http://nanothoughts.net nanothoughts for electric headz Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:06:49 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As a nerd, I like the idea of reading science news.  Unfortunately, science coverage in the general interest press is almost uniformly awful.  There are a lot of reasons for this: reporters can't possibly be current in every area of science (and in fact are probably not current in any ... http://nanothoughts.net/2009/07/10/will-calorie-restricted-diets-help-us-live-forever/ The PLoS, http://www.plos.org/, In the News sections always has an interesting collection of articles to peruse. Yeah, it's mostly biology based, but where else can you get Habsburg Inbreeding, Chimp Meat-Sex Barter, and Red Faced Drinkers? PLoS journal articles currently receiving widespread media attention: Silent Heart Attacks, Spanish Habsburg ... http://nanothoughts.net/2009/04/29/public-library-of-science-articles-in-the-news/ Over on True/Slant, Michael Roston opines: Read it and weep, Internet-using America. The fifth most common search on Google earlier this morning, via Google Trends, was ’swine flue.’ Not ‘flu’ as in influenza, but ‘flue’ Hmmm. I guess he doesn't understand the difference between Google Hot Trends and Google's most popular searches ... http://nanothoughts.net/2009/04/29/michael-roston-does-not-know-the-difference-between-google-hot-trends-and-most-popular-searches-overall/ This article reminded me of the chapter in Freakanomics that talks about naming kids, race and socioeconomic success. And there have been a boatload of older studies about resumes with distinctly black names not getting callbacks for interviews. So, imagine if Obama was only able to submit his resume (which ... http://nanothoughts.net/2008/11/29/whats-in-a-name/ I walked into my neighborhood drugstore yesterday and was greeted by a melamine tableware endcap. e.g. http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/11037899/Melamine_Tableware.html People want to put their food on plates made out of melamine?! Apparently it polymerizes too (when combined with formaldehyde, how appropriate). Who knew? http://nanothoughts.net/2008/11/25/melamine-tableware/ "And although it seems heaven sent we aint ready, to see a black president, uhh" -Tupac Shakur I totally agreed with Tupac when this song came out, and even as recently as a year ago. Maybe even a few months ago. But today I voted for Obama and so did millions others. ... http://nanothoughts.net/2008/11/05/changes/  So, I was over on the awesome polling and statistics site,  fivethirtyeight.com and on their main page, I was greeted by the following ad: Not your typical fivethirtyeight.com ad, but with the election less than a week away, maybe some will try anything to change the outcome. Here's the full webpage screenshot ... http://nanothoughts.net/2008/10/29/somebody-is-buying-interesting-ads-on-political-sites/ Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon , great song The '59 Sound - Gaslight Anthem Love Is Noise - The Verve, William Blake paraphrased over a Tomorrow Never Knows backdrop. so awesome. Human - The Killers , released today and even an average Killers track is still pretty freaking good Play Your ... http://nanothoughts.net/2008/09/30/current-fave-tracks-of-the-moment/ Awesome fake trailer for a Disney "hocky mom as VP" feel good hit of the year: See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor. http://nanothoughts.net/2008/09/28/head-of-skate/ 8:58 PM tbone pikkens: i am 8 tabling gonna be hard to stay involved RZA: dude sit out 8:59 PM i have cnn on they have a counter 37 seconds! 9:00 PM the crisis what channel do you have on? 9:02 PM tbone pikkens: cnbc RZA: jesus christ they still have the ticker going on at the bottom 9:03 PM i can't stand ... http://nanothoughts.net/2008/09/27/first-presidential-debate-2008-lehrermccainobama-live-chatblog/