November 13, 2013
If I want to measure how much business a shopping mall gets, I can stand by an entrance way and count the number of people who go into the mall. If I stop every tenth person on the way out and frisk them for their receipts, I can estimate the per-person amount of money spent, and multiply that by…
November 11, 2013
I’m sure the measurements are still being checked and adjusted but it is clear that Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones (termed “Typhoon” in the western Pacific) ever recorded. There are several ways to measure how big and bad a tropical cyclone is including it’s…
November 11, 2013
Trigger warning: Truth and pain.
Published on Nov 11, 2013
Philippines delegate Naderev (Yeb) Saño, announces his decision to go on hunger strike on the first day of the COP19 Climate Change Summit in Poland, 11 November 2013.
Making an impassioned plea for action by the conference, he said that…
November 10, 2013
Should there be a Category 6, or even a Category 7, to classify extra bit tropical cyclones like Haiyan?
Some tropical cyclones labeled Category 5 are much stronger than others. It has been suggested that we would be smart to extend the system to have a Category 6 and maybe even a Category 7 to…
November 10, 2013
He who lives by gravity shall die by gravity. That's what they say in the gravity biz, anyway. GROCE is the European "Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer" Satellite which is a flying spacxe robot that has done some amazing research:
GOCE has a gradiometer with three…
November 10, 2013
I've got a tip for the Minnesota Vikings, who could use a tip. Try this!
November 9, 2013
At this moment, there is a guest post over at WUWT blog downplaying the size, strength, wind speeds, overall effects, and even the death toll of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Even as the monster storm steams across the sea to it's next landfall (probably as a huge wet tropical storm, in northern Vietnam…
November 8, 2013
First, watch this ad:
Steven Colbert talks about the ad here in his Tip of the Hat; Wag of the Finger segment.
Peter Gleick goes after the ad here: Is This the Most Anti-Science, Anti-Environmental TV Ad Ever?
Besides nature sucking, pink is for girls and gunnish things are for boys.
Feel free…
November 7, 2013
Paul Douglas on the weather in eight days hence and Thanksgivings anon. Interesting to note that Thanksgiving this year will be on the latest possible date it ever occurs on.
November 6, 2013
You probably already know about Michael Mann's book, "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines."
The ongoing assault on climate science in the United States has never been more aggressive, more blatant, or more widely publicized than in the case of the Hockey Stick…
November 2, 2013
I think it was Johan Huizinga, who noted so many things about the Middle Ages, who noted that more than one Christian architect, captured by muslims during the crusades, was put to death for insolence after put to service to design a mosque and making it appear as a holy cross from the sky. If I…
October 30, 2013
My friend and colleague Emily Cassidy gave this TED talk! Her research is some of the most important work being done. Have a look:
October 29, 2013
This from The Big E at MPP:
The LA Times recently instituted a policy change: they no longer print letters to the editor from climate change deniers. The LA Times believes that peer-reviewed work by established scientists have overwhelmingly proven that our planet is warming and this is leading to…
October 29, 2013
Can we replace Classroom Chaos with Learning-Centered Education?
K–12 education can be better. One of the most effective changes that could be made is to reduce the amount of chaos in the classroom and replace it with learning.
I spend several hours a year in various schools giving presentations…
October 26, 2013
...
As instructed, I arrived at the New Stanley Hotel, in downtown Nairobi, at just before 11:00 AM, to meet Pat Soffer, primatologist. Willoughby didn't have to tell me about the fish and chips at the hotel's cafe; I'd eaten here many times. The Thorn Tree was a pretty standard meeting place in…
October 21, 2013
This story is not getting the attention it probably deserves in national press. Which would be more than zero (I've not seen any coverage at all).
Rather than rehashing what has already been summarized elsewhere I'll just point you to some sources:
The North Dakota Neo-Nazi Take-Over HAS ALREADY…
October 17, 2013
...When we look at living species (A and B) that we know shared a common ancestor resembling one of them (A), we can guess that the features seen in A evolved in steps more or less linearly to eventually resemble the corresponding features seen in B. For example, we think that chimpanzees and…
October 17, 2013
Laura Helmuth has written what I think is one of the most important posts so far to emerge from the fray that is Bora Zivkovic's: Don’t Be a Creep: Lessons from the latest terrible, sad, fascinating scandal in the science blogging world. Before getting to what I think is the most important part of…
October 16, 2013
It is not helpful to elaborate the important stories of women talking about harassment to generate lies. Nor is it respectful to those women. So don't do that.
This:
Bora and I were walking in the same direction and chatting, a bit tipsy, when he asked me if I would walk him back to his hotel…
October 13, 2013
UPDATE:
Happy to announce that @Dnlee5 post is now back up: http://t.co/XVentvp35T #SciAmBlogs
— Bora Zivkovic (@BoraZ) October 14, 2013
This just in...
A Message from Mariette DiChristina, Editor in Chief
Scientific American bloggers lie at the heart of the SA website, pumping vitality,…
October 13, 2013
UPDATED:
Happy to announce that @Dnlee5 post is now back up: http://t.co/XVentvp35T #SciAmBlogs
— Bora Zivkovic (@BoraZ) October 14, 2013
This is a very interesting and important question, and it probably requires more context than I have the ability or time to give, but I think it is worth…
October 7, 2013
I just finished "Linux Shell Scripting Cookbook" (Second Edition) by Shantanu Tushar and Sarath Lakshman. This is a beginner's guide to using shell scripting (bash) on linux.
Usually, a "cookbook" is set up more like a series of projects organized around a set of themes, and is usually less…
October 6, 2013
People are getting mad.
GOP Rep. Randy Neugebauer Confronts Park Service Ranger at WWII Memorial: You Ought to Be 'Ashamed'
On Wednesday afternoon at the Word War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) confronted a female U.S. Park Service Ranger as she was preventing non-…
October 5, 2013
Over the last 48 hours or so a weather system slowly moved across the southern Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota. It was in part shaped and positioned by the jet stream, and it was so slow moving because of the unusually curved nature of the jet stream. This is very much like what happened a…
October 3, 2013
The anemic (perhaps due to climate change, perhaps not) Atlantic Hurricane Season has finally produced a storm that might turn into a hurricane and will hit the Gulf Coast.
Tropical Storm Karen is just north of the Yucatan and is strengthening and heading due north towards Louisana, Mississippi,…
October 2, 2013
First, get a list of over a dozen things you want to say. They don't have to be true, and many, even most, of them can be versions of each other. Then, when you are in the debate, do this:
Scientist: “If there’s one thing you should take away from this discussion, it’s...
Denialist [interrupting…
October 2, 2013
A few days ago I wrote a note to each of several trusted fellow political activists asking them to provide me with a short list of which of the many candidates running for Mayor of Minneapolis they would feel comfortable with winning this important race. I did not ask for their number one choice,…
October 2, 2013
Popular Science, one of the longest running and, well, popular, magazines that deals with science has a website. Last Tuesday, on-line editor Suzanne LaBarre announced that Popular Science would no longer have comment sections on most of its pages. The reason sited was that "Comments can be bad…
