(image snapped from Save the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus)

While I knew many people had difficulty understanding and accepting scientific papers as a basis for discussion and argument (mostly because whenever facts contradict opinion, the people on the wrong side of the facts take issue with them,) I didn’t know that some people had difficulty telling solid facts from conjecture, and that people had that much difficulty actually finding studies pertinent to the things they’re researching or interested in.

To that end, this piece from Scientific American about how to find and tell good information from bad information on the Internet is one of those “bookmarkable” stories – the kind you send to people when you find that their entire argument rests on horribly outdated or disproven information. They start off with this gem, and move on to some tips on how to find good information, corroborate it, and interpret it:

The internet empowers us to educate ourselves and make more informed choices and decisions without leaving our couches. But if we believe everything we find on the internet, we are likely to wind up making some very poor decisions. In this new digital information age, how do we keep from being misinformed? As a skeptical environmental research scientist and educator I have picked up a few tricks that anyone can use to find and select high-quality information from the internet.

One of my favorites is how to find and use scientific papers (and not to be afraid of scientific papers when you find them) and of course, to be careful which web sites you trust. The whole piece is worth a read, but admittedly, many of us are already familiar with these tips:

[ Scientific American :: Finding Good Information on The Internet ]

(image above from the fine folks at Penny Arcade, from this comic in 2004. Click to enlarge!)

Anil Dash is a prominent blogger and commentator, and while I don’t always agree with his perspectives, this one is interesting. Dash posits that if the community around your website is problematic or disrespectful, the fault probably lies with the site owner and editors for not making sure they foster an environment where constructive discussion is encouraged and trolling or negativity is discouraged or moderated.

It’s a complicated piece for me, because part of what Dash is saying is so contrary to what bloggers and writers have been told for years – that if you want people to read your work, you should encourage all discussion, whether it’s positive or negative. As in, criticism is one thing, but any comments, even trolls and hateful ones, are better than no comments at all. Personally, I’ve never believed that, I think that too many people already misinterpret what their freedom of speech is and think that it gives them the right to say whatever they want, whenever they choose, on any site or platform they wish. Nothing could be further from the truth (for one, the first amendment only protects speech in public places, and only protects the individual from having their speech oppressed by the state, not by other individuals or groups) but most sites – if they’re worth the space they take on the web – encourage both positive and negative conversation, even if it’s critical, and allow their communities to moderate themselves, outside of spam and outright hateful commentary.

Still, Dash proposes that if your site is being plagued by trolls and others who have nothing positive or constructive to say, it’s likely because you’re not spending enough time moderating the comments, or because you don’t have anyone on your staff responsible for coming up with a community policy and moderating the community according to those rules. It’s a pretty good read, even if you don’t completely agree with it.

[ Anil Dash :: If Your Website's Full of Assholes, It's Your Fault ]

(photo by Seth Anderson)

I worked in computer support for a long time – long enough that I thought that I may not do anything else, so I completely understand how this is. I’ve had friends – even long after I worked in support and wound up working in more enterprise-type administrative technology roles – still ask me for help fixing their busted computer, cleaning out spyware and viruses, and generally speeding it up. So yeah, I know how this list is.

At the same time, the list is more hyperbole than actual truth, but if I said there’s no truth to it whatsoever, I’d be lying. After all, doing things like uninstalling the protective programs that your “computer savvy” friend installed for you, or running off and doing things that your computer savvy friend specifically asked you not to do are generally Bad Ideas. Then – none of you reading this would ever do such a thing if you had someone look at your computer for you, right?

[ Cracked :: 6 Reasons The Guy Who's Fixing Your Computer Hates You ]

Submitted without comment, aside from that it should be required viewing prior to commenting, writing, or otherwise interacting on the internet.

If you have tender eyes or ears or are easily offended, scroll on by now. I would sincerely hope you don’t though, otherwise you might miss one of the most ingenious and entertaining USB flash drives to hit the market in recent years. After all, the Duet is an 8GB flash drive, but it’s also something very very different: a vibrating…personal health appliance designed to help ladies relax, if you catch my drift.

No?

