These are my littles pretending that they are cats, under the...
These are my littles pretending that they are cats, under the table. This is why I love and hate them at the same time. So cute, so awful.
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Awesome Manly Asteroid Blowing Up Stuff
It’s like Carl Sagan has returned in the form of a bald man armed with a laser!
How do we stop an asteroid, one that might impact the Earth in 2036? Boom and tug. Push it a little with a nuke, and then tow it with a satellite a little more, to insure it doesn’t just return the same way in the future.
But, really, watch the episode for the explosions! And, make your wife watch, because it’s really boring for woman to watch guys blowing things up!
I do have ask, really, why use Sydney as the site for destruction? Does Phil Plait have it out for Australia?
Oh yes, and please vote to keep Bad Universe on the air!
Filed under: Academia, Science, TV, YouTube Tagged: asteroids, bad universe, demolition, discovery, nukes, phil plait, physics
Hawking Warns Against Human Arrogance
Between reading this Stephen Hawking quote, plucked for whatever commercial or controversial reason I don’t want to fathom, and some of commentary that follows and Kim Lee’s quip, I passed from euphoria to despair.
In his new book, he points to the observation in 1992 of a planet orbiting a star other than our sun.
‘That makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions – the single sun, the lucky combination of earth-sun distance and solar mass – far less remarkable, and far less compelling as evidence that the earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings,’ he writes.
Christian scientists said Professor Hawking had the wrong view of God as something to explain gaps in our knowledge of the universe.
The Rev Garth Barber, a cosmologist and member of the Society for Ordained Scientists said: ‘I don’t believe in a God of gaps but in the creator of the laws of science. The laws of science are God’s laws of creation.’
Professor George Ellis, President of the International Society for Science and Religion, added: ‘My biggest problem with this is that it’s presenting the public with a choice: science or religion. A lot of people will say, “OK, I choose religion, then” and it is science that will lose out.’
Firstly, I read the Hawking quote I bolded above as a refutation of the anthropic principle. Any discussion of a contest between religion and science misses the point: the brain is a flawed instrument, and any theories reached through are suspect. That’s why we have conversations and experiments. Any discovery that contributes to the protection of humans against the brain’s flaws – e.g., confirmation bias, story-telling – is beneficial. But now, these articles reinforce another story, that of the contest between religion and science, to make a buck.
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Filed under: Academia, Movies/Media, Religion, Science Tagged: anthropic principle, isaac newton, physics, stephen hawking
South Korea Adventure #10- Love Land 제주도
Well finally I got my website back up and running again. I switched hosting plans and it became lost in cyber space.
When I first found about Love Land I couldn't wait to go! I really wanted to make a video about it. I had seen some pictures and video online, but once again it was way more awesome in person. Just when I got there it started to pour so I waited in a restaurant and ate. After that the sun came out and it was perfect. The statues were still wet from the rain but it really cleared up so the colors were nice and vibrant. It was the perfect time to shoot the video. Love Land is park dedicated to sex on Jeju Island. For more info you can check out their web site:
http://www.jejuloveland.com/html/eng.html
When I first found about Love Land I couldn't wait to go! I really wanted to make a video about it. I had seen some pictures and video online, but once again it was way more awesome in person. Just when I got there it started to pour so I waited in a restaurant and ate. After that the sun came out and it was perfect. The statues were still wet from the rain but it really cleared up so the colors were nice and vibrant. It was the perfect time to shoot the video. Love Land is park dedicated to sex on Jeju Island. For more info you can check out their web site:
http://www.jejuloveland.com/html/eng.html
Funny English #3
Using a lot of photos can be a good blogging strategy. That's because your average Google-streaming first time reader has an attention span that is inversely proportional to mouse-wheel scroll. I once had a photography binge when I was an undergrad, but haven't given it any serious effort since then. If you want to see some quality photography, check out Robert Koehler's travel blog. Compared to him, I'm a just measly pocketcam blogger who gets by on 3.1 megapixel nonsense. But my trusty Canon Ixus allows me to conveniently snap things that I see when I'm on the move.
From which, a post like this one arises.
This is Part 3 of a series on funny uses of the English language in Korea. There are plenty of expressions that amuse and confuse in this country. The banner above refers to something known as 'Abfood of Australia.'
I lived in the Land Down Under for 22 years, which apparently wasn't long enough because I still don't know what it is.
While we saw that Mr Pizza has love for women, Seoul is just feeling a little friendly. It'll probably develop into friskiness soon.
And Backronym of the Year Award goes to... RYN! Wait a minute, it's Renovate Your Body Newly... so shouldn't that be RYBN?
Hmm, anyway... as Winston Churchill once allegedly said "This is the kind of English up with which I will not put."
Excessive consumption of the latter has a tendency to negate the former.
Go Getter - Korean toilet bowl cleaner. For lack of a more obscure name.
Me, Tarzan.
Tarzan go to Man Clinic. *beats chest*
I hear they serve peppermint tea and scones.
Fashion of Cry is a big show on TV here. Its title is not very good, due to Error of Big.
On our lab autoclave machine, the causing of bum will not be appreciated. Unless said bum is attractive.
In any case, do not touch.
And you needn't fear anything for your upcoming triple bypass. The highly qualified Dr Shim will ensure careful performance of the utmost standard of error-free susgery on you.
In our lab, we order X-ray fixer from a local company called Poo-hung.
The name reminded me of a comical incident we had with our supplier, Ms Choi, from a company called MoreBio. We had ordered 'stools' to sit on in the lab, but her English isn't very good, so I briefly mimed a seating motion. When she put the word into her electronic dictionary to find out what we were talking about, the only translation was 'human stool', as in faeces. She gave us a weird look and started scratching her head.
And to round out Funny English #3 is some interesting Korean instead. The large red text on this shop says that their cell phones are ddongkap, which means 'poo price'.
Without information ascertaining as to the species in question, I find this misleading because the price of manure can be as high as $800 a kilo.
Anyhow, enjoy your weekend everyone.
*S*H*O*P*P*I*N*G ~ Daejeon's 'Old Down Town'
One of my favouite things about Korea has got to be the shopping! The colours are fantastic, and the fashion...well lets just say that nearly every girl here looks like she has stepped off the runway :) The best thing about most of the stores they cheap! Obviously the bigger brand names are expensive, more so than South Africa, but the smaller boutique's! I could get lost in them for days :)
So i've decided to dedicate this post to the best places to go shopping in Daejeon:
1. Old Downtown (Eunheng-dong area).
There are two places here, one underground, and the other above ground. The underground shopping has hundreds of cute and unique stalls, while above ground has some of the bigger stores like Apple Store and Zara, and a whole bunch of sporty shoe shops. And of course, a million coffee shops/ restaurants, bars and clubs :)
Directions:
Subway: get off at Jungang-no station (number 105 just before Daejeon Station), and then just follow the hoards of people! You can get go above ground any time by going up the stairs situated along the walkway at different places.
By bus to Jungano Subway Station: # 1, 101, 103, 201, 201, 317, 511, 613, 615, 701 (then just go underground via the big green stairs in front of you)
By bus to DownTown 'above ground' area: # 2, 103, 107, 201, 311, 313, 514, 603, 612, 615, 701
Happy Shopping!
So i've decided to dedicate this post to the best places to go shopping in Daejeon:
1. Old Downtown (Eunheng-dong area).
There are two places here, one underground, and the other above ground. The underground shopping has hundreds of cute and unique stalls, while above ground has some of the bigger stores like Apple Store and Zara, and a whole bunch of sporty shoe shops. And of course, a million coffee shops/ restaurants, bars and clubs :)
Directions:
Subway: get off at Jungang-no station (number 105 just before Daejeon Station), and then just follow the hoards of people! You can get go above ground any time by going up the stairs situated along the walkway at different places.
By bus to Jungano Subway Station: # 1, 101, 103, 201, 201, 317, 511, 613, 615, 701 (then just go underground via the big green stairs in front of you)
By bus to DownTown 'above ground' area: # 2, 103, 107, 201, 311, 313, 514, 603, 612, 615, 701
Happy Shopping!
Hand out lecture notes before class: Research Digest blog
The Research Digest Blog (Since 2005, bringing you reports on the latest psychology research) offers 9 Evidence-based study tips.
Few of the tips are surprising – having good sleeping habits is not particularly controversial – and a few are attitudinal – “Adopt a growth mindset” and “Believe in yourself” – but one caught my eye as it was for educators rather than students:
Get handouts prior to the lecture. Students given Powerpoint slide handouts before a lecture made fewer notes but performed the same or better in a later test of the lecture material than students who weren’t given the handouts until the lecture was over.
I suspect that, having seen the direction of the lecture, the students knew what was important (to the instructor, at least) and what wasn’t.
When I use google Presentation slides for my classes – I try to do so often, but only a few classes have functioning computers and projectors – I usually post them to the class blog or on edu 2.0, but that is after the class. I guess I will now post them a few days before class when I can.
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Myrtle Beach
27 Jun 2010, We pack up the house-on-wheels and head to Myrtle Beach with pets and grandparents.
Je veux tout - Montréal
Choo Choo ... on and on we went ... Choo Choo
.. until we reached ...
... and it got really delicious from there ...
(Sorry, but I have been bitting my nails since the second grade.
A girl has to have some imperfections)
Sol learned a little about speaking like a Canadian.
.... and how the Québécois feel about that ...
Translation: Nous avons pris un train très long à Montréal. Il valait la peine. Nous avons mangé beaucoup de choses délicieuses et ont pu voir certaines de mes gens faourite.
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