Archives for December, 2012
What are the real top ten science stories of 2012?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 31, 2012 
This is the time of year when we list the “top ten” stories or events of the year. That we do this in late December is not totally arbitrary. A year, unfortunately (given it’s odd number of days and uncomfortable near-synchronization with lunar cycles), is not arbitrary, but rather, imposed on us by the realities…
Google+ vs Facebook vs Twitter vs Pinterest
Posted by Greg Laden on December 30, 2012 From What the Plus! Google+ for the Rest of Us:
Stuff for teachers
Posted by Greg Laden on December 30, 2012 I made a “page” on this blog, HERE, pointing to posts that teachers might find interesting or useful. So far most of the items linked to relate to Creationism and that sort of thing, but I’ll soon be adding subject area content posts as well. If you are a teacher, have fun. If you know…
Crowdfunding a Greenland expedition to gauge increasing wildfire impact on melt
Posted by Greg Laden on December 30, 2012 A colleague sent this to me, I’m passing it on to you. Looks important and interesting: Wildfire, increasing with climate change, deposits increasing amounts of light-absorbing black carbon [soot] on the cryosphere [snow and ice], multiplying the existing heat-driven ice-reflectivity feedback [a.k.a. albedo feedback]. The relative importance of increasing wildfire [and changing industrial soot pollution]…
The Downfall of Climate Change Denialism
Posted by Greg Laden on December 28, 2012 Apropos this, and this, we have this:
Marc Morano Wins Prestigious Award
Posted by Greg Laden on December 28, 2012 And by “Prestigious” I mean …. well, see for yourself in this story from Media Matters for America (Reposted with permission): Climate Change Misinformer Of The Year: Marc Morano ClimateDepot.com founder Marc Morano has been called “the Matt Drudge of climate denial,” the “king of the skeptics,” and “a central cell of the climate-denial machine,”…
Secular Humanist Display Damaged
Posted by Greg Laden on December 28, 2012 … Twice. The story is here. Basically, the sign was first spay painted, the burned. Run of the mill anti-atheist vandalism. But, if you are not already tapped out from the Happy Holiday Season of Buying Stuff, you might want to go to this web page and make a small donation to WASH, who originally…
Top (mostly climate change related) Science Denialist Books
Posted by Greg Laden on December 28, 2012 Top “Ten” Recent Books (focusing on 2012 but including the last few years) on Climate, Science denialism, Energy, and Science Policy are (including one Post Warming novel) are: Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us by Maggie Koerth-Baker Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand by Haydn Washington and…
Top Climate Stories of 2012
Posted by Greg Laden on December 28, 2012 
A group of us, all interested in climate science, put together a list of the most notable, often, most worrying, climate-related stories of the year, along with a few links that will allow you to explore the stories in more detail. We did not try to make this a “top ten” list, because it is…
Atheist Billboards: Marketing Miracle Needed?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 28, 2012 Over the last couple of years, there seems to have been a higher rate of erecting billboards by atheists, humanists, and other secularists than previously. Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, selected among the large number of Big Missives a subset of 18 “finalists” in a contest. You get to vote for five among these, and…
Satan playing air guitar on his pitchfork in your local public school?
Posted by Greg Laden on December 27, 2012 
What about a picture of Charles Darwin burning in hell to teach kids about flames? I don’t think so. Although I personally am not like some of my fellow secularists in reacting viscerally to any and all stylistic or symbolic references to Judeo-Christian religious themes, I am aware that there are recognizable religious visual or…
The Doctor on Netflix
Posted by Greg Laden on December 26, 2012 “Dr. who?” you might ask. And that would be funny. I am not an expert on the old Dr Who’s by any means, but it has come to my attention that a lot of people are unaware of the recent addition of Dr. Who shows on Netflix, even though I did post something about this…
Messing with your iMac
Posted by Greg Laden on December 25, 2012 These days it is hard to find an “aftermarket” computer book that does a better job than Google in providing information for messing with ever (and rapidly) evolving and changing software. Master Your Mac: Simple Ways to Tweak, Customize, and Secure OS X by Matt Cone, which is published in 2013, i.e., the future, actually…
Michael Cortese uses personal vendetta to deprive SSA of much needed funds
Posted by Greg Laden on December 24, 2012 As you know, as part of a fund raiser for the Secular Student Alliance, I wrote a novella called Sungodogo, which I’ve since made available on Amazon for the Kindle (and in other formats … I’ll have a print version in January some time). The book is about a handful of people who travel across…
You have to read my friend Sarah’s post.
