Archives for January, 2008
Poster Child for Gun Law Reform Convicted
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2008 In 1998, 13 year old Mitchell Johnson and his 11 year old buddy Andrew Golden gunned down four students aged 11 and 12 and English Teacher Shannon Wright, and wounded 10 other people, at Jonesboro Westside Middle School. They had pulled the fire alarm to bring their victims into this trap.
Naked Mans and Nuns Riles Some (but not all) Catholics
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2008 When life and art collide …
Tatiana Update
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2008 Tatiana was the tiger that leaped from its enclosure in the San Francisco Zoo, killing one and wounding others. Details of the investigation have been released, and apparently, the tiger was taunted.
Florida Yahoos Acting Out Against Evolutionary Biology
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2008 I wish we had more details of this story, but this is what we know so far:
Are We In The Anthropocene? No.
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2008 Proposals to give the latter part of the present geological period (the Holocene) a new name … the Anthropocene … are misguided, scientifically invalid, and obnoxious. However, there is a use for a term that is closely related to “Anthropocene” and I propose that we adopt that term instead.
Evolution, Adaptation, and Robustness
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2008 Great microbiologists
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2008 Can you hear me wee beastie? Can you hear me?
Human Evolution on Trial – Species – by Terry Toohill
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2008 This is a very interesting guest post at Remote Central: All species vary through time and space. You don’t necessarily look the same as any one of your ancestors. Therefore “like begets like” but each individual can be a bit different. It is impossible for a sperm whale to evolve from a bowl of petunias,…
“Not everyone can do what we do..”
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2008 I’m talking about herdin’ cats, bro
Paola Antonelli: Treating design as art
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2008 Paola Antonelli, design curator at New York’s MOMA, wants to spread an appreciation of design, in all shapes and forms — and to remove any stigma of it being considered mere decoration. She takes the TED2007 audience on a whistlestop tour of some design exhibitions she has organized, including “Mutant Materials,” “Workspheres” and “Safe.”
Biology of Color Preference
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2008 Color is funny. Anthropologists have long known that different cultures have different relationships, linguistically and in day to day practice, to the color spectrum. For example, the Efe Pygmy Hunter-Gatherers of the Ituri Forest describe things as white, black, or red, and that’s it. They live in a world of green. Going with the model…
John Edwards will drop out of race this PM
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2008 … according to news reports flying around the airwaves. It will be interesting to see what happens to those currently supporting him. It is likely that if Edwards does not endorse anyone, his supporters would drift to Clinton, since it is believed that Edwards has been collecting the whiter among the white votes (those who…
Four Stone Hearth Blog Carnival 33
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2008 Welcome to the Four Stone Hearth Blog Carnival #33, ‘specializing’ in the four fields of anthropology. The previous edition of 4SH can be found at Testimony of the Spade, and the next edition will be hosted by Our Cultural World. The main page for Four Stone Hearth has additional information on the carnival, and you…
We are the laughing stock of the world!
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2008 Cool Stuff, News Stuff
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 A Biology News Browser; Green Porno; Naked Mole-Rats and Chili Pepper; 3D from 2D; New View of Middle Earth Stuff
War on Science – intelligent design – Part 5
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 “Dover may be the first of many battles to follow…”
Get Your Own Death Ray
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 The Torch is the world’s brightest and most powerful flashlight. It is capable of melting plastic, lighting paper on fire within seconds, and if you like, fry an egg or a marshmallow on a stick.
Home Schooling = Lower Taxes
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 This is the first time I’ve seen this argument made, in a letter to the editor in LJWorld of Lawrence, Kansas:
Four Stone Hearth
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 Four Stone Hearth, the anthropology blog carnival, will be hosted here tomorrow. Please send me your entries! I’ve got a lot of good ones so far, so expect an interesting ride. greg at gregladen.com or laden002 at umn.edu
Wife Swap and Home Schooling
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 You may not want to miss this (Feb 13th) episode of Wife Swap:
Creationists Acting Badly, as usual…
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 Creationists Acting Badly, as usual… [Hat Tip: Pz Myers]
Creationist Buffoonery and its Dangerous Implications
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 Lee Salisbury, a former evangelical preacher, comments on evolution and creationism.
Ethical Implications of Robots in War
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 From Slashdot: Schneier points out an interesting (and long, 117-pages) paper on the ethical implications of robots in war: “This report has provided the motivation, philosophy, formalisms, representational requirements, architectural design criteria, recommendations, and test scenarios to design and construct an autonomous robotic system architecture capable of the ethical use of lethal force. These first…
Sheila Patek: Measuring the fastest animal on earth
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 UC Berkeley biologist Sheila Patek gives a wide-ranging talk on the effort to measure the hyperfast movements of peacock mantis shrimp heels using high-speed video cameras recording at 20,000 frames per second. She and her team slowed down the movements of these amazing animals and showed they had the fastest known feeding strike in the…
Open Source Technology Does Not Have Ads
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 And neither does a lot of proprietary technology. But the possibility that ads will show up on either type of technology is obviously very different. Now, we are about to see add supported P2P services.
Satellite may hit earth
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 You’ve probably already heard that a US spy satellite known as USA-193 is no longer able to keep itself up because the software on board has failed. This is a secret spy satellite so we don’t at present know what the software was (any guesses?). It is big enough to not totally burn up in…
Sea lions massacred in Galapagos
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 Ecuadorean officials are investigating the slaughter of 53 sea lions from the Galapagos Islands nature reserve, which were found with their heads caved in. [source] Thanks, Coturnix, for the tip.
OMG, Larry and George Sittin’ In a Tree…
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2008 Larry Craig, or as we call him in Minnesota, Happy Feet Larry, stepped in where Michelle Bachmann could not perform, in an overt act of erotic love with the President of the United States, George Bush.
War on Science – intelligent design – Part 4
Posted by Greg Laden on January 28, 2008 “The first witness called by attorneys for the parents was Dr. Kenneth Miller”
, which is now available for the 
