You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

by quinet

Dumbass Quote of the Day
[Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars]

A mind boggling quote from Michele Bachmann on Hannity’s show:

Bachmann: Oh sure, that’s all they have left now, is they use pejorative terms, hateful terms, against those who are carrying the message. So whether they’re attacking conservative talk radio, or conservative TV, or whether it’s Internet sites — I mean, let’s face it, what’s the Obama administration doing? They’re advocating net neutrality, which is essentially censorship of the Internet!

This is the Obama administration advocating censorship of the Internet. Why? They want to silence the voices that are opposing them.

Net neutrality is censorship of the internet? In what alternate universe?

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Net neutrality means that everyones traffic on the net is the same; that big companies can not pay for their data to traverse the Internet any higher priority than yours or mine. Everyone can use it with equal access instead of the rich guys getting the full experience and everyone else getting crumbs.

So, net neutrality is the opposite of censorship. Net neutrality is essentially free speech. Those that advocate loss of net neutrality are against the equal speech rights of American citizens. They want to allow corporations equal access but not citizens.

They live in a weird world of Newspeak. Thank goodness for Orwell, so we have something to use when they outright lie.

Skygrid is the iPad app I have to get

Well, I got an answer to my question, where is everyone coming from? There is an app called SkyGrid, that is used to filter and aggregate news for people. Several people commented that is how they found the posts I wrote.

It looks like a nifty app and it has a very high 5 star:1 star ratio (141:8) for the current version.

So it will be in the hopper.

And a quick update on the blog and me. I’ve been writing this since 2002. I have a background in biochemistry, working for a couple of biotech companies, eventually as a VP, Research. I bought a Mac in 1984 while still a graduate student (still have it) and have had an interest in high tech since the early 70s. That has always made me one of the few biologists who loved math, etc. until recently.

So, I write on a variety of topics, mostly high tech/ Mac, biology/science and areas of scientific communication. The latter especially includes examination of types of research where denialists flock. I have spent 30 years in biology dealing with creationists, who have been denying science the longest. Now I spend some time on climate and green economics, as denialists congregate here also.

Come for the iPad stuff, I’m sure I will be writing about it a lot next week. This is the most excited I have been about a high tech product since the 128K Mac came out.

Let the whales save us

by Thoth, God of Knowledge

A Novel Geoengineering Idea: Increase the Ocean’s Quotient of Whale Poop
[Via Discoblog]

The fight against global warming has a brand new weapon: whale poop.

Scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division have found that whale poop contains huge amounts of iron and when it is released into the waters, the iron-rich feces become food for phytoplankton. Phytoplankton absorbs carbon dioxide from the air, the algae is in turn eaten by Antarctic krill, and baleen whales eat the krill. Through this neat cycle, globe-warming CO2 is kept sequestered in the ocean.

Scientists have long known that iron is necessary to sustain phytoplankton growth in the oceans, which is why one geoengineering scheme calls for adding soluble iron to ocean waters to encourage the growth of carbon-trapping algae blooms. While environmentalists have fretted over the possible consequences of meddling with ocean chemistry that way, this new study on whale poop suggests an all-natural way to get the same carbon-trapping effect: Increase the number of whales in the ocean.

When Stephen Nicol of the Australian Antarctic Division analyzed the feces of baleen whales, he found an astounding amount of iron in it. New Scientist reports:

Nicol’s team analyzed 27 samples of faeces from four species of baleen whales. He found that on average whale faeces had 10 million times as much iron as Antarctic seawater.

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So, before we started hunting the baleen whales, they may have been responsible for providing 12% of the iron needed by the plankton to grow. destroying the whales then made it much harder for the oceans to help control the carbon dioxide we a re producing.

So our over hunting of whales, which were used as as source fuel, is now connected to our fossil fuel use, making our present day situation more dire. The decisions of our ancestors is affecting us today just as ours will 100 years from now.

Perhaps the best approach would be to increase the whale population instead of dumping iron in the water. That would be a smartthing to do.

