I’m not sure what to say. Honest.

(photo by Kimyo)

On a recent episode of Podioracket, I made the comment that, if all you know about Evo Terra is from his podcast, you really have no idea who you are dealing with. Evo’s a smart guy and has a brilliant way of cutting to the core of an issue which, I must admit, I envy¹. Check out his recent presentation on Big Numbers for Ignite Phoenix. While the ideas he’s discussing are, at their core, simple math, it’s the perspective he brings to the topic that showcases his skill.

1. I am also jealous of his Wikipedia page.  Don’t you judge me.[back]

Mark Jeffrey, author The Pocket and the Pendant and The Two Travelers, is hosting an excellent new vidcast Bibliotech:

About Bibliotech: The Evolution of Digital Publishing: Authors are podcasting MP3 novels. Publishers are inserting real-time ads into ebooks. And readers are discovering and communicating directly with authors on Twitter, Goodreads and other sites. Host Mark Jeffrey (@markjeffrey) interviews authors, technologists and publishing professionals about how digital media is changing their world.

Check out the first episode below, and visit bibliotechshow.com for future episodes.

Combat that not so fresh feeling, performance issues, and the cosmic dread with this simple advice.

(via plutopsyche)

Phil Plait’s latest article flew past me on Twitter today, and I was speedy enough to catch it and give it a read.

Read this before continuing: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/03/24/from-distant-planets-to-the-deep-blue-sea/.

I happen to agree with him that even in times like these we need to fund scientific research, in fact, I’d point out that especially in times like these. When the economy is uncertain, it’s all too easy to gaze into the complexity of the problems that face us and want to run screaming into the arms of a comfortable superstition to make us feel better.¹

Good science brings hope. It’s good for the country’s morale. When we make progress, when we understand more about the world around us, we are made a better people. We have a goal, beyond trying to figure out just how to undo what the greed of a few has wrought.

I want to cry when I see how NASA has fared in the last 20 years, perhaps longer, because the boneheads in Congress lack the foresight to embrace science as a priority. My father worked for NASA, and I was lucky to be one of those kids exposed to the Wonder of space and science at an early age. I want my children to have the same, but these days, NASA gets more press when things go wrong than when things go right. That’s an injustice of the highest kind.  We take the Space Shuttle and other advances for granted, forgetting what marvels they are.

I could not agree more with Dr. Plait’s final statements:

It is not only possible, but I believe mandated, that all of us who love science and want to further the knowledge of humanity support each other’s endeavors. The public does in fact have a great interest in many fields of science, including space exploration, ocean exploration, biological exploration…

The key word there is exploration, and there’s enough Universe out there for everybody.

1. No, I’m not talking about Atheism or Religion here. I’m talking about the unreasonable ticks that arise in every one of us when faced with something out of our control.[back]