Cleaning out my garage. Complete developer kit, media package is unopened. Got it in some kind of promotion, I guess...
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Cleaning out my garage. Complete developer kit, media package is unopened. Got it in some kind of promotion, I guess...
Cleaning out my garage. Complete developer kit, media package is unopened. Got it in some kind of promotion, I guess...
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Originally shared by ****
Originally shared by ****
Captain Picard, Spock & Gandalf walk into a bar...
Sunday, January 25, 2015
Some real artists work using Blender
Some real artists work using Blender
Originally shared by Jeff smith
What started out as a spoof of the snail mailbox has turned into a more serious work, thanks to all the suggestions and comments.
Now my head hurts. : )
Thanks to all.
Sigh. Another 20 years worth of Culture stories would have been great.
Sigh. Another 20 years worth of Culture stories would have been great.
Originally shared by David Brin
Today, Elon Musk tweeted that he’s named two of his spaceport drone ships in the most fitting way: after ships from science fiction writer Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels. How way cool is that!!
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/01/elon-musk-iain-m-banks-just-read-the-instructions
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/01/elon-musk-iain-m-banks-just-read-the-instructions
Originally shared by David Brin
Today, Elon Musk tweeted that he’s named two of his spaceport drone ships in the most fitting way: after ships from science fiction writer Iain M. Banks’ Culture novels. How way cool is that!!
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/01/elon-musk-iain-m-banks-just-read-the-instructions
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2015/01/elon-musk-iain-m-banks-just-read-the-instructions
Friday, January 23, 2015
35 years ago I had a VW bug like this, and I remember it fondly. Except, I'm reminded while following, the smell of the exhaust... A small thing about driving an electric car.
35 years ago I had a VW bug like this, and I remember it fondly. Except, I'm reminded while following, the smell of the exhaust... A small thing about driving an electric car.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Originally shared by Woozle Hypertwin
Originally shared by Woozle Hypertwin
Let me take you back just a short distance in time, to the Great Sacred Wafer Scandal, which was seven years ago this summer.
June 29: University of Central Florida undergraduate Webster Cook -- a senator in the UCF student government -- was attending communion on campus. As part of the communion ritual, he was given an item referred to by Catholics as a "consecrated host" – in practical terms, a particular type of edible wafer which has been subjected to a Catholic consecration ceremony – which, during the normal course of the ceremony, he would have eaten.
Wishing to show the wafer to a fellow student senator in order to explain more about the Catholic faith, he retained it and went to sit down next to the other student, intending to eat it afterwards.
Another attendee apparently objected to this, and attempted to wrestle it from Mr. Cook's hands. He put it in his mouth but did not eat it, then returned to his seat -- but was again accosted soon afterwards:
"She came up behind me, grabbed my wrist with her right hand, with her left hand grabbed my fingers and was trying to pry them open to get the Eucharist out of my hand," Cook said, adding she wouldn't immediately take her hands off him despite several requests.
At this point, he left the church -- presumably feeling a bit rattled and wanting to think the situation over before deciding what to do next.
July 2: a Catholic Campus Ministry student representative filed a complaint with the Student Union "regarding the behavior of the two young men".
July 5: Local news reported the incident, claiming (in a sub-headline) that Cook was holding the cracker "hostage", with the implication that this was because he was "upset religious groups hold church services on public campuses".
July 6: A prominent Catholic blog claimed he had "stolen" the wafer, repeated the "hostage" claim, and described Cook as a "smug jerk".
July 7: A Catholic spokesperson expressed outrage on Fox News:
"We don't know 100% what Mr. Cook's motivation was," said Susan Fani, a spokesperson with the local Catholic diocese. "However, if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like this might be it."
On the same day, it was reported that Cook returned the wafer to the church after receiving death threats via email. News reports continued to echo the Catholic framing, referring to the wafer as "the Holy Eucharist" and "Body of Christ", saying that he "smuggled" it out of church, was "holding it hostage", and so on.
