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Welcome to Greg Laden's Blog.
November 30, 2008
An enjoyable overview of the Coleman Franken Recount process all it attends to ... "What do we want?" Franken shouts. "PATIENCE!" the volunteers respond. "When do we want it?" Franken asks. "NOW!" the crowd demands. Here Hat tip: Ana...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:27 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This particular elephant was one of the nicest elephants I've ever met. click for a larger picture I was leading a tour group in the vicinity of the Kruger National Park in South Africa. The local guide suggested that we could take a walk along...
Posted by Greg Laden at 4:44 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Technology
Linux has been ported to the iPhone and iPod touch. Details here. Hat tip: Joe. I gotta get working on this, obviously....
Posted by Greg Laden at 3:14 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Caption Needed
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:03 PM • 23 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Technology
If that headache plaguing you this morning led you first to a Web search and then to the conclusion that you must have a brain tumor, you may instead be suffering from cyberchondria. This is about a Microsoft publication (in the 'journal' Microsoft Research), here,...
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:57 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 29, 2008
These days, many people say that race is largely a social construct; while it may have a place in describing the population genetics of some species, is not particularly applicable to humans. I'm one of those people. The race concept is generally inapplicable or at...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:55 PM • 60 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Other
Hat Tip James...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:09 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Technology
Do you know what Cyber Monday is? If not, find out here. But don't wait 'till Tuesday....
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:15 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogospherics
New Rule: students who can't calculate their own grades should fail the course. Slavery ain't so bad. "I am always annoyed by the fact that everyone has an opinion on evolution. Regardless of whether they can explain the first thing about how it works, they...
Posted by Greg Laden at 1:50 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Genetics
Markita Landry, a half-Bolivian, half-French Canadian physics Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, ... used a tango to convey her thesis, "Single Molecule Measurements of Protelomerase TelK-DNA Complexes." She is trying to understand how a protein called TelK bends DNA into hairpin loops....
Posted by Greg Laden at 1:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Health
Vince LiCata, a biochemist at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, won this category with the help of his graduate students. The foursome danced a slow and graceful double pas de deux, representing the interaction of pairs of hemoglobin molecules from his 1990 Johns Hopkins University...
Posted by Greg Laden at 1:00 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Neurobiology
The raw material for Miriam Sach's solo contemporary dance was her 2004 Ph.D. thesis at the University of Düsseldorf, Germany, titled "Cerebral activation patterns induced by inflection of regular and irregular verbs with positron emission tomography: A comparison between single subject and group analysis."...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Cell Biology
Sue Lynn Lau chose classical ballet and highly kinetic party dancing as the way to interpret her Ph.D. thesis, "The role of vitamin D in beta-cell function." As The Nutcracker Suite lilts in the background, Lau, a graduate student from the Garvan Institute of Medical...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:00 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Atheism
Minnesota Atheists' "Atheists Talk" radio show. Sunday, November 30, 2008, 9-10 a.m. Central Time Robert M. Price: "Inerrant the Wind" What has been the modern history of viewing the Bible as "inerrant" - that is, literally true in all its details? Prolific author Robert M....
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:50 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Featured Artist
I understand my surroundings and express my engagement with the world through imagery. Combining the tactile nature of clay with abstract images of memories, emotions, and research has fueled my passion to create for nearly twenty years. I am deeply connected to the earth beneath...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:55 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogospherics
Mike, a.k.a. Tangled Up in Blue Guy, has received a letter from Adnan Oktar's lawyer telling him, essentially, to shut down his site. Like this: With a view not to cause you any grievances by blocking access to a whole website, without prior notification, due...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:20 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 28, 2008
Category: Diversity
A new study published by Chiao et al. in the journal PLoS ONE explores the gendered nature of American voting behavior. Subjects were asked to rank politicians -- based only on photographs of each politician's face -- along different quality scales, and also to choose...
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:01 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Poets they tried hard to win on Dispersal of ol man Darwin. Some limericks they wrote And truly they smote But winning was all 'bout affection Here....
Posted by Greg Laden at 4:41 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The lower house in the central African nation of Burundi has passed legislation making homosexuality a federal crime. The legislation, which must first be approved by Burundi's senate, is part of a sweeping reform of the country's legal system that for the first time abolishes...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:40 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogospherics
I had no idea there even was a Mole Day, and I'm really pissed that I missed it. (And that's "mole" as in the animal, not mole as in the Mexican chocolate sauce you put in chicken.) Speaking of chickens, read about A Thanksgiving tale...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:23 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
Totally stolen from the Friendly Atheist....
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:22 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Cosmos
NASA Press Release: Scientists continue to search for the cause of the geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The geysers are visible as a large plume of water vapor and ice particles escaping the moon. Inside the plume are jets of dust and gas. What causes...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:02 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Squid
Not a new squid, but a very rarely filmed one. The video was taken late last year and is only now coming to light. Apparently it (the video, not the squid) has been floating around the internet as an email attachment for quite some time....
