www.salatheandwhite.com

There's no use to explain the project and its idea here because everything can be found on the website. The auction of the first painting starts tomorrow.

Needless to say that I would appreciate if you blogged about this :-)

I'm about to finish my PhD. I have probably said this a couple of times, but it is currently the topic of the day in my life - forgive me for repeating myself. Oh, I actually do have a final date: 21st of March. (Soon, I should start writing...)

I was visiting Stanford about two weeks ago. If nothing goes wrong with funding, I will start a PostDoc there in 2008 (right after the trip to New Zealand). Looks like a great place to work and live ("California here we come, la di da di da di daaaa....")

We have just submitted a paper that I quite like (again on the evolution of sex). I hope the journal / referees like it as much as I do. It is good news for all the people who think that parasites are the reason we have sex (if you are not a biologist, this must sound very strange do you, I understand that...)

Other than science

Not much. Funny how reddit, my favourite resource, struggles with growing up. Welcome to democracy!

Plus, an art gallery in Berlin will exhibit the onethousandpaintings project. 

Here are my favorite links: HIV Gun (NSFW, but highly recommended), the sad truth about Calvin and Hobbes, the difference between science and religion, and an amazing video of people trying to evade simple questions. 

Has this been the best year of my life so far? It's definitely a very promising candidate. It was certainly the most unpredictable year ever. And what's even more, next year seems to top everything: I will finally finish my PhD, and I will spend the large part of the year traveling between Europe and New Zealand.

On to 2007! 

We will soon release a single called "Echoes", and as usual with singles, the song needs a video clip. After having shot a few video clips the old fashioned way, we decided that wasn't going to work this time. We think this song speaks to people, so we want to hear back from them - an echo from you. We want you to make it.

In a nutshell, we're looking for photos or short video clips that capture the essence of the song, or parts of it, and we'll take the ones that we like best, put them together, et voilà - the world's first music video with hundreds of directors from all over the globe.

I don't want to write too much about here, since you can find all the details on the website www.echoes-video.com. But I would like to ask you for one or two favours: a) participate, and / or b), let your photography friends know about the site! I'm quite confident that it's gonna be a beautiful project, and the more people, the louder the echo!!!

So, Osama Walks into This Bar, See? and Bush says, “Whad’l'ya have, pardner?” and Osama says, “Well, George, what are you serving today?” and Bush says, “Fear,” and Osama shouts, “Fear for everybody!” and George pours it on for the crowd. Then the presidential bartender says, “Hey, who’s buying?” and Osama points a thumb at the crowd sucking down their brew. “They are,” he says. And the two of them share a quiet laugh.

This, I think, is a pretty good summary of what's happening at the moment. I'm glad that the situation in Europe doesn't seem to be as bad as in the US. Here's the most recent example: A couple of people have said that today, the 22nd of August, is going to be the end of the world, as Iran will attack Israel and the rest of the world, most likely with nuclear weapons.

In Switzerland, people who say such things are usually comedians. If not, they are certainly ignored by the public media. In the US, however, this seems not to be the case. Here's a couple of recent public statements from non-comedians (copied from thinkprogress.org):

- “What is the significance of Aug. 22? […] This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind.” [Bernard Lewis op-ed, Wall Street Journal, 8/8/06]

- “We all hope and pray that August 22 is not the day Ahmadinejad has chosen to launch the apocalypse, but there is little doubt in the White House and at the CIA that the Iranian leader is feverishly trying to build, buy, or steal nuclear weapons, and that he will quite likely use them once he has them.” [Joel Rosenberg, National Review, 8/10/06]

- “Will [Ahmadinejad] attempt to make good on these threats this year on the anniversary of the Miraj [August 22], illuminating the night sky over Jerusalem? Will Western powers heed Farid Ghadry’s words and move to stop Iran before it is too late?” [Front Page Magazine, 7/27/06]

- “It’s an important symbolic day for jihadists. And I’m curious to see what happens on Tuesday. [Ahmadinejad] may just say no or he may do something a little more dramatic, launch a missile or something, to show that - Iranian defiance of what looks like an impotent West.” [Bill Kristol, Fox News Sunday, 8/20/06]

- “‘The only thing we can know is that the date was not chosen by accident,’ said Robert Spencer, Director of Jihadwatch.org and an adjunct fellow at the Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank. ‘It does seem very likely, very probable, that he has something major in mind, whether only a major announcement or a major attack, we will soon see.’” [The Blotter, ABC News, 8/21/06]

It's pretty clear that people how believe this sort of propaganda must be seriousy frightened. Me, I'm frightened by people how believe this sort of propaganda.

