June 21, 2008
Birds: Nature's Magnificent Flying Machines is a book by Caroline Arnold and illustrated by Patricia Wynne for, I'd say, Pre-Elementary School kids and first/second grade. This is a good book to read to a pre-literate kid. Then put it away for later when the first grade academic report on birds…
June 20, 2008
Well, now it's official. The leader of Zimbabwe is an out of control nut-job who will probably linger in office until very slow moving pressures from outside push him out, or until there is a bloody coup of some kind.
This comes after his opposition has publicly considered pulling out of a…
June 20, 2008
To stop this obnoxious flashing, just hit the ESC key! It's like gold, but better. It's ice! On Mars!
If there's ice, there is water. If there is water, there cold be life. Maybe.
I'm pretty sure the presence of H2O on Mars is not that surprising. But what are the chances of scooping up…
June 20, 2008
The Evolution 2008 conference started out today with a special program for K-12 teachers (mainly life science teachers) organized by the Minnesota Citizens for Science Education (MNCSE). The opening speaker was Scott Lanyon, director of the Bell Museum of Natural History. (The Bell hosted this…
June 20, 2008
This is unbelievable. I go away for a few hours to attend a conference and this kind of crap happens:
The school board of a small central Ohio community voted Friday to fire a teacher accused of preaching his Christian beliefs despite staff complaints and burning the image of a cross on students…
June 20, 2008
Blood flow in the brain is linked to neuronal activity. Therefore, various 'brain scanning' techniques can be used to observe neuronal activity in the brain. This has led to an astonishing revolution in knowledge of how the brain works. Of course, you knew that already.
Also astonishing is that…
June 19, 2008
The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States by B. F. Morris was published in 1865. Recently, the Right Wing of the United States discovered this book, and wishes to present it as evidence that the United States is officially Christian.
Whatever.
I'm sure they…
June 19, 2008
Do you have any idea of what is going on in Zimbabwe? And has been for quite some time? I've not chosen to make any effort to note the African news that I semi-regularly follow, but I think it is time for that to change. Expect a bit more. I don't know how much insightful commentary I can add,…
June 19, 2008
Utah announces 'major dinosaur fossil discovery' from PhysOrg.com
(AP) -- A newly discovered batch of well-preserved dinosaur bones, petrified trees and even freshwater clams in southeastern Utah could provide new clues about life in the region some 150 million years ago.
[...]
Finally, the…
June 18, 2008
Wooo... whoa... Holy crap. Call 911.
Colleen Leduc already had a lot going against her. The Barrie woman was holding down a job while struggling to raise her autistic 11-year-old daughter. She couldn't afford to give the child the intensive therapy she needed, and was forced to send her to a…
June 18, 2008
In the early days of South Africa ... well, not the really early days, but some time in the 19th century or early 20th century, a fairly large number of Chines people were imported as workers/slaves. One of the reasons to do this was to break the indigenous workers' efforts for reform. It failed…
June 18, 2008
Mike Myers has a new film with a new set of zany characters that clearly mimic and probably mock Hinduism. Yet, the producers of the film maintain that the depicted religion is entirely made up. Right.
American based Hindu activists are not buying it...
They say that in the West so little is…
June 18, 2008
Now I'm busy looking for the video that tells Obama and McCain what they should be doing.
Hat Tip: Ana
Convergent message from Fox News:
June 17, 2008
And an opportunity for you to give Al money. Click here to see the ad. The money part is optional.
June 17, 2008
Check it out:
Emma McGrattan, the senior vice-president of engineering for computer-database company Ingres-and one of Silicon Valley's highest-ranking female programmers-insists that men and women write code differently. Women are more touchy-feely and considerate of those who will use the code…
June 17, 2008
... at Firefox Central.
Firefox had been organizing "Download Day" on their web site ... getting as many people as possible to show up TODAY (June 17th) todownload the newly released Firefox 3 ... so many people as to set a record for number of downloads.
