I'm going to take a week off, or so, for the Holiday. I know I can't complain about being burnt out from prolificity; I barely post enough as it is. But I have other things to concentrate on the next week. When I get back, I'll review 2010, my prediction that 2010 would be The Year of the Human Machine Interface, and make my bold prediction for what tech trends we'll see next year.If anyone needs any last minute Christmas gift ideas for me, I really want the Kindle Wif...
Thursday, 23 December 2010
Merry Christmas from TAE
Posted on 06:16 by hony
To all you out there, from me here, a verry Merry Christmas. Remember its the giving that matters, not the gettin...
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
Weekly Devotional
Posted on 05:27 by hony
Once again I come around in the rotation for St. Andrew's Weekly Devotional series.Typically, these weekly devotionals are very good. They are introspective, uplifting, and direct. I feel like maybe I should violate the "rules of devotionals" a little, as my own birthday present for Jesus.As we celebrate Christmas this week, and as we move towards 2011 the next, I humbly ask that each and every one of you declare 2011 "The Year I Become a Hero." Jesus, of course, typifies heroic behavior: stoically true to his principles, altruistic like no other,...
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
A thought for your Tuesday - Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic...
Posted on 09:55 by hony
Reading is a noun or verb. Writing is a noun or verb. What is the verb form of Arithmetic?...
Hello, Dream Job
Posted on 05:49 by hony
R&D Engineer 2, Los Alamos National LabI wonder if Mrs. TAE would like Sante Fe? Or maybe she'd prefer Albuquerqu...
Monday, 20 December 2010
Sunday, 19 December 2010
The End of DADT
Posted on 09:20 by hony
I was having a really lousy weekend. News of this made everything better. Go America. Know hop...
Friday, 17 December 2010
Friday Poetry Burst
Posted on 13:47 by hony
I've used this before, yes I know, but I just had a huge setback at work, and needed the words.Invictus by William Ernest HenleyOut of the night that covers me,Black as the pit from pole to pole,I thank whatever gods may beFor my unconquerable soul.In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbowed.Beyond this place of wrath and tearsLooms but the Horror of the shade,And yet the menace of the yearsFinds and shall find me unafraid.It matters not how strait the gate,How...
Quote for the Day
Posted on 12:08 by hony
"Any lab that is government certified has oversight." - Ryan in the comments here.Chortl...
The Worst Science Idea of 2010 - Genspace Now Open For Disaster
Posted on 08:24 by hony
Here's the idea:Let's build a lab where anyone, literally anyone, can come and tinker with microorganisms. Better yet, let's make this lab have no oversight whatsoever. Then, let's call making transgenic bacteria (in an unsecure environment) a "fun and educational" project.Then, let's complain that University research (in a secure environment) is undemocratic and held under the tight tyranny of professorial dictators.Then, let's encourage people to use the lab to test themselves for genetic conditions. If it turns out they have a genetic condition...
Back Once Again To Monogamy
Posted on 06:17 by hony
TPI (for the purposes of disclosure, TPI has the quiet distinction of being married to my favorite sister) points to an interview with Mick Jagger, in which Jagger clearly has all the answers:[Jagger] goes on to talk, in a rather rambling way, about the animal kingdom and how human mores regarding marriage and fidelity correspond to what we know of primate behavior. “If you have studied or have even a passing knowledge of animal behavior, it’s hard to see how our rules and regulation fit in,” he says at one point. There are swans,...
Thursday, 16 December 2010
In which I ask why my dad is a Republican.
Posted on 09:40 by hony
TAE has a lot of friends and family members that are both Republicans and avid Conservationists. Many are hunters, and consider preservation of wild areas specifically and the environment in general an important part of their core value system. However, as Republicans, the freedom and ability to develop individual wealth as a member of a free-market capitalist economy is also wildly important to them. TAE suggests these two concepts are directly in conflict, and have been since the 80's.And I'm not alone. Slate writer Daniel Sarewitz writes:It...
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
The Hero Project
Posted on 10:16 by hony
Jonah Lehrer reports on Phil Zimbardo's latest project (remember the Stanford Prison Experiment?) in San Fransisco: a school for heroes.The goal of the project is simple: to put decades of experimental research to use in training the next generation of exemplary Americans, churning out good guys with the same efficiency that gangs and terrorist groups produce bad guys. At first glance, this seems like a slightly absurd endeavor. Heroism, after all, isn’t supposed to be a teachable trait. We assume that people like Gandhi or Rosa...
The Large Hebron Collider
Posted on 05:19 by hony
Earlier this morning, Israeli physicists announced plans to build the Large Hebron Collider, a giant circular ring designed to hurl Israelis and Palestinians at each other at speeds nearing the speed of light. Israeli scientists hope that by smashing individuals of the two groups together, they might successfully detect the MOT Particle, which they have nicknamed the "One True God particle," putting to rest several thousand years of debate over the exact conditions at the formation of the West Ban...
Thursday, 9 December 2010
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
Dear TSA
Posted on 13:18 by hony
Dear TSA,I'm no terrorist. In fact, I'm surely the opposite. Evidence for this being the fact that I really don't mind so much when I get zapped with x-rays in the name of safety, or the fact that I maintain a high-level security clearance with not problem.The enhanced pat-downs and the x-ray scanners with naked pictures are lame, sure, but I'd rather have 'em than a terrorist on an airplane.That said, I have to call into question one of your current policies: laptops. I noticed, yesterday, as I was flying from Kansas City to New Orleans that I...
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Murder
Posted on 13:12 by hony
I spotted him about 4:45 pm. He was tall, and looked in pretty good shape. He certainly towered over the others around him. He showed up where I hadn't been expecting him. I'd assumed he be further down the hill, further away from traffic.In any case, there he was. Looking all proud of himself around the ladies. Some other dudes were nearby, but he clearly was being territorial, being alpha. From where I was, he didn't see me. Which was lucky, I suppose, because I wasn't trying extraordinarily hard to remain hidden. As he'd gotten in view I'd perked...
Friday, 3 December 2010
The Definition of "Discovery"
Posted on 12:22 by hony
I have to admit, before I get into this, that I am a little jaded. I got excited, like everyone else, by Kottke's implication that yesterday's NASA announcement might be the discovery of E.T. Then, when it turned out to be a horrifying well-performed press conference that was a strange concoction of part roundtable, part lecture, and part press release...I must admit that I had furrowed brows. Maybe even a scowl.That said, I think we need to discuss whether or not it is a huge misnomer to call Wolfe-Simon's GFAJ-1 bacteria a "discovery." Let us...
Thursday, 2 December 2010
New Life Discovered! (on Earth) - UPDATED
Posted on 10:54 by hony
Cat is out of the bag:At their conference today, NASA scientist Felisa Wolfe Simon will announce that they have found a bacteria whose DNA is completely alien to what we know today. Instead of using phosphorus, the bacteria uses arsenic. All life on Earth is made of six components: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Every being, from the smallest amoeba to the largest whale, share the same life stream. Our DNA blocks are all the same. But not this one. This one is completely different. Discovered in the poisonous...
Life on Titan
Posted on 08:21 by hony
What if Kottke is right? What if this afternoon NASA announces the discovery of living organisms on Titan (a moon of Saturn)? I find it unlikely, mostly because I do not believe we have the equipment orbiting Titan to conclusively prove little critters are moving about. Sure, the Huygens craft landed and took pictures, but barring a webcam video of some sort of Titan-dwelling, methane-powered mouse skittering about, I highly doubt we've found evidence of life.My instinct, considering this is NASA, is that they will have no conclusive results, but...
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