Winter’s Haven

I don’t make a habit of getting excited about intellectual property law, but this proposal to resolve patent disputes via Starcraft matches is hilarious. It’s even more hilarious once you catch your breath and realize that it might not actually be such a bad idea.

Contrary to what I stated in the previous post, it is completely incorrect that DDT bans have prevented its use for vector control in third-world countries. Bug Girl, an entomologist, thoroughly debunks that claim. The agricultural use of DDT has been banned in many places (partly because more widespread use of insecticides causes insects develop [...]

The Economist has a fascinating series of articles (one, two, and three) on biochemists’ newfound recognition of the importance of RNA in the life of the cell. Scientists are already using this new understanding of RNA to develop drugs which can disrupt the production of harmful proteins, and, more generally, manipulate cellular processes in a [...]

I had been using Akismet to filter out spam comments, but it seems to produce too many false positives. My apologies if you posted a comment which got thrown out by the spam filter.
I’ve now moved to using a CAPTCHA system to prevent comment spam. Also, comments no longer need require my approval before appearing; [...]

Rachel Carson was born a hundred years and a few days ago. The New York Times science column has an excellent overview of how Silent Spring’s claims regarding the dangers of pesticides compare to state of scientific knowledge.
The short version: in light of the best scientific knowledge available at the time the book [...]

My laptop has been having power problems. Again. In the past, power problems have caused the plug (the one on the end of the AC adapter which plugs into the back of the laptop) to become very hot, causing the plastic part of it to melt. This has some bad effects: (1) it coats part [...]

I recently discovered some truly delicious cookies on the store self: Kashi Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. The problem is that they are moderately expensive, and I’m hooked. Although I am a decent cook, I have very little experience baking. Does anyone know how to reverse engineer a cookie?

Yes, literally. Read all about it. There are a lot of crazy ideas out there, but this one is my new favorite.

This clipping was taken from the BBC News Front Page on March 31, 2007.

The irony in that juxtaposition is more delicious than a chocolate Jesus.

I’ve been watching the X-Files recently, and I’ve slowly come to the realization that the entire show is one enormous conspiracy. A product placement conspiracy. But how, you ask, can product placement be a conspiracy? After all, isn’t it common knowledge that advertisers pay to have their products appear in movies and TV shows? This [...]