jlynch
Posts by this author
January 6, 2008
Events
1610 - Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons (the Galilean moons) of Jupiter for the first time.
Births
1834 - Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and inventor
1925 - Gerald Durrell, British naturalist
1941 - John E. Walker, English chemist and Nobel Prize laureate
Deaths
1786…
January 6, 2008
Events
1838 - Samuel Morse first successfully tests the electrical telegraph.
Births
1714 - Percivall Pott, English physician
1795 - Anselme Payen, French chemist
1822 - Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist
1920 - John Maynard Smith, English biologist
1932 - Stuart A. Rice, American…
January 4, 2008
Events
1896 - An Austrian newspaper reports that Wilhelm Roentgen has discovered a type of radiation later known as X-rays.
1972 - Richard Nixon orders the development of a space shuttle program.
2005 - Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the solar system, is discovered.
Births
1865 - Julio…
January 4, 2008
Overtones
I heard a bird at break of daySing from the autumn treesA song so mystical and calm, So full of certainties, No man, I think, could listen long Except upon his knees. Yet this was but a simple bird, Alone, among dead trees.
William Alexander Percy
January 3, 2008
Events
1885 - The first successful appendectomy is performed by William W. Grant.
1958 - Sputnik 1 falls to Earth from its orbit
1959 - Luna 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon.
2004 - Spirit, a NASA Mars Rover, lands successfully on Mars
Births
1643 - Isaac Newton,…
January 3, 2008
For what it’s worth:
Obama, Edwards and Clinton.
Romney, Huckabee and McCain.
Update: AP are reporting Obama 36%, Edwards 30%, and Clinton 30%. For the Republicans it is Huckabee 34%, Romney 25%, and McCain/Thompson in third.
January 3, 2008
Noting the increasing "God-talk" by candidates from both parties, Donald Kennedy comments:
Given this new focus on religious disclosure, what does this U.S. election have to do with science? Everything. The candidates should be asked hard questions about science policy, including questions about…
January 3, 2008
The National Academy of Sciences’ new book, Science, Evolution, and Creationism is now available for free download. It is a revision of an older work and features chapters on the nature of science, the evidence for evolution, and creationist claims. No doubt the Discovery Institute will respond…
January 2, 2008
Events
1496 - Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.
1999 - The Mars Polar Lander launches.
Births
1722 - Fredric Hasselquist, Swedish naturalist
Deaths
1641 - Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer
1927 - Carle David Tolmé Runge, German physicist
1969 - Jean Focas, Greco-French…
January 2, 2008
Some of the other SciBlings are doing it, so why not ...
My compatibility with the current gaggle of presidential candidates:
Kucinich (95)
Gravel (90)
Richardson (82)
Edwards (81)
Dodd (78)
Clinton (74)
Obama (72)
Biden (72)
Paul (61)
McCain (44)
Thompson (38)
Huckabee (36)
Romney (35)
Giuliani (…
January 2, 2008
The 486 nominations for Open Laboratory 2007 have been whittled down to 53 and Bora has the complete listing of the entries that will appear in book form in time for the 2nd Science Blogging Conference. I’m happy to report that my Pithecophobes of the World, Unite! Part I, Part II, Part III and…
January 1, 2008
Events
1860 - The discovery of the planet Vulcan is announced at a meeting of the Académie des Sciences
1959 - Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and to orbit the Sun, is launched
2004 - Stardust successfully flies past Comet Wild 2, collecting samples that it will…
January 1, 2008
It’s not like ASU did wonderfully against Texas (losing the Holiday Bowl 52-34), but at least they turned up to play somewhat (albeit not in the first quarter). The same can’t be said for Illinois in the Rose Bowl (49-17 to USC) and Hawai’i in the Sugar Bowl (41-10 to Georgia). Clearly neither of…
January 1, 2008
Daubenton’s Bat, Myotis daubentonii Kuhl 1817, hunting over water.
