Archives for March, 2012
Attempt at Human Bird-Like Flight
Posted by Greg Laden on March 23, 2012 John Childs is the very first person to fly in America. He did it in 1757, on September 13th, from the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston. This is the same church from which Sarah Palin hung some lanterns to direct Michel Bachmann on her ride to Concord New Hampshire to warn the…
Cynomys ludovicianus
Posted by Greg Laden on March 23, 2012 The Black Tailed Prairie Dog
The Demise of Climate Denialist and Fake Nobel Laureate/British Royal Christopher Monkton
Posted by Greg Laden on March 23, 2012 Potholer54 has written a letter to Monkton that you will want to read, and he’s also made a video that you will want to see. First the letter (from here):
Congratulations Sharon Sund
Posted by Greg Laden on March 23, 2012 Sharon Sund, who is running for Third District Congress in Minnesota, has received an “A” level rating from the Stonewall DFL. For context: Stonewall DFL is the LGBT caucus of the Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party of Minnesota. Our goal is to encourage participation of LGBT persons within the DFL. We screen and endorse candidates…
Beyond 42: Stories Telling Science
Posted by Greg Laden on March 23, 2012 Skeptically Speaking 156: This week, we’re experiencing the power of stories to communicate science. Join us for Beyond 42: How Science Can Use Stories to Explain Life, the Universe and Everything. This event, recorded live in Edmonton, features Scientific American Blog Editor Bora Zivkovic, and a fantastic cast of scientists telling moving stories that communicate…
Spring Break Birding!
Posted by Greg Laden on March 23, 2012 If you are a birder and you are going on Spring Break (from the US), don’t forget that there are birds where you are going. And, probably, there are bird books that cover your destination. One of the really cool things about North American birding is that when you do go down to tye Yucatan,…
Tornadoes: Safety is all about attitude.
Posted by Greg Laden on March 22, 2012 Do you hear that loud, repeated smashing sound coming from the general direction of the Upper Midwest and Plains? That’s us. Here in Minnesota, we have been breaking high temperature records left and right. Most of the TV weather reporters are wearing slings, eye patches, and bandages around their heads, it’s been so intense. And,…
A tattoo that makes you all tingly
Posted by Greg Laden on March 22, 2012 Posted without further comment because the biggest Tattoo is really your brain anyway:
Dawn’s Details of Vesta Unexpected
Posted by Greg Laden on March 21, 2012 NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has revealed unexpected details on the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta. New images and data highlight the diversity of Vesta’s surface and reveal unusual geologic features, some of which were never previously seen on asteroids. These results were discussed today at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference at The Woodlands, Texas.…
What is the Creationism du Jour?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 21, 2012 A talk by Genie Scott of the NCSE:
The Saints Did In Fact Strategize to Injure Favre (I told you so)
Posted by Greg Laden on March 21, 2012 On January 29th, 2010, I wrote: I do not appreciate the fact that the New Orleans Saints defense, when playing the superior Minnesota Vikings, clearly designed, practiced, and successfully implemented a strategy that if adopted by other teams and not stopped by new rules, will change the way the sport is played forever. During the…
Don’t Baloon In Stormy Weather Without a Parachute.
Posted by Greg Laden on March 21, 2012 Academic Freedom and Aids Denialism
Posted by Greg Laden on March 21, 2012 There is an interesting development in the area of Aids Denialism (and by extention climate change denialism and the rest of it) in Italy: The University of Florence has launched an inquiry into the teaching activities of an academic who assisted on a course that denies the causal link between HIV and AIDS, and supervised…
Gun Laws: What they do and what they mean
Posted by Greg Laden on March 21, 2012 These are not the same thing, and the distinction is important. Please have a look at: The real impact of gun laws, and what that means
The Personal Benefits of Doing Archaeology: Subversive subsurfaces.
