ideonexus

Author: ideonexus

  • Article on Gun Control Published in The Humanist

    March/April Humanist My article Never a Magic Bullet: The Personal and Public Dimensions of Gun Ownership and Gun Violence is appearing in the March/April edition of the Humanist. Much of the article is an appeal for rational, civil discourse on the subject, but I did have one dimension where I have a strong opinion. Not…

  • In Defense of “The Big Bang Theory”

    Sheldon Fashion I love love love The Big Bang Theory (BBT). I love the intelligent science references, the highly-debatable geek-culture references, and the cameos only a nerd would enjoy. Most of all, the portrayal of idiosyncratic individuals who bare an incredible resemblance to people I’ve had to deal with for decades working in IT and…

  • Carnival of Evolution #54: A Walkabout Mount Improbable

    Mount Ranier Panorama Credit: Tyler Foote I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday dinosaur this Thanksgiving, and thank you joining me in this delightful excursion out into the wide wonderful world of ideas and expressions in evolution.

  • The Science of Mindfulness Meditation and Practice for the Rational Skeptic

    Jump to: The Science Fiction of Meditation Mindfulness Meditation Science of Mindfulness Meditation Experimentally-Observed Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation How to Meditate References The Science Fiction of Meditation Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was a deeply flawed movie on many levels, but there was one moment in the film that I thought was brilliant. The Jedi…

  • Welcome to Life, A Guide for New Members of Species Homo Sapiens

    Welcome to Life Science Children's Book from ideonexus Download a PDF Version Here (9MB) Download a PPTX Version Here (14MB) I was walking through the local forest trail a few months ago, and it was getting dark. As the sky shifted from blue to black, the full moon rose up through the trees creating a…

  • Top 10 Books Exploring Otherness

    Top 10 Books Exploring Otherness I hate doing top 10 lists because I am going to make some huge embarrassing oversite and I really don’t have any objective way to order what makes the list. That being said, this list consist of my own personal favorites from the world of literature as someone who grew…

  • Naming is Not Understanding

    Evil Eye Galaxy, Messier 64 (M64) Credit: NASA Before becoming a parent, I was well-acquainted with the word “colic.” According to my mother, I suffered from severe colic as a baby, keeping her up all night for weeks with my crying. I’ve also heard parents toss the term about when talking about their baby-raising trials…

  • Adventures in Personal Genomics

    Jump To: Introduction Closed-Source Genetics Open-Source Genetics Going Public With My Genome Better Living Through Personal Genomics DIY Genomic Sequencing for Programmers My Personal Genomic Results Further Reading Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) Introduction It’s been over a year since I signed up with 23andMe and several months now since I downloaded my raw genomic data…

  • Being Labeled for What I Don’t Believe Versus What I Do

    The Reason Rally I remember unexpectedly having that conversation with my mother in law while riding in the car recently: “What do you mean Sagan isn’t going to be raised Christian?” she asked when we accidentally let slip that he wouldn’t be going to a Christian church. “There’s lots of possible belief systems out there,”…

  • The Scientific Joy of Being Wrong

    Esther Dyson Patch Always Make New Mistakes Credit: Gisela Giardino From time to time I find myself deeply fascinated with the Golden Ratio and its relation to the Fibbonacci set. I even bought a cross-section of a nautilus shell to proudly display in my cabinet of curiosities because they grow along the golden ratio. Then…

  • Star Trek Online and Avoiding the Grind

    “Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted.” ~ John Lennon “Time is the fire in which we burn.” ~ Tolian Soran, Star Trek Generations The Dilemma We have a finite amount of time in this life, and we should be mindful of how we spend it. I’ve recently become highly cognizant of the fact that…

  • 101 Reasons Why Evolution is True

    Jump To: Age of the Earth and Its Fossils Genetics Comparative Anatomy Transitional Fossils Convergent Evolution Adaptations Vestigial Traits Artificial Selection Evolution in Action Sexual Selection And The List Goes On… These reasons will work from the general to the specific. I’ve used links to articles in Wikipedia as much as possible because Wiki articles…