November 30, 2011
The other day, and I kid you not, I saw someone say to someone else "would you like a soda" and the person stared back and said "why would I want a soda" and a third party repeated the question, only saying "would you like a pop" and the person said "yes, very much, thank you."
I grew up in Soda…
November 30, 2011
New York Academy of Sciences Children's Science Book Award Winner Vicki Cobb has a new volume called "See for Yourself: More Than 100 Amazing Experiments for Science Fairs and Projects (Second Edition)"
Actually, it isn't entirely new. It's a second edition, but updated.
This is for 10 year olds…
November 29, 2011
Bret Stephens does not mind looking like an idiot. Today, he published a column in the Wall Street Journal that is full of snark and devoid of thought, ill considered, misleading, moronic and in the end, embarrassing. It is a classic case of irresponsible journalism. Someone sent me the link and…
November 29, 2011
Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Strikingly True is the kind of book you do not want to open up while your toddler is standing around looking for something to look at. Huxley may never be the same.
A pig with no back legs that walks upright on its front legs? People with very large numbers of toes?…
November 29, 2011
Pop quiz: When does learning begin? Answer: Before we are born. Science writer Annie Murphy Paul talks through new research that shows how much we learn in the womb -- from the lilt of our native language to our soon-to-be-favorite foods.
November 29, 2011
Yes, and it is caused by humans. But if you have friends, colleagues, relatives or readers of your blog or facebook feed bothering you about this, telling you that Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is a hoax or a false claim or a lie, you may want this tool:
The Debunking Handbook: now freely…
November 29, 2011
The blog post you are looking for has moved TO THIS LOCATION.
November 28, 2011
The other day, Amanda, who is currently teaching AP Biology, noted that among the various sources she had at hand, including a couple of textbooks, the number of cells that make up human body seemed to range from about five trillion to fifty trillion with a scattering of numbers in between. It is…
November 28, 2011
As you know, my nephew, LeRoy Bell, was a contestant on the XFactor singing contest. You may also know that he was voted off the show last week. I'm not going to say much about that other than to note that LeRoy was NOT the 8th or 9th best singer in the group. He was clearly in the top three, and…
November 28, 2011
The trick is, slowing them down enough, and speeding yourself up enough, then you can catch the turkeys.
Yeah, I know, it's an ad, but it's a good one.
November 28, 2011
Check out this astonishing bit of film from David Attenborough:
I'm pretty sure this is from Harry Potter.
November 28, 2011
If you read only one book this holiday season, make it all of the following twenty or so!
But seriously ... I'd like to do something today that I've been meaning to do, quite literally, for years. I want to run down a selection of readings that would provide any inquisitive person with a solid…
November 28, 2011
To preserve sanity in the event of changing plans or other contingencies, I'll send you HERE to get the details. Check bat at that location for updates, should there be any.
November 28, 2011
The term "Black Friday" is said to refer to the day that so many people shop in US retail stores, the day after Thanksgiving, that retailer's ledgers go from red (debit) to black (profit). But this appears to be a more recent use of the term which has been in use since the middle of the last…
November 27, 2011
Below the fold, because this is NOT going to be pretty.
First, a video:
OK, now established what we are talking about here, let's get down to business,
The blogger named WhySharksMatter is in the running to receive a fairly large sum of money, which he has promised to give to the sharks so that…
November 27, 2011
The poll asks:
Do children need a mom and a dad? By encouraging men and women to marry, society helps ensure that children will be known by and cared for by their biological parents. Whenever a child is born, her mother will almost always be nearby. But the same cannot always be said of her father…
November 27, 2011
I'm looking for a small (will always live in Amanda's purse) point and shoot camera and have so far narrowed the choices down to the following. Anybody have any advice on which one I should get (or an alternative, if you'd like to suggest one)? (Descriptions/details are from Amazon, for consistency…
November 27, 2011
Why would you want a field guide to all of the carninvores? They live everywhere, so there is no reason to carry around a field identification guide with ALL of them unless you were going everywhere in the whole world on one trip!
Yet, there is such a field guide, Carnivores of the World (…
November 26, 2011
Science Education Researcher Marie-Claire Shanahan, primatologist Eric Michael Johnson, and I joined Desiree Schell on on Skeptically Speaking to have a conversation very apropos this time of year in The West: The concept of Tradition. We said a number of very smart things which you can hear by…
November 26, 2011
A frail elderly woman would have a hard time walking a few blocks, from her apartment to the subway, then from the subway to the MET, with winds gusting to near hurricane strength. So, the patron of the arts and of archaeology, who happened to be a cousin of my first wife, called around to find a…
November 26, 2011
This space ship will go and investigate life on mars.
November 26, 2011
Today is Huxley's Birthday. He'll be spending the day in bed chillin' to some tunes.
November 25, 2011
This is not a manual or even a how-to blog post, but rather, what I hope to be a few helpful suggestions that may or may not have already occurred to you. I was motivated to write this because of a series of recent events in which it became obvious that a lot of people, myself included in certain…
November 25, 2011
Why? Click here to read Shawn Otto's essay.
November 25, 2011
Several weeks ago, my friend and colleague, Shanai Matteson asked if I'd get involved in a project she was working on along with several other people. If you have been reading my blog, or for that matter, Pharyngula, for a while you'll know of Shanai even if you don't know you know: She was for…
November 24, 2011
From Google Wave:
More than a year ago, we announced that Google Wave would no longer be developed as a separate product. At the time, we committed to maintaining the site at least through to the end of 2010. Today, we are sharing the specific dates for ending this maintenance period and shutting…
November 24, 2011
I remember my first solar eclipse. I was a kid, and it was the one Carlie Simon sang about, in March 1970.
(The eclipse reference is just past three minutes. Some other time we can argue over whether or not Carlie, singing in this video on Martha's Vineyard, was referring to the March 1970…
November 24, 2011
Time for the thanksgiving story. But first, when you are preparing your Thanksgiving Turkey, you might want to keep this in mind.
And now ... a feast.
The enemy has arrived, in force, outside your village. The men are armed and wearing the symbols of war, which is appropriate because your group…
