clock | September 17, 2008In saying that without the power of the state, evil men would rule over the good it is taken for granted that the good are precisely those who at the present time have power, and the bad the same who are now subjugated.
- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy
clock | September 17, 2008A repost from July 6, 2006:
OK, today I'd like you to superimpose a couple of very different articles that all look at the difference between patriotism and nationalism, but each from a different angle and see if, and how, they inform each other. First, I'd like you to read one of my old posts (which I may decide to re-post here one day, but for now, check it out on my old blog) - Nationalism is not Patriotism. That would be a bare-bone introduction to political psychology of patriotism and nationalism:
Why is there a widespread belief that the difference between patriotism and nationalism…
clock | September 17, 2008Under the fold:
Ex-Cheney aide: Bush won't hit Iran:
US President George W. Bush will not attack Iran to halt its nuclear weapons program before his term ends in January, David Wurmser, a key national security adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney up until last year, has told The Jerusalem Post.
Election 2008 | Papers Examine Comparisons of McCain, Obama Health Care Proposals, Positions on Science :
Three reports examine the health care plans of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the Wall Street Journal reports (Meckler,…
clock | September 17, 2008Just two days after we opened registration for ScienceOnline'09 there are already 32 registrants!
And some people are blogging about it:
A Blog Around The Clock: Get your calendars...
A Blog Around The Clock: Will there be a Third Science Blogging Conference?
A Blog Around The Clock: ScienceOnline'09
A Blog Around The Clock: Submit your entries for the third Science Blogging Anthology
A Blog Around The Clock: ScienceOnline'09 - Registration is Open!
Confessions of a Science Librarian: ScienceOnline '09
Laelaps: I'm going, are you?
The Beagle Project Blog: Registration open for ScienceOnline'…
clock | September 17, 2008Not in my back yard!
It appears that some people are, erm, a little behind the times down in Brunswick County. That dog will not hunt, though, as it has no legal legs to run on, as PZ explains - it's even less sophisticated than what the Dover board tried to do.
clock | September 17, 2008After a brisk evacuation from Texas ahead of Hurricane Ike, Rock Doctor came back and posted the second edition of Praxis, the blog carnival about the world of science and the people living in it.
clock | September 17, 2008Fastest Flights In Nature: High-speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms Among Fungi:
Microscopic coprophilous or dung-loving fungi help make our planet habitable by degrading the billions of tons of feces produced by herbivores. But the fungi have a problem: survival depends upon the consumption of their spores by herbivores and few animals will graze on grass next to their own dung.
Also check this, this, this, this and this.
Watch And Learn: Time Teaches Us How To Recognize Visual Objects:
In work that could aid efforts to develop more brain-like computer vision systems, MIT neuroscientists have…
clock | September 17, 2008There is a nice article about science/nature blogging in Canberra Times. Several bloggers are mentioned, including Grrrl, Greg and Henry. There is the perpetual mix-up between Nature Network and Nature Blog Network, but that's OK, I guess.
"According to studies cited by Google, around 60 to 80 per cent of blogs are abandoned within a month of being created, and few are regularly updated. A report by Calson Analytics, an online independent analysis of digital technology trends, states that the average blog has the lifespan of a fruitfly. Another study, ''The Blogging Iceberg'' by the Perseus…
clock | September 17, 2008From SCONC:
Wednesday, Sept. 17
6-7:30 p.m.
SCONC monthly meeting at BRITE
Please join us as we visit BRITE -- the Golden LEAF Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise -- at NC Central University in Durham. (http://brite.nccu.edu) David Kroll, SCONC member, blogger and chairman of pharmaceutical science at Central, will be our host. We'll tour BRITE's 52,000 square foot laboratory and classroom facility where students train with scientific equipment and instrumentation found in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, meet some faculty, and talk about biotech drug…
clock | September 17, 2008From SES: Science, Education & Society - Science Diversity Meme - Latino/Hispanic Scientists:
September 15 is the beginning of Latino or Hispanic Heritage Month. (It concludes October 15). America celebrates the culture and traditions of U.S. residents who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Sept. 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition,…
clock | September 17, 2008Tangled Bank #114 is up on Science Made Cool
The Carnival of Education: Week 189 is up on Thomas J. West Music
clock | September 17, 2008When I posted this originally (here and here) I quoted a much longer excerpt from the cited Chronicle article than what is deemed appropriate, so this time I urge you to actually go and read it first and then come back to read my response.
From Dr.Munger's blog, an interesting article: Liberal Groupthink Is Anti-Intellectual By MARK BAUERLEIN, The Chronicle Review Volume 51, Issue 12, Page B6 (that link is now dead, but you can find a copy here):
Hmmmm, why was the poll conducted only in social science departments (e.g., sociology, psychology, philosophy, history, anthropology, perhaps…
clock | September 16, 2008History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.
- Thurgood Marshall
clock | September 16, 2008Under the fold....
What Makes People Vote Republican?:
Not everyone who votes Republican has been 'duped'. Conservative ideals appeal to some because they reflect heartfelt visions of a 'good society.
The Religious Right's Religious Right:
One of the fascinating things about the Palin story to me is how it has demonstrated the split between the mainstream religious right and the far, far religious right. I'm talking about the serious whackos like reconstructionists, the ones even the wingnuts think are wingnuts. While most religious righters have embraced Sarah Palin's candidacy as one of…
clock | September 16, 2008
This post was initially published on September 16, 2004. It takes a critical look at some UCLA studies on brain responses of partisan voters exposed to images of Bush and Kerry:
Using M.R.I.'s to See Politics on the Brain
The researchers do not claim to have figured out either party's brain yet, since they have not finished this experiment. But they have already noticed intriguing patterns in how Democrats and Republicans look at candidates. They have tested 11 subjects and say they need to test twice that many to confirm the trend.
The Political Brain
Do liberals ''think'' with their…
clock | September 16, 2008There are 9 new articles in PLoS ONE today and all nine are amazing and quite bloggable (hint, hint).
As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
The Fastest Flights in Nature: High-Speed Spore Discharge Mechanisms among Fungi:
A variety of spore discharge processes have evolved among the fungi. Those with the longest ranges are powered by hydrostatic pressure and include "squirt guns" that are most common in the Ascomycota and Zygomycota.…
clock | September 16, 2008Arctic Sea Ice At Lowest Recorded Level Ever:
Arctic sea ice may well have reached its lowest volumes ever, as summer ice coverage of the Arctic Sea looks set to be close to last year's record lows, with thinner ice overall.
How Memories Are Made, And Recalled:
What makes a memory? Single cells in the brain, for one thing. For the first time, scientists at UCLA and the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have recorded individual brain cells in the act of calling up a memory, thus revealing where in the brain a specific memory is stored and how the brain is able to recreate it.
Don't Throw…