gregladen | March 8, 2012Quite possibly Pete Sinclair's best and most important videos yet.
Click here to get more background from Peter Sinclair's site.
The post refers to this book: The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines
gregladen | March 8, 2012Tonight, in Minneapolis; bring your ideas and some money and we'll make things happen! I've already put my One Good Shirt in the laundry and hope to have it dry in time. See you there?
Key women leaders celebrate Sharon Sund on International Women's Day
To celebrate International Women's Day, a large group of prominent women leaders in government, business and the community are co-hosting a fundraising event for Sharon Sund, candidate for congress in Minnesota's Third District.
"I am honored that so many respected, talented, courageous women are standing up for me on a day when we…
gregladen | March 7, 2012Have you see KONY 2012? You'll need a spare half hour. When you have it, click here.
This podcast is out: "A Universe From Nothing" Lawrence Krauss on Atheists Talk #157, Sunday, March 4th, 2012
Dr. Lawrence Krauss is a leader in the fields of theoretical physics, science advocacy in public policy and education, and scientific skepticism. We are honored to have Dr. Krauss join Atheists Talk this Sunday to discuss his recently published book, A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing.
A Universe From Nothing tackles ideas of thrilling complexity and importance.…
gregladen | March 7, 2012Skeptically Speaking #155
This week, we're looking into what happens in our brains when we're experiencing some of the most powerful feelings we feel. We'll spend the hour with science writer Kayt Sukel, to talk about her book Dirty Minds: How Our Brains Influence Love, Sex, and Relationships. From pheromones to fMRI, it's an entertaining and informative look at the neuroscience of affection.
We record live with Kayt Sukel on Sunday, March 11 at 6 pm MT. The podcast will be available to download at 9 pm MT on Friday, March 16.
Details
gregladen | March 7, 2012PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft orbiting the moon officially have begun their science collection phase. During the next 84 days, scientists will obtain a high-resolution map of the lunar gravitational field to learn about the moon's internal structure and composition in unprecedented detail. The data also will provide a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed and evolved.
"The initiation of science data collection is a time when the team lets out a collective sigh of relief because we are…
gregladen | March 7, 2012In particular, what do you want to ask them pertaining to science? For instance, the following questions have recently been proposed:
What organization(s) or individual(s) is/are your primary source(s) for scientific information?
With the overwhelming body of evidence for both evolution and climate change, why do you still not believe that both are true?
Why do you oppose drug decriminalization when science and practical experience in Portugal support it?
How can we use research, science and technology to help reduce the costs and improve the quality of health care?
These and many other…
gregladen | March 7, 2012A small non-profit concerned with climate change is seking a "Climate Wiki Intern" which sounds very interesting. Knowing that many of my readers would be very good at this, It thought it was worth a blog post to point you in this direction:
Climate Wiki Intern
Posted by: The Heartland Institute
Posted date: Mar-05-12
Location: Chicago
Description
Responsibilities: The internship will involve a wide variety of online communication responsibilities, including writing and researching original articles, data entry, and basic "wiki" programming. Specific tasks include:
Click here to read the full…
gregladen | March 7, 2012Climate scientist Michael Mann's private e-mails and research notes will remain private, thanks to a ruling by the Virginia Supreme Court. "Virginia's highest court has ruled that Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli cannot compel the University of Virginia to turn over records dealing with the work of a former university climate scientist," reports the Roanoke Times (March 2, 2012). The Guardian (March 2, 2012) explains, "The court rejected Ken Cuccinelli's demand for Mann's email, research notes, and even handwritten memos from his time at the University of Virginia, ruling that the official did…
gregladen | March 6, 2012From the NCSE:
John Freshwater's legal challenge to the decision to terminate his employment as a middle school science teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio, was defeated again, on March 5, 2012, when Ohio's Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld (PDF) a lower court's rejection of his challenge. It is still open to Freshwater to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Ohio, however, so the case -- which ultimately stems from a complaint against Freshwater lodged in 2008 -- may continue to linger in the Ohio court system.
In 2008, a local family accused Freshwater of engaging in inappropriate…
gregladen | March 6, 2012The Carnival of Evolution is HERE at Splendour Awaits.
Go look at it, click on the entries, and tweet and facebook and G+ them. Unless you are some kind of damn creationist or something.
You've never seen a web carnival like this one before, I guarantee. Just go look.
gregladen | March 6, 2012No, not THAT kind of Darwin Award. The other one .. the "Friend of Darwin" award:
Master Educator, Young Activist, Honored By NCSE
It's an age-old story--the master and the newcomer. The expert who has devoted decades to keeping students on the right path. And the new kid who throws himself into the battle for truth, beauty, and the sheer joy of challenging the status quo.
The master--and a winner of NCSE's 2012 Friend of Darwin award--is Judy Scotchmoor, Assistant Director for Education and Public Programs at the University of California Museum of Paleontology (UCMP). Scotchmoor is a…
gregladen | March 6, 2012Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Also, see this release from the NCSE
gregladen | March 6, 2012Wind power is like Ginger Rogers. You know what I mean. It isn't judged by the same standards as other kinds of electricity generation.
Click here to visit an interactive guide to wind power in Minnesota.
I'm speaking specifically of the reliability of, or variation in, wind over time. Many people live in places where they personally experience highly variable wind, or at least, think they do, so it is easy to assume that wind generators would be sometimes running on full, sometimes standing still, in a more or less random and unpredictable way, but this is not necessarily true. There are…
gregladen | March 6, 2012Almost exactly one year ago, a very large double strength tsunami struck the Pacific Coast of Japan and washed a huge amount of stuff out into the sea. The oceanic born debris of terrestrial origin looked in places like this:
source
Subsequently attempts were made to model the movement of the debris in the Pacific. Some of the debris would likely end up on the coast of the US, so some of the models asked that question: When can Tsunami Salad start to wash up on the beaches of California, Oregon and Washington? I'm sure that everyone who's thought about this for even a few seconds realizes…