Archives for December, 2010
Bart Weetjens: How I taught rats to sniff out land mines
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2010 “Julian Assange Denounces Hactivists”
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2010 That would be an interesting headline to see. Even more interesting is the fact, as far as I know, that we haven’t seen it. For that, there should be consequences. Rant below the fold. Not work safe. Grrrrrrrr.
Ice Volcanoes of Titan
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2010 NASA may have spotted evidence of ice volcanoes on Saturn’s moon.
Michele Bachmann: It will NOT ‘get better’ if I can help it!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2010 “It isn’t that some gay will get some rights. It’s that everyone else in our state will lose rights. For instance, parents will lose the right to protect and direct the upbringing of their children …. They will be required to learn that homosexuality is normal, equal and perhaps you should try it. And that…
Fast, Cheap and Ooops. NASA’s NanoSail may be dead, but it was not that big of a deal.
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2010 Fast, Cheap & Out of Control is part of my own personal enigma. I have shown it to people who don’t know me, who don’t know what I think about, who don’t know much about what I study. Nineteen out of twenty such people react in this matter: A cold stare with underlying anger for…
Read Gawker? Gizmodo? Lifehacker? You’ve been pwnd.
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2010 Registered users of Gawker.com media sites have had their names, email addresses, reading histories, and passwords stolen. But that’s OK, because just yesterday I heard you say that any information hackers steal from secret computer databases should be public. (Or did I hear you wrong?)
Michele Bachmann’s Dumbfounding Wisdumb
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2010 “Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn’t even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas.”
Birke Baehr: What’s wrong with our food system
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2010 11-year-old Birke Baehr presents his take on a major source of our food — far-away and less-than-picturesque industrial farms. Keeping farms out of sight promotes a rosy, unreal picture of big-box agriculture, he argues, as he outlines the case to green and localize food production.
The walk from “no” to “yes”
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2010 William Ury, author of “Getting to Yes,” offers an elegant, simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations — from family conflict to, perhaps, the Middle East.
War on Hanuka Update
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2010 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Daily Show on Facebook
This photograph needs a caption
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2010 more captions needed
Metrodome Roof Collapse!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2010 Before: After: Video of the collapse!!!: This happened about 5 AM. Too much snow, and the Metrodome is basically a big balloon. There is a live snowcam here but the signal is poor. This is why the Vikings game had been moved to Monday, for fear of there being too much snow. If you work…
I’m totally selling my horses and oxen and getting one of these sno machines!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2010 How come we don’t all have one of these? I suppose one possible down side would be that if you fell off it would drag you into the vortex and crush you. But still … well, have a look:
It would take a 747 over a thousand years to circle the largest star
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2010 Of course, it would burn up in the process, but whatever. The following is one of those size and scale videos mainly showing the relative size of our planets and selected stars, then making quick reference to other larger scale structures. It is a good video (hat tip: Joe) but it does have a major…
Why am I always the last to know these things?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2010 The Newly Discovered Giant Flores Stork
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2010 A new species of stork has been identified from Flores, which is the Indonesian island on which the famous “hobbit” fossils have been found. The “hobbit” is a form of hominid (human relative) that seems to be a diminutive form of Homo erectus but different enough from that widespread species to give it a distinct…
A vision for sustainable restaurants
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2010 If you’ve been in a restaurant kitchen, you’ve seen how much food, water and energy can be wasted there. Chef Arthur Potts-Dawson shares his very personal vision for drastically reducing restaurant, and supermarket, waste — creating recycling, composting, sustainable engines for good (and good food).
What’s a Penguin to do?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2010 Volunteer Point in the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean
Current Science Books: The perfect holiday gift!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2010 Everybody loves to give or to get a book as a present, right? They are small, interesting, there is a wide selection in every price range. As gift giver, it is a way you can impose your will on others, which is always true for gifts, but specially so with books. As a recipient, you…
Elephant Tracks and Child Safety Devices
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2010 It is probably true that every culture has child safety devices. It is also probably true that all of these devices are very limited in their effectiveness.
Religion gives you a pass to break whatever rules seem to not apply to you
Posted by Greg Laden on December 9, 2010 Which is very handy if you are a Department of Motor Vehicles desk clerk who hates Teh Gay. Or a Senator.
Final Vote: Biology textbooks approved in Louisiana
Posted by Greg Laden on December 9, 2010 At its December 9, 2010, meeting, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted 8-2 to approve high school biology textbooks, despite the ongoing complaints of creationists objecting to their treatment of evolution. As NCSE previously reported, a decision on the textbooks, expected initially in October 2010, was deferred by the board, which sought…
Wikileaks and Anon_Op
Posted by Greg Laden on December 9, 2010 Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Two items for your To Do list
Posted by Greg Laden on December 9, 2010 Now that Mythbusters is on Roku and Netflix via various venues, I’ve been watching it. Previously I’ve only seen a few. They’re pretty good. And now, President Obama will be on Mythbusters: “The Discovery Channel has announced that the Commander-in-Chief will be doing a cameo on “Mythbusters” tonight. He’ll be asking hosts Adam Savage and…
The Tax Cut Problem: Frank on the Last Word
Posted by Greg Laden on December 9, 2010 Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
NASA claims to have observed mitosis on Mars!!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 9, 2010 Here’s a picture: Well, ok, actually, they didn’t exactly say this in their press release, but they didn’t not say it, neither, so shame on them!!! They put this picture that they KNOW imma think is mitosis and FAILED to say it wassn! FAIL I say! But seriously, folks, the real news and as far…
How to fix Michele Bachmann
Posted by Greg Laden on December 9, 2010 It’s a great idea that I found on a new blog called Notes from the Pondonome, (which from the photograph in the blog’s banner must be some kind of remote church and graveyard near a river in South Dakota): It involves bacteria.
Julian Assange discusses the embassy cables in July
Posted by Greg Laden on December 9, 2010 This is interesting. Well, the whole conversation is interesting, but it gets especially interesting around 6 minutes … Question: … there’s this US Intelligence Analyst Bradley Manning arrested and it’s alleged that he confessed in in a chatroom to have leaked …. 280 thousand classified us embassy cables. Did he? Answer: Well, we have denied…
Michele Bachmann on Carbon Dioxide.
Posted by Greg Laden on December 9, 2010 “Carbon dioxide is natural, it is not harmful, it is a part of Earth’s lifecycle. And yet we’re being told that we have to reduce this natural substance, reduce the American standard of living, to create an arbitrary reduction in something that is naturally occuring in Earth.”
, which is now available for the 
