Banned

So I haven’t blogged for a while. Don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s because nothing has been happening worth talking about. Actually quite the opposite. Life’s been throwing a lot at me lately. I’ll try to catch up a little bit but I may have to break it down into a few posts.

Banned

Last month sometime my blog was tagged as offensive on Facebook. Somebody who calls themselves a friend of mine, at least as far as facebook’s definition of “friend” goes, reported my blog as offensive. I had to appeal it to the powers that be at facebook in order to get unlabelled. Every since then I’ve been really wondering what specifically I said that was offensive. I’ve never intended to offend, disagree? Certainly. But never offend. I’ve since brushed it off as just somebody who doesn’t know the difference between offensive speech and disagreement. It’s just taken me a little bit to get motivated to actually post something again.

How Stuff Doesn't Necessarily Work

Years ago I had a friend try to explain to me how a clutch-less manual transmission works. I wasn’t quite getting the picture so I googled it. The first website that was suggested was http://www.howstuffworks.com/. The explanations were sufficiently “dumbed down” that you didn’t need to be a mechanical engineer to understand them, but technical enough that they satisfied my curiosity. The pictures and even the animations worked very well to give supporting explanations and imagery. So I bookmarked the site on my browser and began using it for just about any topic when I needed to break things down to more easy to understand terms. I was even pleasantly surprised that their section on telecommunications has come in handy in explaining to other engineers certain aspects of our job. So I signed up for their email newsletter. A couple times a week I would get updates to the site. It was a neat way to keep up on the latest technology and other topics.
Well I recently sent an email requesting that they unsubscribe me from that newsletter. I don’t know if they hare under new management or what but the focus of the site seems to have drastically changed. I’m kind of a stickler for certain things. Staying on topic is one of them. I don’t like it when politics strays into religion. Nor do I like it when religion strays into politics. I got annoyed when a channel called the History channel started airing programs about UFOs and ghosts. How in it world does either qualify as history? I now have a very similar criticism with howstuffworks.com.
In my mind, before you give any pixel space at all to a topic on a site called How Stuff Works you have the burden of proving that it works. So I really got annoyed when last week they did a feature on the most compelling ghost photos. Huh? Why in the world would this qualify as how stuff works? So I got poking around and also found that they had a whole sections on complimentary and alternative medicine, the paranormal, and even reincarnation and other religious and mythological topics. I decided to read a few to see if they gave more than just the token sceptical treatment on the last few paragraphs. In a few instances they did give some skeptical treatments. One even gave a link to a lecture by Michael Shermer. But I still felt they gave these topics too credulous coverage.
In today’s page they had a cover story about acupuncture and hypnosis treatments for infertility. The benefits to infertility are only based on the fact that hypnosis and acupuncture reduce stress levels. Perhaps I missed it but nowhere in the article did they point out that just about anything else that lowers your stress levels would have that same effect, yoga, meditation, or just playing with a puppy.
I’m not gonna be one of those who disingenuously claims that I’m “never gonna go to this site again.” But now that they have tipped their hand and shown a desire to post anything that’ll get them web hits, regardless of weither it "works" or not, I can’t say I’d endorse it with the same enthusiasm as I used to. And they definitely will not be the final authority on any of my research from now on.

Cool yet Creepy too

Being the geek that I am I think the internet is really cool. Since I spend my days designing systems that will bring the internet to your house faster and faster I hope that everybody thinks that the internet is really cool too. Occasionally I will find a new feature or program that is both really, really kewl and yet more than a little creepy. Case in point is Google's new feature street view. The brains at the Googleplex have paid people to drive cars around major metro areas and take 360 degree pictures and record the GPS location of each picture. They then integrated this info into their Google.maps program. Now you can pick any spot on the road and get a 360 degree view of the road as if you were standing at the curb. Pretty cool huh. Much of my work involves driving to a site to look at our facilities to very minor details, like how far away is that pole from the driveway? or is there enough room on that pole for another piece of equipment? I was eagerly awaiting google's roll out of this feature in the Atlanta area. It has already saved me a few hours of travel time to verify these types of details.
Now for the creepy side of the story. Take a look at this picture. Just for giggles I decided to check my on house to see what the picture showed. Apparently my 5-year-old waited patently to cross the street when our road was photographed. I don't think there is anything at all sinister about what happened. She just was there when the picture was taken. Still, some stranger drove down my street, took a picture of my 5-year-old, and then posted it on the internet with a link to her approximate address.
Apparently, I'm not the only one bothered by this. I don't think they broke any laws. And I'm not going to demand that the picture be removed. As her father I just got a little bit of a knee jerk reaction when I saw it. Since the initial roll out google has made an effort to obscure faces and they will eventually remove all people from the images. I'm just going to take this as another opportunity to review with the kids our rules about strangers.