July 8: Blogger PZ Myers posts a blog entry supporting Cook, decrying the responses of the Catholic community as "Dark Age superstition and malice, all thriving with the endorsement of secular institutions here in 21st century America" and "a culture of deluded lunatics"[1] and sending out a call for further ritually-prepared crackers on which he planned to commit more "desecration".
July 11: Catholic League president Bill Donohue issues a press release describing Myers's reaction as "hysterical", and noting that a delegate to the National Republican Convention (being held that year in the Twin Cities) had asked for increased security at the convention due to Myers's presence in nearby Morris so that Catholics in attendance can "worship without fear of violence", while implying that Myers is threat to free speech.
July 24: Donohue issues a statement comparing Myers's planned "desecration" event to the burning of crosses and the displaying of Swastikas.
July 29: Myers carries out his planned "desecration", taking a single "blessed" wafer, piercing it with a nail, and throwing it in the trash along with some coffee grinds, a banana peel, and a few ripped-out pages from the Koran[2] and The God Delusion[3].
The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy described this action as "reprehensible, inexcusable, and unconstitutional", argued that "Attacking the most sacred elements of a religion is not free speech" and that religious feelings should be as strongly protected as the obligation to be truthful in front of a jury. They also call for "reparation" (unspecified).
And all of that for not eating a cracker at the ritually-appointed time -- something many practicing Catholics do routinely, and nobody bats an eyelid.
The only thing I can see that speaks well of the Catholic extremists in this incident is that, unlike Muslim extremists, they didn't actually try to kill Cook or Myers; they only threatened to.
But THE LOGIC IS EXACTLY THE SAME: "You do what we tell you and how we tell you to do it, or we will MESS YOU UP."
This is why my sympathy for the Muslims "offended" by Charlie Hebdo's work, no matter how tasteless it may be, is exactly zero.
-- Notes --
1. I agree completely.
2. Where is the Muslim outrage?
3. Where is the atheist outrage? Why didn't Richard Dawkins declare a fatwa on Myers for this obvious and pointed insult? (They were, in fact, friends at this time, and remained so after the event.)
http://issuepedia.org/2008_sacred_wafer_scandal
Let me take you back just a short distance in time, to the Great Sacred Wafer Scandal, which was seven years ago this summer.
June 29: University of Central Florida undergraduate Webster Cook -- a senator in the UCF student government -- was attending communion on campus. As part of the communion ritual, he was given an item referred to by Catholics as a "consecrated host" – in practical terms, a particular type of edible wafer which has been subjected to a Catholic consecration ceremony – which, during the normal course of the ceremony, he would have eaten.
Wishing to show the wafer to a fellow student senator in order to explain more about the Catholic faith, he retained it and went to sit down next to the other student, intending to eat it afterwards.
Another attendee apparently objected to this, and attempted to wrestle it from Mr. Cook's hands. He put it in his mouth but did not eat it, then returned to his seat -- but was again accosted soon afterwards:
"She came up behind me, grabbed my wrist with her right hand, with her left hand grabbed my fingers and was trying to pry them open to get the Eucharist out of my hand," Cook said, adding she wouldn't immediately take her hands off him despite several requests.
At this point, he left the church -- presumably feeling a bit rattled and wanting to think the situation over before deciding what to do next.
July 2: a Catholic Campus Ministry student representative filed a complaint with the Student Union "regarding the behavior of the two young men".
July 5: Local news reported the incident, claiming (in a sub-headline) that Cook was holding the cracker "hostage", with the implication that this was because he was "upset religious groups hold church services on public campuses".
July 6: A prominent Catholic blog claimed he had "stolen" the wafer, repeated the "hostage" claim, and described Cook as a "smug jerk".
July 7: A Catholic spokesperson expressed outrage on Fox News:
"We don't know 100% what Mr. Cook's motivation was," said Susan Fani, a spokesperson with the local Catholic diocese. "However, if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like this might be it."
On the same day, it was reported that Cook returned the wafer to the church after receiving death threats via email. News reports continued to echo the Catholic framing, referring to the wafer as "the Holy Eucharist" and "Body of Christ", saying that he "smuggled" it out of church, was "holding it hostage", and so on.
