I use two different computers, each with a different operating system, to do my stuff. Actually, I use five, but only two where I would ideally like to switch between them while I’m using them. I’ve experimented with some solutions, so I can offer some advice. Continue reading How to share keyboard and mouse between two computers?
Yearly Archives: 2017
About 30 Thousand U.S. Newborns At Risk From Fracking per Year?
A new study based in Pennsylvania measured health indicators of children born far, near, and very near, fracking sites. The study showed an effect that reached out to about 3 kilometers, but that was much stronger within about 1 kilometer, from fracking sites. The effects included lower birth weight and similar differences that are associated with in utero stress.
Given this finding, it is estimated that about 29,000 newborns are born in fracking danger zones per year in the US. Continue reading About 30 Thousand U.S. Newborns At Risk From Fracking per Year?
An endorsement for Sean Casten in Illinois’ red-to-blue 6th Congressional district
Climate Hawks Vote has this press release: Continue reading An endorsement for Sean Casten in Illinois’ red-to-blue 6th Congressional district
The Ultimate Science Stocking Stuffer, Also Fights the Patriarchy!
From Hypatia of Alexandria to Katherine Hayhoe, women have made and continue to make important contributions to the physical sciences. Now, you can get the “Notable Women in the Physical Sciences” deck of cards to celebrate them!
Here’s the deal. Continue reading The Ultimate Science Stocking Stuffer, Also Fights the Patriarchy!
Is it about power? Or is it about Reproductive Succcess?
That is the question.
Probably both, but the latest powerful male stepdown argues for the latter. Check it out. Continue reading Is it about power? Or is it about Reproductive Succcess?
Recommended Holiday Gift Books
Brand new, clearly excellent, I’ve not finished reviewing but you need to know about them:
Horseshoe Crab Fossil named after Darth Vader
This is fun. From the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, the press release for a recent fossil naming: Continue reading Horseshoe Crab Fossil named after Darth Vader
Kids coding and technology advance
Over recent months, there has been an important advance in opportunities for kids to learn to code and mess around with technology.
The Scratch programming language is a project set at MIT. Scratch programming involves moving images, called blocks, from a pallet into a work area, hooking them together and maybe changing some values attached to them, in order to develop programs that mainly, but not exclusively, manipulate sprites. (See example of code blokcks above.) The project is located HERE. This is a full object oriented programming language with quite a few features that make it very powerful, for a kid’s toy. Continue reading Kids coding and technology advance
Better Holiday Fireplace Loops
In the old days (two years ago) there was a channel available on the Roku that would display a burning fire and play appropriate holiday music. So, people without a fireplace but who wanted one could pretend. I think there were channels like this on Cable or Satellite TV as well but I’ve not had those services in decades so I’m not sure.
The channel on the Roku was called Presto. Presto had an ad or two that would run when the program started up, then very rarely, another ad would show up. A small price to pay for all that masonry and firewood. Continue reading Better Holiday Fireplace Loops
Ed Yong’s book cheap on Kindle
Just a quick note to say that I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong is right now available in Kindle format for $1.99. Continue reading Ed Yong’s book cheap on Kindle
Why Neil deGrasse Tyson is Wrong about the Supermoon
I don’t know much about astronomy, but I am a scientist and I know this. One key scientific concept that is rarely grasped by non scientists but at the same time drives much of science itself is variation.
Indeed, the understanding that variation is key is one of the characteristics that separates the ancients, who may have engaged in what looks like science but rarely advanced true understanding, and the moderns (to oversimplify greatly, ironically).
The moon and other celestial bodies always do the same thing, never change in their course or appearance, and once one has finished cataloguing them, there is nothing else to see.
Or is there? Isn’t there in fact change all the time? Isn’t change itself the essence of the universe? Is it not true that a star is a dynamic thing that has a birth, stages of life, a death, and from its remnants come other things? Isn’t this how astronomers like Neil DeGrasse Tyson are able to utter such brilliances as “I am made of star dust”??? Don’t planets form, collide with things or things with them, cool, change dramatically across the surface, even break lose form their orbits now and then? Continue reading Why Neil deGrasse Tyson is Wrong about the Supermoon
Editors and Producers: How to catch Robert Mueller in the Act
Mueller knows that once the excrement hits the fan, Don the Con Trump is going to go ballistic and act do predictably unpredictable things. He may issue pardons, he may try to send his SS agents, or the Army, to bust people, he’ll certainly try to fire Mueller and his staff. Most of that is either impossible or can be stopped, and none of it makes sense. But anyone who thinks that those facts will stop Don the Con from getting cute is as dumb as a moldy brick. Continue reading Editors and Producers: How to catch Robert Mueller in the Act
Minnesota Vikings: The Chance of Victory and the Psychology of Defeat
I had been living in Minnesota for just about a year when the Vikings played the Falcons in the playoffs that one time.
I was living, as it happens, in the city of Falcon Heights. You know about Falcon Heights, very likely, even if you don’t know you do. Ever heard of the Great Minnesota Get Together, a.k.a., the Minnesota State Fair? It is held in Falcon Heights. Ever hear of the University of Minnesota? The smaller of the two Twin Cities campuses, the one with the ecology and organismic biology, and agriculture and forestry and stuff, is in Falcon Heights. Ever hear of the police killing of Philandro Castile, the one where the cop was ascared of the scary black man so he pumped him full of bullets in front of his girlfriend and a small child? That was in Falcon Heights too.
But Falcon Heights is obscured and obscure. Continue reading Minnesota Vikings: The Chance of Victory and the Psychology of Defeat
Official 2017 Maker Tech Gift Guide
You loved the The Official 2017 Cool Tech Gift Guide, and here is its sister-post, focused on things that are not entirely built yet, along with a few books about how to do that.
Continue reading Official 2017 Maker Tech Gift Guide
The Official 2017 Cool Tech Gift Guide
Not to be confused with the Official 2017 Maker Tech Gift Guide!
I’ve mixed a wide range of techno-stuff in this guide, so there is stuff that flies, stuff that cooks, and stuff that makes noise. This is your prompt. It is up to you to match and expand on the ideas and integrate them with target gift recipients you know and love. Or, you can always put items on your personal wish list and see what happens!
Without further ado: Continue reading The Official 2017 Cool Tech Gift Guide