Understanding the Voynich Manuscript #1 Tom, Dick and Harry explain a statistical method. The mysterious Voynich Manuscript. A simple analysis of a sufficiently large text can reveal much about the topic of that text, if the language is known. If the text, as in the case of the Voynich Manuscript, is written in an unknown script, then the same simple analytical method can point the way to the underlying language, or language group.
The Pragma HypothesisA speculation on the possibility of the accurate prediction of future, hind-sight based, historical worldviews, and the application of such prediction to the current climate change debate.Pragma - mass noun: the practical outcome of a decision-based action as viewed from a historical perspective. Pragma is to science and politics as karma is to spirituality."This is not just some intellectual argument between people who think they know the answer, we are talking about the future of the globe....
Scientific Evidence Of Your Own AwesomenessDo you like to share awe-inspiring articles with your friends, like the many [New York] Times readers whose habits are analyzed in a new study? Or do you have other motives?Jonah Berger and Katherine A. Milkman, researchers at the Wharton University of Pennsylvania, have been analysing the New York Times most e-mailed articles list. They have been trying to determine what factors contribute to making an article 'most emailed'.It appears that NYT readers like to share news about positive, long and intellectually challenging topics. Most of all, the study indicates that people most like to share topics that inspire awe.
Dairy Farmer Makes BS ClaimThe Utah House has passed a resolution questioning the science behind global warming.Rep. Mike Noel, the Legislature's chief climate-change skeptic, declared Thursday that global warming is a conspiracy to control world population.The House Natural Resources Committee then approved a resolution that expresses the Utah Legislature's belief that "climate alarmists' carbon dioxide-related global warming hypothesis is unable to account for the current downturn in global temperatures."
Do Disturbed Snails Have Panic Attacks?Whilst researching some applications of the laws of thermodynamics to the biochemical processes in living things, I came across some very intriguing facts about snails. Living things react to changes of heat in the environment in two broad ways: through thermoregulation or through thermoconformity. Thermoconformers are constrained to follow the temperature of their immediate environments. Thermoregulators adjust their temperatures within a range which may lie within, or overlap, the environmental temperature range.
Climate Shift Causes Problems In China And TibetRecord temperatures and severe drought in ChinaThe worst drought in 60 years that has left millions of people in Yunnan province lacking drinking water has also fueled forest fires and threatened local energy supplies.A local official said late Sunday the drought has inflicted a direct agricultural economic loss of 6.5 billion yuan ($952 million) in Yunnan.The province has earmarked 389 million yuan ($57 million) for drought relief, said Zhou Yunlong, head of the provincial water resources bureau.
The Price Of Arctic IcePutting an economic value on the loss of the Arctic's climate regulating abilitiesA report by the Pew Environment Group entitled An Initial Estimate of the Cost of Lost Climate Regulation Services Due to Changes in the Arctic Cryosphere is an attempt by scientists to put a dollar value on the climate regulating services of the Arctic Cryosphere.The report states:In economic terms, estimated costs in 2010 from the decline in albedo and increase in methane emissions range from $61 billion to $371 billion. By 2050, this number rises to a cumulative range of $2.4 trillion to $24.1 trillion.From the Pew Trusts Newsroom:
Arctic Melt 2010 Is Faster Than Models PredictedThe National Snow And Ice Data Center - NSISC - reports:Despite cool temperatures over most of the Arctic Ocean in January, Arctic sea ice extent continued to track below normal. By the end of January, ice extent dropped below the extent observed in January 2007....While temperatures over much of the central Arctic Ocean were 1 to 3 degrees Celsius (2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit) below normal, temperatures in the Kara and Barents seas were 3 to 5 degrees Celsius (5 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than normal. Ice extent was far below normal in the Kara and Barents seas, keeping the total Arctic sea ice extent below average....
How Can Ice Work Like A Horse?In this short series of articles about coal, engines and energy I am trying to show something of the history behind our current knowledge of heat, energy and thermodynamics. As discoveries were made about the nature of heat, improvements were made in the efficiency of engines. Investigations into the theoretical maximum efficiency of any heat engine led ultimately to the discovery of the laws of thermodynamics. The laws of thermodynamics are of wide applicability to the understanding of how, through our profligate use of energy, we humans are having such a dramatic effect on our global environment.
Dirty Coal And Boring ScienceThere was a time when, through the proliferation of steam power, coal extraction in vast quantities became economically viable. Throughout the U.K. coal was burned to make steam for locomotives, factories and ships. It was the domestic fuel of choice. The price of cheap coal was pollution: the skies over many cities were black with soot when coal was king.... nothing surely was ever more dirty, inelegant, and disgusting than a common coal fire.
How To Model A Smoking GunConspiracy theorists just love to get hold of a piece of new information and claim that it is the 'smoking gun' that 'conclusively proves' their pet theory. The psychology behind this mode of argument is so subtle that a 'smoking gun' proponent may not just fool many ordinary members of the public. They may fool themselves also.The Importance Of Context.
An Experiment In The Causes Of WarfareThe President of Europe has not been elected; he was appointed in a secret meeting of the heads of government of the 27 EU member states. They chose one of their own. Herman Van Rompuy was the Prime Minister of Belgium.http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/4181Many a nation has had a civil war in order to remove an unelected leader - most usually a king. King Charles I of England comes readily to mind.
Self-Aggrandising Pseudoscience Castigated - Wakefield Struck Off By GMCFollowing the longest medical misconduct inquiry ever held in the U.K., Andrew Wakefield has been struck off by the GMC, the General Medical Council. The GMC, an independant charitable organisation, is responsible in the UK for the registration of medical doctors and for the supervision of their conduct. The GMC enjoys a global high reputation for its ethics and integrity.Brian Deer has exposed much wrongdoing by Wakefield and has been the subject of a (withdrawn) libel suit by him. He reports in the UK's Sunday Times, 31st Jan 2010:
