Banksia grandis...

An Australian native, from BPOD, of course...

Amazing Voyager 2...

Over thirty years old, and a bazillion miles past Pluto – and yet we can still talk to it and control it.  It's an awesome and under-appreciated technological accomplishment...

Maps...

xkcd has an excellent post today on various map projections, and what your preferences say about you...

Hello Faddah, Hello Mama...

IowaHawk strikes again with a theme song for Occupy Wall Street.  Sample stanza:

We are saving
This whole nation
With some squad car
Defecation
We went marching
in Zucotti 
And got applauded by the Nazi Party

WTF, China?

China is building very strange things in its deserts, and nobody seems to know why...

Historical Unemployment...

A very nice graphical “heat map” that the WSJ keeps updated...

Hydrogen alpha Sun...

Our sun, as seen in hydrogen alpha light.  Gorgeous.  Click to enlarge.  From APOD, of course...

Time-Lapse Movie of the Earth, from the ISS...

Awesome.  The aurora borealis and lightning strikes are particularly beautiful and interesting...

Shameful?

This guy – a law professor! – thinks it's shameful that someone solicited in the University for care packages to be sent to our soldiers overseas.

Personally, I think it's shameful that an academic institution (Suffolk University law school, in this case) allows someone with that attitude to indoctrinate our youth.

Morning Walk...

This morning's walk was glorious...  A sharp scent of sage was in the air, a consequence, I think, of our rains a couple days ago.  The ground is damp, and new growth is springing up all around.  The moon was high in the sky, just over Orion's head.  It's brightess washed out all but the brightest stars.  Jupiter hung over the western horizon.  I couldn't make out the Milky Way at all; the sky was just too bright.  The moonlight was more than bright enough to walk confidently by.  It cast sharp shadows; the pine tree shadows I walked through were particualrly lovely, reminding me of the shadows cast by lights on the Christmas tree.

The dogs, of course, know none of this.  The three field spaniels were agog over the smells exposed by the soils dampness.  They ran to and fro, in random directions but with huge energy.  This morning they found nothing to focus on.  They were like canine vacuum cleaners, zooming around sucking in all the joyous odors.  They were clearly very happy dogs.  Race, on the other hand, noticed none of this.  All he had eyes for was his pine cone.  As usual, he repeatedly laid it in my path so that I would walk over it and kick it.  This is how he gets his joy: chasing a kicked pine cone.  He runs it down, snags it in his jaws, then lifts his head high in sheer joy as he scampers about for 30 seconds or so of victory laps that take him all over the yard.  Then he comes back and lays his pine cone down again.

Another morning out in the chaparral...

Cocaine Prices vs. Crime Rates...

An interesting piece by Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones explores the idea that lower cocaine prices on the street are the cause for the declining rate of violent crime in the U.S. over the past 15 years or so.

I have no idea whether that notion has any merit.  However, inadvertently the article makes many points that bolster the case for legalizing drugs like cocaine.  One of the consequences of making such a high-demand item (as evidenced by the price people are willing to pay for it) illegal is that people will finance their desire by committing crimes – property crimes and violent crimes.  This country saw that during Prohibition, and rolled it back.  I, along with many others, believe we should do the same thing with other illegal drugs.  There's nothing special about alcohol, which manifestly has the same sorts of undesirable impacts on people and society that the illegal drugs do...

Free Programming Resources...

A nice list...

He Is A Second Dirac, Only This Time Human...

That's a quote by Dr. Eugene Wigner, taken from J. Robert Oppenheimer's letter of recommendation for Richard Feynmann.  The letter is addressed to Professor Birge at U.C. Berkeley.  The letter is reproduced below, but do click to read the whole story...

Bicycle Wheel, Reinvented...

The noise would make me crazy, but it's an interesting concept.  It reminds me of the old Lunar Rover design.  I'll bet if you put a layer of tire material on the outside of the thing, the noise wouldn't be so bad...

CO2 - Where Does It Come From?

A nice piece that clearly articulates one of the key questions raised by skeptics of anthropogenic global warming: if CO2 produced by human activities is a tiny amount compared to the CO2 produced by Mother Nature, then how can it be the cause of global warming?

Lost Faith...

Thomas L. Day has lost his faith in the leadership of his parents' generation.  An excerpt:

Our parents’ generation has balked at the tough decisions required to preserve our country’s sacred entitlements, leaving us to clean up the mess. They let the infrastructure built with their fathers’ hands crumble like a stale cookie. They downgraded our nation’s credit rating. They seem content to hand us a debt exceeding the size of our entire economy, rather than brave a fight against the fortunate and entrenched interests on K Street and Wall Street.

Read the whole thing.

Superhydrophobic Coatings...

They repel water and heavy oils.  This is going to be big!  I have spoken...

On Heretic Scientists...

An interesting piece on two facts seemingly at odds:

1. About 90% of all scientists who make breakthrough discoveries are heretics, in the sense that they held unorthodox views widely rejected by their contemporaries.
2. About 90% of all scientists who are heretics (in the sense described above) are whacked out loonies – only about 10% of them actually make real breakthrough discoveries.

Bouncy Doggie...

I don't really know what's going on here, but it's cute...

Newt Wipes the Floor...

...with the debate moderator.  He certainly doesn't sound like your average politician – the guy has knowledge and IQ, and can use it even in hostile circumstances...