The Far Traveler: May 2006

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Start-up could kick Opteron into overdrive | The Register

AMD's decision to open Hypertransport could end up being a key factor in Opteron's future success. Intel looks set to compete better with AMD later this year when it releases a revamped line of Xeon processors. AMD, however, can now turn to third parties such as DRC for performance boosts unavailable with Intel's chip line.

DRC appears to be making the most of its AMD ties by sliding right into Opteron sockets. That means that customers can outfit an Opteron motherboard with any combination of Opteron chips and DRC modules. Illuminata's Haff sees the DRC implementation as one way of overcoming past aversions to accelerators.

"It is true that one of the issues around PCI-based FPGA products and really anything specialized is that by the time you transfer the calculation over the special purpose board, you have often lost much of the benefit you had," Haff said. "So, putting the product within the CPU fabric certainly does help address this particular problem."

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters:

"Stephen Kohn, chairman of the National Whistleblower Center, said: 'The ruling is a victory for every crooked politician in the United States"

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Amnesty International - working to protect human rights worldwide

Stop internet repression
Chat rooms monitored. Blogs deleted. Websites blocked. Search engines restricted. People imprisoned for posting or sharing information. The internet is a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. Governments, with the help of some of the world's biggest IT companies, are cracking down on freedom of expression. Join the irrepressible.info campaign to show that the human voice and human rights cannot be repressed.

irrepressible.info website
take action

How To Automate Spamcop Submissions | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials

Spamcop is a service which provides RBLs for mailservers in order to reject incoming mail from spammers.

This tutorial shows how to automate the Spam Cop submission and verfication process. All I do is just putting the spam into certain folders and our good old friend cron does the rest."

Friday, May 26, 2006

Okopipi coming soon

Okopipi-announce The announce list (very low traffic)
Okopipi-discuss General discussion the Okopipi project
Okopipi-dev A discussion of Okopipi's development
Okopipi-press Okopipi in the press
The Okopipi Wiki
The Okopipi IRC channel Hosted by the folks over at freenode. Also accessible over the web here.
Check out the beta site.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control

The Jawa Report: Iraq Gun Porn: Which Guns Suck, Which Guns Rock

The Jawa Report: Iraq Gun Porn: Which Guns Suck, Which Guns Rock:

"Who are the bad guys?:

Most of the carnage is caused by the Zarqawi Al Qaeda group. They operate mostly in Anbar province (Fallujah and Ramadi). These are mostly 'foreigners', non-Iraqi Sunni Arab Jihadists from all over the Muslim world (and Europe). Most enter Iraq through Syria (with, of course, the knowledge and complicity of the Syrian govt.) , and then travel down the 'rat line' which is the trail of towns along the Euphrates River that we've been hitting hard for the last few months.

Some are virtually untrained young Jihadists that often end up as suicide bombers or in 'sacrifice squads'. Most, however, are hard core terrorists
from all the usual suspects (Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas etc.) These are the guys running around murdering civilians en masse and cutting heads off. The Chechens (many of whom are Caucasian), are supposedly the most ruthless and
the best fighters. "

Les Jones - Archive with Newest Posts First

U.S. forces thwart major escape in southern Iraq

U.S. forces thwart major escape in southern Iraq:

"U.S. military police Friday thwarted a massive escape attempt by suspected insurgents and terrorists from this southern Iraq Army base that houses more than 6,000 detainees when they uncovered a 600-foot tunnel the detainees had dug under their compound."

Tavor

Israel Military Industries is launching the new family of the TAVOR assault rifles. The weapon is offered in four configurations:

The basic design - the T.A.R-21 Tavor Assault Rifle.
A sharp-shooting configuration is offered as a squad weapon.
For commando, airborne, paratroopers and special rescue units, as well as tank crews, a short Tavor assault rifle is offered.
Micro T.A.R is specially configured for security forces and special missions.

avor uses the proven, compact Bull pup design, which was optimized to best match the ergonomics and mission requirements of the modern warrior, providing natural handling, intuitive aiming from all firing positions and improved hit accuracy. Accuracy and target acquisition is enhanced, by the use of accurate aiming, through the use of an integral reflex optical reflective sight, which projects the aiming point on the center of the sight. Tavor has an attachment for additional sighting devices, such as a 3rd generation night vision sight, which can be installed with no zeroing. Tavor is gas operated, using rotating bolt action. All types use standard NATO 5.56mm ammunition (M855/SS109), accommodate a 30 round magazine and sustain a rate of fire of 750 - 900 rounds per minute, and have the following specifications.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

FSF - Protesters provide a nasty "vista" for Gates

FSF - Protesters provide a nasty "vista" for Gates:

"Seattle, May 23 2006

As Microsoft developers gathered in Seattle to hear Bill Gates's keynote speech on the future of Microsoft and the coming release of its updated operating system Vista, protesters wearing bright yellow Hazmat suits swarmed the entrance of the city's convention center, delivering an unsettling message to the corporation: your product is defective and hazardous to users.

The surprise protest marked the launch of DefectiveByDesign.org, a direct-action campaign that will target Big Media and corporations peddling Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). 'Flash protests, direct actions, and practical ways that people can get involved and help stop the stupidity of DRM,' is how campaign manager Gregory Heller described the grassroots effort."

Massachusetts assaults monoculture | Perspectives | CNET News.com

By Daniel Geer

Published: November 29, 2005, 4:00 AM PST

When governments maintain their public records electronically, does a member of the public have to buy something from a specific company to read those records? The rational, fair, democratic answer has to be "no."
The Massachusetts executive branch agrees in blunt and perceptive language: "A public record, once stored electronically, must not require a proprietary computer program to read it; it should be readable by many different word processors, spreadsheets and other productivity applications, regardless of vendor."
Simple, isn't it? A public record on paper requires no one to buy anything. Everyone can read it. And it more or less keeps forever. That's a good standard, and Massachusetts will soon require public records be held in OpenDocument Format.

STLtoday - News - Education

STLtoday - News - Education:

"Among the many things a University of Missouri at Columbia professor and a libertarian public policy institute in Washington disagree on is just who is misrepresenting whom.

First, Curt Davis, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Mizzou, complained that the institute wrongly portrayed his study in a national television ad in order to confuse the public and play down the effects of global warming. His study showed growth in some parts of the East Antarctic ice sheet.

Then, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which produced the ad aimed at countering 'global warming alarmism,' put out a news release Monday, saying Davis was spreading mistruths.

The back-and-forth comes just days before the documentary 'An Inconvenient Truth' opens in theaters. The movie details former Vice President Al Gore's quest to rally action against global warming, which he calls a 'planetary emergency.' "

Uncertain Principles: Loose Lips Sink Research Grants

...but this year's talk by a program director from the Department of Energy raised the average blood pressure at our table by a good bit. ...