Interesting effect of the word iPad

I’ve noticed something very intriguing the last few days. If I talk about the iPad and put the word in my title, I get huge numbers of hits to the page. My two posts today each have 2 times the hits that my entire site had on Wednesday. The total number of hits if 5 times higher than on Wednesday.

But I can’t seem to tell where the hits are coming from. That is, the referer stats show absolutely no change in location or number. Nothing seems to be coming from search engines. I guess I’ll have to do a little more digging.

Where is everyone coming from?

More apps for my iPad

One of the nice things about waiting a few weeks is that I can check out all sorts of reviews and even watch some videos on Youtube. Why doesn’t every app maker put up a video showing the usage or game play or what have you about their app?

And by including the links, I can find them again if I want to. It is eay to get things lost at the iTunes store, although I can create a wish list, I guess.

IGN has some good reviews to read. Looks like Plants vs. Zombies will be on my iPad.

And Instapaper seems to be a very popular choice. How about AppAdvice to help me chose. And I have always loved Ambrosia Software so Mondo Solitaire will be there. WolframAlpha will do also.

Camera for iPad will let my iPhone send pictures to my iPad. Perhaps someone could tell me if LogMein Ignition is worth the $30.

Finally, Netfflix so I can watch my movies.

Outlaw Josey Wales

by Troy Snow

I’m watching The Outlaw Josey Wales on AMC. I remember seeing it when it first came out. in 1976. It was the best Western I had every seen, presenting a realism and narrative that was really astounding.

Because it followed the Western motifs but turned them inside out. The Union men were the bad guys and the rebels were the good guys. It started with the solitary man of violence we are used to, especially with Clint Eastwood. By the end, he had created a community of people who were mostly at peace.

And the humor and insight, especially presented by the wonderful Chief Dan George, is great, even 34 years later.

Many of the Westerns in the years just before The Outlaw Josey Wales were based on humor – Butch Cassidy, Cat Ballou and Support Your Local Sheriff. This one brought back the mythic qualities of the narrative. It follows a hero as he goes on a journey.

He changes the people around him and they change him, so that by the end, the entire world is different. BUt the journey is so much fun, especially the dialogue, something not usually noted in Westerns.

Eastwood was at his best in these sorts of stories. A reluctant hero, muttering under his breath as he does the right thing. His direction again and again uses old style Western topes – the hero silhouetted against the open door, the elixir salesman – but twists them into new versions.

Just a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

How the iPad changes everything

by ed100
Tonight on Fox31: Georgia TV station buys iPads for news anchors
[Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)]

Filed under: iPad

Someone at Fox affiliate WFXL in Albany, GA must have had the brilliant insight that an iPad looks a lot like a pad of paper. That insight is going to save the TV station about $9,600 per year.

WFXL purchased 6 iPads to replace the paper scripts that their news anchors use. According to News Director and anchorman Terry Graham, the station is expected to save hundreds of thousands of sheets of paper every year. The scripts are composed in their usual manner, but instead of printing the files, they’re now formatted as PDFs and emailed to the iPads.

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The Ipads will be replacing the tons of paper that the station used, permitting them to rapidly move needed information to the anchors. ANd, by leveraging social media, they can also provide the with such things as real-time twitter feed on the broadcast, polls and other direct feedback tools to its reporters.

Medicine has already started using these. Now the news media. WHat other industries will be changed?

Very cool iPad idea

Voices that Matter iPhone: One-handed iPad holder
[Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)]

Want to hold up an iPad as you give a talk, but afraid that you’ll drop it as you gesticulate with your hands? Here’s a clever way to keep control over your device while limiting risk, as seen at this weekend’s Voices that Matter iPhone conference in Seattle. iPhone developer and author Andrew Donaho demonstrates the “iPad glove,” a simple iPad grip in the gallery at the bottom of this post.

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I want one of these. It looks like a nice way to hold it with one hand and use the other for whatever. Wonder when it will be available?