October 23, 2011
click image to vote in poll
October 23, 2011
As you know, my nephew LeRoy is a contestant on the X Factor. I expect you to go vote for him on Tuedsay, OK? Assuming there is voting. I'm not sure how it works, actually.
Anyway, here's LeRoy getting through the last round (and some other guy):
October 22, 2011
As an archaeologist, my expertise in the cognate field of geology includes fluvial processes, so I know something about floods. And I've experienced plenty of floods working in the Hudson and Mohawk river valleys ... now that I think of it, I've got quite a few good flood stories. But the most…
October 21, 2011
What is scarier than Halloween?
1804
Lewis and Clark struck out on their famous expedition. Alexander Hamilton was shot to death in a duel. Morphine is invented. Short distance transport is done on foot or horses, long distance on clipper ships or packets. The world population reaches 1 billion.…
October 21, 2011
Although one can not be certain, all the evidence points to the fact that William Shakespeare smoked pot. This is not a new story. My good friend and colleague, Dr. Francis Thackeray, who has never smoked pot in his life but who has acted in Shakespeare's plays numerous times, led a research team…
October 20, 2011
Urban areas can be warmer than surrounding non-urban areas because there is a lot of combustion, pavement and other structure can collect solar heat and retain it for a while, and other factors. It is not uncommon to look at a weather map where conditions for precipitation are marginal, and…
October 19, 2011
Fool Me Twice
Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America" was officially released last night in Minneapolis with appropriate fanfare and celebration. Everyone who gets to know Shawn likes him from the start and quickly learns to respect him and eventually hold him with a certain…
October 19, 2011
My sister won the science fair with a "frictionless puck" using CO2, two jars, and two hockey pucks. This is not that:
More here.
October 18, 2011
The real question is, if sea levels rose due to melting glacial ice, what percentage of the word's population would get their feet wet? There are several problems with addressing this question, including the fact that it depends on how high sea levels rose. Most studies or calculations are based…
October 18, 2011
There are several reasons why there is no vaccine for malaria, but the thing you might want to know is that malaria is not a virus, and it is not even a bacterium. It's a protist. Generally speaking, there are not really vaccines for such organisms. One metastudy that looked specifically at…
October 18, 2011
Below the fold, of course ...
Wow. The first one sounds like a Tardis. The second one looks like an old Alka-Seltzer commercial in combination with an episode of The Time Tunnel. Then its just a bunch of dizzy 70s stuff. With bad hair. Glossed over the 8th transition. I had to stop watching…
October 18, 2011
Tonight, Tuesday, October 18th, the Final 16 will be revealed.
7 central time.
Here's LeRoy's performance, on which he'll be judged:
You can go HERE and "like" it!
October 16, 2011
Below the fold (it starts automatically)
LeRoy's Audition and video diary:
October 16, 2011
From Rob Pike
Dear Rob--
As Dennis's siblings, Lynn, John, and Bill Ritchie--on behalf of the entire Ritchie family--we wanted to convey to all of you how deeply moved, astonished, and appreciative we are of the loving tributes to Dennis that we have been reading. We can confirm what we keep…
October 14, 2011
In the past, we've covered how to live trap a mouse. And, how to live trap a squirrel. For those, I've got considerable experience and was able to give you good advice. But for live trapping a Godzilla, it is best to seek professional advice.
October 13, 2011
But then, they came up with this, which simply CAN NOT BE TRUE:
No way is there a Cyclops Shark!
October 13, 2011
...I'd like to talk about an observation I made while writing for a now defunct monthly rag about global warming back in the early 1990s, and have always wanted to pursue formally, as a research project. Since I've not gotten to it yet, I thought it might be fun to outline the idea more informally…
October 13, 2011
The latest update on the crisis in Fukushima. The hot spots are everywhere. Be careful where you step!
But first, we'd like to introduce the handy-dandy Fukushima Post and Ana's Feed search engine. This search engine will return results from this series of posts we've done. This is a good place…
October 13, 2011
It is said that this happened:
"When engineers working on the very first iPod completed the prototype, they presented their work to Steve Jobs for his approval. Jobs played with the device, scrutinized it, weighed it in his hands, and promptly rejected it. It was too big. The engineers explained…
October 13, 2011
You may not know Dennis Ritichie but you are using his work right now. He was instrumental in developing Unix (which is ultimately related to developing Linux, which you are using right now because this web site is delivered via a Linux server) but he's more well known, probably, for his work…
October 12, 2011
Rapid climate change can cause species extinction. But if a species is highly mobile or wide-ranging, then that effect may be attenuated. And, more rapid climate change would be more serious a problem than less rapid climate change. Therefore, there should be a relationship between species…
October 12, 2011
A spammer using a domain provided free by GoDaddy, which sends people to a domain hosting service (which in turn advertises GoDaddy) has been putting spam on this site at a very high rate over the last few hours (many have gotten through).
Does this mean that GoDaddy, the internet service provider…
October 12, 2011
I've shown you this before but I thought you might like to see it again.
Click Here to Buy your Sea Level Rise due to Global Warming Mug!
October 12, 2011
Hat tip Sheril, where you will find more important details.
October 11, 2011
Skeptics and atheists and freethinking folk are supposed to be smart, and they are supposed to be inquiring and, well, skeptical and freethinking and stuff. But they very very often are not. Between skeptics being politically conservative (mainly with respect to social issues) and often not as…
October 11, 2011
By signing this petition:
A new report from Green For All found that we could create nearly 1.9 million jobs and inject over a quarter of a trillion dollars into the economy by fully upgrading America's aging water and stormwater infrastructure.
Every year, 860 billion gallons of raw sewage spill…
October 11, 2011
L'enfant sauvage, the 1970 movie by Truffaut, depicted a plausible case of a "wild child" ... a person left at very young age in the wild, who then grew up in the absence of human culture. Such wild children are rare, and most of them are not real, or at least, not as wild as originally claimed.…
October 10, 2011
This is why you should always back up to cliffs that you want to stand on top of, so you can run away faster!
October 10, 2011
Pronounced Quake.
(click for source)
No, NOT your granddady's model rocket club. The following video documents one of the more amazing model rocket launches ever. BE WARNED: There are VERY LOUD AND OBNOXIOUS SOUNDS on this video. apparently, you can hear the screams in space!
Enjoy:
