Democracy is a poor system of government at best; the only thing that can honestly be said in its favor is that it is eight times as good as any other method the human race has ever tried.
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land
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How exactly did one big rock from space kill dinosaurs on the other side of the planet? Â Here's an idea:
A paper in the Journal of Geophysical Research reviews the evidence for what its authors consider the most plausible model for global mayhem caused by the impact: its debris lit all the world's forests on fire at once.
Fire, fire, fire!
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Dinosaur-killing impact set the world on fire
Researchers argue forcefully that the ensuing heat set off global forest fires.
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Named after the experimental philosopher Joshua Knobe, the Knobe Effect describes the fact that people's moral sense lead to some counter-intuitive judgments.
Knobe asked nearly 100 random people in a Manhattan park a question about the following story.
The vice-president of a company went to the chairman of the board and said, "We are thinking of starting a new program. It will help us increase profits, but it will also harm the environment."
The chairman of the board answered, "I don’t care at all about harming the environment. I just want to make as much profit as I can. Let’s start the new program."
They started the new program. Sure enough, the environment was harmed.
Knobe asked them if the chairman intentionally harmed the environment.
88% of people said yes.
Knobe then asked (different) people a question about the same story except that instead of harming the environment, the new program helped the environment.
77% of the people say the chairman did not intentionally help the environment.
The literature is full of experiments showing weird contradictions like this. Â It's a wonder the human race gets anything done at all.
The following link is to the original paper describing the experiment.
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http://www.unc.edu/~knobe/Side-Effect.pdf
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Quora is always a great site for learning about stuff you never thought about before.
This particular question was asked:
What are the most convincing bits of evidence which prove, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the Holocaust occurred?
I've never really encountered a Holocaust denier, but I'm, of course, aware they exist. Â But the best answer to this question and the currently most up-voted one if you click through to the site goes in to a lot of detail that boils down to this:
No Nazi put on trial ever denied that it happened even though their life was at stake.
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What are the most convincing bits of evidence which prove, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the Holocaust occurred?
Answer (1 of 51): Over the years I have encountered and debated (if that’s the word) Holocaust deniers online on many occasions. As with debating many types of fanatics, this was never an exercise in…
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Light actually travels faster through air than glass — which leads us neatly onto the creation of Francesco Poletti and the other members of his University of Southampton team: A hollow optical fiber that is mostly made of air.
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Researchers create fiber network that operates at 99.7% speed of light, smashes speed and latency records | ExtremeTech
Researchers at the University of Southampton in England have produced optical fibers that can transfer data at 99.7% of the universe’s speed limit: The speed of light. The researchers have used these …
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An anti-senescence parable.
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read more:Â http://www.contriving.net/link/bd
Graphene aerogel is pretty light. read more: http://www.contriving.net/link/bd
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A couple years ago I set up a gmail account for my infant daughter and I started sending her emails about lessons I hope she learns, things she does, thoughts or ideas that move me and I hope she will also find moving. Â Basically, I'm writing letters to her future self.
I just wrote my 200th email to her! Â It was inspired by the chapter in Carl Sagan's Demon Haunted World in which he talks about inspiring and educating children (I'm currently re-reading this book).
I talked about the difficulties she's going to have with regards to finding inspiration in a society where showing wonder and an interest in science and math isn't lauded. Â Where women in particular don't seem to receive a lot of encouragement in developing a sense of wonderment with regards to science (not that I have a much of a clue about the challenges that women face). Â Where the vast majority of people in her life will probably be almost the antithesis of the curious-investigator-of-the-universe archetype.
I'm not sure at which age I'll give her access to this email account. Â I'd like her to read them when she's old enough to understand, but early enough that they can hopefully bring her comfort and help her make good decisions.
I also need to figure out a way for her to get access in the event of my untimely demise…
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 Her favorite is "boob", so she tells everyone she sees "boob is a palindrome".
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An animal so lost in rapturous contemplation of what he thinks he is as to overlook what he indubitably ought to be. His chief occupation is extermination of other animals and his own species, which, however, multiplies with such insistent rapidity as to infest the whole habitable earth and Canada.
– Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
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