The Skeptic Next Door » science

A Short Video of Nearly Everything

theskepticnextdoor — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 03:24:38 +0000

Monkey Tool Usage: Hammer and Anvil

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:43:20 +0000

Do they take the lord’s name in vain when they bash their fingers?

What is Intelligent Design?

theskepticnextdoor — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:08:37 +0000

Intelligent Design(ID): a fringe religious belief. Much like our ancestors believed they could see gods in the random patterns of stars, intelligent design researchers believe they can see ‘their’ god’s handiwork in the complexity of biological and other natural systems. Through boisterous promotion and political mechanations intelligent design adherents have made ongoing unsuccessful attempts to have their beliefs added to the science curriculum of US public schools. This approach bypasses the standard approach of building a broad scientific consensus before making additions to course materials.

UFO Picture?

theskepticnextdoor — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 18:33:31 +0000

I took a couple of pictures Jan. 3. I was driving and it was a clear cold night and I am stupid enough to take pictures of the stars in the middle of nowhere when the temperature is -40.

Is this a UFO?

When I first saw this, I really didn’t know what it was. Now that I have had time to think about it I think I have it figured out.

Do you have any idea what caused this? Your clues.

It was not visible to the naked eye.
This shows up on multiple pictures, but not all of them. I moved the camera between pictures and adjusted the lens
Canon 20D, 30 seconds at ISO1600
11-22mm lens set to 11mm.
It was fairly dark and clear.
It was snowy and the moon was reflecting off the snow.
About 50Km to the nearest small town, much further to the next larger population base.
About 1:00AM
-40C/F

If you want an idea of scale, the three bright stars at the bottom running up diagonally, about 1/4 of the way from the left edge are Orion’s belt.

That UFO is HUGE!!!

Olympic Medal Counts

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:09:41 +0000

I found this great New York Times map of Olympic medals over the years via Strange Maps blog.

Click for interactive map

I like that there are many more countries that win medals now. It is impressive how many medals South Korea wins. It is not a country I equate with athletic prowess. For example, it only has a third of the population of Japan, yet it won more medals in 2008. It is always good to be surprised.

There Are Always Side Effects

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:31:43 +0000

Wired has an article about a group that is trying a large scale geoengineering project to sink carbon back into the ocean. The problem is there are always side effects to every prescription. In this case it is probably a small enough area that there will be little significant change.

On the other hand I trust that global warming is happening and large scale human activity is having an effect on the earth’s environment, so it seems reasonable to attempt to do something about it regardless of what the UN thinks.

Does Abstinence Only Sex Education Work

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:22:42 +0000

The bible belt appears to be awash in teen mothers. Barring real sex education appears to be a strategy to multiply the religious contingient in the US. From the AP story. Original CDC study

Teenage Pregnancy Rate By State

Mississippi has the highest birth rate, and the report does not indicate why. The data is for 2006, 6 months after Katrina hit. I speculate that there may be a connection. “Why not we are going to die anyway.”

Motion Induced Blindness

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:38:35 +0000

This is so cool. Most people are so certain that their senses do not betray them. Watch the center and some of the yellow dots should disappear.

Basic motion induced blindness

Bottle Rocket Jet Pack

theskepticnextdoor — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:28:20 +0000

When I as a kid I had a couple of air and water powered rockets. Now I want one of these.

Yes, I know that is probably a hoax. Polpular Science’s take.

OMG Rainbows in the Snow

theskepticnextdoor — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:16:54 +0000

I was skiing at Lake Louise last week. It was a cold day and there was a layer of ice crystals part way up the mountain resulting in rainbow sun dogs.

Not the greatest pictures, I only had my ancient digicam with me.

I like this picture it is a bit out of focus so the ice crystals in the air form “ghosts” or “UFOs”. It also shows secondary sun dogs.

A couple tourist shots.

Lake Louise, front side, town, lake (frozen), glacier.

Lake Louise, back bowl