gregladen | December 16, 2009Yesterday, James Randi put up a blog post in which he questioned the validity of anthropogenic global warming. He has subsequently made the statement that he probably has more thinking to do about global warming, and he admits that he really knows nothing about it. So Randi's blog post is, essentially, a non-starter as an issue, although there are some interesting things to think about.
James Hrynyshyn has an excellent blog post about this, in which he reports a conversation he had with Randi about Randi's post.
Randi's original post displays a rather embarrassing ignorance of earth…
gregladen | December 16, 2009Aardvarchaeology's Martin Rundkvist is celebrating his Fourth Blogoversary today! Congratulations Martin!
Go say hi!
gregladen | December 16, 2009
I had missed this, so it is belated. Abel's blog was Four yesterday. Go and give your best wishes.
gregladen | December 16, 2009I've convinced a few people to use Linux and most of them don't hate me, but most of them were masochistic geeks who were probably going to use Linux anyway. But there are three people who are pretty important to me who are now using Linux because of me, but who otherwise would not likely have ever used Linux, and who are not masochistic geeks. The whole idea of Linux being "grandmother ready" now takes on new meaning for me. I could be in serious trouble.
So, I've started a new project.
~~~
There are now three people in my life who hold the following things in common:
1) Regular…
gregladen | December 15, 2009Linux in Exile has some boot time data for Fedora and an interesting piece on how Microsoft Word can cause you to lose access to your own documents.
There are now 20,000 Android apps.
Yet another approach to downloading YouTube videos.
gregladen | December 15, 2009He practically invented modern TV evangelical preaching and grubbing. His death reminds me of Kristine's story.
gregladen | December 15, 2009Alternate titles for this post:
"It turns out, it is a little like a priesthood."
"Join us. Join us. Join us. Braaainzzzzz"
"Imma gonna let you finish, but first I think you need to get your Wellies wet."
...
In a library, there is a spatial relationship between knowledge and books or journals, and there is a sense of completeness about it. I'm thinking in particular of the Tozzer library, one I spent a fair amount of time in. I would go to the basement of the library and the entire ancient world (this is an anthropology library) was arrayed in a set of shelves to the left. There were…
gregladen | December 15, 2009
Huxley at the reunion of the "How To Get Born'd" class. He's the extra cute one.
gregladen | December 14, 2009Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
gregladen | December 14, 2009There are six or seven states where you must believe in god (well, swear on the bible that you believe in god) in order to hold public office.
I may have to boycott the Science Online 2010 conference, because it is in one of those states!
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
gregladen | December 14, 2009... On Scienceblogs Dot Com, at least ...
Scale Model of the Solar System
Tiger's Sex Tape Released
Encounters with gigantic orangutans
gregladen | December 14, 2009You've met them. "Oh, those scientists. They get their funding from the government/industry/political think tanks. They're just producing the results needed to keep their money flowing. They'll say anything it takes. Besides, it's not like they don't make mistakes. Even Newton and Einstein had it wrong."
Read the rest by Stephanie Zvan at QM ...
gregladen | December 14, 2009Imagine the following scenario. Two guys are walking down the street, in different cities. Guy A has two PhDs, one in quantum physics with a focus on dimensionality dynamics, the other in astrophysics with a focus on relativistic aspects of gravity and black holes. She has published dozens of peer reviewed papers on both topics and is a brilliant mathematician. Guy B never took a physics class but yesterday he finished reading large parts of The Elegant Universe. Suddenly, at the same moment, they each have an idea (they do not have the same idea ... they have different ideas) about how…
gregladen | December 13, 2009The Brown Cube is not the Rubik Cube. Anybody who thinks they are the same is ... wrong.
My friend Asha, as I write this, is heading out to the bar to watch the end of the game. It would be great to join her, but I've got some other things going right now. But YOU can join Asha, who is a pretty remarkable person, on her blog, and see what this whole Brown Cube thing is. Keep an eye on the Brown Cube. Some day it will be a famous song or something. Sung by Asha.
Here is Asha solving the Brown Cube. I think she's feeling a bit down that no one ever leaves comments on her blog. Go leave a…
gregladen | December 13, 2009This is the problem with Christians. They think they have a special pass to do whatever they want as long as it done in the name of their god. Now don't get me wrong here. The average Christian does not think he or she is above the law on a day to day basis. But it is part of Christian religion and culture, and I'm telling you this from personal experience, to ignore the law when one feels that their god or their religion demands it. So, when Ray Comfort produced his bogused-up version of Darwin's Origin of Species, the idea of doing it LEGALLY did not seem too important, apparently.
So…
gregladen | December 13, 2009There was a certain amount of Christmas shopping over the weekend, and I have to say the music was over the top this year. Or maybe I'm just getting more sensitive. In any event, it was driving me nuts.
So, I decided that I want to be in charge of the music from now on. And here is the playlist for the remainder of the holiday season:
Galileo
This Train Revised
Land Of Canaan
1 2 3
Chickenman
Shame On You
Closer to fine
World Falls
That is all. Have a nice day.
gregladen | December 13, 2009... SciTen is coming ...
In preparation for Science Online 2010 Session C, Trust and Critical Thinking organized by Stephanie Zvan and including PZ Myers, Desiree Schell, Greg Laden, and Kirsten Sanford, I'll be posting a few items such as Are You A Real Sketpic? over the next few days.
Most readers of this blog will not be going to this mid-January conference, but that does not mean you can't participate. There will probably be the ability to participate in the actual events via twitter or other social networking media. However, it is also possible to be involved by posting comments on…
gregladen | December 12, 2009Denialism and Customer Service
What happens when it is your job to help people back out of mistakes, but you are an unrepentant skeptic and most of those people you are trying to help are ... not?
... I want to yell at the naturopath who tells me that vaccination is dangerous and that she is selling cures that help people avoid sickness. I want to tell them to stop it, to wake up and prepare for a new economy rather than allow themselves to lose out by hanging on to an old economy.....
Goats on Fire
From now on, we're calling it "Goats on Fire." Or, for short, GOF!!!
gregladen | December 12, 2009You see how funny the world is. And I don't mean funny-ha-ha.
Oprah. The show was about all these people who won a million dollars or more. Near the end of the show, Publishers Clearing House drove a van onto the stage and gave a randomly chosen audience member 25 Large. As she and Oprah were hugging, she said something to Oprah, and Oprah eventually brought the statement the woman had into the open conversation.
"You say your husband gave this to you. Winning this prize."
"Oh yes, he did .... he died in September, but before he died he told me ... "
bla bla bla.
Nobody told the lady…