CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-21 00:42:10 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 11 +1s)

Here's something many non-scientists don't get: the climate is non-linear.

Consider this passage: "Arctic sea ice is melting much, much faster than even the best climate models had projected. The reason is most likely unmodeled amplifying feedbacks."

Those "unmodeled amplifying feedbacks" are the system-wide feedback loops.  We need to develop better qualitative systems models before we code them up as quantitative mathematical models.  So long as we don't account for those feedback loops - that are all multipliers - climate models will underestimate the impact of #climatechange.

#science  

2013-05-21 00:27:02 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Inflating things fast
While it may look like magic, this is really just physics.
The real magic is in keeping the air in the object you're inflating.
And, not surprisingly, that's the bit they don't talk about at all.

#science   #design  

2013-05-20 20:13:29 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Alvin Plantinga's sensus divinitatis is soooo goofy
Right.  Well, I say there's a sensus naturalis that lets humans perceive the connectedness, beauty, elegance, and organization of nature.  And that Plantinga's _sensus divinitatis_ is really just a defect in _sensus naturalis._

So there.

#reason   #humanism  

2013-05-20 10:13:27 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

Wanna see some really cool re-envisioned #retro style #movieposters? Check out Olly Moss.

2013-05-19 22:53:13 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Kent Hovind is a global embarrassment to academia.

#reason #science

2013-05-19 22:09:23 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

The Costly Signalling Theory described in this article is interesting to me because it seems to be consistent with #systems thinking, which I continue to believe is fundamental to understanding society.

#psychology #evolution #altruism

2013-05-19 19:01:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Really cool butterfly crypsis pix!
#biology   #evolution  

2013-05-19 18:12:10 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

Commenter "Don Flood" tries - and fails miserably - to explain yet another farcical variation of intelligent design / creationism to Jerry Coyne, who wisely will have none of it.

Notice how flawed Flood's argument is: it's based on the assumption that god exists, even though it purports to demonstrate that god must exist.

#humanism  

2013-05-19 16:41:33 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

A short note on gendercide, belief systems, and culture

2013-05-19 16:15:36 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Mystery of desert green spots solved by #science.

2013-05-19 03:05:57 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 12 +1s)

Assuming these scenes were truly improvised, they kind of take a bit of the edge off the notion of "great script" and "great direction."
#movie   #improvisation  

2013-05-19 02:16:43 (0 comments, 5 reshares, 5 +1s)

"Now we know why old scizophrenia medicine works on antibiotics-resistant bacteria" http://feedly.com/k/19Mibve

#health #medicine

2013-05-19 02:06:15 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

This could be a crucial element to revive the notion of the #hydrogen economy.

#sustainability

2013-05-18 20:19:04 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 6 +1s)

Is this cognitive dissonance at its finest? Or just contemptible bullshit?
#society #health

2013-05-18 20:15:58 (19 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

#economics  

2013-05-18 20:09:00 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

I thought this was somehow from The Onion.
Unfortunately, I don't think it was intended as a joke.

Is it just me or does this sink to an all time new level of insanity?

#wtf #woo #health

2013-05-18 16:46:53 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Here's a great example of "conflict of interest"

This is not to say that one should discount the input of industry groups (etc) out of hand, but that one needs very clear criteria when considering the quality of the arguments underlying the input that any agent provides.  This applies to any situation, not just this one.

New evidence can arise pretty much any time.  Such evidence may, upon proper analysis, reveal flaws in past decisions - flaws that need to be addressed.  Also, old evidence may have been improperly analyzed - which could again lead to a revision of decisions.

In this particular case, I would like to think that the first step is to identify which, if any, new evidence or new errors in analysis are being brought to light.  This doesn't mean the new evidence is being studied.  One can do this by simply checking if each claim hasbeen... more »

2013-05-18 16:13:49 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The advantage of a "boring" treadmill is that it helps you let your mind wander - reflect, think, stew ideas.
These are activities that are invariably of benefit.
Give me a boring treadmill any day!

#design   #society  

2013-05-18 16:09:11 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Geezus!  Bad enough I have to deal with internet trolls.
Now there's aquatic ones too?
And illiterate ones at that?

