gregladen | February 5, 2012
It is not a bowl, but rather, a football game.
The 2010 Super Bowl would have been won by the Minnesota Vikings had the New Orleans Saints not cheated.
It is not true that if your city is destroyed by an Act of God that you get to win the Super Bowl for that reason at a later time. Were that true, the Port-au-Prince football team would have won the Super Bowl by now, surely (hat tip: JAF).
New Yorkers do not automatically like New York Teams.
The New England Patriots were disowned by Boston, New Haven and all of the other cities of New England until the year they won their first Super Bowl…
gregladen | February 2, 2012The first study that looks at telomere length in a large sample of animals from birth to death is out. Check it out.
gregladen | February 2, 2012Over the last few weeks, there has been quite a bit of discussion on the Blogosphere about certain global warming related issues. Denialists have come on strong with two major and widely disseminated distortions of scientific reports and consensus, and scientists and those interested in saving the Earth and who love puppies have countered with numerous well thought out and well done responses.
But it is hard to keep track of all this chatter. Pursuant to making that job easier, I've assembled a bunch of links that will help you track this discussion. There may be missing items, and if so…
gregladen | February 2, 2012Climate change denialism has it's Dave Mabus, and his name is Markus Fitzhenry. I just got this note slipped under my eDoor.
You made a big mistake, lying about me.
MEMBERS
There is enlightenment coming, it will be a cleansing wind throughout academia. This is just the tip of an iceberg, that is going to sink, the titanic of AGW, and all those on board. They are of the dark ages.
Ask David Evans, see his expose at Jo Nova science blog (au). Go to Tallbloke (uk). Go to Judith Curry (com).
The greatest fear I have is polluted minds around me. What have we become, men, who give their minds to…
gregladen | February 1, 2012There's some stuff I don't want you to miss.
Related to the Komen Maneno:
Stop Giving Money to Susah G. Komen for the Cure, and tell everyone else you know to do the same.
We Stand with Planned Parenthood
Poor Women Have Breasts Too, You Know!
Another fight about gun control:
Seven Year Old Jaymee Stewart Has Died...
Political Update:
Florida Primary Results: A Pattern Emerges
I'm guest blogging at Scientific American:
How Animals Prepare for an Alien Invasion
What Robot Fish Can Tell Us About Parallel Evolution
Boa Constrictors Get a Feel for Their Prey
gregladen | February 1, 2012State Legislator Ellen Anderson is an energy expert, who authored seven energy related bills one of which became a national model, all of which were signed into law by a Republican Governor. She was recently appointed by Governor Dayton to the Public Utilities Commission. Republicans, however, organized a vote against the apointment because her views on energy are too radical.
What are her radical views? Well, she she thinks coal is dirty, for one thing. She'd like to see more conservation and use of solar and wind. That sort of thing.
Here's the story on our local news station.
Who…
gregladen | February 1, 2012And I suspect he's done so willingly. Well, you know what they say about statistics and liars.
Here's the story. The Wall Street Journal and the Daily Mail independently published highly misleading and blatantly idiotic pieces on climate change. We've covered this extensively already over the last few days. Phil Plait, of the Bad Astronomy Blog on Discovermagazine.com, was one of numerous scientists to respond to those flaming examples of horrific bottom feeding journalism with the post "While temperatures rise, denialists reach lower." In that post, he presented a still-image from a…
gregladen | January 31, 2012... can be found HERE.
What I'm talking about is the complete series of stories told at The Monti at ScienceOnline 2012. (I mentioned them here.)
You will laugh, you will cry, you will go "WTF?"
gregladen | January 31, 2012It starts like this:
Do you consult your dentist about your heart condition? In science, as in any area, reputations are based on knowledge and expertise in a field and on published, peer-reviewed work. If you need surgery, you want a highly experienced expert in the field who has done a large number of the proposed operations.
