Archives for April, 2010
US Supremes to Hear “All Comers” Case: Can you bar gays from your college club?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 19, 2010 The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in a major case testing whether state colleges and universities can deny official status and subsidies to student groups that bar homosexuals and other groups from membership.
Science Education on the Radio
Posted by Greg Laden on April 19, 2010 How are today’s teachers sharing the wonders of science and critical thinking with the next generation of students? With cognitive psychologist and university lecturer Barbara Drescher, and Mike McRae, former science teacher and current science writer for the education division of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. The Podcast: It is Here!
Cost of Modern Medicine, Insurance Reform, and Death in the Paleolithic
Posted by Greg Laden on April 19, 2010 Are you going to be finishing all of that mastodon meat?
Yes, hate speech kills. Remembering Oklahoma City
Posted by Greg Laden on April 19, 2010 Today is the fifteenth anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh with an assist from three others. That bombing was carried out in part as retaliation by McVeigh for a percieved slight at Ruby Ridge in 1992. That bombing is an example of the…
Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre el Cambio Climático y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra
Posted by Greg Laden on April 18, 2010 Global People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth
Outbreaks of H5N1 Bird Virus Infection in Wild Birds in time and space: Temperature matters (with cool video)
Posted by Greg Laden on April 18, 2010 It has long been thought that there are linkages between certain viruses and the weather. The flu season is winter (in whichever hemisphere it happens to be winter in) for reasons having to do with the seasons. One early theory posited that the practices of East Asian farmers, as they tended their animals, caused waterfowl…
Sunday Reading
Posted by Greg Laden on April 18, 2010 The latest on whether or not skeptical people should go after the pope for facilitating child abuse, or just shut up and let everyone else handle it:
YA Knee Update
Posted by Greg Laden on April 18, 2010 A follow up on the earlier installment of “As the knee turns…”
PZ Myers and Michael Ruse given Stamp of Approval by YNH Blog
Posted by Greg Laden on April 18, 2010 The You’re Not Helping Blog, a blog written by a consortium of well known bloggers with the assigned task of determining which bloggers, and which blog posts, “help” vs. “not help” has certified certain things said by PZ Myres and Michael Ruse as …. A-OK! Check it out:
Greg Laden just can’t help himself ..In Broadbrush artistry
Posted by Greg Laden on April 17, 2010 Somebody is wrong on the Internet, and apparently, it’s Greg Laden. “…Greg. Don’t get us wrong, we want to see the Pope (and priests) answer for what they’ve done,…” We just want it done OUR way, and not your way. So please sit down and shut up. Signed, We’ll, we’re not going to say who…
The True Meaning of the Unpronounceable Volcano that Ate Europe
Posted by Greg Laden on April 17, 2010 Whitney Houston took a car ferry from Britain to Ireland to attend her concert, rather than flying. Barack Obama has canceled his trip to a state funeral in Poland. A very large magical snake protects a canyon in south Africa. These things are connected a lot more closely than you might think.
Pope, in incredible act of insensitivity, mixes up roles of victim and perp
Posted by Greg Laden on April 17, 2010 In his first foreign trip since sex abuse scandals in Europe and the US broke, Pope Benedict has said the Church has been “wounded by its sins”. msnbc
Bachmann, Palin, are the “Gold Standard” for the Republican Party
Posted by Greg Laden on April 17, 2010 Weekend Diversions:
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 Obama pwns little what’s his name for asking dumbest question evah. Oliver North on How To Be a Good American (OMG!) Djou: Playing Politics with Our Economic Recovery And finally, …. A handful of political cartoons
How to live trap a squirrel
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 It is not recommended that you trap and move squirrels. It may be illegal in your state, and since squirrels have teeth and may carry disease, it could be dangerous. But if you MUST trap a squirrel to move it, say, to a point a few blocks away, I suggest using a Havahart trap. Havahart…
Obama: Checked with NASA on Armageddon.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 Technology Rants
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 Well, maybe more like tidbits than rants. This is all Linux or ani-Windows stuff, so everyone else you get the clam-hand*.
Linux Fedora 13 Beta
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 There are many versions of Linux, but the two biggies seem to be Debian (on which Ubuntu and many other distributions are based) and Red Hat. Red Hat uses a commercial support model, so it is an example of a very different approach than Ubuntu. Many of the commercial applications of Linux are Red Hat.…
I and the bird # 123 is up
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 But you need to go to IDAHO to see it!
Myers vs. Pigliucci
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 Which is true: PZ Myers is a witless wanker who peddles pablum or “I shall be no friend to the appeasers” -pz myers … kind of a false comparison. But the debate is real. This time it’s Massimo Pigliucci vs. PZ Myers Two people that i like and admire fighting it out over an important…
Bachmann, Teabaggers, remain annoying, stupid.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 Bachmann’s health care claims falter Bachmann has said the new health care act will unleash a wave of new federal funding for abortion … contrary to Bachmann’s claims, the law doesn’t fundamentally change federal policy on abortion …a Bachmann spokesman has backed off her prediction… Tea Party rally cost taxpayers nearly $14k …Bachmann solidified her…
Discover Channel: Anything to make a buck.
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 What next, will we be seeing the CEO of Discovery Channel out harpooning whales? The media conglomerate Discovery Communications used to be known for their earth-friendly offerings. But they’ve just paid millions to Sarah Palin to host a “nature” show, despite her decidedly anti-environmental stance: She vocally advocates for habitat-destroying oil drilling, she denies global…
How To Actually Get the Kindle Reader To Work on your Linux Desktop (UPDATED)
Posted by Greg Laden on April 16, 2010 UPDATE: GO HERE. UPDATE UPDATE: I no longer have that file, because it is not the most current one. However, people who want to read their Kindle books on their Linux machine need only to use the browser-based Kindle Cloud Reader. It’s pretty nice. There is a Kindle reader application for the PC (and the…
National Day of Prayer is Unconstitutional
Posted by Greg Laden on April 15, 2010 A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional Thursday, saying the day amounts to a call for religious action. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb wrote that the government can no more enact laws supporting a day of prayer than it can encourage citizens to fast during Ramadan, attend a synagogue or…
Obama Orders Hospitals to Stop Being Jerks
Posted by Greg Laden on April 15, 2010 Same Sex Couples to Have Equal Treatement President Obama on Thursday signed a memorandum requiring hospitals to allow gays and lesbians to have non-family visitors and to grant their partners medical power of attorney. The president ordered the Department of Health and Human Services to prohibit discrimination in hospital visitation. The memo is scheduled to…
Are you connected with a scholarly society in any way?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 15, 2010 On the board? Officer? Opinionated member? If so I hope you will have a look at this: Scholarly Societies: Why Bother? and this: The American Astronomical Society responds to “Scholarly Societies: Why Bother?”
Midwest Fierball Video (and a falsehoold?!)
Posted by Greg Laden on April 15, 2010 Videos of the so called fireball:
Look! Up in the sky!
Posted by Greg Laden on April 15, 2010 Holy, crap, did you see this??????
Who says Minnesotans don’t have a sense of humor?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 15, 2010 These ads actually appear on our local TV. Not cable, just regular:
Dawkins Interview inre Pope Arrest
Posted by Greg Laden on April 15, 2010 
, which is now available for the 
