gregladen | November 11, 2012Paul Broun is THIS GUY. As of this writing there are some 80,000 signatures on a petition to have him removed from the US House of Representatives Science Committee, where clearly does not belong. Click here to read and sign it!
gregladen | November 11, 2012This week, we’re looking at the science of sexual orientation, where debates over nature vs. nurture have influenced law, policy and equal rights. We’re joined by neuroscientist and writer Simon LeVay, to talk about his research on the topic, and his book Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation.
And on the podcast, astrophysicist Ethan Siegel returns to the show, to tell us about a new project using the information aggregation service TrapIt to improve learning in the classroom.
We record live with Simon LeVay on Sunday, November 11 at 6 pm MT. The podcast will…
gregladen | November 11, 2012Wrong.
October was, nationally in the US, kinda cold. Not record cold, but colder than average. However, as Jeff Masters at Weather Underground has calculated, we would have to have some kind of Snowball Earth scenario kick in for December in order for 2012 to not be the warmest year on record in the US. Here, you can read about it yourself.
In the mean time, there is an interesting weather related production coming up you may want to know about. First, check this out:
Then, check THIS out.
gregladen | November 11, 2012I want to talk about the book Across Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America's Clovis Culture. It was written by Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley, both highly respected archaeologists. The point they make in the book is very simple: An important archaeological culture known as the "Clovis" is actually a European culture that traveled east to west from Europe to North America, arriving first along the New England coast and then fairly quickly spreading across the US to the Rockies, and subsequently kinda petering out though there are bits and pieces of Clovis looking stuff farther west.
From…
gregladen | November 11, 2012An anti-same sex marriage amendment was on the ballot this year in Minnesota. It was defeated, but there is still an anit same sex marriage law on the books which obviously has to be removed somehow. The new legislative leaders in Saint Paul, following a total change in ruling party, has said they won't be addressing same sex marriage in the immediate future, and I've heard estimates of one or even two years before it is taken up.
There were a handful of overlapping reasons why there was an anti same sex marriage amendment, as well as a voter suppression amendment (an amendment that would…
gregladen | November 10, 2012First, just in case you didn't know, Grover Norquist is a right wing lobbyist who developed the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" that most Republicans are required to sign in order to run for office. He apparently hosted a "victory party" on election eve, but the party was crashed, and pawned, by a left wing activist street performer with a camera. The following ensued:
gregladen | November 10, 2012I am sure that by now you know about ScienceDebate Dot Org. It was set up for the 2008 US presidential election by a bunch of people including my friend Shawn Otto. The idea is to simultaneously push for an actual debate focussed on science and science policy as part of the presidential election process, and to make people realize that such a thing, which is not happening, is important.
We've had a couple of elections now that were almost overshadowed by major storms, the most recent, Sandy, being as much of a direct effect of Global Warming (a scientific issue) as any large storm ever was,…
gregladen | November 9, 2012I want to see Green Economy jobs and Alternate Energy Strategy technology and infrastructure growth. Can I haz Smart Grid please?
gregladen | November 9, 2012Let's look at Birds of India: Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives (Second Edition) (Princeton Field Guides):
The best field guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent is now even better. Thoroughly revised, with 73 new plates and many others updated or repainted, the second edition of Birds of India now features all maps and text opposite the plates for quicker and easier reference. Newly identified species have been added, the text has been extensively revised, and all the maps are new. Comprehensive and definitive, this is the indispensable guide for anyone…
gregladen | November 8, 2012You know who she is, right? An openly gay candidate for congress in Arizona's 9th district. Apparently there is a recount going on there, and it looks pretty good for Kyrsten.
But, recounts are tricky and unless both sides have equal and quality legal presence, the side with more lawyers can win even if the votes should have gone the other way. Therefore, it is necessary for you to send five dollars to Kyrsten's legal fund right now NAO!!! There is no time to lose. She needs this by the end of the day today or tomorrow.