Posted by Greg Laden on March 20, 2012 In discussing the relevance of archeology to anything, there is an easy answer provided by my friend Peter Wells, a specialist in Culture Contact and the Central European Iron Age. Peter tells his students on the first day of class that “Archaeology is the study of everything that happened anywhere, any time, with any human…
Don Shelby Shifts his Base
Posted by Greg Laden on March 20, 2012 The Walter Cronkite of the Twin Cities, Emmy Award Winning news anchor Don Shelby, retired a couple of years ago and started writing for the excellent local news blog MinnPost. Shelby’s articles were always excellent and on point, and he often wrote about climate change related issues that I know are important to people who…
“Monkey bill” passes Tennessee Senate
Posted by Greg Laden on March 20, 2012 It’s the Scopes Trial all over again! “The Senate approved a bill Monday evening that deals with teaching of evolution and other scientific theories,” the Knoxville News-Sentinel (March 19, 2012) reported, adding, “Critics call it a ‘monkey bill’ that promotes creationism in classrooms.” The bill in question is Senate Bill 893, which, if enacted, would…
There has been a large earthquake in Mexico
Posted by Greg Laden on March 20, 2012 The 7.6 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck 120 miles east of Acapulco. There are no details yet. UPDATE: With a bit of time passing, it is starting to look like a lot of stuff got shook-up, but there was not a lot of significant damage anywhere.
Drift by Rachel Maddow: Chapter 1
Posted by Greg Laden on March 20, 2012 I just got my copy of Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow (signed by the author!) and I’m reading it with great interest, even though I’m totally swamped with other things. Damn you Rachel Maddow for writing such an engaging book! I’m just starting it but wanted to share a couple…
Do you seek information on Earth and Climate Change?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 20, 2012 There’s an app for that! A free, new iPhone app from NASA literally puts the whole world in the palm of your hands. “Earth Now” immerses cyber explorers in dazzling visualizations of near-real-time global climate data from NASA’s fleet of Earth science satellites. Available at the iTunes Store or by visiting http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/apps , Earth Now…
You can request that the Sanford, Florida Police arrest George Zimmerman
Posted by Greg Laden on March 20, 2012 … for the shooting of Trayvon Martin by clicking on this link.
Why are atheists so angry?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 19, 2012 And they are! Just yesterday I was hanging around with a bunch off atheists and they were all pretty angry. They were even getting angry with each other. I could hear “get off my lawn” as a more or less constant droning sound in the background. People who are not atheists, or who may be…
Dining In The Dark: Hope for Retinal Disease
Posted by Greg Laden on March 19, 2012 Of the first dozen times or so that I ever saw Joel, my then future brother in law, I think we were in a restaurant a good four or five times. This was probably just a chance event, but there were a number of dinners and one lunch with the family that Joel and Alyssa…
Unity Brings a Lot of Windows Features to Linux
Posted by Greg Laden on March 19, 2012 It slows my system way down, it breaks my desktop, it makes the browser work very poorly, and it requires me to force the computer to shut down and reboot now and then. It also appears to boot quickly but it is mostly faking it.
Gun Control and Stand Your Ground
Posted by Greg Laden on March 19, 2012 I wrote a post on the murder off Trayvon Martin. Here.
Chrome Trumps Internet Explorer; Microsoft Hegemony Ends
Posted by Greg Laden on March 19, 2012 On Sunday, Google Chrome surpassed Microsoft Internet Explorer in browser market share. I would now like to welcome our new Internety Overlords! (Please don’t hurt me.) source
Controlling the Message in the Upcoming Campaigns
Posted by Greg Laden on March 18, 2012 By “Controlling the Message” I mean setting the agenda, usually by putting something out there that causes other people to shift their own message to be more like yours. I can think of a few spectacular yet small scale examples that are safe to talk about. I’ll give you one, although if certain people hear…
I can’t wait until I can install this on the mobile version of my blog
Posted by Greg Laden on March 17, 2012 All your thoughts are belong to us!
Blogs are echo chambers Blogs are echo chambers
Posted by Greg Laden on March 16, 2012 So, what are you doing on Sunday morning? We’ve had a slight change in plans, and my interview with Maggie Koerth Baker will be on April 1st. No fooling. Meanwhile, on Sunday, Atheist Talk Radio will have a conversation woth Jen McCreigh, Stephanie Zvan, Brianne Bilyeu, and Moi. In other words, four Free Thought Bloggers…
Climate Change Fight: Keystone and Subsidies (Bill McKibben)
Posted by Greg Laden on March 16, 2012 Bill McKibben shares a message with the 350 community about what we’ve done so far, and the plan for the months ahead. Our next big fight: taking on the billions in subsidies that the fossil fuel industry makes.
, which is now available for the 
