gregladen | August 31, 2010Human growth has strained the Earth's resources, but as Johan Rockstrom reminds us, our advances also give us the science to recognize this and change behavior. His research has found nine "planetary boundaries" that can guide us in protecting our planet's many overlapping ecosystems.
gregladen | August 31, 2010While the world was focused on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a BP refinery here released huge amounts of toxic chemicals into the air that went unnoticed by residents until many saw their children come down with respiratory problems.
Ick, BP!
Fossil Hunters in Romania Find a 2-Clawed Relative of Velociraptor. Here.
Why we vaccinate. Part 1.
Join the Minnesota Planetarium Society! (A Facebook Page)
Wolves Are Smart, but Dogs Look Back
Focus on Family says anti-bullying efforts in schools push gay agenda
Read more: Focus on Family says anti-bullying efforts in schools push gay…
gregladen | August 31, 2010Starting tomorrow, September 1st, and running through the entire month, I'll be posting one or two (or more) items each day specifically written for (or at least, that I think will be useful for) teachers, as part of the usual "Back to school" effort I do every year. This year's effort will be significantly more extensive and intensive. After a few years of blogging, it turns out that I have written a few items that are worth re-posting about science education, creationism, and related topics. I'm also throwing in reviews of books that I think will be of interest to teachers because they…
gregladen | August 31, 2010If not, you should join it. This is a good time of year, with school starting and all, to show some support for science education.
gregladen | August 31, 2010She was a church lady. I could see it a mile away. Her hair cut, her clothing, her way of standing, and as I got closer, her way of speaking and, eventually, the things she said. I will call her Joan.
It is not that surprising to find a church lady like Joan at Har Mar Shopping Mall. Har Mar is a unique phenomenon. From the outside, it is a strip mall, and from the inside, it is a regular "inside" mall. Some of the stores are only on the inside part, some open on both the inside and outside part. None are only outside. So you park, walk into a store in the strip mall, like into the…
gregladen | August 31, 2010Despite rather bizarre rumors to the contrary, Earl was never headed straight for Haiti, but it is a large and strong hurricane, and strong tropical force winds are affecting and will continue to affect the northern regions of the island.
Earl is now a Category Four hurricane and will remain so for the next few days, possibly strengthening tomorrow morning following what looks like an eye-wall replacement cycle.
UPDATE: Earl is sitill a Category Four storm.
There is now a watch for North of Surf City , North Carolina to the NC/Virginia Border, and a Tropical Storm Watch from Cape Fear to…
gregladen | August 30, 2010Danielle is now a Tropical Storm heading to it's watery grave west of Iceland. Earl, on the other hand, has a non-zero chance of hitting something.
Earl has become a hurricane, and is seemingly leveling off in its intensity. Earl is a Category Four storm with maximum sustained winds of almost 135 mph (214 kph) and stronger gusts.
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Turks and Caicos islands are threatened with hurricane level storm activity.
Earl is going to turn to the north and eventually northeast, but the storm will be heading roughly in the direction of North Carolina (which…
gregladen | August 30, 2010No. But unfortunately, of the 12 candidates running for school board in one Florida County, only three, Rick Nesbit, Gunnar Paulson and Carol Oyenarte, said "No" when recently asked the question.
Two candidates thought it should be taught in a world religion class (and I've got to wonder about a school board candidate who thinks we have world religion classes in a system struggling to fund arts and music). Five of the 12 unequivocally took the position that creationism should be taught: Bonnie Burgess, April Griffin, Felicia Moss, Wayne Gabb and Jodi Wood.
source
Here is the campaign video…
gregladen | August 30, 2010By now, this news is a few days old, but there was something I wanted to check on before noting it. Here's the story:
NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered the first confirmed planetary system with more than one planet crossing in front of, or transiting, the same star.
