Archives for December, 2009
“Black Prison” interrogation video leaked
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2009 This is just un-believ-able
Randi and Global Warming, the Retraction
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2009 James Randi says, of global warming, I Am Not “Denying” Anything. PZ is not entirely sanguine about it. But James wants to give Randi a pass. Anybody want to buy a goat?
PZ Myers Swarmed by Kliqueons!!!11!!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2009 Somebody is wrong on the Internet again, and it might be interesting enough to check out. It involved PZ Myers, Isis the Scientist, terrifiedtabetic, Stephanie Zvan, a few commenters, and it is all about Peter Watts getting beat up by border guards while crossing into the United States. I’m just guessing here, but I’m pretty…
Skeptics: How do you know what to “believe”?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2009 It is not possible for anyone to understand every policy-important aspect of scientific knowledge at the level of detail necessary to accept that knowledge as valid, or to defend it against the evil anti-science denialists. So what is a skeptic to do?
UPDATED: Becoming Human in South Minneapolis. This Saturday!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2009 If you’ve read everything I’ve written, and studies it closely with a map in hand, you know that I Love Minneapolis and that I have certain connections with certain neighborhoods, including Nokomis Park. Well, the Minnesota Humanists have asked me to give a talk at the park … indoors … on human evolution this Saturday.…
Science Pornography: You must be 18 years or older to view this blog post
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2009 It turns out I write academia erotica! I can tell you that the three dimensional visual imagery in the post to which Stephanie refers was a replacement for the actual visual imagery I had in mind when I wrote it. But I couldn’t use that because …
Burning Down the AGW Denialist Billboards
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2009 I don’t expect these dyed-in-the-wool cranks to change their minds, but it is appropriate that those of us who do have bits and pieces of the internet in our charge keep the dialog honest and progressive. The denialists are putting up offensive, inaccurate, one-liner billboards. We are burning the billboards down with science. It is…
James Randi and Global Warming
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2009 Yesterday, James Randi put up a blog post in which he questioned the validity of anthropogenic global warming. He has subsequently made the statement that he probably has more thinking to do about global warming, and he admits that he really knows nothing about it. So Randi’s blog post is, essentially, a non-starter as an…
Happy Blogoversary Martin Rundkvist!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2009 Aardvarchaeology’s Martin Rundkvist is celebrating his Fourth Blogoversary today! Congratulations Martin! Go say hi!
Happy Blogoversary Abel Pharmboy!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2009 I had missed this, so it is belated. Abel’s blog was Four yesterday. Go and give your best wishes.
My job is to make you happy. About using Linux. UPDATED
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2009 I’ve convinced a few people to use Linux and most of them don’t hate me, but most of them were masochistic geeks who were probably going to use Linux anyway. But there are three people who are pretty important to me who are now using Linux because of me, but who otherwise would not likely…
Linux Matters
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2009 Linux in Exile has some boot time data for Fedora and an interesting piece on how Microsoft Word can cause you to lose access to your own documents. There are now 20,000 Android apps. Yet another approach to downloading YouTube videos.
Oral Roberts is Dead
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2009 He practically invented modern TV evangelical preaching and grubbing. His death reminds me of Kristine’s story.
Try standing at the edge of knowledge for a while. You’ll like it.
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2009 Alternate titles for this post: “It turns out, it is a little like a priesthood.” “Join us. Join us. Join us. Braaainzzzzz” “Imma gonna let you finish, but first I think you need to get your Wellies wet.” …
Huxley’s first reunion
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2009 Huxley at the reunion of the “How To Get Born’d” class. He’s the extra cute one.
Octopus Tool Use
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2009 Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Atheists Can Not Legally Hold Public Office
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2009 There are six or seven states where you must believe in god (well, swear on the bible that you believe in god) in order to hold public office. I may have to boycott the Science Online 2010 conference, because it is in one of those states!
Most interesting items …
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2009 … On Scienceblogs Dot Com, at least …
Credulity, Skepticism and Cynicism
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2009 You’ve met them. “Oh, those scientists. They get their funding from the government/industry/political think tanks. They’re just producing the results needed to keep their money flowing. They’ll say anything it takes. Besides, it’s not like they don’t make mistakes. Even Newton and Einstein had it wrong.” Read the rest by Stephanie Zvan at QM …
Empowering the individual does not equal ensmartening the individual
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2009 Imagine the following scenario. Two guys are walking down the street, in different cities. Guy A has two PhDs, one in quantum physics with a focus on dimensionality dynamics, the other in astrophysics with a focus on relativistic aspects of gravity and black holes. She has published dozens of peer reviewed papers on both topics…
The Brown Cube is The Brown Cube
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2009 The Brown Cube is not the Rubik Cube. Anybody who thinks they are the same is … wrong.
Ray Comfort Stole Someone Else’s Text for his Origin Intro!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2009 This is the problem with Christians. They think they have a special pass to do whatever they want as long as it done in the name of their god. Now don’t get me wrong here. The average Christian does not think he or she is above the law on a day to day basis. But…
I want to be in charge of the music
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2009 There was a certain amount of Christmas shopping over the weekend, and I have to say the music was over the top this year. Or maybe I’m just getting more sensitive. In any event, it was driving me nuts. So, I decided that I want to be in charge of the music from now on.…
Science Online 2010 …
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2009 … SciTen is coming …
The Goats are Everywhere. Burning.
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2009 Denialism and Customer Service What happens when it is your job to help people back out of mistakes, but you are an unrepentant skeptic and most of those people you are trying to help are … not? … I want to yell at the naturopath who tells me that vaccination is dangerous and that she…
What happens when you watch too much TV
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2009 You see how funny the world is. And I don’t mean funny-ha-ha.
Which is better at doing its thing, Kitties or Wolves?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2009 This is a little like comparing apples and oranges…
Long Known Sextuplet Star System Just Identified!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2009 You know the old gag where the woman is in labor, and then gives birth, and asks the doctor “What is it, a boy or a girl?” and the doctor says “Both! You have twins!”
Russians: “UFO was rocket”
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2009 More than 24 hours after the incident, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirms that it was a failed Bulava missile launch that caused the strange spiral shaped lights over Northern Norway yesterday…. details
, which is now available for the 
