I cringed.
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I cringed.
I never did trust those astronomers. Now I learn that they have been conspiring to keep us stupid.
This is turning up all over the place — at Brad DeLong’s, Crooked Timber, and this pair is from Cosmic Variance — it’s the most sublimely, awesomely, wickedly stupid example of fudging a curve ever. The two graphs below have exactly the same data points, and the only difference is the curve that was ‘fit’ to the distribution. Which one looks plausible to you?
The one on the left looks sensible and simple, and looks like it was actually drawn with some consideration of the data. The one on the right … not so much. I have no idea how anyone could think that particular curve belongs in there.
Now guess which one was actually published?
Hint: it was published in the Wall Street Journal editorial pages.
Someday, somebody’s going to write a book about the shenanigans at the WSJ that allows a clown college, the editorial staff, to exist and thrive within the bounds of an otherwise staid and sort of boring, but respectable, newspaper. That they could actually publish something like the ridiculous abomination on the right and no one said “Wait! What about our credibility?” is merely symptomatic of some really interesting pathology going on there.
UFO ‘studies’ have come a long way since the days of Billy Meier, when you could just throw a pie plate or a hubcap into the air and take a polaroid, and presto … proof of flying saucers! Now in these days of Photoshop and CGI, you can get much more elaborate and realistic images — none of those silver blurs anymore. DJ Chubakka introduced me to a weird world of modern UFO enthusiasts.
Nowadays you can read the markings right off the hulls of the spaceships.
The Modulator informs me that there are 20 blogging commandments. Then I discover how to create your own religion in 10 easy steps. It figures that it’s twice as easy to create a religion as it is to create a successful blog.
So if I’d pursued that other avocation, I’d be pope by now? Or at least the leader of a globe-spanning cult? But I repeat myself.
Since I brought up the hype for this Diesel fashion show, Phil has revealed that you can now watch it on the web.
It’s some kind of holographic light show on a fashion runway. I don’t know what the point of all the skinny people wandering around in clothes might have been, though. It didn’t make me want to buy any clothes, but a battery of lasers is looking more and more attractive.
There’s a rather unsurprising study that shows babies can “lie” at a very early age, deceiving their parents with fake cries as early as six months (any parents out there? You know this is trivial—kids pop out of the birth canal as greedy, selfish little beasts who will do anything to cajole their way into your heart.) Now look at how a fundie blog spins the story: it’s sin! It confirms what the Bible tells us, that we are born into sin! And then the author asks, “What stories (humorous, preferably) can you share about how your children demonstrate they, too, are sinful from birth?”
It will make you groan with boredom. There follows a discussion of whether Jesus would have faked a cry to get Mommy’s attention (no, apparently not) and the most boring anecdotes about kids ever. It’s pathetic and tedious and clueless all at once.
I recommend you read these stories instead. The heathen are much, much more entertaining.
You really must have headphones on when you listen to this wonderful exercise in stereophony.
There’s more information on how it was made at toomanytribbles. You’ve gotta love your brain and the way it can translate phase and timing differences in sound into a spatial map, without you really having to think about it.
I guess y’all are having a drought, and your farmers are worried. I sympathize, and I do hope you get some good healthy summer storms soon. But, well, your governor is a dufus.
With the state’s weather forecasters not delivering much-needed rain, Gov. Bob Riley on Thursday turned to a higher power. The governor issued a proclamation calling for a week of prayer for rain, beginning Saturday.
Riley encouraged Alabamians to pray “individually and in their houses of worship.”
“Throughout our history, Alabamians have turned in prayer to God to humbly ask for his blessings and to hold us steady during times of difficulty,” Riley said. “This drought is without question a time of great difficulty.”
Shhh. I’m going to tell you two secrets.
One: prayer doesn’t work. Never does. Besides, if it’s Georgia putting a curse on you, they outvote you in God’s eyes.
Two: when I lived in Eugene, we used to make trips to Bend, Oregon to vacation — they always advertise about how they only get like 8 days of rain a year. It always rained when we visited. Therefore, if you really want it to rain, you ought to fly me in and parade me around the state. I have big rain ju-ju.
I’m sure we can come up with lots of incantations and rituals that various cultures have invented to conjure rain. You should try them all. It can’t hurt, after all.
I’m speechless. I thought most case-modders were interested in cooling their machines, but here’s the PC EZ-Bake Oven.
Now the computer savvy among us can relive the fun of having your very own personal mini-oven with the PC Ez-Bake oven! It fits in a 5 1/4″ drive bay and plugs right into your power supply with the included Molex connector. Also included is “PC Ez-Cook”, the open-source oven controller software with hundreds of easy and creative recipes for your PC Ez-Bake oven, and even a fuzzy-logic cooking control system to precisely measure the doneness of your cake, cookie, or cheese souffle. The PC Ez-Bake oven can even be used to cook your Pop Tarts, Bagel Bites, or any tiny or flat food. YUM!
If they have Linux drivers, I could so see Greg getting into this, using it to bake fillets at the lake cabin.
(via Tikistitch)
