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Welcome to Greg Laden's Blog.
April 30, 2009
Danielle Lee, who is my close personal Facebook Friend, has won an award! ....a doctoral candidate at University of Missouri-St. Louis and contributor to The American, was named the American Institute of Biological Sciences Diversity Scholar for 2009. She was nominated by the Animal Behavior...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:41 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
According to a Washington Post/ABC poll, only 21% of Americans identify themselves as Republicans. That is getting dangerously close to the percentage of Americans who believe they have seen UFOs or alien craft or have been abducted by aliens. I think they may be the...
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:48 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Cosmos
The Complete Idiot's Guide to String Theory is one way for you to attempt to understand String Theory. While any such effort will probably not work, you will probably learn some things along the way as long as you are not a theoretical physicist. If...
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:04 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Education
Head First Physics: A learner's companion to mechanics and practical physics I have been watching these Heads Up guides for some time now, mainly in the context of computer software and development. I have not tried any of these guides in IT because, so far,...
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:04 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
What life would be like if Twitter was real: See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor. h/t Ben...
Posted by Greg Laden at 4:50 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A car driven by a crazy person has careened through a crowd, killing four and wounding many, during an annual royal ceremony in the Netherlands. Here is a particularly disturbing photo of the event. You are warned. The vehcile in this photograph is still moving...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:18 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Cosmos
It is theoretically impossible to observe all of the different aspects of state of matter at the subatomic "quantum" level. This means that at the tiniest level of spacetime, bits and pieces of stuff and action can only be vaguely known, and therefore, if you...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:56 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogospherics
You can get SMS updates about Swine Flu here. Mike is keeping track of Panic at the RNC. Latest Dump Michele Bachmann has some interesting stuff. Including this: After that, have a glass of wine. It's good for you. Is there a Doctor in house!...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:04 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 29, 2009
Category: Anthropology
BZ returns to analyze your comments on blogospheric issues. And his grade may depend on your response!
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:39 PM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Birds
As long as we are on the subject (this week) of field guides, I thought I'd go ahead and suggest what guides you might take if you happen to be planning a trip to Central, East or southern Africa1 But since we are doing Africa,...
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:06 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: GLBTA
Miss California has found a new calling. She is making the transition from bikini clad ditzy blond representative of women nowhere to iconic stander-upper against political correctness....
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:31 PM • 24 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Health
photograph of some grapefruit Grapefruit juice contains enzymes that break down common types of compounds of which pharmaceuticals are made. This means that if you drink grapefruit juice along with some drugs, the effect of the drug will be enhanced. (That was a slight...
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:20 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: GLBTA
Know Thy Neighbor has posted the names of all 83,000 Arkansas voters who signed petitions calling for a ban on adoption by same-sex couples. details...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:41 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Health
The swine flu maneno in the 1970s was actually a key moment in the history of epidemiology politics. It also relates to the history of anti-vaccine activism in important and interesting ways. I should probably write a whole post about it. For now, suffice...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:19 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Minnesota cases are not confirmed but health officials are saying they likely will be. There will be a press conference on this at 9:00 AM Wed. A child in Texas has died of the flu. Which brings us to the relative severity, or more...
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:03 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Seriously. Dr. Sandra Porter of Discovering Biology in a Digital World provides evidence that "the California outbreak might be the same strain that caused an outbreak in 2007 at an Ohio country fair." What a nice piece of research and blogging. UPDATED: There is some...
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:23 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 28, 2009
... but only subtly different. You may have noticed that all of the Science Blogs (or almost all) have changed over to a new template. My understanding is that this is mainly an underlying technical upgrade, and no so much a resurfacing, but you will...
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:04 PM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Birds
I am not an expert on binoculars, but that is not going to stop me from giving you some excellent advice. Wildlife watching requires binoculars, and although I'm focusing on birding here, everything we're talking about applies generally. So this advice may be useful for...
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:09 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Republicans
Apparently, this is being seriously considered. By whom you may ask?...
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:56 PM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Technology
How to make the wireless card in your laptop work. Maybe.
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:36 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Health
While it is still true that no deaths have been reported for the new swine flu outside of Mexico, the virus has been identified in additional countries....
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:37 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Republican Sen. Arlen Specter has decided to switch parties and become a Democrat, stunning his GOP colleagues in the Senate while pushing Democrats and President Barack Obama one step closer to unfettered power in Washington. Specter will be the 59th Democratic senator, and if Al...
Posted by Greg Laden at 1:22 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
When I contacted Steve Kelley's campaign director to arrange a meeting with Steve and Sophie Kelley, I suggested Tuesday. She responded that they had arranged their schedule to meet me on Wednesday. When I read her response, the part that I saw was, "They had...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:46 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolutionary Biology
Gallup's work is written up an an all-too-sophomoric article which just falls short of explaining this important biological phenomenon in terms of a pair of headlights, a flashlight, and a little red wagon.
