Cool Links

The Bomb Chroniclers - NY Times

The Bomb Chroniclers - NY Times

Sep 14 2010 | comment(s)

While many of the scientists who made atom bombs during the cold war became famous, the men who filmed what happened when those bombs were detonated made up a secret corps.

The NY Times gets this one right.
Government health insurance mandate is constitutional, claims legal scholar

Government health insurance mandate is constitutional, claims legal scholar

Sep 14 2010 | comment(s)

Citing federal powers that apply to the health insurance mandate – the power to regulate interstate commerce and the power to tax – Gostin argues that the health insurance mandate is constitutional. Similar broad interpretations in the modern court have enabled virtually anything the federal government wants to do, from requiring preferred testing for minorities to drug laws - it's a guaranteed federal, private right of action as long as the Supreme Court continues to affirm it and ignores the 10th Amendment.
Women more likely than men to accept global warming

Women more likely than men to accept global warming

Sep 14 2010 | comment(s)

Women tend to accept the scientific consensus on global warming more than men, according to a study by a Michigan State University researcher. The findings ('The effects of gender on climate change knowledge and concern in the American public', Population&Environment, 2010, Volume 32, Number 1, Pages 66-87), challenge common perceptions that men are more scientifically literate, said sociologist Aaron M. McCright.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid arrives at Clean Energy Summit with a fleet of SUVs

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid arrives at Clean Energy Summit with a fleet of SUVs

Sep 14 2010 | comment(s)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of, you know, the party that cares more about the environment than Republicans, drove up to the Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada with a fleet of SUVs.

Now, we are going to hear the same excuses we heard when Al Gore arrived in Berkeley with a fleet of SUVs and pickups only to do his photo-op in a Prius a few years back - it's essential for security.    But to little people, that's how heads of government and CEOs who care about the environment refer to folks who work for a living, it just sounds like rules only apply to ... little people.
Steve Jobs can't even bring ninja stars on his private jet

Steve Jobs can't even bring ninja stars on his private jet

Sep 14 2010 | comment(s)

Apple CEO Steve Jobs got tagged by Kansai International Airport security when a scan revealed shuriken (throwing stars) in his carry-on luggage.

The funny thing; he was boarding his own private jet after a family vacation in Kyoto.  It wouldn't make sense for a person to try to hijack his own plane, said The Steve, but they took them from him anyway and he vowed never to return to Japan, according to reports.

So maybe he wouldn't hijack his own plane but he was clearly worried ninjas would and The Steve would need to rescue everyone.  I hope they at least let him keep the nunchaku.


Boxee on Amazon for pre-ordering

Boxee on Amazon for pre-ordering

Sep 13 2010 | comment(s)

Boxee, the television watching device that looks like someone broke a cube and left it on your table, is available for pre-order at Amazon.

Richard Dawkins lets Deepak Chopra take down himself

Richard Dawkins lets Deepak Chopra take down himself

Sep 13 2010 | comment(s)

Richard Dawkins has an irrational hatred of religion and zealotry is always creepy but when he remains rational, like in this talk with Deepak Chopra about Chopra's claims that quantum theory can heal people, there is no one better.

"It's a metaphor," Chopra says, before backtracking and speaking some mumbo jumbo about the observer effect and that physicists say it's possible to do ... well, I don't know what it will do.  And neither does he.


Stephen Hawking Gives Up On Physics, Endorses M-Theory

Stephen Hawking Gives Up On Physics, Endorses M-Theory

Sep 13 2010 | comment(s)

Peter Woit writes: Stephen Hawking has a new book out this week, called "The Grand Design" and written with Leonard Mlodinow, in which he effectively announces that he has given up on the traditional goals of fundamental physics in favor of anthropic arguments invoking a multiverse.

Instead, tired old M-theory is getting the nod.   But there is also the issue of the potential damage caused by this to the cause of science funding in Britain ...
Science of NFL Football: Projectile Motion & Parabolas

Science of NFL Football: Projectile Motion & Parabolas

Sep 13 2010 | comment(s)

Part of the NSF and NFL's 10-part "Science of NFL Football" series.   This one on projectile motion.  Lester Holt is clearly out of his skin doing this stuff but it's good NBC is - they can always get Garth Sundem or someone else from Science 2.0 to do the color commentary if this catches on.
For The Woman Who Has Everything Else - High Tide Heels

For The Woman Who Has Everything Else - High Tide Heels

Sep 12 2010 | comment(s)

I've never seen high heels with flippers before, but that is what is great about the Internet ...



