June 5, 2017
A Swift Guide to Butterflies of North America is a field guider's field guide. It is the shape and size of a traditional field guide. The designers of this book said "we don't need no stinking margins" so there are no margins. Color bleeds on the page edges allow a quick index to major butterfly…
June 5, 2017
State Auditor Rebecca Otto is running for Governor of Minnesota. She will seek the DFL (Democratic Party) Endorsement. There are several other candidates either declared or likely to run, but Otto stands head and shoulders above all the others, especially in three areas:
1) Honesty and integrity…
June 4, 2017
I wonder if the original old fashioned operas were like this, about events of their times, and thus engaging and compelling like this one is. Plus, ROFLMAO.
Check it out:
June 4, 2017
Several weeks ago I tried once again, after many prior ill fated attempts over several years, to get a device that would play music, audio books, and be a radio. The audiobook part wasn't the most important part, but the ability to play various audio files AND act as a radio AND not be a big giant…
June 3, 2017
The amazing Betty Folliard, former school board member, Minnesota house representative, and the woman behind a number of important political campaign, has a radio show on AM950 The Progressive Voice of Minnesota (where I occassionally voice as well, but on a different show) called "A Woman's Place…
June 3, 2017
This just came across my desk. These are not amazing deals, but they are pretty good deals. I'll put the list price and asking price down so you can decide if you want to ignore this.
A Global Warming Primer: Answering Your Questions About The Science, The Consequences, and The Solutions was $15 is…
June 3, 2017
For some reason, Facebook is not posting reliably and I will not abide writing paragraphs that the Internet sucks into oblivion!
So, I have a few thoughts I'll put here and try to link to.
Rebecca Otto for Governor
Let's start with Rebecca Otto, who just gave a great talk at the DFL (that's what…
June 2, 2017
I got a letter from a Minnesota-based teacher who is getting inundated by students asking questions about Paris. Many of those questions are dogwhistles (the students do not realize that) indicating that they've been getting their information from Trump supporters, or so I can confidently guess. (…
June 2, 2017
If you are upset about Trump and upset about Trump pulling the US out of the Paris agreement, please let me help you get through the day.
Trump announcing that the US is pulling out of Paris does not mean the end of Paris, the end of action on climate change, or much else about global warming. I'll…
May 31, 2017
The climate change documentary A Sea Change will be shown at the Maple Grove Library, in the Western Twin Cities, by the Northwest Minneapolis Climate Action group, this Wednesday at 7:00 PM. See you there!
Here is a trailer:
May 31, 2017
Just a pointer to this fantastic, big league idea to convert Trump's tweets into eight year old script.
May 31, 2017
The brand new just published (June 1) book Beren and Lúthien presents the story of the human (or should I say "Man"?) Beren Erchamion, or "The One-Handed" (AKA Beren Camlost, for "the Empty Handed") and the Elf-maiden Lúthien Tinúviel.
If you read The Lord of the Rings you may recall Aragorn…
May 30, 2017
A statement has just been released by the White House, regarding President Donald Trump:
President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him. He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people, whether he is speaking to a room of…
May 30, 2017
Al Franken, Giant of the Senate By Al Franken. This book claims to be this:
From Senator Al Franken - #1 bestselling author and beloved SNL alum - comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that.
This is…
May 30, 2017
Installment # 1 is here
Without delay, here are four five star choices and four four star choices:
The Emperor's New Clothes, the classic story by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated for the modern retro child by Virginia Lee Burton.
You know the story, so I won't give you a summary, and the whole…
May 26, 2017
What, with all the attacks on science and scientist these days, we may not want to be focusing on those times when science goes off the rails and makes a huge mess of things. But, science at its best and scientists at their best, will never shy away from such things.
Dr. Paul Offit just wrote a…
May 25, 2017
It is hard to find a good book for kids between the ages of 5 and 9. These are kids who can read, but at varying (and rapidly changing) levels, and who are too fancy for the little kid books (thick, big pictures, few words, boring).
Amanda and Huxley spend a lot of time figuring out what the…
May 24, 2017
A little while back I posted this: Taking The Axe To The Environmental Movement: Resolute v. Greenpeace.
Some of you complained because you don't like Greenpeace. But that is hardly the point. Greenpeace has a history of working towards important goals and sometimes even attaining them, and there…
May 24, 2017
Did you ever hear the expression, "You're a real card!" Well, if you are a notable woman in the physical sciences, you just might be a card!
My sister has a project, and Amanda and my niece Koren and some others are involved, that puts notable women in the physical sciences on cards, with a bit of…
May 24, 2017
The Congressional Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released their scoring of the Republitrump Health Insurance reform bill, passed recently by the House but not yet taken up by the Senate.
The OMB says the bill will leave 23 million more Americans uninsured by 2026, compared to sticking…
May 23, 2017
In The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction, Charles Lane describes the events -- several years of events including the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, though only briefly -- that led up to the Colfax Massacre. What…
May 23, 2017
Here’s why: All the available data strongly indicates that Otto will beat all the other contenders across state in the upcoming Governor's race.
Democrats have two major problems to face in 2018 and beyond. First, how do we win elections? Second, how do we remain true to our progressive and…
May 23, 2017
Roger Moore just died, and you will hear that he was the third, or second, or fourth, "James Bond." He wasn't. Here is the list of James Bond actors:
Barry Nelson, who played in "Casino Royale" in 1954. This was an episode in the "Climax!" TV anthology series, like they used to do a lot.
Sean…
May 16, 2017
This collage herein is precious. I was thinking of constructing something like this myself, but there it was already made for The 11th Hour:
May 16, 2017
I had the immense pleasure and great honor of joining Molly, Nick, and Tim on the Geeks Without God podcast to talk about the recent mailing of a book and some other material about climate change to science teachers, by the Heartland Institute. This mailing was an effort to sow seeds of doubt…
May 16, 2017
Every single regular reader of this blog has read or intends to read Stephen Jay Gould's The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History. I just noticed that the Kindle version of it is available for $1.99, and I assume this is temporary. I already had the book on dead-tree matter, but I…
May 15, 2017
This is very simple, and it has more to do with the philosophy and marketing of operating systems than the technology of the operating systems themselves, though the technology does matter a great deal as well. First, lets have a look at how this ransomware attack was allowed to happen to begin…
May 13, 2017
I'm currently reading Paul Offit's Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong, in preparation for an interview with him that I'll be recording later this week. I'll let you know about the interview, but at this time I can say that I'm very much enjoying the book. The publisher's description…
May 12, 2017
Its like this.
Only with Trump instead of Josh, and it is real life. Yet, less like real life.
Trump, remembering something about watergate, tweets:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/863007411132649473
and the Washington Post reports:
Trump suggests there may be ‘tapes’ of his private…
May 11, 2017
Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners by super Python expert Al Sweigart is a pretty thick intermedia to somewhat advanced level programming book.
It covers how Python works, so someone familiar with programming languages can get up to speed. Then, the…
