Archives for August, 2009
Latest Roy Zimmerman
Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2009 A rough guide to your Western Heritage. I like “We’ve all got a birth certificate from Kenya” Hat Tip: Pharyngula
Blog Carnival of the Godless
Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2009 The Carnival of the Godless for August 23rd is HERE.
Falsehood: Nature maintains balance.
Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2009 There is a lot of evidence that nature is in balance. An invasive species throws off the balance of nature in a given region by out-competing some similar indigenous form. When something destructive happens there is a return to status quo, eventually. A few cold years are followed by a few warm years, or a…
Tropical Storm Danny: Cool Moving Picture
Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2009 Danny is probably not going to become a hurricane, but it may cause some wet weather along the East Coast. But, I did want to draw your attention to a fun bit of animated video. Watch the baby ghost hurricane pop out of the left side of the storm: CLICK HERE If you don’t look…
Putting a fine point on the health care debate
Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2009 Zuska is writing quite a bit about the Health Care industry, from both a personal and analiticopolitical perspective. You should check out her last few posts on this topic. These are must read posts.
Name the Health Care Bill after Ted Kennedy (Petition)
Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2009 This petition is being fairly widely circulated. If you are blogger, please pass it on. If you are a normal person, please sign it. THE PETITION
Judge: Take “god” out of recent Kentucky bill
Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2009 According to the constitutions of the United States and the State of Kentucky, church and state must remain separate. But then the Kentucky Legislature passed a homeland security related bill that stated that the security of the Commonwealth (State) depends on Almighty God. That wording was thrown out yesterday by a Kentucky Judge. This was…
Using your foundation to cool your PC
Posted by Greg Laden on August 27, 2009 Hardware hackers have done all sorts of interesting things to cool down their PC’s so they can be wildly over clocked. Roughly speaking, two otherwise identical processor chips rated at different speed are not necessarily designed differently. They are just capable of running at different speeds and not screwing up. The causes of screwing up…
Two items on Ted Kennedy
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 Fellow Blogger Pat on Fairer Science has a tribute. And, for some reason, so does MIT, the school.
Carnival of the Vanities
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 … The original blog carnival … is out, and it is here.
Science blogospherics
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 Interesting reading: The Origin of the Hepatitis C Virus. Resistance shmisistance. Viruses will save our butts. A write-up of London Science Online 09
Blogospherics
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 Funniest religion related video I’ve seen in months: HERE. Signs of the time: Judd Gregg does not want you to know that the stimulus is working. Some guys are paddling down the Mississippi river to raise awareness of the word’s global water crisis. Interview with Reef Madness author David Dobbs. A review of Reef Madness…
Can Bachmann be beat in 2010?
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 An analysis by Eric Ostermeier says … In only one instance since the DFL merger has a political party both taken back control of the Governor’s mansion and lost a U.S. House seat…. … so it depends. It does make sense that a strong race for governor is going to have coat tails. Ostermeier’s analysis…
Fat Body = Not Fat Head?
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 A new study finds obese people have 8 percent less brain tissue than normal-weight individuals. Their brains look 16 years older than the brains of lean individuals, researchers said today. Those classified as overweight have 4 percent less brain tissue and their brains appear to have aged prematurely by 8 years I don’t know what…
Let The Eagle Soar
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 Golden Eagle I hope I won’t disappoint you … this is not about John Ashcroft. It is about golden eagles (actually, maybe its about one golden eagle in particular).
Ted Kennedy 1932 – 2009
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 It has been said that everyone who grew up or lived in Kennedy country has at least one Kennedy story. This is true, of course, though mine are not especially impressive. But since this is a wake, you have to hear them anyway. Grab yourself a beer and a plate of steamed clams while I…
Wikipedia will limit changes to bio pieces
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 …within weeks, the English-language Wikipedia will begin imposing a layer of editorial review on articles about living people. The new feature, called “flagged revisions,” will require that an experienced volunteer editor for Wikipedia sign off on any change made by the public before it can go live. Until the change is approved — or in…
Back to school: Books on Creationism
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 If you are a teacher or a parent you may find some of these books especially useful to: a) prepare yourself; b) give to your child’s teacher or a colleague; or c) give to a school administrator. Seriously. Each link is to a review of the book to help you decide if you are interested.
Back to school: Books on science
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 The following may serve well in a home study environment, or for the parent to keep up with what the school kid is doing or for the overachieving youngster to get ahead of the teacher!
Ted Kennedy has died
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 I just saw the news. I will have some remarks later.
Discordant Democrats vs. Republican Dittoheads
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 The Democratic Party represents true diversity and has elements in it that are as conservative as any Republican on some issues, as well as libertarians and even quasi-anarchists who are willing to bite the bullet and “show up” to have some kind of influence. The Republican Party, in contrast, strictly polices itself and drives anyone…
Natural Selection is Survival Of the Fittest (A Falsehood)
Posted by Greg Laden on August 26, 2009 Let me remind you of what we mean by “falsehood.” A falsehood is not merely a statement that is factually untrue or logically flawed. Rather, it is a statement that when uttered in certain company rings true; It is a statement that sounds right to people; It is a statement that may be made frequently…
The Falsehoods Come Home to Roost: Dirty Foreign Germs In America
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 Parasitic infections and other diseases usually associated with the developing world are cropping up with alarming frequency among U.S. poor, especially in states along the U.S.-Mexico border, the rural South and in Appalachia, according to researchers. Government and private researchers are just beginning to assess the toll of the infections, which are a significant cause…
How To Enable Adobe’s Flash Player In Google Chrome
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 In Ubuntu. Here.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce takes AGW Denialism Stance
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 The nation’s largest business group is asking U.S. EPA to hold a public debate on climate change science — or face litigation — as the agency prepares to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. … “They don’t have the science to support the endangerment finding,” Bill Kovacs, the chamber’s vice president for…
The Modes of Natural Selection
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 There many ways of dividing up and categorizing Natural Selection. For example, there are the trichotomies of Natural Selection, Sexual Selection and Artificial Selection, and Modes of Selection (Stabilizing, Directional, and Disruptive) trichotomy. We sense that these are good because they are “threes” and “three” is a magic number. Here, I’m focusing on the Mode…
The Three Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Natural Selection
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 Natural Selection is the key creative force in evolution. Natural selection, together with specific histories of populations (species) and adaptations, is responsible for the design of organisms. Most people have some idea of what Natural Selection is. However, it is easy to make conceptual errors when thinking about this important force of nature. One way…
Google Chrome 64 Bit for Linux
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 A 64-bit version of the Google Chrome browser is now ready, but Windows users will still have some time to wait for their version. In a mailing list posting this week, Chrome developer Dean McNamee wrote that the Google v8 JavaScript team have working on a 64-bit port. There are now full instructions on the…
Bachmann makes stuff up
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 Listen to the long list of Town Hall meetings Bachmann claims to have had or to have planned. So far, she’s only had meetings more restrictive than those Bush has had. The one time she had a public meeting with actual public that I know of was the famous bathroom incident, but that’s another story……
When the eagles are disturbed …
Posted by Greg Laden on August 25, 2009 When it comes to observing nature, it pays to pay attention, and it pays to stay in one place for a while. Coming to “The Lake” many spring, summer, and fall weekends (and now and then in the winter) and paying attention to the wildlife and other aspects of the natural environment allows me to…
, which is now available for the 
