A brilliant debunking of psychic powers

post from Bad Astronomy Blog on 24 March 2007 09:55:16 PM. © Bad Astronomy Blog

It’s rare that I’ll link to something that’s old, but I happened to stumble on this recently, and it’s so good it’s worth reading even this late into it: Skeptico brilliantly tears apart evidence of psychic powers. Sweet, concise, logical, methodical, and really devastating to paranormal claims. I bet they didn’t see this coming!

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World TB day 2007: "TB anywhere is TB
everywhere"

post from Aetiology on 24 March 2007 07:30:00 PM. © Aetiology

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is as old as civilization. The bacterium infects approximately a third of the world's population--roughly 2 billion individuals. It's estimated that 8 million new cases are contracted each year--around a new infection every second. ~2 million individuals die as a result of TB every year. The bacterium also plays a prominent role in the history of microbiology: it was on March 24, 1882, that Robert Koch announced his discovery of the causative agent of the dread disease tuberculosis:

"If the importance of a disease for mankind is measured by the number of fatalities it causes, then tuberculosis must be considered much more important than those most feared infectious diseases, plague, cholera and the like. One in seven of all human beings dies from tuberculosis. If one only considers the productive middle-age groups, tuberculosis carries away one-third, and often more."

Unlike many other feared infectious diseases of Koch's time, TB still remains a significant killer worldwide, and its effect has only been exacerbated by the AIDS epidemic. However, a concentrated effort is being made to again attract attention to this bacterium.

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How many times has Limbaugh hit bottom, only to
sink lower still

post from Pharyngula on 24 March 2007 07:21:57 PM. © Pharyngula

New Rule, everyone! Whenever you see Rush Limbaugh, puke on his shoes.

If you're fortunate enough that you think you'll never actually be in the physical presence of the revolting tick of the far right, at least write to your local paper and demand that they never run another opinion piece from him. Call up your local AM station and ask that they remove him from the airwaves. I don't understand how even a conservative can stomach Limbaugh's contemptible schtick anymore.

What is their religion? I don't doubt they're religious people, but, we talked about this. Political people are different than you and I. And, you know, most people when told a family member's been diagnosed with the kind of cancer Elizabeth Edwards has, they turn to God. The Edwards turned to the campaign.
Their religion is politics and the quest for the White House. And that's -- it's not just with them, I mean, it's part and parcel of political people -- undergo all this stuff, the media anal all over their private life being made public even by the candidates themselves -- it's all part of the drill.[...] If you're Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, how do you now attack John Edwards? Not a problem for Hillary, the Clinton [inaudible] will find a way. But Barack, it's going to be a challenge. [...] What the Edwards campaign is going to do here is see what the reaction is within the ranks of Democrat [sic] voters -- as far as this announcement is concerned -- and then go on from there. If there is not a big jump, if this doesn't cause a breakout, if this doesn't cause a big uptick, then, at some point, Senator Edwards will probably have to suspend the campaign.

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More π-Calculus Games

post from Good Math, Bad Math on 24 March 2007 06:50:46 PM. © Good Math, Bad Math

Ok. So I'm still tweaking syntax, to try to find a way of writing π-calculus in a way that'seasy for me to write in my editor, and for you to read in your browser. Here's the latest version:

Sequential Composition: Process₁.Process₂.
Send expressions: !channel(tuple).Process
Receive expressions: ?channel(tuple).Process
New channel expression new(name,...) { Process }
Process duplication expression: *(Process)
Parallel composition: Process₁ | Process₂.
Choice composition: Process₁ + Process₂.
Null process: ∅

So, in this syntax, the final version of the storage cell from yesterdays post is:

NewCell[creator,initval]=new(read,write){ (Cell[read,write,initval]                                        | !creator(read,write)) }Cell[read,write,val]=( !read(val).Cell[read,write,val]	                  + ?write(v).Cell[read,write,v])

Now, let's try to use π-calculus to do something that actually involves real concurrency.

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Using Force to Make Molecules more Reactive

post from Science Quick Picks on 24 March 2007 06:08:04 PM. © Science Quick Picks

A Novel Way of Doing Chemistry. ‘Researchers have shown that they can use mechanical force to make a molecule more reactive. By tugging on two sides of a specially designed molecule, chemists have been able to change its shape so that it becomes much more reactive. The researchers were able to control the reactivity of [...]

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Science 2.0: Sharing and Collaboration

post from Science Quick Picks on 24 March 2007 06:03:16 PM. © Science Quick Picks

The New Science of Sharing. ‘Companies such as Novartis and Intel are at the forefront of Science 2.0 by encouraging open systems of collaboration. Earlier this month, Swiss drugmaker Novartis did something rather unusual?and almost unheard of in the high-stakes, highly competitive world of Big Pharma. After investing millions trying to unlock the genetic basis [...]

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A few positive thoughts from the president of
AAAS

post from Climate Change Action on 24 March 2007 05:39:00 PM. © Climate Change Action

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External Gear Pump

post from CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries on 24 March 2007 04:49:29 PM. © CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries

anybody can please help me.... i want to replace the material of gear in external gear pump(light duty) to plastics material.... i do so...

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Scented labels for underwater use.

post from CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries on 24 March 2007 04:10:08 PM. © CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries

Hello - I'm trying to source scented labels (think Scratch n' Sniff stickers except no need to scratch) which release their scent predictably when sub...

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International Engineering Project Partnership

post from CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries on 24 March 2007 04:04:08 PM. © CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries

I will like to participate in international engineering projects that need some research and new product development and has project finance not less...

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