I am betting there are more readers of this site who have worn flippers than high heels but the odds are with me in contending none of you have worn both at the same time.

Manolo's Shoe Blog has the details, including solving the mystery of who the designer was. 
Bloglines to be discontinued at the end of this month

Bloglines to be discontinued at the end of this month

Sep 12 2010 | comment(s)

The popular web-based RSS reader and news aggregator Bloglines will discontinue service on Friday, October 1. The Ask.com team that operates the site has essentially said that social media sites like Twitter and Facebook killed it.
Lady Gaga and the death of sex - Sunday Times Magazine

Lady Gaga and the death of sex - Sunday Times Magazine

Sep 12 2010 | comment(s)

Camille Paglia, America's foremost cultural critic, demolishes a sort-of, modern-day, fabricated icon:
She told a magazine with messianic fervour: “I love my fans more than any artist who has ever lived.” She claims to have changed the lives of the disabled, thrilled by her jewelled parody crutches in the Paparazzi video.
and
Although she presents herself as the clarion voice of all the freaks and misfits of life, there is little evidence that she ever was one. Her upbringing was comfortable and eventually affluent, and she attended the same upscale Manhattan private school as Paris and Nicky Hilton.
and 
Barack Obama: 'no' to solar panels on the White House roof (but they would be awesome for everyone else)

Barack Obama: 'no' to solar panels on the White House roof (but they would be awesome for everyone else)

Sep 12 2010 | comment(s)

A quest to get Barack Obama to shout his commitment to solar power from the roof tops - by re-installing vintage solar panels at the White House - ended in disappointment for environmental campaigners today.

Yet it isn't right for him but is right for you, so subsidies for solar power will again be in the next round of 'stimulus' funding.   Let's get those solar power installers back to work!
Sugar Mamas get the shaft - Alltop

Sugar Mamas get the shaft - Alltop

Sep 12 2010 | comment(s)

You would think a guy would be grateful, but a paper from Cornell graduate student, Christin Munsch, says something entirely different.
Stem Cell Financing Ban Ends, for Now - NY Times

Stem Cell Financing Ban Ends, for Now - NY Times

Sep 10 2010 | comment(s)

A federal appeals court ruled today that federal financing of embryonic stem cell research could continue while the court considers a judge's order last month that banned the government from underwriting the work
The Science of NFL Football

The Science of NFL Football

Sep 09 2010 | comment(s)

The Today show wants to bring science to the masses - football fan masses, that is.   Enjoy Lester Holt stumbling over velocity vectors in this clip below!
FDA Tells Five E-Cigarette Makers Their Products Need FDA Approval - WSJ

FDA Tells Five E-Cigarette Makers Their Products Need FDA Approval - WSJ

Sep 09 2010 | comment(s)

The Food and Drug Administration warned five electronic cigarette makers today that they are violating federal law.  The agency said the products, which use a device to turn nicotine liquid into a vapor mist, are drugs that require FDA approval ...
Instruction and advice for the young bride of 1894

Instruction and advice for the young bride of 1894

Sep 09 2010 | comment(s)

Reprint of an article in The Madison Institute Newsletter, Fall Issue, 1894:

On the Conduct and Procedure
Of the Intimate and Personal Relationships
Of the Marriage State
For the Greater Spiritual Sanctity
Of this Blessed Sacrament
And the Glory of God


by Ruth Smythers
Beloved wife of The Reverend L.D. Smythers,
Pastor of the Arcadian Methodist Church
of the Eastern Regional Conference
Published in the year of our Lord 1894
Spiritual Guidance Press, New York City

Sample:
Google Instant - for those of you too impatient to finish typing

Google Instant - for those of you too impatient to finish typing

Sep 08 2010 | comment(s)

Google Instant is basically a way to show you results as you type, sort of like your browser's ability to complete a URL as you type it in.  Estimate: 2-5 seconds saved per Google Instant search and maybe even optimizing your search when you are not sure exactly what you want or how to spell it.

To allay concerns that results for improper words don't show up, like the first three letters of the word 'assign' showing you things you don't want your kids to see, filters are still in place and they say Google Instant is deactivated for slow connections.
Men, these are the dance moves that attract women! - LA Times

Men, these are the dance moves that attract women! - LA Times

Sep 08 2010 | comment(s)

The LA Times shows our Science 2.0 There's Science To Dancing Also article some love.
A study was done at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom identifying the dance moves that attract women to men. Here is what the research found...