Nice optical illusion

Watch as a pink dot moves around a circle of pink dots, then becomes a green dot and the other pink dots disappear...

Intelligent Design and Rigorous Peer Review

In the Dover intelligent design trial, expert witness for the defense Michael Behe, author of Darwin's Black Box, testified that his book received rigorous peer review--more rigorous than a paper in a scientific journal:

At the same time, Behe agreed, when asked by plaintiff's counsel Eric Rothschild if the "peer review for Darwin's Black Box was analogous to peer review in the [scientific] literature." It was, according to Behe, even more rigorous. There were more than twice standard the number of reviewers and "they read [the book] more carefully... because this was a controversial topic."

It turns out that the deciding factor in the book's being published came from the rigorous peer review of Dr. Michael Atchison of the University of Pennsylvania, who has described his involvement:

...I received a phone call from the publisher in New York. We spent approximately 10 minutes on the phone. After hearing a description of the work, I suggested that the editor should seriously consider publishing the manuscript. I told him that the origin of life issue was still up in the air. It sounded like this Behe fellow might have some good ideas, although I could not be certain since I had never seen the manuscript. We hung up and I never thought about it again. At least until two years later. [...]

In November 1998, I finally met Michael Behe when he visited Penn for a Faculty Outreach talk. He told me that yes, indeed, it was his book that the publisher called me about. In fact, he said my comments were the deciding factor in convincing the publisher to go ahead with the book.

The key reviewer, whose comments were the determining factor in the publication of the book, spent ten minutes on the telephone with the publisher, whose wife was a student in one of his classes, and he never saw the book itself until after it was published.

Ed Brayton and John Lynch give more detail and comment.

There were four other reviewers: Robert Shapiro (prof. of chemistry, NYU, author of Origins: A Skeptic's Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth), K. John Morrow (formerly at Texas Tech University Health Sciences, published critic of Dembski and Behe), a forgotten Washington University biochemist, and another whom Behe has completely forgotten. Perhaps they gave it a more rigorous review than Atchison, who didn't actually review it at all.

Which classic science fiction films have you seen?

From Pharyngula. Bold the ones you've seen.

* The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!
* Akira
* Alien
* Aliens
* Alphaville
* Back to the Future
* Blade Runner
* Brazil
* Bride of Frankenstein
* Brother From Another Planet
* A Clockwork Orange
* Close Encounters of the Third Kind
* Contact
* The Damned
* Destination Moon
* The Day The Earth Stood Still
* Delicatessen
* Escape From New York
* ET: The Extraterrestrial
* Flash Gordon: Space Soldiers (serial)
* The Fly (1985 version)
* Forbidden Planet
* Ghost in the Shell
* Gojira/Godzilla
* The Incredibles
* Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)
* Jurassic Park
* Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior
* The Matrix
* Metropolis
* On the Beach
* Planet of the Apes (1968 version)
* Robocop
* Sleeper
* Solaris (1972 version)
* Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
* Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
* Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
* The Stepford Wives
* Superman
* Terminator 2: Judgement Day
* The Thing From Another World
* Things to Come
* Tron
* 12 Monkeys
* 28 Days Later
* 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
* 2001: A Space Odyssey
* La Voyage Dans la Lune
* War of the Worlds (1953 version)

I'm assuming the 1954 version of Godzilla is intended (not the 1984 one or "Godzilla 2000"), the 1902 version of La Voyage Dans la Lune (not the 1986 TV version), and the 1975 version of The Stepford Wives (not the 2004 version). This is a rather weird list. I'd remove all the anime and add some more obscure stuff like Phase IV, Silent Running, The Cube, Logan's Run, Village of the Damned, 20 Million Miles to Earth, etc.

The Impracticality of Space Travel

We better hope that one day either carbon nanotubes or plutonium can be purchased in bulk at the corner market, because otherwise, sadly, it looks like we ain't gettin' into space until the day when we're all as rich as Bill Gates.

(ht: Chicago Boyz)

EFF Decrypts Laser Printer Codes

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has published information about tracking codes printed in every document by laser printers from Xerox, Canon, Brother, Dell, Epson and other companies. These codes, which have been decrypted for one model of Xerox printer, indicate the date and time the document was printed and the serial number of the printer. The codes have apparently been in effect for at least a decade.

1st Lt. Gregg Murphy: Bush shill?

The Media Citizen blog has some background on one of the soldiers in the pre-rehearsed interaction with Bush that occurred last Thursday--it seems he's been appearing in pro-Bush pieces on Iraq since 2003.

Science catches up with Jules Verne...

On the 16th of January, the Nautilus seemed becalmed only a few yards beneath the surface of the waves. Her electric apparatus remained inactive and her motionless screw left her to drift at the mercy of the currents. I supposed that the crew was occupied with interior repairs, rendered necessary by the violence of the mechanical movements of the machine.

My companions and I then witnessed a curious spectacle. The hatches of the saloon were open, and, as the beacon light of the Nautilus was not in action, a dim obscurity reigned in the midst of the waters. I observed the state of the sea, under these conditions, and the largest fish appeared to me no more than scarcely defined shadows, when the Nautilus found herself suddenly transported into full light. I thought at first that the beacon had been lighted, and was casting its electric radiance into the liquid mass. I was mistaken, and after a rapid survey perceived my error.

The Nautilus floated in the midst of a phosphorescent bed which, in this obscurity, became quite dazzling. It was produced by myriads of luminous animalculae, whose brilliancy was increased as they glided over the metallic hull of the vessel. I was surprised by lightning in the midst of these luminous sheets, as though they had been rivulets of lead melted in an ardent furnace or metallic masses brought to a white heat, so that, by force of contrast, certain portions of light appeared to cast a shade in the midst of the general ignition, from which all shade seemed banished. No; this was not the calm irradiation of our ordinary lightning. There was unusual life and vigour: this was truly living light!

Arrested Development

I'm rather skeptical about whether this concept will actually accomplish anything, because, aside from the fact that Fox almost certainly makes orders of magnitude more revenue from commercial advertising than they do from DVD sales, advertisers don't care about DVD sales, they care about ratings.

But what the hell? I can't resist stumping for such a hilariously funny show.

What other broadcast television show on the Republican-shill Fox network can you think of that makes fun of Bush's absurd "Mission Accomplished" photo-op, the military's recruiting difficulties, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, "free speech zones", and the lack of WMDs in Iraq?

I suppose an argument could be made that more DVD sales now could translate to higher ratings in the future. But how is it that the DVD can be ranked #4 on Amazon but the TV show is still getting dismal (less than 4 mil/week) viewership? It's a mystery!

Anyway, I hope the show at least finishes out a fourth season.

Two Thousand?

This item, found via the Antiwar.com blog, will probably be bouncing around the aether for the next few days. It strikes me, though, as far too antiseptic to be at all moving--not to mention the fact that it neglects the orders-of-magnitude more tragic, um, Iraqi side of the equation.

It also calls to mind this Herbert Spencer quote, from his essay "Patriotism," found in this book:

"When men hire themselves out to shoot other men to order, asking nothing about the justice of their cause, I don't care if they are shot themselves."

Bush talks to God / Karen Hughes adds "under God" to the Constitution

Former Palestinian foreign minister Nabil Shaath confirms that George W. Bush told him that he had been given a mission by God to invade Afghanistan and Iraq and then create a Palestinian state to bring peace to the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, in addition to acting as "bin Laden's little helper" by spreading the message to Arab nations that the U.S. is acting out of Christian impulses, has also added the phrase "one nation under God" to the U.S. Constitution in her conversations with officials in Egypt.