Archives for July, 2011
How the sun works: Fusion and Quantum Tunneling
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2011 Henry Reich is developing a YouTube channel for one-minute-physics presentations. Below the fold is one of the more recent productions.
AudioVideo Things to Hear and See
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2011 Michele Bachmann doesn’t really care about bullies, or if bullying leads to really bad things happening to children, because there is no bully bill in the US constittuion and it’s natural anyway. Here’s the audio of her senseless yammering about how an anti bulling bill could lead to the boys all turning gay. Move over…
Victory for evolution in Texas
Posted by Greg Laden on July 26, 2011 Pop the champagne corks. The Texas Board of Education has unanimously come down on the side of evolution. In 14-0* vote, the board today approved scientifically accurate high school biology textbook supplements from established mainstream publishers–and did not approve the creationist-backed supplements from International Databases, LLC. Read More
Dating Advice from Rebecca
Posted by Greg Laden on July 25, 2011 Cut a hole in a watermelon! Brilliant! I think Rebecca Watson makes a great skeptic and spokesperson for the skeptics community, but I think her real calling is in giving dating advice.
Obama Destroys Internet!!!11!!
Posted by Greg Laden on July 25, 2011 President Barack Obama shut down dozens, possibly hundreds, of web sites of members of US congress moments ago when during a moving oration about the US Budget Crisis he suggested that people contact their members of congress immediately. In particular, Obama stated that it has become the norm to consider “compromise” to be a dirty…
The Skeptical Movement as a Dysfunctional Corporation with a Nightmare HR Problem
Posted by Greg Laden on July 23, 2011 Just an idea … not entirely work safe … below the fold.
Magic Backpack and Things To Do on Sunday
Posted by Greg Laden on July 23, 2011 I don’t know if I should worship my backpack or drive a wooden stake through its heart and shoot it with silver bullets. For three days I obsessively looked through every pocket knowing my keys were in there somewhere, and never found them. Today, I was looking for something else and guess what popped out.…
Hahahahahaha!!! Help, Youtube is Repressing Me!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on July 22, 2011 First, have a look at this video of Huxley dancing.
K.Flay
Posted by Greg Laden on July 22, 2011 This week’s featured musical artist for your enjoyment: K. Flay
emacs for writers: org mode
Posted by Greg Laden on July 22, 2011 After a little messing around with interesting emacs goodies, we might as well get right on to the good stuff. emacs uses a concept called “modes.” You’ll learn about that if you use emacs. For now, what you need to know is that there are “major modes” and “minor modes” and we’re only interested in…
Camps
Posted by Greg Laden on July 21, 2011 An Efe forest camp is usually dark and depending on the time of day, dripping from current or recent rain. The Efe live in dome shaped huts which may be more or less complete. A half dome might be a hut that was built quickly, or it might be a hut that was built more…
A Predicted Hadron Has Been Found
Posted by Greg Laden on July 21, 2011 A Hadron is a kind of particle, made of quarks. There are two kinds of hadrons, baryons (made out of three quarks) and mesons (made out of a quark and a quirky quark known as an antiquark). The particle of interest is made up of an up quark, a strange quark, and a heavy bottom…
Avian Matters
Posted by Greg Laden on July 21, 2011 I have a new post up at 10,000 Birds: How much bird is there, anyway? Please have a look and leave a comment! Also, as a reminder, there is still time to make your opinion known regarding the proposed Sandhill Crane hunt in Kentucky: Last Gasp for Sandhill Cranes–Act Now!. And if you want to…
I would like to be the first to welcome our Googley overlords
Posted by Greg Laden on July 20, 2011 For now. When it comes down to it, benevolent dictatorship resting on a perfectly anarchistic base is the only way to go. Democracy is too easily bought. Free Market Forces do not make everything all nice and efficient and stuff. Wherever information can be OpenSource and OpenAccess it should be; No institution should be allowed…
Happy Birthday Gregor Johann Mendel (July 20, 1822 – January 6, 1884)
Posted by Greg Laden on July 20, 2011 Gregor Mendel is the Augustinian Monk and Scientist who developed the model of genetics that held sway all the way through the Darwinian Synthesis (when, essentially, it was introduced and integrated) and right up until recently, when it has weakened considerably compared to other conceptions of genetics based on observations not possible in his time.…
Yeah but … how do you pronounce S/2011 P1?
