gregladen | September 30, 2010
The world's most famous cross dresser has died at 85. Tony Curtis received numerous Oscar nominations, made more than 120 films, played several TV roles, and was an accomplished painter.
And, she went to a conservatory.
gregladen | September 29, 2010There is a recent "PC Pro" magazine article comparing Windows 7 to Ubuntu, which concludes that Ubuntu is almost as good as Windows 7.
This would be roughly like Michele Bachmann comparing Ronald Reagan to Edward Kennedy and concluding that Edward Kennedy is almost as good. So, we can safely conclude that Ubuntu kicks Windows butt.
I hated the article for several reasons, but could not bring myself to write a review or response. But, JH at Linux in Exile did: Windows vs Ubuntu.
gregladen | September 29, 2010This is an excellent guest post by Scott Rowed on the use of Linux in K-12 schools, including strong evidence that school districts that do not have students using the Linux operating system are placing their students at a disadvantage, as well as a description of one outstanding success story in British Columbia.
Linux in Schools
Scott Rowed
What computer operating system should students learn at school? Most schools use MS Windows or Mac, but a number have switched or are in the process of switching to Linux. For schools the advantages are lower costs, greater security, no viruses or…
gregladen | September 29, 2010We haz 'em (9 megabyte PDF download from the National Academies of Science)
gregladen | September 29, 2010A young man with dark skin attracts the attention of a white police officer. The police officer, not busy with anything else, takes the opportunity to develop his own particular style of neighborhood relations, stops the young man's car and shakes him down. One thing leads to another, and the young man is beaten severely. Then, more things lead to more other things and charges are filed. From this point forward, it is pure nightmare for the young man and his family. Such is the nature of police-citizen relationships in pretty much every city and town in the US.
Sleep Deprivation is a…
gregladen | September 27, 2010The next named storm in the Atlantic will be Nicole, and it is possible that it will form in the Caribbean. This mess of clouds and storms with a strong but now well organized low pressure system is unlikely to become a named storm over the next couple of days, but keep an eye on it.
Oddly, it is likely to move north or northeast, which will keep it over water (rather than running across southern Mexico/Honduras/Belize) but also pushing it towards cooler water and more wind shear. So maybe that blob is Nicole, maybe not.
A well organized suspicious looking blog too far north yet…
gregladen | September 27, 2010Sherlock Holmes news: Stephen Fry, who played IIRC the psychiatrist on Bones who treated Seeley Booth after he shot the clown off the ice cream truck in a conniption of annoyance, will play Mycroft in the second Guy Ritchie Holmes adaptation (with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law) due out in December 2011. Excellent choice.
Delta Airline 5951 required an emergency landing last night due to faulty wheels. Here is a video of the event from inside the cockpit:
I've never heard a flight attendant do that. I hope someone slapped her and the person who thought of the idea of doing that and the…
gregladen | September 27, 2010While riding around his North Yorkshire estate on a Segway, [Jimi Heseldon] reportedly drove straight off a cliff and into the River Wharfe. A spokesperson for West Yorkshire police confirmed his death: "He was pronounced dead at the scene."
source <--- warning, web site may be poorly behaved
Heseldon did not invent the Segway, he just bought the company last year. His company was primarily engaged in defense contracting.
gregladen | September 27, 2010'The U.S. Air Force is lying about the national security implications of unidentified aerial objects at nuclear bases and we can prove it,' he said.
The former officer said he witnessed such an event first-hand on March 16, 1967, at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.
'I was on duty when an object came over and hovered directly over the site.
'The missiles shut down - ten Minuteman [nuclear] missiles. And the same thing happened at another site a week later. There's a strong interest in our missiles by these objects, wherever they come from. I personally think they're not from planet Earth…
gregladen | September 26, 2010It's PZ Myers, who has been no friend to the crackers, burying two books of holy scripture and planting daffodils on them. Or, at least, I think it's PZ (I can tell by his nice suit). And it might not be daffodils. Whatever. The point is, if you support the right of a person to make a point by burying the Koran and the Bible (copies they own on their own property we shall assume) then visit this video on YouTube and vote it up.
The original post by PZ is here.
The YouTube link is here.
The original video is below the fold.
I do want to point out that when I suggested that no more…
gregladen | September 26, 2010Evolution is a myth!!!! Why, Charles Darwin Himself .... BlaHH!!
Dabbled in which craft? Oh, witchcraft! Mice have human brains? Maybe this human has a mouse brain! Ugh.
gregladen | September 26, 2010 People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London's coffee houses to Charles Darwin's long, slow hunch to today's high-velocity web.
gregladen | September 25, 2010Galapagos Diary: A Complete Guide to the Archipelgo's Birdlife
... Continuing in our look at bird books to consider, I wanted to bring in the Galapagos Diary. I cannot tell you which is the best book for birding in the Galapagos, because, sadly, I've never done that myself. But my daughter, Julia, has, and she recommends this title. She brought a copy home from the Galapagos, and I am personally quite impressed by it. If you are planning a trip to the Galapagos, have a look at it.
~ A repost for Back to School Special ~
gregladen | September 25, 2010The UN's human rights chief has said the "scale and viciousness" of mass rapes in DR Congo "defy belief", as a report into the attack was released.
Navi Pillay said that, even for the region, the incident stood out because of the "extraordinarily cold-blooded and systematic way" it was carried out.
Some 300 people were raped by armed militia in the attack in August.
Details here
gregladen | September 25, 2010Caroline Phillips cranks out tunes on a seldom-heard folk instrument: the hurdy-gurdy, a.k.a. the wheel fiddle. A searching, Basque melody follows her fun lesson on its unique anatomy and 1,000-year history.