Archives for December, 2011
“…boys are innately better at math and science than girls…”
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2011 Sheril Kirshenbaum has a few comments about a piece in Science addressing innate differences between boys and girls in math. I have to say, it may be hard to accept the scientific truth sometimes, but the research really does consistently say the same thing again and again. In this latest study, the science …
For your listening pleasure …
Posted by Greg Laden on December 17, 2011 Sunday Morning: “The Knowledge of Good and Evil” Listen to Glenn Kleier on Atheists Talk #146, Sunday, December 18, 2011. Glenn Kleier will join Atheists Talk this Sunday to discuss his rousing new suspense thriller, The Knowledge of Good and Evil. Kleier has a background in advertising, marketing and communication. In 1998 he published his…
Inspector Monckton?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2011 Now that the authorities have confiscated the computers of a few contrarian bloggers to see whether they can find evidence of who hacked the University of East Anglia’s e-mail servers, Lord Monckton is incensed! INCENSED, I tell you! He says he’s going to go after the climate scientists whose e-mails were stolen and have them…
Why is the Robin’s Breast Red?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2011 Why is the Robin’s breast red? Why are any of the parts of any birds colorful? To make it easier for birders to identify them, of course! But seriously, Science has a more interesting set of answers, and some recently published research on European Robins helps to examine this question in some detail. There are…
Last Minute Holiday Gift Ideas: Multi-Media
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2011 More of my unused shortlist of presents. For music, consider the latest Florence + The Machine , something by my nephew, XFactor contestant LeRoy Bell, or one of my latest fav’s, Holly MIranda. I’m actually giving someone the The Robert Downy Sherlock Holmes Movie, because I think it is important to own the canon. Speaking…
Would you like some tea with your climate change?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2011 One of the authors of Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery (John) himself, Shackleton himself, and Emiliani himself were ushered into the building past the graduate students, the guards, and the members of the public who wandered the halls of the museum blissfully unaware that the powerhouses of paleoclimate research were brushing past them. They were…
Christopher Hitchens has died
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2011 The Washington Post reports: Christopher Hitchens, a sharp-witted provocateur who used his formidable learning, biting wit and muscular prose style to skewer what he considered high-placed hypocrites, craven lackeys of the right and left, “Islamic fascists” and religious faith of any kind, died Thursday “from pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer,” according to Vanity Fair,…
Two Journeys Through the Human Past
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2011 Recently, I mentioned two new books on human evolution, and I told you I had a print review of them coming up. Well, it’s here, in American Scientist! Yes, I know, that’s an internet thing, but it is the internet version of the print thing. Please have a look, and leave a nice comment! Or…
Computers Seized in Cyber-Thief Investigation (updated again)
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2011 I’ve decided to update this blog entry (20 Dec 2011) because it occurs to me that certain things could be misinterpreted, in no small part because of the common language that separates us across various national borders, and differences in the way debate and concepts of free speech operate in different lands. I want to…
Wow, it’s raining Apples!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2011 Coventry England experienced a downpour of apples. This happened to me once, but all I got were these lousy bits of foliage.
Last Second Holiday Gift Ideas: Dr. Who
Posted by Greg Laden on December 15, 2011 If you know a Dr. Who fan and you plan to buy that person a present, consider the following: Doctor Who: The Complete Specials. This will be a much appreciated addition to anyone’s library. A Sonic Screwdriver. Don’t leave the Tardis without it! A Dalek Alarm Clock, which wakes you up to “Exterminate! Exterminate!!!” These…
The Freshwater case still continues
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2011 With a brief filed (PDF) in Ohio’s Fifth District Court of Appeals, John Freshwater is appealing a court’s ruling to uphold his termination as a middle school science teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio. It is the latest twist in a long saga that began in 2008, when a local family accused Freshwater of engaging in…
Afternoon reading for you.
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2011 Do Christmas Songs give you nightmares? They give me nightmares. I’m writing something about Gender and where we get it, but that project is delayed (I know some of you are waiting eagerly). So, to #occupy your time, check out these two items: Gender Transitioning and Gender Stereotypes and Transsexualism and You!
