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Just a brusque study addition a collection of links (thanks to Steve from CERN).



CLOUD, the experiment that measures the nativity of clouds at CERN, has released novel papers:
Nature: Ion-induced nucleation of pure biogenic particles

The New York Times are alongside those who write nearly a novel preprint yesteryear Nathan Myhrvold,
Asteroid thermal modeling inward the presence of reflected sunlight with an application to WISE/NEOWISE observational data
I select never heard of Myhrvold but he is evidently an entry-level billionaire (or at to the lowest degree near-billionaire) who co-founded Microsoft Research, retired inward 1999, founded a fellowship specializing inward patent trolling, together with led the publication of a 2500-page-long semi-scientific cookbook, non to advert a maverick 2013 newspaper nearly the growth of dinosaurs.

In both papers, 1 nearly the dinosaurs together with 1 nearly the asteroids, he seems to assail assorted pocket-size technicalities inward the conventional experts' handling of their fields. And they seem to respond that he's either sharply incorrect on many of these things or his proposed "fixes" wouldn't alter a damn thing.

The style of his texts seems goodness plenty although I had to express joy when I read the next arXiv comments attached to the newspaper nearly the asteroids:
Comments: Longer abstract inward PDF, due to the limitation "The abstract plain cannot survive longer than 1,920 characters."
This is hilarious. Like every other submitter who tries to write an abstract longer than the allowed limit, he gets a warning. H5N1 regular submitter only shortens the abstract. He copied the alarm to the Comments equally if he didn't empathise what it agency or equally if he were insulted that unopen to reckoner dares to bound the length of his abstract at all. ;-) The limitation has real goodness reasons together with it applies to everyone. After all, fifty-fifty Myhrvold's old co-author (named Bill Gates) has noticed that "640 kilobytes should survive plenty for everyone". So why shouldn't 1,920 characters survive plenty for every abstract? It's called the abstract because it shouldn't survive equally long equally a paper.

At whatsoever rate, this Myhrvold guy has given lots of talks (I've listened to random vi minutes from three talks), said lots of reasonable together with unreasonable things, together with isn't stupid. (Although his existence labeled equally an "old friend" of Peter W*it isn't just something that allows him to piece of occupation on whatsoever credibility.) But I detect him to survive only an annoying troll who disagrees for the sake of disagreeing.

There are lots of totally tiny technical questions similar whether yous should purpose the length or majority of dinosaur bones to stair out unopen to trend, together with then on, together with he seems to selection the contrary – according to the conventional experts, incorrect – answers to all these questions. (Yes, I was persuaded yesteryear the experts that yous should purpose the majority together with non the length, equally Myhrvold did.) And he seems to repeat the claim "the mistake is much greater than everyone thinks" all the time. (This does expression similar the variety of the approach of the eternally critical, whining, fourth-class "citizen scientists".) Why does he bother? Is 1 supposed to believe that these mundane daily questions of a dinosaur or asteroid researcher take away a Microsoft Research billionaire to survive done right? They're non the hardest sciences, anyway, together with a Microsoft billionaire is unlikely to alter this fact.

With his wealth, he may sure growth the visibility of his opinions nearly the independent together with theme variables inward unopen to dinosaur or asteroid graphs or whatsoever other third-class uninteresting interrogation of this sort. But the correct interrogation is: Should he? Does it convey anything goodness to scientific discipline or himself? Isn't an skillful getting an average researcher's salary who has spent years with the dinosaurs or asteroids (and who interacts with lots of colleagues who are similarly competent) enough? And fifty-fifty if unopen to asteroid size had an mistake margin greater yesteryear 10% relatively to what is reported, who actually cares? The dinosaur together with asteroid researchers are professionals who earn less than 1% of what this Microsoft guy did. So fifty-fifty if he did something a flake improve than they do, it wouldn't survive shocking or important.

Most of us cry back that Milner won't mail a fast probe to Alpha Centauri together with he's largely throwing $100 meg away. But 1 affair is sure: this is the variety of a toy yous await from a billionaire. But if yous are technically oriented together with if together with when yous piece of occupation a billionaire, is your dream to hire a few chefs together with write a cookbook? Sorry, it only looks then laughable to me. The appropriate writer of a famous cookbook should survive soul similar Ms Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová, non a Microsoft Research billionaire. And fifty-fifty this legendary writer of a Czech cookbook doesn't halt upwards existence a genius inward our eyes. She was only a goodness ready who could write good – together with who wrote a cookbook almost two centuries ago, without whatsoever Microsoft technologies. Ladies, it's only a cookbook!

Moreover, the real fact that soul wants to write a 2,500-page-long text nearly something equally mundane equally cooking suggests that he lacks the depth together with is equally good obsessed with superficial details (and collection of patents, unopen to other hobby of that guy).

So generally due to my lack of interest, I haven't analyzed whatsoever of his detailed criticisms of the inquiry of the dinosaurs or asteroids. But it's my approximate that if the normal experts dismiss him equally an annoying amateur together with troll, it's most probable because he is only an annoying amateur together with troll. I am certain that he may pay lots of people to pretend something else but I am non 1 of them. If he were actually much smarter than the NASA's asteroid experts or dinosaur experts, he would selection a to a greater extent than challenging subject than burned hamburgers, dinosaur bones, together with asteroids' heat.

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