The main subject matter wasn't terribly exciting-- she told the story of how the "American Competitiveness Initiative" came about from an National Academy of Science report. It's a moderately interesting story of political maneuvering, but she didn't really add much other than bureaucratic jargon to the story that had already been published in the New York Times and elsewhere.

The annoying thing was the peripheral message-- she took pains to state several times that both Democrats and Republicans in Congress support science, in a tone that basically came across as chiding us for thinking otherwise. That was annoying by itself, but at the very end of the talk, she specifically warned against taking partisan positions, citing the letter supporting John Kerry that was signed by a couple dozen Nobel laureates as something that made it harder to keep science funding. She said that after that, when she met with administration officials about budget matters, she could see them thinking "Damn scientists..."

Not only does that take an incredible amount of gall to come out and say (accepting government funding does not preclude private political speech), it pretty much gives the lie to her earlier assertions that the administration and the Republican party support science. Even leaving aside the issues raised by their cozying up to creationists and shady industry groups, if you really support science, that support should not be contingent on scientists holding opinions that you agree with. The idea that private political speech by scientists would affect funding decisions is another appalling example of the way the modern Republican party places politics ahead of policy.

Archos Linux-based portable audio/video player available online

Linux-based "fourth generation" Archos PMA400 personal video recorder/player (PVR/PVP) -- with a 3.5-inch color LCD, 30GB hard drive, wireless Internet access, and Qtopia PIM suite.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

[H]ard|OCP - www.hardocp.com

3500 File Sharers Arrested
The authorities can arrest 3500 people sharing files, but no one can seem to round up virus authors or phishers one at a time.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) - the record industry's global body - said each could face five years in prison.

Monday, May 22, 2006

The Poor Man Institute

Reproduction (Category: Kooks • Reproduction )

I also think Ms Stanek is a kook.

I base my thinking on several Biblical concepts. The foremost concept is that God is always described in Scripture as the sole procreative decision-maker. To my knowledge, every incident in Scripture describing pregnancy or barrenness gives God complete credit.

If that premise is true, who has the right to say no to God? Who can say they have a better grip on timing than God?

She's honest, I'll give her that, but she's sailing off into loony-land with this stuff. I don't quite get how she's drawing that conclusion: does the Bible describe every pregnancy that ever occurred in the history of the world? I know people who reflexively assign every good thing that happens to them in their life to their god; that doesn't mean he exists or that he's responsible, it just means that's what they believe. And face it, the Bible is the unvarnished, over-the-top hagiography of the Judeo-Christian deity…it credits him with everything, but that doesn't mean it's credible.

If I give Ms Stanek the benefit of the doubt, though, and take her claim as a given, doesn't it lead to a different conclusion than she wants? If her god has absolute, complete control over whether one becomes pregnant or not, than contraception is irrelevant. If her god wants you to be pregnant, he'll do so whether a condom is used or not; if he doesn't want you to be pregnant, never mind what the fertility clinic doctors do. It's that easy. Why not just assume that contraception is the mechanism of god's will?

New Scientist Tech - Breaking News - Nuclear fusion plasma problem tackled

New Scientist Tech - Breaking News - Nuclear fusion plasma problem tackled:

"Researchers at General Atomics, a company based in San Diego, California, US, discovered a simple way to prevent ELMs from occurring. By using a separate magnetic coil to induce small perturbations in the reactor's main magnetic field, they found they could bleed off enough of the plasma particles to prevent the ELMs from bursting out."

Sunday, May 21, 2006

news @ nature.com - Geometric whirlpools revealed - Recipe for making symmetrical holes in water is easy.

news @ nature.com Recipe for making symmetrical holes in water is easy.

NewsForge | Test-driving RouterOS 2.9

Would you like to have a Linux-based router capable of doing tasks such as stateful firewall inspection, virtual private networking, and traffic shaping, in addition to packet routing? Tired of having to do administration from the command line but want to be able to administer your box from a Windows-based client PC? MikroTik's RouterOS may what you need.

NewsForge: The Online Newspaper for Linux and Open Source

Darren Naish: Tetrapod Zoology

Saturday, May 20, 2006

The Far Traveler

When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it. But when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind: it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science, whatever the matter may be.
--Lord Kelvin, 19th-century British physicist

Pharyngula: Morris in the news

Pharyngula: Morris in the news:

"One other very troubling thing hidden in that 99% graduation rate is that it has become a mark of pride in the district, and administrators try to keep it high now not by encouraging excellence in education and making sure that every student has earned a diploma, but by pressuring teachers not to fail any students under any circumstances. We've lost one good teacher at the school already because he refused to go along with that policy (and also because some of the growing discipline problems there were just too frustrating.)"

Genomics and the Irreducible Nature of Eukaryote Cells -- Kurland et al. 312 (5776): 1011 -- Science

Science 19 May 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5776, pp. 1011 - 1014
DOI: 10.1126/science.1121674

Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Review

Genomics and the Irreducible Nature of Eukaryote Cells
C. G. Kurland,¹ L. J. Collins,² D. Penny²^* Large-scale comparative genomics in harness with proteomicshas substantiated fundamental features of eukaryote cellularevolution. The evolutionary trajectory of modern eukaryotesis distinct from that of prokaryotes.

Aetiology: Getting it wrong

Aetiology: Getting it wrong The always interesting Aetiology has some nice info on ...

Getting it wrong

Category: General biology • Intelligent design/creationism • Science education • Various bacteria
Posted on: May 19, 2006 3:00 PM, by Tara C. Smith

So, archaea are apparently the topic of the week. While I wrote here about the pathogenic potential of some species of these organisms, a new essay in Nature and a new review in Science focus more on their evolution (and the evolution of the other two domains of life) than any health application.

In the essay mentioned, Norman Pace discusses the eukaryote/prokaryote dichotomy. Currently the archaea are classified as prokaryotes since they, like bacteria, lack a true nucleus. However, molecular sequence analysis has shown that the archaea and eukaryotes are actually more closely related to each other than either group is to bacteria (see figure, from Pace's Nature essay). As such, nomenclature that places the bacteria and archaea together into a group is misleading.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Humans vs. Robots: Sweeping up is a dirty job, but you don't have to do it

Here are some Roomba- and robot-related resources:

www.roombareview.com -- Independent site run by Roomba fans. Reviews and comparisons of various Roomba and Roombalike machines. A message board provides related discussion and information.
www.myroombud.com -- A group of kids started a business making costume covers for Roombas. Turn your robot into Roobit the Frog, Roor the Tiger or Mooba the Cow.
roombahacking.com -- The name says it all.
roomba.pbwiki.com -- A wiki with lots of information about modifying Roombas.
www.robotstocknews.blogspot.com -- An iRobot blog full of information about the company and its products, run by a fan.
www.metapo.com -- Site for CleanMate, a vacuum robot competitor of the Roomba.
friendlyrobotics.com -- Site for the RoboMower, the lawn-mowing robot.
www.electroluxusa.com/node328.asp -- Site for Electrolux's expensive Trilobite bot.
www.robotuprising.com -- Site for anyone who's ever suspected a harmless home android might one day turn homicidal. Daniel Wilson, a real-life roboticist, tells how to prepare for and defeat the mechanical menaces of the future.

