From the countless spam comments I sift through:
“Time period can be a bird permanently along the mentoring.”
Beautiful gibberish!
…is also called ignorance or, in simpler terms, stupidity. A concept we got to see yesterday on The Daily Show. Hilarious stupidity is of course the entire reason why I’m watching the show in the first place. However, it was quite unexpected to see it happening on the other side of Jon Steward’s table. And I’m talking weapons-grade ignorance. The guest of the day was Marilynne Robinson, who was stopping by to shill for her new book “Absence of Mind”, wherein she attacks the divide between science and religion. Apparently, her sentiment is that science needs religion and vice versa. A sentiment that seems to be shared by Jon Steward and the Daily Show writers.
The way this works is of course by attacking science in the same way creationists do: by starting out with the proposition that science and religion are equally valid viewpoints on the same subject matter. Says Jon Steward: “I’ve always been fascinated that the more you delve into science, the more it appears to rely on faith.” Oh boy, I think I need to put the whole thing on here, it’s just mind-bogglingly full of #fail. So this is how the interview went: Learn more
= “USCYBERCOM plans, coordinates, integrates, synchronizes, and conducts activities to: direct the operations and defense of specified Department of Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when directed, conduct full-spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure freedom of action in cyberspace for the U.S. and its allies, and deny the same to adversaries.” Source
In science fiction, we often deal with enormous space ships that likely contain a huge amount of breathable air. Just as often, life support systems dramatically seize to function and crew members begin to suffocate immediately in defiance of common sense and, possibly, basic chemistry.
The otherwise cool movie Sunshine is a particularly egregious example of this, but also the otherwise admirably science-compatible Stargate Universe suffers from the same misconception. Seems like every second episode the ship suddenly runs out of air. So, what would the breathing situation on board the Destiny really look like? Time for the Obsessive Compulsive Nerd Squad to take action and do some calculations! Learn more
As a European, the unspeakable success of Creationism never fails to amaze me. I think it’s time to lean back and look at how it all began. I apologize, it’s quite a long one.
Chapter I – why the fuck am I here?
Every culture has a creation story. As the name hopefully implies, it details how and why the world was made. Because understanding how something came into existence means understanding its nature. And people are curious about nature. This seems to be the fundamental building block of every society, because as the first order of business, everybody has to agree on the answer to “how and why the fuck am I here”. Learn more
Via Responsible Nanotechnology: CRN is running an article called The Fermi Death Sentence, which infers that there must be some barrier preventing advanced civilizations from forming.
The Fermi Paradox, of course, concerns itself with the mathematical probability of life and finds that, even when using very conservative numbers, the universe is teeming with it. More importantly though, Fermi asks the question: if the universe is full of life, why isn’t the sky full of flying saucers? Why isn’t our radio spectrum totally polluted with extrasolar transmissions? Why are there no artifacts on earth suggesting somebody was here before us? Learn more
As I write this, the first season of Caprica is already done, but I think it still makes for a pretty cool review subject. So on with the transhumanist BSG prequel! By the way, don’t watch the “Exclusive Clip” on Amazon, somehow they managed to find the most boring 3 minutes of the film and put it out there as promo material. Learn more
It’s difficult to dislike the new physics showmasters on TV, a class of quirky professors who built a huge personal brand by specializing in public education and entertainment. In a world that increasingly succumbs to religious superstition and the celebration of ignorance, those people and their message is desperately needed. Following the footsteps of the ever-enthusiastic Brian Cox (who is also brilliantly played by Cillian Murphy in the instant SciFi classic “Sunshine“), theoretical physicist Michio Kaku has produced a twelveparter TV show called Physics of the Impossible after his book by the same name. Learn more
Hi there, and welcome to the NerdyVerse! This is a site dedicated to all things geek. We’ll be talking about science fiction, roleplaying games, computer stuff and a lot of subjects that in some way touch the nerdy version of futurism. Sit down, take a sip of your favorite beverage and let your nerd flag fly.