The Smug Baldy Speaks

In a previous post we looked at scales of measurement – from the very very large, to the incredibly minute. In a similar vein we have Giant Stars, which provides us with a sense of just how big our biggest problems really are. As I said before, I find it reassuring when I can get [...]

Many people like to think that humanity is rightfully master of the universe because only our species can perform complex symbolic reasoning and do cool things with our opposable thumbs. We enjoy our spot at the apex of the food chain, at the very pinnacle of evolution, even though we defined the rules by which [...]

In what amounts to probably the nicest example of corporate support for the spirit of community that pervades the Web 2.0 phenomena, IBM has launched a cool new site called Many Eyes that allows members to upload and visualize datasets from just about anywhere. I found it very easy to navigate the system and upload [...]