Archives for May, 2012
Perhaps it is time that DJ Grothe resign as the President of the JREF…
Posted by Greg Laden on May 30, 2012 
DJ Grothe has done some great things and he’s taken the James Randi Educational Foundation a long way; he’s made an important mark and we should all appreciate him and his prior efforts. Hell, we should create an award named after him and give it to people every year. Thank you DJ Grothe for all…
Is Road Train a reality?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 30, 2012 
Perhaps. The project is a collective effort funded by the European Commission, and led by British company Ricardo which develops engines, transmissions, and vehicles systems among other things. Chief among the consortium’s participants is Swedish auto manufacturer Volvo. Utilizing Volvo’s own automobiles, the project works by stringing together a group of cars in order to…
Name the actor
Posted by Greg Laden on May 28, 2012 
Who is this, and in what bit part do we see him here?
There is no fruit in a BLT
Posted by Greg Laden on May 28, 2012 
First, I want to say that tomatoes are a fruit. Here is a scientific definition of fruit: Fruit noun, plural: fruits (1) (botany) The seed-bearing structure in angiosperms formed from the ovary after flowering. source See? Tomato is a fruit. Having said that, in common English parlance we do not call a tomato a fruit.…
The Cure for Everything
Posted by Greg Laden on May 26, 2012 
Timothy Caulfield’s book, The Cure For Everything: Untangling Twisted Messages about Health, Fitness, and Happiness, attempts to be a corrective in the area of personal heath (as in diet and exercise) management. From the publisher: “In The Cure for Everything, health-policy expert and fitness enthusiast Timothy Caulfield debunks the mythologies of the one-step health crazes,…
No new nose neurons?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 26, 2012 
Elizabeth Norton has an interesting write-up in Science Now. Some years ago, after a long period of suspicion, it was seemingly demonstrated that neurogenesis (the formation of new neurons) happened in the human nose. This research was based on the identification of proteins that would be associated with the early formation of baby neurons. Therefore,…
Name the actor and the show
Posted by Greg Laden on May 25, 2012 I just happen to come across this interesting cameo and snapped this fair use impromptu screen shot… Who is it, what show is this, and if you are that good, what episode! ___________ posted from my iPad
Dr Who (Matt Smith) to carry Olympic Torch
Posted by Greg Laden on May 25, 2012 
According to the Dr. Who Fan Site on Google+ Matt Smith will be carrying the Olympic Torch this weekend when it reaches Cardiff in the latest leg of its 70 day trip around the United Kingdom. Smith will bear the torch early on Saturday morning, at the start of its journey from Cardiff, the capital…
iPads in the Science Classroom: The Bad, The Ugly, and The Good
Posted by Greg Laden on May 25, 2012 
I know of a couple of cases where high schools are switching to the use of iPads or other tablets, replacing existing computer infrastructure with the handy and very cool computing device. When it comes to technology, I’ve never been particularly impressed with school administrations, and K-12 technology departments tend to be a little under-resourced…
Status Report
Posted by Greg Laden on May 24, 2012 
At the moment, Scienceblogs is still undergoing technical difficulties. This is fully expected. The database this network is built on is many gazugabites in size. Despite its power and elegance, the WordPress platform (especailly the multi-user version) is complex and there are all sorts of tweaky things that must happen between the server’s system software,…
Is it as good for you as it is for me?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 23, 2012 
As you can see, Scienceblogs.com has a new look. There is no more left sidebar and the right sidebar looks different, the cute banners different blogs had is replaced with a new standardized banner usually with a picture of the blogger. The 24 hour page and some other bits are (depending on when you read…
The Branding is Upon Us, Verily
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2012 
A while back, the National Geographic Society entered into an agreement with Seed Media Group, the latter being the owner and operator of Scienceblogs.com. This agreement had to do with advertising (simple version: NGS will broker the ad space on Scienceblogs) and branding (simple version: Scienceblogs.com will look all golden-yellowy and otherwise be updated to…
Creationism News: RIP bad bills, New Jersey Evolves
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2012 
Missouri, the “Show Me State,” had two bills in the state house that wuld have promoted Intelligent Design in the public school science class. The legislature adjourned a couple of days ago without advancing the bills, and that is how a bill dies. RIP bad bills in Missouri. Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Evolution is Real!…
Human Conflict
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2012 
Science Magazine is running a “Science Voices” series of short essays by members of the science community on the topic of Human Conflict. So far there are four or five, and they cover conflict from a wide range of perspectives. You can see them all here. I’ve written one on conflict in the blogosphere which…
An important revelation regarding Heartland Gate (global warming denialism)
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2012 
Peter Gleick has been cleared of faking a key memo. Who is Peter Gleick, and what is this memo of which we speak? Here is a refresher of events over the last 3 1/2 months: You will recall that last February 14th, we were all given an interesting Valentine’s Day present: A cache of documents…
I personally put Al Franken in the Senate
Posted by Greg Laden on May 21, 2012 
Today is Minnesota Senator Al Franken’s Birthday. In honor of that, I’m reposting this historically accurate and important essay, which first appeared on this blog on April 23, 2009 at 3:56PM: I personally put Al Franken in the Senate Al Franken is about to be seated as the Junior Senator from Minnesota after a long…
How to us the ‘rm’ command in Linux
Posted by Greg Laden on May 20, 2012 SpaceX Launch Abort
Posted by Greg Laden on May 19, 2012 Here’s the attempted Launch this morning of the SpaceX rocket ship, which would have been the first non governmental flight to the International Space Station. Listen to the chatter to learn all sorts of great jargon! Details here.