July 8: Blogger PZ Myers posts a blog entry supporting Cook, decrying the responses of the Catholic community as "Dark Age superstition and malice, all thriving with the endorsement of secular institutions here in 21st century America" and "a culture of deluded lunatics"[1] and sending out a call for further ritually-prepared crackers on which he planned to commit more "desecration".
July 11: Catholic League president Bill Donohue issues a press release describing Myers's reaction as "hysterical", and noting that a delegate to the National Republican Convention (being held that year in the Twin Cities) had asked for increased security at the convention due to Myers's presence in nearby Morris so that Catholics in attendance can "worship without fear of violence", while implying that Myers is threat to free speech.
July 24: Donohue issues a statement comparing Myers's planned "desecration" event to the burning of crosses and the displaying of Swastikas.
July 29: Myers carries out his planned "desecration", taking a single "blessed" wafer, piercing it with a nail, and throwing it in the trash along with some coffee grinds, a banana peel, and a few ripped-out pages from the Koran[2] and The God Delusion[3].
The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy described this action as "reprehensible, inexcusable, and unconstitutional", argued that "Attacking the most sacred elements of a religion is not free speech" and that religious feelings should be as strongly protected as the obligation to be truthful in front of a jury. They also call for "reparation" (unspecified).
And all of that for not eating a cracker at the ritually-appointed time -- something many practicing Catholics do routinely, and nobody bats an eyelid.
The only thing I can see that speaks well of the Catholic extremists in this incident is that, unlike Muslim extremists, they didn't actually try to kill Cook or Myers; they only threatened to.
But THE LOGIC IS EXACTLY THE SAME: "You do what we tell you and how we tell you to do it, or we will MESS YOU UP."
This is why my sympathy for the Muslims "offended" by Charlie Hebdo's work, no matter how tasteless it may be, is exactly zero.
-- Notes --
1. I agree completely.
2. Where is the Muslim outrage?
3. Where is the atheist outrage? Why didn't Richard Dawkins declare a fatwa on Myers for this obvious and pointed insult? (They were, in fact, friends at this time, and remained so after the event.)
http://issuepedia.org/2008_sacred_wafer_scandal
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Originally shared by Zuleyka Zevallos
Originally shared by Zuleyka Zevallos
Sociology of Gender Bias in Science
A new study by Dr Corinne Moss-Racusin and colleagues has analysed comments by the public responding to a prominent study on gender bias in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The researchers find that men are more likely to post negative comments in response to scientific evidence of sexism affecting women's science careers (http://goo.gl/oZXRua).
The researchers find that men are more likely to refute science findings using subjective observations about biology ("women get pregnant and leave their jobs!"). Or men otherwise evoke ideas of personal choice (men are "hungrier" for success and work harder than women). Men are also more likely to deny that inequality exists, or conversely they blamed women for inequality. Some also said that gender bias affects men more than women ("I've experienced it in the opposite way so far."). Men are also more likely to refute the science findings on inequality by stating that they work in STEM (75% of men's comments) and holding up their personal opinions as authoritative.
The key gender difference is that men use blanket statements and personal opinion to refute scientific evidence about gender bias, while women use personal anecdotes to illustrate the scientific findings. The first strategy - to deny the science on inequality - is used largely by men to invalidate science on sexism in support of the status quo. The other strategy, used mostly by women, supports the science using personal experiences of bias to challenge the status quo. The first approach rejects science evidence, while the other embraces it.
The researchers argue their study is positive as the majority of public's comments (754) supported the science. The researchers see that sharing science on inequality provides evidence to support change. At the same time, the fact that 95% of the negative comments were made by men is cause for concern, especially as they vehemently insulted, denied or blamed women for any inequality that might exist.
The study presents a useful framework for thinking about, and addressing, why men react negatively to the science of gender bias in STEM.
