Tag: science

Two Biggies and a Few Smalls: Climate Change, Scientific Weddings, and Link Sausage

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Some more news chum from today’s lunchtime reading:

  • From the “Leave Science to the Scientists, Part I” Department: After yesterday’s post, I got into a discussion with geah about whether the threat of climate change was real, with geah basing his position on the whole faked email fiasco. He suggested I look at the “12-Part Guardian Series On Global Warming Science”. I haven’t gotten to that yet, but I will note there is a nice piece in today’s LA Times about how the whole “snowmaggedeon” in DC has egged on the climate change doubters. I mention it here because that article had a pretty good summary of current positions.
  • From the “Leave Science to the Scientists, Part II” Department: Here’s a geeky wedding: the bride and the groom did blood testing at regular intervals to measure oyxtocin levels to verify a scientific hypothesis. Here’s a quote to tease you: “We’d booked the venue, chosen the bridesmaids’ dresses and even decided on the colours of the table decorations. But finding a refrigerated centrifuge and a ready supply of dry ice in rural south-west England was proving tricky. Then there were the worries about getting blood on my silk wedding dress, and what to do if someone fainted. Organising a wedding can be stressful enough, but we had a whole extra dimension to consider. We were turning it into a science experiment to probe what happens in our bodies when we say the words “I do”.”
  • From the “When Life Gives You News, Make Sausage” Department: Here are some short links:

    The history of Lambert St. Louis Airport. Interesting fact: The family that donated the land are the folks behind Listerine.

    Proof: John Edwards is a horndog. Even before the ink on his divorce from Elisabeth Edwards has hit the paper, he has supposedly proposed to his mistress.

    A nice opinion piece demonstrating the disconnect between Sarah Palin and the facts. This last link brings things full circle, because the post that started the discussion for the first item was Sarah Palin’s reference to climate change as “snake oil science”.

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Wednesday News Chum: Interpreting Science, Bad Adults, and Round Monopoly

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Surprisingly, there hasn’t been that much news from the lunchtime news reading of late that has been chum-worthy — which usually means a theme hasn’t emerged. However, I do have some mini-themes to share with you:

  • From the “Leave Science to the Scientists” Department: In Steve Allen’s book Dumpth, he talks about how society today has lost the ability to do critical thinking. Two articles I’ve seen demonstrate this. The first, concerning the media’s favorite non-politician, Sarah Palin, highlight how she dismisses scientific findings on climate change (a much more accurate term than “global warming”) as “snake oil”. She said the government’s approach to climate change “didn’t make any sense because it was based on these global warming studies that now we’re seeing (is) a bunch of snake oil science”. Politicians are quick to remind us that it is difficult for normal humans to comprehend the workings of the political machines (the usual analogy is the making of sausage). Similarly, politicians should leave the understanding of scientific research to the scientists who have technical degrees. In particular, Ms. Palin’s education is in journalism and sports, does not have the training to judge or recognize truly snake-oil science. I’m sorry, Ms. Palin, I’m more likely to trust the Secretary of Energy’s opinion, as he has a technical PhD and has won a scientific Nobel prize.

    Related to this is another article related to the obesity “epidemic” (hmmm, does this mean you can catch it by contact?): It appears that a recent study has found that sitting in front of the TV doesn’t make you obese. It is the commercials. Oh Stan. Paging Mr. Freberg. Sigh. This goes to show that advertising, surprise surprise, works. You advertise junk food, and kids will eat junk food. The way to get rid of this is to ban all advertising. Let’s see that get through congress!

  • From the “What Adults Do To Kids” Department: Two small articles highlight some bad things that are happening to our kids today. First, an 11-year old girl has given birth. Read that again slowly. Eleven years old. That’s far too young, and I’ll relatively sure the father was not the same age, but was older. Another story tells of a father (an Iraqi war vet) who waterboarded his 4-yo daughter because she didn’t know her alphabet. Both of these are horrific stories — and as a father of a daughter, they just make me cringe. I just don’t understand how adults can do these things to children.
  • From the “Going in Circles” Department: Monopoly has to be one of the most well known board games around (I’m not saying that it’s good or strategic, just well-known). It has also inspired the most variants. But in general the base game has stayed the change: pass go, collect $200; jail in the corner square, free parking, and funny money. That’s changing. Hasbro has issued a 75th anniversary edition with a round board and no money, just an ATM machine. No pewter pieces, either. Inflation has also hit the game: pass go, collect $2,000,000.
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Looking for a Gift Idea?

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

How about a Space Shuttle?

