Archives for September, 2008
Hurricane Kyle Is Going Down East
Posted by Greg Laden on September 28, 2008 To go “down east” is to go “to Maine” … or if you are already in Maine, to go to the “real” Maine. As you drive down east on Route One, you can see the transition as clear as the gull shit on Schooner Head. This is to say, it is subtle and misleading. Geology,…
The Debate in Historical Perspective
Posted by Greg Laden on September 28, 2008 Many people are frustrated with the level of debate these days, and it is not uncommon to wax nostalgic for the good old days, the days when debates were entirely live, in person, and went on and on until they were done, unconstrained by a television schedule. Bioephemera takes us down memory lane. The first…
Just in case you have not seen this
Posted by Greg Laden on September 28, 2008 Hey, she didn’t get where she is by eating moose burgers and popping out kids:
Happy Birthday Chris Rowan
Posted by Greg Laden on September 28, 2008 … of the blog Highly Allochon … Highly Allochthon … no, wait, .. Got it Highly Allochthonous.
It is all in the eyes.
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2008 Physics on the air: From the very small to the expanding universe!!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2008 Not only is our universe expanding, but with the LHC online we may even find the elusive Higgs Boson soon. Tune in this Sunday for a discussion about the very small and very large in our universe with two prominent physicists: Keith Olive, Physicist at the U of M’s Theoretical Physics Institute, and Jim Peebles,…
Blog Carnivals
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2008 Carnival of Feminists #65 Carnival of Education, #190 Announcement: New Book Review Blog Carnival Social Media Blog Carnival – September 24, 2008 Carnival Of The Liberals, #74 Working at Home Blog Carnival-104th Edition Four Stone Hearth Anthropology Blog Carnival Carnival of Eastern European Genealogy – First (Given) Names Carnival of Cinema: Episode 94 – The…
Important technology movies
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2008 It has been a while since I’ve updated you on the latest very important technology movies. If you are PC, don’t bother watching. You won’t like any of these They are below the fold.
America’s Top Model Reveals All … and other matters
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2008 By model I mean model explaining the origins of agriculture, and you can read all about this hot number right here at ABW. And while you are working on that mind boggling concept, consider the role of r-strategists in your garden. Science in action. Almost diamonds explains how it is al connected. Pay attention: Monetarism…
How the LHC works
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2008 (BTW: It does not “straddle both France and Switzerland” … it straddles the border.) Totally stolen from ABATC
The results are in. Obama clearly won the debate.
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2008 A lot of people think the debate was pretty even. Obama supporters liked Obama, McCain supporters liked McCain, I assume (that is utterly obvious). But what matters is the effect on uncommitted voters. Aside from the effects of the three major gaffs that McCain made (the cost to him, to his party, and to our…
Technology Tidbits
Posted by Greg Laden on September 27, 2008 Which operating system is best for you? Tired of the OS wars between Mac, Linux and that other one? Try one of these OS’s. Richard Stallman will be speaking at the University of Minnesota on October 21st (Thanks for the tip, Ben) Today, by the way, is the day Stallman announced the GNU project back…
Happy Anniversary, Newt Gingrich’s Contract on America!
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 It was fourteen years ago today that New Gingrich, then Leader of the Republican Delegation to the United States House of Represented initiated the absurd stunt known as the Contract on America (or something close to that, anyway). The Contract was originally circulated as a joke internet meme that was accidentally picked up by congressional…
T. Boone Pickens: please go away
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 I want to officially complain about T. Boone Pickens. What an offensive dit. I am tired of his commercials (the most recent having just been aired … the post debate commercial) telling us that we need to become energy independent, and blaming the very same politicians that he has been buying off and paying off…
The Debates
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 This is McCain’s preferred debating weapon: And this is what he looked like during the debate: While at the end, this is how Obama looked: But McCain got a hug in the end…
Palinology
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 From Kathleen Parker of the National Review: If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin. Oh what fun. Parker, a very conservative columnist writing for a very conservative outlet, is calling for Palin to step aside. To…
Ted Kennedy To Hospital, Debates Will Happen, Economy Down Tubes
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 Don’t forget to watch the debates tonight. In watching the pre-debate coverage, we learn that Ted Kennedy has been brought to the hospital. For a man with brain cancer, this may be a not uncommon thing, and there are no details. Stay tuned (to the TV/Radio, not me. What do I look like, AP????) UPDATE:…
Furbies all the way down
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 If you get bored, just go to the 15 minute mark. Oh, and it’s open source!
The Universe May be Different Than Previously Thought
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 If confirmed, a recent finding may be one of the more interesting outcomes of cosmological research in quite some time. Possibly interesting enough to keep everyone busy while they are retooling the Large Hadron Collider. First a bit of background. Assume the big bang happened. When we look out at galaxies near and far we…
Effective dishonesty in pharmaceutical research revealed by new study
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 The file drawer effect works like this: Numerous studies are done and the results are random. But because they are random, a small number have, randomly, strong effects that are interesting and that in isolation support some interesting hypothesis. All the results that fail to confirm the interesting (or fund able) expectation are filed away…
PARTAYYYY!!!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 And YOU are invited. Click here to find out where your nearest Barack Obama Kicks Ass in the Debate Party is and crash it! Seriously! Oh, and here’s Michelle: And this…. seriously … do this. After the debate, click Here to send a message by sending Obama ten bucks or so. And even if Obama…
Minnesota Science Standards: Shifting Controversies
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 There are several areas of controversy emerging in the discussion of Minnesota Science standards, but almost none of this controversy has to do with Evolution and Creationism. Amanda and I attended a public meeting on the issue last night, and I felt at the end that a kind of victory had been achieved. But this…
I think we’ve got time for one more trip to Bizarro Land before addressing education in Minnesota.
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 The plural of medium is media.
Hey, can I still get that $50 / hour for picking lettuce?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2008 Last night, gunfire was exchanged between Pakistani and American troops (and Afghani troops as well). This may not have been a particularly big deal, but minor incidents like this can turn into decades of strife and warfare when people like George Bush, Sarah Palin, and that selfish addled moron the Republicans have nominated to run…
I can see Alaska from my Kitchen
Posted by Greg Laden on September 25, 2008 This is fake, right? Hell bent, Charlie. Don’t you get it? Hell. Bent. Let’s analyze this a little more closely…..
Killing a process gently
Posted by Greg Laden on September 25, 2008 We have discussed kill before. Start an application you don’t care about, say an instance of a text editor like gedit. Open a terminal and run top with the -b (for batch) option, and pipe it through grep with a phrase that should isolate the process (like “gedit”). Like this: greg~$ top -b | grep…
Don’t forget: Minnesota Science Standards Meeting TONIGHT in Roseville
Posted by Greg Laden on September 25, 2008 Details here, and please see this. At least post your concerns/ideas on line (using the link above).
Palin on the Financial Crisis
Posted by Greg Laden on September 25, 2008 When she licked her finger, I threw up a little in my mouth. And then there’s this (not for the kiddies):
, which is now available for the 
