Yearly Archives: 2007
Google is building its own Wikipedia
Google is building its own version of communally-constructed online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which consistently ranks among the most visited websites in the world.The Internet search powerhouse is inviting chosen people to test a free service dubbed “knol,” to indicate a unit of knowledge, vice president of engineering Udi Manber said Friday in a posting at Google’s website.”Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it,” Manber wrote.”There are millions of people who possess useful knowledge that they would love to share, and there are billions of people who can benefit from it.”While Wikipedia lets visitors make changes to its online pages, trusting that people with accurate information will correct errors and misleading entries, Google is inviting folks to author their own articles.Pictures of authors will be displayed on their knol web pages, according to a sample provided by Google.”We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content,” Manber wrote.”Books have authors’ names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors; but somehow the Web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted.”Google hopes knols will be written on all conceivable topics and says it has no plans to edit or endorse content. Editorial responsibility will rest with authors, whose reputations will be at stake, according to Manber.
I hope these stories are not related to each other
I hope these stories are not related to each other Continue reading I hope these stories are not related to each other
A depressing top ten list
Planet Hazard produces Google Maps with major polluters. This allows you to look up your own location if you are in the US, by county, state, etc., and to access the data in various ways.
Learn about the unknown hazards around you – the toxins you may be breathing. PlanetHazard uses information from the EPA to map over 86,000 companies throughout the United States that emit hazardous air pollutants.
Janus Faced Cat
Every year around this time, we start to get a lot of two-faced animal stories. I’m not sure why.
[story here][hat tip: Science Buzz]
KDE 4.0
KDE 4.0 is upon us. I believe it is essentially out there, being tested and messed with, with the final launch etc. happening in a few weeks (mid January).KDE is a Window Manager (no “s” in that Window, please note) for Linux. I’m not big on KDE myself, but my daughter uses it.KDE 4.0, compared with earlier versions, will have more stuff, be flashier, etc. etc. etc. as we would expect. And, it will use about 30% less memory.Oh, and have you heard that Vista Service Release 1.1 is going to reduce the memory load of Windows Vista by 4%? No, you haven’t heard that? Well, of course not, because no one ever said it, and it is never going to happen!!!Oh, wait, did I say KDE was going to have 30% less memory demand? Ooops, I messed up. It’s actually 40% less memory! Imagine that.Details here.
Bali Agreement
… agreement was finally reached in Bali. After an hours-long public standoff Saturday in which the unthinkable happened — boos and hisses at a treaty conference — the world’s nations adopted a common two-year “road map” leading to the first comprehensive update to the ailing 1992 Framework Convention on Climate Change.The last update, the Kyoto Protocol, only binds three dozen industrialized countries to cut emissions, and many of the adherents are not on track to hit their targets by 2012, when its terms expire. The new agreement will likely lead to a future set of limits allowing Kyoto parties to keep on capping greenhouse-gas emissions and trading carbon credits.For those not affected by Kyoto’s limits, including the two giants in the global greenhouse — the United States and China — the timetable does not lock in any binding steps to cut emissions.[source: NYT]
More details here:Climate Change Deal Reached after US U-TurnBali negotiators reach agreement after U.S. ‘U-turn.’UN Conference Adopts Global Climate Plan
Giant Skeleton Found
OMG, look at this:
… oh wait, it’s a fake. But an interesting fake. Read about it here, on Afarensis.
Holiday Shopping Tip #3
The Rapture Alarm:
From The Friendly Atheist
The Comer controversy continues
From the NCSE:
Over two weeks after it was first reported that Christine Comer was forced to resign from her post at the Texas Education Agency, apparently because she forwarded a brief e-mail announcing a lecture on “intelligent design” by Barbara Forrest, the state’s newspapers continue to provide a steady stream of news and commentary. And groups with a stake in the integrity of science education in Texas continue to voice their concern. As the Austin American-Statesman (December 14, 2007) observed in its latest story, “The controversy over Comer’s departure put the agency’s scientific credibility at risk at a time when Texas is trying to attract star researchers and scientists for a growing biomedical and biotech industry, and just before the State Board of Education begins developing new science standards next month.”
The ICR Master’s of Creation Research: An On Line Teaching Degree
The Texas Based Institute for Creation Research would offer an online degree in Science Education. Approved by a State Advisory Board yesterday, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board will consider the degree in January.
Continue reading The ICR Master’s of Creation Research: An On Line Teaching Degree
Carnivals
Young-Theory Overturned
Saturn’s rings probably date back billions of years and could likely be around forever although they are continually changing, according to a new study published this week.Data collected by the Voyager spacecraft in the 1970s and later the Hubble telescope originally led scientists to think the planet’s famous rings were relatively young in cosmic terms and possibly created by a comet that smashed into a large moon.But new data collected by the Cassini probe suggests that rather than being formed some 100 million years ago, the rings were probably formed as the solar system was being built about 4.5 billion years ago.
You know, I never liked that earlier idea that the rings were young. WTF? I thought. This makes so much more sense.
Studies show that the ages of the rings differ significantly, and that the matter inside the rings is constantly changing.”The evidence is consistent with the picture that Saturn has had rings all through its history,” added the professor from the University of Colorado.Previously scientists believed that if the rings were as old as Saturn, they should be darker due to collecting cosmic pollution such as meteorite dust.But the observations from Cassini showed that there appeared to be a gigantic churning mass of ice and rock, which could explain why the rings appear quite bright when seen through telescopes on the ground.
How To Eat A Mangosteen
Review: The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism
REPOST from gregladen.com
“Everyone needs to understand the basic facts of evolution as well as the essentials of the scientific method… When people are deprived of a scientific approach to reality as a whole, they are robbed of both a full appreciation of the beauty and richness of the natural world and the means to understand the dynamics of change not only in nature but in human society as well.”
-Ardea Skybreak, “The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism” Continue reading Review: The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism