Butcher's Choice Cuts » science & tech

The strings the thing, or not

jhbutcher — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:19:02 +0000

Interesting science quote I heard today:;
Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, on String Theory: “Dont hold your breath on that one. They’re not there yet – get over it.”

Oh you’ve got to be kidding

jhbutcher — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:37:29 +0000

The London Times has published what it believes to be the location of the United States’ Unmanned Aerial Vehicle base in Pakistan. Where did they say they found the information? Google Earth. Seriously.

Baby black holes

jhbutcher — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:25:17 +0000

Black holes from the Large Hadron Collider could last for minutes? That doesn’t sound good. Not good at all.

Nation of gadget whores

jhbutcher — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:37:57 +0000

This article is a review on popsci.com about some new phone on the Sprint wireless network. The person doing the test is an iPhone owner. He readily admits that his iPhone/AT&T wireless combo drops calls all the time and that the internet is slow as molasses. After trying the new phone/Sprint wireless combination, he says that the Sprint service is far more reliable and the Sprint internet service is much faster. So, which one does he side with? The iPhone of course, because it’s a cooler gadget.
It’s worse at phone calls, slower at surfing the internet, less ergonomic but it’s “cooler” so he’ll take it. I think that would almost have to be the definition of a gadget whore.

MiniPC – the Mini 9 and others

jhbutcher — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 05:02:04 +0000

I was tempted by Dell’s new Mini 9, the Asus Eee PC and others. They’re small, which is a plus, and well they do look darn handy. They do have a certain new and hip appeal but after looking around on the net, I realized you could by a lease-return (a laptop which has been leased by a company for one to two years and then returned) Dell on e-Bay that has more features and more practicality for less money. If you’re thinking “Hey, but I’d rather spend more to be hip”, well then you go nuts and I’ll keep the cash.

Creepy Psychologists

jhbutcher — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:59:37 +0000

Psychologists trying to “shape” attitudes about being “environmentally friendly” – pretty creepy stuff from an August article in USA Today.

So much for non-directive therapy, huh? And why the #$%& is the American Psychological Association worried about this? Read their mission statement:

The mission of the APA is to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives.

Wow, pretty creepy stuff.

Space Shuttle launch

jhbutcher — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:20:50 +0000

Ok, this is cool.