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:45 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 27, 2009
This is not a poll crashing thing, this is just a go take a poll thing. Here....
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:50 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Technology
Using old scanners, disk drives, and stuff, a perfect renditions of a song you probably did not want to hear again: This is lifted from here, where you will find more information. Hat tip: Joe....
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:36 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Linux
I have not installed it, but it looks good. Jaunty Jackalope is baed on Kernel 2.6.28-11 and runs Gnome 2.26.1 on X.org-Server 1.6. It boots faster. It supports ext4 ffile system. Here it is....
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:33 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Birds
You'll notice that I'm reviewing bird books. (Don't worry, not all will be US based.) Please feel free to chime in with your suggestions and comments. The ultimate bird book for North America has always been two books: both Peterson's field guides, one for the...
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:25 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Technology
Very funny application error messages are HERE at the Linux Menagerie. My favorite is this one from Windows: Q276304 - Error Message: Your Password Must Be at Least 18770 Characters and Cannot Repeat Any of Your Previous 30689 Passwords But this is a close runner-up:...
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:53 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Did he take a bribe? Did he try to buy a senate seat? Did he misuse campaign funds?...
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:28 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals
... is a blog carnival that you can read HERE. It is loaded with the best stuff on the blogosphere. Or in the blogosphere. Whatever. Go check it out, you will not be sorry. I especially draw your attention to the Post of the Month,...
Posted by Greg Laden at 3:44 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Birds
This is a repost of an earlier review. Bill Thompson's Young Birder's Guide The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of Eastern North America (Peterson Field Guides) is a book that I highly recommend for kids around seven to 14 years of age. (The publishers suggest...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:09 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 26, 2009
Category: Health
... a few new confirmed cases in the US, in new locations; No further international info of interest. Panic state: Not yet.
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:21 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Congo Memoirs
This is the final Congo Memoir. The penultimate installment is here. The final installment is below the fold .......
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:36 PM • 40 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A Swiss was fired when she was discovered to be using facebook at a time when she had claimed to be too ill to use a computer. She claims she was just checking her facebook account on her iPhone, and that the company had created...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:35 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The Moldovan capital, Chisinau, was rocked by protests earlier this month amid claims that an election which returned the Communist Party to power was rigged. The BBC's Oana Lungescu spoke to Natalia Morar, the journalist accused of masterminding Moldova's "Twitter revolution" - so dubbed because...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:31 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Archaeology
A tomb in Egypt, on the sea coast, is being investigated by Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass, who claims it is the final resting place of Cleopatra and her main squeeze, Mark Antony. One of the pieces of evidence used to make this claim is a...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:16 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Only 28 percent of Minnesotans think Coleman's current appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court is appropriate. Sixty four percent think he should give up now. Seventy three percent feel that he should not go beyond the State Supreme Court if he loses there. The will...
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:05 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
ROFL. HT: BZ@FB....
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:37 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 25, 2009
Category: Birds
This was not an intensive bird watching day. This was a day driving to the cabin, sitting in the cabin writing, looking out the window, driving to run an errand, going to town for dinner, sitting in the cabin looking out the window some more,...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:12 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals
.... The Web Carnival, not the General Feeling We All Have, is up at Quiche Moraine Dot Com. This is a good one. It has videos and everything....
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:37 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Birds
OK, not so new, but still relevant. The following is a repost of a review of this book. New Smithsonian Field Guide Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America by Ted Floyd is a newcomer to the bird field guide scene. This guide...
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:09 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Health
The time to panic is: Not yet.
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:25 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Actress Bea Arthur, who played Edith Bunker's Cousin (and some other roles on stage, screen, and TV) has died at the age of 86....
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:12 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Atheism
Minnesota Atheists' "Atheists Talk" radio show for Sunday, April 16, 2009, 9-10 a.m. Central Time: Away With All Gods! Guest Sunsara Taylor...
Posted by Greg Laden at 4:59 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Shane Murphy, second-in-command aboard the ship seized by Somali pirates this month, is happy to be home. But he's not happy to be sharing turf with land-lubber Rush Limbaugh, who politicized the pirate affair by referring to the pirates as "black teenagers." "It feels...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:56 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:27 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 24, 2009
Category: Congo Memoirs
...continued... I was just stepping out of the store, where I had purchased a piece of cloth to bring back to the US, when I heard the awful sound....
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:53 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Health
If we get to Level 6, put on the mask.
Posted by Greg Laden at 9:25 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