A Few Changes

I've had a couple comments lately that my blog was not laid out very well. So I've made a few small changes. I've put a few more things in the side bar including a list of all the topic labels. This should make it easier for folks to search through my previous posts. I'm also making an effort to include more pictures just to make things more visually appealing.

Finally, They Get it Right.

As I have stated before I get really miffed when I see news reports credulously reporting myth and superstition as if it were science. Frequently, the bee in my bonnet is over the subject of Thimerosal causing autism. Finally I see and article that gets the science right on this issue.

This is a quote from this article:

Some parents believe that thimerosal, a preservative found in childhood vaccines that virtually every child gets, causes autism, because many children were diagnosed after they were vaccinated. But most medical experts increasingly doubt that theory, because even though the chemical has been removed from virtually all vaccines, the number of cases of autism is rising.
"You remove thimerosal from all but the flu vaccine, which isn't given to children under 6 months of age, and the incidence of autism only increases. So you just have piece of evidence after piece of evidence after piece of evidence that really disproves this notion," said Dr. Paul Offit, chief of the Infectious Diseases Division at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

This statement illustrates my biggest contention with the vaccines-cause-autism claims. They have no explanation as to why the number of diagnosed cases continues to increase at the same rate even though the alleged cause, Thimerosal, has been removed. This is statistical evidence that the vaccines have no effect. Finally CNN.com gets the facts right on this issue.

Tagged

Victoria has tagged me to divulge 7 random facts about myself that would astound and amaze you! LOL Or just stuff you don't already know.

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

THE FACTS
1. I’m a food separatist. I don’t believe in mixing foods unless the chef tells you to. If you’re just gonna mix it all up on your plate when you eat it why follow a recipe? Just put the ingredients in a blender and have a homogenous shake. I actually kinda miss the compartmentalized trays from grade school.

2. When I was a kid I asked the eye doctor to check me for color blindness. I passed the test just fine but I see a little bit greener out of my left eye and oranger out of my right.

3. My right thumb points about 45 degrees different than my left thumb. I never really noticed it until I was about 21 so I’m not sure what caused it. It was either when I fell down a flight of icy steps in Japan or just years of playing saxophone in marching band.

4. I once had to get rescued off of the side of a cliff in Yosemite National Park. It’s a long story for a future post. Suffice it to say somebody was at the base of the cliff trying to steal our packs and cars keys. We got in a hurry trying to get down and catch them and made a stupid mistake.

5. I have a commercial driver’s license and I passed the test in a semi with a manual transmission.

6. I don’t like money. I don’t like thinking about it or planning how to spend it. I almost have anxiety attacks trying to figure out my retirement and 401K stuff. Just let me work and I’ll trust Victoria to spend and invest it wisely.

7. I WRITE IN ALL CAPS. My “upper case” letters are just slightly bigger versions of my “lower case” letters. Victoria has actually created a font out of my handwriting and she uses it in her scrapbooking.

If you want to play...No PRESSURE...

Rachel
Snowflake
Sue
Ray
Terence
Donna

I'll come up with a seventh later.

Stuff

A few years ago I was taking an economics class and the professor announced that our entire economy would collapse if people just wanted less. It struck me as a little odd that the whole supply and demand model assumes that there are limited resources and unlimited demand. I wondered what would happen if people just simply wanted and needed less. I had a friend send me this link today and it really struck a nerve. It details many of the same concerns that I had with our modern economy. I'm going to do a little bit more research on a few of the fact presented. Some seem a bit too alarmist, but I totally agree with the position.
I realize this will just reinforce the perception that I'm a "treehugger" but so be it. Please go to this site and watch the entire video. I encourage you to take a look at your own consumption and see what you can do to improve.
www.storyofstuff.com

