Archives for September, 2012
Those Crazy New Caledonian Crows Are At It Again
Posted by Greg Laden on September 18, 2012 There is some brand new research on those New Caledonian Crows that seem to be able to do all sorts of things we thought only smart Humans could do (like making tools, understanding physics, that sort of thing). I’ve written it up here: The Incredulous New Caledonian Crows, on 10,000 Birds, where, as you know,…
Teaching Both Sides of the Controversy in Science
Posted by Greg Laden on September 18, 2012 What could be wrong with presenting in a science class “both sides” of controversial topics like evolution or climate change, or having students debate the topics, using argumentation to improve their critical thinking skills? In the case of evolution, presenting supposed alternatives, such as intelligent design or young-earth creationism, is not only considered bad practice,…
The mic was on, he didn’t know: What Mitt Romney Really Thinks
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2012 The tape was running, he was speaking at a fundraiser, didn’t know he was being taped. Holy crap: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Egyptian pro-Democracy Blogger Arrested
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2012 Alber Saber is a pro-democracy blogger in Egypt who also runs a facebook page for atheists. His neighbors found out about this and, of course, mobbed his house. The police arrived on the scene, and of course, they arrested him. He was thrown in jail and, of course, he seems to have been attacked by…
Breaking News in the Climate Science World
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2012 Michael Mann is reporting this on his facebook page: Breaking: A victory for science! ATI loses ATI/UVa FOIA case. Judge issues final order. Affirms the university’s right to withhold scholarly communications and finds that the documents & personal emails of mine demanded by ATI were indeed protected as the university had contended. I am gratified…
Does Secular Humanism Have A Political Agenda?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2012 In March, 2012, I attended a conference called Moving Secularism Forward run by the Council for Secular Humanism and the Center for Inquiry. I spoke as part of a panel called Does Secular Humanism Have A Political Agenda? along with Ronald Bailey of Reason.com, Razib Khan of Secular Right, and former Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder. This…
This is why you need to care about Minnesota 33B
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2012 This is Denise Bader, who is running against a very extreme Tea Party candidate:
A Political Sea Change
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2012 Yeah, I’m bringing back the term “Sea Change” which was briefly popular a few years ago, in reference to the perception of party difference, the difference between Democrats and Republicans, in handling foreign policy. Let me say first that it has never been true that the Republicans were better at handling foreign policy than the…
The Rape Switch, Again
Posted by Greg Laden on September 17, 2012 Stephanie Zvan wrote a post re-addressing a few earlier posts she and I had written a few years ago which caused a firestorm of testosterone drenched reaction from men (and a few women) who somehow had a problem with the political, social, and scientific investigation of wartime rape. (A rape in progress, A rape in…
People have been pondering the meaning of this number for a long time.
Posted by Greg Laden on September 15, 2012 More here.
Who reads this blog, anyway?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 15, 2012 Who are you? When National Geographic branded Science Blogs, they also deleted our big giant collective Google Analytics Account and gave us each individual Google Analytics accounts. The bad news is that I then lost the ability to analyze use of my blog over the last few years, which was only of marginal value anyway,…
Michele Bachmann’s Latest Crazy Talk
Posted by Greg Laden on September 14, 2012 She explicitly says, without any window dressing, that there are Americans, and there is Islam, and the Muslims are the enemy. No punches pulled here. And, she explicitly says that President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton are aiding and assisting the enemy. This was at the so called “Values Summit” which, I think, they…
“They seem to be crunchy on the outside, and softer in the middle” (New Mars Find)
Posted by Greg Laden on September 14, 2012 Remember Rover? Rover is still finding stuff, and this latest find is strange, enigmatic, interesting, and worthy of further investigation. So far there is only a press release from NASA, here: NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Reveals Geological Mystery PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s long-lived rover Opportunity has returned an image of the Martian surface that is…
First Planets Found Around Sun-Like Stars in a Cluster
Posted by Greg Laden on September 14, 2012 From NASA: …astronomers have, for the first time, spotted planets orbiting sun-like stars in a crowded cluster of stars. The findings offer the best evidence yet that planets can sprout up in dense stellar environments. Although the newfound planets are not habitable, their skies would be starrier than what we see from Earth. The starry-skied…
It’s the Arithmetic, Stupid (Part ii)
Posted by Greg Laden on September 14, 2012 President Obama experienced a significant post-convention bounce. Already a little bit ahead, this places Obama more firmly ahead of Romney. But, the news would be so much more interesting if the two were much closer. How does one solve this problem if you are CNN? Make stuff up! Yesterday CNN reported polls that showed Obama…
