Cameron does not understand consequences

A couple of leaked letters.
The first from Cameron, as an MP, to Oxfordshire Council raising concerns about the huge cuts in public services given here has only been a slight reduction in the Council budget and that it could be made up by "savings" and property sales.
The second is the reply from the head of the Council explaining that a 37% cut isn't slight, and that there is no more "back office" to make savings from and all the spare property has been sold, and that Cameron's recommendation in that regard is neither sustainable or legal.

Cameron comes out of as appearing to not understand the link between the decisions of his government and their consequences.

It's good to see some of his Ministers beginning to resist (IDS!), but it does feel as if the guts are being ripped out of the country, and that unless you have pre-existing or inherited wealth then you largely stuffed. And if you do: remember that these services that are being cut are crucial to the stability of society...
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/11/david-cameron-letter-cuts-oxfordshire

Daft names for all

"The structure will be the subject of further investigation during the Operation Scan Pyramids project, which began on 25 October and is expected to last until the end of 2016."

Operation "Scan Pyramids" ??!? That's the best they could do ? I take it all back. Lousy names are not unique to astronomy.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34773856

On the EM drive

Another case where I'm not going to give any highlight quotes because the entire thing is perfect.

http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/history-validates-initial-skepticism/

Sensationalism does more harm than good

As I've been saying for a while, sensationalism is damaging for public trust in science, and this is an excellent example of that.

When media sensationalism continuously reports "discoveries" like this, we get into a dangerous feedback loop. Reputable scientists come along and dismiss it as the nonsense that it is. Believers then say, "Ah, there you go again, dismissing anything that doesn't agree with your world view", reinforcing their view of the mainstream scientists as a dogmatic acolyte, eroding trust in the scientific consensus.

As for the discovery itself, it might be true. There's no reason to suppose the Universe has to be comprehensible, and even though violating the conservation of momentum is akin to saying, "a wizard did it", observations always have the last word. The point is that no reputable scientist would ever have made claims like this on evidence this flimsy.

Originally shared by Ethan Siegel

"But there’s this romantic notion we all hang onto, nonetheless, that if some talented maverick with a novel perspective comes along, even without the proper background, they (or possible we, ourselves) can change the course of history forever.

This is the story we tell ourselves about a genius like Albert Einstein, whose general theory of relativity turns 100 this year. It’s the story we tell ourselves about Tesla, Edison, Faraday, Newton and more. We all know the danger of following the crowd, of a herd mentality, and of accepting what’s presently known in science as absolute, indisputable truth. And that’s why, when it comes to the biggest lies and hoaxes of all, it’s often the most intelligent among us who are the most gullible."

Every few months now, the popular press goes wild with claims that there's a new engine out there, one that produces thrust without any exhaust, violating the fundamental law of conservation of momentum. While science is, fundamentally, an experimental endeavor, this is far, far more likely to be a case of our own, human failings than it is a case of revolutionary new physics. There are distinct patterns we fall into that allow us to fool ourselves, and the root of it is that we, ourselves, simply do not have the resources and capacities to become experts in everything, and yet we do not trust those who have done exactly that.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2015/11/08/the-em-drive-nasas-impossible-engine-highlights-our-greatest-failing

Why are we even having this conversation ?

Thread about asking not to cut science funding attracts loonies, "the ISS is a hoax" thread is apparently "hot and recommended", nope, I'm done for the day.

Aaaaaargh.

Amazingly, no aliens

Well there ya go.

"The observations presented here indicate no evidence for persistent technology-related signals in the microwave frequency range 1 – 10 GHz with threshold sensitivities of 180 – 300 Jy in a 1 Hz channel for signals with 0.01 – 100 Hz bandwidth, and 100 Jy in a 100 kHz channel from 0.1 – 100 MHz. These limits correspond to isotropic radio transmitter powers of 4 – 7x10^15 W and 10^20 W for the narrowband and moderate band observations. These can be compared with Earth’s strongest transmitters, including the Arecibo Observatory’s planetary radar (2 x10^13 W EIRP). Clearly, the energy demands for a detectable signal from KIC 8462852 are far higher than this terrestrial example (largely as a consequence of the distance of this star). On the other hand, these energy requirements could be very substantially reduced if the emissions were beamed in our direction. Additionally, it’s worth noting that any society able to construct a Dyson swarm will have an abundant energy source, as the star furnishes energy at a level of ~10^27 watts."
http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.01606

Standing up for science

As scientists we are used to testing and re-testing the evidence. But that process cannot be confined to the laboratory or the library. We also need to constantly review the evidence for the value of science in our society – to check and re-tension the arguments. And an important part of that is participating in the discussion of how society values science. For some scientists that’s an uncomfortable role and tricky territory to navigate – they would rather just get on with their research. But if we are asking for public funding, we have to step up and make the argument, as powerfully and as broadly and as reasonably as we can.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/occams-corner/2015/nov/05/science-vital-campaign-argument-osborne

Just saw The Martian. My faith in Ridley Scott is restored.

Just saw The Martian. My faith in Ridley Scott is restored.

If only Interstellar had had the same science advisor...

How scientists avoid fooling themselves.

"“People forget that when we talk about the scientific method, we don't mean a finished product,” says Saul Perlmutter, an astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley. “Science is an ongoing race between our inventing ways to fool ourselves, and our inventing ways to avoid fooling ourselves.” So researchers are trying a variety of creative ways to debias data analysis — strategies that involve collaborating with academic rivals, getting papers accepted before the study has even been started and working with strategically faked data."

Excellent, thorough article.
http://www.nature.com/news/how-scientists-fool-themselves-and-how-they-can-stop-1.18517?WT.mc_id=GOP_NA_1510_NEWSFHOWSCIENTISTSFOOLTHEMSELVES_PORTFOLIO

Japan still uses faxes and tapes

""They usually use postal mail, or fax for their communications. We sometimes receive a fax, written by hand which means such firms don't even use word processing software like Word." Burning data onto discs and delivering them through the post, accompanied by a data submission form "filled out by hand," was encouraged by managers... the attitude tends to be "vincible ignorance" - what Aldous Huxley described as "not knowing because we don't want to"."
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34667380