Camping this weekend

Tom Howard — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:56:22 +0000

Wendy and I are camping this weekend but we will still try to get a podcast out on Sunday. On a related note, Ben will be hiking in the mountains over a thousand miles away from us. He will be unable to join us on this weeks podcast. We also started a twitter account and I swear I will try to use it every now and then: twitter.com/frostcall

Quick review of Phil Plait’s ‘Bad Universe’

Tom Howard — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:36:25 +0000

Since I DVR’d this show, my review is a few days behind. My first impression is that the show was very well produced with material that kept me interested the whole way through. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw an explosion in the show before the first commercial break. I feel that a better job could have been done explaining that the explosions were only scale models of what he was talking about. There were a few times where the wording used made it seem as if “this” (referring to the scale model) would wipe out an entire city. It’s not a big deal and I’m sure most people understood what was going on. My only other gripe was Phil’s use of the phrase “holy haleakala”. At first, it was cute, but after hearing it for what seemed like the 20th time, even Wendy was saying “If he keeps saying that, I can’t watch this.” Now, I know Phil enjoys that phrase, and I know that in an average day, he probably doesn’t say it that much. This is a production fail, where the producer decided to keep the phrase in the show, and even to have it used; in a few cases; 3-4 times in one minute. Overall, I felt that good examples of the types of asteroids (and comets), their composition, what we can do and why it’s important were all given. This show is a must watch for anyone over the age of 5 as it really fleshes out the need for increased science funding in order to help save our planet.

Podcast – Episode 4

Tom Howard — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 17:29:50 +0000

In this weeks episode, I go solo as Ben and Wendy are unable to join me. This is a much shorter podcast, but it’s something to help tide you over until next week. I go over Augmented Reality, King Tut’s DNA, Phil Plait’s new ‘Bad Universe’ tv show and the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

Homemade brick ovens.

Tom Howard — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 15:59:59 +0000

I like this one

I’ve been considering building a brick oven in my back yard out of a pile of bricks I have. I would of course need some firebricks as well. Attached are some rather nice links to other brick and cob ovens constructed by folks around the world. Enjoy.

http://www.heatkit.com/html/bakeoven.htm

http://www.traditionaloven.com/ovens.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1304795

http://www.cityfarmer.org/cob.html

http://balinsky.com/gallery/coboven

Podcast – Episode 3

Tom Howard — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:40:23 +0000

Wendy and I discuss why we stopped believing in god and became atheists. Continue reading →

State Funds for a cross

Tom Howard — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:27:30 +0000

Tax dollars well spent on a tourist attraction or tax dollars spent on religion?

Articles Here and Here.

Basically, there is a giant cross (that you can climb inside to the top!) near Alto Pass, Ill. The cross is 50 years old and in need of repair. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity granted the caretakers of the cross $20,000 to help restore it. Rob Sherman is suing stating that granting funds for the restoration is blatantly unconstitutional. The state and the caretakers say that the cross is a tourist attraction, not a religious symbol.

I’ve been to Rio de Janeiro and seen the giant Jesus, and I’ve been to Hong Kong and seen the giant sitting Buddha. I would classify those two as tourist attractions. While I have never been the giant cross in Ill, I would have to say that it depends. If it’s built into a church or is full of christian propaganda, then the state should avoid spending the money. If on the other hand, it truly is merely a tourist attraction without a religious agenda, then spend away.

Podcast – Episode 2

Tom Howard — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 01:01:46 +0000

Wendy, Ben and I talk about The recent Google / Verizon proposition to the FCC that I wrote on a few days ago. We then Discuss a few logical fallacies, some examples of anti-woman and misogynistic verses in the bible and the koran. We finish the show by playing ‘Spot the Fallacy’; this week using audio clips from ‘Penn & Teller’s Bullshit’.

We hope you enjoy. Please be sure to leave some feedback

tom@frostcall.com

Google and Verizon intend to virtually choke the life out of the internet as we know it

Tom Howard — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:13:28 +0000

Recently, Google and Verizon drafted a document detailing their thoughts to the FCC on how they feel the internet should be run. The blog io9 details how the proposed changes could effect the internet in the future. Basically, you would see a tiered internet. The cheapest ‘public’ internet would be in fact be neutral. Higher, more expensive tiers would not be required to have neutrality. This ends up with a very slow ‘public’ internet and a very fast and expensive ‘higher tiered’ service where you decided what content you want. Want to watch youtube videos? Pay more. Want to watch Hulu? Pay more. Want to stream internet radio? Pay more.

Google posted a rebuttal on their blog that I feel fails to adequately address the issues.

Google appears to think that this type of system would not be abused. How can it not be?

Conservapedia thinks Einsteins theory of realativity is a Liberal Conspiracy

Tom Howard — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 07:59:46 +0000

I wish I was making this up. From conservapedia “The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by liberals who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world.^[1] Here is a list of 30 counterexamples: any one of them shows that the theory is incorrect.”

What follows is a list of 30 ‘proofs’ including jems like these:

“9. The action-at-a-distance by Jesus, described in John 4:46-54.”

“15. The theory predicts wormholes just as it predicts black holes, but wormholes violate causality and permit absurd time travel.”

With such an obvious lack of scientific education (number 25 encourages the idea of the aether), is it any wonder many on the right reject science. Don’t worry, I’ll poke fun at those on the left who fall for ‘woo woo’ as well

FrostCall Podcast – Episode 1 – August 9th, 2010

Tom Howard — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:08:05 +0000

In this episode, Ben and I discuss a few logical fallacies and gay marriage.