#funny  

2013-05-18 13:52:36 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

Some people take beautiful pictures and cut them into pieces.
That's a puzzle to me.

#funny  

2013-05-18 13:50:57 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Explosive poop foam.
That is all.

#sustainability

"Explosive poop foam is killing hogs, destroying barns and stumping scientists : TreeHugger" http://feedly.com/k/10WqFQZ

2013-05-18 13:23:20 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

See, this is the kind of #design #fail that makes me want to go running back to iOS.
If #android can't guarantee something as simple but important as 911 service, what else did they screw up?
And yes, this is ultimately on #google. They should have obliged - and verified - that any carrier of android phones can access emergency services, because that's what the average user expects.

"Android Users Can’t Connect To 9-1-1 With Third Party Dialers" http://feedly.com/k/112b4JG

2013-05-18 13:13:48 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I guess some "journalists" can't count.

#journalism #Apple #Samsung

"10M Samsung flagship phones in 28 days a 'record,' 5M iPhone 5 in 3 days 'disappointing'" http://feedly.com/k/108Csqy

2013-05-18 02:12:44 (4 comments, 7 reshares, 9 +1s)

Now thus is my kind of car!
#transportation #sustainability

"Elio Motors Unveils Three-Wheeled 84 MPG Car That Costs Only $6,800" http://feedly.com/k/10CRLa4

2013-05-18 02:09:29 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

So... Let the virgin birth gags begin!

#biology

"Mysterious anteater birth ripe for anteater-themed soap opera" http://feedly.com/k/19HOsUf

2013-05-18 01:42:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

There's nothing "traditional" about "casinos" and "native Americans".

#design #fail

"Building of the Week | How a Massive Glass Casino Represents Traditional Native American Forms" http://feedly.com/k/10JVXWz

2013-05-18 01:38:32 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I'm not sure I get how Bang With Friends is questionable.

"Apple yanks 'Bang with Friends' app from iOS App Store" http://feedly.com/k/16sC5iv

#society #app

2013-05-18 01:11:16 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Yeah, that's pretty much right.
Your PhD will make just a tiny little dent, but it might be the dent that bursts the whole bubble and creates a whole new area.  And if not, rest assured that with the help of a bzillion other PhD students, you will change the body of knowledge forever.
#phd   #education  

2013-05-18 00:43:42 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

A short post - variation on a theme of something I've already posted on G+.

#humanism  

2013-05-18 00:17:37 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Unconventional business cards

I really enjoy business cards that are more interesting than just the usual white rectangle.
However, there's one important advantage of that particular rectangle: they're easy to organize.  Quite frankly, if I was given a card that diverged too much from the "standard" sizes, I'll probably lose it.

#design  

2013-05-18 00:09:45 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Transparent business cards.
Rather decadent, but they appeal to my sense of minimalism.
#design  

2013-05-18 00:04:52 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

The Evolution of Religion: How Cognitive By-Products, Adaptive Learning Heuristics, Ritual Displays, and Group Competition Generate Deep Commitments to Prosocial Religions
S. Altran & J. Henrich. 2010.
Biological Theory 5(1) 2010, 18–30.

Abstract
_Understanding religion requires explaining why supernatural beliefs, devotions, and rituals are both universal and variable across cultures, and why religion is so often associated
with both large-scale cooperation and enduring group conflict.
Emerging lines of research suggest that these oppositions result
from the convergence of three processes. First, the interaction
of certain reliably developing cognitive processes, such as our
ability to infer the presence of intentional agents, favors—as
an evolutionary by-product—the spread of certain kinds of
counterintuitive concepts.Second,... more »

2013-05-17 23:32:27 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

A&E - that's the Arts & Entertainment channel - is showing nothing but the execrable "Storage Wars" today.

This is how civilization dies.
#facepalm  

2013-05-17 23:22:32 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Well.  _That's_ depressing.
#evolution  

2013-05-17 23:06:58 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 3 +1s)

Inching ever closer to a proper distinction between religious people and religulous people.