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:40 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I know, I know, I don't usually do a Friday Cephalopod. But I happen to have this one laying around extra:...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:55 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogospherics
In case you have not heard, the Millionth Comment Contest Winner was Peggy Kolm, an actual blogger with Two Blogs. Just so you know, this blog (this one, right here, where you're reading) is soon to hit its twenty thousandths comment. And, the twenty thousandth...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:34 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 27, 2008
Category: Carnivals
I and the Bird #89 Grand Rounds 5:10 New and Exciting in PLoS ONE Carnival of Homeschooling Carnival of Space #80: Thanksgiving Edition Encephalon #59...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:20 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: GLBTA
I'm not sure if it is more or less comforting to know that these yahoos are not strictly American: A British police officer who sent emails to other officers condemning homosexuality and calling for gays to seek the help of a controversial American Christian group...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:45 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The rest are below the fold....
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:46 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogospherics
Solve the mystery of the Swimming Spaghetti Monster. Evolution of Resistance from Darwin Today on Vimeo. (more here) .cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url('http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png') !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;}The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30cA Colbert Christmas: Toby Keith SingsColbert at ChristmasColbert Christmas DVDGreen ScreenBill O'Reilly Interview...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:28 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
The word on the street is that Colleman recount watchers have shifted strategy in order to increase an apparent lead over Al Franken. It seems that many of the Coleman people are challenging perfectly good Al Franken ballots in order to make the miniscule Coleman...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:28 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A word of advice: TAKE THE TURKEY OUT OF THE FREEZER NOW! Here is a Thanksgiving Joke for you....
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:00 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 26, 2008
Category: Africa
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:34 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Technology
With Firefox undergoing the usual late-life evolution towards uselessness (...it was great while it lasted, Firefox, but you've become Windozed...) it is time to start paying attention to other browsers. So here's two very very interesting bits of browser news. Lunascape is a new browser...
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:37 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Technology
I'm very unhappy with Lenovo because they exploited us, then dropped us, and now the lie to us (us = Linux users). So Lenovo can kiss my ass. But this is cool: Lenovo is using text messaging to add an additional layer of security to...
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:57 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Linux
Fedora, the version of Red Hat Linux that you can have because you're a person, has come out with a version (version 10) that seems meant to be easier to install and set up, designed apparently for the Ubuntu-user kinda person. It has Gnome as...
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:57 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Cosmos
The first of four new asteroid-tracking telescopes will come online next month in Hawaii, promising to quickly scan large swaths of the sky--thanks to the world's largest digital camera. The project, known as the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), aims to scan...
Posted by Greg Laden at 4:55 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Personally, I think we should start with a dodo, and then work our way up the ethical ladder from there. ... We know roughly how the sequence of life ran forward in time. What about running it backward? ... Last week in Nature, scientists reported...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:48 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Unless you have retained a lawyer... McDonalds has applied for patent WO2006068865, which carries the title 'METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING A SANDWICH.' John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, can eat his heart out ... given that it only mentions generic sandwich making 'tool(s),'...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:44 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
He mentions the Enemies of Reason. Oh heck, I might as well post that as well. Starting tomorrow....
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:46 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Another local blogger, Jeff Rosenberg, is following the recount and providing his own analysis. Here....
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:26 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 25, 2008
Category: Blogospherics
First, the recipes. Most of these are mine, but not all. Making Stock How To Make Gravy Savory Squash Ravioli and Ravioli Update A good way to cook a turkey Grandma's Cranberry Relish The Best and the Hottest This video will make you hungry and...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:33 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
With 80.6 percent of the vote recounted, the known difference between Coleman and Franken has for the first time grown greater than the audited and adjusted original count differenct of 215. The difference is now, by my rekoning, a whopping 238. This, by Norm Coleman's...
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:18 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The California Fair Political Practices Commission said it wants to determine if the Church accurately described its role in the battle over Proposition 8. The Commission's executive director, Roman Porter, said the investigation follows a complaint by Californians Against Hate which accuses the Mormon Church...
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:45 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogging
Have you seen the latest iPod ad, on this site, that tells you you've won an iPhone? Got a problem with ads speak when not spoken to? Click HERE to complain! The Blog Herders are aware and presumably doing something about it, but a nice...
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:29 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Which means, ulimately, that you are going to hell no matter what you do. But in the mean time, have fun with this, totally stolen from PZ and the Science Pundit...
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:09 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Sheik "did not have sufficient education to understand he cannot whip other people like a dog" argued the lawyer of Sheik Falah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, accused of belt-whipping an American from Rochester, NY York who refused the sexual advances of the...
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:57 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Charles Darwin
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:40 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
PZ Myers 11.19.2009
PZ Myers 11.20.2009
Ed Brayton 11.20.2009
Ed Brayton 11.20.2009
Tim Lambert 11.18.2009
