December 9, 2008
He's not saying.
Is Norm Coleman under investigation in connection with the claims made in a lawsuit alleging that a longtime supporter, Nasser Kazeminy, used an insurance company that employs Coleman's wife to illegally pass money to Coleman?
Could be...
Last month, a Minnesota good-government…
December 8, 2008
This evening we have two topics to cover in the area of domestic engineering. The first has to do with shopping (for groceries) and the second has to do with dishwashers.
First, and this will be brief, on the shopping for groceries:
Grocery Shopping
You know how each person goes up to the…
December 8, 2008
I'm putting the following below the fold because it may be offensive to some. But it's really funny.
Normally I don't like humor that makes fun of PC, because it is usually not funny. But this is Linux humor, and there are some gems. Like the "less" and "more" command joke. Ha!
I totally…
December 8, 2008
Remember the Atheist Sign that ruined everything for everybody up in Washington State? Well, now those damn free thinkers are going to impose their freedom of speech on the god fearing (or should that be "atheist fearing") people of Illinois.
Here's the sign being provided by the Freedom from…
December 8, 2008
Emily Badger writing at Miller-McCune's blog has a thoughtful piece on how George Bush ruined science for everybody:
Barack Obama received a relatively quiet endorsement on Aug. 23 from 61 of the country's Nobel laureates in physics, medicine and chemistry -- scientific heavyweights who used the…
December 8, 2008
The copying of DNA's master instructions into messenger molecules of RNA, a process known as DNA transcription, has always been thought to be a unidirectional process whereby a copying machine starts and moves in one direction. But in work that represents a fundamental shift in scientists'…
December 8, 2008
The Supreme Court has turned down an emergency appeal from a New Jersey man who says President-elect Barack Obama is ineligible to be president because he was a British subject at birth.
details
December 8, 2008
EAT THIS POLL FOR BREAKFAST!
December 8, 2008
The atheists ... this time disguised as hedonistic sun worshipers ... are at it again. A "Winter Solstice" sign bought and paid for by the Freedom from Religion Foundation identifying religion as "Myth and supersition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds" was put up at a holiday display.
A…
December 7, 2008
But almost no papers report retraction of the story following the coroner's verdict that the vaccine played no part in the death.
On Tuesday the Telegraph, the Independent, the Mirror, the Express, the Mail, and the Metro all reported that a coroner was hearing the case of a toddler who died after…
December 7, 2008
Hat Tip: Atheist Media Blog
December 7, 2008
And the results are at the same time boring and astonishing. I mean, look at this graph:
Never mind the details of the graph. The point is that the two distros, running on an almost identical Linux kernel and using identical desktops and an almost identical X system, are almost identical when…
December 7, 2008
This is a bunch of people getting their science news in 3D:
It must be a story about one of those parasites that come flying out of your head after breeding in your brain or something.
Anyway, 3D Science News is HERE.
December 7, 2008
Tomorrow, this dog is a snack.
December 7, 2008
Genetic Tests of Athletic Prowess -- For Babies
A new genetic test offers to predict the sports at which a baby will someday excel. But even if the science were sound -- it's not -- this might not be a good idea.
The $150 test, offered by Colorado-based Atlas Sports Genetics, looks at ACTN3, a gene…
December 7, 2008
Welcome to the War on Christmas.
As I think it was Mike who pointed out for himself, "Happy Holidays" is what I learned to say when I was a kid because it was inclusive of New Years. Later, it continued to make sense because I discovered Jewish People. Eventually, by the time I was ten or so, it…
December 7, 2008
... so, you think can sing, eh?
Well, Desiree Schell, talk show host with Q. Transmissions of Edmonton, Canada, has asked me to tell you about a contest.
Q Transmissions wants YOU to sing us what is sure to be the next smash hit on the Skeptical charts... Fervent Unbeliever!
...
Perform your best…
December 7, 2008
So how do you get your stickers? We may be all about speedy electronic communication, but this time we're going old school with snail mail. Just send a self-addressed stamped envelope (along with a note if you're so inclined) to:
Send me some Gmail stickers already
P.O. Box 391420
Mountain View,…
December 6, 2008
Oliver G. Selfridge, an innovator in early computer science and artificial intelligence, died on Wednesday in Boston. He was 82.
The cause was injuries suffered in a fall on Sunday at his home in nearby Belmont, Mass., said his companion, Edwina L. Rissland.
Credited with coining the term "…
December 6, 2008
Twenty eight years ago, Martha entered a persistent vegetative state. Her husband, Klaus, was acquitted of her murder twice. Have you seen the movie "Reversal of Fortune"? That's the story.
US heiress Martha von Bulow, who spent almost three decades in a coma but was still at the centre of…
December 6, 2008
The much-anticipated next incarnation of the popular Python programming language -- voted favorite scripting language in the 2008 Linux Journal Readers' Choice Awards -- slithered onto the scene on Wednesday with the release of Python 3.0. Known popularly as Python 3000 or Py3k, Python 3.0 bears…
December 6, 2008
With her pants down, squatting over the pile of fertilizer she has created. Below the fold. Don't go there unless you are prepared to be shocked and amazed.
------------------ the fold ------------------------
Well, OK, so maybe this is not as shocking as you were expecting.
This is one of…
December 6, 2008
Carnival of Cinema: A Smorgasbord!
The Totally Hot December Scientiae
79th Carnival Of The Liberals: Kicking Around George W. Bush & Evolution
Skeptics' Circle 101: The African Edition
Carnival of Trashy Romance Novels - Because Books Don't Fall Asleep Afterward
Cancer Research Blog…
December 6, 2008
Hat tip: Ana the Blogless
December 6, 2008
I have only the vaguest memories of this myself, and that must be second hand. On December 6th 1989, I was probably in the jungle not getting much news. Anyway, Sciencewoman reminds us:
On December 6, 1989, an armed gunman named Marc Lepine entered an engineering classroom at Ecole Polytechnique…
December 6, 2008
I have a little more information and some exact numbers for you.
First, some of the numbers.
The number of votes per candidate not counting Minneapolis 3-1, which has a packet of missing votes currently being searched for:
Franken: 1,210,285
Coleman: 1,210,995
The number of votes per candidate…
December 6, 2008
Individual animals that live and and forage in groups may not always benefit from a particular move (to or from a foraging site) in the same way as other individuals in the group. Therefore, there must be some kind of negotiation among the critters. Theoretical work almost always seem to show that…
December 5, 2008
LHC to restart in 2009
Geneva, 5 December 2008. CERN today confirmed that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will restart in 2009. This news forms part of an updated report, published today, on the status of the LHC following a malfunction on 19 September.
"The top priority for CERN today is to…
December 5, 2008
Notice the viking. I'm so embarrassed.