The transit signatures of two distinct planets were seen in the data for the sun-like star designated Kepler-9. The planets were named Kepler-9b and 9c. The discovery incorporates seven months of observations of more than 156,000 stars as part of an ongoing search for Earth-sized planets outside our solar system. The…
gregladen | August 30, 2010Ray M. Davis, Jr., of Alachua also admits that his religious beliefs tell him that creationism is true, but despite this admission he still feels that his local school board should ruin science education for all the children in his local public school by ramming their non scientific beliefs down the throats of the students in science class. Oh, and he must also think his school district has a grove of money trees, because the legal defense when they do follow such nonsensical advice and get snagged ... and yes, we are watching ... will be substantial.
Read this remarkable story from the…
gregladen | August 29, 2010The statement is not a lot different than before, and it is still one I agree with:
... CFI is committed to the position that reason and science, not faith, are needed to address and resolve humanity's problems. All religions share a fundamental flaw: they reflect a mistaken understanding of reality. On balance, CFI does not consider houses of worship to be beneficial to humanity, whether they are built at Ground Zero or elsewhere.
source
Please fill in the box below the specific way in which you don't get this:
gregladen | August 29, 2010Creationists have often argued that they did not come from apes, a view usually ridiculed by the scientific community. Recent evidence, however, suggests that they may have actually been right. Scientists think that at the dawn of mankind, when the rest of the human race was busy evolving and adapting to their environment, creationists were refusing to take part in the evolutionary game, and as a result of this are therefore thoroughly unevolved human beings.
Read the rest, where the DNA evidence is also discussed.
gregladen | August 29, 2010The National Secular Society of Britain has weighed in on the problem of bringing Welsh students to the Noah's Ark Zoo Farm where they can learn about how Jesus rode a Dinosaur.
Noah's Ark Zoo Farm in Wraxall, near Bristol, is regularly used by Welsh schools for trips and its website boasts numerous testimonials from them.
But it has now been strongly criticised by the National Secular Society (NSS), which campaigns against religious influence in public and political life, and has criticised the zoo's "creationist" views.
The group accused the zoo, which has received national recognition for…
gregladen | August 29, 2010I'm skeptical that it is possible to make fried beer. I find it hard to believe that one can be human and not be a hypocrite at least some times. I'm skeptical that atheist doctors will actually conspire to kill you sooner than other doctors. I'm skeptical that science experiments always work.
gregladen | August 29, 2010I know a lot of you are interested in the Yellowstone Caldera. WEll, a recent article has come out on the topic in Geophysical Research Letters. Chris Rowan has summarized, reviewed, and analyzed the paper here.
The way the CDC talks about flu mortality has changed. This is interesting, important, and possibly even annoying. Superbug explains and discusses it here.
Speaking of Superbug:
(Stolen from here)
The latest on Huxley is Here. That's T.H., not Huxley D.L. It's the third part in The Primate Diaries biographical survey of the famous scientist.
I've had carved pangolin. Well,…
gregladen | August 29, 2010Skeptically Speaking's Podcase show Karl Mamer is now a podcast, here.
(Includes Josh Witten on irrational beliefs and evolutionary theory.)
gregladen | August 29, 2010Earl may threaten the US Virgin Islands and Pueto Rico with hurricane force winds. These areas will be affected by tropical storm force winds. Antigua, Barbuda, Monserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla, Saint Martin and Satin Barthelemy, St. Marten, Saba and St. Eustatius are under hurricane warnings, and a hurricane watch is in effect for the British and US Virgin Islands, Peurto Rico, Culebra and Vieques. This is all going to happen right away: Today, tomorrow, the next day.
Earl is only a tropical storm, Earl was upgraded to hurricane status as I was writing this post. Earl seems to…
gregladen | August 29, 2010Five years ago, on August 29th, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the coast of Louisiana with sustained winds of 125 mph. In what Republicans at the time claimed to be an utterly unrelated event, New Orleans was devastated by a flood around the same time. Apparently, New Orleans remains pretty much still devastated. Well, the poor parts do, other parts have been fixed up, I hear.
Scientists had predicted that a hurricane like Katrina would hit New Orleans and do pretty much what it did. So, we call August 29th "Oh fuck, we should have listened to the scientists" day.
So, happy "Oh Fuck"…
gregladen | August 29, 2010ultimate showdown
Who would name their cats emacs and vi?
It would be really cool to have two cats and name them sed and awk.