ideonexus

Month: December 2007

  • Science Yearbook 2007

    Politics “Carbon Dioxide. They call it pollution. We call it life.” – ExxonMobil Advertisement 1977 Political Interference Cartoon This year the biggest political target was Global Warming Theory on this the 10th Anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol with the U.S. the Last Country Not to Sign treaty. While ExxonMobil offered $10k to any scientist who…

  • Gee. That’s a Pretty Crappy Dodecahedron Charlie Brown

    I had this fantastic idea for a science-themed holiday ornament for the science center, where I would elaborate on the Dixie Cup Spherical Dodecahedron, by putting string lights in the cups and everyone would look on in awe at how awesomely brilliant I am… except I put it together wrong: Holiday Dodecahedron I have vowed…

  • Senate Report Debunks “Consensus” on Global Warming

    Senator Inhofe’s latest U.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007 is generating a lot of attention on right-wing news sources like Faux and the Mooney Times. A quick google search showed the parrotheads got the morning e-mail, and unthinkingly cut and pasted the appropriate quotes into their blogs…

  • Happy Winter Solstice! Yay!!!

    Image by The Slumbering Lungfish (flyingsirkus) Happy Winter Solstice (in the Northern Hemisphere) to all my fellow Secular Humanists out there! At 6:08 this morning the Sun reached its greatest distance opposite the Earth’s equatorial plane relative to the Northern polar hemisphere, making it the longest night of the year and our days will only…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Lego Digital Designer

    My Legoland Avatar This free software is available for download, and is a great way to introduce your child to 3-D Modeling software. It’s also free and didn’t cause my computer to explode, so you’ve got nothing to lose by trying it out. A huge selection of Lego parts are available in the application, which…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Rubik’s Cube

    When I was in elementary school, there was a huge Rubik’s Cube fad. In addition to the Rubik’s Cube, there was the Jacob’s ladder-like Rubik’s Magic, Barrel, Diamond, and many more. My favorite was the Pyraminx because it was the most complex puzzle I could actually solve on my own. I am happy to see…

  • Review: Bladerunner, The Final Cut

    Blade Runner The Final Cut I watched Blade Runner, The Director’s Cut for the upteenth time Monday, appreciating the film’s flaws, and speculating on which ones Ridley Scott would clean up with the final, digitally-remastered version. Of course, all the silliness that made the original theatrical release of Blade Runner a total flop would stay…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Kill-A-Watt

    Kill-A-Watt Awhile back I blogged on Blackle.com, a black-background version of google.com that purported to save energy by reducing the amount of light monitors needed to emit to display their page. Researchers confirmed this was true of old, obsolete CRT monitors, but flat screens used more energy to suppress white than display it. Well, my…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Worldchanging, A User’s Guide to the 21st Century

    Worldchanging A User’s Guide to the 21st Century “Happiness demands giving up all hope of a better past.” – Buddha I dilly-dallied about checking out this book when it came out last year. Then one day, I happened to pick up an opened copy at the bookstore and immediately fell into profound ionian enchantment with…

  • Science Gift Ideas: Zome Tool

    ZomeTool’s connector balls are small rhombicosidodecahedrons I started playing with Zome Tool after watching the college lecture series Joy of Thinking: The Beauty and Power of Classical Mathematical Ideas on DVD, which required no mathematical background and I highly recommend for anyone interested in learning about why Math totally rocks from a humanistic perspective. I…

  • Atheist Sunday School

    Secularists are realizing more and more the importance of organization. Religious folk propagate and reinforce their beliefs with weekly gatherings at formal institutions called “churches,” where they develop an extended social network of other human beings sharing the same beliefs. It’s a fantastic tool for community building and providing a support group that helps to…

  • Happy Birthday Sir Arthur C. Clark!

    Sir Arthur C. Clarke Photo by Anuradha Ratnaweera The knighted science fiction author turns 90 years old today. His book 2001: A Space Odyssey was made into a very trippy, far-out and visually stunning film, but also one that left out so many of the important plot elements that made Clarke’s novel so great. All…