Similarity

Similarity
described by Robert Goldstone of Indiana University.

Conscious Entities: leading theories about consciousness, and the mind.

A site with summaries & critiques of theories of consciousness.
Something for me to waste more time on...

Process Information

Process Information
Want to know what all those friggin' process are that are consuming all of your cycles & memory? Are they apps? viruses? spyware?

Here is a resource to identify what they are likely to be.

Moving Ideas Network

Issues, ideas & research in furtherance of "progressive" policy.

WolframTones: An Experiment in a New Kind of Music

Music generated from cellular automata as described in Wolfram's book, "A New Kind of Science". This is cool stuff, but it's not really a "new" kind of science...

RhymeZone rhyming dictionary and thesaurus

All you need to find appropriate rhymes for whatever rhyming challenge you face.

What is Body Burden?

What is Body Burden?
Lots of miscellaneous poisonous stuff out in the world...

The START Natural Language Question Answering System

Pretty cool. Ask questions, get answers, no Jeeves involved...

Konfabulator

In our continuing quest to bring you the absolute best of stuff, we'd like to show you this way cool tool.

Welcome | Science Commons

"Science depends upon the ability to observe, learn from, and test the work of others. Without effective access to data, materials and publications, the scientific enterprise becomes impossible.

Yet recent studies show a disturbing trend; increasing secrecy, cumbersome materials transfer agreements and complex licensing structures have made more difficult the sharing process on which science relies. "Because they were denied access to data, 28% of geneticists reported that they had been unable to confirm published research," a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports. And that is published research.

The problem here is not simply the commercialization of science; roadblocks to sharing hurt the development of commercial products too. Nor is it only a matter of expanded intellectual property rights and curtailed "research exemptions." The problem is more complex than that, and the solution must be as well. Our goal is to solve a specific part of the problem: the creation of a larger "Science Commons" built from private agreements, and technical standardization; the same "some rights reserved" approach adopted by Creative Commons, our parent organization."

Creative Commons

Creative Commons
A sensible (IMO) approach to sharing creative work.

MIT OpenCourseWare | OCW Home

MIT OpenCourseWare | OCW Home
MIT (among a few other schools) have published syllabi, course readings & assignments for many of their courses. A great way to learn something new. Of course, having contact with professors and other students, and having assignments evaluated, is not included.

The Onion | Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory

The Onion | Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory
Heh. Science claims to have "laws", but they are "only" theories

General Chemistry Online: Home

General Chemistry Online: Home
Way cool. This is really excellent use of technology. If you want to learn some chemistry (without doing labs...), there is a lot here.

Black Swan

In Rotorua, there were many black swans, though I believe they are native to Australia.
Assertions about swan color have become a canonical example in logic; see, e.g., Falsifiability.
They are cute but have a bit of a nasty temperament.

Buddhabot Blog
Current (?) postings on the project.

The Buddha Bot
Chat with simulated enlightenment.

Boosting Research Site: Boosting.org

Boosting methods have proven remarkably successful in machine learning. This is a great clearinghouse of resources.

Our Founding Fathers Were NOT Christians
The Founding Fathers Were Not Christians
More on the topic...

Deist Founding Fathers
To those religious intolerants who argue that America was founded as a Christian nation, some actual facts showing quite the opposite. Most of the founding fathers were not exactly atheists, but it's hard to find a Christian among them.

Kids, don't fall for 'free press' hype
Another chill falls. Read:
Anybody who thinks they want to be a reporter should be required to read every single word of the opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia No. 04-3138. That's the one that ordered Miller and Time magazine correspondent Matthew Cooper to reveal their confidential sources to a federal grand jury.

Pay particular attention to pages 72 through 78. Why? Because they're blank, that's why. Even experienced constitutional lawyers are flabbergasted by this. But at the request of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor assigned to this inquiry, his most powerful arguments for why Miller and Cooper should break their promises to sources are too sensitive for any of us to see.

As one respected First Amendment expert was heard to say, "What is this, freakin' Albania?"

FRONTLINE: watch online | PBS
Many excellent PBS Frontline shows available to watch online, plus transcripts & other web stuff. High quality stuff!

The Long Tail: "Pre-filters" vs. "Post-filters"
Some interesting comments on distribution. "Filters" are tools to help you find what's right for you in the mass of stuff. Old world: filters are gatekeepers. New world: filters are advisors.

Andrew Sullivan reviews two books on Abu Ghraib
The Torture memos & chronology of abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere. Key quote:
I confess to finding this transparency both comforting and chilling, like the photographs that kick-started the public's awareness of the affair. Comforting because only a country that is still free would allow such airing of blood-soaked laundry. Chilling because the crimes committed strike so deeply at the core of what a free country is supposed to mean. The scandal of Abu Ghraib is therefore a sign of both freedom's endurance in America and also, in certain dark corners, its demise.

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: June 12, 2005 - June 18, 2005 Archives
Off topic - his experience with the tablet PC. Summary: good!

Being Present, Mindfulness, Nowness, the Power of Now, and Self Remembering
Some pithy wisdom. Be here now.

COHE :: Ethics Overview
A secular perspective.

Ethics For A Secular Millenium
An interview with the Dalai Lama.

The Official Home Page of Grateful Dead
Still alive for us. All things deadhead.

DSIRE: DSIRE Home
Database of state incentives for renewable energy.