gregladen | December 20, 2010The person who never seems to be able to operate, or be happy with, these modern digital cameras. The person who more often says "Oh, I'm so upset, I couldn't get a picture of that because this damn camera never works right" or the person who goes to take a shot but then quietly puts the camera away realizing it's full and remembering that one does not quite know what one does when the camera is full. And so on.
I know a number of people who are utterly incapable of using a digital camera, even though those same people are highly intelligent, flexible, and able to easily do things that…
gregladen | December 20, 2010Move On Dot Org will be transferring funds to various non-profits, or otherwise be supporting them. Unfortunately, I don't think Moveon has a rule against religious non-profis. But I do, and so do you. Please suggest a non-profit or two for me to nominate. If you area member of moveon as well, you can do this too.
Here are the guidelines:
Nominated organizations must be non-profit groups focused on causes, consequences, and solutions relating to the economic crisis. They may provide direct services such as homeless assistance, jobless help, child services, food assistance, etc., or they…
gregladen | December 20, 2010(If you're mailing your presents and don't want to spend an arm and a leg.)
As part of my annual service to my readers who can't think of what to give to those friends and relatives who insist on exchanging gifts this time every year, I present two categories of goodies, cheap and not so cheap. For additional ideas see these posts.
Cheap but cool:
A tiny tripod. I love my tiny tripod. I've taken it around the world with me, and I keep it in my car at all times, just in case. I don't use it that often, but when I do, it makes me very happy. The one I use is some version of the Pedco…
gregladen | December 20, 2010But the method must be adjusted if you happen to be an atheist.
OMG. As it were.
WARNING: your irony meter may break just after 2 minutes 10 seconds. Adjust your irony meters now. Do not drink coffee while watching this video.
gregladen | December 20, 2010Dropbox has reached version 1.0, which does not sound impressive, but is. Dropbox is a free or paid for file syncing service that totally kicks but. Try it out. The new version fixes various problems and significantly improves performance, but most importantly allows selective syncing, so you can have a subset of your files synced on a specific computer. (It was already true that you had a selective, as in file by file, syncing on mobile devices.) Seriously, of all the technologies out there, Dropbox is at the top of my list of software that made my life easier. Everything is always…
gregladen | December 19, 2010The Minnesota Vikings will not be in the playoffs this year, but the team has nonetheless become interesting, possibly more interesting than if they were still in the running.
For one thing, Ziggy fired the coach and one of the under-coaches has taken over, and it is interesting to see how he handles his new job. Very well, it would seem. Also, Brett Favre closed out his "Ironman" streak of never missing a game in ... several decades? Whatever, a very long time, owing to an actual life threatening injury. The injury will be managed, but both surgery and getting beat up on the field…
gregladen | December 19, 2010A friend of mine has asked me to spread the word that we are looking for a missing person, Joe Sjoberg (pronounced Show-Berg). He is probably in the upper Midwest somewhere.
MISSING: JOE SJOBERG from MADISON, WI
ARTICLE IN THE ATLANTIC:HERE
FROM JOE'S BROTHER:
Right now the last true piece of evidence had him in Madison, but we've heard of car sightings in Minnesota.
Its likely he's in Wisconsin but he could be anywhere as he's been missing for almost a week. If you're in the MN-WI Area Please Print This Flyer and Post It Around: http://bit.ly/gQ4BtJ
Joe Sjoberg (pronounced: SHOW-BERG…
gregladen | December 19, 2010John Boehner has appointed Michele Bachmann to the house intelligence committee.
OK, let's have a contest. I'll start.
Appointing Michele Bachmann to the Intelligence Committee is like ...
... giving a Nobel prize to the Three Stooges.
gregladen | December 19, 2010Homeopathy involves the acquisition of a substance often chosen because of its harmful nature (but sometimes for other reasons) followed by the dilution of that substance, or an extract of it, in water numerous times until the substance itself is essentially gone, but the memory of the substance is retained by the water. This water, with the memory, is then considered by homeopathic practitioners to be an effective treatment for various conditions.
