gregladen | January 8, 2012Mike Haubrich, of Tangled Up in Blue Guy blog, has documented a discussion between a biologist, a commenter, and the Discovery Institute (a creationist "think" tank). No apes were harmed during this incident, but one of them may be rather embarrassed. It's quite intresting, have a look: Cornelius Godsplains Science to a Scientist
gregladen | January 7, 2012I have two items for you. First, I'd like you to inspect this brilliant computer game and come up with a bash equivilant (or something that will run from the Linux Command Line). The current version of the program is 32 megabytes of some kind of DOS based source code. I'm sure we can do this in perl or awk as a couple of one liners kobbed together.
Second assignment. This could get you the prize in the now-getting-stale Land of Lisp Book Giveaway. Here's what I want. I keep snippets of code and stuff in text files. For instance, I have a standardized org-mode header that sets a lot of…
gregladen | January 7, 2012There is a new kind of guitar. It is the electronic version of a guitar in the same way that a MIDI keyboard is an electronic version of a piano. And, it runs on Linux and is OpenSource!
The Misa Kitara consists of three main components: a full fretboard, a multi-touch screen and an onboard polyphonic synthesizer with sounds and effects.
The kitara's neck has 24 frets, but instead of strings each fret contains buttons.
You play notes by touching on the screen. The position and movement of your touch determine how the sound is generated and processed.
...
You can assign one sound to all six…
gregladen | January 7, 2012In a world first, University of Queensland and CSIRO scientists have measured the relationship between current climate, climate change and habitat loss on plants and animals on a global scale.
Their results, published recently in Global Change Biology indicate that areas with high temperatures and where average rainfall has decreased over time increase the chance of a species being negatively affected by habitat loss and fragmentation.
"Human population growth has caused significant habitat degradation across the globe, typically in support of agriculture and urban development," lead…
gregladen | January 7, 2012Skeptically Speaking # 146
This week, we're looking at some of nature's most accomplished materials scientists, and the amazing substance they produce. We're joined by Leslie Brunetta, co-author of Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating. We'll discuss the form, function and uses of the sticky wonder material, and the ways that its study can help us understand evolution. And on the podcast, science writer Ed Yong tells us about silkworms with spider genes and the hybrid silk they spin.
We record live with Leslie Brunetta on Sunday, January 8 at…
gregladen | January 7, 2012For a full year, A.J. Jacobs followed every piece of health advice he could -- from applying sunscreen by the shot glass to wearing a bicycle helmet while shopping. Onstage at TEDMED, he shares the surprising things he learned.
I always thought it would be interesting to assemble ALL of the warnings and instructions that come with the stuff you get (water heater, iPod, car, children's toys, etc.) and implement all of the instructions, as per the instructions. A.J. should do that next.
gregladen | January 7, 2012Within this generation, an extra 30 years have been added to our life expectancy -- and these years aren't just a footnote or a pathology. At TEDxWomen, Jane Fonda asks how we can think about this new phase of our lives.
See also:
Falsehood: "If this was the Stone Age, I'd be dead by now"
A History of Childbirth (Commentary on common misconceptions about life expectancy.)
gregladen | January 7, 2012... Well, it could happen ...
Intelligent Life Detected by SETI: A radio signal which is too narrow to be natural, changes frequency in an interesting way, and changes amplitude in an interesting way was detected by SETI while gazing at Kepler-discovered planets a great distance away. When SETI pointed the same radiotelesope in a different direction, however, the signal was still there, indicating that it came not from a distant galaxy but rather, from earth or an earth-launched satellite. ET is home. Phil Plait has an excellent discussion of what happened.
In a related story, a secret…
gregladen | January 7, 2012Iran is cracking down on Internet Freedom:
In the most sweeping move, Iran issued regulations giving Internet cafes 15 days to install security cameras, start collecting detailed personal information on customers and document users' online footprints.
Spain passes new Internet "Piracy Law"
United States Ambassador Alan Solomont put pressure on Spain's outgoing president, José Luis RodrÃguez Zapatero, to pass a tough new internet piracy law, according to the Guardian.
