Archives for December 12, 2007
Summary of Recent Carnivals
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 Erase Racism Carnival of the Godless Gene Genie Carnival of Political Punditry Mendel’s Garden Philosophia Naturalis School Politics and Philosophy Carnival of Education Oekologie will be hosted at Behavioral Ecology Blog, coming up SOON. Send in your submissions now! (This is mainly a reminder for myself, I’ve going something coming out tomorrow on Gorila Genetics…
Influential Flying Spaghetti Monster Disciple Resigns from Second Life CTO Position
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 This just in … Virtual world Second Life’s chief technology officer … has resigned. Cory Ondrejka… quit Tuesday and will depart at the end of the year. … Philip Rosedale, CEO of the eight-year-old company, said Ondrejka resigned to “pursue new professional challenges” and said he and Ondrejka had strategic differences. … Second Life has…
If you are going to go on a first date, you should make sure your bowels are healthy
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 VideoJug: How To Make A First Date Smoothie
Larry King: Bill Nye vs. Richard Lindzen
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 New Glyptodont Species
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 A team of U.S. and Chilean scientists working high in the Andes have discovered the fossilized remains of an extinct, tank-like mammal they conclude was a primitive relative of today’s armadillos. The results of their surprising new discovery are described in an upcoming issue of Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. The partial skeleton was unearthed by…
WOC Spy, Codename RD, Slipps Under Radar Screen
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 One of our more cunning spies, who shall be known only as “RD.”, made his move yesterday to slip under the Christian Radar screen, in a stunningly brave, very public move: [RD], who has expressed hopes of converting religious believers to atheism through his international bestseller [deleted], made the comments while fielding open questions on…
My Linux Calendar
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 Dec 12 E.G. Robinson born, 1893 Dec 12 First wireless message sent across Atlantic by Marconi, 1901 Dec 12 Independence Day in Kenya Dec 12 Debian GNU/Linux 1.2 alias “rex” released, 1996 Dec 12 N’oubliez pas les Chantal ! Dec 12 Nachrüstungsbeschluß des NATO-Ministerates, 1979 Dec 12 День Конституции Dec 13 Apollo 17 leaves the…
Science News Tidbits
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 Desktop device generates and traps rare ultracold molecules from PhysOrg.com Physicists at the University of Rochester have combined an atom-chiller with a molecule trap, creating for the first time a device that can generate and trap huge numbers of elusive-yet-valuable ultracold polar molecules. [...] NASA Satellites Help Lift Cloud of Uncertainty on Climate Change from…
More Evidence for Water on Mars
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 This time, it comes from the side effect of the Mars Rover getting the Martian equivalent of a flat tire… NASA’s Spirit Mars rover has been dealing with [a] right front tire [that] went bad nearly two years ago. It didn’t go flat, but it’s quit turning forcing NASA to move the rover around in…
Fred Thompson on the NEA
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 Again, a Reagan line, nothing more. What a bunch of shit.
Archaeological Remains and Global Warming
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 Scientists studying ancient fish bones in Scandinavia have discovered that warm-water species like anchovies and black sea bream that once thrived in Danish waters during a prehistoric warm period are now returning. Some cold-water species, such as cod, were also abundant during this period, having benefited from a lower fishing effort. [source]
Fred Thompson on Global Warming
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 He’s trying so hard to be Ronald Regan that it makes me throw up a little bit inside my mouth. You have to just see it to believe it.
More Evidence for Water on Mars
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 This time, it comes from the side effect of the Mars Rover getting the Martian equivalent of a flat tire… NASA’s Spirit Mars rover has been dealing with [a] right front tire [that] went bad nearly two years ago. It didn’t go flat, but it’s quit turning forcing NASA to move the rover around in…
This goes on my Solstice Day Gift List, for sure.
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 More on the Call for a Presidential Debate on Science and Technology Policy
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 There is quite a bit of activity in the blogosphere about this initiative. Have a look…
Origin of Life
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 A new hypothesis for how life got started has been proposed, by Helen Hansma, of UC Santa Barbara.
Himalayan Ice Fields Have Not Grown in Fifty Years
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 Starting with Los Alamos, repeated atomic explosions altered the isotopic composition of the Earth’s atmosphere in a way that is easily seen in historic proxyindicator records such as ice cores, lake cores, tree rings, and so on. Recently raised cores from the Himalayan ice fields, when analyzed, failed to show this global signal. This strongly…
More “Junk” DNA is Not
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 Some of the base pairs in a given genome are strung together into templates that code for proteins or RNA molecules. These are the classic “genes.” Other base pairs probably have little or no function. Among the DNA that is not in classic gene-templates, however, there is a lot of important information, including “control regions.”…
War on Christmas Training Manual
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 From Austin Cline. What are the Christmas Wars?: In his infamous tract “The International Jew,” Henry Ford wrote “The whole record of the Jewish opposition to Christmas, Easter and other Christian festivals, and their opposition to certain patriotic songs, shows the venom and directness of [their] attack.” The John Birch Society complained that the “Godless…
Science News Tidbits
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 Experts Study Lake Champlain Eel Decline from PhysOrg.com (AP) — Scientists are trying to determine what caused Lake Champlain’s populations of American eels to decline to almost nothing over the last two decades. [...] 21 Crocodile-Like Reptiles Die in India from PhysOrg.com (AP) — At least 21 endangered crocodile-like reptiles have died mysteriously in a…
Texas Profs Weight In on Intelligent Design
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 want us to believe that their “theory” is part of science, but of course, it is really a form of creationism, and has no place in Texas schools. This position is shared by more than 100 professors in Texas, who have weighted in on this debate: “Intelligent design is a religious idea that deserves no…
Good Reads
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 A loon swoon: Deadly bacteria are having a devastating impact It’s not a good time to be a loon in the Great Lakes region. Record numbers of the dead birds are showing up on a westerly progression along Great Lakes shores. And the story is a classic example of how one little change can have…
All I Want for Christmas is a Good Science Education
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 The Florida Citizens for Science asks: Since the holiday season is upon us, why not spread an educational message along with your Christmas cheer? A Call to Action
Fibonacci Curves = God
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 This could be the proof of god: The assertion made by the “Does God Exist” people is that a pattern must be designed, and that patterns don’t occur in nature. But it is possible that there is another way to look at this.
Florida Creationist Pressure Mounting
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 This from the National Center for Science Education: As Florida continues to consider the draft of a new set of state science standards, there are reports about mounting creationist lobbying against the inclusion of evolution and for the inclusion of creationism. Writing in the Miami Herald (December 9, 2007), Fred Grimm summarized: “For the past…
Golden Compass Review Repressed by Catholic Church
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 This just in: Days after its publication, a largely positive review of The Golden Compass that appeared in Catholic newspapers across the country was retracted this week by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishops, who could not be reached for comment, offered no explanation for the decision. But Catholic groups, including the…
Student identifies enormous new dinosaur
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 Fossils representing on of one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs known, the African Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis, were identified by Steve Brusatte, a student working at the University of Bristol. The fossils were originally located in Niger. Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis, a new species, was about 13 to 14 meters long, with a skull about 1.75 meters long. It…
Ohio School District: WTF????
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2007 This is an amazing story, and unfortunately, it is probably being repeated again and again across the country. It begins with a parent who does not want his daugther exposed to science, which is pretty common, but leads to a startling revelation about the local school board. Startling, but I’m afraid, probably not at all…
, which is now available for the 