Named in honor of the French naturalist Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton who died today in 1800. [source]
January 1, 2008
Events
1801 - Dwarf planet Ceres is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
1925 - Edwin Hubble announces the discovery of galaxies outside the Milky Way.
1983 - The ARPANET officially changes to using the Internet Protocol, creating the Internet.
1985 - The Internet’s Domain Name System is created.
1989 -…
December 29, 2007
Netscape has finally been taken off life-support. Born in October 1994, yet stunted in its growth since the late 90’s, the browser is set to finally expire on February 1st. It spawned Mozilla and thus ultimately Firefox. Please observe a moment of silence.
Apologies for the BLINK tag in the…
December 27, 2007
The 2007 BEAST 50 Most Loathsome People in America has appeared. #9 is sadly on the money.
9. You
Charges: You believe in freedom of speech, until someone says something that offends you. You suddenly give a damn about border integrity, because the automated voice system at your pharmacy asked you…
December 22, 2007
Over at fark.com, there’s a thread on viral videos. Someone posted this classic
which the original YouTube poster described as "The Crazy Indian Video with SUBTITLES THAT SAY WHAT I THINK THE VIDEO SOUNDS LIKE IN ENGLISH!!!" and is probably the most hyperkinetic thing I have ever seen in my life…
December 16, 2007
I’m going to close things down here until the beginning of the New Year - a combination of projects I need to finish and family commitments mean that I will be posting little (if anything) for the next two weeks. I wish all my readers a happy, safe & peaceful holiday season.
Your Today in…
December 16, 2007
Twelve months ago I offered a roundup of the "advances" made by the intelligent design movement in 2006, a month-by-month roundup which differed significantly from the assessment of John West. I had started to do the same for this year, but quickly realized that the ID movement achieved absolutely…
December 15, 2007
And while I’m at it rounding up the year ...
Top ten posts (from any year) for visits this past year
Strange beastie in Maine
Polar bears are threatened
Epic takedown of Pivar
From sea to shining sea
Last LOL I promise, well maybe
Possibly the dumbest argument ever against atheism
Beware the…
December 15, 2007
Births
1776 - Johann Wilhelm Ritter, German physicist
1882 - Walther Meissner, German physicist
1901 - Margaret Mead, American anthropologist
Deaths
1687 - William Petty, English scientist and philosopher
December 15, 2007
Last year a few of us did this - basic idea is to reproduce the first sentence of the first post every month over the past year. I’m going to ignore "Today in Science" posts. Let’s see what we got ...
What is this mystery beast captured on film in Kayan Mentarang National Park, East Kalimantan,…
December 15, 2007
An English backpacker who stabbed a Scottish traveller to death during a row about creationism and evolution was sent to jail for five years by a judge in Australia.
Alexander York, 33, from Essex, had become involved in a bitter argument over the origins of mankind and later, in the caravan park…
December 15, 2007
Births
1852 - Henri Becquerel, French physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1860 - Niels Ryberg Finsen, Danish physician and Nobel Prize laureate
1916 - Maurice Wilkins, New Zealand-born physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
1923 - Freeman Dyson, English-born American physicist
Deaths
1958 - Wolfgang…
December 14, 2007
I Am The People, The Mob
I am the people-the mob-the crowd-the mass.
Do you know that all the great work of the world is done through me?
I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the world’s food and clothes.
I am the audience that witnesses history. The Napoleons come from me and the…
December 14, 2007
Events
1782 - The Montgolfier brothers first balloon lifts on its first test flight.
1900 - Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law.
1962 - Mariner 2 becomes the first spacecraft to fly by Venus.
Births
1909 - Edward Tatum, American geneticist and Nobel Prize…
December 14, 2007
A couple of weeks back I noted I noted historian Mark Borrello’s engagement with John West regarding West’s particular spin on the history of eugenics. Now Mark has commented publicly.
Though I repeatedly e-mailed the coordinator of the event and he assured me that he was working hard to get a…