Links you should visit:
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2012 Fewer White People than Other-Than-White-People are being born in the US, which means eventually there won’t be too many white people. It’s about time. Almost all societies in the world allow, often encourage, marriage between cousins. There are reasons for this which I shall blog about if you remind me to. But for now, here…
Pigeon Navigation: Just as long suspected, they’ve got cellular compasses
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2012 At some point, while I was in graduate school, it became apparent that I was going to study the problem of finding one’s way around. Navigation, orientation, mental maps, sense of direction, knowledge of the landscape, and related ideas must be linked to how people who live off the land survive, and I was studying…
Ring of Fire Eclipse: May 20th
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2012 Teaching After The Test: An argument for a national school schedule
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2012 First, a word about Nazis and Free Speech, and other matters: Catch up on the latest news about Repression of Nazis, and join the conversation about Free Speech and how sometimes it is better to shut up, over at the X Blog. Today I am preparing a presentation and discussion for a course in AP…
Nonsensical Icons: Why is there a “V” on top of my television!?!?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 14, 2012 Scott Hanselman has a post on “old people icons” that don’t make sense any more. This is one of those posts I’ve always wanted two write but never got to (or have I? … can’t remember). The most obvious one is of course the floppy disk for “Save” long abandoned by Gnome and replaced with…
The Great Comet of 1861
Posted by Greg Laden on May 13, 2012 Today is the anniversary of the discovery, by John Tebbutt of New South Wales, Australia, of the Great Comet of 1861. Tebbutt was an astronome. The comet was initially visible only in the southern hemisphere, but then became visible in the northern hemisphere on about June 29th. I find it interesting that word of the…
Babies, Brains and Boobs
Posted by Greg Laden on May 13, 2012 Recording live today on Skeptically Speaking: This week, we’re looking at some of the ways motherhood changes the brain and the body. Kayt Sukel, author of Dirty Minds: How Our Brains Influence Love, Sex, and Relationships, returns to explain the neurological effects of pregnancy and motherhood. And on the podcast, we’re joined by Dr. Katie…
Does the Internet need an HR Department?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 13, 2012 When a young girl put a picture of herself, holding a book she had just gotten as a present, on the social networking site reddit, she was immediately subjected to intense verbal sexual assault by reddit readers who aptly demonstrated how awful it can be when boys and young men are left to say and…
Settling Conflicts: Guns and Homeschooling
Posted by Greg Laden on May 13, 2012 There was a time when I blogged regularly about homeschooling, though I have not done so in a long time. A while back I started to blog about gun ownership. I engaged in each of these topics for similar reasons. I have a political and professional interest in homeschooling (as a science educator) and a…
If your toddler falls from your window, will it necessarily die?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 12, 2012 No! A surprising number of toddlers who manage to get their way through a window opening to fall to the pavement below live. Something just over three thousand toddlers do this every year in the US.
The status of this blog
Posted by Greg Laden on May 10, 2012 Dear loyal readers, quiet lurkers, constant commeters, and trolls, On or before the 24th of May (hopefully not later) Scienceblogs.com will under The Branding. The Branding is not a phenomenon found in a cultish horror movie involving corn and a school bus, nor will it involve British schoolboys or a buried alien spacecraft. The Branding…
It is not a Jet Pack, but it is close
Posted by Greg Laden on May 10, 2012 
, which is now available for the 
