20 JUN 2017 by ideonexus
Underreported Atheists
The authors of the study, published earlier this year, adopted a novel way to measure atheist identity. Instead of asking about belief in God directly, they provided a list of seemingly innocuous statements and then asked: “How many of these statements are true of you?” Respondents in a control group were given a list of nine statements, such as “I own a dog” and “I am a vegetarian.” The test group received all the same statements plus one that read, “I do not believe in God.”... 1 
notes
notes30 MAY 2015 by ideonexus
The South's Long History of Violence
Why has the South had such a long history of violence? The most sweeping answer is that the civilizing mission of government never penetrated the American South as deeply as it had the Northeast, to say nothing of Europe. The historian Pieter Spierenburg has provocatively suggested that “democracy came too early” to America.85 In Europe, first the state disarmed the people and claimed a monopoly on violence, then the people took over the apparatus of the state. In America, the people took...Folksonomies: violence vigilantism
Folksonomies: violence vigilantism
1 notes
notes24 JAN 2015 by ideonexus
Profiting on Asteroids
Some of the first questions which come up in any practical discussion of space colonization are questions of economics. Suppose we go out and settle on a convenient asteroid with our little spaceship, what do we do when we get there? How do we make a living? What can we expect to export in order to pay for necessary imports? If space colonization makes any sense at all, these questions must have sensible answers. Unfortunately, we cannot hope to answer questions of economics until the asteroi...Folksonomies: space colonization
Folksonomies: space colonization
1 notes
notes09 AUG 2014 by ideonexus
The Northeast Megalopolis
The megalopolis encompasses the District of Columbia and part or all of 11 states: from south to north, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. It is linked by Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1, which start in Miami and Key West, Florida, respectively, and terminate in Maine at the Canada–United States border, as well as the Northeast Corridor railway line, the busiest passenger rail line in the count... 1 notes
notes28 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Using Santa Claus as a Teachable Moment
But as our son Connor began to exhibit the incipient inklings of Kringledoubt, it occurred to me that something powerful was going on. I began to see the Santa paradigm as an unmissable opportunity—the ultimate dry run for a developing inquiring mind.
My boy was 8 years old when he started in with the classic interrogation: How does Santa get to all those houses in one night? How does he get in when we don’t have a chimney and all the windows are locked and the alarm system is on? Why do... 1 notes
notesTell the child the fantastic story about Santa Claus, but answer their skeptical questions truthfully.
05 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Santa Claus Can't Live at the North Pole
Here's a riddle for the kids. A man leaves his house for a walk. He walks a mile due south, a mile due east, and a mile due north, and finds he is back where he started. What is the man's name?
Yes, Virginia, his name is Santa Claus. And his house is at the North Pole.
But don't go looking for him there, Virginia. Here's the cold fact: Santa Claus doesn't live at the North Pole.
I knew from a young age that there was something fishy about Santa's address. At the age of five or six I discov...Folksonomies: superstition
Folksonomies: superstition
1 The ice is drifting an so is the pole.
16 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Convergent Evolution in Mammals and Marsupials
The most famous example of different species filling similar roles
involves the marsupial mammals, now found mainly in Australia
(the Virginia opossum is a familiar exception), and placental mammals,
which predominate elsewhere in the world. The two groups show important
anatomical differences, most notably in their reproductive systems
(almost all marsupials have pouches and give birth to very undeveloped
young, while placentals have placentas that enable young to be born at
a more advanced ...
1 Although they have very different reproductive strategies, the two groups have many parallels in species adapted to the same environments.
08 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Teaching Babies Science
But we also have some more direct evidence for the idea that children learn like scientists. Alison and Virginia Slaughter, one of her students, looked at three-year-old children who didn't yet fully understand belief—children who still said they had always thought that there were pencils in the candy box. Then, over the course of a few weeks, Virginia gave the children systematic evidence that their predictions were false. She told them firmly that they hadn't said pencils at all, they had... 1 notes
notesHaving children predict something and then systematically demonstrating how their prediction is false makes them more capable of understanding how beliefs work.
10 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The Efforts and Rewards of Naturalism
One day I buried myself, prone, in the muck
of a muskrat house. While my clothes
absorbed local color, my eyes absorbed the
lore of the marsh. A hen redhead cruised by
with her convoy of ducklings, pink-billed
fluffs of greenish-golden down. A Virginia
rail nearly brushed my nose. The shadow of
a pelican sailed over a pool in which a
yellow-leg alighted with warbling whistle; it
occurred to me that whereas I write a poem
by dint of mighty cerebration, the yellow-leg
walks a better one just by...This passage describes the lengths the naturalist will go to in order to witness nature's miracles.
18 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Thomas Jefferson was a Scientist
Thomas Jefferson was a scientist. That's how he described himself.
When you visit his home at Monticello, Virginia, the moment you enter its portals you find ample evidence of his scientific
interests - not just in his immense and varied library, but in
copying machines, automatic doors, telescopes and other instruments,
some at the cutting edge of early nineteenth-century technology.
Some he invented, some he copied, some he purchased. He
compared the plants and animals in America with Euro... 1 notes
notesHe called himself such and took delight in technology.
