gregladen | August 17, 2010Well, not yet, but wait for it. This story and this story describe "tracking" of the Democratic Candidate by the Teabagging Republican, which is also discussed by Jim in this story from the point of view of an insider.
gregladen | August 16, 2010Do check out this series of guest posts at Quiche Moraine, written by by Jim Emery, which detail the events associated with a recent campaign for the US Congress in a hotly contested district in Minnesota.
Inside the Political Process: Jim Emery and the Madia Campaign
Inside the Political Process: The Role of Communication
Inside the Political Process: Framing the Debate
gregladen | August 16, 2010Therefore, we should teach that as fact in schools, right?
I think this might be old. But still relevant.
gregladen | August 16, 2010 Elvis In 1977 I drove from Nashville down to Memphis with no particular plans regarding Memphis. It was just a place to stop on the way to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I had the name of a cheap motel and a vague idea of where it was. But I kept getting lost. Every time I came to about where this major street was supposed to be, there was a different street there. What the hell was going on?
About the fifth time I came to the right/wrong location, it dawned on me ... "Elvis Presley Boulevard" must have just recently been named as such ...
That, I realized, could also explain another…
gregladen | August 15, 2010Genie Scott at Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence, Kansas, delving into the creationism/evolution controversy, how evolution is misunderstood, what evolution really is, and more. Event date: 9/8/1999
gregladen | August 15, 2010
Amanda next to the tallest white pine tree in Minnesota
They say Lake Itasca is the source of the Mississippi. This is why there is a big state park surrounding the lake, a park that preserves some beautiful old forest despite the best efforts of 19th century lumberjacks to cut it down.
I've been to Itasca a number of times, and I've even done archaeological research there (which didn't turn out to be very interesting). But when I went to Itasca last week, it was my first visit with no work agenda, and I got to spend more time poking around and seeing the sights. I was visiting because…
gregladen | August 15, 2010A typical adult human recognizes that the image one sees in a mirror is oneself. We do not know how much training a mirror-naive adult requires to do this, but we think very little.
When a typical adult macaque (a species of monkey) looks in the mirror, it sees another monkey. Typical adult male macaques stuck in a cage with a mirror will treat the image as a fellow adult male macaque until you take the mirror out of the cage.
(Experiments that attempt to determine if an individual can recognize themselves in the mirror ultimately derive from what is known as the Gallup Test, after Gordon…
gregladen | August 15, 2010Genie Scott's recent talk at an Atheist Alliance International conference. The title: "Who Pulled the Stake Out? The resurgence of young-earth creationism". Event date: 9-28-2007
gregladen | August 15, 2010Stephen Jay Gould and David Pilbeam wrote a paper in 1974 that was shown ten years later to be so totally wrong in its conclusions that it has fallen into an obscurity not usually linked to either Gould or Pilbeam. However, they were actually right in ways that they could not have anticipated. And even if they were not right, this paper still has much to contribute, including the opening words of that publication in Science, which are very much worthy of consideration for many reasons:
A repost
It is no longer true that there are more practitioners than pieces. In fact, when I…
gregladen | August 14, 2010Lucy, Ardi, Frodo, and us: what old bones and new genetics are revealing today.
Who are these people and can we call them family? Listen to Greg Laden and Lynn Fellman discuss how recent fossil and tool discoveries are changing the shape of our family tree.
A report earlier this week showed evidence for stone tool use at 3.39 million years ago -- much earlier than previously thought.
In addition to ancient bones and tools, genetics is filling some of the pre-historic knowledge gaps. For instance, genetic material from 40,000 year old bones show that some of us are one to four percent…
gregladen | August 14, 2010A fairly accurate and well done, and more up to date, account of what has gone on with the Marc Hauser investigation is here, in a piece punished in the New York Times by Nicholas Wade: In Harvard Lab Inquiry, a Raid and a 3-Year Wait.
It is very clear that the Fourth Estate is on the verge of a detailed and clear description of events.
At this point in time, it is probably a good idea for Harvard to release their internal report or a very good summary of it. Here's why:
1) There are people who have worked over the years in Hauser's lab. As long as a cloud of uncertainty rests over this…
gregladen | August 13, 2010Wanted: A shortcut key to zip backwards to the last mispelleded word in a text document. (And, forward too would be nice, but backwards is most important.) Next time you are writing stuff, think about how cool this would be.
See the whole "WANTED" list here.
gregladen | August 13, 2010Money Harper is a musician who has put to song several actual research projects of University of Oklahoma scientists. He's raising money to finish the project. Maybe you can help him out. Either way, it is an interesting story, and I'm sure you are going to want a copy of the CD.
My old friend Dan Bewley, of The News On 6, had produced a news piece on the story. Here's the text of the story, and here's the video:
Check out the story and follow the link to Monty Harper's web site.
gregladen | August 13, 2010I will be interviewed on Sunday Morning by Lynn Fellman on Minnesota Atheist Radio. We'll be covering the recent and almost recent news in several areas of human evolution, and discussing "Lucy, Ardi, Frodo, and us: what old bones and new genetics are revealing today"
... but since news from the field comes in so quickly, we may never get to our intended topic, since we can also talk about monkeys and very ancient cut marks on stone tools.
Tune in on Radio 950 KTNF Twin Cities, or catch the Podcast later. I don't think there is a streaming thingie.
gregladen | August 13, 2010An episode from KTEH's Uncommon Knowledge series: "Darwin under the Microscope: Questioning Darwinism". Dr. Genie Scott goes toe to toe with creationist Dr. William Dembski. Air date: 12/7/2001
gregladen | August 13, 2010There was an election in November of 2008, but you probably knew that already. You cast a vote for a presidential candidate, and if you were especially interested, put a bumper sticker on your car and a sign in your yard. If you're a typical Minnesotan, somewhat more engaged in the process than is usual with Americans, statistically speaking, you also voted for a U.S. Senate candidate, and you remember who it was, even if your candidate didn't win. That's already quite a bit going on for one election cycle, but of course there was also an election for the U.S. House of Representatives in your…
gregladen | August 13, 2010After I reported this recent and interesting research paper about urinary tract inflictions, a number of conversations broke out on that post, on my facebook page, and via email, and some of these conversations raised the question of cranberry juice and whether the idea that it prevents, reduces, or shortens the duration of UTIs is real or woo.
Added: After further discussion elsewhere, I would like to clarify what is being asked here: Imagine you are a person who drinks apple juice and cranberry juice as your main hydrating substance. Also, you are are a person who is concerned with…
gregladen | August 12, 2010Chronic infection is, in a way, the new emerging infectious disease. Many pathogens are relatively tenacious when they infect elderly individuals or individuals who are otherwise not fully immunocompetent, and such individuals are, thanks to modern medical technology and practice, more common in the population. Resistant bacteria can cause chronic infection. It is interesting to see more research oriented specifically towards the problem of chronic infection as a problem in and of itself, and a paper just out by Hannan, Mysorekar, Hung, Isaacson-Schmit and Hultgren, in PLoS Pathogens, is…