Okay, it’s a flash drive plus vibrator. Yes, it’s a sex toy on one end and stores your most personal data on the other. Talk about a very very personal accessory. Here’s what Unplggd had to say on the matter, along with the specs on the Duet:

Here’s the specs on the Crave Duet:

• Phthalate-free & body-safe silicone
• USB rechargeable
• Completely waterproof
• Virtually silent
• 4 vibration modes & 5 power levels

• Up to 4 hours of continuous use

• Genuine leather pouch included

• 4.55” x 1.08” x 0.48” (11.6 x 2.7 x 1.23 cm)

There’s even the option for 8GB flash storage (perhaps to store appropriate media to help along related activities?) and a couple other luxe gold detail finishing, if you’re into a more fanciful finish to your lil’ friend. As one friend put it upon seeing these, “they’d make awesome bachelorette party favors!”

The Duet is another one of those products that’s looking for interest and people who are interested in putting their money into the project before they actually go forth and start mass producing.

[ CKIE :: Duet ]

More news I’ve been sitting on for a while but that’s still incredible is the story of the habitable – by all indication anyway – exo-Earth orbiting a binary star system well over 40 light years away. As noted at Technology Review, it’s not that astronomers are having a difficult time finding habitable exo-Earths: there are definitely plenty out there and we’re finding more and more thanks to the launch of the Kepler probe and its finely tuned eyes.

In fact, so many new candidates have appeared that a lot of people have already moved on to the next thing in the news cycle, completely forgetting that we’re on the brink of discovering planets that aren’t just potentially habitable to life like ours, but that may also have their own forms of life already on them.

In this case, 55 Cancri f, shown above, is in the constellation Cancer and shows signs of being quite comfortable to human life even though it orbits a binary star system. When I was a wee astrophysicist as an undergrad, I learned that binary star systems are entirely more common than you might think (after all, we do tend to make the assumption that our own star system is the norm.)

Here’s what Technology Review had to say:

Today, we can add another strange planet to the list: 55 Cancri f, one of five planets known to orbit an orange dwarf star some 40 light years away in the constellation of Cancer.

Kaspar von Braun at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and a few pals have measured its orbit accurately for the first time. These guys are able to confirm that 55 Cancri f is a genuine candidate to support liquid water.

They say that although this planet’s orbit is much more elliptical than Earth’s, it still spends most of its time (74 per cent) in the habitable zone.

Furthermore, 55 Cancri f is quite like Earth in some ways. Its year is about the same length as ours. And with moderate greenhouse warming, it could support liquid water all year round.
But unlike Earth, its mass is about the same as Neptune’s (although it doesn’t seem to have a large gaseous atmosphere).

That’s incredible: a Neptune-sized planet that could be completely habitable and has two suns? Incredible.

[ Technology Review :: Astronomers Discover Habitable ExoEarth Orbiting Binary Star ]

It would be enough if this beautiful Steampunk watch over at Instructables just kept time, but it also has the mechanical retracting iris that makes this watch a piece of art. The YouTube video of it in action is below, but it’s safe to say the thing is absolutely gorgeous.

Best of all, since it’s Instructables, you get to see how the thing is made, from start to finish.

[ Instructables :: Steampunk Wristwatch With Mechanical Iris Cover ]

The fine folks at BoingBoing managed to find a link to a 360-degree tour of the flight deck of Space Shuttle Discovery, in all of her glory. The images are fantastic – so much so that you can read the panels and switches and see what controls what aspects of the Space Shuttle. You even get to see the control panel in the back of the shuttle where Astronauts control the robot arm (hint: it’s the panel labeled “Canada”) in the shuttle’s cargo bay, and…an oddly placed Dell laptop.

I don’t even know what that Dell laptop is for. Everything else though – absolutely stunning to look at. Here’s hoping they let us peek into the flight decks of the shuttles when they get to their final resting museums.

[ 360VR :: 360-Degree Tour of Shuttle Discovery's Flight Deck via BoingBoing ]

Following up their hilarious Mario with a Portal Gun video, this Link with a Portal Gun video form the folks at Dorkly simply takes the cake. After all, this is totally how I would have played Link to The Past if I had a portal gun on me at the time. Props to The How-To Geek for finding this!

[ Dorkly Bits: Link to The Past With a Portal Gun ]

It would be enough if this beautiful Steampunk watch over at Instructables just kept time, but it also has the mechanical retracting iris that makes this watch a piece of art. The YouTube video of it in action is below, but it’s safe to say the thing is absolutely gorgeous.

Best of all, since it’s Instructables, you get to see how the thing is made, from start to finish.

[ Instructables :: Steampunk Wristwatch With Mechanical Iris Cover ]