The NY Times is reporting that NASA has slashed the price of the 1970s-era spaceships to $28.8 million apiece from $42 million.. The shuttles are for sale once their flying days are over. The Discovery is already promised to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The Atlantis and the Endeavour are up for grabs. It is possible that the Enterprise, a shuttle prototype that never made it to space, will also be available. The Enterprise is currently at the Smithsonian. Shipping and handling may vary based on location.

Would you rather have an engine? Just the thing on these cold winter nights. Those are less; in fact, the space shuttle main engines are now free. NASA advertised them in December 2008 for $400,000 to $800,000 each, but no one expressed interest. So now the engines are available, along with other shuttle artifacts, for the cost of transportation and handling. However, they do come in kit form. Just think of it as a very big bicycle.

[The sale reminds me of the story of the UCLA Computer Club and the IBM 360/91. I wonder if anyone else remembers that the club once owned part of the /91….]

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Friday News Chum Miscellany: Disneyland – Capt Eo/Haunted Mansion, White Roofs, and Traffic Jerks

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Here’s some lunchtime news chum, gathered over the week, that didn’t fit anywhere else:

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Chum That Makes You Go Huh? — Toilet Paper, Car Personalities, Mystic Dates, & Structural Glass

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Here are some more articles that just caught my eye during my lunchtime reading:

  • CNN has a Mental Floss article on how toilet paper is uniquely American. We’re evidently the leading consumers of the product; we’re the inventors of the product; and of course, we’ve come up with ways to market the product without referring to its specific function. Think of what the “strength”, “softness”, and “absorbancy” are really saying…
  • The San Diego Union-Tribute has a link to an AP article about personality traits of cars. It talks about how the shape and styling of a car often reflect a personality the manufacturer wants to project. Given this, why do so many manufacturers want to reflect the personality: “dull”?
  • USA Today has a piece about something that is going to happen tomorrow morning: the “rare” date/time alignment of 04:05:06am 07/08/09. They are tying to imbue the date with all sorts of meaning, and why it is a good day for this and that. Of course, I read the article on the heels of watching the Penn & Teller Bullshit episode on Astrology, so I’m thinking, “This is news?”
  • The New York Times has an article about the new observation boxes in the Sears Tower in Chicago: the ones made of glass that suspend you ¼ mi above the sidewalk. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you’ll get me in one of those. The article’s take on the boxes is interesting though… it doesn’t look at them from the fear factor — rather, it looks at the use of glass as a structural building material. Those boxes are laminated tempered glass. Of course, that doesn’t make a difference to your psyche…
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Thursday News Chum

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Cheer up. It’s Thursday, meaning tomorrow is Friday and the weekend is nigh. Here’s some lunchtime chunks o’ chum to help with the cheer:

