June 14, 2011
While I'm busy in Saint Paul doing this, I think you should have a look at this and this, because summer is just around the corner. Later, I'll be working on a post for this because I do one every four weeks. How time flies. I've already done two of them (this and this).
Oh, I bought a bottle of…
June 13, 2011
My interest is in developing a plausible evidence-based story of how modern humans emerged from ancestral species. This means guessing at what features of humans make us "human" and attempting to see the emergence of each of these features in the fossilized record of our bodies (bones) and…
June 13, 2011
Miss USA contestants have been asked for the upcoming beauty contest if evolution should be taught in US schools. In a seemingly unrelated question, they are also to be asked if they would ever pose nude for photographers. It is not clear what the correct answer to either question is supposed to…
June 13, 2011
NASA's Dawn space ship is getting closer to the asteroid Vesta, and has produced a very short movie. The movie is a compilation of 20 frames, shown here repeating several times:
This movie shows surface details beginning to resolve as NASA's Dawn spacecraft closes in on the giant asteroid Vesta.…
June 13, 2011
I agree that a gay judge should not rule on a gay marriage issue. He's biased. He's gay, and in a gay relationship and will therefore be biased in favor of gay rights.
Of course, non-gay judges should never be allowed to rule on issues of straight marriage or other private matters, legislatures…
June 12, 2011
Version 1:
Version 2 (video may not show):
Version 3:
Version 4 (whole camera approach, video cameras)
Version 5:
June 12, 2011
Even though some time back Netflix fixed their interface exactly as I wanted them to do it, and within hours after I asked them to (see this), they have now developed a new web interface to their site that many people appear to hate. I tend to agree with the haters.
What I found is that when I…
June 11, 2011
We often drive on a stretch of Minnesota State Route 10 that runs from Elk River to Big Lake and eventually to a point past Saint Cloud that takes about an hour to drive on a normal day, and we see trains. The railroad track runs along this route, and during the hour it takes to drive it, we never…
June 11, 2011
See Ed's writeup
And speaking of Ed, don't forget this!
June 11, 2011
This happened not far from me:
Uffda. That guy's a little frustrated! Took the Lord's Name in Vane and everything, you betcha!
A little follow up:
Coulda been worse.
June 11, 2011
I assume he means Linux ...
June 10, 2011
It is very likely that Sarah Palin's political career will end in a few hours from now.
Sarah Palin's Gubermail, the email that was sent or received from her office during her aborted term as Governor of Alaska, will be release to the public any minute now. Some news agencies such as the…
June 10, 2011
Apropos Linux in Exile losing his Linux System to a Predatory Windows Install the other day (see Windows killed my laptop, again) I've been thinking about and beginning to do something about cleaning house. See below for my latest Windows mini-horror story (not as bad as LIE's). But first, a word…
June 10, 2011
Netroots Nation is coming up in a few days, and there will be a Science Policy panel that will include scienceblogger Joshua Rosenau (representing the NCSE), John Abraham (St. Thomas), Darlene avalier (Science Cheerleader), Heidi Cullen (Climate Central) and Rick Loverd (Summet on Science).…
June 9, 2011
Please join Abbi Allan and me at the black Dog Cafe next Tuesday.
Art and Human Evolution - June 14, 2011
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Are humans the only creatures who create art? At what point in human evolution did artistic creations become separate from tools, become art for arts' sake? What in us…
June 9, 2011
This is not an Onion story, this is for real.
Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign imploded Thursday afternoon with virtually his entire senior staff leaving en masse, according to multiple sources familiar with the moves.
"When the campaign and the candidate disagree on the path, they've got to…
June 9, 2011
Designer Jessi Arrington packed nothing for TED but 7 pairs of undies, buying the rest of her clothes in thrift stores around LA. It's a meditation on conscious consumption -- wrapped in a rainbow of color and creativity.
June 9, 2011
The Minnesota Zoo has been involved in a Mexican Gray Wolf breeding and reintroduction program for some time now. Last I checked, it was not going well .... they were not having mush success in getting the wolves to produce offspring. I think they had some puppies in 2003, but I'm not sure of…
June 9, 2011
There is no chance that there is any connection between the release of fossil carbon into the atmosphere, no chance, for instance that severe weather is increased because of global warming. Don't give it a second thought. The following video proves that you have nothing to worry about:
June 9, 2011
"I gotta make a choice and go with the intelligent woman who's every bit as attractive"
That's what Michele Bachmann's new high-powered advisor, Ed Rollins told Politico the other day.
This is perfect. We are being asked, by the Bachmann campaign, to chose between Bachmann and Palin using the…
June 8, 2011
Don't forget to include Global Water Dances on your calendar. That date would be June 25th, 2011. For those of you in the Twin Cities, it is happening at the Stone Arch Bridge. There are about fifty locations world wide. Find your nearest event here.
Check out the details here.
And now, your…
June 8, 2011
In terms of radiation fallout Fukushima is said to be approaching Chernobyl by at least certain measures, and the potential for Fukushima to be worse in terms of total radioactive material released is very real. However, the two disasters really can't be compared sensibly because the circumstances…
June 7, 2011
I've recently reviewed bird or nature books for some fairly exotic places (see this for all the reviews) including the Antarctic and the West Indies. Now, I have a book on the birds of one of the most exotic places ever: New Jersey!
OK, if you are from New York like I am, you know that was a joke…
June 7, 2011
Renowned paleontologist Jack Horner has spent his career trying to reconstruct a dinosaur. He's found fossils with extraordinarily well-preserved blood vessels and soft tissues, but never intact DNA. So, in a new approach, he's taking living descendants of the dinosaur (chickens) and genetically…
June 7, 2011
Ed Brayton, known to many of you as the Dispatches from the Culture Wars blogger, as well as co-founder of Michigan Citizens for Science and The Panda's Thumb, will be on Atheist Talk Radio this coming Sunday. Mike Haubrich, Ed and I will chat about the very current, often disturbing, and…
June 7, 2011
I have four or five things for you.
First off, Joel Rosenberg is dead. He wrote "Everything You Need to Know About (Legally) Carrying a Handgun in Minnesota" and ran the web site "Jew with a gun." I've blogged about him before. Go have a look and pay special attention to the comments The back…
June 7, 2011
It could be a power station, or a biological containment, or a garage or even a weapon. Or, it could be ....
... yet another demonstration that there really are people out there who are not merely movie characterizations of zany paranoid conspiracy theorists, but rather, the real thing. And…
June 7, 2011
Context, details and discussion are here: PZ MYERS VS ISLAMISTS ON EMBRYOLOGY
June 6, 2011
I'm not sure why colonial Americans thought they could succeed at blowing off the British to make their own country or countries, but that they needed to do something was obvious to a lot of people during the middle of the 18th century. In the end, it would turn out that the American Revolution…