You published "No Need to Panic About Global Warming" (op-ed, Jan. 27) on climate change by the climate-science equivalent of dentists practicing cardiology...
... and gets even better. Go read it!
gregladen | January 31, 2012Brad Johnson at Think Progress has written a piece on Meteorologist Mark Johnson, of ABC's WEWS-TV in Cleveland Ohio. Johnson has apparently purposefully misrepresented data that was previously pre-misrepresented by the Daily Mail to make the statement that the earth has been cooling since 1998.
The earth has actually been warming since the 1990s, and the first decade of the present century is the warmest on record, but will almost certainly be exceeded in global temperature by the present decade, I write from my home in Minneapolis where temperatures on this fine January day stayed well…
gregladen | January 31, 2012Jessica M. Budke has the Berry Go Round carnival up at her site. Have you heard about the plants that eat nematodes? Solar powered sea slugs? Have you considered covering your house instead of painting it?
Go here to find out all about these amazing topics and more.
gregladen | January 31, 2012But with a twist. A Republican sponsored bill required the teaching of Christian Religion ni the science class, but a Democratic Senator has added wording that will require science teachers to teach the origin stories of ALL of the religions.
Legislators on Monday broadened a proposal aimed at allowing Indiana's public schools to teach creationism in science classes to require that such courses include origin of life theories from multiple religions.
The Senate approved the change to legislation critics had argued was unconstitutional because federal courts repeatedly have found teaching…
gregladen | January 31, 2012"Parallel Evolution" is not really a kind of evolution, but rather, an observation we make about the pattern of evolution in particular cases. Many species have a "woodpecker adaptation" by which a hard sharp thing is used to get at grubs and other insect (or non insect) meat hidden beneath bark. Some of the sharp things are beaks, one bird uses a cactus spine, and there is a primate with a special elongated finger for doing this, and most or all "woodpeckers" (bird like or otherwise) have related adaptation allowing them to figure out where to poke through the bark to find their prey. This…
gregladen | January 31, 2012The vast majority of American public school students are not proficient in the level of science learning expected for their age group. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute has issued "The State of Science Standards 2012" as part of an effort to assess the causes of this dismal state of affairs. Here's a map summarizing their results:
State Science Standards Grades, 2012
Notice that some of the battleground states for the "Evolution-Creationism Controversy" have reasonable ratings. Notice also the vast regions of D and F states. In fact, in order to convey the meaning of it all, I've created…
gregladen | January 31, 2012Michael Mann, famous climate scientist, has released a book called The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines (also available as a Kindle edition). I've not read it yet but I thought you'd like to know about it.
Michael Mann is the guy who came up with the Hockey Stick graph and metaphor. Early reviews are positive:
In this meticulous and engaging brief on climate change research and the political backlash to legitimate scientific work, Penn State professor Mann narrates the fight against misinformation from the inside. (Publishers Weekly )
An important and…
gregladen | January 31, 2012The following is a fictionalized version of a true story recently told to me by two of the people involved. All the names of those still living have been changed. Please do not let this happen to you.
[This is a timely repost]
~~~~~
No one is sure why Fred took the chance he took that day, but when Elmer saw him flailing in the icy water surrounded by black ice 300 yards out in Medicine Lake, he did not at that time think to divine his motivations for being there. Fred, an old man who had been ice fishing for dozens of generations of fish and two or three generations of more mortal men,…
gregladen | January 30, 2012I remember the first time I visited a penguin colony. It was not hard to find. Penguin colonies smell really really bad. Here's why:
Further details at Huffington Post.
Hat Tip Richard Wilson.
gregladen | January 30, 2012Organizers with the Lake Elmo Lions Club announced the cancellation of next Sunday's ice fishing contest...
Organizers measured the ice on the lake at about 12 inches, and said it needed to be 18 inches for everyone's safety, especially because most participants would be parking their vehicles along the lake's edge.
...this is the second time in recent years the event had to be canceled because of warm weather.
Not from the Wall Street Journal