  • From the “Interesting Juxtaposition” Department: Two articles in the LA Times today create an interesting juxtaposition: The first has to do with a major SF Valley employer: the adult film industry. It reports how an industry actress has tested positive for HIV, and discusses how that will impact the industry. The test indicated that so far her partners had clean tests, and she only works infrequently. On the same page, however, was an article about how LA County is launching a new campaign against sexually transmitted diseases, aimed primarily at black and Latina women below the age of 25, who make up a disproportionate number of those infected. Specifically, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is offering free in-home testing kits through a new mail-in service. Of course, how could they advertise this service? I wonder if there are any actresses familiar with STDs who might be looking for work? In related news, the WSJ is reporting (last item) that “Gentlemen’s Clubs” are also feeling the recession. In response, they are eliminating cover charges and lowering the price of drinks… however they do report an upside: “it’s easier to hire “exotic dancers” now that many women are being laid off from more buttoned-down, white-collar jobs. Among the new recruits at [two clubs in Dallas TX] are a laid-off paralegal, a laid-off fashion designer, a Bank of America banker, a former paralegal and two Los Angeles real estate agents.”
  • From the “Should YouTube Be Rated E/I” Department: The NY Times has an interesting article on how the childbirth experiences has changed in the Internet age: now women are watching childbirth videos on YouTube so they can be prepared for the pain. Better than books, women are typing “childbirth” into YouTube’s search engine, and getting links to thousands of videos, showing everything from women giving birth under hypnosis, to Caesarean sections, to births in bathtubs.There are a couple of interesting things in the article. First, they note how society has changed: “A hundred and fifty years ago women viewed birth on a pretty regular basis — they saw their sisters or neighbors giving birth. […] it wasn’t until the late 19th century that birthing moved out of living rooms and bedrooms and into hospitals. […] now, with YouTube, we’ve come back around and women have this opportunity to view births again.” The other interesting item was from a poster of such a video regarding the comments received: “…her comments section breaks down like this: excited and apprehensive moms-to-be; a few comments so obscene she refuses to post them; and lastly, comments from […] “repetitive guys” who are always like, ‘Whoa, I’m so glad I’m not a woman.’ ”
  • From the “Let’s Start Panicing” Department: If childbirth doesn’t scare you, how about the earth colliding with another planet. According to the SF Chronicle, it will happen. When? Five billion years or so. The time frame coincides with accepted theory that by the end of that same 5 billion years the sun will have burned up its hydrogen and in a cooler state will inflate itself into what’s called a red giant star, engulfing the entire inner solar system while the planets are still colliding. The odds of the collision are low: the scientitst sifted through 2,501 possible constructions of planetary orbits in the far future and found that only a single one led to possible encounters of Earth and either Venus or Mars, with other scenarios in the computer calculations depicting a variety of other inner solar system collisions, including Mercury smashing into Venus and Mercury even colliding with the sun. Now, what I like in the article is how it demonstrates the thought process of astronmers: “With 99 percent certainty, we can rely on the clockwork of the celestial rhythm – but with the remaining 1 percent, we are afforded a vicarious thrill of danger.”
  • From the “I Left My Heart… in a Green Trashcan in San Francisco” Department: San Francisco is poised to introduce a tough new garbage separating ordinance. The legislation calls for every residence and business in the city to have three separate color-coded bins for waste: blue for recycling, green for compost and black for trash. Failing to properly sort your refuse could result in a fine after several warnings. You’re probably saying: but what’s so hard about the separation… hell, even Los Angeles can do it. The devil is in the details. *All* food waste (including meat) and food grade paper goes in the *green* can (most folks are used to putting non-vegetable food in the black can, and paper in the blue). But seeming recyclables in other cities (such as styrofoam) goes in the black. Screw it up, and you get a warning, and keep screwing up, and you get a fine. I’d send in Penn and Teller to parody this, but they already have.
  • From the “Creative Recycling” Department: A woman in Lakemoor IL has found a way to reuse old bathroom fixtures: she turns them into planters. Her front yard is filled with discarded toilets and sinks filled with pretty flowers. You think her neighbors would be enjoying the display. Nope. Someone filed a complaint, and now police in the village, citing the village’s public nuisance ordinance, have given her 30 days to remove the commodes. If she refuses, she faces a fine of $25 to $500 a day. Shit.
  • From the “On the Bus From Van Nuys” Department: The last item is a bit more serious: beginning August 1, fares on LAWA’s Flyaway Buses are increasing by $1 (one-way). The article also notes how they are looking for a new operator for the Westwood run, and will be adding an Irvine run. This will give them four: the original Van Nuys operation, Westwood, Union Station, and Irvine. But wait, there’s more. Yup, Los Angeles World Airports is required to have a total of nine FlyAway stops by 2015, under the terms of a legal settlement reached nearly four years ago with the county, three cities and a community group opposed to expansion at LAX.
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Chum for a Tuesday Afternoon

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Some select items for your enjoyment. I really tried to see if there was a theme to connect them, but I couldn’t find one. Perhaps it will come to you.

  • From the “Meet Ronald, Your Barista Today” Department: The clown is taking on the mermaid. Or, to put it another way, McDonalds is taking on Starbuck’s caffeinated market. Now, I’m not a coffee drinker (my opinion is that coffee should either be in ice cream or covered in dark chocolate), but the marketing angle of all of this is interesting… as well as the writing of the article. McDonalds is evidently blizting the media with ads for its new McCafe, and I find advertising interesting (perhaps it is the Stan Freberg in me). I think these four paragraphs say it all:

    Sensing the opportunity to peel off some of Starbucks’ priced-out customers, the Ronald is launching a menu of cheaper cappuccinos, lattes, iced coffees and hot chocolate, most of which — judging by the first TV commercials — will be smothered in a foot of whipped cream. A series of three commercials will begin running this week: One, set in a nightclub and featuring Detroit soul singer Dwele, is directed at the African American community and highlights the sweet, chocolate-y McCafé options; a Spanish language spot has a young woman walking to work, daydreaming about her iced mocha, which apparently “complements all” her “desires” with sugar and caffeine. Me encanta.

    Speaking of being lost in translation: This campaign has a bit of a language problem, doesn’t it? “McCafé” is hard to say — having three stressed syllables — and American audiences have almost no experience with diacritical marks, so the acute accent mark on the final é is going to leave some fast-fooders bewildered.

    In spite of, or perhaps because of, the diacritical issue, the campaign’s general-audience TV spot (DDB Chicago) features ordinary people’s daily drudgery being transformed by a McCafé drink, so that “commute,” becomes “commuté” and cubicle becomes “cubiclé.” That seems somewhat lamé.

