Being skeptical ain’t easy. There’s always pressure to take a side or have an immediate answer. Saying, “I don’t know,” or “I don’t know enough,” can feel like an omission of failure or stupidity.  It’s certainly an omission of ignorance, and who likes admitting they are ignorant in any discussion?

This long-winded set-up is to preface the topic at hand – the recent hacking of the CRU servers and publication of thousands of emails and source code. If you hadn’t heard, a purported hacker took this information and posted on Russian servers for all to see in the name of quickening the debate on global warming.

What it has certainly done is ratchet up the cranks, soapboxes, conspiracy theorists, and spittle-flecked, red-faced harbingers on both sides of the topic. In other words, the signal to noise ratio on this already controversial topic has increased by magnitudes.

What I know is I don’t know enough about global warming in regards to what is being lobbed back and forth in the war of words on the Internets. I can look at data extrapolating temperatures and carbon levels for centuries past. I can see orbital maps of ice-melts in the arctic, and glaciers that have retreated at alarming rates (well, alarming to us given our experience). I can see there is horrible air pollution (I commute through it everyday, and in the summer it’s pure torture). From this I can make the assumption that, indeed, the world is changing.

What I don’t know is if this data that has been posted from CRU actually means anything new or revolutionary. I’ve seen volumes of hyperbole on news sites. I’ve seen sentences taken out of context and code commenting taken way out of context – and this is what worries me the most. Context is king. It is the biggest contributor to confusion. It is propaganda’s biggest tool – and the only way to spot it is to know the material inside and out.

That’s a tough call. Global warming is a deep subject with volumes of complex data that is contributed and affected by both terrestrial and cosmic forces. I personally think it makes the evolution debate look like child’s play.

So keep this in mind when you hear it being discussed on the radio, TV, internet or office water cooler. It may be worth your time reading some extra websites, listening to some podcasts, or reading a few books on this topic since it won’t be going away anytime soon. It’s a long journey to getting informed, and sadly few take the time for the trip.

Have a good holiday all!

What I’m thankful for:

1) Grandparents to watch the kids while I sleep off the turkey binge (though it’s all the mashed potatoes’ fault).

2) LHC is finally online and smashing atoms.

3) After a horrific month of car repair bills (something major went up on each one), I have all my vehicles back and running as of today.

For more reading enjoyment check out Lifehacker’s 61 Free Apps We’re Most Thankful For.

TechDirt has a follow-up on the latest happenings with ACTA. It appears two Senators are calling for on open, public discussion about this treaty.

Seems fairly sane since the treaty in its current form is a steaming pile of offal and needs public scrutiny and full disclosure of who exactly thinks it’s a good idea (and then subsequently have those un-representatives removed from office).

If you’re scratching your head in confusion read my original rant on why ACTA is one of the worst ideas in a long time.

Watch a couple thousand minds turn abstract movements into song and make correct predictive decisions as one.

Neuroscience – wild stuff.

This flash animation maps out the unemployment rate across the US over the past two years.

While it doesn’t confirm anything we don’t already know (people lost their jobs, unemployment is systemic and epidemic) it does ironically point to something.

People need to be reeducated and retrained for the changing face of the US workforce. While the “Educate to Innovate” campaign focuses on the future,we need results now for all those out of work. Propping up failed business models and offering handouts does not make for a renewable and revitalized economy.

Everyday I see dozens of jobs in the software and web programming field scroll by. I’ve talked to companies that are looking to hire dozens to hundreds of new employees, right now. Companies that need to grow their employee base by orders of magnitude over the next few years to keep up with the growing cyber security threat.

I know many people who would be golden if they had programming experience, traditional print designers that would be snapped up in a minute if they could do web design.

Why can’t millions be poured into creating a retrained workforce that would be immediately employable, which in turn means immediate paychecks, immediate tax contributions, and people buying. Hello revitalized economy.

Hell, the Cash for Clunkers money would have paid for millions of people to go to their local community college and pound out an AA in web design or computer programming – all the skills needed.

I fail to understand why this wouldn’t work. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Somebody took Google maps and created a zombie simulation. You control all the details including the number of zombies, civilians, number of people armed, their accuracy rate, and more. Plus it is set in D.C. so it smacks of home.

