Search this blog
Profile
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the National Center for Science Education. He is also a graduate student at the University of Kansas, completing a doctorate in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. When not modeling species distributions or battling creationists, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences.
The opinions expressed here are his own, do not reflect the official position of the NCSE. Indeed, older posts may no longer reflect his own official position.
Sb/DonorsChoose Drive
Thanks!
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Archives
Blogroll
Progressive Blogroll Alliance
Show PBA Blogroll
Register here to join the PBA.
Physical Sciences:
Last night I didn't get to bed until 4 am. Along with a couple hundred other people, I hung out at the Chabot Observatory, watching the Earth slide in between the Sun and the Moon. One of the Observatory's telescopes was open, and several people brought their own 'scopes, some homemade. The viewpieces were big enough to allow me to take some pictures through the telescopes. The focus is a bit off there, but you can see the craters and plains of the Moon's surface, and at the lower right corner, you can see the surface starting to darken as...
Read on »
Posted on August 29, 2007 3:17 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
At around 3:37 am, Pacific time, the moon will be entirely swathed in Earth's shadow. If you live in the right areas, and are prepared to stay up late, you can watch it happen. Oakland's Chabot Space and Science Center and Wichita's Lake Afton Observatory are both holding special events all night long. You can watch the eclipse through their telescopes, listen to presentations about what you're seeing, and stay up way too late (or get up way too early) with a bunch of other science nerds. What's not to like? Those of you not in Kansas or the Bay...
Posted on August 27, 2007 6:06 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Reposted from the old TfK, while I Travel from Kansas. Everyone is answering Seed's Question of the Week: If you could shake the public and make them understand one scientific idea, what would it be? I'm down with this answer: I want people to understand that there is no law of averages. There are no laws of probability (at least not if you mean something like "Really improbable things don't happen"). You can't prove just anything with statistics.My inclination would actually have been phrased the exact opposite way, though getting at the same point....
Read on »
Posted on July 30, 2007 9:46 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Chad is bemoaning the increase of "stat-geekery" in sports: I'll admit that I'm somewhat torn about this. I am, after all, a professional nerd, and enjoy working with numbers, so I can see the appeal of quantitative data. And a lot of the regular statistics used in basketball are pretty crude measures, so I can understand trying to develop better statistics.Very, very crude. And that is where my beef comes from. Can you think of a sports' statistic that includes a measure of error?...
Read on »
Posted on February 28, 2007 12:18 PM • 24 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
In your astounding brilliance, you've managed to make the coolest thing ever. Again. The iPhone has an 8 gig hard drive, a 2 megapixel camera, and OS X. It can play video, it can connect to WiFi networks and view normal websites. In my bag, I usually carry my laptop, a black and white Palm device, a lovely iPod, my cell phone, and my 4 megapixel Olympus 4040Z. I love all of them, and have no deep desire to part with any of them (though upgrades are always welcome). This new iPhone can do much of what each of those...
Posted on January 9, 2007 2:53 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Little known fact: Kansas is (apparently) the world's leading producer of helium, accounting for 4 billion cubic feet per year out of the world's production of 6 billion cubic feet. Alas, production problems in Algeria and Qatar are leaving global shortages, as are problems with the helium pipeline leading from Bushton, KS to Amarillo, TX: Industry experts aren't sure exactly when the shortage will end. Balloon retailers, which use 8 percent of helium supply annually, are hoping normal production levels return in time for Valentine's Day, typically one of the busiest flower and balloon sales days of the year.Helium is...
Posted on December 24, 2006 2:11 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Papa TfK sends this video of a real live music visualizer....
Posted on October 5, 2006 8:44 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Thanks to A Voyage to Arcturus for this reminder:...
Posted on October 3, 2006 12:30 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
