gregladen | October 29, 2010View image
The gullies on a Martian sand dune in this trio of images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter deceptively resemble features on Earth that are carved by streams of water. However, these gullies likely owe their existence to entirely different geological processes apparently related to the winter buildup of carbon-dioxide frost.
Scientists at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., compared pairs of images from before and after changes in such dune gullies. They determined that the changes occur in Martian…
gregladen | October 29, 2010A settlement is in the works in Doe v. Mount Vernon Board of Education et al., the case in which John Freshwater, a Mount Vernon, Ohio, middle school science teacher, was accused of inappropriate religious activity in the classroom -- including displaying posters with the Ten Commandments and Bible verses, branding crosses on the arms of his students with a high-voltage electrical device, and teaching creationism. The Mount Vernon News (October 27, 2010) reports that the parties have signed the agreement, which still must be approved by a judge.
Read the whole story here.
gregladen | October 29, 2010If you are a teabagger or a Republican, don't read below the fold. Just go away.
My close personal friend Al just sent me this and even though it's junk mail I thought you should read it.
Dear Greg,
Here are two thought experiments. Indulge me, won't you?
It's the morning after Election Day. 8 a.m. You stumble out of bed. Make some oatmeal. Turn on the TV to find out what happened in that Senate race, the one that was too close to call all night. But you gave $50 to the DSCC by clicking on this link. And, lo and behold, your favorite Democrat -- maybe Russ Feingold or Patty Murray…
gregladen | October 29, 2010US Representative to the House, District 3
Jim Meffert
I'm very familiar with Meffert's stand on the issues, and agree with them fully.
State Senator District 47
Leo Foley
Leo Foley is a centrist Democrat who has done a great job to date.
State Representative District 47A
Denise Dittrich
Dittrich has been a great representative.
Governor/Lt Governor
Mark Dayton/Yvonne Prettner Solon
Dayton will implement progressive Minnesota-like policies, and push for (or allow the legislature to develop) sane tax policies (i.e., tax the rich more, then get stuff done). The election is quite close, so…
gregladen | October 29, 2010Interesting to look back at this now that the Arctic Ice Cap is opening up and disappearing:
A new NASA study shows that the rising frequency and intensity of arctic storms over the last half century, attributed to progressively warmer waters, directly provoked acceleration of the rate of arctic sea ice drift, long considered by scientists as a bellwether of climate change.
NASA researcher Sirpa Hakkinen of Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and colleagues from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Mass., and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg…
gregladen | October 29, 2010... and I thought I'd share it with you ...
Dear Greg,
If you met "Don W" (not his real name) on the street, you might suspect that something was wrong with him. Listless, exhausted, glassy-eyed, Don exhibits all the symptoms of donor fatigue.
Yes. Donor fatigue. After responding generously to dozens of e-mails like this one, and giving $10, $25, or $100 to great progressive candidates like Patty Murray, Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, and on and on, Don W. has finally hit the wall.
Unfortunately donor fatigue can have a terrible impact on candidates like Patty, great progressive leaders in…
gregladen | October 28, 2010This is an excellent overview of the upcoming election vis-a-vis the brown liquid.
gregladen | October 28, 2010Weather systems in the Southern and Northern hemispheres will respond differently to global warming ... the warming of the planet will affect the availability of energy to fuel extratropical storms, or large-scale weather systems that occur at Earth's middle latitudes. The resulting changes will depend on the hemisphere and season, the study found.
More intense storms will occur in the Southern Hemisphere throughout the year, whereas in the Northern Hemisphere, the change in storminess will depend on the season -- with more intense storms occurring in the winter and weaker storms in the…
gregladen | October 28, 2010Good cometary and some excellent video, including closeups of Profitt's beer belly and the "pre stomp" events:
See also this.
gregladen | October 28, 2010According to Rebecca Kleefisch Republican, the Republican candidate for Wisconsin Lt. Governor.
"This is a slippery slope," Kleefisch said. "In addition to that at what point are we going to be okay marrying inanimate objects? Can I marry this table or this, you know, clock? Can we marry dogs?
"This is ridiculous," continued Kleefisch. "And biblically, again, I'm going to go right back to my fundamental Christian beliefs marriage is between one man and one woman."
Wisconsin is obviously full of morons. Chances are they are actually going to elect this Michel Bachmann clone and throw out…
gregladen | October 28, 2010
Bonus Video: Rachel Buying an Uzi:
Bonus Bonus Video: Rachel squeezes off some rounds:
gregladen | October 28, 2010Danno is dead.
James MacArthur, who played "Danno" in the original version of television's "Hawaii Five-0," died Thursday at age 72.
MacArthur's agent, Richard Lewis, said the actor died in Florida of "natural causes," but no direct cause was specified.
wcco
MacArthur was the adopted son of Charles MacArthur and Helen Hayes.
gregladen | October 28, 2010The Mars Rover Spirit got stuck, probably forever, last year, but the little guy has not given up doing science!!!!
The extraterrestrial vehicle discovered evidence "that water, perhaps as snow melt, trickled into the subsurface fairly recently and on a continuing basis."
Oh, great, mud! That's going to make it easy to get unstuck...
Here, look:
View image
Soil Disturbed by Spirit Before Fourth Martian Winter
This mosaic of images shows the soil in front of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit after a series of short backward drives during attempts to extricate the rover from a sand trap in…
gregladen | October 28, 2010This seems to be another case of an immature snot-nose sociopath using the leveling power of the Internet to be important-seeming, and accusing stem cell researchers of fraud with highly dubious evidence that reflects more on the accuser's low level of training and inadequate knowledge than anything else. ERV, spotting the parallels with the "Your Not Helping" fiasco, nails it. Here.
gregladen | October 28, 2010Erik Paulsen is my representative to the US Congress. This is his first term. He replaced a very centrist Republican (Jim Ramstad) who retired honorably. I worked for the Democratic Party (DFL, we call it in Minnesota) candidate, Ash Madia during that election. Ash was a good candidate but he was inexperienced (which may or may not have been a factor) not quite waspy enough for this very waspy district (which may or may not have been a factor), and although his politics matched those of the district's constituents quite well (at least as well as the long-lasting Jim Ramstad's politics did…
gregladen | October 28, 2010This is quite serious. Better have a look.
Greg --
Our opponents think they have this election in the bank.
While you all are reaching out and talking to 7 million voters one on one, they're getting $7 million checks from billionaires and special interests to fund attack ads.
That is all you need to know about the choice in this election.
We're in a battle for the future of this county -- a battle between corporate special interests and hard-working Americans.
And if we want that future to be written by us -- not by a handful of anonymous billionaires -- I need you to do all you can over…