KERBOOM

KERBOOM

Breaking News: SeaLaunch rocket explodes on the pad

Update: Here's the video:

Technorati Tags: Space, SeaLaunch

CHAOS

CHAOS

I spotted this on the Cosmic Conservative blog:


How freaking cool is that. Looks like about the only thing that the CHAOS robot from Autonomous Solutions can't do is climb a tree.

Technorati Tags: Robots, Artificial Intelligence, Video

a bit of a surprise

a bit of a surprise

Everyone has seen those silly "what _____ are you?" quizzes around. I just took the "what science fiction writer are you" quiz, and got a bit of a surprise. I've never even heard of this guy, and I've read a lot of science fiction - particularly the old grandmasters. Looks like I'm going to have to check some of his fiction out.

I am: Hal Clement (Harry C. Stubbs) A quiet and underrated master of "hard science" fiction who, among other things, foresaw integrated circuits back in the 1940s.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Technorati Tags: Books, Authors, Stupid Quizzes

A Taxing Question

A Taxing Question

Is there a law on the books, anywhere, that requires the average American worker to pay a direct, unapportioned tax on their labor or services? Watch this video, and decide for yourself. (A DVD version of this video is available at http://www.freedomtofascism.com/)


By the way, if anyone can show me that law, there is a $50000 reward offered for it by the We The People Foundation that I'd love to collect.

Update: I posted this video here after watching only 15 or 20 minutes of it. Now that I have had the chance to watch the whole thing, I can see that it goes a lot further down the rabbit hole, exploring such topics as the Federal Reserve Bank, the National ID card, and a world government. Scary stuff. Pass it on.

Technorati Tags: Politics, History, Law, Income Tax, Video

introducing the Indy Science Blogs

introducing the Indy Science Blogs

Last year, I along with dozens of other science-type bloggers applied to be involved with scienceblogs.com. Science blogs sent out a mass email rejection letter to myself and the aforementioned dozens, but in what must have been a mental slip, did not do so as blind copies. Instead, they sent the rejection letter out as CC's, thus sending all our email addresses out to dozens of strangers around the world.

Well, a few of us strangers felt that we ought to form our own science blog aggregator. So, we banded together and formed the Independent Science Blogs (real science... independent voices). After putting together the website and tweaking away the bugs over the last few months, we decided to finally launch publicly today. Here's a copy of the press release:

ATTACK OF THE SCIENCE BLOGS

INDEPENDENT BLOGGERS AIM TO UNVEIL THE SECRETS OF SCIENCE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Scientific research is the latest area of public life to draw the interest of bloggers hoping to shed light on under-reported stories.

IndyScienceBlogs.org, a grassroots coalition of academics, scientists and science nuts, is the latest, officially launching Jan. 22. It joins Seed Media's Scienceblogs.com, ScienceBlog.com and ScienceNewsBlog in this burgeoning category.

Some science bloggers, whether professional or amateur scientists, are driven by intense interest in topics that may be too niche for major magazines. Others have a point of view that's at odds with the mainstream scientific media. Like all bloggers, they enjoy the freedom to express their opinions that blogging allows.

The IndyScienceblogs crew is indicative. They include:
- Emily DeVoto, a healthcare consultant who covers policy and news
- Aleksandr Kavokin, a Russian M.D. with a special interest in unusual medical conditions
- Susan Kuchinskas, who tracks research on the hormone oxytocin
- Barry Leiba, an IBM researcher who cherry-picks ideas from many disciplines
- Ed Minchau, an engineer with a fascination for robots
- Sibin Mohan, a computer science doctoral student who blogs about everything from movies to philosophy to gadgets
- Mike White, who brings his expertise in genomics and molecular biology to his posts about cutting-edge research
- Trisha, who writes about the research involved in women's health issues.
- And The Beauty Brains, two anonymous cosmetic chemists who decode the mysteries of beauty products

The science blogs trend is good news for the general reader: Bloggers pore through journals, translate arcane scientific data and explain what it means for the rest of us. Full contact information and background for a story on this trend are available, and interviews can be facilitated at your convenience.

We can be contacted via email at indyscienceblogs@gmail.com

I'm glad to be a part of this rather diverse group of science bloggers. I guess this means that I should blog more.

Technorati Tags: Science, Blog, IndyScienceBlogs

a bit of a delay

a bit of a delay

Spaceports reports that Spacex is going to delay the launch of their rocket until mid-February.

SpaceX launch

SpaceX launch

In about three days, SpaceX is going to force Jeffrey Bell to swallow his words.

Technorati Tags: Space, SpaceX