October 19, 2009
I've been checking in on people's happiness quotients, and I have many things to report. Mostly good, so if you are looking for trouble or just feeling misanthropic, don't go below the fold.
Let me start with my friend elle (that is her secret code name). She has been living on the South Pole…
October 18, 2009
Yesterday, I posted a comment on my facebook account that resulted in more response and discussion than any comment I had previously made. The issues at hand pertain to privacy, how public high schools are run, how colleges are marketed. This also may pertain to the ongoing discussion of civility…
October 17, 2009
Corine Wegener interviewed by Scott Lohman
October 17, 2009
Dogs:
Cats:
Bonus Cat (below the fold because it also involves mean humans):
And no, I can't explain that.
And now, from the famous Animal Face off series, Wolf vs. Cougar Remix...
(original wolf vs. cougar is here, embedding disallowed)
This is what is wrong with science education in…
October 17, 2009
There are several methods.
1) The lower the social security number, the older the bird, but this does not work on most migratory species;
2) You ask for its birth certificate, but they often fake these.
3) Go here and read this post on how to do it using Science.
October 17, 2009
The Giant's Shoulders Blog Carnival is now up and running at Quiche Moraine. This is an outstanding carnival pointing to some blog posts you will not want to miss.
Seriously. Click here.
October 16, 2009
The One Hundred and Elevendieth I and the Bird Web Carnival ... which is all about birds ... is posted here, at one of my favorite blogs: The Twin Cities Naturalist. Please go check it out. Click on all the links. Digg and stuble upon, fark and reddit, and maybe even read each of the excellent…
October 16, 2009
Omar Mouallem, Desiree Schell and Greg Laden (that's me) had a very interesting conversation Wednesday night about how skepticism gets noticed. Through comedy, music, blogging, scientific studies, and other outlets, how do we bring people on board? We decided blogging was irrelevant but that…
October 16, 2009
The following is an abstract from an article by Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education called “WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE "TEACH THE CONTROVERSY" SLOGAN?” available here.
a repost
Teachers are often exhorted by creationists to "teach the controversy." Although such encouragement…
October 15, 2009
Down below the fold where it says "CLICK HERE" .... don't click there! First, make sure the following things are true:
1) You are alone.
2) Your computer's sound is turned up.
2) Nobody can hear you.
OK, go...
CLICK HERE
October 15, 2009
From James at Island of Doubt.
October 15, 2009
I have been to Uganda a number times, but only illegally or by accident, in which case I was in the remote bush, or in transit, stopping at Entebbe Airport, so I can't say that I know much, directly, about the culture there. However, I have spent months in Kenya and years in Zaire/Congo, and a…
October 15, 2009
Roughly half of the people in the United States reject one or more fundamental tenets of science (most commonly evolution), while a larger percent, perhaps more than 80 percent depending on how we measure, would fail a basic science test. A strong majority of those American citizens who would…
October 15, 2009
Constructivism. Determinism. It is all a bunch of hooey.
A recent paper published by PLoS (Culture Shapes How We Look at Faces) throws a sopping wet blanket on widely held deterministic models of human behavior. In addition, the work underscores the sometimes spooky cultural differences that…
October 14, 2009
How to find out the official US time:
Click here for the US Gummit Official Time Web site.
October 14, 2009
I just listened to this and it was good. He seems to have been living in a cave. Full of stick figures.
So, Des, you'll tell me about this tattoo later right?
And now, for an eg:
October 14, 2009
Research on giant sea scorpions (eurypterids) - the largest bugs that ever lived - has shed new light on why eurypterids became so large and eventually died out.
In the 1930s, Romer argued that eurypterids became larger and larger over time because they were in a kind of arms race with giant fish…
October 14, 2009
Without the oceans, WE ALL DIE!!! Seriously. And we are totally screwing up the oceans. And Obama has utterly failed to fix this problem after being in office for MONTHS!!!
But wait, there's hope. Something is being done....
Sheril let me know about this:
INTERAGENCY OCEAN POLICY TASK FORCE…
October 14, 2009
I have no clue. But I hope to work it out by Friday when Desiree Schell, Omar Mouallem and I talk about this on Skeptically Speaking.
From comedy and music, to scientific studies and how we respond to them, to blogging vs. mainstream media, to attention-grabbing stunts... is all publicity good…
October 14, 2009
Let's look at open source software using a real-world example. To me, the FreeDOS Project will always be the first example I look to, so I'll use that. It should speak to the commitment of the open source software community that FreeDOS continues under active (if slow) development 15 years after it…
October 14, 2009
A very good day of grunting worms. Credit: Ken Catania So-called Gene-Culture Co-Evolution can be very obvious and direct or it can be very subtle and complex. In almost all cases, the details defy the usual presumptions people make about the utility of culture, the nature of human-managed…
October 14, 2009
We knew what you meant, even if the Big Man never did.
October 13, 2009
Watch Humanist Views: Humanism and the Bible in Activism & Non-Profit | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
October 13, 2009
Certainly not Tim Pawlenty, because he (thinks he) is going to be President of the United States. So, it has to be one of these people.
