January 14, 2009
The IPCC report is out, "An Inconvenient Truth" has been honored by the academy, a sea change is happening in the way that climate change news is being reported, and you can bet the Right Wing and the Ree-pubs are as we speak working up new Talking Points and Spins to deflate the urgency of the…
January 13, 2009
I just got an email informing us that Scienceblogs.com is going to go erotic after midnight tonight, owing to some anticipated activities.
Oh, sorry, I just reread the email. That's ERRATIC. Not erotic. Erratic.
Things will work, they will just be erratic.
January 13, 2009
... threats. By yahoos.
A new book defending vaccines, written by a doctor infuriated at the claim that they cause autism, is galvanizing a backlash against the antivaccine movement in the United States.
But there will be no book tour for the doctor, Paul A. Offit, author of "Autism's False…
January 13, 2009
The Minnesota DFL Party filed a complaint today with the FEC regarding how Norm Coleman is paying for his recount efforts. Norm doesn't have the personal wealth to fund this himself plus the Republican donors aren't probably all that excited about funding a losing proposition. So this means Norm…
January 13, 2009
If you are currently using Ubuntu 8, the upgrade to Ubuntu 9 will involve the implementation of Ext4. Ext4 is a super duper very fast file system that will make your computer sing. Sing fast.
If you are not using Linux at all, say you are using WinDoze, switching to Ubuntu 9.04 will make your…
January 13, 2009
Meet Don McLeroy
Doesn't Don look happy? He should. He's accomplished a great many things. He has an engineering degree, is a practicing dentist, has served in the U.S. Army, and has even helped out with his local Boy Scouts of America chapter, or congragation, or whatever they're called. On top of…
January 13, 2009
There is a plan to make a "Web Log Carnival of the Vanities" (aka blog carnival) for all things arid.
Submissions should have something to do with a desert somewhere in the world. (If you're not sure whether your work is desert-related, check out this definition at Wikipedia, and if you're still…
January 13, 2009
Al Franken has, as his his right and duty, filed papers to the court now reviewing Coleman's suit regarding the Minnesota Senate Race.
Eric Kleefeld has an excellent summary of the paper. You can read the papers here, and read Eric's summary here. Oh, and if you want a real laugh, you can read…
January 13, 2009
RT Rybak is not going to run for Governor, as some of us thought. He's going instead for another term as Mayor. Good for him. Details here.
January 13, 2009
A new blog called Blogging the Origin launched Monday. It's a Seedmagazine.com-sponsored blog, written by London-based freelance science writer John Whitfield, who has the particular qualification--for this project, at least--of having never read Darwin's The Origin of Species. As he now begins to…
January 13, 2009
OMG it is 17 degrees this morning!
(Below zero F, needless to say)
There is a six mph westerly wind. That is not too bad, but it puts our "feels like" (the index formerly known as wind chill) at about negative 32. Even in Minnesota, on a morning like this some cars will not start, some schools…
January 12, 2009
A study recently published by Irva Hertz-Picciotto and Lora Delwiche of the M.I.N.D. Institute, UC Davis, addresses the question of an apparent rise in the frequency of diagnosed autism in California.
This study is quickly becoming the focus of attention as the various factions with an interest in…
January 12, 2009
Popular blogger and author Christian Lander will discuss his book, Stuff White People Like, on Monday, January 26 at 4:00 p.m. at the University of Minnesota Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E. Minneapolis.
Lander decided early on that he did not like white people who did…
January 12, 2009
Homeschool Showcase (Formerly The Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers) #15 is up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. I've got an item listed in the carnival, which is typical (I often send potentially useful science content material to the homeschooling carnivals.)
While you're studying Earth…
January 12, 2009
California's sevenfold increase in autism cannot be explained by changes in doctors' diagnoses and most likely is due to environmental exposures, University of California scientists reported Thursday.
The scientists who authored the new study advocate a nationwide shift in autism research to focus…
January 11, 2009
One of the most interesting and exciting stories in science is that of the Younger Dryas. The Younger Dryas was a climate event that had important effects on human history, and that has been reasonably linked to some of our most important cultural changes, and ultimately some evolutionary changes…
January 11, 2009
Americans, take note:
Prince Harry has apologised for using offensive language to describe a member of his army platoon.
The News of the World has published video in which the prince calls one of his Sandhurst colleagues a "Paki" in commentary he made over filming.
bbc
Now, help me out here,…
January 11, 2009
Been there:
visited 37 states (74%)Create your own visited map of The United States or try another Douwe Osinga project
Hat tip: Mike.
Obviously I have a few gaps to fill.
visited 25 states (11.1%)Create your own visited map of The World or try another Douwe Osinga project
January 11, 2009
If you don't know who Larry Wall is then never mind.
Here's a sampler:
"Doing linear scans over an associative array is like trying to club someone to death with a loaded Uzi."
"Hubris itself will not let you be an artist."
"Real programmers can write assembly code in any language."
The rest are…
January 11, 2009
It is a travesty when the lives of young people doing little more than trying to make a point are tossed aside in order to make the likes of federal prosecutors, FBI agents, state investigators, and the occasional mayor and governor feel like they have larger than average dick. Which is pretty…
January 11, 2009
.... via his court challenge of the recount that places Al Franken ahead are assessed by Eric Kleefeld:
The complaint ignores the existence of counter-evidence, employs one maneuver when it is self-benefiting and opposes the same maneuver when it goes against them, attacks not just the recount but…
January 11, 2009
I have had a lot of students of whom I'm very proud because of their accomplishments both in research and generally. One of these students is Mark Foster, who is one of a very small number of undergraduates to engage in significant research at some of the key East African chimpanzee research sites…
January 11, 2009
Just as unexpectedly as when the last swarm started, and just as unexpectedly as when the last swarm stopped, there is a new swarm. Verifying my initial statement: At least at some levels, the experts don't have much of a clue about these things. Not their fault. It's just that there is not that…
January 11, 2009
So the other day, my sister and brother in-law were visiting from California, and at one point got talking about these people who were dressing in "squirrel suits" and jumping off buildings and some of the cliffs out there.
So, I imagined what I would think most people imagined. Crazy people…
January 11, 2009
And Public School Administrators, too.
There is a message being sent out, by the Discovery Institute (a non profit creationist 'think' tank) encouraging creationist students and teachers to "Suit Up, Sign Up, Show UP, Act Up and Start Up" (whatever that all means) on February 12, which of course…
January 9, 2009
I think of her now as the Tea Lady, because she was drinking tea when I met her and had an English accent to go along with her English colonial outfit. She was one of the first native white South Africans I had met on my very first trip to that country. And now the Tea Lady, who was in fact a…
January 8, 2009
Have you noticed that Rachel Maddow, the newly en-scheduled MSNBC Cable News Show host, has a lot of interesting and rather endearing mannerisms of speech and presentation? Of course you have. But have you also noticed that Rachel also has a large and growing influence on the manersisms of others…
January 8, 2009
More Sara Palin Funnee
January 8, 2009
The TV told me to "youtube" the Australian leader Rudd's Parliamentary statement tearing Howard a new one in regards to his statement about Obama and the American Democrats. So I did, and I thought I'd share it with you. Kinda fun:
Mr Howard later lost the election to Mr. Rudd. Oh, and Obama…
January 7, 2009
Hey I won in the Hippos category!!!!!
Other categories include "Best Blind Date," "Best Spike Lee Joint," and "Best Use of Ritalin."
Have a look. There are a lot of great blog posts linked to here. Like a super mega meta anthro carnival. Enjoy!
