01 and the universe

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Monday, February 08, 2010

Okay gang, it's the final stretch. Thanks to you awesome humans I managed to get into the final round of the contest. Woohoo!

I'm going to have to ask for your indulgence one more time, and this is the time when it really counts.

To read the announcement about the final round, go here.

If you'd like to skip the announcement and go straight to the voting make like thus:

For the boys' part of the contest, go and vote for me.
For the girls' part, please vote for Skeptic Detective.

Thanks again, gang... I owe you all multiple high fives!

In case you're new here and doubt my worthiness, check this out.

Friday, February 05, 2010

Put This In Your Face

Michael Meadon over at Ionian Enchantment has published a sceptical tour de force: In Praise of Deference.

Money quote:

The scientific method, far from denying human failings... exists exactly because of them: it is because the human mind is so prone to error and bias that we need this vast, expensive and seemingly inefficient set of institutions, norms and practices we call “science”.

Go on. Put it into your eyes. It will make them happy!

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Cheers, ZA Tech Show

I hate unsubscribing from things. I especially hate unsubscribing from podcasts. I dunno, I guess I feel a sense of loyalty to a show once I've added it to my list. I'll patiently put up with a fair amount of crap before I'll consider going through the effort of removing it from my Google Reader. After all, it costs me nothing more than the time it takes to listen to it... time that would otherwise have been spent unproductively anyway.

So it was with a heavy heart that I unsubscribed from the ZA Tech Show podcast this week. I've been a listener of theirs pretty much since the beginning.

At first I particularly enjoyed the show because it offered a much needed portal into the South African tech scene. It provided useful and valuable information and filled a very empty niche. Awesome podcasting.

But as the show has "progressed", it's changed. They've mentioned on the show the oft-repeated criticism they've received for harping on Apple products all the time. The "ZA Mac Show" was the term used. Not being an Apple fan myself, I found it kind of annoying too. But I was willing to look past it for the good stuff. Besides, I'm a also a fanboy, if not for Apple. I get it.

But at some point in the last few months the quality of the content tipped the balance. The Apple Fanboy Circle-jerking started occupying a larger and larger portion of the show, with the grandiose claims being made about Apple and its products growing in grandiosity from one episode to the next. The giddy fawning over the Apple iPad in last week's episode was the culmination of that.

The rest of the content simultaneously deteriorated in quality, with more and more major errors creeping into their reports and with little or no attempt to correct or recant bad information given out after the fact. If I, a layperson, can spot their errors off the top of my head without having done any deliberate research into the matter, surely something is amiss? And these are professional technology journalists!

Once it gets to the point where I'm shouting at my phone in the car because the voices coming out of it are saying nothing but crap, it's time to say goodbye.

So, goodbye fellas. But before I go, there's one last thing I want to say for the record: Apple didn't invent the touch-screen smartphone. The iPhone was not the first smartphone capable of running downloadable third-party apps. Let's do a little research before stating things as fact, okay? You know, journalism.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

My Nerd-Cred

As part of the 2010 Nerdies hoopla, fellow nerd-sceptic-blogger Angela, the Skeptic Detective, has tagged me to present my nerd resume, so here goes!

If this post is too long for you to read, you should know only this: I have actually used the following statements in real-life online conversations:

"[James T. Kirk] never pursued a J'Naii or a Vissian cogenitor... they're both vaguely female. [He only pursued] species that have a clear male/female dimorphism with human-like female characteristics."
"Ontogeny does not recapitulate phylogeny!"

In case you need more convincing, here goes:

First: Star Trek

I am very likely the biggest Trekkie you'll meet. And yes, that's "Trekkie". True Star Trek fans don't bother with the whole bogus Trekkie vs Trekker nonsense. To prove this, I present the following:

I own, and often wear, several Starfleet uniforms. I even got married in one of them:

Yes. My wife is awesome.

I run a Star Trek fan club, the USS Dauntless. I also sit on the board of directors of the Dauntless' parent organisation STARFLEET the International Star Trek Fan Association Inc. I hold the rank of Fleet Captain, (one higher than Captain) hence the five gold pips on my collar in the photo above. Don't believe me? Check out my STARFLEET CV.

I speak Klingon. I'm not quite fluent, but I did once have a short-lived, regular spot on Christina Knight's show on 5fm giving Klingon lessons.

I've been an invited guest speaker at several Star Trek conventions, where I gave a series of lectures on The Transporter, "Treknology", character archetypes in Star Trek and Exobiology. I also helped to run a Star Trek convention... and I hope to see you all at this year's TrekCon SA.