U.S. Patent Office re-examines Amazon's 'One Click' patent

U.S. Patent Office re-examines Amazon's 'One Click' patent:

"Actor Peter Calveley sought the reconsideration in documents filed in February, pointing out that a patent for similar technology was issued in March 1998, about 18 months before Amazon's. The Patent Office agreed last week that Calveley had raised a substantial question about the appropriateness of Amazon's patent, documents posted on its Web site show.

Calveley wrote on his blog that his crusade is revenge for an 'annoyingly slow' book delivery from Amazon. He used the blog to raise the $2,520 reexamination fee."

The World's Healthiest Foods: Feeling Great

The World's Healthiest Foods: Feeling Great:

"Why Brown - But Not White - Rice is One of the World's Healthiest Foods

The difference between brown rice and white rice is not just color! A whole grain of rice has several layers. Only the outermost layer, the hull, is removed to produce what we call brown rice. This process is the least damaging to the nutritional value of the rice and avoids the unnecessary loss of nutrients that occurs with further processing. If brown rice is further milled to remove the bran and most of the germ layer, the result is a whiter rice, but also a rice that has lost many more nutrients. At this point, however, the rice is still unpolished, and it takes polishing to produce the white rice we are used to seeing. Polishing removes the aleurone layer of the grain - a layer filled with health-supportive, essential fats. Because these fats, once exposed to air by the refining process, are highly susceptible to oxidation, this layer is removed to extend the shelf life of the product. The resulting white rice is simply a refined starch that is largely bereft of its original nutrients."

Thursday, May 18, 2006

ActNow!

The Nation website has been running an ad recently urging readers to "say no to government regulation of the internet." Please don't click on it. It's a deceptive campaign created by high-priced consultants and paid for by the cable and phone industries to build opposition to the net neutrality bill. Companies like AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth and their trade associations are spending millions every week to mislead and misinform the American public through tricky ad campaigns such as these.

As the invaluable group Free Press reports, their latest attempt to hoodwink Internet users is a cutesy cartoon at www.dontregulate.org -- a clever piece of industry propaganda that is riddled with half-truths and conveys a fake populist message that sounds plausible, while undermining the work of genuine public and consumer advocates.

Science and the First Amendment

Science and the First Amendment:

"Why pour so much energy into protecting science education? Why not fight for literacy generally or any of a thousand other educational issues? I have two answers. One is easy: I know about evolution, so it makes sense that I would work on what I know best. The second is harder to grasp. And that is that freedom of religion is the bedrock foundation of liberty in this country. If we allow certain special-interest religious groups to co-opt the public school science classroom, to use it as a vehicle for converting children to religious views their parents don't hold, if we allow them to spout outright lies about the nature and content of science, what do we really have left? If you can lie about science and get away with it, you can lie about anything."

John Hawks Anthropology Weblog : Vindija nuclear DNA report

home :: reviews :: neandertals :: neandertal_dna :: paabo_cold_spring_harbor_report_2006

Nature News is reporting that a million base pairs of a Neandertal specimen from Vindija cave have been sequenced. There's no paper; it's just a press report from a conference talk. So few details to examine.

Grandma Manimal. The Loom: A blog about life, past and future

Before this study, the rough consensus among scientists was that our ancestors diverged from the ancestors of our closest relatives--chimpanzees and bonobos--at some point between five to seven million years ago. That evidence came from studies on DNA, as well as from fossils, such as the oldest hominid fossil, Sahelanthropus, which is estimated to have lived 6.5 to 7.5 million years old. Most scientists argued that the hominids made a relatively clean break from other apes, without any significant hybridizing.

But that's not what has emerged from the new study. The Broad Institute scientists lined up millions of bases of DNA in humans and chimps and measured their differences. Humans and chimpanzees both inherited each segment of DNA from a common ancestor. Over time, the copies of that ancestral segment picked up mutations. The differences between them can offer clues to how long they've been evolving along separate paths. It turns out that the ancestors for some of those segments are much older than others. The only way to make sense of these results, according to the scientists, is to conclude that hominids and the ancestors of chimpanzees were interbreeding--to some extent at least--for four million years.

Pharyngula: We lucky duckies

Pharyngula: We lucky duckies:

"First, Hayek's definition of a 'socialist' economy is one that is planned. Redistribution of wealth, even of tax wealth, is not such planning. The key point is that our economy is planned in almost no regard -- while both Congress and the White House make income projections, and while the Federal Reserve Board pays careful attention to actual economic activity, there is almost no direct intervention into any facet of our economy. The government does not control coal or oil prices, nor electrical prices. The government does almost nothing about steel. All of what Lenin called the 'commanding heights' of the economy in the U.S. are in private hands, with only a semi-public, grossly underfunded corporation running AmTrak as an almost exception -- and that's nothing in a nation that shuns rails for passenger traffic.* Use of tax monies does not make the U.S. a socialist nation.

Second, Indian Cowboy assumes without evidence nor even a reasonable claim that a rich guy gets only $14,000 benefit from the federal government. That's absurd. The federal share of locally-governed fire and police protection would probably come close to $14,000 annually, especially for the rich guy with a big home, a business place, who uses roads, rails, ports and airports. There is really a wealth of benefits that the rich guy gets that the poor guy can only read about -- from special regulations that govern communication devices, broadband cable and internet, mail, shipping, etc., etc. Plus, really big business are represented by the State Department in foreign negotiations, and major industries have entire bureaucracies in the Commerce and Agriculture departments that do nothing but shill for big money guys ('Got Milk?'; 'Beef -- it's what's for dinner'; 'Buy American tobacco products'; steel quotas, garment regulations, etc.).

Indian Cowboy is simply confused, as his handle indicates."

Humans, chimps may have bred after split - The Boston Globe

Humans, chimps may have bred after split - The Boston Globe:

"The lead scientist said that this jarring conflict with the fossil record, combined with a number of other strange genetic patterns the team uncovered, led him to a startling explanation: that human ancestors evolved apart from the chimpanzees for hundreds of thousands of years, and then started breeding with them again before a final break

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

X-bit labs - Hardware news - AMD Heading Towards Land-Grid Array Sockets – Report.

