Group wants H-1B visa exemptions. Compete America argues that foreigners who have earned masters and doctorate degrees from U.S. universities should be exempt from the program's cap. [CNET News.com]

11:59:47 PM  What do you think? ( Thoughts) Who linked? []   

National Science Panel Warns of Far Too Few New Scientists [From New York Times]

I actually predicted this shortage almost 15 years ago. But I thought it would reflect in an easier life for scientist in the US (Law of Demand), instead the science world seems to be moving away from the US, and the scientist there are not doing fine. Nor are there post for new scientist. It looks like the US is aiming to a more elitist system, where only the best scientist are well off, similar (except in scale) to what happens in the music world. Problem is: It won't work. The main work of science, the checking of facts, the training and inspiration of the new generations is done by the competent-but-not-great scientists. That's the one you have to take care... The stars shine on their own.

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James Franklin: The Renaissance Myth

THE HISTORY OF IDEAS is full of more tall stories than most other departments of history. Here are three which manage to combine initial implausibility with impregnability to refutation: that in the Middle Ages it was believed that the world was flat; that medieval philosophers debated as to how many angels could dance on the head of a pin; that Galileo revolutionised physics by dropping weights from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. None of these stories is true, and no competent historian has asserted any of them, but none shows any sign of disappearing from the public consciousness.

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The greeks knew the earth was round, so it is no surprise that it was known in the middle ages. Of course, it wasn't common knowledge (few things were, heck, few things are even nowadays). To me it is obvious Galileo didn't perform the experiment and just said he did to convince skeptics. The reason I don't believe he did anything with rocks from the Tower of Pisa is that he was clearly a bright guy and there is an easy thought experiment that proves the point he wanted to make. It goes like this: Assume the heavier rock falls faster than the lighter one. Tie them up with a string. Now you have an even heavier object, so it should fall faster than the heavier rock. But, the lighter rock, falling slower than the heavier one, should slow its progress. So the tied up rocks should fall slower than the heavier one. Contradiction. QED. No need for Galileo to get out of bed.

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Vive les Masturbateurs. I can't say I'm on board with the message, but you gotta love the title. Someone translate this one for Dave Winer, he'll like it (seriously, not kidding). And while on the subject of good names, the tortoise's blogroll has a pointer to something called Une rondelle de saucisson et l'addition; I can relate to that. [ongoing]

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