Ken Lammers does a nice job of collecting up some of the shortcomings of the just-announced Apple iPad. I don't get it either. The iPad seems really limited. My iPhone has similar limitations---no multitasking, no USB or FireWire, a closed application deployment mechanism---but it's a cell phone: Making it more flexible would come at the risk of making it less reliable. But in … [Read more...] about iPad iMpotence
Science
Mathematics In Gangland
Scott Greenfield, font of so much that I can riff off of, has a complaint about gang experts who try to paint every action by the defendant as related to his membership in a gang: If a defendant has a tattoo, the expert will testify that tattoos are "brands" typically worn by gang members. If the tattoo happens to say "Tiffany", then the testimony is changed ever so … [Read more...] about Mathematics In Gangland
Pluto and the Final Stage of Grief
I'll tell you, I didn't have much Love for the Pluto haters. But I've come to accept the truth of it. Pluto crosses the orbit of Neptune, it's tilted out of the ecliptic, there's other crap all around it, and it's small---almost as small as its moon, which doesn't even orbit a point inside Pluto. It's a rock. Just like all the other outer-system dwarf planets: Haumea, Makemake, … [Read more...] about Pluto and the Final Stage of Grief
Stupidity and Darwin and Liberals and Molotov Mitchell
In another post, I mentioned that I was worried that I might write something that was so bad it wasn't even wrong. I borrowed that phrase from Steven Pinker (who borrowed it from someone else), and since saying that, I've been concerned that people might not understand what I mean. I'm talking about a level of level of misunderstanding so profound that it's difficult to … [Read more...] about Stupidity and Darwin and Liberals and Molotov Mitchell
Mystery In Space
I think I've read about a dozen science fiction stories that start this way. It's usually not a good sign. In a paper to appear in the Astrophysical Journal, astronomers working on the Supernova Cosmology Project report finding a new kind of something that they cannot make any sense of. ... On February 21, 2006, in the direction of a far-away cluster in Bootes...Hubble began … [Read more...] about Mystery In Space