Month: September 2008
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ideonexus superhero
It’s a little bit on the Jack Kirby side, but here’s my superhero: ideonexus superhero Credit: NASA Create your own here. HT Sour Swinger
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Amazon Users are Overhyping Spore’s DRM
Spore Installation So much for the wisdom of crowds! As of my posting this 1,962 of 2,134 reviews posted on Amazon for EA’s Spore are one-star, claiming the DRM method employed by EA to prevent pirating was so draconian that it has rendered the game worthless. So there are 1,962 dimbulbs on the Interwebs, criticising…
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Our Personal Ecosystems
House Dust Mite Credit: Food and Drug Administration In Herman Melville’s classic novel “Moby Dick,” the white whale Ahab relentlessly hunted was so massive that flocks of birds would hover above it. Moby Dick was like a moving island, and an entire ecosystem had grown around its existence. Although we cannot see them with the…
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Will the Media Ever Stand Up to Dittohead Doublespeak?
When will people learn? Democracy doesn’t work! – Homer Simpson John McCain’s campaign is outraged that Obama quoted the old cliché, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig” in a campaign speech referring to McCain’s policies, the McCain campaign tried to spin it as a attack on Sarah Palin. But…
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Published at the SCQ: What Kind of Engineer is God?
After seeing The Aristocrats, and learning about a joke that comedians tell each other, trying to out-do each other with offensiveness, I thought I’d update this old joke to do the same, but in an attempt to out do other joke-tellers in science. You can read this new spin on and old joke here. One…
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ideonexus Endorses AVPR1a the Ruthlessness Gene
Genesis Biolabs Genesis Biolabs sells a $99 Ruthlessness Gene test, which they are recommending everyone thinking about getting married have their potential partner tested for AVPR1a. At the bottom of the page, we find this quote, linking to my Top 10 Genes post: AVPR1a was named one of the Top Ten Human Genes at Ideonexus.com!…
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American Natural History Museum: Saurischian Dinosaurs
Archaeopteryx lithographica Credit: Ryan Somma I’ve been trying to figure out what that ring of bones is in the eyes of bird and reptile fossils. Apparently its a sclerotic eye-ring, and there is some debate as to its function. Some argue that its primary function is in focusing the eye, which accounts for birds having…
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Flash Fiction: The Fertility Pilgrim
Lortimer thought the woman sitting next to him, Drea, was very odd. The entire flight she had engaged him with incessant conversation, drawing up every spare moment of his time. There was something almost urgent in her need for his attention. “Isn’t that just a fantastic view?” Drea asked, gripping Lortimer’s arm and shaking it,…
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m = E/c2 (m=E/c^2)
The Yin and Yang of Energy and Matter Credit: Ryan Somma Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, E=mc2. When people think about this most popular of physics equations, they usually think of the awesome release of energy so starkly demonstrated in the mushroom cloud of an atomic blast, which is matter converting…
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Notes on Barack Obama’s Science Debate 2008 Responses
My personal notes/thoughts on Obama’s responses (McCain has yet to respond): 1. Innovation Will create a service Scholarship program that pays undergraduate or graduate teaching education costs for those who commit to teaching in a high-need school. Will create Teacher Residency Academies. Critics will cry “How will we pay for all this education?” The answer…