September 14, 2010
The blogosphere is structured like a bus of tourists heading into ever new territory being spoken to by a thousand guides with microphones in the front of the vehicle. Woe be it to any guide who points out something that the bus passed several blocks back. But sometimes it is appropriate to re-…
September 14, 2010
I hereby withdraw my earlier prediction that a blob over Mali and Niger would be the next named Atlantic storm. Instead, I think it will be this one right here:
We shall name it Karl. If it forms into a tropical storm soon. Expect that by Thursday.
September 14, 2010
I just want to remind returning teachers of this podcast:
How are today's teachers sharing the wonders of science and critical thinking with the next generation of students?
With cognitive psychologist and university lecturer Barbara Drescher, and Mike McRae, former science teacher and current…
September 14, 2010
.... the podcast of the recent Skeptically Speaking, is here. It's a recorded live show!
This is not about women in skepticism. It is about skepticism, by women. Sort of. Anyway this episode includes:
Panelists: Kylie Sturgess of The Token Skeptic, Robynn “Swoopy” McCarthy of Skepticality,…
September 14, 2010
I've been using Dropbox for several months now, and I still like it. I have it installed on two computers, a desktop and a laptop. I recently wiped the desktop's hard drive and installed an entirety new drive and system, then I installed Dropbox, and all my files (which were stored on Dropbox)…
September 14, 2010
George Williams died on September 8th, 84 years old. He was one of the first academic defenders of evolution against "Intelligent Design" but is better known for his work on evolutionary medicine.
Lest GCW start spinning in his new grave, let me quickly note ...
... that evolutionary medicine is…
September 14, 2010
A life science teacher should not have to know about creationism to teach evolution, other than to the extent that you may cover the history of evolutionary biology, and begin in the days before science took center stage and natural philosophy was dragged off with one of those big vaudeville hooks…
September 13, 2010
Justin Carl Moose used his Facebook page to advocate violence against health care clinics where abortions are preformed, and urged violent attacks on people who work in such facilities. But, just like if you get stone drunk and photographs of you half naked wearing a lampshade on your head in…
September 13, 2010
Tropical storms and hurricanes are eddies in the massive current of solar energy transiting from the equator, where there is lots of it, to the poles, where there is less. And when I say equator, I mean the ITCZ.
Anyway, there are three such concentration of energy in the Atlantic worthy of a…
September 13, 2010
Cognitive psychologist Barbara Drescher joins us to discuss the common mistakes scientists make, and what happens to the science when their research goes wrong.
... and ....
Journalist David Dobbs explains the case against Marc Hauser, a prominent Harvard evolutionary biologist who was recently…
September 13, 2010
I dunno.... let's ask a expert!
In the universal moral grammar, "Using someone as a means to a greater good" is worse than many other kinds of transgressions.
Ooops. Read the analysis and description of this interesting bit of video HERE.
September 13, 2010
If you haven't seen this, you should:
Hat Tip: Bug Girl
September 13, 2010
When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time is a book by Michael Benton on the Permian Extinction now out in paperback. From the press release:
Today it is common knowledge that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteorite impact sixty-five million years ago, which killed half…
September 13, 2010
My wife, a biology teacher, gets crazy in the biology classroom. She is famous for her interpretive dance renditions of numerous cellular processes. The students in the first class of the day reportedly stare in disbelief and roll their eyes, but the students in the other classes throughout the…
September 12, 2010
We always knew Igor had what it took to be a hurricane, despite early, and rather embarrassing, fluctuations in intensity. Now, Igor is a Category Four hurricane with prospects for additional strengthening. There are no current warnings or watches, and the Hurricane Prediction center is not saying…
September 12, 2010
is the title of a podcast in which Lynn Fellman interviews moi. Click here to experience the full multimedianess of it all.
September 12, 2010
Physics and marketing don't seem to have much in common, but Dan Cobley is passionate about both. He brings these unlikely bedfellows together using Newton's second law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the scientific method and the second law of thermodynamics to explain the fundamental…
September 12, 2010
You've got to watch this video for the music if nothing else:
HT/ He Who No Longer Eats Bacon
September 12, 2010
It's that time of year again! Limber up your fingers, dig out the crowbar, charge the batteries in the camera; the famed International Rock Flipping Day is upon us!
Details.
September 11, 2010
Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation's success by its productivity -- instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use (because a happy life doesn't have to cost the earth). Which…
September 11, 2010
This is Al Qaeda day because it is on this day nine years ago that Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization that had been doing battle with the US for some 8 years or so, finally won the War against the West, resoundingly defeating George Bush by successfully completing the most terrorizing event to…
September 11, 2010
I went to an Indian Restaurant last time I was in Arkansas and this was the entertainment.
The problem with a Sitar Sarod is that you can't jump around on the stage while you are jamming with it.
Hat Tip: Miss Cellania
September 10, 2010
Really. If a dam is not an important current hydroelectric source, why not remove it next time it needs major renovation? Oh, and if you live downstream, move.
That's my idea for World Rivers Day which is traditionally celebrated on the last Sunday in September. I'll be at the river! Here's the…
September 10, 2010
We were standing behind my friend Andre's store in Isiro, Zaire, waiting for Andre to finish receiving some orders so we could sit down for some tea, or may be some beer, and do a little black market trading.
A big truck with a canvas top stretched over an iron frame was backing up to the loading…
September 10, 2010
..that even when you try diligently to separate the politics of religion vs. creationism and to say again and again that religion can go along its merry way as long as it stays out of the science classroom, people like Casey Luskin will still find the words in your rhetoric to accuse you of…
September 10, 2010
That depends ... on what X and Y are!
And if that does not come naturally to you, perhaps you should read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pre-Algebra by Amy Szczepanski and Andrew Kositsky.
The CIG to PA is built just like the other books in the Idiot's series, using familiar conventions to keep…
September 10, 2010
Everyone who went out and purchaced Islamic Holy Books for the big burning on September 11th needs to just take it down a notch, put the Qurans on the book shelf next to the Bhagavad Gita and that copy of Catcher in the Rye you've always planed to read and switch to plan B for celebrating the…
September 9, 2010
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
September 9, 2010
Sara Lee isn't just a baked good any more:
Sara Lee Schupf, the namesake of the Sara Lee bakery brand, will this week announce a $1.5 million gift to the New York Hall of Science to create a Center on Play, Science and Technology Learning, or SciPlay at the Queens institution.
The center will…
September 9, 2010
The Institute for Creation "Research" moved from California to Texas a few years ago in part, it is believed, to set up a masters program for teachers in life sciences. I'm guessing they figured they could get Texas to certify a bogus Masters program more easily than California. They did make…
