Re: Galactic Effect On Biodiversity
On 24/01/2009, at 10:53 AM, Nick Arnett wrote: On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 3:15 PM, Charlie Bell char...@culturelist.orgwrote: It's closer to the first example you suggest than the second, but it's part of a general trope of less-good science writing that pitches every new minor spin on science as rewriting the whole body of theory that is really starting to wind me up. I'll bet you were happy, as I was, to hear applause when Obama said We will restore *science* to its rightful place... Oh yes, absolutely. And he's made a fantastic start, IMO. Choices I applaud on the most part for his Cabinet, and his early moves to reverse some of the constitutional disarray of the last 8 years fill me with hope again. I'm not sure that most Americans realise how this election has affected people all over the world. Charlie. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Galactic Effect On Biodiversity
Charlie said: It's closer to the first example you suggest than the second, but it's part of a general trope of less-good science writing that pitches every new minor spin on science as rewriting the whole body of theory that is really starting to wind me up. The Physics Revolutionised For 51st Time This Year stories in New Scientist are getting a bit tedious, aren't they? Rich ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Galactic Effect On Biodiversity
On 24/01/2009, at 8:56 PM, Richard Baker wrote: Charlie said: It's closer to the first example you suggest than the second, but it's part of a general trope of less-good science writing that pitches every new minor spin on science as rewriting the whole body of theory that is really starting to wind me up. The Physics Revolutionised For 51st Time This Year stories in New Scientist are getting a bit tedious, aren't they? ...and Was Darwin Wrong?. Again. Gah. (The answer being For the most part, no, actually If you haven't, read The Origin - it's still fascinating to see him making the case, responding to foreseen critiques, and even extensive use of a model organism.). Charlie. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Tweetsnet beta
On 1/23/2009 9:46:54 PM, Nick Arnett (narn...@mccmedia.com) wrote: The social network analysis I've been doing on Twitter turned into a new site called Tweetsnet (http://tweetsnet.com) that shows web pages that are hot topics on Twitter. It's a blog, with a feed. It updates every 10 minutes or so with the five highest scoring, previously unpublished, web pages being talked about. Each post shows the page title, summary and keywords (as tags) if available, and frequent two-word phrases that appear in conjunction with the page citations. Good work Nick! That is the kind of site that could get a surprising amount of traffic. xponent Twitteroonie Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Galactic Effect On Biodiversity
On 1/24/2009 3:07:57 AM, Charlie Bell (char...@culturelist.org) wrote: On 24/01/2009, at 10:53 AM, Nick Arnett wrote: On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 3:15 PM, Charlie Bell char...@culturelist.orgwrote: It's closer to the first example you suggest than the second, but it's part of a general trope of less-good science writing that pitches every new minor spin on science as rewriting the whole body of theory that is really starting to wind me up. I'll bet you were happy, as I was, to hear applause when Obama said We will restore *science* to its rightful place... Oh yes, absolutely. And he's made a fantastic start, IMO. Choices I applaud on the most part for his Cabinet, and his early moves to reverse some of the constitutional disarray of the last 8 years fill me with hope again. I'm not sure that most Americans realise how this election has affected people all over the world. Charlie, (heck, any non-Americans reading this!) do you see it as a question of Obama is a great man who will set America on a better course or America has finally come to it's senses, or perhaps some other train of thought? It is exceedingly difficult to judge exactly what the rest of the world thinks about the election of Obama. It could be a more singular reasoning and it could be a variety of reasons that people are applauding (or in some cases sighing relief). I've read a good number of articles on the subject, but don't see a definitive common thread. xponent Curiosity Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Galactic Effect On Biodiversity
At 10:36 PM Friday 1/23/2009, Doug Pensinger wrote: Dan wrote: Even really revolutionary data, like the data that suggests dark energy, are written up in such a way that it implies that the big bang is now in question. That drives me crazy in the same way. Yea, god forbid scientists that are skeptical about the big bang! [edited] Doug Seen the back cover of the latest (Feb.) issue of _Astronomy_? (There's at least one more ad inside.) . . . ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Galactic Effect On Biodiversity
Ronn! wrote: Seen the back cover of the latest (Feb.) issue of _Astronomy_? (There's at least one more ad inside.) Null Physics? Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Tweetsnet beta
On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 6:36 AM, Rceeberger rceeber...@comcast.net wrote: Good work Nick! That is the kind of site that could get a surprising amount of traffic. Thanks! We'll see... not a huge number of visitors yet, but I thought Friday evening would be a good time to get an announcement out, since it shouldn't gain traffic too fast. It's on a hosted server and I want to be able to keep an eye on the resources it consumes, since the hosting company limits bandwidth and CPU cycles. I guess I'm most curious to see what people end up using it for. What are people talking about on Twitter is not something I imagine will have any staying power - too broad. It might be a way for people to discover people they want to follow on Twitter. I'm aiming at identifying communities of shared interest and perhaps creating feeds for each of them. Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Galactic Effect On Biodiversity
On Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 8:36 PM, Doug Pensinger brig...@zo.com wrote: Yea, god forbid scientists that are skeptical about the bing bang! Not to mention the badda boom. Nick (rim shot, please) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Tweetsnet beta
On Sat, 24 Jan 2009, Nick Arnett wrote: On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 6:36 AM, Rceeberger rceeber...@comcast.net wrote: Good work Nick! That is the kind of site that could get a surprising amount of traffic. Thanks! We'll see... not a huge number of visitors yet, but I thought Friday evening would be a good time to get an announcement out, since it shouldn't gain traffic too fast. It's on a hosted server and I want to be able to keep an eye on the resources it consumes, since the hosting company limits bandwidth and CPU cycles. I guess I'm most curious to see what people end up using it for. What are people talking about on Twitter is not something I imagine will have any staying power - too broad. It might be a way for people to discover people they want to follow on Twitter. I'm aiming at identifying communities of shared interest and perhaps creating feeds for each of them. Do you want me to put the word out? I could do that in 3 different places, at least. Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Tweetsnet beta
On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 10:34 AM, Julia Thompson deg...@chiba.3jane.netwrote: Do you want me to put the word out? I could do that in 3 different places, at least. Sure, thanks. It seems to be fairly stable. Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Galactic Effect On Biodiversity
It is exceedingly difficult to judge exactly what the rest of the world thinks about the election of Obama I'll tell you what the populace of New Zealand I live among thinks (and I suspect a considerable many more nations)... It's nice to see an adult get elected. Someone who thinks rationally, speaks clearly, and appears not to be committed to ideology. That doesn't mean he can walk on water or is able to turn the inertia of the U.S political machine single handedly but may hopefully indicate a general change in U.S public support from the irrational to reasonable. Obama will still make decisions disliked by the world because they'll be in the U.Ss interests, but it appears he isn't going to foolishly undermine his own and others countries by disregarding the need to cooperate internationally. He also appears to understand the majority of the U.Ss problems are internal and not external and that mending his own house comes first. He just seems sane and we're thankful for that major change in U.S government. ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Tweetsnet beta
For those who want to follow Tweetsnet via Twitter, it is now feeding links to @Tweetsnet, found at http://twitter.com/tweetsnet And now I know enough to be able to link Brin-L to the KillerBs Twitter user, too. Nick ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