However, it seems that AMD decided to use LGA casing for the future chips, as LGA typically provides both a high density range and interface wipe for a reliable, long-term electrical connection from the microprocessor to the printed circuit board, according to sockets manufacturer Tyco Electronics. Thanks to more reliable contact, CPU maker may increase the processor bus speed and memory speed, something which AMD officially wanted to do with the Opteron in future.

Blacklisted 411 - Spam Vampire - Software Review

richard’s ramblings… » The Lug Nut Rule…

richard’s ramblings… » The Lug Nut Rule…:

"If you’re going to crash your prized vehicle straight into another car, it would be a good idea to remember the old adage, “He, who has the most lug nuts, wins.” In 2002, the National Academy of Sciences released a report that concluded that “the downweighting and downsizing that occurred in the late 1970s and early 1980s, some of which was due to CAFE standards, probably resulted in an additional 1,300 to 2,600 traffic fatalities in 1993.”"

Anti-spam tools

SpamVampire
Refi Retaliator II
RefControl extension (for Firefox)
SpammerSlammer
Email Address Obfuscator

Russia’s Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM

Russia’s Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment - NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM:

"Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering repeated blows to the head.

Kushnir, 35, headed the English learning centers the Center for American English, the New York English Centre and the Centre for Spoken English, all known to have aggressive Internet advertising policies in which millions of e-mails were sent every day.

In the past angry Internet users have targeted the American English centre by publishing the Center’s telephone numbers anywhere on the Web to provoke telephone calls. The Center’s telephone was advertised as a contact number for cheap sex services, or bargain real estate sales. "

In the Fight Against Spam E-Mail, Goliath Wins Again

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

AR-15 parts, AK-47 parts, FN-FAL parts, HK parts, Mini 14 parts, MP5 parts, firearms, accessories &

firearms

AnandTech: AMD AM2: More than just a Memory Change

search

search: "100 Million Candle Power Search Light!"

Monday, May 15, 2006

Evolution's Bottom Line - New York Times

Evolution's Bottom Line - New York Times:

"Creationists who oppose the teaching of evolution as the predominant theory of biology contend that alternatives should be part of the curriculum because evolution is 'just a theory,' but they never attack mere theories of gravity and relativity in the same way. The creationists took it on their intelligently designed chins recently from a judge in Pennsylvania who found that teaching alternatives to evolution amounted to the teaching of religion. They prevailed, however, in Kansas, where the school board changed the definition of science to accommodate the teaching of intelligent design.

Both sides say they are fighting for lofty goals and defending the truth. But lost in all this truth-defending are more pragmatic issues that have to do with the young people whose educations are at stake here and this pesky fact: creationism has no commercial application. Evolution does.

Since evolution has been the dominant theory of biology for more than a century, it's a safe statement that all of the wonderful innovations in medicine and agriculture that we derive from biological research stem from the theory of evolution. Recent, exciting examples are humanized antibodies like Remicade for inflammation and Herceptin for breast cancer, both initially made in mice. Without our knowledge of the evolution of mice and humans and their immune systems, we wouldn't have such life-saving and life-improving technologies."

Pharyngula: Google games

Pharyngula: Google games:

"Go to your stock broker and ask to purchase stock in any company that is applying creationism/intelligent design commercially, for profit, if the company is deemed a good buy, and also to purchase stock in any company that is applying evolution for profit. Your broker would advise you that there are no companies applying creationism (it's sterile and dead as science), but a number of generally-well-performing pharmaceutical and agricultural companies applying evolution -- which of the many evolution companies would you like to buy?

See, in the real world -- the world God created, we Christians would observe -- evolution works, and creationism shirks."

Million Dollar Challenge

Million Dollar Challenge:

"At JREF, we offer a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event. The JREF does not involve itself in the testing procedure, other than helping to design the protocol and approving the conditions under which a test will take place. All tests are designed with the participation and approval of the applicant. In most cases, the applicant will be asked to perform a relatively simple preliminary test of the claim, which if successful, will be followed by the formal test. Preliminary tests are usually conducted by associates of the JREF at the site where the applicant lives. Upon success in the preliminary testing process, the 'applicant' becomes a 'claimant.'

To date, no one has ever passed the preliminary tests."

Daily Kos: Science

If this kind of kookery were being sold by an obscure new-age wack-job, it would just be funny. But that's not the case here: This brand of lunacy is openly courted by the most powerful people in the history of the world. This crap is encouraged by the very folks who manage our wars and assess threats to this nation (Badly); the same folks who would like climate change to just be a silly myth; the same ones with their slimy fingers on the nuclear button; the men and women who are entrusted with every aspect of your immediate and long term welfare. And that contempt for reality, the arrogance in their personal religious views as inerrant, and the same preference for fantasy is readily apparent in each of those areas and many more. That's not funny, it's not quaint, it's not a sign of strong character: It's just scary as hell.

Evolution News & Views: Kevin Shapiro in The Wall Street Journal: A Fig Leaf for Darwinism and a Strawman of Intelligent Design

Crossing borders: What's the secret sauce in Ruby on Rails?

Ruby on Rails seems to be a lightning rod for controversy. At the heart of most of the controversy lies amazing productivity claims. Crossing Borders author Bruce Tate has come to understand that Rails isn't a better hammer; it's a different kind of tool. This article explores the compromises and design decisions that went into making Rails so productive within its niche. Then it looks at Rails-inspired ideas that should get more attention within the Java™ community.

Friday, May 12, 2006

The Safety of Internet Search Engines

May 12, 2006

Ben Edelman
Advisor to SiteAdvisor

Hannah Rosenbaum
Research Analyst, SiteAdvisor

Abstract

We compare safety of leading search engines, using SiteAdvisor's automated Web site ratings. We find most leading search engines similar in the safety of the sites they link to, though MSN is the safest and Ask lags noticeably behind. Across search engines, we find sponsored results significantly less safe than search engines' organic results. We find heightened risks for certain keywords, including those frequently searched by kids and novice users. We began this project in January 2006, and our analysis uses search engine results and SiteAdvisor safety data from April 2006.

No Space for MySpace?

GOODBYE, WEB 2.0. That could rule out content from any number of Internet companies, including Yahoo! (YHOO) and Google (GOOG). What's more, DOPA would prohibit sites that enable users to create their own content and share it. That covers a wide swath of the online world, known colloquially as Web 2.0, where users actively create everything from blogs to videos to news-page collections.
FEAR MONGERING. Another problem with DOPA is that it may do little to actually ensure safety, says Anne Collier, co-founder of BlogSafety.com, a site promoting safe Internet use. Sure, it limits access for kids who don't have a computer at home, but for the most part, schools and libraries are "secondary" venues for kid computing, she notes. Internet protection is a "moving target," and social networking is evolving more quickly than the legislation aimed at regulating it, she says. "I don't think lawmakers have had a lot of time to think about the implications of Web 2.0," and they are indulging in "fear mongering," Collier says.