More on Podcasts

My mother-in-law gave me a cool little MP3 player for Christmas. Thank you, Sue. Since I've given up talk radio I've been listening to a lot of books on tape and podcasts for the past year. Without an MP3 player I've just been setting up my laptop at work and listening that way. With my new player however, I can listen much more than I used to. I can take it on my walks on my lunch hour; I can listen in the car; and I don't have to pause it while I walk back and forth to the printer and the break room. You get the idea.
I've found that there are a bunch of books that I can download directly from the library in MP3. That's been a great resource. I recently listened to Thoreau’s Walden. The irony of listening to Walden on an MP3 player while I stare at a drafting program while designing a fiber optic based high speed data circuit for American Express was not lost. It actually helped me stay sane during the process.
There are several weekly podcast that I eagerly await the next episode so I can download and learn more. Lately my new favorite is Astronomy Cast. Each episode is remarkably simple yet very intriguing. It's just the host, Fraser Cain, the publisher of Universe Today talking with an astronomy professor, Dr. Pamela Gay. Fraser typically steers the conversation by asking tough questions and then just let's Pamela give a very thorough answer. I'm sure Fraser actually has much more knowledge on the subject than he let's on to. But he plays the role of an amateur very well. His questions and responses are right in line with what an average college student might ask on each subject. Listening to Astronomy Cast is very much like sitting in an ASTR 101 class and just listening to that one guy who likes to ask all the questions that you'd have asked. I'd recommend it to anyone as a companion to an astronomy class or just if you think astronomy is cool and would like to know a little more. Fraser lives in Canada so it's kinda funny to hear the way he pronounces "about". Being from the South, I'm sure he'd get a kick out of how I pronounce some words too.
SETI has a very interesting podcast that I also enjoy. It's very professionally mixed and edited and has the feel of an PBS documentary. They explore much more than the typical astronomy topics. Many of their episodes detail the scientific method and how we've learned what we know about the universe.
My old standby is The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. Dr. Steven Novella hosts a well informed group of "skeptical rouges" on discussions of current events. Whether it's UFOs over Texas, ghosts in gas stations or the latest panic about Autism, I've really grow to trust the fact based, logical advice given on this podcast.
Recently I've also been downloading podcasts that have been reference on NPR. Electrons to Enlightenment explores the intersection of science and theology. It's only a four part series but I'd love to see it expanded into a weekly podcast.
Speaking of Faith is a program that my mother-in-law recommended because of a program they did on Mormonism. I downloaded that episode and several others. I'll review them more in detail after I've listened to a few more episodes.
I'd like to find more podcast out there that explore religion, science and politics as well as the complex interplay of the three. With all of this very intriguing material now filling my MP3 player I don't see how I could ever find the time to listen to the monotony of talk radio again even if I wanted to. Given the choice between learning something new about our universe like how we're finding extra-solar planets or just hearing some pundit recycle Clinton jokes, I don't have to think very long to figure out which would be a better use of my time.

Podcasting

About a year ago I gave up listening to talk radio. In general I preferred it to listening to music on the FM stations. Nothing against music, I just felt like I was learning something when I listened to talk radio and music, although enjoyable, just seemed like background noise. Well after a couple of tests I realized that talk radio was just becoming background noise for me as well. It had gotten so that I could predict almost exactly how each of the local talking heads would spin the latest news story. After years of listening to them it finally dawned on me that they were never saying anything new. The only thing they were good for was to turn every complicated, multi-faceted news story into a one dimensional little catch phrase that was easier for their average listener to understand and agree with. Rarely if ever did I hear any deep insightful discussions on all the different points of the issues. I’d just grown tired of it all.
That being said I really enjoyed the talk format when it was being honest and really examining issues that are important to me. Since the Atlanta market is dominated by conservative talk stations if I wanted to hear anything different it was either NPR, sports talk, or Christian sermons. Of these choices I went with NPR. I like the fact that they spend more time on the stories that may not be as flashy as the stories that lead the other news stations but in the long run are much more varied and personally I feel more important.
Even with this I still began looking for something else. I enjoy examining philosophy, religion, science, and politics. I set out to find some form of media that would provide what I was thirsting for. My first rescuer came in the form of books on CD. I checked out just about every book I could from the local library on CD. I still regularly listen to around 3 or 4 books a month.
Soon after that I discovered podcasting. Within a couple of month I found days worth of audio online that dealt with exactly the same type of issues that I had been struggling with for years. Everynight I download sevaral hours of new podcasts and then listen to them while I’m CADing away at work. I really enjoy it and I feel much more educated and informed than I ever did listening to conservative talk radio. Even when I agreed with them talk radio either bored me or made me really upset. My current selection of podcasts are never boring and all to frequently they are profoundly enlightening. I don’t see me turning back to broadcast talk radio anytime soon.
Here are a few of the podcasts that I’ve been listening to in the past year:
http://radio.seti.org/
http://www.astronomycast.com/
http://www.pennfans.net/category/Audio_Archive/PennRadio/
http://www.theskepticsguide.org
http://www.pointofinquiry.org/?page_id=72%22

