gregladen | May 31, 2010A black four door older model caddy in need of some body work and a new muffler turned into our street. The car drove quickly but furtively, the driver seeming to not quite know where she wanted to go, to the end of the faux cul-du-sac off of which each development's street radiated. A sharp left turn brought the vehicle next to a large storm sewer inlet, and out of the car flew a suspicious black thing with wires. The car roared off, too quickly to get the plate but not too quickly to be able to describe it and its occupants.
An electronic, repetitive, alarm-like noise emanated from the…
gregladen | May 31, 2010I have about ten favorite species of tree, and one of them is the corotú. Why? Because of one of the most interesting plant-animal interaction stories of recent times. The story, complete with extinct elephant-like creatures and a real Sherlock Holmes science theme can be read, along with some great images, at A Neotropical Savanna: The Corotú and the Gomphothere.
Did you ever wonder how all those old, large, beautiful trees get there? Along city streets, in an arboretum, someone's yard, or a public park? Well, one example of how this happens will be the Australian National Arboretum…
gregladen | May 31, 2010I am looking at the question: How many words are there in a language? I'd like to know for languages in general, comparatively, and for pedagogical reasons, in some well known western language which may as well be English.
What I found quite incidentally is a hornets nest of curmudgeonistic pedanticmaniacal jibberishosity. (There. Whatever the count was, it is now N+3)
(For more Falsehoods, click here. Also, listen to "Everything You Know is Sort of Wrong," on Skeptically Speaking Talk Radio. )
First I want to explain why I was interested in this at all. There has for some years been…
gregladen | May 31, 2010This just in from OZ:
Scientists say an Aboriginal rock art depiction of an extinct giant bird could be Australia's oldest painting.
The red ochre painting, which depicts two emu-like birds with their necks outstretched, could date back to the earliest days of settlement on the continent.
It was rediscovered at the centre of the Arnhem Land plateau about two years ago, but archaeologists first visited the site a fortnight ago.
A palaeontologist has confirmed the animals depicted are the megafauna species Genyornis.
Archaeologist Ben Gunn said the giant birds became extinct more than 40,000…
gregladen | May 30, 2010The podcast version of Everything You Know is Sort of Wrong with me, and Bonobo Handshake with Vanessa Woods, all on Skeptically Speaking with Desiree Schell, is available on line here
For those of you waiting for the Berry Go Round carnival: It will be out on Monday some time. I sniffed the breeze and decided that not enough people were on the Internet for this important iteration of this important web carnival. But late Monday and through Tuesday they'll be chomping at the bit.
I've restarted my occasional weather-watcher blogging here. So far the weather's been uninteresting but…
gregladen | May 30, 2010The Nature of Things / Martin Gardner from Wagner Brenner on Vimeo.
Hat Tip: Ana
gregladen | May 29, 2010And what can you really do with them?
I am not an expert on consumer technology. I stay a few miles behind the cutting edge where I can pick up the orts at a discount, and most stuff works. Last time I checked, newer (faster, bigger, whatever-er) versions of technology cost more per unit (of speed, size, whatever) than would be predicted by examination of price/unit relationships for lower (and thus older) values. Some have incorrectly claimed this to be a logarithmic relationship, but clearly it is more often a linear relationship between cost and amount up to some point, then the prices…
gregladen | May 28, 2010Today is the big day!
And not merely because it is TGIF* day.
The theme "everything you know is sort of wrong" is familiar to readers on this blog. It is an underlying theme for much of what happens here. Every now and then that theme is manifest overtly, as in the Falsehoods posts, which are, as we speak, being revised, expanded, and reissued.
Well, starting this evening and running for an indeterminate amount of time (but probably a few weeks or so) "Everything you know is sort of wrong" is not just a phrase to keep in your head all the time as you are walking around doing stuff. It's…
gregladen | May 28, 2010
You probably know that there is a new primate fossil, nicknamed "Ida," and that there is quite a buzz about it. (Well, you certainly do know by now because this is a repost!)
Darwinius masillae, aka Ida
Ida comes from fossil deposits in Germany, and was originally excavated in two different parts by private collectors, and only recently rejoined and recognized for the amazing fossil it is. This is considered to be a new genus, and is named Darwinius masillae
...holotype skeleton in right lateral view...
Ida is a 47 million year old adapid primate of outstanding, unprecedented state…
gregladen | May 27, 2010Do male geniuses outnumber female geniuses? Yes, of course, if you define geniuses in such a way that they do. See commentary here and here about this topic.
On a related note, here is a post that is closely related: The interrelationship between bias in biology and bias in education: High Cotton by Naomi Baker
gregladen | May 27, 2010Think of penguins as ocean sentinels, says Dee Boersma -- they're on the frontlines of sea change. Sharing stories of penguin life and culture, she suggests that we start listening to what penguins are telling us.
gregladen | May 27, 2010Many years ago, a sudden event occurred that changed everything. Or at least, that is what we think now. But in truth, the event took longer than many today believe, and many of the specific details, the exact order of events, the actual meaning of each detail, are not fully understood. Indeed, in the process of describing this event today, we find considerable disagreement, or at least, it is clear that one person's version is different than another's. I'd be happy to give you my version of it. What qualifies me to do that? Well, for one thing, I was there when it happened...
I refer…