Slashdot | Students Build Reactor For Scavenger Hunt

"At the end of this NYT story about a scavenger hunt at UofChicago, you discover two physics students got points for building a working nuclear reactor, in a day, from scratch. It's a bit scary how easy it was for them to actually produce plutonium. "

NZ firm makes bio-diesel from sewage in world first - 12 May 2006 - National News

NZ firm makes bio-diesel from sewage in world first - 12 May 2006 - National News:

"12.05.06
By Errol Kiong

A New Zealand company has successfully turned sewage into modern-day gold.

Marlborough-based Aquaflow Bionomic yesterday announced it had produced its first sample of bio-diesel fuel from algae in sewage ponds.

It is believed to be the world's first commercial production of bio-diesel from 'wild' algae outside the laboratory - and the company expects to be producing at the rate of at least one million litres of the fuel each year from Blenheim by April.

To date, algae-derived fuel has only been tested under controlled conditions with specially grown algae crops, said spokesman Barrie Leay.
"

Inside Bay Area - New security glitch found in Diebold system

Inside Bay Area - New security glitch found in Diebold system:

"Elections officials in several states are scrambling to understand and limit the risk from a 'dangerous' security hole found in Diebold Election Systems Inc.'s ATM-like touch-screen voting machines.

The hole is considered more worrisome than most security problems discovered on modern voting machines, such as weak encryption, easily pickable locks and use of the same, weak password nationwide.

Armed with a little basic knowledge of Diebold voting systems and a standard component available at any computer store, someone with a minute or two of access to a Diebold touch screen could load virtually any software into the machine and disable it, redistribute votes or alter its performance in myriad ways.

'This one is worse than any of the others I've seen. It's more fundamental,' said Douglas Jones, a University of Iowa computer scientist and veteran voting-system examiner for the state of Iowa."

Phone tower cancer fears - National - theage.com.au

Phone tower cancer fears - National - theage.com.au:

"A SPATE of brain tumours among staff has forced RMIT University to close part of its business school and test for radiation emissions from rooftop phone towers.

As staff reacted with shock, the university yesterday shut the top two floors of the Bourke Street building and ordered more than 100 employees to work from home for the next fortnight.

The closure follows the discovery of five brain tumours in the past month and two others in 1999 and 2001. Two were malignant and five were benign."

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Quote Mine Project: Examining 'Evolution Quotes' of Creationists

ne frequent creationist poster to the talk.origins newsgroup produced a long list of what he dubbed "Famous quotes from famous evolutionists" [1]. It was not hard to discover that the list was taken, almost verbatim, from a creationist site called "Anointed-One.Net", where the list is called "Quotes by Famous Evolutionists." Lists like this, presented with little or no context except for vague claims that they somehow "disprove" evolution, are common among creationists. Indeed, entire books of these quotes have been published [2].

CNN.com - Dolphins, like humans, recognize names - May 9, 2006

CNN.com - Dolphins, like humans, recognize names - May 9, 2006:

"Scientists have long known that dolphins' whistling calls include repeated information thought to be their names, but a new study indicates dolphins recognize these names even when voice cues are removed from the sound."

The Washington Monthly

The Washington Monthly:

"Now, there's no question that the left blogosphere is vaguely in favor of all the usual liberal goals: progressive taxation, decent healthcare for everyone, tolerance for minorities, and so forth. And, yes, they're loudly in favor of these things. But let's face it: with occasional exceptions here and there, these aren't the things that consistently get their blood boiling. What does is two things: the war in Iraq and the almost criminal negligence and incompetence of the Bush administration."

Eschation's Political
Consensus

Undo the
bankruptcy bill enacted by this administration
Repeal the estate tax repeal
Increase the minimum wage and index it to the CPI
Universal health care (obviously the devil is in the details on this one)
Increase CAFE standards. Some other environment-related regulation
Pro-reproductive rights, getting rid of abstinence-only education, improving education about and access to contraception including the morning after pill, and supporting choice. On the last one there's probably some disagreement around the edges (parental notification, for example), but otherwise.
Simplify and increase the progressivity of the tax code
Kill faith-based funding. Certainly kill federal funding of anything that engages in religious discrimination.
Reduce corporate giveaways
Have Medicare run the Medicare drug plan
Force companies to stop underfunding their pensions. Change corporate bankruptcy law to put workers and retirees at the head of the line with respect to their pensions.
Leave the states alone on issues like medical marijuana. Generally move towards "more decriminalization" of drugs, though the details complicated there too.
Imprison Jeff Goldstein for crimes against humanity for his neverending stupidity
Paper ballots
Improve access to daycare and other pro-family policies. Obiously details matter.
Raise the cap on wages covered by FICA taxes.

ScienceDaily: White Blood Cells From Cancer-resistant Mice Cure Cancers In Ordinary Mice

ScienceDaily: White Blood Cells From Cancer-resistant Mice Cure Cancers In Ordinary Mice:

"White blood cells from a strain of cancer-resistant mice cured advanced cancers in ordinary laboratory mice, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine reported today."

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Gaming Guardians- Sunday, May 7, 2000

Home: "High-fructose corn syrup is making America fat. How? By shutting off the switches that control appetite. It's more easily turned into fat than any other carbohydrate. And it's everywhere, from the obvious places like Coke and Mountain Dew to barbecue sauce and canned soup.

Consider this: In 1970, Americans ate about a half pound of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) per person per year. By 1997, we were consuming up to 62-1/2 pounds each, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That's 228 calories per person per day, and that figure is based on 6 -year-old numbers; consumption has almost certainly risen since then. And over the same time period, the obesity rate has more than doubled.

HFCS is different from other sugars and sweeteners, which can make you fat indirectly, over time. HFCS makes you fat by the straightest possible metabolic path. Let's look at where this stuff comes from, what it does to your body, and -- most important -- how to get as much of it as possible out of your diet."

Hullabaloo

Hullabaloo:

"Read the whole article for a litany of abuses by state and local officials that will make your hair stand on end. Everything changed on 9/11 all right, not the least of which is the fact that the federal government began pouring huge sums of money into policing with no guidelines, no oversight and a simple directive to 'find the terrorists.' The ramifications of this are potentially staggering.

And since big money is involved, you can bet that we are not going to find a lot of support from politicians of any stripe. This is totalitarian pork we're talking about and there's probably no putting the piglet back in the pigpen. This is 'Jerry' Bremer's CPA accounting methods brought home to America. The foundation of the American police state is in place. "

We could, of course, demand that the feds issue strict guidelines, follow the money and ensure that civil liberties are not being abused thorough rigorous oversight and accountability. Needless to say, there is no leadership from the top about this. Bush's choice to head the CIA is another guy who says "trust us" we're good people who would never do anything wrong. His boss, John Negroponte, is a certifiable war criminal.

