There is too much interesting science that happens in a single year. No one person can capture it in a single article. I choose to focus on the things that align with my own personal interests, and provide information about them so you can learn more. They are in no […]
Sing, sad little Christmas bell! [audio:http://steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/sad_little_xmas_bell.mp3|titles=Sing, sad little Christmas bell!]
It’s time for another popcorn science. An oft-repeated claim, backed by few thoughts or facts, is that the U.S. Federal Government should take a cue from Main Street and run its budget like a household runs its budget. Households, so the claim goes, work within their constraints and don’t carry […]
The insane lightshow in the nearby town of Fairview. [stream provider=video base=x:/steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ flv=christmas_show.mp4 embed=true share=true width=400 height=300 dock=true controlbar=over bandwidth=high autostart=false /]
Some media of wakeboarding at our automated, boat-less park in Allen Station. [stream provider=video base=x:/steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/ flv=wakeboarding.mp4 mp4=wakeboarding.mp4 embed=true share=true width=400 height=300 dock=true controlbar=over bandwidth=high autostart=false /]
In this area, incredibly large flocks of birds will descend on parking lots, the roofs of buildings, and any nearby trees. Here is what one of these flocks sounded like outside of a JCPenny in a nearby mall. [audio:http://steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Huge_flock_of_birds.mp3|titles=Huge flock of birds]
Here is some audio from Sather Tower at University of California-Berkeley. The Bells of Sather Tower [audio:http://steve.cooleysekula.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Berkeley_Sather_Tower.mp3]
Author’s Note: in the Dec. 18 game against the Patriots, the Broncos lost spectacularly. Chance giveth, and chance taketh away. I still stick to my punchline: based on the data, the Broncos are statistically behind their own curve… The first I heard of Tim Tebow, starting quarterback of the Denver […]
[This post was inspired by a comment in an article on PhysOrg, http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-09-cern-faster-than-light-particle.html. Thanks to Randy Scalise for bringing it to my attention.] In 1987, a distant star exploded. Here on Earth, it was named “SN1987a” – Supernova 1987a. Here are some basic facts about SN1987a: it occurred (51.4 +/- […]
“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” [The title of the 1973 essay by the evolutionary biologist and Russian Orthodox Christian Theodosius Dobzhansky, who criticized the anti-evolution creationist movement.] Almost 30% of humans carry the Human Papillomavirus. In women, HPV has been linked to 90% of […]
The Republican Presidential Candidate debates (and all the media that encircles them) are a great place to look for examples of poorly applied thinking. Specifically, it’s a buffet of examples of pseudo-scientific argument. In this post, we’ll use one example that stemmed from the most recent CNN/Tea Party Express debate […]
It’s about 11 in the morning and the phone is ringing. The crappy red plastic cordless phone is ringing, and the cheap digital sound fills my one-room cottage in Atherton, CA. I remember getting home around 4am. I remember the last thing I heard on the radio before I turned […]