#humanism   #psychology  

2013-05-17 22:23:06 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

*Here's a great article about compatibilism between religion and #evolution *

The AntiHitchens and Pat Robertson are just hateful liars.  The neat part of the article, for me at least, is that it supports the notion that it's really not about theism vs atheism, but rather hate & lies vs well-being and truth.

#humanism  

2013-05-17 22:12:19 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

I'll just leave this here.
#atheism  

2013-05-17 21:52:09 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

2011 Census summary about religion in England & Wales
New data released 16 May shows some interesting changes since 2001.
Number of Christians down 12%
Number of "non religious" up 10%
Number of Muslims up 2%

Most Muslims and non-religious people are relatively young, whereas Christians are pretty evenly distributed across the age groups.

The country of birth data suggests most Muslims are from outside #UK (compared to Christians and non-religious).

I also note this site (http://humanism.org.uk/2013/05/17/new-2011-english-and-welsh-census-figures-on-religion-released/) from which:
At the same time, the number ticking ‘no religion’ increased from 15% to 25%. This change followed on from the BHA’s Census Campaign, which encouraged the non-religious to tick the ‘no religion’ box in order to help counteract the leadingnature of... more »

2013-05-17 14:24:14 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 5 +1s)

Malaria parasite may "zombify" mosquitoes.
Which, of course, opens new avenues for fighting malaria.
#science   #biology  

2013-05-17 13:46:19 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Just felt a mild earthquake in Toronto.
Weeeeeee!

2013-05-17 04:34:55 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Interesting #liferaft #design. The trip is making it sufficiently collapsible to store compactly and deploy quickly. Can't tell for certain, but it looks promising.

2013-05-17 04:08:25 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 10 +1s)

Great idea!

#US #politics #economics

2013-05-17 01:20:52 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

#DIY homes from kits.
Cool idea, especially since it involves many societal elements rather than a single silver bullet type of solution.

#sustainability #design #architecture

2013-05-16 23:30:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Some tantalising clues about how #memory works.

#neuroscience

2013-05-16 22:26:19 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The most fundamental error I see in the newspaper's approach - the one that simply cannot be avoided, and which invalidates the entire exercise - is that the respondents are ignorant of #evolution  and #science.  What's worse, that the respondents even share their ignorance speaks to their incredible arrogance.

#atheism  

2013-05-16 16:38:26 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Does academic freedom cover a science course that is full of Christian dogma?

This one is kind of tricky.  It depends on how "academic freedom" is defined within the context of the question, on the extent of the differences between an academic "voicing an opinion" and "teaching," on the potential pedagogic values of including dogma, etc.

Personally, I think academic freedom (writ large) doesn't apply here, for three reasons:
1. Teaching is a particular activity.  It appears that the intent of the course, in this particular case, was to teach science.  There's no room in a science course for religious dogma.
2. I don't believe it's ethical for an academic to make pronouncements about claims for which there is little or no evidence (or evidence to the contrary) as if those claims were in fact true.
3. Given thein... more »

2013-05-16 11:11:00 (26 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

Nice!
Couldn't stand 'em anyways.
Quite frankly, I think this speaks volumes to the "seriousness" of Plussers.

#googleplus  

2013-05-16 11:08:14 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Dear +Google+ 
Generally, I like the new interface, but let me voice a couple of concerns:
1. the new std comment font's a little to small/condensed.
2. the width of the notifications popup provides too little width for editing comments - once you subtract the margins and padding the column width is often only 3 or 4 words.
3. not fond of all the new "animations" - can we have a setting to turn 'em off?

Overall, though, I like it.
Thanks #Google  

2013-05-16 02:03:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Here's an interesting little #DIY planter project.
I don't like the asymmetry of how the wine bottles hang (most noticeable in the uppermost planter in the image to the left).
I would have two intertwined copper supports; that would get rid of the asymmetry.  One would have to pay careful attention to get the copper bent properly - more than if there were only one supporting run.  But it would look better.

#design  

2013-05-16 01:56:01 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Some very interesting #design  choices have been made by #google  for keeping #android  relevant.
Looks promising.