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January 31, 2010
Does Chris Matthews "forgetting that Obama is black" falls into that same range of racism as "Pretty for a black girl" and the "You're not like those other black people" claptrap often espoused by the "I'm not racist, but..." crowd. They're coded as compliments, but...
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:55 PM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The iPad ... what is it like? NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source (hat tip: LIX The Amazon Kerfuffle...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:04 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: OpenAccess
I told you so, but most of you would not listen. Amazon has tossed an entire publishing company off its site (hat tip: H.G.) because that company would not comply with Amazon's universally imposed Kindle edition pricing strategy. That places Amazon at the decision making...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:06 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 30, 2010
Category: Events
Meal and Reel, Feb 19, Creation w/special guest Greg Laden at Edina Cinema Edina, the home of Al Franken, the town known locally as "Every Day I Need Attention" because of their quaint suburban attitudes, the place that appears to have the only half decent...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:34 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Any octopus experts out there wanna give this a look? (At Digital Rabbit blog)...
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:28 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogging
This is the question that was raised in the wake of a Science Online 2010 session on civility. I did not attend the session so I am only addressing the issues that were subsequently discussed on blog posts written in the aftermath of a now...
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:55 PM • 396 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The broadcast networks that air the Super Bowl have historically rejected advocacy ads. Yet CBS, which is airing the Super Bowl this year, has accepted an anti-choice ad by the ultra-conservative group Focus on the Family. Details here...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:31 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:22 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 29, 2010
Category: Sports
I did not appreciate the sentiment that the New York Yankees had to win the World Series because Osama Bin Laden blew up the World Trade Center. I do not appreciate the sentiment that the New Orleans Saints have to win the Super Bowl because...
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:52 PM • 90 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
A few people asked me if I saw any polar bears during my recent trip to Antarctica. No, I didn't... None? Not even one? Did you even see any prints???? Polar Bears in Antarctica at Digital Rabbit...
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:06 PM • 31 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
On Feb 12, Feb 19th the Darwin-related film "Creation" will debut in at least one local theater here in the twin cities. A group of us will be getting together prior at a restaurant or other appropriate venue, at which I will be asked to...
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:55 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
One opinion you should check out: ...Obama is missing the opportunity of a lifetime to give us serious climate change legislation, and he's blowing it by going down the middle of the road, trying to please everyone. This year could be the end of any...
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:36 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Howard Zinn died on Wednesday. But first, he got very old and before that he inspired two or three generations of skeptics and questioners of history and society....
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:59 PM • 17 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Dogs: Cats:...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:51 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Environment
I've never seen the ocean glow, but Katie Spotz did this week. She has been rowing in the Atlantic Ocean for 3 weeks now, getting closer to South America each day. A recent tweet from her: Read the rest at DR...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:53 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There is a big fight going on over at Quiche Moraine. Apparently, my friend and co-blogger Mike made a comment or two, months back, about someone and she didn't like it. So she complained to Stephanie. Well, she complained to me, and I forwarded her...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:49 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 28, 2010
Dogs: Cats:...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:49 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 27, 2010
Not the actual babies, but the birth weight of the new ones....
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:33 PM • 33 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Skeptics ask questions (Q's) and try to do so in a systematic, scientific, way. But what about IQ (and here I use IQ as a euphemism for smarts). The recent discussion here and elsewhere about the Skepchicks touched on this issue. I've been (temporarily) avoiding...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:04 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Negotiating with dog god... Judaism is a religion of scepticism, made for and used by sceptics. The relationship with Jews and God is not a one-way thing in which God says 'thou-shalt-not' and everyone jumps. It's a constantly evolving contract. It's not inappropriate to remind...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:59 PM • 36 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Evolution
Hat tip: Monicks...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:26 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 26, 2010
Librarians & Scientists: YMMV ...people (and more so engineers and scientists) consult their friends first, then their files, then after trying everything else, consult the library. It's sort of the library/librarian as goalie metaphor (you know, 10 other people missed the ball so the goalie...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:12 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Creationism
The following story is current, but the issue is not new. But interesting. ... Science standards for Minnesota schools are about to be set for the next six years. Is the battle to keep pseudoscience out of our classrooms over? Sadly the door has been...
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:45 PM • 34 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 25, 2010
... the theory might diversify ... Pat Robertson needs to watch this. In fact, this YouTube video needs to be attached to his eyes so he has to watch it again and again for all of his days . Hat Tip Glen...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:47 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I really need to be clear that as an atheist, I don't pretend to "know" that there are no supernatural entities. I agree with those who label themselves as agnostics that there is no way to ever know the unknowable with an absolute degree of...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:32 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
Point: Poe:...
