RE: Treating astrology's claims with all due gravity

The Amazing Randi (famed pseudo-science debunker) often does an interesting classroom experiment. I saw a film of one such test.

He asked students to raise their hands when he called out their Astrology sign, and then he gave each student a sheet of paper which summarized the personally attributes of people born under their star sign.

When he finished distributing 12 sets of attributes, he asked the students to read the sheet, and if they thought the astrology reading accurately represented their personality, they should raise ther hand. Almost everyone raised ther hand.

Then he asked each student to take their sheet and pass it to the student sitting in front of them. Students at the front of the row passed their sheet to the student in the back.

After a flurry of paper passing, smiles and laughter erupted in the classroom, as each student realized that everyone had been given the same astrology "reading".

"There is a distinct difference between having an open mind, and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out." - James Randi

The Amazing Randi's website: http://www.randi.org/

NZ cows produce own skimmed milk

Experts at a biotechnology company in New Zealand have discovered that some cows have a gene giving them a natural ability to produce skimmed milk.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6700129.stm

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Very nice. Now find the gene that produces chocolate milk.

Go "No"

Headline of New Scientist article:

"Cars, Alcohol & Women Are Deadly Mix"

... and this is News ?

Music made to measure from nature's proteins

Music made to measure from nature's proteins
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn11775

The "notes" available are the 20 natural amino acids from which all proteins are constructed. The basic concept is simple: assign each amino acid to a different musical note, so leucine could be middle C on the piano, for example, serine could be D, and so on till all 20 have their own note.

To create a musical score based on a specific protein, simply go through the entire amino acid sequence of the protein and transcribe the amino acids into notes.

NewScientist.com is the world's leading online science and technology news service, with a global network of award-winning journalists. Visit www.newscientist.com now for constantly updated and authoritative reporting that's both fast and fascinating.

Google announces free in-home wireless broadband service

Google TiSP (BETA) is a fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines.

http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html

New Technology ... the "book"

Here's how people performed
Tech Support in the Middle Ages...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LRBIVRwvUeE

Are you a scientist ?

How to tell a scientist from a non-scientist:

Read this word aloud
Unionized

a scientist will pronounce it "un-ionized",
a non-scientist will pronounce it "union-ized".

Beer Launching Fridge

Hey all you Guys...

How many times has this happened to you?

You get home from a hard day of work, flop on the couch, flip on the TV and shout, "Honey, get me a beer."

If you're lucky, there's no response. If you're unlucky, the requested beer is delivered to your head.

Well, duck no longer, guys... THERE'S A BEER LAUNCHING REFRIGERATOR!

http://www.duke.edu/~jwc13/beerlauncher.html

There's always room...

How to Nail Jell-O to a Wall

http://www.myscienceproject.org/j-wall.html

A Princeton Lab on ESP Plans to Close Its Doors

from the NY Times:

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 6 — Over almost three decades, a small laboratory at Princeton University managed to embarrass university administrators, outrage Nobel laureates, entice the support of philanthropists and make headlines around the world with its efforts to prove that thoughts can alter the course of events.

But at the end of the month, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory, or PEAR, will close, not because of controversy but because, its founder says, it is time.

The laboratory has conducted studies on extrasensory perception and telekinesis from its cramped quarters in the basement of the university’s engineering building since 1979. Its equipment is aging, its finances dwindling.

At the PEAR offices this week, the staff worked amid boxes, piles of paper and a roll of bubble wrap as big as an oil drum. The random-event machines are headed for storage.

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Tell me they didn't see this one coming...

On conformity...

Warning!

Simply LOOKING at a Punk Rocker can make you a noncomformist !

http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,2006227,00.html