It’s the Arithmetic, Stupid
Posted by Greg Laden on September 14, 2012 The median income for Americans is about $50,000. Thus… Question: Is $100,000 middle income? Answer: No, middle income is $200,000 to $250,000 and less. The question was being asked by George Stephanopoulos and answered by Mitt Romney. source
Anyone for a game of pong?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 13, 2012 When I look at the Atari Arcade, I get a bunch of gobbledygook but if I click on individual links to individual games, I get an interesting experiment in HTML 5.0 demonstrating old fashioned character-based-graphic style games. Here are the links, but I suggest right-clicking and opening in a new window or tab so you…
Atheist Voices of Minnesota, Unplugged
Posted by Greg Laden on September 13, 2012 Have you read, or at least acquired your copy of, Atheist Voices of Minnesota: an Anthology of Personal Stories? Just so you know, it is an anthology of (just like the title says) personal stories of individuals’ journey to atheism. And, those people are writing from a Minnesota perspective. There are a lot of really…
Best Geek-Friendly Wallpaper for your Computer Desktop
Posted by Greg Laden on September 13, 2012 There comes a time in each person’s life when it is time to change the wallpaper. And the drapes, but we’ll focus on wallpaper here. And by wallpaper I mean the picture on your computer screen that is normally covered by icons and open windows. I came across a few neat individual wallpapers, as well…
To Do List Software for Mac
Posted by Greg Laden on September 13, 2012 I tried out a few “to do list” applications for the iMac and thought I’d pass on what I learned. I wanted to see if anything was more useful or more interesting than Reminders, supplied with the iMac. Conclusion: No, but one app has promise once they get it to work for syncing to a…
Learn To Code
Posted by Greg Laden on September 13, 2012 My friend Adria Richards on why you should learn to code: More details, especially if you are a girl, here. Books mentioned in the video: Learn to Program, Second Edition (The Facets of Ruby Series) The Book of Ruby: A Hands-On Guide for the Adventurous Eloquent Ruby (Addison-Wesley Professional Ruby Series) Design for Hackers: Reverse…
How to cook corn on the cob
Posted by Greg Laden on September 12, 2012 It has been a while since we’ve done a recipe. And, it has been a while since we had a huge internet fight over something. Therefore, we will discuss: how to cook corn on the cob!
Important Information About Information
Posted by Greg Laden on September 12, 2012 NASA’s Earth Now Android App One of the top iPhone education apps in the iTunes store is now available for Android. The free NASA “Earth Now” Android app immerses cyber explorers in dazzling visualizations of near-real-time global climate data from NASA’s fleet of Earth science satellites, bringing a world of ever-changing climate data to users’…
News From Space
Posted by Greg Laden on September 12, 2012 The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has acquired data that seems to indicate that Mars has dry-ice snowfalls. From a press release by NASA:
Cheat Sheet Mac App Is Good (Keyboard Shortcuts)
Posted by Greg Laden on September 12, 2012 As a person who only recently started sing an iMac, I find myself wanting to know the keyboard shortcuts for apps I’m using almost every work session. CheatSheet by Stefan Fürst is a great way to do that. Pressing and holding the command key while Cheat Sheet is running brings up what looks to me…
Only in America Do Haters Hate Like They Hate
Posted by Greg Laden on September 12, 2012 Katherine Bagley of InsideClimate News has an interesting commentary on the idea that only in America do climate scientists face organized harassment. She notes: The harassment faced by U.S.-based climate scientists has been well documented in the media—but not the harassment of scientists in Europe, Canada or the rest of the world. That’s because there…
Do you hate or like Cilantro? Turns out, it’s genetic. Science Teachers Take Note!
Posted by Greg Laden on September 12, 2012 A number of lines of evidence have converged on the apparent fact that how you feel about Cilantro is a relatively simple genetic system. That Cilantro hatred is inherited genetically and not culturally has long been suspected, but now it is becoming clear enough that this could be a new module in the Science Classroom…
Should the kid have an iPad or one of the alternatives?
Posted by Greg Laden on September 12, 2012 I love the iPad, but it is not really suitable for young kids, because it requires an adult perspective on life to operate it correctly. For example, for a two year old, there is nothing more fun than figuring out how to make all the little icons dance, and once you do that, there is…
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research embraces open access
Posted by Greg Laden on September 12, 2012 Some interesting news from the Open Access front: The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) today announced the membership agreement with BioMed Central and SpringerOpen. Publication costs for research articles published by researchers funded by NWO for articles published no later than 2008, who chose to publish via BioMed Central will now automatically be covered…
This Year’s Convention Bump was Historic, Maybe
Posted by Greg Laden on September 11, 2012 It is said that the national conventions of the two main parties in the US influence polls. This is sometimes called the “Convention Bump” but that term is used for a lot of other things, like a network getting more viewership during a convention, or a candidate getting more funding or larger crowds for a…
, which is now available for the 
