September 22, 2008
Inspired by this, I thought we would try this:
You know the Chuck Norris Facts meme, right? With items such as:
Jesus walked on water, but Chuck Norris swam through land
or
The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.
Well, an (all too quick, possibly) Google search has revealed that the…
September 22, 2008
Members of the Public: Now is your only chance to comment on Minnesota's new Science Standards. My suggestions: Take out the woo, dampen down the special interests, and please, consider NOT removing biology from the High School standrds!!!!!
To comment, go to this web site and read the context,…
September 22, 2008
The following is an ad from the Democratic Congressional Cmpaing Committee talking about Erik Paulsen. Paulsen is Democrat Ashwin Madia's opposition in the race to fill Republican Jim Ramsted's seat in the Third US Congressional District in Minnesota.
It is also about golfing.
September 21, 2008
In July, citing a budget shortfall, the Governor of California ordered the salaries of 170,000 State employees to be cut to the Federal minimum wage.
Not so fast, said the State Controller. Because California's payroll systems are written in antiquated Cobol code, it would take six months to…
September 21, 2008
WTF is Microsoft trying to do here???
Can't wait for the satires of this ad....
After you watch that, you may need to watch these to make you feel better.
First, a word from Linux:
Now, to get the taste of this whole thing out of your brain, here's a kitten falling asleep in a box:
September 20, 2008
Eventually, enough rich and powerful people/companies will become sufficiently inconvenienced or annoyed at the archaic intellectual property laws under which we now live that change will happen. Or am I being totally naive?
A few current stories relevant to this issue:
From Slashdot:
"As…
September 20, 2008
Sarah Palin thinks that the Pledge of Allegiance was written by the founding fathers, according to the Daily Kos.
See also: IT Failures Nudge Out Democracy
September 20, 2008
According to a widely disseminated story (see this) the Large Hadron Collider broke only hours after it started operations last week. This is an atrocity and an example of something seriously, endemically wrong with science more generally.
Why is the fact that the LHC broke right away an…
September 20, 2008
It does not matter what the candidates think or what the voters think if voter database management and voting technology problems determine the outcome of the next election.
...a new study by Common Cause and the Century Foundation finds that 10 very vital swing states have significant voting…
September 19, 2008
Gustavus The Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College, naturally.
Gustavus Adolphus was the king of Sweden and founder of the Swedish Empire from the age of seventeen until he his death at the age of 37, in 1632. He looked, as a testosterone-ridden teenager, at vast unconquered lands, at…
September 18, 2008
The Carnival of Evolution is a new carnival, the second edition of which is here at Evolution Blog!
The next issue, issue nuber 3, will be hosted HERE. No, not there, here, right here on this blog you are looking at now.
Pleas send me your blog posts about your favorite topic, which is evolution…
September 18, 2008
8 Linux Laptop - The HiVision miniNoteby Charbax
For $98 [if you wait until October], you get an ultra-portable notebook with MIPS-based processor, 7" LCD, 1GB flash storage, 3 USB ports, Ethernet, SDHC card reader, WiFi, audio in and out, voice-chat, multi-tabbed Firefox browser support, Abiword…
September 18, 2008
see this and this.
September 18, 2008
There was a DNC bounce, then there was an RNC bounce. Really, the RNC bounce was a Sarah Palin bounce. And now the numbers are back to pre-convention levels and the horse race begins.
Or was there another factor?
But seriously.... New polls.
September 18, 2008
I truly hate that Contessa chick who pretends to be a news reporter on MSNBC. Let me recreate a recent annoying interview for you.
The guest is an expert on taxes and stuff. The issue is the Obama plan to tax the wealthy.
Contessa sticks her lower lip out and sarcasticizes her voice a bit more…
September 18, 2008
I think it might be important that Barack Obama knows how to use email and John McCain does not.
September 18, 2008
http://i.abcnews.com/Travel/popup?id=4232823
IATB #84 A Beginner's Guide to Bird Blogs
Carnival of Evolution, #2
Carnival of Homeschooling
Carnival of Cool Homeschoolers #9
Tangled Bank #114
Carnival of the Recipes
Praxis Second Edition
September 18, 2008
The other day I was reading this really fantastic blog and came across the following campaign video. This is for Ashwin Madia, running for Congress in Minnesota's Third Congressional District. Have a look:
Is there something interesting about this particular ad?
Listen. My understanding is that…
September 18, 2008
The same man who said "God will protect us against gays" and who has done much more for repression of diversity generally in East Africa than the average person has gotten all hot under the collar (or somewhere) about women's skirts that end above the knees. He wants them banned like cell phones…
September 17, 2008
Sheikh Muhammad Munajid claimed the mouse is "one of Satan's soldiers" and makes everything it touches impure.
But he warned that depictions of the creature in cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, and Disney's Mickey Mouse, had taught children that it was in fact loveable.
The cleric, a former diplomat…
September 17, 2008
It what may be little more than a turf battle among members (committees, really) in the US Congress, a major piece of legislation supporting Open Access in research may be in danger.
There is an interesting piece about this in ars technica:
The House of Representatives has seen the introduction of…
September 17, 2008
If you are a Republican and you don't think you look like this, think again.
Hat tip Joe
September 17, 2008
CLICK HERE AND HELP
September 17, 2008
This is almost National Lampoon Vacation Movie funny, except that it is not funny. As five of you, who have read my piece at the new blog A Vote for Science know, the ultimate outcome of events ... and how society reacts to them ... may depend on the level at which were are set up to respond, and…
September 17, 2008
A car bomb and rocket attack on the US embassy in Yemen has killed at least 16 people, including civilians and Yemeni security guards, Yemen officials said. -bbc
Why Yemen?
You might not know this, because the Bush Administration prefers you not, but Yemen is one of those places that is a…
September 16, 2008
For a mere half a billion dollars, NASA plans to send a robot to the Red Planet in 2013.
NASA has selected a Mars robotic mission that will provide information about the Red Planet's atmosphere, climate history and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before.
Called the Mars…
September 16, 2008
I'm back from HQ and I must say phone banking is both frustrating and rewarding. Let me tell you some facts about Minnesota's third congressional district:
1) Nobody is home.
Well, OK, that's one fact, but a very solid one.
But seriously, Starting tomorrow and for ten days hence, Madia HQ has…
September 16, 2008
Not enough people are visiting A Vote for Science yet. So we've got a special offer. Go to A Vote for Science and get your free LOL Kitten!!!!!
In the mean time, I'm off to Ashwin Madia HQ to wrangle up some votes.
You do realize, yes? ... that McCain has pulled ahead of Obama in the national…
September 16, 2008
What does the well informed American voter interested in the intersection of science and politics read? Well, not just read, but read to become more informed about current events and controversies. And, I'm thinking here of books that look at the science/politics intersection rather than how…
September 16, 2008
hat Tip: TUIBG