I have analysed some of my own experiences as one of three women moderators for Science on Google+, the largest science community on Google+. I show how the loudest and most persistent voices denying the science on gender bias are men. They tend two adopt to strategies, sometimes simultaneously. First they deny inequality exists, arguing social science methods are fundamentally flawed and cannot adequately measure bias. Second, they use other social science studies to refute inequality, saying inequality is rooted in biology.
These men always incorrectly use social science to make either point, demonstrating their lack of familiarity with social science methods, while also exemplifying the subjective idea that one can pick and choose which "bits" of science they want to believe. Other empirical sociological research highlights how inequality is one area of science that people disbelieve when this clashes with their personal belief system. In the case of the public who say they love science, a significant sub-group of men want to gate-keep science, by forcing women to remain silent on inequality.
Read the science on my blog: http://othersociologist.com/2015/01/19/sociology-gender-bias-science/ #sociology #science #stemwomen #stem
Must see movie...
Originally shared by God Emperor Lionel Lauer
Neal Gaiman on the 16 legged, prehistoric Tasmanian cave spider:
"Sixteen legs is what happens when two eight-legged spiders love each other very much and come together in the darkness, and we thought we'd keep that as a very delicate way of saying it is all about spider love."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-17/author-neil-gaiman-drawn-to-film-about-tasmanian-cave-spider/6020080
#spidersunday Lerato Majikfaerie #neilgaiman #neilgaimanquotes
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-17/author-neil-gaiman-drawn-to-film-about-tasmanian-cave-spider/6020080
Neal Gaiman on the 16 legged, prehistoric Tasmanian cave spider:
"Sixteen legs is what happens when two eight-legged spiders love each other very much and come together in the darkness, and we thought we'd keep that as a very delicate way of saying it is all about spider love."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-17/author-neil-gaiman-drawn-to-film-about-tasmanian-cave-spider/6020080
#spidersunday Lerato Majikfaerie #neilgaiman #neilgaimanquotes
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-01-17/author-neil-gaiman-drawn-to-film-about-tasmanian-cave-spider/6020080
Friday, January 16, 2015
Another gentle spirit being ground to dust...
Another gentle spirit being ground to dust...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/14/-sp-saudi-blogger-extracts-raif-badawi
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/14/-sp-saudi-blogger-extracts-raif-badawi
Originally shared by John Chumack
Originally shared by John Chumack
Comet Lovejoy Buzzes past the Pleiades M45!!!
The Bright Comet Lovejoy C/2104 Q2 was cruising past the Open Star Cluster M45 "Pleiades" aka "The Seven Sisters" Star Cluster!
What a wonderful view last night, the comet was amazingly bright in Binoculars! If you own Binoculars, get out and look at this bright comet!!!!
I watched & captured it on 01-15-2015 around 8:00pm from my observatories at JBSPO in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
I captured this image with my Canon 6D DSLR & 105 mm Lens, F5.0, ISO 800, on a CG-4 Tracking Mount.
14 x 180 second exposures stacked in Deep Sky Stacker.
42 minutes total.
Best Regards,
John Chumack
www.galacticimages.com
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
Michel Petrucciani, RIP
I saw Michel Petrucciani in concert at Yoshi's, many years ago. It was an accident; I was there to see a guitarist who was top of the bill.
Jim Hall, I think.
By chance, again, we were wandering the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris a couple of years ago, and I stumbled onto his grave. Youtube has some of his music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUxQLU_eqfU
Monday, January 12, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Jupiter and moons
I recently got a new telephoto lens that I have been dying to try on comet Lovejoy. The weather has not been cooperating. But last night I could make out Jupiter through the clouds, and got this shot. I like the tiny little moons...(you may need to embiggen the picture to see them).
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Friday, January 9, 2015
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Banchero's soup recipe
Banchero's soup recipe, found in the local paper (Banchero's was an extremely popular local restaurant that closed some years ago. The soup was legend.)
Sunday, January 4, 2015
New wheels
Hmm. I was spending nearly $200 a month on gasoline but I could lease an electric car for $179 per month. Still need to keep the old car for longer trips, and there are other expenses, but the bottom line is that we got new wheels for very little net cost...
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