gregladen | June 20, 2011This is going to be a busy week. I've got three shelves to build (shelve = complex of shelves, not shelf); This must be done in a hailstorm of loud karaoke singing, interrupted only by actual hail storms, because, well, I live in Coon Rapids and that's how it is; Amanda will be away all week so I will be a single parent for a while. That's good because Huxley and I need the bonding time, but it will cut into my other activities a bit; There is preparation for the upcoming CONvergence (yes, Stephanie, I'll get you those links very soon!); And then there is the Global Water Dancing event…
gregladen | June 20, 2011As you know, our own Minnesota Congressman Michele Bachmann is officially running for president. I wonder what it would be like to have the President of the United States of America, like when she goes home to visit her family for Thanksgiving or the Fourth of July or whatever, and all these limos and choppers are driving all over the place in Stillwater! Maybe they better upgrade that liftbridge after all!
Anyway, in celebration of having one of our own ready, willing and on the way to possibly becoming the Leader of the Free World and all, I'm reposting a selection of the well over 100…
gregladen | June 17, 2011Research by Gustavo Londoño in the Peruvian Rainforest:
Temp On The Gradient from Ecosite Media on Vimeo.
gregladen | June 15, 2011Michele Bachmann is my home-girl. has lived in a nearby town for years, represented a nearby community in the Minnesota State Senate. I had one of her kids in my class at the U. And she's the US Congressperson for the district that is just a few short blocks from where I live now .
In many ways, therefore, she has been a part of my life for a long time. And, now that Michele is officially running for President of the United States of America, I thought I'd repost some of the material on this blog written about her or her activities.
Instead of producing a new copy of each post, I'll…
gregladen | June 15, 2011There is an increase in reports of activity of scientists studying the extent and impacts of radiation spilled or otherwise transferred into the ocean from Fukushima. TEPCO, in the meantime, seems to have a need to put a lot more water, possibly decontaminated to some degree, into the sea. Similarly, there is a plan afoot to release previously sequestered air from Reactor 2, with filtering to lower contamination applied to the air before the building's doors are opened. Venting began about four days ago.
Another report has been released confirming that not only did Reactors 1, 2 and 3…
gregladen | June 15, 2011In the process of writing a post on bird evolution, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to re-post something I wrote a couple of years ago covering research reported by Paul Sereno about new fossil material from a theropod known as em>Aerosteon riocoloradensis. When I went to look at my original post, I was reminded that there was quite a bit of other writing on the blogosphere (and elsewhere on the Intertubes) about this find. Here, I'd like to give you the bottom line (insofar as what I wanted people to know when referring back to my repost) and then, in the interest of both…
gregladen | June 15, 2011Living Dinosaurs: The Evolutionary History of Modern Birds is an academic anthology of key writing about bird evolution. There are two main things that distinguish this book: 1) It includes quite a bit on fossils and their bearing on bird evolution, a refreshing change from DNA-based phylogenies which can by and large only address later questions of bird evolution; and 2) It includes a lot more about the early evolutionary context of birds (such as in the context of theropods) than one usually sees, rather than the diversification of birds per se, though it does address the latter as well.…
gregladen | June 14, 2011While I'm busy in Saint Paul doing this, I think you should have a look at this and this, because summer is just around the corner. Later, I'll be working on a post for this because I do one every four weeks. How time flies. I've already done two of them (this and this).
Oh, I bought a bottle of air to disperse some of the dust while I'm doing this, and they wanted my ID! I had no idea that people snorted air.
Don't forget, this is coming up soon, as is this. And pretty soon we'll be doing a new one of these.
And don't forget about the eclipse.
Speaking of which...
gregladen | June 13, 2011My interest is in developing a plausible evidence-based story of how modern humans emerged from ancestral species. This means guessing at what features of humans make us "human" and attempting to see the emergence of each of these features in the fossilized record of our bodies (bones) and behaviors (artifacts and archaeological sites). This question has traditionally been treated, inappropriately, as simple. Walking upright, or freeing of the hands, or using tools, or hunting animals, or scavenging from carnivores, violence, provisioning mates, bonobo-ism (a form of erotica, it would seem…
gregladen | June 13, 2011Miss USA contestants have been asked for the upcoming beauty contest if evolution should be taught in US schools. In a seemingly unrelated question, they are also to be asked if they would ever pose nude for photographers. It is not clear what the correct answer to either question is supposed to be.
My understanding is that the questions have already been asked, and the videos of the answers will eventually be posted on the Miss USA web site. Which is a site I only view for the important social issues discussed there.
"The girls are scared to death. They witnessed with Carrie Prejean…
gregladen | June 13, 2011NASA's Dawn space ship is getting closer to the asteroid Vesta, and has produced a very short movie. The movie is a compilation of 20 frames, shown here repeating several times:
This movie shows surface details beginning to resolve as NASA's Dawn spacecraft closes in on the giant asteroid Vesta. The framing camera aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft obtained the images used for this animation on June 1, 2011, from a distance of about 300,000 miles (483,000 kilometers).
Vesta's jagged shape, sculpted by eons of cosmic impacts in the main asteroid belt, is apparent. Variations in surface brightness…
gregladen | June 13, 2011I agree that a gay judge should not rule on a gay marriage issue. He's biased. He's gay, and in a gay relationship and will therefore be biased in favor of gay rights.
Of course, non-gay judges should never be allowed to rule on issues of straight marriage or other private matters, legislatures should not be allowed to introduce legislation limiting or proscribing behavior related to gayosity or straightosity related to anyone like themselves, and voters should never, ever be allowed to vote on things that have anything to do with individual relationships, sexual behavior, sexuality, or…
gregladen | June 12, 2011Version 1:
Version 2 (video may not show):
Version 3:
Version 4 (whole camera approach, video cameras)
Version 5:
gregladen | June 12, 2011Even though some time back Netflix fixed their interface exactly as I wanted them to do it, and within hours after I asked them to (see this), they have now developed a new web interface to their site that many people appear to hate. I tend to agree with the haters.
What I found is that when I view it with Google Chrome the site breaks in about a half second and I can't see a thing. Then, when it comes back it looks much like their on-Roku inteface, which is OK, but requires mouse movements that I find unnatural and annoying. And, mostly, impossible to use. At this point, it would almost…
gregladen | June 11, 2011We often drive on a stretch of Minnesota State Route 10 that runs from Elk River to Big Lake and eventually to a point past Saint Cloud that takes about an hour to drive on a normal day, and we see trains. The railroad track runs along this route, and during the hour it takes to drive it, we never fail to see at least one train in operation. Usually there are two or three. Often, maybe every tenth time, one of the southeast bound trains is carrying coal; Dozens and dozens of cars loaded with coal come down this track from somewhere far away, because there is no coal anywhere near here.
The…
gregladen | June 11, 2011This happened not far from me:
Uffda. That guy's a little frustrated! Took the Lord's Name in Vane and everything, you betcha!
A little follow up:
Coulda been worse.