Peeper Dee #184

by jude c

If you haven’t noticed, there is frequently cross over imagery in the images that are submitted. This time it happened with Jude and myself.

Jude … what a copy cat!

by Pea Dub

by Becky F

the devil quilt will get you! by sunny lee

Les Nuages by J-dub

Sweet! The Half-life of Facts! Jesus gets immunity.

Kottke posted that there’s a new book by Samuel Arbesman called, “The Half-Life of Facts.“

The book talks about how “facts” change and evolve. There’s a common misconception that we supposed science lovers repeat over and over when talking to non-skeptical, un-thinking folks.

There’s a honk in there somewhere.

But we say, “Science doesn’t claim a dogma or solid truth. While we appear to be assholes about evolution, science is open to change.”

It makes it different from, say, religion or Playboy magazine, which is always, ALWAYS representative of the pinnacle of quality, reality and brilliance.

It’s like the evolution of pubic hair maintenance over the years. The way you trim, wax or laser may be different, but what’s underneath always stays the same.

Honk.

But science’s claim to fame is its beautiful ability to change with the information and data.

Once it’s proven that men and women don’t walk on water, it becomes questionable that anyone ever did.

Does that make sense, or do I need to get out the chalk board and do some diagrams?

More about the book:

Facts change all the time. The age at which women should get a mammogram has increased. Smoking has gone from doctor recommended to deadly while the healthiness of carbs and fat seems to be in constant flux. We used to think the Earth was the center of the universe, that Pluto was a planet, and that the brontosaurus was a real dinosaur. What we know about the world is constantly changing.

Samuel Arbesman is an expert in scientometrics, literally the science of science—how we know what we know. It turns out that knowledge in most fields evolves in systematic and predictable ways, and understanding that evolution can be enormously powerful. For instance, knowing how different branches of medicine overturn their bodies of knowledge can improve the way we train (and retrain) physicians.

The Half-Life of Facts features fascinating examples from fields as diverse as technology and literature. It will help us find new ways to measure the world while accepting the limits of how much we can know with certainty.

Monday Nooner: Power Rangers!

My Power Rangers images posted over at Time Out Chicago. You can check them out here.

Should be somewhat safe for work. Maybe not completely.

The most unsafe one (which isn’t more than women in bikinis) is below the fold. Click to enlarge. I also like the feathered image below it.

monday inspiration: Salvador Dali Writes A Letter On A Lady

Via I have seen the whole of the Internet

Austin Frakt: Obamacare is the biggest tax increase in history … if you ignore history

Reblogged from Austin Frakt at The Incidental Economist.

Update: Per Austin’s comment below, you must go to his blog to read the whole two paragraphs of this blog. Thanks TIE.

Read on.

Although, I’m not sure it’s worth going to a web site that gets promoted on another blog, and the original blogger’s panties get wadded up over quoting two measly paragraphs of a widdle bitty post. This was the rough equivalent of a paragraph made from about a hundred sentences.

Those guys may be economists, but they aren’t economical with their periods.

 

Except, of course, when it comes to legislating the “morality” of the conservative agenda

And by “moral”, I certainly mean immoral.

And by not running their lives, Reagan means, run their lives completely.

Seen on facebook

Sweet Ronald Reagan meme reads, “Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.”