Archives for January, 2009
Autostarting Programs in KDE 4 (Linux)
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 Bambi Googled!!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 The Google Map Van, apparently, travels around the world, wherever there are streets, taking pictures of those self same streets to be on Google Map Street View. A student of mine recently contacted me for ideas about what to do about the fact that the Google Map Van took a picture of her house during…
Blogospherics
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 It’s a good idea to have a Fire Drill now and then. Do you know where the nearest fire extinguisher is? Right now? Go find it. Don’t forget: Atheists Talk–Bora Zivkovic, Sunday Morning!!!!! Hey, Atheists: It’s all your Dad’s fault! Here.
Science News Tidbits
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 Paleontologist reflects on Darwinian connections (PhysOrg.com) — As the former director and chief executive of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in England, Sir Peter Crane often walked in the footsteps of Charles Darwin. Peanuts tainted with metal fragments (AP) — The government acknowledged Friday that a shipment of peanuts from the plant linked to a…
Bell Museum Events
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 from The Bell … This February the Bell Museum of Natural History will be celebrating the opening of the internationally acclaimed exhibit LIFE: A Journey Through Time; Photograpy by Frans Lanting. We hope you will join us on the evening of February 12th for a special exhibit opening event that will combine University of Minnesota…
Dumb Fugitives
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 And this week’s Darwin Award Honorable Mention goes to these two prison escapees in New Zealand: hat Tip: Geekology
Happy Birthday Grrrrrrrl Scientist!
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 Here.
The Great Shoe: The Newest Pilgrimage Site?
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 A huge sculpture of the footwear hurled at President Bush in December during a trip to Iraq has been unveiled in a ceremony at the Tikrit Orphanage complex. Assisted by children at the home, sculptor Laith al-Amiri erected a brown replica of one of the shoes hurled at Bush and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki by…
Did you notice that the Entire Internet went bad this fine morning?
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 But it got better. Google has the capacity to place a sentence just underneath the title of a web site on a Google Search that says “This site may harm your computer.” Apparently, over the last several hours, Google started labeling every site on the internet with this sentence. Then it stopped. Some people think…
The Monaco Declaration on Global Climate Change
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 The Monaco Declaration (PDF) warns of the dangers to our oceans if we don’t terminate the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. The oceans are becoming increasingly acidic thanks the to rise in the levels of CO2 brought about by the industrial age. This is leading to the reduction of habitable space for coral. So,…
Friday Carnivalia
Posted by Greg Laden on January 31, 2009 Carnival of Evolution #8 is presented here, by Irradiatus Four Stone Hearth: “A New Hope” Edition is HERE. Not a carnival but an important, related post: Why Backlinks Matter, at Nature Blog Network. Friday Ark at The Modulator And while we are on the subject of carnivals, I’m hosting the next The Giant’s Shoulders. Please…
Some people have too much time on their hands. And water. Too much water.
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2009 Hat Tip Geekology
Sorry, the whole world actually is watching …
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2009 A federal judge denied a request Thursday to keep secret the names of donors to California’s anti-gay marriage initiative, saying the public had a right to know who gave money to state ballot measures. Supporters of the Proposition 8 initiative, which overturned a state Supreme Court ruling that allowed gay marriage, had sought a preliminary…
Obama must get rid of this “faith based” crap
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2009 But he’s not. President Barack Obama has chosen Joshua DuBois to lead his White House-based effort to steer federal social service dollars to religious charities and get them more involved in government anti-poverty efforts. DuBois, a political strategist who was religious affairs director in the Obama campaign, will head the President’s Council for Faith-Based and…
Canadian Faith Based Doctor Sucks
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2009 Andrea Markowski said she and her partner Ginette were stunned when the Winnipeg doctor told them during a “meet-and-greet” appointment she was uncomfortable accepting them as patients and had never treated “people like you” before. The doctor said she only treated “husbands and wives,” said Markowski, who is legally married to her partner of 18…
Be Inspired
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2009 Many more, some funnier, here.
Vaccines and Autism: A Tale of Shifting Hypotheses
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2009 A paper coming out in the next issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases addresses the question of the link between vaccines and autism. This new review article examines three hypotheses linking vaccines to autism: (1) the combination measles‐mumps‐rubella vaccine causes autism by damaging the intestinal lining, which allows the entrance of encephalopathic proteins; (2)…
Tom Steele Elected RNC Chair
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2009 The black RNC chair has just been elected, replacing a more typical white supremacist guy who was the previous chair. I have no analysis to offer at this time.
Items of Interest
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2009 Virginia Gay Marriage Ban Repeal Fails. Details. Obama to Restore Family Planning Aid? Details Ocean dead zones made worse by global warming. Details.
NWA: No longer the Worst Airline. Because it is gone.
Posted by Greg Laden on January 30, 2009 Good Bye Northwest Airlines. I never liked you and I won’t miss you. You do not deserve to exist after what you did to me when my father died. And I speak for thousands of others who suffered your crap over the years. Hat Tip Miss Cellania
Ricky Gervais Becomes An Atheist
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2009 And Leonard Plinth Garnell Presents …. (Only kidding. Skip the first 43 seconds if you can….) Hat Tip Sandwalk.
Late Show – Final Tribute
Posted by Greg Laden on January 29, 2009 Hat Tip: Eme Trece
The Mars Rover is Sooooo Stoned!!!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on January 28, 2009 Does Spirit have a Boyfriend? Or may be a little drug habit? NASA is perplexed: PASADENA, Calif. – The team operating NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit plans diagnostic tests this week after Spirit did not report some of its weekend activities, including a request to determine its orientation after an incomplete drive. Very suspicious. I’d…
“Larry Craig Is Completely Heterosexual” by Roy Zimmerman
Posted by Greg Laden on January 28, 2009 Hat Tip Lou
Blogospherics: Recommended reads
Posted by Greg Laden on January 28, 2009 The African Armyworm is on the march, wiping out crops in Liberia. Details here. Reading graphs: How we do it, and what it tells us about making better ones. Here. Marking classes interactive: better learning or just more fun? Here. The Continuum Hypothesis Solved: All Infinities are the Same? Nope. Here. Just For Fun Avian…
“Oath of Office” by Roy Zimmerman
Posted by Greg Laden on January 28, 2009 I do not advocate this cookbook.
Posted by Greg Laden on January 28, 2009 But it might be worth thumbing through it just for fun … You must be over 18 to read the rest of tis blog post. ————————- the fold —————————–
The Rightful Place of Science
Posted by Greg Laden on January 28, 2009 The rightful place of science is moving, never staying in one place, ever dancing and watching, on the always shifting sociopolitical landscape. A team of white coated eggheads can solve any problem with enough science. We need to get rid of the Jews, and we don’t have enough bullets, so let’s get the eggheads to…
, which is now available for the 