Posted by Greg Laden on July 20, 2011 They won’t let Pluto be a planet but it still bears the responsibility of having moons, and until just now there were three known moons of the tiny non-planet, named Hydra, Charon and Nix. Now there are four, and the fourth one is called Essslashtwoohoneonepeeone. They are working on another name. Bad Astronomer has details…
Uncanny Valley
Posted by Greg Laden on July 20, 2011 I’ve spoken about Uncanny Valley before. Here’s a little write-up from Wired Science on some related brain research.
Al Franken, Tearer Of Orifices, Tears One
Posted by Greg Laden on July 20, 2011 I am so happy Al is my Senator.
Updates on Rebeccapocalypse, and Otter Matters
Posted by Greg Laden on July 20, 2011 People are screaming at me over on ERV blog about not making a formal announcement that Richard Dawkins is god-like because he’s donated a bunch of foundation money to a child care project. That’s wonderful that he did that, but I’m not a member of JREF, was not at TAM, do not get newsletters from…
ERV
Posted by Greg Laden on July 20, 2011 Scienceblogs Abbie Smith (ERV) will be the guest on this weeks Skeptically Speaking: Skeptically Speaking #122 HIV and AIDS This week, we’re joined by graduate student and Scienceblogs writer Abbie Smith, to learn about the latest research on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. How does HIV cause AIDS? What are the latest treatments? How close are…
Marc Hauser has resigned
Posted by Greg Laden on July 19, 2011 Marc Hauser, whom I’ve discussed before a few times, has resigned from his position at Harvard. This was somewhat unexpected.
Several items for your careful consideration …
Posted by Greg Laden on July 19, 2011 I’ve only got random stuff for you now, but it is all good stuff. Well, not really all good, but it is most definitively all stuff. First, we have Chris Mooney interviewing Rebecca Watson in a Point of Inquiry Podcast. Give it a listen. I’m happy to be one of the men who supports Rebecca.…
emacs for writers: browsing the kill ring
Posted by Greg Laden on July 19, 2011 The kill ring is the emacs clip board. I admit that I hardly ever use it in the ways for which it is designed, but I probably should. As you “kill” text (i.e., delete) it gets tacked onto the kill ring, from which you can “yank” it later (yes, this is some sort of religious…
Communicating Atheism
Posted by Greg Laden on July 19, 2011 I want you to watch this from beginning to end. Report back.
Pulling in to STFU Station
Posted by Greg Laden on July 19, 2011 So, I push you. Then, you push me. Then, I push you. Then, you push me. Then, I push you. Then, you push me. And I go “Hey, no pushing! Unfair!!!!”
Help Jen Prostitute Herself For the Secular Student Alliance!!!
Posted by Greg Laden on July 18, 2011 In a bloggy way, that is.
The first crane and the last crane
Posted by Greg Laden on July 18, 2011 The first crane I ever saw is a bird burned permanently in my memory. It came out of nowhere and flew close by, staying in view lit by a nearly setting sun for about five wing beats. A gun was raised to shoot it but the trigger was not pulled.
gmail keyboard shortcuts
Posted by Greg Laden on July 18, 2011 Did you know that gmail has keyboard shortcuts? You need to turn them on in the mail configuration section (click a thingie in the upper right corner of your gmail page and look for it). The commands are k,j,n,p,’enter’ or o, u; x followeed by e,m; s, +, -, ! r, a, f, ctrl-s, #,…
Hurricane Season Start Up
Posted by Greg Laden on July 17, 2011 Technically, hurricane season has been going for a while now but I’ve not found any reason to start discussing disturbing weather until now. And, we have two items of interest. First, a storm is blowing up off the east coast of Florida. This is a tropical storm forming in the western Atlantic. That is not…
Japan Nuclear Disaster Update 31: Radioactive stuff spreads, questions multiply
Posted by Analiese Miller and Greg Laden on July 17, 2011 The International Atomic Energy Association issued its last report on Fukushima on June 2nd and appears to not be keeping their web site up to date any more. This is the last time I’ll be checking with them unless I hear otherwise. The email scandal reported last time continues “Analysts say the scandal reflects panic…
, which is now available for the 
