Archives for April, 2008
Ooops… shhhhhhh.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 25, 2008 This is National Day of Silence. A nice concept. I would have participated but I did not know about it. Maybe next year. (Although probably not next year either … it might be to ironic for me.)
New Research on How Visual Memory Works
Posted by Greg Laden on April 25, 2008 Life is complex. The way a living system works can be described in a series of increasingly refined models, each fleshing out details of the previous model. Typically, description at one level raises questions about what is happening at the finer level. These questions induce hypotheses which drive experimental work which produces ever more detailed…
Nature News
Posted by Greg Laden on April 25, 2008 Washed-up sea snake rescued in New Zealand from PhysOrg.com A highly venomous yellow-bellied sea snake that washed up on a New Zealand beach was recovering Thursday at an aquarium. [...] Researchers recommend ways to fight lake trout invasion in Glacier National Park from PhysOrg.com Natural barriers like waterfalls play an important role in preventing lake…
Carnivals
Posted by Greg Laden on April 24, 2008 Skeptic’s Circle #85: Looking under rocks The Carnival of the Fraudless: Spoofing & Exposing the Cult of Scientology Carnival of Space Week 51 Carnival of the Liberals #63
Latest Robot News
Posted by Greg Laden on April 24, 2008 Zooillogiz has a must read post on robotic jellyfish. Here’s the video, but you must go read the post (and see another video) as well. Cool. But wait, there’s more…
This may be too good of an opportunity to pass up.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 24, 2008 You can pay someone to throw a pie in PZ Myers’ face. And you won’t get in trouble. Well, I think if I did it, I might get in trouble. But you can do it. Sign up HERE.
Human Nature Sucks
Posted by Greg Laden on April 24, 2008 5 Mos. In Prison For Terrorizing Gay Neighbors A British court has sentenced a woman to 150 days behind bars and her daughter to 24-months of supervised probation for a terror campaign against the gay couple who lived next door. The court was told that the pair began harassing Michael Harris and Shires Crichton, of…
Is Linux Grandma Ready?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 24, 2008 Linux is more than grandma-ready. Linux is by far the preferred operating system for most grandmas.
The sun is riz, the sun is set … and we ain’t outta Texas yet.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 23, 2008 But plans for the Institute for Creation Research Masters Degree in Creationistic Biology for High School Teachers is out of Texas. Members of the Academic Excellence and Research Committee and the Participation and Success Committee voted unanimously to approve the recommendation of Raymund Paredes, the state’s commissioner of higher education, not to approve the Institute’s…
Funny Feminist Stuff
Posted by Greg Laden on April 23, 2008 Never mind why this joke exists. It just does. And I thought I’d share it: How many feminists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Institute for Creation Research Masters Degree in Biology
Posted by Greg Laden on April 23, 2008 The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) has, some time ago, filed for approval to run a masters degree program in life science education. The purpose of the degree is to train educators to present biology in a way that is consistent with Christian Biblical beliefs, as opposed to actual scientific knowledge. The Texas board in…
Florida Academic Freedom Bill Passes in State Senate
Posted by Greg Laden on April 23, 2008 A bill designed to make it easier to introduce creationism into public school classrooms has passed in the Florida Senate by a 21 to 17 vote margin. The bill was proposed by Senator Ronda Storms, Republican, and is modeled after a template provided by the Discovery Institute.
Expelled! Induced Conversations and the Future of Science, Medicine and Hollywood
Posted by Greg Laden on April 23, 2008 Despite the fact that the producers of Expelled! have the most nefarious of motives in mind, and that we can expect more from them (we are waiting for the other shoe to drop), it is interesting to note how many conversations this documentary about Intelligent Design Creationism has sparked. Ultimately, the intended purpose of Expelled!…
Expelled! in Iowa
Posted by Greg Laden on April 23, 2008 Evolving in Kansas provides a lie-fighting fact revealing review of Expelled!’s showing in Iowa.
Expelled! The Obvious Next Step
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2008 Now that Expelled! No Intelligence Allowed, the movie, exists, we wait not so quietly for the other shoe to drop. I’ll tell you in a moment what that other shoe is going to look like and where it is going to drop. First I want to make a couple of topically linked but otherwise discombobulated…
Look what Bore me to Tears is doing!
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2008 Matching donations/memberships for the National Center for Science Education… still 75 bucks left as of this writing! Check it out. What a great idea!
Happy Blogiversary to Science Woman!
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2008 Three years ago today [she] started blogging at On Being A Scientist and a Woman. [she] was a PhD student engrossed in field work and lab work and thinking about when to start a family. Fast forward three years and [she] am on the tenure-track with my own graduate students and I have a toddler.…
Randy Olson’s Authority, PZ Myers Olympian Presence, Chris Mooney’s Framing and Greg Laden’s Assholehood
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2008 Chris Mooney has made an “appeal to authority” (Randy Olson) in asserting that Expelled is a success by Hollywood standards, and this may be correct. PZ Myers and his comet tail may have increased that success as per Mooney’s Framing TOE, but the reverse is also true: the science blogging share of the blogosphere has…
Happy Earth Day
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2008 Happy Earth Day, Earth! Do you recognize any of these locations?
PC vs. Mac, playing the race card
Posted by Greg Laden on April 22, 2008 Uffda….
Posted by Greg Laden on April 21, 2008 So, I was talkin’ to the Sb Overlordette, Ginny, and I says “Hey, I’m sure glad this whole pseudonymous/anonymous thing is over. I sure am tired of that shit. Better to be gettin’ on to bigger, better things, dontchaknow…. ” She smiled at me. So I says “What, you never smiled before, what’chu thinkin’, girl?”…
What is going to happen in Pennsylvania tomorrow?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 21, 2008 The democratic party is polling tomorrow in Pennsylvania. The conventional wisdom says that there is a number of percentage points reflecting Clinton’s expected win above which this would truly count as a win for her, and below which it could be perceived as a victory for Obama. If Obama “wins” in this election, things could…
Nature and Science News
Posted by Greg Laden on April 21, 2008 Watching wolves, moose — and heat — on Michigan island from PhysOrg.com (AP) — Ignoring our observation plane circling above the frozen Lake Superior wilderness, the eight gray wolves seemed as harmless as your beloved pooch cavorting with its pals in the yard. Trotting along Siskiwit Bay, they playfully nipped and pawed each other, pausing…
An Engineer’s Guide to Cats
Posted by Greg Laden on April 21, 2008 [hat tip] OK we have room for one engineer joke:
You Must Welcome Your White European Overlords
Posted by Greg Laden on April 20, 2008 …. Be a cog in the wheel. Trust us, you’ll be happier ….
Expelled! A Box Office Flop. Or Success. Depending on how you frame it.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 20, 2008 Chris Mooney, who every day seems to transmogrify more and more into a creationist apologist, makes the case that Expelled! is a box office success. He seems almost giddy about it in his post on the topic. I’m sure Chris will be blaming PZ Myers, me, the rest of us people for part of this.…
, which is now available for the 
