Lost in Transcription

Faster-than-light neutrinos and faulty wiring

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:26:00 +0000

So, the latest on the faster-than-light neutrino saga is that the discovery may have been the result of measurement bias resulting from faulty wiring. Which is sort of sad. As Jason Kottke noted, "Neutrinos? More like Nintendo . . . they forgot to blow in the cartridge."

Anyway, Dev made an effort to explain the situation to Guillaume, and I thought that I would share their conversation with you:

Best URL for sharing: http://www.darwineatscake.com/id=95
Permanent image URL for hotlinking or embedding: http://www.darwineatscake.com/img/comic/95.jpg

The Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship Incorporated

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:24:00 +0000

So, here's an update for you on the development of the Ronin Institute. I've written about the concept and motivation for Ronin previously (e.g., here, here, and here). Briefly, the goal is to establish an institute to support scholarly research outside of the traditional (university / government lab / research institute) environment.

Well, the Ronin Institute is now incorporated in the State of New Jersey. The official name of the corporation is "The Ronin Institute for Independent Scholarship Incorporated." That's obviously a mouthful. As it turns out, having something like "Incorporated" or "Corporation" is a requirement for an official corporation name in New Jersey. It seems, then, that the standard practice is to have two names for your corporation. One is the official, legal name. Then, you file additional paperwork to establish a legal alias (like, "The Ronin Institute"), which you can put on your checks, letterhead, etc.

Now, some of you may be reading this and saying, "Why the heck are you forming a corporation?" After all, the whole concept here is that independent scholars want and need is independence, not a corporate overlord. In fact, a "corporation" may sound worse than a university when you think about issues like academic freedom.

Well, it turns out that incorporating is the first step in establishing a non-profit. For the Ronin Institute, the incorporation paperwork was filed on February 13. I have just finished working with the other people who will form the initial board of directors to iron out the bylaws for the institute. The next step will be to submit the federal application for tax-exempt status. At that point, we will have a fully formed non-profit, and we can begin in earnest the work of changing the way that research is done in the country and in the world.

Why am I telling you all of this? For those of you who are interested specifically in the Ronin Institute and its mission – and especially those among you who may eventually be interested in joining up – I want to keep you up to date on our progress.

There may also be some of you out there who are interested in the idea of independent scholarship, and are thinking about forming your own non-profit research institute. For you, I want to provide a sense of how the process works. Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to post information about creating bylaws, establishing a board of directors, and preparing the federal application documents.

In the meantime,here's an adorable video of an adorable baby aardvark!

Video via Jezebel.

This post cross-posted at the Ronin Blog.

Latest from Darwin Eats Cake: The Comatose

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:17:00 +0000

So, you know that meme that's been going around, where there's some profession, or group of people, and then a series of pictures showing how different people perceive them?

Are you tired of it yet? No? Well, then, bookmark this page, and come back when you are. Just remember, the first one to go meta wins!!

Best URL for sharing: http://www.darwineatscake.com/?id=94
Permanent image URL for hotlinking or embedding: http://www.darwineatscake.com/img/comic/94.jpg

Infringing on Fallopitarian Religious Freedom!

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:27:00 +0000

So, I really have nothing to add to this. (Via Daily Kos)

Valentine's Day videos from BarfQuestion

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 02:39:00 +0000

So, this guy BarfQuestion (real name, not BarfQuestion) makes these awesome little animations each year on Valentine's Day for Danielle, his once girlfriend, then fiancée. There does not seem to be one up yet for 2012, which hopefully means that she is getting a private screening on their honeymoon.

That came out nastier than I intended.

Here are the videos from 2009 and 2010, which sort of tie together. Check out the whole series from 2007-2011 here.

Darwin Eats Cake Valentine's Day Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:46:00 +0000

So, it's almost Valentine's Day here in the States, and you've forgotten to buy something for your spouse / fiancé(e) / boy- and/or girl-friend. Fortunately, we've got you covered. Just print out these handy-dandy Valentine's Day cards, and you're all set.

If you're in Australia, Valentine's Day is already half over, and while you also forgot to buy anything for your special someone, you'll get away with it, because sheep never know what day it is.

Higher-resolution versions can be found over at Darwin Eats Cake.

The Fly from SMBC

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:06:00 +0000

So, have you ever wondered what would actually happen if you spliced fly genes into the human genome?

It would actually probably work out something like this. (SMBC)

Australopithecine Morphology

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:02:00 +0000

So, this is how to study for a test. Here's a highlight:

Australopithecus africanus
No offense to you and your genus
But you must have been pretty dumb
Australopithecus africanus
Your only redeeming feature is
South African accents can be pretty hot

Actually, nevermind. It's all highlights.

via Daniel Lende.

The Republican Giving Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:02:00 +0000

So, this pretty much sums up the current state of our culture.

via Adam Boenig.

Kermit and Miss Piggy respond to Fox News's allegations of bias

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Wilkins) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:01:00 +0000

So, remember when Fox "News" got itself all worked up about the liberal agenda being pushed by the new Muppet Movie.

Well, here's a clip of Kermit and Miss Piggy addressing those allegations at a press conference after the movie's premiere in the UK:

via Jezebel.