| |
|
Thursday, September 15, 2005
|
|
 The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes worldwide has nearly doubled over the past 35 years, even though the total number of hurricanes has dropped since the 1990s, according to a study by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The shift occurred as global sea surface temperatures have increased over the same period. The research appears in the September 16 issue of Science.
(Via Science Blog - News from Science, Medicine, Space, Physics and More.)
11:07:24 PM 
|
|
Check out the fan parody of Firefly, called Mosquito. This 10 minute film takes the form of a behind the scenes documentary of the short lived TV series, Mosquito. Very funny, especially the part about the Canadians and Ukranians being the 'meek' who inherit the Earth.
Still waiting for Sept. 30th...
(Via SFSignal.)
10:59:03 PM
|
|
 Hands-down, the best reference book of the science fiction genre is The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by John Clute, Peter Nicholls, et. al. Nothing is as comprehensive. It is, however, a bit out of date: more than 10 years! That is about to change.
2007 will see the publication of a vastly updated (50% more content) third edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. The new edition will only be available online via annual subscription but will offer monthly updates by Clute, Nicolls and David Langford.
I hope this is reasonably priced. The 2nd edition is one I refer to quite often. It's a fun read for any sf fan.
[Source: Locus Magazine 9/05 issue]
As SFSignal says, this is an essential work. Still, for some reason, I prefer the original edition from, I think, the mid 80s. Maybe it's because SF itself has gotten so big. I do wish I'd done what Charlie recommended at the time, and bought the hardcover. This edition is fantastic, too, and I am looking forward to the digital edition, provided it's reasonably priced.
(Via SFSignal.)
10:57:58 PM
|
|
How much looting was there, really?
'As a researcher, I base what I say on evidence and there was no evidence for a lot of what was being reported," says Kathleen Tierney, a sociologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder and director of the Natural Hazards Center there. ''I don't think I've ever seen such an egregious example of victim blaming as I have in this disaster."
Are these scholars the equivalent of Donald Rumsfeld when he said television created the appearance of looting in post-invasion Baghdad by running and re-running the same footage of one man stealing an urn? It's possible, but already, as journalists like Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune and Matt Welch of Reason magazine, have pointed out, many widely reported rumors have proved false or are at least unconfirmed.
''We don't have any substantiated rapes," the New Orleans Police superintendent Edwin Compass told the British newspaper The Guardian, speaking of the situation at the Superdome. Nor have any bodies of victims of foul play turned up there. The Federal Aviation Administration and military officials have cast doubt on the story of the rescue helicopter that came under fire outside Kenner Memorial Hospital on Aug. 31.
(Via Seeing the Forest.)
10:55:05 PM
|
|
Hastert Says U.S. House to Seek $70 Billion Tax Cuts, More than two dozen expiring tax cuts are competing for inclusion in the $70 billion package, including extension of the dividend tax break that was created in 2003. Other tax cuts include a research credit worth $5 billion annually for companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Boeing Co. and a temporary measure limiting the reach of the alternative minimum tax.
(Via Seeing the Forest.)
10:51:38 PM
|
|
Last night I sat down and watched the 3 Daily Shows from this week, with its rare concentration on one subject: evolution vs. creationism/"intelligent design." For a show that goes for the yucks, they did a great job, especially of making the point that this is really a debate between science, and old creation myths created by preliterate, prescientific people.
Not that the Daily Show used it, but because I've been thinking about it, but the point that needs to be made the word "Darwinism" is loaded in so many ways (which is why the creationists and IDiots use it). Evolution isn't slavery to some creed that Charles Darwin came up with on his own 150 years ago. Instead, the way it really is that he had the insight, built up on established science and observation, to see the mechanism for change in species. Since then, generations of scientists have built on the foundation he laid. There are some things that are not answered yet; that's the way with science -- we don't know everything. But the point is, to call it an "ism" is incorrect; it's a body of knowledge. Contrast that with Faith, which essentially asserts that some sort of truth was laid down hundreds or thousands of years ago, and nothing that has happened since, and nothing that we have learned since, can change. Science is a way of learning, religion is a fossil. Now, that thought is what the creationists or the IDers are really afraid of: that by opening our eyes to the world around us, we lose our faith. Maybe so; I know I don't have any. But isn't the truth of the world more important?
One thing about the Daily Show panel with that crybaby Dembski. He's all excited that they put him on the same level as an 'evolutionist' but to me he looked to be more on the level of that crazy spirit woman, Ellie Crystal. She made as much sense as he did.
10:18:51 PM
|
|
|
© Copyright 2005 Steve Michel.
Last update: 10/1/2005; 12:08:56 AM.
|
|
|
