of the glaciers.  Now along comes a study, reported by Science Daily, says that's exactly the case.

This is interesting for two reasons: the direct findings of the study, but also the fact that it's being reported in the mainstream science press.  I suspect that had this study published even just 3 months ago, Science Daily wouldn't have reported it at all, as it doesn't fit the AGW narrative. 

But these days, it's cool to be an AGW skeptic...

It's the Time of Year We Think of the IRS...

Passed along by reader Simi L.:

At the end of the tax year, the IRS office sent an inspector to audit the books of a local hospital. While the IRS agent was checking the books he turned to the CFO of the hospital and said, "I notice you buy a lot of bandages. What do you do with the end of the roll when there's too little left to be of any use?"

"Good question," noted the CFO. "We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every now and then they send us a free box of bandages."

"Oh," replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way.

"What about all these plaster purchases? What do you do with what's left over after setting a cast on a patient?"

"Ah, yes," replied the CFO, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. "We save it and send it back to the manufacturer, and every now and then they send us a free package of plaster."

"I see," replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all CFO. "Well," he went on, "What do you do with all the leftover foreskins from the circumcisions you perform?"

"Here, too, we do not waste," answered the CFO. "What we do is save all the little foreskins and send them to the IRS Office, and about once a year they send us a complete prick."

Autism and Vaccines...

Twelve years ago, the Lancet (a British medical journal) published a study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that linked autism to measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccines.  This has led to legislation to ban the vaccines, civil suits against the vaccine manufacturers, parents refusing to have their kids vaccinated, and a significant uptick in the incidence of these diseases.

For years now, this research paper has been hammered by other scientists as the purest bunk.  The Lancet initially stood by its decision to publish, but now has formally withdrawn the paper.

In a just world, the damaging lawsuits and legislation would immediately stop.  They won't.  I'll bet some of them will still be in court 10 years from now...

The Tunnel...

Via my mom:

Sitting together on a train was Obama, George Bush Jr., a little old lady, and a young blonde girl with large breasts..

The train goes into a dark tunnel and a few seconds later there is the sound of a loud slap.

When the train emerges from the tunnel, Obama has a bright red hand print on his cheek.

No one speaks.

The old lady thinks:
Obama must have groped the blonde in the dark, and she slapped him.

The blonde girl thinks:
Obama must have tried to grope me in the dark, but missed and fondled the old lady and she slapped him.

Obama thinks:
Bush must have groped the blonde in the dark. She tried to slap him but missed and got me instead.

George Bush thinks:
I can't wait for another tunnel, so I can smack Obama again.

Obscura...

According to this web site, “obscura” are wonders, curiousities, or esoterica (though I couldn't find anyone else defining the word this way).  Whatever the correctness of that definition, the collection certainly is interesting.  The “Take me to a random place” at the top right is quite entertaining...

ClimateGate: Roundup...

Here's what's happened in the past couple of days:

The University of Pennsylvania released their initial report on Michael Mann's behavior in ClimateGate.  Steve McIntyre reacts; as you might have anticipated, he's not impressed.  The probe continues...

Eric Raymond and James Delingpole think the ClimageGate fraudsters need to be named and shamed.  Eric believes it's necessary; James is reveling in vindication.  For the record, I'm with James Delingpole: I'm reveling, too (as if you couldn't tell!)...

Steve McIntyre points out that even a primary schoolboy should be able to get facts right – that is, facts that the IPCC got wrong.