From: Announcements, Design, Money, Science By Bevans on Monday, June 23, 2008

This is something that's been sloshing around in my head for a while now.

I'm one of those people who has some pretty strong opinions on a lot of things, but I've always felt that it's best to keep your mind open to new ideas, even if they contradict what you think you know. So, this design is intended to show the world that you're willing to listen to new data and maybe even change your mind, but only if presented with proof.

I first got the idea for this design when I heard someone tell a story on one of the podcasts I listen to. I've heard it several times now, but I think the first was on Penn Jilette's radio show. The story is about a scientist who believed he had solved a certain problem. For decades, he believed his solution, until one day at a convention (or something) he was giving a lecture, and a person in the audience stood up and told the scientist that his theory was wrong. He went in front of the audience and showed the scientist where he had gotten the theory wrong. Rather than become angry and yell at this person, the scientist smiled and shook the person's hand. The audience applauded. After a whole lifetime, the scientist had been proven wrong, and he couldn't have been more happy.

That's what's great about science and critical thinking. So to celebrate that idea, I made this design and put it on a bunch of t-shirts, to sell on the internet.

From: Entertainment, Links, Movies, Politics, Ranting, Science By Bevans on Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I'm using my considerable draw and influence to call attention to a good cause today.

By now you've probably seen commercials for Ben Stein's new movie "Expelled", which is apparently being marketed as a wacky teen comedy or something. But really, it's a "documentary" full of anti-science, anti-evolution propaganda.

That's not what I'm trying to call attention to. I'm calling attention to Expelled Exposed, a web site designed to show just how full of shit Ben Stein and his stupid movie (as well as creationists in general) are.

But, some may argue that this is just calling more attention to the movie. Well, it's already being advertised for on TV. The best we can do is help to draw attention to the truth. The Expelled Exposed site is currently #8 when you search for "expelled" on Google, and the more you link to a site, the higher it goes on Google. So the goal is to get this site to appear BEFORE the movie's web site on Google.

From: Science By Bevans on Wednesday, September 26, 2007

A while ago, I heard about a site that offers $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate psychic or paranormal abilities or events. Up until now I haven't bothered to look it up, but today I did.

The James Randi Educational Foundation's One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge

What I found really interesting was their Log of Applicants. There are hundreds of people listed there who have applied, with nearly as many weird so-called "abilities". Some of these people claim to be able to transfer thoughts to other minds, to be able to control magnetism, to have telekinesis, to be able to exorcise demons, control street lights, and all sorts of other psychic nutjobbery. And not a single one has passed the foundation's preliminary tests. These aren't hard tests either. They're basic, scientific rules that don't allow for any sort of bias or outside interference.

I'm also posting this so that other people can use it to help to debunk the phonies, and to help the truly gifted. If you know or meet someone who claims to have psychic or paranormal abilities (or if you've ever hired one to come to your house, hint hint) then you can just point them to this site. Even if they don't want the money, they can always donate it to the charity of their choice. There's no reason NOT to do it!

From: Science, Videos By Bevans on Tuesday, September 04, 2007

This video shows 3 different experiments that scientists conducted in zero gravity, presumably on the ISS. They're really quite amazing, especially the last one.