gregladen | July 8, 2010There are three topics I want to blog about in the near future, but given baby duties, narcotic haze, and a few other factors I won't get to right away. But I thought I'd tell you what they are in case you have any preliminary remarks that I might find useful. Or, perhaps you can talk me out of addressing these topics.
1) How I can simultaneously NOT be a Chris Mooney Fanboy and chastise many of the commenters on The Intersection (and here) for getting it wrong when they blame everything on him. This would include a subtext regarding commenting and comment policies on blogs.
2) Why…
gregladen | July 8, 2010I want everyone else on the Innertubes to be nice to me, but I don't care to be nice to them unless I feel like it.
Ah... having made that confession, I feel much much better.
And now, for some intellectual type discussion on the subject of hypocrisy: Hypocrisy Part II
While you read that (and leaving your snarky comments) I'm going off to Physical Therapy for some serious kneebending. Then, medication. Then, blogging. See if you can spot the posts I wrote with vs. without medication. (The inverse of with vs. without pain!)
Grrrrr. Be nice to me or else.
gregladen | July 7, 2010OK, not really. But ... following Pal MD's nostalgia/softdrink/video theme, here is what happens when the Pepsi Theme Song meets the Internet:
The scary guy in the middle is Physiprof.
I'm pretty sure that is not the Pepsi Theme Song, but the Internet says it is in several places.
gregladen | July 7, 2010If you look at the Pepsi Food Frontiers Blog you will see that it now says "ADVERTORIAL" along the top of the blog. My understanding is that this is temporary and more design changes may occur, but the objective is to make this sort of blog clearly distinct from regular blogs. This is a good first step.
The RSS feeds from sponsored blogs, including the Google News Feed and such, will be handled separately, and posts from the sponsored blogs in the Fire Hose feed will be marked as such (eventually, not sure if that is in place yet).
People should still send in their feedback on this.
gregladen | July 7, 2010Having read my colleagues blog posts and many comments thereon and elsewhere, I want to suggest that we consider the new blog, "Food Frontiers," a little differently than some have suggested (see my original post) and, actually, welcome it to the Sb fold.
As painful as it is to admit (and I'm really squirming here) Isis and Drug Monkey were perhaps right to reserve judgment. Perhaps they recognize that what others have made into a stark distinction is really a gray area: There are in fact many science bloggers (here on Sb and elsewhere) who are paid fully by a single company from a major…
gregladen | July 7, 2010UPDATE: It gets worse. Chis Mooney has provided some additional details. As more and more is known, my tendency to say to 'William': "oh, stop confessing and just get back to blogging, we forgive you" is turning into "OMH, you fuckhead, please slit your wrists now" ... except I'm afraid he'd do it and I'd feel a little bad about it. For a minute or two. Anyway, check this out: Appalling Revelations about "Tom Johnson"
This is interesting enough to bump to post status; More information from the Buddah is not Serious YNH Confession Thread.
Chris Mooney wrote this on The Intersection last…
gregladen | July 6, 2010This topic came up a couple of times during SkepchiCON. I'll be blogging about that later. But for now, I thought you might find this interesting.
gregladen | July 6, 2010Although I quickly add that I've not been reading much on the Internet this morning, but stilll ..... There is this item in HuffPo ... Jesus and the Evolution of the Species by Stanley Knick, PhD:
This is not about whether you believe in God, or whether you believe in evolution. It is not about whether you believe that Jesus is the Son of God. If you believe in God, fine. If not, fine. If you believe evolution is real, fine. If not, fine. This is not about what you believe, or what I believe. It is about the idea of Jesus, and the idea of evolution, and what these two ideas might have to say…
gregladen | July 6, 2010The BBC Sports Section accidentally released a version of its newly designed website that insulted many of its readers, and possibly insulted The Queen (depending on one's interpretation). The web site had "place holder" text and graphics that were not removed before release. Here's the story.
Let this be a lesson to you, web developers!
A legislator in California is afraid of the asbestos in the State Rock. But, this asbestos can't really get out of the rock an harm you. But technically, yes, it is in there, in the serpentine, helping it look all cook and stuff. Read about the…
gregladen | July 6, 2010Certain individuals who shall not be named (or linked to) by me on this blog have been making the usual petty and annoying nuisance of themselves. But there is some justice on the Internet, and the slapping upside the head happens here. Enjoy. Or throw up a little in your mouth. Either way, fine with me.
gregladen | July 6, 2010According to those who decide these things. This is what I had assumed would happen assuming that Caster Semenya is an XY person with complete AIS. (see: Caster Semenya's Gender: What would the science be?)
The current news story, just being reported and quite incomplete (and perhaps appropriately so) is from the BBC.
gregladen | July 6, 2010... in a research project having to do with dialect ...
We are doing research on different accents in "North American" (US and Canadian) English. We know that Americans and Canadians have a great deal in common in the way they speak, but there are also differences. These differences are influenced by geography, gender, age, ethnicity, and many other factors. In order to study the ways that North American accents differ amongst each other, we have put together a survey of common words, and we'd like you to participate!
We'd like recordings from anyone who has grown up speaking English in the…
gregladen | July 6, 2010Apparently, it is OK for a government agency to insist that its employees consider religious explanations for natural phenomenon as equal to scientific ones in the context of science education.
In a decision issued on July 2, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a lower court's decision that the Texas Education Agency's policy requiring "neutrality" of its employees when "talking about evolution and creationism" is not unconstitutional.
This idiotic decision is contrary to a lot of other case law and won't stand. But we will have to fight over this one.…
gregladen | July 5, 2010It must have been very difficult to get the Universe to stand still for this photograph, but the European Space Agency managed it . Check it out.
Here is a web site that shows you what the sky looks like when viewed in different wavelengths, or using different energy sources.
gregladen | July 5, 2010The remains of US-born chess champion Bobby Fischer have been exhumed in Iceland to establish a paternity claim.
Lawyers for nine-year old Jinky Young and her mother, Marilyn, who had a relationship with Fischer, claim she is entitled to Fischer's fortune.
The Supreme Court in Reykjavik ruled last month a tissue sample was needed to prove she was Fischer's daughter.
He died in 2008 having become an Icelander in 2005. Apparently, there are a lot of people after his two million dollar estate.
gregladen | July 5, 2010Does your back yard slope up, away from your house, or does it slope down?
The likelihood that your yard slopes one way or the other ... statistically ... depends in large part on what region you live in. (Here I'll be speaking mainly of the US, but the principle applies broadly.) If you live in New England, your yard is more likely to slope up. If you live in the Midwest/Plains, your yard is more likely to slope down
This is because in New England, we humans build our settlements around rocks. Because there are rocks. (If you don't believe me, note that all the famous rock farms are in…
gregladen | July 4, 2010... OK, I think we can arrange that ...
This is YA crazy web site extolling the wonders of Young Earth creationism. Nothing new.
Which is why it is interesting. How can the following possibly still be part of the YEC rhetoric?
There are dating methods like Carbon 14 dating convincing many people that the earth is 4.5 billion years old. Carbon 14 dating assumes that the rate of change and decay has been relatively constant through time. This assumes the present is the key to the past. Creationists believe that Noah's flood was a literal, cataclysmic world-wide event. The scale of this event…