But it isn't there! Ha! You can…
June 16, 2008
She was a church lady. I could see it a mile away. Her hair cut, her clothing, her way of standing, and as I got closer, her way of speaking and, eventually, the things she said. I will call her Joan.
It is not that surprising to find a church lady like Joan at Har Mar Shopping Mall. Har Mar…
June 16, 2008
Brian Unger can be very funny. I just got an electronic device similar to (but not) an iPhone. More on that later. But in the mean time, I heard this today while I was on my way over to Har Mar and I thought it was so funny that I'd pass it on to you. (More on Har Mar later, too .. )
Go here,…
June 16, 2008
I very recently reviewed Carl Hiaasen's novels. Among his fiction are two books that are written explicitly for kids. Looking just at Hiaasen's titles it may be hard to pick them out from the pack, so I'm making a special reference to them here. They are called "Hoot" and "Flush." Details…
June 16, 2008
The first dinosaur bones (that we know of) to have been discovered in British Columbia, Canada, are now being reported. These are bones found in 1971, eventually making their way to the Royal British Columbia Museum, and now being reported by V.M. Arbour and M.C. Graves. The bones were initially…
June 16, 2008
I have not read this book, but I'm interested in finding out more about it. Has anyone out there had a shot at it?
Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity (Sather Classical Lectures)
Information from Amazon.com: Review
"Sedley's argument is subtle and expert. . . . The brilliance of this…
June 16, 2008
All I have is a lousy press release, since my University does not subscribe to this journal. (Well,we get it but I am not allowed to see the most recent six months!). So here it is:
Edmonton - A partial dinosaur skeleton unearthed in 1971 from a remote British Columbia site is the first ever…
June 16, 2008
Wine is the software that runs in Linux which, in turn runs Windows programs. I have experimented and I could not believe how incredibly well it worked. At the time, I was able to achieve greater stability and performance, and an easier install, for Microsoft Office and Endnote on my Linux…
June 15, 2008
It utterly shocks me every time I make a reference to plastic alligators, Macy's bags with poisonous snakes in them, a guy named Skink or my favorite Bass Lure .... the Double Whammy .... and people look back at me with blank stares. Like, don't you get it? "To be or not to be" jokes or allusions…
June 15, 2008
Medical woo is not restricted to Minnesota. They even have it in California.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF. - A 76-year-old man operating an unlicensed chiropractic clinic out of his Oak Park, Calif., garage is suspected of killing one of his patients with a neck manipulation, according to Sacramento police…
June 15, 2008
42 of the Best Commercial Linux Games
KOffice 2.0 Alpha 8 (an office suite for KDE)....
0 Best KDE Applications Not Included in KDE
And for those of you who like it even when it is not OpenSource: Opera 9.50 Is Out! Review of the Newest Opera Release
June 15, 2008
On Sale in Madagascar: Carbon
This time, the forest product for sale is 100 percent sustainable and guaranteed to return on the investment. The product is carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that healthy forests can store in vast reserves and prevent from being released into the atmosphere. Put…
June 15, 2008
By African standards, Kenya's Amboseli itself is small, but it is part of two or more large scale systems that extend far beyond its boundaries. One is the Serengeti Ecosystem, which extends far to the south in Tanzania. The other is the Nilotic (mainly Maasai) Pastoralist cattle keeping culture…
June 15, 2008
Jason-1 Will Make its 30,000th Orbit
The Jason-1 spacecraft will make its 30,000th science orbit this week. Revolution number 30,000 will begin at 10:27 UTC (3:27 a.m. PDT) on June 14th, 2008 and will be completed at 12:19 UTC (5:19 a.m. PDT). From its vantage point 1,336 kilometers (830 miles)…
June 14, 2008
A team led by University of Manchester archaeologist Professor Julian Thomas has dated the Greater Stonehenge Cursus at about 3,500 years BC - 500 years older than the circle itself.
They were able to pinpoint its age after discovering an antler pick used to dig the Cursus - the most significant…
