David Mattison: Freaky Science

Sir Isaac Newton Returns as Saint Newton in 2060 (And the World Ends)

Thu, 27 Feb 2003 03:40:49 GMT

CBC News (Feb 25, 02003) and other sources reported that Professor Stephen Snobelen, University of King's College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, discovered previously unused manuscripts of Newton's in Jerusalem. One consisted of or contained a chart with his calculations, based on Biblical references, to the end of the world and Newton's return as a saint.

Evolutionary biology professor in Texas vs the Liberty Legal Institute

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 03:03:03 GMT

Pity the poor biology professor in Texas, Dr. Michael L. Dini, who's being investigated by the Liberty Legal Institute because he insists his students affirm their belief in science if they want him to write a letter of recommendation for post-graduate studies. Putting the shoe on the other foot, would a scientist wishing to enter divinity school be rejected if she refused to affirm her belief in God and the sacraments of the Christian church? I suspect it would definitely be a problem in the latter case. Ironically, Professor Dini is from a Catholic educational background. [Source: E-Skeptic newsletter, February 5, 02003]

The Wolfram Lecture at Caltech, February 1, 2003

Thu, 13 Feb 2003 02:50:09 GMT

Dr. Stephen Wolfram, author of the controversial, bestselling, self-published book A New Kind of Science (2002), spoke at CalTech on February 1, 02003. For two reviews of his one-hour lecture and rebuttal by a panel of scientists, try and get a hold of the E-Skeptic issue for February 6, 02003 from Skeptic.com.

Thu, 06 Feb 2003 01:53:33 GMT

Call for Papers: DC-2003: Supporting Communities of Discourse and Practice--Metadata Research & Applications, University of Washington, Seattle, 28 September to 2 October 02003. For information on the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI), visit http://www.dublincore.org [Source: DIGLIB, "DC 2003 CFP Seattle, WA USA", 5 February 02003].

Reinvigorating CIMI

Thu, 06 Feb 2003 01:48:04 GMT

John Perkins, CIMI Executive Director, announced via mailing lists and through the CIMI Web site, organizational changes to reinvigorate its mission and better serve the museum community. One area of interest to electronic records and digital preservation is in CIMI's open standards work, which with this announcement becomes an even more open process. For details visit the CIMI Announcement. [Source: PACS-L, "Changes at CIMI", February 5, 02003]

SemanticWeb.org portal

Wed, 05 Feb 2003 14:56:32 GMT

Lots of interesting stuff here at the SemanticWeb.org. But why oh why isn't this implemented as a wiki?

Microsoft: Open source could harm us

Wed, 05 Feb 2003 14:48:31 GMT

Microsoft: Open source could harm us. The software heavyweight warns that the success of the open-source movement could hurt its sales, potentially forcing the company to cut prices and sacrifice revenue and profit. By Ian Fried, Staff Writer, CNET News.com. [Source: CNET News.com]

Woe is Microsoft! These are truly crocodile tears from the company that's cried wolf one too many times when it comes to the dangers of open source software. Let's state this plainly, there are far more innovations going on in the open source world than Microsoft could ever in is past and future history ever come up with. If others want to profit from open source, and the open source license allows commercial use at no cost, that certainly allows Microsoft to benefit. They pay no copyright license fees when open source allows commercial use at no expense. So where's the harm, except to Microsoft? Microsoft does not and never has defined the stability of the United States or the global economy. In fact, isn't a good part of the world that's using open source products, particularly in Europe, attempting to ignore Microsoft products? Therefore, shouldn't Microsoft itself be funding open source as a good corporate citizen? Maybe they already are and the executives are too ashamed to admit it.

Feds pull suspicious .gov site

Wed, 05 Feb 2003 14:38:49 GMT

Feds pull suspicious .gov site. In a move that raises questions about the security of governmental domains, a .gov Web site has been yanked pending an investigation into the group that controlled it. By Declan McCullagh, Staff Writer, CNET News.com. [Source: CNET News.com]