Posted by Greg Laden at 10:20 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: OpenSource
Robert Gentleman and Donald Nickelson have joined the board of REvolution Computing. Gentleman is co-creator of this OpenSource statistical package which is widely used by researchers. The news was released moments ago, and here is a press release from the company:...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:00 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 24, 2010
Camp Quest is a secular summer camp program, and the Minnesota Version of it has been growing in recent years, and needs volunteers to help. 2010 camping dates are June 25 to July 31, not too far from the Twin Cities. Here's a brochure (PDF,...
Posted by Greg Laden at 1:45 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: OpenSource
Although if Microsoft wasn't the Gorilla in the Room example of Proprietary the contrast may not be as stark. Maybe.... JH at Linux in Exile discusses the anti-Google "bug" in IE that MS left in place for months....
Posted by Greg Laden at 1:41 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
On Desiree Schell's Skeptically Speaking Radio with Quiche Moraine and Almost Diamond's Stephanie Zvan ... ... a panel discussion on skepticism and race. Is the face of modern skepticism really as monochrome as it appears? How do we make our message appeal to a broader,...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:44 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 23, 2010
Category: Skeptical Skepticism
This is about the sex-appeal of the skepchicks.
Posted by Greg Laden at 8:11 PM • 63 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
This is a few weeks old, but you may not have seen it....
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:36 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogospherics
Slandering the Skepchick bloggers (un)Becoming the Borg...
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:32 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I believed people would crawl out of the woodwork to shout me down over considering acceptable the objectification of women, the "sexification" of breast cancer, and that I was going to be accused of merely wanting to save "my playthings" rather than people's lives. You...
Posted by Greg Laden at 3:22 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
When I first got involved with skepticism, I noticed that it was a total sausage fest. Except for one prominent group of women, the Skepchicks, the attention paid to women in the skeptical movement was slim. And how did I feel about the Skepchicks? A...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:20 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I'm a woman, and I'm in technology, and I demand here and now that you stop catering to me. That's right, I'm talking to YOU: brands, marketers, PR flaks, hardware manufacturers, advocacy groups and the women and men in my industry. And while we're at...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:41 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Hat tip: Julia...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:49 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Cats: Dogs:...
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:52 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 22, 2010
Details here....
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:25 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Skeptical Skepticism
I recently posted an appeal to support the upcoming skeptical track at the Minneapolis CONvergence organized by The Skepchicks, a group of hip female skeptical activists and some guys. The first comment on that post was a stern admonition that one might not want to...
Posted by Greg Laden at 6:01 PM • 121 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
The general told them to stop. The manufacturer agreed. Fox news is now calling the US Armed Forces unpatriotic. Or something....
Posted by Greg Laden at 2:07 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Remember this? Divining sticks that consist essentially of an antenna not even attached to a radio (which might make it slihgtly useful for listening to music and stuff), and costing between 16 and 60 THOUSAND DOLLARS each, are being used as the main technology for...
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:51 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Race and Racism
Southern white racists in the US think of themselves as a repressed minority. Which, probably, they should be. Note the use of the word "fundamental" in this context....
Posted by Greg Laden at 12:29 PM • 40 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 21, 2010
... talking about some guy named "Bora" or something ......
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:53 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
January 20, 2010
Most people get this wrong. Here it is done correctly:...
Posted by Greg Laden at 7:53 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Cognitive Daily, the blog, is one of the blogs that made science blogs (both in general and at scienceblogs.com) a legitimate, valid enterprise instead of a bunch of random jackasses screwing around on the Internet. Like a nice hat on a man who could be...
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:47 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion
You probably don't know that I went to Harvard, because I rarely mention it, but I did, and when I was there I literally worked and studied around the Divinity school. The lab I worked in was on one side of the Div School, and...
Posted by Greg Laden at 5:14 PM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Last Fourth of July Weekend, I attended Skepchicon, which is a "track" at a "con" (where a con is a thing where everyone dresses up like Darth Vader or a Twilight character or whatever). I was on the panel for a couple of sessions and...
Posted by Greg Laden at 3:36 PM • 33 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
An exit survey of Massachusetts voters confirms that "decreased turnout among constituencies that historically have voted for progressive candidates," combined with a strong Republican performance among independents, delivered Scott Brown the margins he needed to win. think progress...
Posted by Greg Laden at 1:39 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
On the next episode of Skeptically Speaking, a panel discussion on skepticism and race. Is the face of modern skepticism really as monochrome as it appears? How do we make our message appeal to a broader, more diverse audience? And how do racial demographics influence...
Posted by Greg Laden at 11:11 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
denialism blog 02.14.2012
respectful insolence 02.14.2012
uncertain principles 02.13.2012
confessions of a science librarian 02.13.2012
starts with a bang! 02.13.2012