In a letter obtained by the Spanish newspaper El Pais and quoted by the Guardian, Solomont threatened "retaliation action" if…
gregladen | January 5, 2012
It is best to use two hands, and to nod frequently to mom to let her know it's OK. Also, it's easier if it's a Minnesota Taco which is actually a Burrito (but we call Burrito's "Wraps" here, of course).
gregladen | January 5, 2012I had never heard of The Chaos before today. I suppose that makes me unkulterd, and I'm afraid that I can't use the excuse that it came out in the 1980s when I was either in a trench underneath Boston or deep in the Jungles of Zaire, or doing double duty taking classes and teaching and writing a thesis. Chaos is a poem by Gerard Nolst Trenité that demonstrates the lockstep association between English words as we say them, and English words as we write (spel) them. In other words, Chaos, using the non-mathematical meaning of the word.
The poem exists in many forms. I found what is…
gregladen | January 4, 2012In the beginning of the Fukushima Nuclear Crisis, in the hours and days after the earthquake and tsunami struck, nuclear power experts assured us that no matter how bad it seemed, nuclear material would stay in the reactors. It was unlikely that the reactors would melt down, and if they did melt down a little, that would be OK because the melted down stuff would stay within the reactor vessels. No problem. What actually happened, however, is that the nuclear material in three of the reactors totally melted down, and then melted through in perhaps two or three of the reactors, but at least…
gregladen | January 4, 2012As you certainly know, Jean Baret was a famous botanical explorer of the 18th century, travelling on Louis Antoine de Bougainville's expedition and circumnavigating the world collecting and discovering new plants. But Jean was Jeanne, a female, who at first pretended to be a man, then later changed her story slightly to being a Eunuch, to stay on board after others had become suspicious of her gender identity. She was actually married to her boss, who presumably knew her secret.
Very recently, Glynis Ridley wrote a biography of her life (The Discovery of Jeanne Baret: A Story of Science,…
gregladen | January 4, 2012NO SOPA is a google chrome extension that warns you when you browse to a web site of an entity that supports SOPA. Go here to get the extension. Then, go to the Mosion Picture Association of America (fer instance) to test it. Seems to work fine.
gregladen | January 4, 2012The sun heats the earth, but unevenly. The excess heat around the equator moves towards the poles, via a number of different mechanisms, the most noticeable for us humans being via air masses. That's what much of our weather is about. Heat also moves towards the poles, in the ongoing evening-out of energy distribution on the planet's surface, via ocean currents.
One of the interesting things that happens with ocean currents is this: Warm water tends to move from equator towards polar regions across the surface, then cools down and drops to the deep sea, where it moves back south again,…
gregladen | January 4, 2012... in the Republican Party.
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has canceled the climate change chapter in his upcoming book of environmental essays after Rush Limbaugh and other commentators targeted its author, atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe.
Read the rest here.
gregladen | January 4, 2012Only hours after indicating that she would take the fight to New Hampshire, we now hear that Michele Bachmann will suspend her presidential bid today. She is expected to make the announcer soon from West Des Moines.
gregladen | January 4, 2012... of my bloggy three-ring circus.
Over the years, I've blogged quite a bit about election politics, with increasing attention paid at appropriate times, including the Minnesota Recount (winner: Al Franken!) and other timely issues. As of last night, the 2012 election season is officially up and running, and for general election commentary, I'll be blogging mainly at The X Blog, and I just wanted to draw your attention to that. For example, we have what I said before the Iowa Caucuses (The Meaning and Significance of Tonight's Iowa Caucuses) and what I said after the Iowa Caucuses (Bachmann…
gregladen | January 3, 2012Along with some other deserving people including ...
Greta Christina, Ophelia Benson, Jen McCreight, Amanda Marcotte, Stephanie Zvan, Greg Laden, and PZ Myers
It's hardly a secret that last year was a challenging one for me in terms of a large number of people in our community shitting on me on a daily basis. Amanda, Stephanie, Greg, and PZ were with me at SkepchickCon last year when Richard Dawkins told me that sexism in this community didn't matter because FGM. I'll be honest: that was kind of a low point for me, and a big part of me just wanted to pack up and never interact with the…
gregladen | January 3, 2012The history of human thought is an epic adventure of exploration and discovery. Since the beginning of time, humans have been curious about order and chaos in nature and our place in the world. By understanding the natural world around us, we understand ourselves better. But how we attempt to answer these fundamental questions has evolved over time. This evolving history, looks something like this:
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