gregladen | December 16, 2011Now that the authorities have confiscated the computers of a few contrarian bloggers to see whether they can find evidence of who hacked the University of East Anglia's e-mail servers, Lord Monckton is incensed! INCENSED, I tell you! He says he's going to go after the climate scientists whose e-mails were stolen and have them prosecuted for fraud. Why him? Because the bumbling police don't know much about climatology, so they need help to understand the "fraud".
Read on!
gregladen | December 16, 2011Why is the Robin's breast red? Why are any of the parts of any birds colorful? To make it easier for birders to identify them, of course!
But seriously, Science has a more interesting set of answers, and some recently published research on European Robins helps to examine this question in some detail.
There are several reasons that scientists have postulated for any kind of signaling seen in animals, and bird's colors are clearly some kind of signal. Here's a short list of them:
Read On
gregladen | December 16, 2011More of my unused shortlist of presents.
For music, consider the latest Florence + The Machine , something by my nephew, XFactor contestant LeRoy Bell, or one of my latest fav's, Holly MIranda.
I'm actually giving someone the The Robert Downy Sherlock Holmes Movie, because I think it is important to own the canon. Speaking of canon, a gift of Most of the harry potter movies is always nice (I just got mine a while back) the latest and last movie, which just came out., or the Star Wars Collection, or The Lord of the Rings. Anyway, something canonical.
Or, if documentary is more your style or…
gregladen | December 16, 2011One of the authors of Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery (John) himself, Shackleton himself, and Emiliani himself were ushered into the building past the graduate students, the guards, and the members of the public who wandered the halls of the museum blissfully unaware that the powerhouses of paleoclimate research were brushing past them. They were Glynn Isaac's guests (and friends and colleagues) and were meeting with Glynn in preparation for an impromptu public conference that would be held the next day in the Geology Lecture Hall downstairs. These were the people who had put the climatic…
gregladen | December 15, 2011The Washington Post reports:
Christopher Hitchens, a sharp-witted provocateur who used his formidable learning, biting wit and muscular prose style to skewer what he considered high-placed hypocrites, craven lackeys of the right and left, "Islamic fascists" and religious faith of any kind, died Thursday "from pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer," according to Vanity Fair, the magazine for which Mr. Hitchens worked. He was 62.
gregladen | December 15, 2011Recently, I mentioned two new books on human evolution, and I told you I had a print review of them coming up.
Well, it's here, in American Scientist!
Yes, I know, that's an internet thing, but it is the internet version of the print thing. Please have a look, and leave a nice comment! Or a mean comment, whatever.
gregladen | December 15, 2011I've decided to update this blog entry (20 Dec 2011) because it occurs to me that certain things could be misinterpreted, in no small part because of the common language that separates us across various national borders, and differences in the way debate and concepts of free speech operate in different lands.
I want to make it clear that I do not think that the blogger "TallBloke" a.k.a. Roger Tattersall has broken British law. British authorities are obviously vigorously investigating what might be a criminal act, what might be an ethical violation, what might be a mere violation of…
gregladen | December 15, 2011Coventry England experienced a downpour of apples.
This happened to me once, but all I got were these lousy bits of foliage.
gregladen | December 15, 2011If you know a Dr. Who fan and you plan to buy that person a present, consider the following:
Doctor Who: The Complete Specials. This will be a much appreciated addition to anyone's library.
A Sonic Screwdriver. Don't leave the Tardis without it!
A Dalek Alarm Clock, which wakes you up to "Exterminate! Exterminate!!!"
These were all on my short list of items to get Julia ... I ended up getting her something else, but perhaps for her birthday...
gregladen | December 14, 2011With a brief filed (PDF) in Ohio's Fifth District Court of Appeals, John Freshwater is appealing a court's ruling to uphold his termination as a middle school science teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio. It is the latest twist in a long saga that began in 2008, when a local family accused Freshwater of engaging in inappropriate religious activity -- including teaching creationism -- and sued Freshwater and the district. The Mount Vernon City School Board then voted to begin proceedings to terminate his employment. After administrative hearings that proceeded sporadically over two years, the referee…
gregladen | December 14, 2011Do Christmas Songs give you nightmares? They give me nightmares.
I'm writing something about Gender and where we get it, but that project is delayed (I know some of you are waiting eagerly). So, to #occupy your time, check out these two items:
Gender Transitioning and Gender Stereotypes
and
Transsexualism and You!
gregladen | December 14, 2011First, let's just quickly say what it is. The Higgs boson may or may not exist. If it does exist, it is a boson.
Matter is made up of smaller and smaller things, down to a point. A chair may be made of pieces of wood, which in turn are made up of plant cells, etc. etc., until we get down to the atom. Atoms are made up of "subatomic particles" and at this point it becomes 100% spooky and weird.
Below the level of the atom there are fermions, vector bosons and a scalar boson. These things combine to make up many and varied subatomic particles, some of which the average reasonably well…
gregladen | December 14, 2011Nominations for The Skeptic Awards 2011.
The Skeptic Magazine is delighted, for the first time, to be giving awards celebrating skeptical activity in several categories during 2011. As well as an 'Editors' Choice' award for lifetime achievement, we have five other categories - and for those we're going to need your help.
GO HERE to learn more and to vote.
Here's my choice for best skeptical video clip:
gregladen | December 14, 2011The holidays are upon us, and as part of the War on Christmas, we must EAT ALL THE COOKIES!!!11!
But first we must bake them. I will be farming Julia out to help in The Kitchens in Plymouth this weekend while I go to the gym for nine hours. Over at the Zvans the ovens will be stoked and there will be much rending of butter.
And, of course, Bug Girl is trying to make us turn green!
gregladen | December 13, 2011Acupuncture is the ancient East Asian practice of poking people with needles in specific places and in specific ways in order to produce any one of a very wide range of results that could generally be classified as medicinal or health related. I don't know much about it, but Wikipedia tells us:
Its general theory is based on the premise that bodily functions are regulated by the flow of an energy-like entity called qi. Acupuncture aims to correct imbalances in the flow of qi by stimulation of anatomical locations on or under the skin called acupuncture points, most of which are connected by…
gregladen | December 13, 2011Gene Marks writing for Forbes has laid out a plan for how Poor Black Kids of the Inner City can end up going to an Ivy League College. It is simple and elegant: They merely need to prioritize.
But there are some problems with this idea, only a few of which I touch on here.
gregladen | December 12, 2011What kind of birding binoculars do you use? How do you chose a good model?
Obviously, the best way to pick out a pair of binoculars is to try them out, but in doing so, I strongly urge you to try at least a couple of pairs that are beyond your budget, and work your way down from there. Not knowing what an excellent pair of binoculars is like makes it difficult to judge among the lesser forms that you will ultimately have to pick from. Putting it another way, if all you know is the $50 special, and you use a pair of them for a season or two, then the first time you bring a nice pair up to…
gregladen | December 12, 2011Wildlife of Southern Africa , by Martin Withers and David Hosking, is new (August 2011) and good. If you are planning a trip to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana or anywhere nearby, or if you live there and like to go to the bush sometimes, consider it.
This is a pocket guide, it is small, has good photographs, is inexpensive, and accurate.
In my opinion, if you are travelling around Africa looking at wildlife, you will need a set of more specialized guides (which I've discussed at length elsewhere on this blog, see below), but this is a good extra to carry along or to have handy, depending…