This from Slashdot: “Microsoft has apologized and promised to rectify the fact that one of its developers slipped a sexist phrase into Linux kernel code supporting Microsoft’s HyperV virtualization environment. In that code, the magic constant passed through to the hypervisor reads ’0xB16B00B5,’ or a slightly camouflaged ‘BIG BOOBS.’ After Linux developer/blogger Matthew Garrett criticized…

Climate gate involved the criminal theft of computer based data from University of East Anglia (UEA) researchers by global warming deniers. According to Julian Gregory ,Detective chief superintendent, “the data breach was the result of a sophisticated and carefully orchestrated attack” and that there was no evidence to suggest that anyone working at or associated…

I don’t have a lot of hope for the older folks (older = >30?) in the skeptical and secular movements who have gotten it all wrong. Counterfeminists, harassment sympathizers, and so on who are advanced in age beyond the Dylan Number are mostly not going to learn. But I noticed two things about younger skeptics.…

Science Debate is an organization that has been trying to get the presidential candidates to directly address important science policy issues. After several months of meeting and convening and conversing among top science organizations and seeking public input, Science Debate Dot Org has nailed down what questions they feel should be asked at a presidential…

John Abraham is a friend of mine who works in climate science. Pretty soon you’ll get to hear him and some other doods talking about climate change, in a special edition of Skeptically Speaking. Meanwhile, you can read an excellent, just posted interview at FutureDude magazine, where some dood interviewed my dood-man John. It is…

This one is a little different. It was an air to air missile, and five guys were thrilled to stand underneath it when it went off several thousand feed above them: More on this film here.

The Olympics are old. The first ancient Greek Olympic game may have been held in 776 BC in the Greek city of Olympia. Almost 1,200 years later, when Greece was being Christianized, Theodosius I decided that the Olympics would not be played any more, so the last games of the original series was probably in…

Ten questions make up this AP style quiz provided by the Washington Post. Click here.

Derek Muller is the Creative Director of Veritasium, a science video blog with 90 films based off of interviews with Australians about issues such as global warming, seasons and the scale of the universe.

Why can’t a baby bird just hatch out of the egg and fly away, or at least, be able to fly a little and not require weeks of constant feeding and attention? I suspect they CAN do this but just refuse to in order to steal parental investment, which is, after all, a very valuable…

This is baby bird week on 10,000 Birds. From the intro post: Somehow it seemed fitting that after our last theme week – Bird Love Week – that we should spend a full seven days examining what could be the results of that theme. It’s Baby Bird Week on 10,000 Birds and the adorable, fuzzy-wuzzy,…

Louisiana is preparing to spend over $11 million to send 1,365 students to 20 private schools that teach creationism instead of science as part of Governor Bobby Jindal’s new voucher program. It is time to halt the implementation of this creationist voucher program. It is increasingly clear that one of Governor Jindal’s primary education goals…

Google and Apple, you ruined my daughter’s birthday! Well, it wasn’t that bad, but it could have been. Anyway, this is a warning to anyone who uses Apple products of any kind and who uses gmail as their main mail.

Here’s a pretty good video discussing the Higgs Boson and stuff. It turns out you can’t have anti-gravity. Oh well. Hat tip Nathan.

Yesterday Huxley and I were out on the porch checking out the incoming thunderheads. Then we heard thunder. Huxley immediately ran over to the door and pulled it shut. “We don’t want thunder going in the house.” Good idea. Who knows what it would do in there. Anyway, everybody knows that when you see lightning,…

Are you a Secular Woman? I am. Joined a couple of weeks ago. Kimm Rippere is the president of Secular Woman, and she’ll be the guest on Atheist Talk Radio on Sunday Morning. Live, so you can call in. All the details are HERE.

Alan Cassels wrote Seeking Sickness: Medical Screening and the Misguided Hunt for Disease, which is all: Why wouldn’t you want to be screened to see if you’re at risk for cancer, heart disease, or another potentially lethal condition? After all, better safe than sorry. Right? Not so fast, says Alan Cassels. His Seeking Sickness takes…