101 Patterns for Influencing Behaviour Through Design

Here's a nifty link showing examples of design elements which lead users to take certain actions. I found it interesting to see how people are influencing us.

Phil Plait's Bad Universe

Phil Plait, who became semi-famous for hosting a thorough debunking of the moon landing hoaxers is getting a TV show on The Discovery Channel.

It looks a bit Mythbusters, which certainly isn't a bad thing.

ScienceBlogs Imploding?

Mega-blogging network, ScienceBlogs, is falling apart over a fiasco where they were giving a blog to PepsiCo who was paying for exposure next to some of the best science based bloggers that the internet has to offer.

The 4 year old network seems to have many problems behind the scenes and the link above is a great read on how to destroy what was a successful network in almost no time flat.

Whew!

Ken Ham, of the local Creation Science ministry, is apparently freaking out about some recent declarations from a gathering of atheists. Read the whole thing to see Ken rewriting the declaration to fit his preconceived ideas. The whole thing is one huge example of what a strawman argument is.

Science Tattoos

Carl Zimmer, science writer keep a blog where he collects tattoos that relate to science and related disciplines. He had one today that caught my attention.

Picnic on August 14th at Susan and Bernie's

The picnic on August 14th at Susan and Bernie's will be a potluck, so if you are a member who wishes to list the items you are bringing, please do so in the comments. This way we should be able to eliminate duplication. remember to check previous comments to see what others are bringing.

Field trip to Fernald

The field trip to Fernald was very informative and a lot of fun.
Ray Owens posted some great photos of our visit.
Thanks Ray

http://unrelated.net/homefrnt/10jun12/index_f.html

Proto-life

I have always been fascinated with the concept of proto-life that had to exist between the simple proteins forming, and the first DNA. This article does not really answer all my questions but it is thought provoking.
From proteins to protolife: was life's emergence random or guided by determined chemical steps

Risk Analysis

Schneier on Security has a great article up about risk analysis and worst case scenarios.

The new undercurrent in this is that our society no longer has the ability to calculate probabilities. Risk assessment is devalued. Probabilistic thinking is repudiated in favor of "possibilistic thinking": Since we can't know what's likely to go wrong, let's speculate about what can possibly go wrong.

Here's where our education system fails. Critical Thinking is not a course at any level of education outside of college.

Strange object in the sky over Cincinnati

I'll leave it to the reader to determine if local news media should be focusing on more pressing matters, but in this case I'll hand it to WLWT. They had a UFO story and who did they contact? Dean Regas from the Cincinnati Observatory. Good choice.

I have to say that it does look odd coming from the ground. I'm guessing that it isn't a satellite as it appears to be moving much too fast and it appears way too bright in relation to the other objects. It looks to be the speed of a meteor, but like Dean says, it is coming from a very strange angle. I would say that a bottle rocket would surprise me as it is moving very straight and it seems quite high up. My thought is that it is something much close to the foreground than the video makes it out to be.

Rebranding Skepticism

Ticktock of Science-Based Parenting has an article up concerning what skepticism is to the general public. He contends that skeptics are not the cynics. The cynical ones are those who hold irrational beliefs.

I think groups like the Association for Rational Thought does a nice job of staying positive about reality and science. We bring in speakers who focus on a variety of topics not limited to the traditional skeptical topics. Instead of tearing down ideas, we look forward to ideas that may or may not work, but at least they are based on evidence. There are certainly times for tearing down bad ideas, but during our meetings we try to find the solid ground of reason and evidence.

By the way, Ticktock is a Cincinnati-based blogger.

Creation Museum passes 1,000,000 visitors

Apparently the Creation Museum passed 1,000,000 visitors, yesterday.

Paleo Future

Here's a neat blog about what people used to think the future would look like. Obviously we see some hits and misses. I heard about this blog on the way home from work today on All things Considered.

SkeptiCamp and Other Acts of Skepticism in Ohio

Looks like our neighbors to the north east are doing some stuff. Check it out.

Math is useful

Look kids, mathematics is useful. Hey, I know there are plenty of reasons for a solid mathematics education, but I saw this story and thought that it was a great example.

Michael Specter: The danger of science denial

Here's a great talk by Micheal Specter on denialism.

It shouldn't be surprising to most people who are checking here, but it is worth a listen.

What's the harm?

Check out whatstheharm.net. It's a nice resource that compiles examples of why something of the crazy things that people believe in are not a harmless as many would like you to think.

Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos Photosynth

In my wildest dreams I did not see this coming. And it's almost here. Truly another quantum leap in information technology.
http://www.ted.com/talks/blaise_aguera_y_arcas_demos_photosynth.html

Nature by Numbers

Beautiful

James Randi

is gay. Bravo, sir.