CLICK HERE
Send $25 if you can. Actually, she needs $50,000 but I…
gregladen | November 8, 2012What are Global Warming and Climate Change?: Answers for Young Readers is a fairly unique book, as far as I know. It explains climate change, contextualized global warming, discusses causes and consequences and directly addresses the politics of climate change and global warming. The official book description:
"Global warming is one of the most talked about science subjects today. Maybe you have seen pictures of polar bears or other animals stranded atop floating chunks of melting ice. Perhaps you have heard about or lived through extreme weather - hurricanes, floods, water shortages, heat…
gregladen | November 8, 2012This is brilliant.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Note the affirmation by Rachel of the whole High Water Mark thing.
gregladen | November 7, 2012The term “War on Science” comes from multiple sources, one being Chris Mooney’s book “The Republican War on Science” (see below) and another, the made up “War on Christmas,” a term attributed to Bill O’Really. Throw in a little “Culture War” rhetoric and I think we have a good basis for the origin of the term. The term “War on X” has been in used for decades if not longer, when some large perhaps organized group of people or institutions takes up the task of shutting down some thing or another. It does not mean an actual war with generals and troops and bullets, but the metaphor “war” is…
gregladen | November 7, 2012One of the more popular books I've ever reviewed here, judging by the number of people who read the review, was this one on home chemistry. Now, let's see if we can meet or beat the physical sciences with this new title:Illustrated Guide to Home Biology Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science). Robert Bruce Thompson, author of the chemistry book, has teamed up with Barbara Fritchman Thompson, to produce this new work.
The book has a lot of experiments in it, organized in a reasonable way, with complete instructions on everything. I would prefer to see more graphics illustrating the…
gregladen | November 6, 2012I'll be jotting notes here. Feel free to jot notes in the comments.
Bernie Sanders re-elected
6:22 PM Central: Virginia reporting good numbers for Obama. Larger turnouts than 2008 in VA.
6:54 PM Central: Senate: 30 DEM seats called, 37 GOP seats.
Leaving the polling place today, there was a couple behind me. She said, "Well, that didn't take long." He said "And it was easy. I have a system." "What's the system." "If the person is an incumbent, I don't vote for them."
Then, me, in my head "... idiot ..."
More money spent this year in Minnesota's 8th district than in all races in that…
gregladen | November 6, 2012Earlier today I posted pictures of the politically motivated signboard at the church that is just down the street from my house. Click here to review. Later in the day, after picking Julia up at the local Minnesotans United for All Families, where she's been volunteering many hours a week, and dropping her off to be an Election Judge, on my way to Vote No Twice, I saw this:
Coon Rapids, Minnesota
This wonderful woman was standing out in the rain across from the largest Megachurch in the area and in front of my local Baptist church, right next to their sign board, on public property, with…
gregladen | November 6, 2012Have ever really thought about the elements? Have you ever really asked questions about them? If you are some kind of scientist or science geek, you probably know a lot about them, and that could even be a disadvantage for you, in a sense. For instance, if you learned early on that elements were formed at certain points in time and in certain places (the big bang or later in stars, for most atoms) then the following question may not have occurred to you: "What happens when a bunch of Carbon atoms get old. Do they fall apart?" Also, a sense of purity may be something you understand but…
gregladen | November 6, 2012I have no idea if the Coon Rapids Baptist Church, is a real church with tax exempt status, but let's assume for the moment that they are. The question then would be, is this church jeopradizing their tax exempt status by taking and explicit stand on a certain issue and telling people how they should vote on it? Here are two photographs I snapped this morning:
Sign in front of the Coon Rapids Baptist Church and Christian School, North Bound on Hanson Blvd, Coon Rapids, MN, on election day, 2012.
Sign in front of Coon Rapids Baptist Church and Christian School, South Bound on Hanson Blvd,…
gregladen | November 6, 2012I just wanted to show you this histogram. I love this histogram because it demonstrates the underlying chunkiness of the electoral college. This is not at all an uncommon phenomenon in nature and culture, even though we tend to conceptualize and model things as nice curvy well behaved lines.
This also shows the underlying pattern from which people like Nate Silver get these percentages of who is likely to win. Each little chunkette (one electoral vote = one chunkette) of data on this histogram is a possible coin flip with a coin with two heads or two tails. You put all the biased coins…