3"x5" cards

I just stumbled across a very funny blog and I felt the need to share. Indexed is a collection of doodles of everyday events and experiences relayed in the form of mathematical diagrams, venn diagrams and formulas. She draws them throughout the day on 3"x5" cards and scans them in when she gets home. Considering my family's fixation with 3"x5" cards I thought these were really funny.

Google Sky

In case there has ever been any doubt I must confess that I am a complete and total geek. I also really love astronomy. For about 4 years now I have been trying to justify buying a 14 inch Newtonian reflector telescope. Well it looks like the guys at Google Earth have saved me the trouble. The latest version of GoogleEarth v4.2 gives you the ability to "turn the cameras around" and look out at the stars. Phil Plait has a great review of the program on his site badastronomy.com. I'd love to blog about it more but this typing is getting in the way of me looking at some really cool images of the heavens.

Massive Parallel Processing

Astronomy has always been a love of mine. I just enjoy being able to look up in the sky and understand what I see. Then in college I took several astronomy courses and really enjoyed them. I never had any inclination to be a professional astronomer. I’m not good enough at math to even consider it. However, I love to help out in the little ways that I can.
Several years ago I got involved with the SETI@home project. The gist of this project is that there are radio telescopes all over the world gathering terabytes of information everyday but they don’t have nearly enough computer resources to analyze the data. Somebody came up with the idea of massive parallel processing in order to solve this issue. The idea was that thousands of people leave their computers on constantly and the processor is busy drawing pretty lines and other things while the screen saver runs. Why not have the screen saver actual process data? So they started the program and thousands of people downloaded a packet of data to analyze and in return the got a cool screen saver that actual accomplished something more than just drawing pictures. SETI@home was used in the search for extra-solar planets and was very successful. I have no way of knowing if any of the data that went through my computer was directly involved but that’s not the point. I was actually assisting real astronomers with cutting edge research.
Thanks to a blog that I frequent daily I found out about another similar site. www.galaxyzoo.org is soliciting assistance to analyze the thousands of new galaxies that are being discovered with Hubble and ground based telescopes. The difference here is that they need human assistance and not just computer time. There are many programs that can assist in classifying galaxies but there with the current technology there is still no substitute for the human eye. Go to the site and they will give you a quick training course to see how well you can identify the different types of galaxies. After the training they give you a short quiz. If you test high enough on the quiz you are qualified to start evaluating slides of actual galaxies that have only recently been discovered. I got a 14/15 on the test and Victoria scored a 12/15 so we both are now being astronomy geeks during the time that we would normally blow on Sudoku or Solitaire. I found that it was quite addicting and had to force myself to stop before it got too late last night.
I think what appeals to me most about this is the spirit of cooperation that permeates the process. Rather than having one, all powerful, super computer doing this work we have thousands of real people investing their own time and energy. I think that in the long run this is how most, if not all, of the worlds problems will be solved. It’s the small steps taken by individual people that add up to make large differences in the world.
If you’re interested please give it a shot. And hats of to Phil Plaite, the Bad Astronomer, for bringing this to my attention.

Cool Website

I just wanted to let people know about a cool new website that is just getting off of the ground. The Encyclopedia of Life www.eol.org
The goal of the site is to have a page like the sample page here on polar bears about every single type of living thing on Earth. As an amateur science nut and a father of four I can see visiting this site frequently to satisfy my own curiosity as well as to assist the kids with homework and projects.
At first they wanted to do only living species but decided to eventually expand to include extinct species as well. Their thinking was that if they didn't have T-Rex included that they would loose the 8-year old male demographic.