ideonexus

interweaving ideas

  • Environmentalism as Religion?

    Despite all their lambasting of Environmentalism, the last thing Anti-Environment pundits want to do is engage in a scientific debate on global warming, collapsing ecosystems, pollution, or overtaxing natural resources. That’s because they don’t have any science to support their side of the political aisle. So what do you do when you don’t have facts…

  • How to Be Productive at Work

    orisinal.com If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap; if you want to be happy for a day, go fishing; if you want to be happy for a year, inherit a fortune; if you want to be happy for lifetime, help others. Chinese Proverb

  • When in Doubt, Emoticon

    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had little misunderstandings explode into full-blown flame-wars in my e-mail inbox. One second I’m having a polite debate with a friend over the comparative merits of government-sponsored versus third-party payment methods for health coverage or whether Captain Picard was cooler than Captain Kirk on Star Trek (Totally…

  • Futurama Fans Rejoice!

    All Hail Hypnotoad! I finally got to pick up a copy of the First Carbon Neutral DVD from FOX, Futurama: Bender’s Big Score, this weekend, and I’m very much enjoying my geek-humor fix. Some big brains go into making Futurama. Executive Producer David X. Cohen has a master’s degree in computer science from UC Berkeley.…

  • The Complex William Jennings Bryan

    Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan A family friend was giving a talk at the American Anthropological Association’s Annual Meeting in DC this last week, which exposed me to a wide variety of interesting and intellectually diverse subjects from many different speakers. One brief lecture that hit close to a subject I hold dear came…

  • “Life Flows on Within You Without You”

    World clock in Ulm, Germany Tempus Fugit In the last second, cesium-133 atoms around the world oscillated through 9,192,631,770 radiation cycles in atomic clocks measuring International Atomic Time (TAI)*. While you read the previous sentence, 400,000 billion neutrinos from the sun passed through you*. By the time you finish reading this paragraph, you will have…

  • Global Dimming – Yet Another Complication in Climate Modeling

    Detail of Chris Jordan’s Jet Trails Depicts 11,000 jet trails, equal to the number of commercial flights in the US every eight hours. This research is old news, and complicates the whole Global Warming debate even further. Air pollution might be behind observations that the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface has gone…

  • Happy Evolution Day!

    Charles Darwin (1809-1882) Photo by J. Cameron, 1869 On this day, 148 years ago, Charles Darwin first published The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (wikipedia). Although the book and specifics of Darwin’s orginal theory have been improved upon, as the evolving body of scientific knowledge perpetually works out the myriad details of…

  • Review of Michael Crichton’s “State of Fear”

    LOLQuack Michael Crichton So I found a copy of Crichton’s book, State of Fear, in a box labeled “Free Books!” at the Coast Guard base, and figured I should go ahead and read it. I’ve read most of his other fiction, which is equally disposable, but usually a fun and brainless way to burn some…

  • We Live in the Cosmic Boondocks

    I hate living in the boonies. No, I’m not referring to Northeastern North Carolina, I’m referring to our location on a scope that surpasses geography and ventures into cosmology. Our sun is one of about 200 billion stars swirling around in a galaxy that’s a 100,000 light years across. If only 10 percent of those…

  • Global Warming: What Me Worry?

    Road In Front of My House This is the road in front of my house at high tide. On the left, where there are now recently-planted trees you can’t see in this photo, I’ve been told there were once houses, but the flood zone claimed them. Several locals tell me that it was foolish of…

  • Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center

    I spent my last Saturday at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center. It’s been almost two decades since I last visited the tourist attraction, and I was instantly blown away by how much it had grown. Where previously there was a single tiny building with a dock leading out to the neighboring marsh, there…