The Bstar Project

If you don’t have a malformed public-compassion gland or a natural deficiency in moral fiber, you might consider helping little Brooklynn Mocny with her B*star Project. The project aims to provide little luxuries such as books, games, activities, and accessories to displaced families year-round. They are currently asking for help with their Umbrella Drive.

http://thebstarproject.wordpress.com/

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Open Mindedness

A look at some of the flawed thinking that prompts people who believe in certain non-scientific concepts to advise others who don’t to be more open-minded.

Technorati Tags: Open Mindedness,Skeptic,Skepticism,Science

Skewed Views of Science

A look at the pitfalls of arguing against science from incomprehension or emotion.

 

Technorati Tags: Open Mindedness,Skeptic,Skepticism,Science

Fun with Oil & Water

I discovered a beautiful photograph a short time ago that was submitted to the February 2009 PPSOP Photo Contest taken by the second place winner Angie Wright. Her simple yet striking image of "oil and water" had me shaking my head with disbelief and of course I had to try and find the answer to the question of: "How did she do it?”

I found the answer to my question as described by Bryan F. Peterson/Founder of The Perfect Picture School of Photography:

Having "been there and done that" myself some years ago, I went out onto my back deck – just yesterday, in fact – and shot a few images of "oil and water" and as you will quickly see, it is an easy thing to shoot. The ‘trick’, as I am sure Angie will agree, is deciding what kind of colored background you wish to use AND to be patient! Hunching over this set-up with your camera and lens on tripod, waiting for the right arrangement of oil and water to form will test your patience, but it’s truly worth it! This is NOT a difficult set up. I have used a glass bread pan, placed atop two large drinking glasses. For my background, I have placed one of my ‘wild and crazy colorful shirts’ underneath the bread pan. I filled the pan about 2/3rds full with water and than simply poured a number of small drops of cooking oil into the pan. I shot the two close-up images you see with my Nikkor 200mm Macro. You don’t need a macro lens to do this shot but you will need a set of extension tubes . When placed between a lens that offers up 60-100mm focal length, you too will soon be enjoying some "unbelievable" images like you see here! And if it’s not clear by now, let me end by saying, THIS TECHNIQUE IS NOT DONE IN PHOTOSHOP!

And so I made a few of my own modifications to the technique to come up with these “other worldly” images…

Please visit my Zenfolio Photography Site here to see more.

Flickr Tags: Photography,Oil & Water

LHC to restart in 2009

Geneva, 5 December 2008. CERN today confirmed that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will restart in 2009. This news forms part of an updated report, published today, on the status of the LHC following a malfunction on 19 September.

“The top priority for CERN today is to provide collision data for the experiments as soon as reasonably possible,” said CERN Director General Robert Aymar. “This will be in the summer of 2009.”

The initial malfunction was caused by a faulty electrical connection between two of the accelerator’s magnets. This resulted in mechanical damage and release of helium from the magnet cold mass into the tunnel. Proper safety procedures were in force, the safety systems performed as expected, and no one was put at risk.

Detailed studies of the malfunction have allowed the LHC’s engineers to identify means of preventing a similar incident from reoccurring in the future, and to design new protection systems for the machine. A total of 53 magnet units have to be removed from the tunnel for cleaning or repair, of these, 28 have already been brought to the surface and the first two replacement units have been installed in the tunnel. The current schedule foresees the final magnet being reinstalled by the end of March 2009, with the LHC being cold and ready for powering tests by the end of June 2009.

“We have a lot of work to do over the coming months,” said LHC project Leader Lyn Evans, “but we now have the roadmap, the time and the competence necessary to be ready for physics by summer. We are currently in a scheduled annual shutdown until May, so we’re hopeful that not too much time will be lost.”

Full details of the timetable to restart are available in the report published today.

Download the report [PDF format]   *Note* –  The report link is broken at this time!

Technorati Tags: CERN,LHC

As Oil/Fuel Prices Drop, America’s Future Drops With It…

I was just reading the morning news and I stumbled across this OP/ED piece by Thomas L. Friedman discussing the oil/gasoline/automotive problems looming over our esteemed President Elect Obama (Can you believe that the Yahoo! spell checker still flags OBAMA as a miss-spelling! WTF??), and indeed our country as well. I have discussed, in a peripheral sense, the prices of oil and gasoline VS SUV/Truck sales figures in the US. This article cements further my contention that gasoline prices are going to have to exponentially INCREASE to stop people from excessively wasteful behavior.

It is one thing for the government to require the auto makers to produce fuel efficient cars for consumers, but without the second part of the equation in place – specifically, creating disincentives from the consumers point of view towards SUV’s and other wasteful vehicles – it will be all for naught.

We Must Win The Oil Endgame ( Amory Lovins ) TED

Amory Lovins, a renowned author and big thinker on energy, has co-authored Winning the Oil Endgame, laying out a feasible plan for ending our dependence on oil – and doing it for a profit; sound economics is vital to any reasonable solution to energy, climate change, and environmental degradation.

