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2013-02-13 07:58:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Moon, Mercury, and Mars this evening.

2013-02-11 22:53:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Astonishing. Nothing ever really changes, does it? Rove, Atwater, Nixon's Ratfuckers -- they were all babes in the woods compared to Baxter and Whitaker.

2013-02-09 18:11:11 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

"As February unfolds, Mercury will rise higher in the sunset sky, brightening as it ascends.  From February 11th through 21st, the "pink planet" will be visible for as much as an hour after sunset.  February 11th is a date of special interest: a slender crescent Moon will appear straight above Mercury"

2013-02-08 15:59:30 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Is there a working PPA?

2013-02-02 05:44:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Gorgeous. View it in full screen.

2012-09-17 17:51:05 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2012-08-14 15:57:25 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

A bit over the top, but, damn, this is an insane accomplishment!

2012-07-22 06:52:51 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

2012-07-08 18:32:07 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 1 +1s)

The Standard Model of particle physics: Years from concept to discovery. (Source: +The Economist) 

2012-06-29 19:36:16 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Science Friday!  A new analysis conclusively proves that we did it. Case very firmly closed. The article's Figure 3 is unambiguous: the ocean warming signal due solely to anthropogenic warming (i.e., the natural variations have been accounted for and removed) rises significantly above the noise level by ~1980.

This doesn't mean we've known conclusively since 1980 that we are wrecking our planet's climate (although climatologists had their suspicions even back then). It means that, with the quality of the data (three separate datasets) we have on hand in 2012, we can calculate and project signal to noise ratios going back in time to determine the time at which the signal rises unambiguously above the observational noise. (The more data you collect, the better your ability to discriminate signal from noise.) That time is around 1980. As more data gets collected, the date by... more »

2012-06-26 23:15:13 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

M101.

2012-06-20 15:31:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Happy Summer Solstice! (4:09 pm MST)

2012-06-16 19:44:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Transit of Venus, a bit before second contact. Look closely and you can see sunlight refracting through the atmosphere of Venus (bridging the gap at the solar limb).

2012-06-16 19:43:04 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Transit of Venus. With sunspots. In focus.

2012-06-16 17:59:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-06-16 17:15:44 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-06-09 19:35:10 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-06-09 19:00:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-05-22 19:54:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-05-22 19:53:26 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2012-05-22 19:53:09 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-05-22 19:52:44 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-05-23 06:51:25 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-05-15 15:27:30 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Dang.

2012-05-13 20:16:44 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-05-06 04:18:41 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-04-29 16:01:25 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

#SacrilegiousSunday

2012-04-20 06:55:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Okay, these are pretty adorable.

2012-04-15 16:29:42 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Yet again, the religious right -- which, near as I can tell, at least by their rhetoric, and certainly by their policy positions, is currently synonymous with the right wing -- flatly denies reality and willfully takes up an alternate fantasy world. Behaving like idiots never seems to faze them in the least. So the questions are why do simple fact-based conclusions to the contrary only strengthen their delusional devotion to a regressive and punishing ideology, and what can the reality-based community do about this endemic blight on American society?

"What these [right wing] reactions make clear is that no evidence — whether it’s on the benefits of making contraception widely accessible or the positive impact of comprehensive sex ed — will stop the war on sex."

2012-04-04 23:36:53 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

The video is tres cool.

2012-04-04 07:34:00 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

More of Chris Mooney getting it right.

2012-04-02 20:42:52 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Beautiful images, beautiful prose.

2012-03-28 06:08:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Science Wednesday!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noether%E2%80%99s_theorem

2012-03-27 21:14:03 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-03-26 17:19:25 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2012-03-24 03:31:04 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Apparently, it's way worse than anybody thought. The NSA is completely free of all accountability, ignoring the Constitution (who doesn't these days?) and every applicable law.

2012-03-22 18:54:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Independent evidence that the OPERA superluminal neutrino result is, as expected, erroneous.

2012-03-16 17:45:23 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Anti-Science Friday!
Arizona Republicans are set to completely deregulate electronic billboards by annulling a law already on the books that bans them. If any of you have ever seen these, you know they're horribly bright and a danger to motorists, among other things.

2011-11-04 23:47:57 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

And now for something completely different. Drum sets aren't normally my rhythmic cup of tea, but this is . . . fascinating.

2011-11-04 22:47:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Science Friday!

2011-11-04 19:22:13 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

Power to the People!

2011-11-04 00:32:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Well, no, highly unlikely. But the neat thing about this is the civilized, evidence-based manner in which the various heated arguments around the controversy are playing out: everybody wants most of all to find out what's behind the measured effect. Is it really a fundamental mind-bender, or is it systematic error? The latter is way more likely, but either way we learn new things. This is how science works. The current stage of this particular controversy is a snapshot of the scientific method in its phase of self-correcting. That self-correcting nature is one of the fundamental reasons why the scientific method works.

2011-11-02 19:41:35 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

2011-11-02 19:27:42 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

2011-11-02 06:24:27 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 1 +1s)

2011-11-01 21:23:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Dear diary,

2011-11-01 21:20:47 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

2011-10-30 22:32:00 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

A matter-of-fact (yes, *fact*) view from the vantage point of a rich guy.

2011-10-30 18:48:48 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

We aren't quite as callous and hateful toward our populace as Turkey, Chile, and Mexico. Oh yay.

2011-10-29 06:16:33 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

What's more, the dignity and ethical backbone of this guy is completely typical of Navy folks.