Blog Title: Acid Test

California fires

BBC, as usual, has the shot. Quintessential California just now: Technorati Tags: California, fires, Los Angeles Copyright © 2008 Acid Test. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at has taken probably taken my work to try to generate read more..

Evolution does not equal a feedback loop

A group of Princeton chemists, publishing in Physical Review Letters (which, as you might guess from the name, is not a biological research journal), feel they’ve found a mechanism that shows proteins direct their own evolution based on environmental conditions. Or something like that. Evolution’s new wrinkle: Proteins with cruise control provide new perspectiveA team read more..

Ask not for whom the bell tolls

Well, the US has done it again. Elected an arrogant empty bigoted suit. It didn’t work out for us so well last time. At least this one is smarter. Although that may not be a good thing. I don’t know what’s happened to the rumor about Krugman and Volcker being in the read more..

There is hope

Or fear, according to taste. Via Slashdot, I see that we now have a more sophisticated estimate of the number of alien civilizations out there. From the abstract: The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has been heavily influenced by solutions to the Drake Equation, which . . . [relies] on using average values of key parameters read more..

Vote “present.” It’s important.

I don’t have anything against real hope. I’m like everyone else: I can’t live without it. But hopiness is toxic. It’s important not to swallow it. Before I get rolling, I’ll say right away: No, McCain doesn’t scare me as much as Obama does. I know McCain lies, but Obama read more..

Hummingbird in the rain

We’ve had out first rain in months here in Southern California, and there is nothing, nothing, half so worth seeing in life as a hummingbird taking a bath. (This is my first ever video, so I apologize for all the rough edges. Let me know in comments if you know about software — free read more..

Going from bad to worse

As Krugman says, we’re a banana republic with nukes. This bailout bill gets goofier by the day. You know my feelings on it. We’re all in this lifeboat called the economy. The thing has been holed. It doesn’t matter now whose fault it is or that they should be killed. read more..

Handsome is as handsome does

Once upon a time I was filled with sick horror at the thought of a McCain Presidency. Now? Not so much. He hasn’t changed.  He does have a new running mate, but she doesn’t scare me.  After Dubya, it feels petty to pretend that inexperience is some kind of showstopper.  What’s changed read more..

Across the universe

NASA - Scientists Detect Cosmic ‘Dark Flow’ Across Billions of Light Years Using data from NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), scientists have identified an unexpected motion in distant galaxy clusters. The cause, they suggest, is the gravitational attraction of matter that lies beyond the observable universe. “The clusters show a small but measurable velocity that is read more..

To bail or not to bail

That is actually not the question. Not now. The time to ask that question was four, five, six, and more years ago. The time to ask it was when the shadow banking system started growing. It was invented to avoid regulations. It made a lot of money doing it. While the party read more..

Another fine mess

Yowzer. This one has everything. Freedom of religion, fairness in the workplace, immigration, general free-floating bigotry. (But no sex, drugs or rock-n-roll, so maybe not everything.) Colorado meatpacking plant lays off 100 Muslim workers A meatpacking company Wednesday laid off about 100 Muslim immigrant workers who walked off the job last week read more..

Rights, wrongs, and brotherhood

I’ve been thinking a lot about rights lately, and that took me to Wikipedia’s page on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Here’s Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. What is wrong read more..

Geeks’ Picnic

I went to LinuxWorld in San Francisco last month. A few highlights: Welcomed our new robotic overlords Listened to thrilling talks Saw neat new technology. Flywheels! Saw cute tiny computers. Want! Saw humongous computers. Boxcar! Full of hundreds of blade servers! Want! (But will it fit in with the living room decor?) Technorati Tags: Linuxworld, 2008 Copyright © 2008 read more..

It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity

I’m sorry. I just can’t take it any more. I’m going to stop the world and get off. Yes, that’ll make the oceans slosh and drown everyone else. You should have thought of that before you bored me. Okay, you ask. What is it now? Drivel framed in read more..

Really new batteries

Your Blogscientist has been falling down on the job. A few days ago I saw plenty of headlines about new nanoscale batteries. Everything’s nano-whatnot these days. I figured I’d read about it later. No doubt somebody had an extra 5% improved energy yield or something. Turns out, no, this is really new. read more..

Time for your (mental) stretching exercises

Via Slashdot I found this Science News article which links to a mathematics site that’ll blow your mind up like bubble gum. It’s visualizations by mathematicians and graphic artists of four- and more-dimensional shapes. Plus, if you have any mathematical ability, in other words if you’re not like me, you may even understand read more..