Random Thoughts

Morning Science Quote

The displacement of the idea that facts and evidence matter by the idea that everything boils down to subjective interests and perspectives is- second only to American political campaigns- the most prominent and pernicious manifestation of anti-intellectu ...

Blog Post - Michael White - May 26 2009 - 12:07pm

Morning Science Quote

Finally, there is this possibility: after I tell you something, you just can't believe it. You can't accept it. You don't like it. A little screen comes down and you don't listen anymore. I'm going to describe to you how Nature is ...

Blog Post - Michael White - May 27 2009 - 6:05am

Right Wing Love Fest- Miss California Carrie Prejean To Tour The USS Ronald Reagan

You aren't really somebody unless you have an aircraft carrier named after you and 40th US president Ronald Reagan has just that.   Now he will have a Miss California on board too; in this case, Carrie Prejean, who's arguably the most famous beau ...

Article - News Staff - May 27 2009 - 11:43pm

The Buzzword Blog #1: Invent Your Own Ism!

The Buzzword Blog #1 Invent your own ism! Sometimes the natural grammar of the English language can permit an excessive freedom in the coinage of new words and terms.  For example, there is a seemingly endless supply of roots to which the-ism suffix can b ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - May 28 2009 - 11:58am

Afternoon Science Quote

If the history of science shows us anything, it is that we get nowhere by labeling our ignorance 'God'.     - Jerry Coyne, Nature, Sep. 19, 1996 ...

Blog Post - Michael White - May 28 2009 - 2:20pm

Morning Science Quote

Rarely does a scientific hypothesis- at least, not a useful or an interesting one- admit of a straightforward up-or-down, yes-or-no verdict. Valuable hypotheses survive the test of time in countless engagements with reality. The war against ignorance is a ...

Blog Post - Michael White - May 29 2009 - 6:04am

The Buzzword Blog #2: What is a Buzzword?

The Buzzword Blog #2: What is a Buzzword? A buzzword is a word with a vague meaning, and which is commonly used in speech or writing to express a vague idea.  The buzzword category includes words which are commonly used, and commonly over-used in bureaucr ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - May 28 2009 - 5:23pm

Living Forever

Nanobots seem to be well on their way to drastically expanding human life. Clusters of them are already regenerating the spinal cords of mice (Project, 2007), and soon it should be possible to program them to repair all of our aging and defected cells (Li ...

Blog Post - Austin Wyss - May 30 2009 - 8:58am

Random Noise #12: Freedom of Speech and of the Press

Random Noise #12: Freedom of Speech and of the Press Freedom of speech is a right and a duty. Faced with injustice, we have both a right and a duty- a duty-right- to speak out against it. Politically motivated censorship can only do its dirty work in abso ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - May 30 2009 - 5:21am

Berlusconi for The Times: a Chauvinist Buffoon

As elections to renew the european parliaments get closer, the political arena in Italy fails to deal with the matters that should interest voters, and instead concentrates on the behavior of Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. In a crescendo o ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Jun 1 2009 - 10:20am