Common Paradox Tech Blog

trianglecat writes “The not-for-profit agency Canadian Blood Services has a section of their website based on the Japanese cultural belief of ketsueki-gata, which claims that a person’s blood group determines or predicts their personality type. Disappointing for a self-proclaimed ’science-based’ organization. The Ottawa Skeptics, based in the nation’s capital, appear to be taking some action.”

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In the wake of the CRU “climategate” leak, reader Geoffrey.landis sends along a New York Times blog profile of Judith Curry, a climate scientist at Georgia Tech. “Curry — unlike many climate scientists — does not simply dismiss the arguments of ‘climate skeptics,’ but attempts to engage them in dialogue. She can, as well, be rather pointed in criticizing her colleagues, as in a post on the skeptic site climateaudit where she argues for greater transparency for climate data and calculations (mirrored here). In this post she makes a point that tribalism in science is the main culprit here —- that when scientists ‘circle the wagons’ to defend against what they perceive to be unfair (and unscientific) attacks, the result can be damaging to the actual science being defended. Is it still possible to conduct a dialogue, or is there no possible common ground?”

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The Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia keeps some of the most accurate climate records which are key to many climate change debates. Its email archives were hacked, and now it’s the center of another conspiracy claim.

As soon as the email archives’ contents were made publicly available, arguments broke out. Was there proof of data manipulation that could flip the entire climate debate topsy-turvy? Were scientists at the university working to keep works by climate skeptics out of journals? Answers to either question are unclear. According to New Scientist, there was no evidence of actual data manipulation, but some of the email exchanges could be construed as attempts to suppress some research.

No matter how those questions wind up being resolved, in the end the trouble doesn’t seem to be in the contents of the emails or in the data, but in the fact that the Climate Research Unit restricted access to the climate data to those it deemed “bona fide researchers.” Maybe some of the accusations the unit faced could’ve been avoided had the data been more freely shared in the first place. [New Scientist]

Photo by coda

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a series of hacked emails and documents that were recently posted on Wikileaks are causing quite a stir in the scientific community. All told, more than 1,000 emails and 2,000 documents were stolen from the Climate Research Unit in East Anglia University in the U.K. “The emails include discussions of apparent efforts to make sure that reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that monitors climate science, include their own views and exclude others. In addition, emails show that climate scientists declined to make their data available to scientists whose views they disagreed with. [] Phil Jones, the director of the East Anglia climate center, suggested to climate scientist Michael Mann of Penn State University that skeptics’ research was unwelcome: We ‘will keep them out somehow — even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!’ Neither man could be reached for comment Sunday.”

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Some people are ashamed of their bodies. Me? I regularly strip in questionable environments, just for the thrill that my tush may be showing up on some subscription Russian voyeur site. This spycam detector can save heartache for us both.

The detector, $60, goes about camera locating in a two-pronged attack. First, you look through the device’s lens while the unit bathes the room in IR light. Rogue lenses should come out of the woodwork (possibly literally), which will allow you to angle your body toward camera appropriately.

Then, you use the Wi-Fi detector to track down the radio receiver. This function is critical, as you can ensure the receiver has an uninterrupted power supply and isn’t overheating in tight quarters.

Skeptics may argue that knowing a camera is filming destroys the purity of unintended exhibitionism. But you tell that to the guy changing JCPenney dressing room who, despite his best efforts, is showing half the world nothing but belly button lint. [Chinavision via RedFerret]