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By Neece, on February 12, 2010, at 2:03 pm
 Happy Darwin Day everyone! Today is Darwin’s birthday and in honor of him, I thought I’d post this article about Liquid Glass, which could possibly be the coolest nanotech material I’ve seen in some time. I think it’s so cool mainly because of its versatility and the fact that it’s already in use in Germany, the UK and Turkey.
Why am I talking about nanotech on Darwin’s birthday? If you think about it, without evolution, we wouldn’t be able to manipulate our world so deftly and with such finesse. About 195,000 years ago homo sapiens first appeared in the fossil record. We started leaving Africa about 70,000 years ago, and migrated as far as the Americas 14,500 years ago.
A mere 10,000 years ago, we were mostly hunter-gatherers in nomadic groups. The first proto-states were developed only 6,000 years ago. Think of that! Look how far we’ve come in [...]
By Johnny, on November 10, 2009, at 5:35 pm
An interesting offer from ASPEX
November 10, 2009 2:54 PM – by PZ Myers
 I had my doubts about this; I got an offer from ASPEX corporation to let people get free scanning electron micrographs of just about anything. They make a desktop SEM (Scanning Electron Micrograph), and all you have to do is fill out a form and mail it in with your sample of a dead bug or a microchip or bacon, and presto, within a few weeks they’ll have it scanned in and the image available on their website.
I asked them if they knew how many readers I have, and they said no problem, they can handle it.
Huh.
Well, you heard them. Scavenge your trash cans, dig into your local sources of vermin and oddments, and send them in. I’m thinking this could be really fun for any school [...]
By Johnny, on August 1, 2009, at 2:17 pm
 Duelity provides a different take on creation versus evolution. With a slightly humorous, and definitely ironic reversal of roles. The creation story is told in a very scientific manner, while the big bang and evolution story is told in a poetic religious manner.
Besides this seeming like a fairly unique idea, the creators have made the two videos so that you can watch them separately, or at the same time.
Thus: Duelity
Check it [...]
By Neece, on July 20, 2009, at 11:07 pm
 I may be an atheist with a heart of gold, but I have a tendency to swear a lot. I tone it down for family events and around kids, but otherwise I love to swear. It enhances what I’m saying and it feels good. Plus, why not? They are simply words. I think it’s silly that some words are taboo. Letters strung together and given a special dirty meaning, verbalized or written, are somehow wrong and bad? That’s so ridiculous to me, such a stupid effect of religion.
Well, now I have a new reason to swear profusely if I get hurt. A study was released last week in the journal NeuroReport about Swearing Actually Increasing Pain Tolerance. Over 60 volunteers put their hands in ice cold water and kept it there as long as they could. They were to say either a neutral word or [...]
By Neece, on May 19, 2009, at 9:06 pm
 This is just the coolest thing. I got Heaving Dead Cats published to Kindle! Now if you have a Kindle , you can read HDC on it. If you feel so inclined, you can go there and write a review or add some keywords. I would be so grateful if you did, but no pressure.
Ok, back to your regularly scheduled programming.  [...]
By Neece, on April 11, 2009, at 7:00 pm
Unlike most atheists I know, I don’t really consider myself a humanist, but maybe that’s because I really don’t know the full definition. Let’s look it up.
Humanism affirms the dignity and worth of all people, based on the ability to determine right and wrong by appealing to universal human qualities, particularly rationality, without resorting to the supernatural or alleged divine authority from religious texts. Humanism can be considered as a process by which truth and morality is sought through human investigation; as such, views on morals can change when new knowledge and information is discovered. In focusing on the capacity for self-determination, humanism rejects transcendental justifications, such as a dependence on faith, the supernatural, or texts of allegedly divine origin. Humanists endorse universal morality based on the commonality of the human condition, suggesting that solutions to human social and cultural problems cannot be parochial.
While I agree [...]
By Neece, on March 2, 2009, at 4:47 pm
I got my microscope! And I need your help. This thing is awesome (I think), but I have no idea what it is. It has no name on it. I have no idea even what the magnification is. I’ve dusted it carefully and now I’m waiting for UPS to deliver the slides and slide covers. I am still trying to figure out how to get a temporary light source to work, then I have to figure out a permanent lighting solution.
Oh… at the end of the technical bits, I need to rant a bit, in case you’re interested.
OK! The slides arrived. I’ve looked up Optical Microscopes and I know more than I did already. Don’t think you’re off the hook though. I still need you. [...]
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Neece & Butch’s Zazzle Designs – Sir Lee Tees
Neece & Jenny’s Zazzle Designs
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Happy Darwin Day everyone! Today is Darwin’s birthday and in honor of him, I thought I’d post this article about Liquid Glass, which could possibly be the coolest nanotech material I’ve seen in some time. I think it’s so cool mainly because of its versatility and the fact that it’s already in use in Germany, the UK and Turkey.
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