Delphi bankruptcy hearing could determine GM's future - May. 9, 2006

Delphi bankruptcy hearing could determine GM's future - May. 9, 2006:

"A judge will rule on whether Delphi can dump its labor contracts. The decision could lead to a strike that forces GM into Chapter 11."

CNN.com - U.S. has second worst newborn death rate in modern world, report says - May 9, 2006

By Jeff Green
CNN
(CNN) -- An estimated 2 million babies die within their first 24 hours each year worldwide and the United States has the second worst newborn mortality rate in the developed world, according to a new report.
American babies are three times more likely to die in their first month as children born in Japan, and newborn mortality is 2.5 times higher in the U.S. than in Finland, Iceland or Norway, Save the Children researchers found.
Only Latvia, with six deaths per 1,000 live births, has a higher death rate for newborns than the U.S., which is tied near the bottom of industrialized nations with Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia with five deaths per 1,000 births.
"The United States has more neonatologists and neonatal intensive care beds per person than Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, but its newborn rate is higher than any of those countries," said the annual State of the World's Mothers report.
The report, which analyzed data from governments, research institutions and international agencies, found higher newborn death rates among U.S. minorities and disadvantaged groups. For African-Americans, the mortality rate is nearly double that of the U.S. as a whole, with 9.3 deaths per 1,000 births.

A Spork in the Drawer: From Science to Scienc-y

It never stops:

Here we go again: inconvenient facts are merely "propaganda."

William Smith of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, who was bumped from the panel, said he was "very disappointed."

"It was shocking to me," Smith said. "What does this say about the ability of politicians to influence what is going on in public health?"

Jonathan Zenilman, president of the American Sexually Transmitted Diseases Association, a co-sponsor of the conference, said he was "surprised and astounded."

"This is the first time I've seen the process of peer review subverted by pure politics," Smith said.
And that's just the point: when the anti-sex crowd can present well-designed, peer-reviewed studies supporting their positions they can sit on scientific panels. But not until then.

Though none of this is suprising coming from the crowd that wants women who have sex to die of cancer.

UPDATE: tristero has more on the HPV vaccine "debate".

Health Experts Criticize Changes in STD Panel

Health Experts Criticize Changes in STD Panel:

"Health Experts Criticize Changes in STD Panel

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; A03

Federal agencies ordered changes to a government-sponsored conference on prevention of sexually transmitted diseases after a congressman raised questions about the absence of speakers supporting abstinence programs, officials said yesterday.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the main organizer of the conference, dropped one speaker from a panel on abstinence being held today, added two others and changed the name of the session, officials said.

The decision was praised by supporters of abstinence programs and the congressman who raised questions about the panel, but it was condemned by public health experts as political meddling because the new presentations had not been approved through a scientific peer-review process."

Starlings vs Chomsky - - science news articles online technology magazine articles Starlings vs Chomsky

Starlings vs Chomsky - - science news articles online technology magazine articles Starlings vs Chomsky:

"Gentner created sixteen artificial starling songs that followed two different patterning rules – a human-type song which had a clause inserted in the middle of an acoustic note string and another animal-type song with a clause only at the very beginning or end of the string. Gentner then played his repertoire to a test group of eleven starlings, rewarding them with food when they managed to pick out the human-type songs.

After several months of practice, nine of the birds were able to recognize the patterns consistently and even recognize new songs that had recursive elements in them. The success was especially surprising because it means that starlings are able to grasp an element of language that experimenters have not been able to replicate in other primates."

Slashdot | 'UK Hackers' Condemn McKinnon?

An anonymous reader writes "Whitedust has some interesting commentary on this BBC article which claims that 'UK hackers' have condemned Gary Mckinnon's trial. From the article: 'Another example of some truly awful and misinformed mainstream tech reporting here. The article claims that UK hackers are almost all in support of Mr Mckinnon when in truth as we all know the entire tech community has agreed that Mr Mckinnon is not only an idiot but a deluded attention seeker.'"

Monday, May 08, 2006

Salon.com | Making Colbert go away

Salon.com | Making Colbert go away: "The docile press corps was offended when Stephen Colbert dared to expose Bush's -- and their own -- feet of clay. But how to respond? Voilà: 'He wasn't funny.'

By Joan Walsh"

The Smoking Gun: Archive

This is the 1976 Maine police document recording the arrest of George W. Bush for driving under the influence of alcohol. Bush, who was 30 at the time, was popped over the Labor Day weekend near his family's Kennebunkport summer home. Bush pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor DUI charge, paid a $150 fine, and had his driving privileges briefly revoked in the state of Maine. The arrest record card was released November 2 by Kennebunkport police. The Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles also released this summary of Bush's DUI conviction. (2 pages)
Not to be outdone, Dick Cheney has two drunk driving busts on his record.

This Modern World » Blog Archive » George Bush’s finest moment

George Bush’s finest moment

“I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound (3.402 kilos) perch in my lake,” he told the newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.
Story here.

Communiqué // Freakish Zombie in 11 Steps!

Emergency Contraception

Twenty-one brands of oral contraceptives that can be used for emergency contraception in the United States^a

ScienceDaily: Learning The Lessons Of The World's Oldest Ecological Experiment:

"The Park Grass Experiment was set up at Rothamsted Research in Hertfordshire in 1856 -- three years before Darwin published Origin of Species -- to answer crucial agricultural questions of the day but has since proved an invaluable resource for studying natural selection and biodiversity."

ScienceDaily: New 'Metal Sandwich' May Break Superconductor Record, Theory Suggests:

"'To the best of our knowledge, this alloy structure had not been considered before,' said Stefano Curtarolo, professor of mechanical engineering and materials sciences at Duke's Pratt School. 'We have been able to identify synthesis conditions under which the LiB compound should form. And we believe that if the material can be synthesized, it should superconduct at a higher temperature, perhaps more than 10 percent greater, than any other binary alloy superconductor.'"

Saturday, May 06, 2006

BBC NEWS | Technology | Blogs making their impact felt

:: Reviews : The Pepper Pad: open alternative to Microsoft's Origami

f you have seen the Origami media blitz (who hasn't!!) and you want a truly open ultra-mobile computer NOW and don't want to wait for Origami, you probably will like the Linux-powered Pepper Pad.

The Pepper Pad, like Origami, is a mid-point form factor PC that is bigger and more powerful than a PDA, but smaller and less optimized for traditional desktop PC tasks than a notebook computer or a desktop PC.

Why I Like Microkernels - OSNews.com

The A9home

The A9home with colour coded wireless keyboard and mouse
(yes that little blue box!)

