Google Maps + 2000 Census

Within a 1, 3 or 5 mile radius of our home, there are 11,014, 78,029 or 184,607 housing units, respectively; the great majority are owner occupied, most are worth less than we paid for our place and most are at least 20 years older than ours. The inhabitants, all 24,859, 174,440 or 401,704 of them, are on average a few years younger than us and earn about the same income; they are roughly 80% white, 3% black, 7% asian, 5% hispanic and 7% other.

Can I find someone using their IP Address? | Ask MetaFilter

Might come in handy if ever I get a troll infestation.

Inhabitat

I would like to hike the length of the LA River one day.

PCWorld.com – 101 Fabulous Freebies

Free stuff! Web stuff, that is.

Informed Comment

Well done Prof Cole. Well deserved. I hope Cole is right, that this is indicative of increasing influence of independent, online journalism.

Body and Soul: Two generations

Jeanne on why insisting that immigrants speak fluent English is wrong and stupid.

Utopia, dystopia, frytopia.

The great indoor/outdoor cat debate.

MaxSpeak, You Listen!: FBI AS GESTAPO: OPPRESSING THE KURDS OF HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA

Iraqi Kurds who fled Saddam are getting the BOHICA treatment from the Fed Bureau of Incompetence.

Kamal Sayid Qadir Jailed for Criticism of Barzani.

“The proto-fascist mini-state of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Arbil [Irbil], northern Iraq, has sentenced an Austrian-Kurdish journalist to 18 months in prison for criticizing Massoud Barzani. Barzani last allied with Saddam Hussein against fellow Kurds as late as 1996, only a decade ago.”

Adventures in Ethics and Science: Fuller on Mooney on science.

More good discussion at Janet’s place.

FURIOUS nads! – You’re Profane, I Bet You Think This Post Is About You

People are stupid. Really fucking stupid.

Some are Boojums » Blog Archive » And it is, it is a glorious thing to be a Christian president!

I am the very model of a modern Christian president…

P2P Foundation

P2P could become a big part of open, cooperative science. Via Peter Suber , of course.

Science and Politics

Coturnix wanted some linky-love, so here it is. Also, sleep is fascinating, and I’ve had a side interest in the body clock for a long time. Think about it: your body keeps time. How??? I even have a crazy idea that my new bete noir , MYC, is somehow involved.

rc3.org: Aggregator vacation

Rafe is dealing with my perennial problem: how much time will I allow my rss feeds/surfing to eat?

Uncertain Principles: Admissions Is a Hard Problem

The bottom line for me is that AA for men is not justifiable.

15 Best Skylines in the World

Shanghai and Dubai are my favourites.

Uncertain Principles: Revenge of the Pre-Meds

“Doctors are not scientists, they’re tech support “. I love it.

Finger length predicts physically aggressive personalities, study shows – ExpressNews – University of Alberta

The article is available from Bailey’s website as a pdf. Mean R:I ratios were 0.947 (M) and 0.965 (F) — by eye, mine appears to be very close to 1.0 (higher = less prone to physical aggression/more feminine) Update: I measured, because of course it looks “close to 1.0” (idiot!) — but it’s not clear where to measure from . Taking the crease nearest the palm as a starting point, I get between 0.958 and 0.972, but I used a photocopy not a scan.

Adventures in Ethics and Science: Plagiarism is bad.

The AP — the fucking AP, people! — swiped a story entire from a blog, and when confronted with their theft simply said “we don’t credit blogs”. Taking their cue from the Commander-in-Thief, Newstainment Inc. is now simply ignoring the bits of law it doesn’t like. We are so fucked.

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Unclean! Unclean!

Who’da thunkit? I’m a persecuted minority: ” Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.”

OBACHAN’S SCRIBBLES: Cherry Blossoms 2006

Note to self: take and post hanami photos, trackback.

Groovy Green » Thin Is In: New Thin Film Solar Production Facility To Be Built

Thin film solar: looks like a window, provides almost complete heat insulation and generates more electricity per unit area than traditional panels. Very very cool.

