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Software

Sync Lion desktop via iCloud

While all that sync’ing works quite well, I still have different desktops on my MacBooks.
Here is a solution that is based on some undocumented feature of the iCloud that I have found at macstories.net. It basically needs to activate the iCloud settings also for files which will give you in Lion access to a magic 5 GB ~/Library/Mobile Document folder very much alike to Dropbox.
I am rsyncing here now my Desktop folder by an automator action as described at banana.com. Can be done in less than 5 minutes…

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Philosophy

Crossmarks

Papers are not sacred – this what I have been advocating even after having personal distress after commenting on a PLoS ONE paper. Nevertheless, the new Nature editorial supports my view

What is needed, instead, is a system of publication that is more meritocratic in its evaluation of performance and productivity in the sciences. It should expand the record of a scientific study past an individual paper, including additional material such as worthy blog posts about the results, media coverage and the number of times that the paper has been downloaded.

where Crossmark may jump in Continue reading Crossmarks →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Philosophy, Software

Infinite stupidity?

This is a new Edge conversation with Mark D Pagel.

A tiny number of ideas can go a long way, as we’ve seen. And the Internet makes that more and more likely. What’s happening is that we might, in fact, be at a time in our history where we’re being domesticated by these great big societal things, such as Facebook and the Internet. We’re being domesticated by them, because fewer and fewer and fewer of us have to be innovators to get by. Continue reading Infinite stupidity? →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Vitamins

Deadly vitamin D

A German newspaper ( Ärztezeitung ) reports that vitamin D deficiency apparently increases all-time death rate.

Ein Mangel an Vitamin D erhöht offenbar die Sterberate.
Eine Studie in den USA hat ergeben, dass 70 Prozent der knapp 11.000 untersuchten Erwachsenen einen Vitamin-D-Mangel hatten.
Das Sterberisiko war in dieser Gruppe dreimal so hoch wie bei Personen ohne einen Mangel an dem Sonnenvitamin.

Looking at the original paper it appears Continue reading Deadly vitamin D →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Philosophy

The lying Dutchman

Another series of faked studies are reported by washingtonpost

“Many of Stapel’s students graduated without having ever run an experiment, the report says. Stapel told them that their time was better spent analyzing data and writing. The commission writes that Stapel was ’lord of the data’ in his collaborations. It says colleagues or students who asked to see raw data were given excuses or even threatened and insulted.”

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Philosophy

Make hypotheses!

The main challenge for bioinformatics is certainly not to stop at the description of all these nice networks and pathways but to develop hypotheses that add to our understanding (and that may be tested further). So, I am a little bit late to say that I liked the presentation of Sascha Sauer ( MPG Berlin ) at a meeting Paris at May 31, 2011 on genomic epidemiology using the title “Make hypotheses”. Continue reading Make hypotheses! →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Genetics, Philosophy

Too much to read too little time

I didn’t find so much time to update the blog during the past few months – there are too many attractions out there, and so many interesting things to do. The never ending problem is that there is too much to read and too little time. This is, however, what also other people find, for example genomeweb.com

Pedro Beltrao at the Public Rambling blog says there never seems to be enough time to keep up with all the literature researchers keep churning out. In 2009, 848,865 papers were added to PubMed, he says — that’s something like 1.6 papers per minute. While there’s definitely no scarcity of outlets to publish, is anyone even paying attention?

Or the Latest Everything blog

From a half-forgotten Einstein quote to the complete works of J. S. Bach, everything is instantly available. But what can we really do with it all? A HALF-CENTURY ago Marshall McLuhan wrote: “We are today as far into the electric age as the Elizabethans had advanced into the typographical and mechanical age. And we are experiencing the same confusions and indecisions which they had felt when living simultaneously in two contrasted forms of society and experience.”

who republishes theNew Scientist article (04 April 2011) pp. 1-3 in Surfing the data flood: Continue reading Too much to read too little time →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Software, Video

Computers are like bicycles for our mind (Steve Jobs)

or in his won words

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Joke

It’s all electric now … The 1200 Watt bicylce

There has been so much progress with electric motors and high capacity batteries finally reaching widespread use. There are kayaks with an electrict support (Torqeed here in Starnberg, that I wished to have one  yesterday at Ammersee). There are engines for ultralight planes like the Electraflyer while I just read at science.slashdot about an electric airplance.

The most fascinating piece, however, I have seen last Sunday at bike expo here in Munich is  a 1200 Watt kit that can be mounted on most frames of current MTBs. Tthat’s a lot of savings compared to buying a custom built e-bike like the KTM eGnition, Elmoto, eRockit, Grace or eSpire that all come at weights of 25-35 kg.

The kit will be sold by the next month by ego-kits.com while here are two pictures from the Munich fair.


Continue reading It’s all electric now … The 1200 Watt bicylce →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026
Philosophy

Science is an emergent system too

From Edge / NY Times

We often try to understand problems by taking apart and studying their constituent parts. But emergent problems can’t be understood this way. Emergent systems are ones in which many different elements interact. The pattern of interaction then produces a new element that is greater than the sum of the parts, which then exercises a top-down influence on the constituent elements. Continue reading Science is an emergent system too →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 24.03.2026