Specifications

Internal

400MHz Samsung ARM9 processor
Graphics processor
Power Management Unit
128M SDRAM
8M VRAM
40GB hard disc
2-3W average internal power usage

Front

2 x USB
Microphone in
Headphone out
Power/Reset button
Status LEDs

Rear

2 x USB
2 x PS/2
10/100MBit network
Serial port
Video Out
Power In

External

Colour: Cobalt Blue
Enclosure: Rugged Aluminium chassis
Size: 168 x 103 x 53 mm (6.6" x 4.1" x 2.1" approx.)
Weight: 550g (approx. 1lb 3oz)
Power: 20W power supply unit (plenty of overhead for external devices)

Software

RISC OS Adjust 32 (flash ROM)
Popular Simtec USB stack
Many applications run unaltered

YouTube - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You Tube is a highly popular website that allows users to upload, view, and share video clips. It was founded in February 2005 by three former and early employees of PayPal.
YouTube uses Macromedia Flash to serve its content and is popular in much the same way as Google Video due to its ability to host anyone's videos. It hosts a variety of movie and TV show clips, music videos, and homemade videos. (Despite YouTube's rules against posting copyrighted video, such material is in abundance.) Video feeds of YouTube videos can also be easily embedded on blogs and personal websites

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity - SourceWatch

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) is a group of current and former intelligence officers, including some from the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who opposed the use of what they consider flawed intelligence to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The group was formed in January 2003 "to speak out on the use of intelligence to justify the war," as "a coast-to-coast enterprise". It consists of a few intelligence officers of the CIA, as well as the U.S. State Department's Intelligence Bureau and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). [1][2][3]

Eschaton

Think Progress » VIDEO: Rumsfeld Called Out On Lies About WMD

Speaking in Atlanta today, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was sharply questioned about his pre-war claims about WMD in Iraq. An audience member confronted Rumsfeld with his 2003 claim about WMD, “We know where they are.” Rumsfeld falsely claimed he never said it. The audience member then read Rumsfeld’s quote back to him, leaving the defense secretary speechless. Watch it:

Miss. Gov. Denies Pardon for Black Veteran - Yahoo! News

By SHELIA BYRD, Associated Press Writer Thu May 4, 6:33 PM ET

JACKSON, Miss. - Gov. Haley Barbour won't grant a posthumous pardon to a black Korean War veteran who was wrongfully convicted in segregationist Mississippi after he tried to enroll in an all-white university.
Clyde Kennard was convicted of purchasing $25 worth of chicken feed he knew to be stolen in 1960 and sentenced to seven years in prison, but the only witness against him has recanted his testimony. Kennard died in 1963, after being released early because he had intestinal cancer.
...
Beginning in 1956, after he served four years in the Army, Kennard repeatedly attempted to enroll at what is now the University of Southern Mississippi. His temerity drew the ire of segregationist leaders who were determined to fight integration at USM.

Kennard, a farmer, was arrested on reckless driving and possession of whiskey charges. Those charges were later thrown out by the Mississippi Supreme Court, but Kennard was then convicted on the chicken-feed charge.

The sole witness against him in the theft case, Johnny Lee Roberts, who lives in the Hattiesburg area, has since recanted his testimony.

Independent Online Edition > Middle East

Iraqi police 'killed 14-year-old boy for being homosexual'
By Jerome Taylor
Published: 05 May 2006
Human rights groups have condemned the "barbaric" murder of a 14-year-old boy, who, according to witnesses, was shot on his doorstep by Iraqi police for the apparent crime of being gay.

Ahmed Khalil was shot at point-blank range after being accosted by men in police uniforms, according to his neighbours in the al-Dura area of Baghdad.

Campaign groups have warned of a surge in homophobic killings by state security services and religious militias following an anti-gay and anti-lesbian fatwa issued by Iraq's most prominent Shia leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall

Democratic Underground

Friday, May 05, 2006

Daily Kos: Re-Improved Colbert transcript (now with complete text of Colbert-Thomas video!)

by Frederick
Sun Apr 30, 2006 at 11:04:01 AM PDT
UPDATE: Dan Froomkin, in his May 1, 2006 "White House Briefing" column in the Washington Post, writes, "Daily Kos blogger Frederick seems to have the most extensive transcript of Colbert’s talk." A nice recognition to receive from an outstanding journalist.
I've taken the existing transcripts I've seen of Stephen Colbert's brilliant monologue at the White House Correspondents Dinner, and the actual footage (complete video available at Democratic Underground; more links to it here and here), and edited the transcripts (correcting spelling and punctuation, adding mistakenly omitted words, etc.) to produce the following improved transcript. I have now also transcribed all of Colbert's Press Secretary "audition video." Continue below the fold with me.

The Panda's Thumb: Privates by Satan

The Panda's Thumb: Privates by Satan:

"In closing, however, I think this does reveal a common thread that runs through all creationist thinking. If anything comes up that makes you feel uncomfortable, no matter how well supported by evidence and accepted by an overwhelming number of scientists, just pretend it doesn’t exist.

And that goes double for boobies, beavers, and the weenus."

Microsoft will lose to Google

Microsoft will lose to Google:

"Microsoft has what you would call an image problem, basically no sane person trusts it. When it comes to the next big thing, I personally would do everything in my power to keep it from knowing what I had planned, but if I needed a partner, Google would be on the short list. Google has been busily banking karma, China aside, and while I don't believe the 'don't be evil' slogan any more, I for one would put them in a completely different category than Microsoft."

Help:Running MediaWiki on Windows - Meta

Thursday, May 04, 2006

The IT industry is shifting away from Microsoft

As with any company faced with a huge loss of market share, Microsoft is acting predictably, pretending it is not happening, and putting on a smiley face when asked about prospects. On the inside, Microsoft is as scared as hell.
...
Hung, Drawn and Quartered
To put things in perspective, Microsoft has always performed better each quarter than the one before. Whenever the financial types settle on quarterly earnings, Microsoft always manages to pull a few more cents per share out of their hat, and beat those earnings. ...
How it does this is no trick. It has profit margins on its two major products of over eighty per cent. The rest of the products, from handhelds to MSN and the Xbox are all horrific money losers.

...
The fact is, if you are negotiating with Microsoft, and you pull out a SuSE or Redhat box, prices drop 25 per cent from the best deal you could negotiate. Pull out a detailed ROI (return on investment) study, and another 25 per cent drops off, miraculously. Want more? Tell Microsoft the pilot phase of the trials went exceedingly well, and the Java Desktop from Sun is looking really spectacular on the Gnome desktop custom built for your enterprise, while training costs are almost nil.

New Scientist Features - 13 things that do not make sense

New Scientist Features - 13 things that do not make sense: "1

The placebo effect

DON'T try this at home. Several times a day, for several days, you induce pain in someone. You control the pain with morphine until the final day of the experiment, when you replace the morphine with saline solution. Guess what? The saline takes the pain away.

