Nice explanation of diff between Shannon and Boltzmann etropy.

Thermodynamic entropy vs information entropy - Advanced Physics Forums

The information entropy is the log of the number of accesible states, and is dimensionless.

The thermodynamic entropy is equal to the information entropy times the Boltzman (sic) constant. (kB = 1.38×10^-23 J/K) so the thermodynamic entropy has units of energy per degree kelvin.

It is worth noting that present day computers process so little information compared to the number of equivalent thermodynamic states accesible to them, that the information entropy of the device is insignificant compared to the thermal entropy. I believe this means that present day computers operate nowhere near the thermodynamic limits of computation, so in a certain sense the equivalence of the two forms of entropy is irrelevant except that it does allow one to place theoretical limits on the process of computation.

Entropy macrostates vs microstates

The Panda’s Thumb: Entropy: Common pitfalls

Scientists Say They’ve Found a Code Beyond Genetics in DNA - New York Times

… sound of sporadic popping of blood vessels from Redstate.com readers, accompanied by light banjo music:

|| RedState

Summary of the argument against global warming from Redstate.com

Its not true.

Oh shit, it is true - then it has absolutely nothing to do with my fat-ass pickup truck. Paws off.

Like the nice guy who used to work for Exxon explained, there is no link between tobacco and global warming.

CO2 is not the problem because thats too complicated and requires math. Its gotten hotter because someone turned up the volume on the sun control.

Oh shit - 99% of scientists say they have evidence that my fat-ass pickup is partly to blame.

Scientists are all commies, so their views are political and therefore not scientific.

We should only take science advice from people who sell fat-ass pickups becuase they are not commies and are therefore unbiased.

Bush looks like the guy who sold me my pickup, I’ll vote for him, not some nancy, preppy, Ivy League, cheerleader from a posh family.

Al Gore is only pretending he grew up on a farm - people who talk about science are all city liberals who drive girls cars. Only real men drive SUVs and pickups, not soccer mums.

I’d have to be six feet under water with $5 a gallon gas before I’d believe this crock.

etc. etc.

The Oil We Eat (Harpers.org)

Richard Manning proposes that staples such as wheat, corn and rice are plants that thrive in the type of barren flooded landscape the were the result of the catastrophic melting following the last ice age. Farming, he proposes, is the ‘nuking’ of the landscape, the clearing of the forest.

“Farming is the process of ripping that niche open again and again. It is an annual artificial catastrophe, and it requires the equivalent of three or four tons of TNT per acre for a modern American farm. Iowa’s fields require the energy of 4,000 Nagasaki bombs every year.”

Interesting article, however, the opening points which state that all our energy comes from plants capturing solar energy, ignore geothermal, gravitational and atmosperic energy. As can be demonstrated by the fact that we could theoretically grow plants underground under electric lights powered by the tidal energy from the moon.

Tuberculosis - Fact Sheet

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Saturn’s moon ‘best bet for life’

“If the magma were to cool, he said, it would become more viscous, increasing friction from tidal churning and so producing more heat. But if temperatures veered higher, the magma would flow more easily, and tidal heat production would reduce accordingly.”

New Dinosaur Resembles 7 foot tall brightly colored 25 mph Turkey

The Guardian reports on the case of a man who took 40,000 ecstasy tablets in 16 years, giving doctors a unique insight into the long term affects.

Given that:

1. this man is still alive.
2. he was clearly an idiot to start with.
3. he’s a habitual user of several other narcotics.
4. taking that many aspirin would be very dangerous.

Surprisingly, ecstasy would seem to be relatively safe.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | The strange case of the man who took 40,000 ecstasy pills in nine years