Why do they call Higgs Boson the “God Particle”?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2011 First, let’s just quickly say what it is. The Higgs boson may or may not exist. If it does exist, it is a boson. Matter is made up of smaller and smaller things, down to a point. A chair may be made of pieces of wood, which in turn are made up of plant cells,…
The Skeptic Awards 2011
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2011 Nominations for The Skeptic Awards 2011. The Skeptic Magazine is delighted, for the first time, to be giving awards celebrating skeptical activity in several categories during 2011. As well as an ‘Editors’ Choice’ award for lifetime achievement, we have five other categories – and for those we’re going to need your help. GO HERE to…
Holiday Fare
Posted by Greg Laden on December 14, 2011 The holidays are upon us, and as part of the War on Christmas, we must EAT ALL THE COOKIES!!!11! But first we must bake them. I will be farming Julia out to help in The Kitchens in Plymouth this weekend while I go to the gym for nine hours. Over at the Zvans the ovens…
Which works better, Acupuncture or Changa?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2011 Acupuncture is the ancient East Asian practice of poking people with needles in specific places and in specific ways in order to produce any one of a very wide range of results that could generally be classified as medicinal or health related. I don’t know much about it, but Wikipedia tells us:
If I Were A Poor Black Kid…
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2011 Gene Marks writing for Forbes has laid out a plan for how Poor Black Kids of the Inner City can end up going to an Ivy League College. It is simple and elegant: They merely need to prioritize. But there are some problems with this idea, only a few of which I touch on here.
If you eat a guava it could grow in your head
Posted by Greg Laden on December 13, 2011 brb. going to floss.
Sharks hardly ever eat people. But now and then …
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2011 Two times in one week in Australia:
Birding Binoculars
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2011 What kind of birding binoculars do you use? How do you chose a good model? Obviously, the best way to pick out a pair of binoculars is to try them out, but in doing so, I strongly urge you to try at least a couple of pairs that are beyond your budget, and work your…
Wildlife of Southern Africa
Posted by Greg Laden on December 12, 2011 Wildlife of Southern Africa , by Martin Withers and David Hosking, is new (August 2011) and good. If you are planning a trip to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana or anywhere nearby, or if you live there and like to go to the bush sometimes, consider it. This is a pocket guide, it is small, has…
Complementary and Alternative Medicine: What is it, and should we fund it?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2011 Skeptics love to hate CAM. And often, with good reason. Alternative medicines or medical treatments, as is often pointed out, become “mainstream” when the available science suggests that they work, so it is almost axiomatic that “alternative” means “unproven” and it is probably almost always true that the kinds of things that end up as…
The birth and history of Unix
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2011 …A door had slammed shut for Thompson and Ritchie in March of 1969, when their employer, the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., withdrew from a collaborative project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and General Electric to create an interactive time-sharing system called Multics, which stood for “Multiplexed Information and Computing Service.” Time-sharing, a technique…
Are you a Mac user? You can still use emacs
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2011 Check out this “How I Work” video by Ryan McGeary:
Most expensive accidents in history video
Posted by Greg Laden on December 11, 2011 TV Coverage of MythBusters Mishap
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2011 LaTeX Tutorial
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2011 This is a very good LaTex Tutorial, marred only by the fact that it is running in some odd operating system that I am not familiar with: The rest of the tutorials are HERE, nicely organized. Hat Tip Got Emacs
Two New Books on Human Evolution
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2011 The Fossil Chronicles: How Two Controversial Discoveries Changed Our View of Human Evolution and Born in Africa: The Quest for the Origins of Human Life are two very recent books on human evolution, both of which I recommend, depending on your interests. The first is by Dean Falk, who has studied brain endocasts for the…
Staplerfahrer Klaus: On the job safety
Posted by Greg Laden on December 10, 2011 Follow the adventures of Klaus the Forklift Operator. May not be work safe, depending on where you work:
, which is now available for the 