The basic principle of using a harmful substance to produce a sort of counter-reaction, or a beneficial reaction, is interesting. And, the idea…
gregladen | December 18, 2010
Jim Kakalios puts a very humorous spin on quantum mechanics, and while the video may be neither here nor there, the book, The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics: A Math-Free Exploration of the Science That Made Our World, consists of the smallest possible number of words to explain the concept in a useful and entertaining way, and thus lays an important planck in anyone's physics education.
It has been said that only three people understand quantum mechanics. Well, one of them is Jim. And, you can be the fourth!
But wait, there's more!
Jim Kakalios, Author and Professor, will appear on…
gregladen | December 17, 2010Below the fold. Ten points if you can identify the significance of the law firm mentioned in this recently released video.
Hat tip Cain
gregladen | December 17, 2010First, the video. Then, if you're good, I'll tell you an Alan Dershowitz story. It involves Stephen Jay Gould.
So, when I was a graduate student teaching human behavioral biology and stuff, there was a class taught by Alan Dershowitz, Stephen Jay Gould, and some other guy. This was a large Socratic "lecture-courses" and one of the sessions involved ethics and gender differences in the law, so it was customary among the E. O. Wilson and Irv DeVore Teaching Fellows to crash the class and watch.
Imma let you get back to worshiping Stephen Jay Gould and all when I'm done, but I gotta tell…
gregladen | December 17, 2010As I'm sitting here ordering things on line and last minute for people's Christmas presents (there, I said Christmas. Take THAT Bill O'Really!) I thought I'd make a few suggestions for my readers.
For the K-6 age scientist:
The 7-Function Binoculars For Kids An inexpensive science trans-formative toy, the "Binoculars for Kids" which also transform into a microscope, magnifying glass (good for observing bugs, starting little fires, or both at the same time), includes a compass, and a signal mirror to warn off the helicopters.
This cool Head Light, again for kids but actually quiet…
gregladen | December 17, 2010And may I take this opportunity to note that, with respect to the Justice Department's defense of DADT over recent months, Barney Frank, Barack Obama, and I are in complete agreement.
gregladen | December 16, 2010The good news: Despite their best efforts, the folks at CERN failed to produce a black hole that sucked the entire earth into it! That would have been cool. The bad news is for string theory. What might be one of the few empirical tests for that tangle of math and stuff seems to have come out negative. From CERN:
The CMS experiment at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has completed a search for microscopic black holes produced in high-energy proton-proton collisions. No evidence for their production was found and their production has been excluded up to a black hole mass of 3.5-4.5…
gregladen | December 16, 2010A repost, of sorts:
I am amazed at the giddiness amongst Christian Fundamentalists that has fomented from the mere utterance of a holiday greeting by Richard Dawkins. The counter-insurgents in the War on Christmas ... the Red White and Blue, squeaky-faced smirking shits that call themselves commentators or preachers are creaming in their jeans. But they are also stepping over the line, and I'm calling them on it.
Read the rest here
gregladen | December 16, 2010If you go to a place where humans have lived for hundreds of thousands of years and bone happens to be well preserved, you will find bits and pieces of people on a regular basis. If you go to a Polynesian island and look for bones you are more likely to find a turtle or fish bone than a human bone. Thus, when I see ....
... an array of artefacts from the 1930s and bones found on the uninhabited Pacific atoll of Nikumaroro suggest that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, endured lingering deaths as castaways on a desert island and were eventually eaten by crabs.
Advertisement: Story…
gregladen | December 16, 2010Formerly known as Day of the Vow, as South African holiday, and a time of reflection on dramatic historical and cultural changes.
In 1836 about 400 or so southern African farmers of European Ancestry, known as Voortrekkers, killed about 3,000 Zulu out of an army of 10,000 or so. It was a turning point in South African history. Prior to what became known as the Battle of Blood River, the Voortrekkers made a pact with god; Let us win this battle and we'll make this an annual holiday and build a church and stuff. It is possible that god needed a church and a day off, so he let them win. It's…