In Iran, it's pretty close to midnight, and the 22nd will be past in just a few hours as I am writing this. In the event that the apolcalypse is coming in the next few hours, I'm gonna stick with this comment on the thinkprogress site:

"I’m pretty pleased the end of the world is on a workday. I could imagine it really spoiling my weekend."

We have developed a technology that produces free, clean and constant energy.

This means never having to recharge your phone, never having to refuel your car. A world with an infinite supply of clean energy for all.

Our technology has been independently validated by engineers and scientists - always off the record, always proven to work.

 

What's special here is that Steorn has launched an ad in the Economist where they "issue a challenge to the scientific community: test our technology and report your findings to the world."

Is this science? No. In Science, no one has authority to choose who is allowed to test what you propose. Everybody should be able to test your ideas, or else you're simply not doing science.

Is this bogus science? Most likely. I've recently stumbled across the seven signs of bogus science, which essentially are:

1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media.
2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work.
3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection.
4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal.
5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries.
6. The discoverer has worked in isolation.
7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation.

From what I read on the Steorn Website, they are fulfilling number 1, 4, 6 and 7.

Here's my modest advice to Steorn: If you really think you are capable of creating free, clean, unlimited energy, why don't you just go ahead, get the patent and start producing the clean energy that the world so desperately needs?

On May 3rd, I wrote about World Press Freedom Day. Today, I have decided to donate the Google Money to Reporters without Borders. It's good to know somebody cares about freedom of speech, and I love the irony of Google "allowing" me to give money to people who are watching Google very closely.

I just wanted to let everyone know the following regarding the applet:

1. You can use it in whichever way you want, i.e. link to it, print it, modify it, write about it, blog about it - it's absolutely and totally free for each and everyone.

2. If your website doesn't work, the most likely reason is that you are pointing to a page which is actually redirecting to another page.

3. I agree that the name of the applet is wrong. It is not graphing websites, but rather just webpages. I will change that in the future. 

Two things are special for me in this case:

1. The paper does not contain a novel, constructive idea, but rather a criticism of two papers published in Nature a couple of years ago. Initially, I was wondering whether that was enough to write a paper - shouldn't a good paper make an novel contribution, even if only marginal? Is criticism enough justification for a publication? I had my doubts, although I've always known that science proceeds by falsifying ideas (the old Karl Popper argument). In that sense, falsifying old ideas is equally important as proposing new ideas.

2. I am the sole author of this paper. Kind of a strange feeling. I alone am responsible for what I wrote. Sure, one is also responsible for the content of a multi-author paper, but still, it makes me feel a little more relaxed to know that others sit in the same boat.

Anyways, here's the news: We bought a car.

Ok, buying a car is not a big deal, but for me, it's the first car I ever bought (earlier ones were inherited), and it's also the biggest investment I ever made in my entire life.

What's really special, however, is that it's not just a car to drive around in the city (which is a stupid thing to do in Zurich anyways), but we want to drive it from Zurich, Switzerland, to Auckland, New Zealand, next year.

And here it is:

To be precise, that's not our car on the image - but it's the same type, same color, and obviously same purpose :-) 

I am very excited about this trip, and we want to have a travel blog so that everybody can follow up how things are going (for example, at the border of Iran - Pakistan ;-). I plan to have a kickass blog, not only because I would love readers to read it, but also because that is how I will be able to remember the trip. Digital life in 2007, I guess. Think about all the possibilities with a camera, video cam, a laptop, Google Maps (forgive me, but there is no alternative right now), WordPress and plenty of times at hand. I think it's gonna be great. Ah, sweet self-promotion!

Nomen est omen, and hence have I just reserved the domain name zurich-auckland.com.

That's it for today. Hope you are all fine, and sorry again for letting aharef run dry at the moment. I'll be back soon.

PS. For those interested in the graphs: I was thinking about making posters of the graphs since I programmed the applet, and now I have finally found a designer that I am very excited to work with on the project: Ben Schlitter from Kansas. Ben is a great guy and a brilliant designer. Check out his website at www.benschlitter.com.