Wired 14.04: The Late Late Show, Live From Inside Halo

Brilliant: a talk show inside a MMORPG! I’d love to see it taken to Second Life or somewhere else less violent than Halo. via rebecca blood.

YoungFemaleScientist: help writing papers.

Should YFS cut a corner in the usual fashion or not? I say no; I wouldn’t blame her if she did, I know the pressure she’s under, but I hope she’ll draw a line in the sand over this.

Firedoglake weblog » Citizen Action Steps: Phase One

[this is good] Note to self: do this. Also, how much does an eFax account cost?

The Valve – A Literary Organ | Electra Press – Will Work For Whuffie, part II

Holbo: “Let’s start by asking the most basic question. Why is an electronic press an appropriate response to academic publishing in disarray? Well, because the academic reputation economy lags behind the technology curve. In some screwy inversion of the history of money, it’s hard to get people to believe in something not backed by solid paper. But what exactly is the form of the shift we are working for? Just: get over the paper fetish? Not that I wouldn’t be pleased enough with just that. But really it seems to me that the main point should be: get over the paper fetish in the right way. And the right way is: by embracing the potential of academic publishing to be a ‘gift culture’. “

The Love Bug

Woman and fiancee share computer; he installs second copy of FF, thinking it would generate a second profile, and uses it to browse dating sites. She finds list of “never saved” passwords in password manager, breaks off engagement and submits bug report. Some of the comments on the report are… disheartening. Via Schneier

3quarksdaily: Shiban Ganju on the H. pylori story

An excellent short essay on a fascinating chunk of the history of science.

Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body

History and practice of forensic science. Via the spousal unit.

MAXED OUT

“Did you know, for example, that while you need to sweat out your credit report, the credit bureaus keep a special “V.I.P.” list of prominent citizens whose reports are specially tidied up so they look cleaner than they really are? If the big boys never experience the harassment or increased costs of a credit ding, then they are a lot less likely to insist on more legal oversight. There are many ways to lobby, and this one requires no reporting at all.” via ObWi

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Through the Looking Glass

Charles has it about right — W has declared himself a dictator, above the law. I’m going to focus less on politics on this site than I have in the past, preferring to leave that to those who are much better at it (see my blogroll), but I did want to at least link to this story.

American Prospect Online – The New New Gore

Like digby, I have a soft spot for Al Gore.

Adventures in Ethics and Science: Marketing philosophy to admitted students.

The most obvious benefit of studying philosophy is in learning critical thinking/reasoning skills and tools.

Floridian: The dissident at dusk

Profile of Stetson Kennedy, genuine American hero. (I’ve forgotten where I found this link; thanks, whoever.)

Trials | Abstract | 1745-6215-7-6 | Lead editorial: Trials – using the opportunities of electronic publishing to improve the reporting of randomised trials

“This editorial introduces the new online, open access, peer-reviewed journal Trials. The journal considers manuscripts on any aspect of the design, performance, and findings of randomised controlled trials in any discipline related to health care, and also encourages the publication of protocols. Trialists will be able to provide the necessary detail for a true and complete scientific record. They will be able to communicate not only all outcome measures, as well as varying analyses and interpretations, but also in-depth descriptions of what they did and honest reflections about what they learnt. Trials also encourages articles covering generic issues related to trials, for example focussing on the design, conduct, analysis, interpretation, or reporting.” This level of disclosure should be mandatory. (via Peter Suber, of course)

HubLog: Peer Review with Marginalia

This is in its early stages, but it’s way cool — a way to annotate online documents. Think peer review as wiki; wonder if Biology Direct would be interested?

M.K.R.S. VEERA KUMAR

Wow. Just — wow. This guy is the Editor-in-Chief of the Antarctica Journal of Mathematics (he doesn’t like it if you write “Antarctic”).

The Loom: You’re a Dim Bulb (And I mean that in the best possible way).

