tqa | January 20, 2009
Keith Olbermann is describing the scene on the mall as a cross between Woodstock and a religious pilgrimage, and he's wondering out loud if there's a better way to describe what we're seeing.
Personally, I'd suggest "America".
tqa | January 19, 2009
I was just looking at some poll numbers. In particular, I was just looking at Soon-to-be-Former-President George W. Bush's final job approval numbers. According to CBS, the final breakdown is:
Approve: 22%
Disapprove: 73%
Don't Know: 5%
"Don't Know"????
The man has been President for EIGHT friggin' years. EIGHT years. How the bloody hell do you not know if you approve of the job he's been doing by now? Were those people all in a coma the entire time? Good grief.
tqa | January 18, 2009
Today, we've got an absurd story that leads to a more absurd story. The absurd concerns yet another remarkably asinine wonderfully American attempt to use the inauguration of our 44th President as a marketing ploy:
"Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD) is honoring American's sense of pride and freedom of choice on Inauguration Day, by offering a free doughnut of choice to every customer on this historic day, Jan. 20. By doing so, participating Krispy Kreme stores nationwide are making an oath to tasty goodies -- just another reminder of how oh-so-sweet 'free' can be."
That's right,…
tqa | January 17, 2009I only speak English when I'm in the UK. The rest of the time I speak demented hillbillyAmerican.
tqa | January 16, 2009
When we talk about the role of fossil fuels in climate chance, what we're really talking about is the carbon cycle. That's the term that scientists use to describe the different forms that carbon is stored in on the earth, and the different ways that it can move from form to form. Understanding the carbon cycle is one of the keys to understanding both the effect of burning carbon-based fuels and the issues involved in trying to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. According to a paper in the latest edition of Science, there may still be some pretty significant gaps in our knowledge of…
tqa | January 16, 2009
Welcome to the seventh edition of The Giants' Shoulders - the monthly blog History of Science blog carnival.
Courtesy of the Digital Cuttlefish, we have a nice reminder of just why this whole insane thing we call "science" is so important:
They've hit upon something that multiplies thinking,
A process they like to call "science",
Where each person builds on the other ones' progress
Like standing on shoulders of giants.
Some say these "humans" are smarter than cuttlefish;
I won't be taking that bet!
But maybe--just maybe--with science to help them,
These humans... they might make it yet…
tqa | January 15, 2009
... thought it would be a really great idea for my son to get an 800+ Star Wars lego set that he and I could spend quality time building together?
Oh, right. Never-mind.
tqa | January 15, 2009
According to the website for the Giants' Shoulders blog carnival, the next edition is supposed to appear here, today, so I was planning to post it here, today. However, when I was going through the entries, I noticed that the submission form on the Blog Carnival submission website claims that the carnival will appear here tomorrow, and has the submission deadline set at 23:59 tonight. On the off chance that another entry comes in, I'm going to go with that. I'll post the carnival as soon after the deadline as I can, and certainly no later than first thing tomorrow morning.
tqa | January 14, 2009
Just a quick note - the next edition of The Giants' Shoulders carnival will appear right here tomorrow afternoon. Any last-minute submissions can be sent to me (dunfordm (at) gmail.com).
tqa | January 12, 2009
At his "farewell" press conference earlier today, President Bush commented that, "most Israelis understand there needs to be a democracy on their border in order for there to be long-lasting peace." A short time later, Israel announced that they were barring Arab political parties from running in next month's parliamentary elections.
tqa | January 12, 2009
There are certain organisms that you hear about a lot in evolutionary biology. In some cases, like Drosophila flies or E. coli bacteria, that's because the organisms are easy to use in experimental studies. Other organisms, like Hawaiian silversword plants or Galapagos finches, come up frequently because they're fantastic examples of evolution happening out in the "real world". And then there are those rare cases where an organism is both a fantastic example of evolution in the field, and a convenient organism to work with in more controlled circumstances. The three-spined stickleback (…
tqa | January 7, 2009
There's been no shortage of right wing pundits saying really dumb things since the election, but the opening of Michael Gerson's latest column is so insanely delusional that it nearly sent coffee out my nose:
Barack Obama was elected, in part, as the antidote to ambition. Unlike John F. Kennedy, who campaigned against the golf-playing complacency of the Eisenhower era, Obama appealed to a nation weary of large national exertions -- a nation longing for a normality beyond the wars, hurricanes, floods and assorted plagues of the Bush years.