    In response to the McCafé campaign, Starbucks is pushing back with print ads this week touting the quality of its coffee. It needn’t fret its little mermaid head. McDonald’s isn’t selling coffee so much as caffeinated milkshakes, and the visuals associated with the first round of ads are likely to send dietitians screaming into the night.

    Mmmmm. caffeinated milkshakes.

  • From the “Avoiding the Screams” Department: Of course, if the screams are getting to you, you just need to concentrate more. The New York Times has an interesting article on concentration… and why we can’t concentrate. This explains the “ohhh, shiney” phenomemon (do do do do do phenomenom do do do do…, but I digress). Anyway, as I was saying:

    When something bright or novel flashes, it tends to automatically win the competition for the brain’s attention, but that involuntary bottom-up impulse can be voluntarily overridden through a top-down process that Dr. Desimone calls “biased competition.” He and colleagues have found that neurons in the prefrontal cortex — the brain’s planning center — start oscillating in unison and send signals directing the visual cortex to heed something else.

    More significantly, according to this researcher “It takes a lot of your prefrontal brain power to force yourself not to process a strong input like a television commercial. If you’re trying to read a book at the same time, you may not have the resources left to focus on the words.” Now, my opinion of this is … oh, look, another article.

  • From the “You Can’t Blame Dreamwidth For This” Department: Ever wonder why frank hasn’t been posting lately. Simple answer: LJ isn’t paying him enough, so he’s working at Google.
  • From the “I’m a Pepper, You’re a Pepper” Department: Frequent antique stores. You might find something valuable… like one of Dr. Pepper’s Earliest Formulas. Doesn’t sound very tasty, though…. Maybe frank will eat it.
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Chum for a Tuesday

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Today’s news brings an interesting mix of chum:

  • From the “But I Always Thought They Wore Ties” Department: It appears that a publisher has gotten into trouble with his alma mater and his church because of a calendar he published. The calendar: “Men on a Mission”. The school: BYU. The church: LDS. The LA Times is reporting on the situation of Chad Hardy, whose calendar provides photographs of hunky former missionaries in poses, characters and settings familiar to the Mormon faithful. A calendar of Mormon mothers (who Hardy calls “Mormon Muffins”) styled as sexy (though clothed) pinups is set for release this summer. The “Men on a Mission” calendar has a shirtless Mormon for each month, and its first publication in 2007 was applauded by liberal-minded churchgoers…. but then the Mormon church received some unflattering publicity, and adherants complained that the calendar was damaging the image of the faith. As a result of publishing the calendar, he has been excommunicated by the church, and although he has earned sufficient credits to graduate BYU, they will not issue him the degree.

    In somewhat related news, the New York Times is reporting the growth of the atheist movement, which is speaking out more, banding together, and flourishing.

  • From the “And Don’t Ask About Their Cheerleaders” Department: The New York Times is reporting that MIT is dropping 8 of its athletic teams, as a result of a need to trim $1.5M from its budget. Cut were the alpine skiing, competitive pistol, golf, wrestling, and men and women’s ice hockey and gymnastics teams. Disgruntled students, demanding that all 41 teams be kept, kidnapped Tim the Beaver, the institute’s mascot (the student playing Tim was released unharmed, although the costume’s head eventually ended up on the John Harvard statue in Harvard Yard).
  • From the “Builds Strong Bones Seven Ways” Department: Two interesting science articles today. One, from the Washington Post, explores using nanotechnology to make silk stronger. Specifically, scientists used atomic layer deposition (ALD) to deposit microscopic metals on silk strands, which drastically strengthened the material. More interesting is that it didn’t just coat the silk–it infiltrated the substructure and rebound with the silk at the molecular level.

    Turning to another strong material: bone, one of your bodies most important organs. The New York Times has an interesting article on bone and its elasticity. We think of bone as this inert material (probably from all those skeletons we see)… but your bones are actually continually microfracturing and repairing themselves, and interact with your homonal and digestive systems to obtain what they need to do this. The article is a real interesting read.

  • From the “Nummi, Nummi” Department: As folks know, I drive a Toyota Matrix, which is a wagon version of the Toyota Corolla. The Matrix has a twin — the Pontiac Vibe. I’ve always been surprised that Toyota doesn’t advertise the Matrix more, but evidently it sells well enough that they don’t need to advertise. The Matrix is made in Canada, but the Vibe is made in Fremont at the NUMMI plant. I mention this because the Vibe is one of the few well-made Pontiac cars, and one of the few that doesn’t share a platform with any other GM car (as with the G8, another Pontiac getting good reviews). So, I’m wondering… with the death of Pontiac, what will become of the Vibe:

    ETA: Well, it turns out there are some answers in this article. Some, but not all. More here and here.

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