Posted by Greg Laden on December 23, 2012 I’ve been lucky. Becoming a secularist and atheist and, to some extent, activist in those areas (though I quickly add my activisms is mostly in other areas) was not to hard. Hey, this very morning Minnesota Atheists had a show on what you do for Christmas and other holidays as a non-believer, and asked for…
Watch the NRA losing ground:
Posted by Greg Laden on December 22, 2012 The Nightmare That Was Christmas (Death Never Dies)
Posted by Greg Laden on December 22, 2012 
I remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday, even though it happened years ago, even before you were born. I screamed silently, pinned on my back by the massive weight of a cotton blanket, legs frozen, the dark lights flickering as the human-like form approached, its arms raised in front like The Mummy…
Skeptically Speaking #193 Science Books for Your Gift List
Posted by Greg Laden on December 21, 2012 
The just uploaded podcast of Skeptically Speaking is a must-hear: Whether you’re dropping a last-minute hint to a relative, or buying science books for the people you love, Skeptically Speaking has you covered. We’ve enlisted two dozen scientists, science writers and bloggers, including some of our favorite past guests. They’ll bring you their favorites from…
A Christmas Message … From Your Godless Children
Posted by Greg Laden on December 21, 2012 From UCB:
Unpack this, NRA (trigger warning)
Posted by Greg Laden on December 21, 2012 Below the fold is a description from Wikipedia of the Red Lake School Shooting. Consider the details in relation to issues of gun ownership, safety, school security, and whatever other issues it brings to mind. Warning, this is graphic and horrid.
The NRA’s comment on Newtown:
Posted by Greg Laden on December 21, 2012 The web site pertaining to the following video is HERE. Click through to participate. Ooops, I may have put on the wrong video. Sorry about that NRA.
Pan Am 103 from Frankfurt
Posted by Greg Laden on December 21, 2012 Scene: Berkeley, California, April 1986. A bar. Five conference attendees, myself included, grabbing a hamburger and a beer in a fern-bar on or near Telegraph. All eyes are on the TVs mounted over the bar, where we watch footage of an air strike against Libya. This is the retribution by Ronald Reagan against Insane African…
American Atheists to IRS: Stop giving churches preferential treatment
Posted by Greg Laden on December 20, 2012 American Atheists and two co-plaintiffs today filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky a lawsuit demanding that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stop giving preferential treatment to churches and religious organizations via the process of receiving non-profit tax-exempt status under the Internal Revue Code (IRC) procedures and definitions. “American Atheists receives…
Five items of interest to all of you
Posted by Greg Laden on December 20, 2012 1) The number of people who care more about gun control than about the 2nd amendment has been greater for some time now, and it has shifted even further. This is according to a new poll by Pew Research Center: After Newtown, Modest Change in Opinion about Gun Control Most Say Assault Weapons Make Nation…
Let The (Golden) Eagle Soar
Posted by Greg Laden on December 20, 2012 Golden Eagle I hope I won’t disappoint you … this is not about John Ashcroft. It is about golden eagles (actually, maybe its about one golden eagle in particular).
Power, Sex, Suicide
Posted by Greg Laden on December 20, 2012 
Mitochondria are cool, important, and fascinating. You know the basic story. Mitochondria are the result of endosymbiosis. A bacterim or bacteria-like organism insinuated itself into another bacterium or bacteria-like organism. The former was small, the latter large. A relationship started up whereby the smaller one became an organelle in the larger one, and Eukaryotic life…
The Adventure of the Missing Cat
Posted by Greg Laden on December 20, 2012 
Sometimes you just know something is going to happen, and then it happens. And if that doesn’t happen to you enough, try some confirmation bias, that always works! I have a friend who just got a new cat and at the same time moved into a new house, and one of the first thing that…
This is why DARPA scares the crap out of me
Posted by Greg Laden on December 19, 2012 Funny moment at 2:15 by the way:
Oppression Olympics Hollywood Style, with Christmas Decorations!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 19, 2012 He made a gingerbread slave house. A gingerbread plantation!
Gun Nuts Stay Home: No Teachers or Staff With Guns in Schools!
Posted by Greg Laden on December 19, 2012 
The gun nuts did not waste much time after the brutal slaying of 20 six year olds, some teachers, a principal, and some others at a school in Newtown Connecticut to start suggesting that everything would have been fine if only the teachers were armed. And now, after more days have gone by, it seems…
, which is now available for the 