I was once a Tournament Director and "Ambassador" for Decipher Inc's Star Trek-based card game. I directed and played in the first Star Trek CCG National Tournament back in 2002.

I know Star Trek trivia better than you. Go ahead... ask me anything.

Next: Scepticism And Stuff

After being inspired by Phil Plait, Richard Dawkins and others to abandon my beliefs in the supernatural, conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, I incorporated a lot of what I'd learned into this very blog.

My adventures as a sceptic and blogger include being zapped by Scientologists at a Mind, Body, Wallet Festival (the article I wrote about that one has sadly since been taken down), a Homeopathic Suicide Attempt documented for posterity on YouTube (long before those 10:23 guys did it :P) and playing multiple roles along with some fellow nerds in the satire series God Idols produced by my awesome wife Heidi.

I've been going to our local Sceptics in the Pub for some time, participating in the South African Skeptics forum from time to time, and picking on Homeopathic "doctors" who made the mistake of mentioning my name.

You may recognise me from the Skepchick blog where I'm known as "some South African skeptic".

As part of all of this, I read science books for fun. I know most of you guys probably do too... but that just gives us all some awesome nerd cred. High fives all around! I'd rather read The Demon Haunted World or The Ancestor's Tale over Harry Potter or Twilight. Awesome.

Generic Geekness

I am a Google Fanboy. More than you can imagine. Probably the only Google service I don't use is Google Voice... and that's only until I can figure out how to set it up from outside the US.

I try to read the whole Internet everyday. Srsly. I have over 300 feeds in my Google Reader. But I'm not selfish... I'll share with you.

I was a Boy Scout. I can identify most South African bird species by sight. Also, I can track larger animal species, survive in the bushveld indefinitely, make a raft out of sticks and start a fire without a match.

In high school, I didn't play sport. I was in the debating team, the pipe band and I worked in the tuck-shop. I still don't play any sports. And I don't watch any either.

I can think of more things... but I'm guessing my point is made. I am probably one of the biggest nerds you'll ever come across. So go ahead! Vote!

Probably the only other nerd I know of in my nerd-league is Angela, the Skeptic Detective. You need to vote for her too.

The Skeptic Detective

For starters, she's a far more prolific writer than I am. Seriously, follow her blog for plenty of good reading. I wish I had the dedication to produce that amount of content.

And not only is her content voluminous, but it's also high quality: loaded with nerdy goodness! In browsing her archives you will find a broad variety of sciencey and sceptical topics from Organic Farming to Boobs. Also, you will find references to at least two Star Trek Captains (other than me, of course). Go look!

Also, Angela (along with another good, nerdy friend of ours James) founded the Johannesburg Sceptics in the Pub back in 2008. She was one of my co-stars in God Idols and she's gotten link-love from none other than Phil Plait himself!

So? Why are you still here? Go vote!

Monday, February 01, 2010

Nerdies Semifinals... Apparently

So last week my comrade-in-reason, The Skeptical Blacksheep, nominated me for the 2010 Nerdies run by Moralfibre's Nerdmag. Awesome.

By some random interdimentional anomaly, I somehow made it into the semifinal round of the competition. Awesomer.

I'm gonna need your help now though. If you've got a few seconds to spare, please head over to the semifinals page and post a comment voting for me either with my name or my Twitter handle (@owenswart).

While you're at it, please consider voting for another South African sceptiblogger who's in the running: The Skeptic Detective.

If all goes according to plan, I'll begging again next week you guys to vote for me in the finals, so stay tuned!

Thx!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

That's How I (Blog) Roll!

African science and sceptical blogs! Yay!

Note: The picture of toilet paper is, in no way, intended to imply anything about the content of the blogs listed above. I just think it's funny cos "blog-roll" sounds like "bog-roll".

I know.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Anonymous Comments

I'm pretty tired of putting up with not only stupid comments, but anonymous stupid comments.

So, anonymous commenting is now turned off (again). I welcome you to discuss anything you like here on my blog (stupid comments included), but you're going to have to take some level of ownership of what you say.

Kthxbai.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Carnival Time!

This month's Carnival of the Africans is up over at The Skeptic Detective. Go thither!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Thank You, Dr Borlaug

You won't hear or see this story in the mainstream media, because they are ignorant and stupid.

This weekend, the greatest human being who ever lived, Dr Norman Borlaug, died at the age of 95.

Dr Norman Borlaug saved a billion lives. He was more awesome than every other awesome person ever, combined.

Thank you, Dr Borlaug. Thank you.

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