Run the sim and watch all the healthy green people run for it as the little red zombies slowly consume the brains of the living. It’s like a horror-themed ant farm!

Do you think there is anything that would attract them to Capital Hill?

Good news everyone, somebody gives a damn about the future!

Obama gave a press conference today about science. It was 15 minutes of things I’ve ranted about on this blog for months – that not only is science education fundamental to the future of this country, but it’s fundamental to advancing society as a whole.

It’s worth watching and noting that this isn’t just a government effort, but something smartly interwoven into business, television, science celebrities and more – the kind of co-effort and cooperation that it takes to really make something of this magnitude succeed.

I particularly like when Obama says “it’s about the ability to understand our world…to think critically.” When contrasted against where our country and government had been heading the previous eight years, when contrasted against debate and discussion in society today, that’s a 180 degree turn in behavior that I’d like to see.

This campaign, called “Educate to Innovate” which in turn has another buzz word attached with it called STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) will be the focal point to drive America back to the top in science education.

It sounds like a number of efforts are underway, and more are getting ready to kick off – so hopefully this won’t be a lot of smoke, mirrors, and rhetoric. Though it seems funny to have this push when NASA is having its budgets flayed. I’m not quite sure how you justify the diminishing of the most visible and premiere showcase of science, math, engineering and technology in light of this speech.

SMBC always delivers. This one is especially awesome.

More math teachers explaining the value of math in this manner would get some serious results.

I’ve got a number of friends that would happily classify themselves as geeks. However, I rarely see this passion extend past the sci-fi, fantasty, or horror genre of geekdom. We’re talking movies, comics, games, etc. Not too much of it delves into the tech side of things.

Most of them having gaming consoles rather than a gaming PC. Most of them have regular phones instead of a smart phone. Many of them have jumped on Facebook, but almost none use Twitter – and that part is a bit of a shame.

Once you get past the garbled and uninformed hype put out but entities like CNN and actors like Oprah or Ashton, you get to see what this tiny, useful tool is all about.

140 characters of stuff you care about from people you are interested in beamed directly into your brain (or phone) is how I like to think of it. Say you like comics and want to know ASAP when an artist you particularly enjoy has something published. That’s something Twitter is good for.

I follow an inordinate amount of science-type people because they either publish or find the latest and greatest articles to read – and publish that in their twitter feed.

Twitter wins the battle over other social media concepts because it lacks the significant signal-to-noise ratio of things like Facebook and Myspace. You don’t have to worry about ‘friending’ people. You don’t have to worry about time-stealing games, stupid quizes, and the vast amount of malware (trojans, worms, viruses) that uses Facebook as a vector to get into your computer. Twitter is information distilled.

That’s why there’s been a rush by both Google and Microsoft to sign deals to aggregate the data streaming through the Twitter network and use it for their vast search engines. Twitter’s current rate of growth really does point to a service that will be able to reflect the pulse of the globe – in real time. That’s some serious sci-fi shit right there.

I encourage you to give it a spin. First, sign up for a twitter account here. Once you are signed-up you’ll want to find some people that are worth following. Think about writers, artists, or organizations that you would be interested in knowing what they are up to (you can follow me by clicking on the Follow Me button on the right hand side of this screen). Use Twitter’s search function to find out what those people’s twitter accounts are and click on the follow button.

If you have a texting plan, Twitter can send updates from those who you follow directly to your phone. If you have a smart phone I recommend Tweetdeck. It’s a good way to organize and keep track of tweets.

I was fairly skeptical of what kind of experience Twitter would provide. I’m honestly impressed after a few months of use. I’ve found articles I would have missed out on, and amusing insights on the people and organizations that I follow.

Give it a shot!

A little while back Discover Magazine ran a contest to create a video that explained evolution in 120 seconds. It’s a tough challenge given the depth and breadth of the topic, but a good parameter given people’s attention spans.

The winner was  “Evolution: The Song,” by teacher Scott Hatfield and student Brianna Christoffersen, from Bullard High School in Fresno, California.

However, I think the runner-up by Stephen Anderson, which also garnered the popular choice vote was my favorite. Watch the video and get some education, hell, it’s only 120 seconds.