Right. Because there's nothing like enormous…
tqa | January 7, 2009
There are widespread reports out right now suggesting that President-Elect Obama has selected CNN's medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has selected to be the new Surgeon General. The reaction to this seems to be mixed. PZ, Orac, Chris, Paul Krugman and Dr. Val are variously unimpressed and/or opposed. Jake is ambivalent. Revere seems to be cautiously optimistic, while both Dr. Pal and Abel Pharmboy are happy. Personally, I'm a little bit more optimistic than cautious.
Some of the reasons that people are concerned about this choice are legitimate. There have been issues that have come…
tqa | December 19, 2008
Unless you're in a coma, you've probably heard that President-Elect Obama invited megachurch pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration. You've probably also heard that this decision has royally ticked off quite a few members of Obama's base.
I'm not going to get into the political benefits or pitfalls of this decision. It's clear that Mr. Obama and his staff feel that the potential benefits sent by what they see as a message of inclusion outweigh the costs. That's clearly their call to make, and it would hardly be the first time that a politician has expended some…
tqa | December 16, 2008
Discussing responsibility at a Chicago school:
"You know, if they do their business, if they've got some poop -- you got to make sure that you're not just leaving it there," Obama said.
I don't suppose there's any way we could take up a collection to get that chiseled into the walls at the Capitol, is there? Preferably over the presiding officer's chair in each chamber.
tqa | December 15, 2008
President Bush has been widely reported as referring to yesterday's shoe-throwing incident as the kind of thing that happens in a free society. It's not clear whether the President was referring to the act of the shoes being thrown, the thrower being promptly beaten to a pulp by local security, having him held without charges in the Prime Minister's residence, or the potential two-year jail term that goes along with the crime of "insulting a visiting head of state."
tqa | December 15, 2008
Congrats to the New York Times, for publishing one of the most trite articles on the current recession/depression yet. Lots of coverage of kids who have suffered cuts in their three-figure allowance. A subtle plea for sympathy, because competition with desperate job-seaking adults is making it harder for the kids to find work. And, of course, the article would be far from complete without the requisite piss-poor comparison:
Teenagers from working- and middle-class families are, of course, feeling similar -- if not more acute -- pressure.
And just how similar is the pressure?
Sumit Pal…
tqa | December 12, 2008
There's a very interesting article over at Uncommon Descent about beavers, and the things that they do. I'm not entirely sure why they posted the article - Barry seems to be trying to make the point that because Beavers clearly can commit criminal acts but just as clearly can't form criminal intent, their brains are different from humans, and there's therefore something "non-materialist" and special about the human brain. I'd like to take a look at the same story, but with a slightly different focus.
Here's the story:
Green campaigners called in police after discovering an illegal…
tqa | December 11, 2008
I picked up my copy of this book when it came out last year. My wife read it - and loved it - immediately. It matched what she saw whenever she went to the CASH on her base in Afghanistan. I've picked up the book any number of times since then, but I could never quite bring myself to read it. I was absolutely positive that reading the book was going to hurt. I read the book today. It hurt as much as I thought it would. And now I feel forced to do something that's probably going to sound a little strange.
I don't quite know how I'm going to do this, but I'm going to try to convince you to…
tqa | December 11, 2008
Apparently, NASA administrator Mike Griffin is a complete bonehead. There's really no other way to describe his recent interactions with the Obama transition team. From an Orlando Sentinel report:
NASA administrator Mike Griffin is not cooperating with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team, is obstructing its efforts to get information and has told its leader that she is "not qualified" to judge his rocket program, the Orlando Sentinel has learned.
In a heated 40-minute conversation last week with Lori Garver, a former NASA associate administrator who heads the space transition…