Physicist Amory Lovins is cofounder, Chairman, and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute (www.rmi.org) and Chairman of Fiberforge, Inc. (www.fiberforge.com). Published in 29 books and hundreds of papers, his work has been recognized by the “Alternative Nobel,” Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, and Mitchell Prizes, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Benjamin Franklin and Happold Medals, nine honorary doctorates, honorary membership of the American Institute of Architects, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Jean Meyer, World Technology, and Time “Hero for the Planet” Awards. He advises governments and major firms worldwide on advanced energy and resource efficiency, and has led the technical redesign of $30 billion worth of facilities in 29 sectors to achieve very large energy savings at typically lower capital cost.

Amory gave a talk at a recent TED Conference in Monterey California summarizing the approach discussed in Oil Endgame.

The video is about 20 minutes long, and well worth the time.

 

 

Winning the Oil Endgame
Innovation for Profits, Jobs, and Security
Winning the Oil Endgame offers a strategy for ending US oil dependence, and is applicable worldwide.
There are many analyses of the oil problem. This synthesis is the first roadmap of the oil solution—one led by business for profit.

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In My Humble Opinion – Worlds Best Pancakes!

TOTAL TIME: 30 MIN
SERVES: 6

Adding fresh ricotta to the batter makes these pancakes incredibly moist and light.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons milk
• 6 ounces ricotta cheese (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• Unsalted butter, for the griddle
• 1 pint fresh blueberries or 2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed
• Pure maple syrup, for serving 

Directions 

1. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the milk, ricotta, sugar and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until the batter is smooth.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites at medium speed until frothy. Beat at high speed until soft peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter until no streaks remain.
3. Preheat the oven to 225°. Heat a griddle, then lightly butter it. For each pancake, ladle a scant 1/4 cup of the batter onto the griddle; be sure to leave enough space between the pancakes. Cook over moderately low heat until the bottoms are golden and the pancakes are just beginning to set, 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle each pancake with a few blueberries and press lightly. Flip the pancakes and cook until golden on the bottom and cooked through, about 1 minute longer. Transfer the pancakes to plates and keep them warm in the oven while you make the rest. Serve the pancakes with maple syrup.

Women Confront a "Grass Ceiling"

According to Wikipedia the term “glass ceiling” refers to situations where the advancement of a qualified person within the hierarchy of an organization is stopped at a lower level because of some form of discrimination, most commonly sexism or racism, but since the term was coined, “glass ceiling” has also come to describe the limited advancement of the deaf, blind, disabled, aged and sexual minorities.

This situation is referred to as a “ceiling” as there is a limitation blocking upward advancement, and “glass” (transparent) because the limitation is not immediately apparent and is normally an unwritten and unofficial policy. The “glass ceiling” is distinguished from formal barriers to advancement, such as education or experience requirements.

Well, it seems that researchers at the University of New Mexico have identified a link between the placement of women’s tees on golf courses and their professional success that could be now termed the “grass ceiling”.

The farther apart men’s and women’s tees are in a region, they found, the fewer women there will be in sales management, general management, and marketing positions in the region and the less money those women will make.

Drawing on a sample of 455 golf courses in 50 US states, the study’s authors (golfers all) offer 2 hypotheses for the correlation:

1. The more distant men’s and women’s tees are, the more likely it is that the sexes will segregate by cart, meaning that women miss out on the networking that goes on among the men (who are usually more powerful as a group than the women).
2. Tee boxes placed far apart may signal — and reinforce — negative cultural beliefs in that region about women’s aptitudes.

In a related study the authors even find significant correlations between tee distances and local and regional politics. For example, in states that voted for Bush in 2004 starting tees are placed farther apart than they are in states that voted for Kerry, with the likelihood this difference is due to chance being less than one in a hundred.

SOURCE: “The Impact of Gender-Differentiated Golf Course Structures on Women’s Networking Abilities,” presented at the August 2008 meeting of the Academy of Management

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Dear Christopher, It Was Perfect And Telling…

Collide by Howie Day

 
The dawn is breaking

A light shining through

You’re barely waking

And I’m tangled up in you

Yeah

When I’m open, you’re closed

Where I follow, you’ll go

I worry I won’t see your face

Light up again

 
Even the best fall down sometimes

Even the wrong words seem to rhyme

Out of the doubt that fills my mind

I somehow find

You and I collide

 
I’m quiet you know

You make a first impression

I’ve found I’m scared to know I’m always on your mind

 
Even the best fall down sometimes

Even the stars refuse to shine

Out of the back you fall in time

I somehow find

You and I collide

Don’t stop here I’ve lost my place I’m close behind

 
Even the best fall down sometimes

Even the wrong words seem to ryhme

Out of the doubt that fills your mind

You finally find

You and I collide

 
You finally find

You and I collide

You finally find

You and I collide