This is the placebo effect: somehow, sometimes, a whole lot of nothing can be very powerful. Except it's not quite nothing. When Fabrizio Benedetti of the University of Turin in Italy carried out the above experiment, he added a final twist by adding naloxone, a drug that blocks the effects of morphine, to the saline. The shocking result? The pain-relieving power of saline solution disappeared.

So what is going on? Doctors have known about the placebo effect for decades, and the naloxone result seems to show that the placebo effect is somehow biochemical. But apart from that, we simply don't know."

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Costco Wolverine® FlashPac 60GB 7-in-1Card Reader

Costco Wolverine® FlashPac 60GB 7-in-1Card Reader: "Wolverine® FlashPac 60GB 7-in-1Card Reader
$169.99"

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Jane Jacobs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jane Jacobs - Wikipedia

OC , O.Ont (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) was an American-born Canadian writer and activist. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. The book has been credited with reaching beyond planning issues to influence the spirit of the times. "Jacobs came down firmly on the side of spontaneous inventiveness of individuals, as against abstract plans imposed by governments and corporations," wrote Canadian critic Robert Fulford.

Bitch Ph.D.

Bitch Ph.D. Worth Reading.

Defending science education against intelligent design: a call to action -- Attie et al. 116 (5): 1134 -- Journal of Clinical Investigation

Defending science education against intelligent design: a call to action -- Attie et al. 116 (5): 1134 -- Journal of Clinical Investigation:

"We review here the current political landscape and our own efforts to address the attempts to undermine science education in Wisconsin. To mount an effective response, expertise in evolutionary biology and in the history of the public controversy is useful but not essential. However, entering the fray requires a minimal tool kit of information. Here, we summarize some of the scientific and legal history of this issue and list a series of actions that scientists can take to help facilitate good science education and an improved atmosphere for the scientific enterprise nationally. Finally, we provide some model legislation that has been introduced in Wisconsin to strengthen the teaching of science."

A Eye :: Astrobiology Magazine ::

A Eye :: Astrobiology Magazine

The artificial compound eye created by Luke P. Lee and his team is similar in size, shape and structure to an insect's compound eye, seen in cross-section.
Credit: Luke Lee courtesy Science magazine

They are the first hemispherical, three-dimensional optical systems to integrate microlens arrays - thousands of tiny lenses packed side by side - with self-aligned, self-written waveguides, that is, light-conducting channels that themselves have been created by beams of light, said Lee, the Lloyd Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley.

The eyes are fully described for the first time in the April 28 issue of the journal Science.

Pharyngula

Shorter intolerant rant by PZ Myers:

I'm willing to get along with and even support the religious, as long as they don't threaten to suborn secular institutions to privilege religious belief.

Better?

The Panda's Thumb: No ID here at all. Move along. Nothing to see.

Richard B. Hoppe posted Entry 2248 on April 27, 2006 10:06 PM.
Trackback URL: http://degas.fdisk.net/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2243

For months and months, right up to February 2006, we in Ohio were told that the “critical analysis of evolution” benchmark and lesson plan wasn’t ID. ID advocates on the Ohio State Board of Education — Michael Cochran and Deborah Owens-Fink — told us that; the author of the “critical analysis” lesson plan, Bryan Leonard, told us that; the DI repeatedly trumpeted “no ID!” on its web site. No ID at all here, folks, we were assured. Perish the thought!

But in a recent Seattle Times article, Bruce Chapman, President of the Discovery Institute, was reported to have said that Ohio’s State Board of Education eliminated intelligent design when it discarded the creationist benchmark and lesson plan in February. According to the story,

Already, he [Chapman] said, an effort in Ohio to include intelligent design in school curricula failed when some state school-board members said the Dover case settled the issue. (Italics added)

“… an effort in Ohio to include intelligent design”. Well, well. Who woulda thunk it!

The DI’s Media Complaints Division took immediate umbrage. Rob Crowther complained that the reporter got it all wrong. Crowther wrote

IBM Research | Press Resources | IBM Discovery Could Shed New Light on Workings of the Human Genome

IBM Research | Press Resources | IBM Discovery Could Shed New Light on Workings of the Human Genome:

"Yorktown Heights, NY, April 25, 2006 – IBM today announced its researchers have discovered numerous DNA patterns shared by areas of the human genome that were thought to have little or no influence on its function and those areas that do.

As reported today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), regions of the human genome that were assumed to largely contain evolutionary leftovers (called “junk DNA”) may actually hold significant clues that can add to scientists’ understanding of cellular processes. IBM researchers have discovered that these regions contain numerous, short DNA “motifs,” or repeating sequence fragments, which also are present in the parts of the genome that give rise to proteins.
"

Monday, May 01, 2006

Luxeon K2 Power LEDs

Luxeon K2

LUXEON® K2, the latest addition to the LUXEON® high-power LED family, establishes elevated standards for light output, thermal management, cost and manufacturability.

LUXEON® K2 Power LEDs offer the world’s best LED light output with 140 or more lumens in white, outstripping the performance of other power LEDs by 15 to 30% and significantly lowering the cost per lumen.

12 D 12000 mAh NiMH CTA Digital Batteries

12 D 12000 mAh NiMH CTA Digital Batteries

Item ID:	13880
Price:	$149.95

Experts find evidence of Bosnia pyramid - Science - MSNBC.com

Experts find evidence of Bosnia pyramid - Science - MSNBC.com:

"VISOKO, Bosnia-Herzegovina - Researchers in Bosnia on Wednesday unearthed the first solid evidence that an ancient pyramid lies hidden beneath a massive hill — a series of geometrically cut stone slabs that could form part of the structure's sloping surface."

May 12, 2006
Ben Edelman Advisor to SiteAdvisor	Hannah Rosenbaum Research Analyst, SiteAdvisor
Abstract We compare safety of leading search engines, using SiteAdvisor's automated Web site ratings. We find most leading search engines similar in the safety of the sites they link to, though MSN is the safest and Ask lags noticeably behind. Across search engines, we find sponsored results significantly less safe than search engines' organic results. We find heightened risks for certain keywords, including those frequently searched by kids and novice users. We began this project in January 2006, and our analysis uses search engine results and SiteAdvisor safety data from April 2006.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Stop internet repression

Friday, May 26, 2006

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Monday, May 22, 2006

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Saturday, May 20, 2006

Review

Genomics and the Irreducible Nature of Eukaryote Cells

Friday, May 19, 2006

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

Monday, May 15, 2006

Friday, May 12, 2006

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Monday, May 08, 2006

Twenty-one brands of oral contraceptives that can be used for emergency contraception in the United Statesa

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Specifications

Internal

Front

Rear

External

Software