Blinding. It’s a word that is used in funny ways in science. “We performed a blind analysis.” “We blinded the data until we had finished our background studies.” “We fit for the background, extrapolating into the blind region.” “Blind” is used as a verb, adjective, noun, and just about every […]
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When I was working at Stanford the other day, something happened which hasn’t happened at SLAC in a long time. Well, to be fair, it hasn’t happened in my office building in a long time. People argued about physics in the hallways, at white boards, over espresso. I hadn’t realized […]
A few years ago, there was a book that appeared on shelves called the “Poltically Incorrect Guide to Evolution”, which used the very typical tactics of pseudoscience to make it look like the theory of evolution and the untested idea of intelligent design were competing scientific principals in how we […]
Jodi and I took a break from cleaning paint off old metal funiture (her weekend hobby) and getting the laser printer to work with the upgraded server (my job) to go out to Mountain View tonight. Mountain View has long been our favorite place on the peninsula. As a student, […]
There are a lot of people in my field who manage to work morning, noon, and night. I’m not sure how they ever manage families, and I’m not sure how they manage to do it for decades at a time. As I’ve gotten older, I find myself increasingly unable to […]
I run Fedora Core 6 (FC6) on my laptop. Today, after listening to a podcast featuring commentary on the best blogging software for Apple’s OSX, I went searching in the FC6 package repository for similar software for Linux, and found this – BloGTK. It’s a GNOME-based blogging program that talks, […]
It is believed that the attack on Boston on 1-31-07 by the Mooninites is due to the pro-Moon policies of the current administration. The U.S. has a long history with the Moon, going back to the war of the Barbary Pirates in the 1700s. At that time, officers in the […]
*Ignignokt: Our god is a god of vengeance. A god of hate. * *Err: A god of action! * *Ignignokt: Our god is an Indian who can turn into a wolf and- * *Err: Dude, that’s Wolfen. * *Ignignokt: Yes, well Wolfen will come after you, with his razor.* These […]
News of the weird, my friends. Our “politics-and-religion-mixing President has declared, on this the national day of prayer, that the U.S. is a nation of prayer”:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060504/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_prayer;_ylt=Auh2YG3m0lrz_xYEcS4QLD6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-. I wonder if, on the national day of reason, he’ll declare the U.S. a nation of reason? Oh, right, we don’t have that national […]
Well, we crossed the 2000 visitor mark a few days ago here at the Adventures of My Pet Hamster. That warrants a few remarks, in honor of the occasion. Who are you people? You need to leave more comments, so I can ignore them. What’s an adventure (of my pet […]
An “article in the AP summarizes the underlying references in this little thought piece”:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051208/ap_on_re_us/creationism_professor;_ylt=AkmHDJC49ZEp.ORSchKdfP1vzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA–. Here’s the short of it: * religious studies professor Paul Mirecki, at the University of Kansas, organizes a course entitled “Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies”, scientists and educators silently cheer […]
By the title, you might think I’m talking in the same scare tactics that conservatives use to induce fear about medical procedures like abortion. I’m not. I’m talking about cyclotrons. That’s right… cyclotrons. “Not in my backyard!”, says Alaska. Don’t believe me? “Check it out”:http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,69726,00.html The best part is the […]