gregladen | August 24, 2010Which is not the "going away" of oil.
More info here.
hat tip: Diandra Leslie-Pelecky
gregladen | August 24, 2010Is PZ Myers over the top? Is Phil Plait too nice? Is Chris Mooney right about framing? If I meet a Creationist, should I throw a fossil over his head?
A while back, I did a radio show with a skeptic who happened to be a musician. One of the main topics was whether or not being mean to people who did not agree with you was OK. I was on the side that it was often OK, certainly not the only way to do it, but that the entire conversation about being mean vs. nice had become too uni-dimensional and counter productive, that there were times and places for being stern and firm, and times and…
gregladen | August 23, 2010If you haven't seen it, please check out this bit of dark comedy from PZ, who reveals that he will be undergoing unspecified probing and surgery. Medical science will be having its way with him over the next few days.
Go wish him well!
gregladen | August 23, 2010And now it is time for a new edition of Name that Organism. Each of the following photos was taken at Itasca State Park, except one. Extra points for naming which photo was not taken in the park.
Write your ID's in the comments section.
A)
B)
C)
(click to enlarge)
D)
(click to enlarge)
E)
F)
G)
gregladen | August 23, 2010As you know, we just spent a few days at Itasca (see this for the meaning of the word "Itasca") where we saw some interesting wildlife. I thought I 'd share a few photos of the trip.
We were at Itasca because Amanda volunteered to help out with the orientation for new biology grad students, by giving a demonstration of what she does in the Dave Thomas lab. I did not see the demonstration but I think it had something to do with reanimating tissues. Here's a photograph of the entrance way to the research station, which is all most people can see because you are not allowed in there. (…
gregladen | August 23, 2010This has been a very quiet hurricane season considering that it was predicted to be active and intense. The fourth named storm is only now developing in the Atlantic, and it is a hurricane named Danielle.
Danielle, just upgraded to a hurricane, appears to be intensifying quickly.
Danielle is now far out to sea and is turning northwest, heading roughly in the direction of Bermuda, but quite possibly too far north of Bermuda to matter much, if current predictions hold. In short, Danielle is not predicted at this time to make any significant landfall. It is likely that this storm, in one…
gregladen | August 22, 2010September 2nd, in Atlanta, honoring Jeff Medkeff and run by the Atlanta Skeptics. Details here.
gregladen | August 20, 2010Wanted: All toolbars that can be on top should also be able to be on bottom or side, in any software, any system, anywhere, and function properly while there.
See the whole "WANTED" list here.
gregladen | August 20, 2010This is the most challenging time of year for duck watching. But it may be easier than one thinks to bump into a wolf in the forest.
We've been exploring the western side of the north-central part of the state, in and around Itasca as far west at Tamarack Wildlife Refuge, where we saw several fine herds of tamarack clustered in the usual low flat areas they prefer.
Duck watching this time of year is very hard. In the beginning of the season the males are in full bloom. Females found near males are almost always of the same species. (Unless the male is a mallard. They do not…
gregladen | August 20, 2010.... Particularly disturbing is the adoption of the PowerPoint cognitive style in our schools. Rather than learning to write a report using sentences, children are being taught how to formulate client pitches and infomercials. Elementary school PowerPoint exercises (as seen in teacher guides and in student work posted on the Internet) typically consist of 10 to 20 words and a piece of clip art on each slide in a presentation of three to six slides -a total of perhaps 80 words (15 seconds of silent reading) for a week of work. Students would be better off if the schools simply closed down on…
gregladen | August 19, 2010I was thinking something like "Imma let you finish being stupid and all, but first I want to review the preponderance of evidence for evolution. But you may also like to see Genie Scott's take on it:
gregladen | August 19, 2010
This bird was spotted eating a small bird in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. What is it?
gregladen | August 19, 2010The heretofore unknown events that led to an investigation of Dr. Marc Hauser of Harvard University, which led to a recently completed investigation of Hauser's scientific conduct.
You cann read the article here. I hope you can access that document (it may be fully or partly behind a firewall). At the moment, I'm out in the middle of the forest so I can't summarize it for you, but let me know if it is not generally viewable and I'll rectify that later assuming I am not eaten by bears.
gregladen | August 18, 2010Emerging infectious diseases do not only affect humans. Wildlife is threatened as well, and an alarming report from Britain documents an avian tragedy of great proportions.
Emerging protozoan caused diseases are seriously affecting British populations of Carduelis chloris, the greenfinch, and and chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, a chaffinch, two of Britian's most common birds.
The offending organism is a new and fatal disease first found in Britain's finches in 2005, Trichomonas gallinae. Within two years of its appearance, greenfinch breeding populations ad decreased by 35%, and chaffinch…
gregladen | August 17, 2010But Conservapedia is going to fix that.
... apparently Conservapedia is unhappy that after Terence Tao got the Fields Medal four years ago he then endorsed Barack Obama for President, ... To deal with this apparent liberal bias and affirmative action in the Fields Medal, Conservapedia is starting its own award for mathematicians
Read about the ConservaMath Medal here!
gregladen | August 17, 2010Don't be a dick.
Phil Plait - Don't Be A Dick from JREF on Vimeo.
Cribbed from here where you will presumably eventually find Part II.
gregladen | August 17, 2010There is a swath across the map of Minnesota that runs northwest to southeast across the state, separating the major biomes of the eastern two thirds of the country, and for complicated reasons. North, it is colder, south warmer. Much of the moister in the region, especially in the summer, comes from the Gulf of Mexico, directly to the south, whence air masses move north and swerve east. So, there is a west to east gradient of increased rainfall, and a south to north gradient of decreased rainfall. However, the cooler conditions to the north mean that what rain does fall counts for more,…