gregladen | July 29, 2010So, do you think there is any connection between this:
9 months, 23 days
Mark your calendars! The end of the world is nigh, and we've got a specific date: the Rapture will occur on 21 May, 2011, and the world ends on 21 October 2011. How do we know this? As near as I can tell, it's pure numerology...
and this:
That Killer Asteroid You Heard About Yesterday? We Knew About It Last Year
... there's a giant asteroid out there called 1999 RQ36, and there's a small chance it might hit us ...
Certainly not, but both are interesting reads.
gregladen | July 29, 2010For a new project to fund progressive candidates, with the intention of countering the 200 million or so that Republican-aligned special interests have raised for the 2010 election. Click here.
gregladen | July 29, 2010I've been interested forever in human perceptions of risk and culturally mediated fear. I got to work with some of the cook risk perception people at the Kennedy School of Government for a while (as a bystander), and as an archaeologist, I find the question of risk and fear important in human foraging (and other) decisions. For instance, humans can specialize or not as foragers, and they can include or exclude certain kinds of resources. Did early humans in southern Africa avoid dangerous bovid prey and prefer allegedly less dangerous antelopes? Did various groups that avoid fishing (East…
gregladen | July 29, 2010Barbara Forrest, author of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design, has a major blog post addressing the current maneno in Louisiana. A Parish school board there wants to place creationism on equal or higher footing than evolution. Read Barbara's piece here.
gregladen | July 29, 2010As you know, I have a long standing interest in dogs and bears and in the topic of animals eating people.
(SEE UPDATE AT END OF POST)
And now, from Montana, we have a case of a brown bear with cubs invading a camp ground, killing one person and mauling several over several minutes time. The rangers say it was a predatory attack, but the m.o. does not seem that way to me. Yet, it is also not a case of a bear going after badly stored food or being territorially threatened by humans in any direct way (but perhaps indirectly?).
When he heard the first scream in a campground outside…
gregladen | July 29, 2010Bloomberg? NPR? Or FOX?
You KNOW the white house wants to give it to NPR. But they will look so Librul and stuff if they do that, and they are still living in the Squeemish 90s when it comes to that sort of thing (they need to watch this).
So give them the backup they need: Click here and sign the peition!
"FOX News is a right-wing propaganda operation, not a legitimate news organization. Award the seat vacated by Helen Thomas to NPR, which has provided public interest coverage of the presidency and the White House for almost four decades."
Click here
gregladen | July 29, 2010It turns out, Sponge Bob Square Pants Roolz. But never mind that. Keep focused on the racism, it is actually important:
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
He he ... she said "girlfriend."
gregladen | July 29, 2010Are you a "safe guy"? Or do you know someone who (you or he or some else thinks) is?
Stephanie Zvan has written about this at Quiche Moraine, and I think I might have been living in a different world than Stephanie's because my experience has always been that the attribute of "safeness" is a negotiated one, and it has not always been about "safe guys" but also "gals."
Perhaps this is an East Coast vs. Midwestern/Plains thing, or, perhaps the difference is that we field scientists can spend months at a time (rather than hours now and then) dealing with this issue. There is a difference…
gregladen | July 29, 2010Tan Le's astonishing new computer interface reads its user's brainwaves, making it possible to control virtual objects, and even physical electronics, with mere thoughts (and a little concentration). She demos the headset, and talks about its far-reaching applications.
gregladen | July 28, 2010From Al Franken:
The Comcast-NBC merger is the first domino. If it falls, the rest will soon follow. If no one stops them, how long do you think it will take before 4 or 5 megacorporations effectively control the flow of information in America not only on television, but online? How long do you think it will take before the Fox News website loads 5 times faster than DailyKos?
It's almost too late to stop this from happening, but not quite. The government can stop them. . . but first the government has to be MADE to act.
Net Neutrality is THE First Amendment issue of our time. If you want to…
gregladen | July 28, 2010These data were scraped by security consultant Ron Bowles, using code that scans Facebook profiles and collects all data not hidden by privacy settings. Which, as some but not all of you know, are probably not set the way you think they are set for your account.
You can have the data if you want. Click here to download it.
I'm a little unconcerned about these data being spread around. I was already available to anyone who simply went on (after joining) facebook.
Bowles did this in order to highlight the fact that stuff you put on Facebook is pretty much like stuff you leave around on…
gregladen | July 28, 2010Arthritis and injury grind down millions of joints, but few get the best remedy -- real biological tissue. Kevin Stone shows a treatment that could sidestep the high costs and donor shortfall of human-to-human transplants with a novel use of animal tissue.
gregladen | July 28, 2010Without looking, can you name five major cities that still exist and have changed their names? Miss Cellania can.
What is a pleurodiran? Second in a series at Tetrapod Zoology.
This is interesting: "For the first time the number of [animal research] procedures involving genetically altered animals (which includes GM and naturally occurring mutants) exceeded the number of procedures using normal animals." source Hat Tip: Skepchicks
Minnesota Atheists Talk Radio is BACK!!!
gregladen | July 28, 2010Whooping cough appears to be back, with a vengeance. It is now an epidemic in California. You need to know that it is serious business.
gregladen | July 28, 2010Is the future of the science blogging blogosphere gong to look like the Early Triassic (which followed a mass extinction event)? Bora seems to think so: Science Blogging Networks: What, Why and How
Reversal of hyperglycemia in diabetic mouse models using induced-pluripotent stem (iPS)-derived pancreatic β-like cells ... say no more. Just read all about it here.
Dengue fever in florida: What's the story?
gregladen | July 28, 2010It was already stifling at 9 o'clock in the morning as I frantically took notes on what I was witnessing through my field glasses. Without warning a black, hairy arm reached out to smack an unsuspecting victim, immediately giving way to a frantic chase that roused the entire troop. With teeth bared, the large, muscular ape bared down on his assailant amidst high-pitched screams of excitement before a resounding smack reverberated beneath the canopy and signaled ...
... that it is time for you to CLICK HERE to read this fascinating post that bears on issues of Primate Psychology, Animal Rights…