gregladen | February 13, 2010This is Darwin's Birthday Weekend. The following posts review and reflect on the Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin. If you've not read it, you should. If you won't, that's OK, just read these:
The Voyage of the Beagle
Darwin Crossing The Atlantic
Charles Darwin and the Rain Forest
Darwin Gets his Wellies Wet
South America on Five Dollars a Day
Darwin South of the Tropics
Darwin and The Gauchos
Fossil Quadrupeds
Rheas and the Birth of Evolutionary Theory
Elephants and Horses
gregladen | February 13, 2010This weekend we are celebrating Charles Darwin's birthday. Here are a few items you may enjoy reading and reflecting on:
Pagel on Darwin
Why didn't Darwin discover Mendel's laws?
Reflections on the Origin of Species
gregladen | February 12, 2010You remember the Summer Olympics in China. And now you are enjoying the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. But let us never forget the Fall Olumpics:
gregladen | February 12, 2010The following is rare footage of the Huxley vs. Wilberforce debate. Wilberforce, the one in pink, appears to be on top but he clearly has no chance against the brilliant Huxley.
gregladen | February 12, 2010
The red smudge at the center of this picture is the first comet discovered by NASA's Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA
NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer discovered its first ever comet as part of an infrared survey of the whole sky.
The comet is called "P/2010 B2 (WISE)," but is known on the street as WISE. If they keep naming comets like that this will get confusing as WISE will probably discover dozens of these suckers.
P (which is what I like to call it) is 175 x 106 km away from Earth, about 2 km in diameter, and about 4.5…
gregladen | February 11, 2010Nobody read this.
Salty, my friend. I wrote the following after seeing your blog post.
Salty, it is certainly true that you are not an antisemite. I never said you were, and I never insinuated you were. I made a statement in which I suggested that some of the thing you had been saying in comments could easily look to an outsider like antisemitic comments (because of their overall form or other features). I took pains to make sure that in that statement to give clear indication (in two separate phrases) that I was talking about appearance, and that I personally did not think this.…
gregladen | February 11, 2010According to Isis. Check it out. Then come back here. I don't want you hanging out over there.
gregladen | February 11, 2010Whale Wars: Cat and Mouse Games
How to change global patterns of consumption (of seafood) Vertical Agitation in Action
Stop Japan From Killing Week: Thou Shalt Not Kill Unless It's Fast
gregladen | February 11, 2010But first a little basketball....
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Oh, by the way, the next commenter who refers to me as a "Glen Beck" is banned forever and can never by my friend. Do you understand? Good.
gregladen | February 11, 2010Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
gregladen | February 11, 2010
This oblique view shows geological layers of rock exposed on a mound inside Gale Crater on Mars. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/USGS
It is easy to forget how important impact craters are on planetary history on a planet like Earth with dynamic continental movement, wind and water erosion, and a short memory. But we are reminded when we look at the research coming out of Mars.
Gale Crater is about the size of Connecticut, and within the crater is a huge mound, several thousand meters high, which expose a time-deep sequence of layers demonstrating dramatic changes in…
gregladen | February 11, 2010Huh. I was just beginning to explore Google Wave and now apparently it has already crashed on the lonely shore of Software User Indifference. But what will be the fate of Google Buzz? (Razib explores the question.)
At this time in my personal IT/Computer development Google Wave is the opposite of what I've been moving towards. I want documents that are plain text, marked up but preferably with minimal makrup. Google Wave scares me and annoys me and call me crazy but I'm not happy with a document that someone else can edit while I'm working on it. Not that there is not a place for such…
gregladen | February 11, 2010Does "CardioFuel" (the dietary supplement) work?
Genetic research ties autism to 'trust hormone'
Placebo Effect Explained (Note: The "explanation" is rong! See this.)
gregladen | February 11, 2010How difficult is it to distinguish between knee-jerk criticisms of religions and well-reasoned arguments? I would personally state this is quite simple by looking at the premises of the argument, but this oversimplifies a very complex issue....
Explore Atheistic Aggression at Mors dei.
gregladen | February 11, 2010This sucker was filmed in the Gulf of Mexico swimming among the oil rigs!!! It propelled itself with undulations of its dorsal fin and looks a lot like a sea serpent. In fact, it is said to be "the origin of the sea serpent myth" but I'm not quite sure what the difference is between being "the origin of the story of a 30 foot long fishy snaky thing with an undulating dorsal fin" and being a "30 foot long fishy snaky thing with an undulating dorsal fin" ...
The Gulf Serpent Project is here.
Mark Benfield is Here.
Hat Tip Grrrrrl Scientist. Oh, and while visiting Grrrl Scientist, look at…
gregladen | February 10, 2010Har Mar is a funny little shopping mall in Roseville Minnesota. It is the home of the annual Twin Cities Creation Science Science Fair. Sometimes we visit the science fair, but it is not to laugh at the students....
... that would be rude and uncivil, and despite the fact that politeness and civility are EVILE, when it comes to children we should not be all in their faces.
Rather, we go to the funny little mall to enjoy each other's company, those of us who wish we got together more often than we do, to browse through the Creation Science Fair displays, and to size up the local…
gregladen | February 10, 2010Scientists at Mount Sinai School of Medicine reported that mothers who had high levels of phthalates during their pregnancies were more likely to have children with poorer scores in the areas of attention, aggression and conduct.
I've not read the paper, but you may find the SciAm report of interest. Hat tip Ana.
gregladen | February 10, 2010KATY, TX--A man in danger of losing his home had his prayers coincidentally answered Tuesday by the haphazard machinations of an indifferent and entirely random universe. Marvin Pewter, 45, was able to refinance his house after a radio station in Sioux Falls, SD played the favorite song of a local data-entry worker who, quietly singing along to the tune in her office, became distracted and missed a keystroke that eventually resulted in Pewter's credit rating increasing by 200 points.
Oh wait ... it was just a story in The Onion.
Never mind....