Another “everybody knows” — we only use 10% of our brains. Turns out, the brain only uses enough energy to power about 1% of its neurons at any one time (about 15W). That doesn’t mean “we only use 1% of our brains” though — do we “only use 20% of the transmission” because the car can only be in one gear at a time? (hat tip for the analogy: Janne.)

Social Bookmarks – Social Bookmarking Services Reviewed

Cool, an attempt to list and review every social bookmarking site on the intarweb. Only 36 so far, and at first glance no Scuttle — note to self, email the admin with my list.

Innovations report – how to lobby the legislature

Packed with useful information.

Criticker – Home of the TCI

Rank films to build a profile, from which the db will generate recommendations of films and critics.

linklog archive, aka my Simpy account

BookCrossing

Bookcrossing, n.: the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.

Beautiful

“I am beautiful now.” Yes, Ms Cho, you are.

WORDCOUNT / Tracking the Way We Use Language /

Idea: Ogden’s Basic English amended according to word frequency (make sure the top 1000 are in the set), followed by LEO translation. Alternatively, WordCount in other languages — compare top 1000s, use to amend Basic Otherlanguage.

Socialism, Market Socialism

If I’m any kind of -ist I’m some kind of socialist, so it would pay me to think more about what that means and what I might do about it.

Sociology of Science

Cosma again. Damn. If I had six brains I couldn’t keep up with this guy.

FURIOUS nads! – You First, Then We’ll Talk

bix is making sense again: “There shouldn’t even be any discussion of 24/7 audiovisual access to the public for the police until and unless there is 24/7 audiovisual access to the police for the public.”

Indianz.Com > News > Giago: Oglala Sioux president on state abortion law

Sweet. Oglala Sioux President Cecilia Fire Thunder: “I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.” Via kathrynt by way of bix.

What’s the funniest joke that doesn’t involve making fun of anyone? | Ask MetaFilter

Why did Proudhon drink herbal tea? Because proper tea is theft.

EDGE: SPECULATIONS ON THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE By Kevin Kelly

A mixture of utter nonsense and sensible ideas. “Embrace the subjective” my paradigm-shifting ass.

Goya’s Last Works at The Frick Collection – New York Magazine Art Review

“I have no eyesight, pulse, pen or ink,” wrote the elderly Francisco de Goya y Lucientes… “The only thing I have in excess is willpower.”

The New Zealand Weta – Home

Mouse-sized crickets, what could be better? According to this page, the name derives from the Maori name for the Giant Weta, “wetapunga” — which means roughly “the god of ugly things”.

Don’t Make Me Shut This Shop Out of Raging Spite for You

Actually, after roughly a decade at university with either no income or a student stipend, I’ll never catch up, financially, with a mechanic who started her apprenticeship right out of high school. As a postdoc I earn considerably less than an auto mechanic with equivalent experience, and I’ll only get ahead in immediate income in the unlikely case that I make faculty. I’ll never catch up in lifetime earnings. ^But hey, that’s Doctor Asshole to you, greasemonkey!^

The Design of Software – REST API

WTF is an API and what can I do with it?

This is all the news the Seldovia City Government is going to let you have about what they’re really doing

Black page, no text. Things are not looking good in Seldovia.

Press Conference of the President

Jesus suffering Christ on a roadside IED, he’s already decided it’s someone else’s job to clean up his mess. The evil soulless little bastard is bored with Iraq. There is no bottom to worse. (via BlueOregon)

“Q: Will there come a day — and I’m not asking you when, not asking for a timetable — will there come a day when there will be no more American forces in Iraq?
THE RESIDENT: That, of course, is an objective, and that will be decided by future Presidents and future governments of Iraq.”

Adventures in Ethics and Science: The more you know …

Discussion of the “tension” between theory and experiment. John Dewey would not like some of the viewpoints expressed!

the Creatures in my Head – illustration and artwork by Andrew Bell

The creatures in Andrew Bell’s head. Dude, I’d get that looked at.

linklog archive, aka my Simpy account