gregladen | December 2, 2009As a strategy, Obama's plan for Afghanistan is an order of magnitude better then what we were doing before, and an order of magnitude worse than walking away from the region. Or at least, that is my opinion at the moment. Here's some interesting discussion on it:
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gregladen | December 2, 2009The Bird Count is Coming Up!
110th Annual Audubon Count Yields Data Vital to Conservation
New York, NY, December 1, 2009 - The longest running Citizen Science survey in the world, Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) will take place from December 14, 2009 through January 5, 2010. From Alaska to Antarctica, tens of thousands of volunteers will add a new layer to over a century of bird population information.
Scientists rely on this remarkable trend data to better understand how birds are faring, and what needs to be done to protect them and the environment we share. Data from…
gregladen | December 1, 2009And I say "Crap" because this is, for once, going to be a science talk and that would be really interesting, BUT Stephanie Zvan, Mike Haubrich and I will be busy making a TV show at the same time. (Our new sitcom!) But YOU can go to the talk. Here are the details:
The talk is hosted by the Minnesota C.A.S.H.
Thursday, December 3rd, at 7:30
Molecular Cell Biology Building 3-120
420 Washington Avenue SE
East Bank Campus of the University of Minnesota.
PZ Myers, biologist, renowned science blogger, and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris, will be giving us a talk on…
gregladen | December 1, 2009This is not about "Man against fire" but rather "Man and fire working together."
Obama To Enter Diplomatic Talks With Raging Wildfire
gregladen | December 1, 2009According to The Scientist
This year's most exciting innovation, announced in April, circumvents the complications that come with the most common technique for reprogramming cells to an embryonic-like state. For the first time, Sheng Ding of Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and his colleagues induced pluripotency in mouse embryonic fibroblast cells using only proteins, avoiding genetic modification altogether.
The others are listed here.
gregladen | December 1, 2009You tell me. Vote for your favorite internet video in the comments section below.
gregladen | December 1, 2009 It has now been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that stuff has been made up and foisted on the American Public.
Tim Lambert has nailed it. He shows the code that was used to adjust climate data, he shows how the adjustment was made, what it was used for, and does an excellent job of explaining the whole thing.
Lies are being spread about climate change, and Lambert has nailed it. Have a look.
gregladen | December 1, 2009Rhett Allain is an Associate Professor of Physics at Southeastern Louisiana University. He enjoys teaching and talking about physics. Sometimes he takes things apart and can't put them back together....
And now he blogs HERE! Welcome Rhett.
gregladen | December 1, 2009When my baby nurses from his mom, he can see her face and bond with her because he was designed to do so by god. Like how a banana is designed by god to fit comfortably in the hand for eating, or maybe just carrying around.
What am I talking about?
Imagine the following two alternative scenarios.
Alternative Universe One
The Scene: Visiting Nurses Inc. VNI contracts with health care providers to send trained visiting nurses around to check in on newly minted babies and their parents. This is standard procedure in many health care plans, and of course, VNI wants to develop and maintain…
gregladen | November 30, 2009"Get her drunk then get her done."
So reads one of the decals on the F-150 pickup truck parked in my new neighbor's driveway. Of all the objectionable aphorisms on that particular truck, that's the mildest one. I wonder what my daughter will think of that when she notices it some time over the next few days, which she surely will.
There is a mud fight going on over at Ed Brayton's blog regarding his use of the word "shrew" in reference to Sarah Palin. The Kliqueons (rhymes with "Klingons") have called Ed out for being sexist. He says they should lay off and it is not OK to call him a…
gregladen | November 30, 2009Drug monkey put up this funny video. But it is not so funny as it is like real life some times.
I (and a couple of others) once found out that we were no longer authors on a manuscript (that we had written) when the "authors" gathered in a lobby to get on an elevator to go up to a suite (at a conference) to put on finishing touches. We were asked to not get on the elevator.
We had questioned a very dubious conclusion that one of the primaries had come to in an unrelated research project. We were right of course.
The real sad news is this: Back in the old days, any academic worth a…
gregladen | November 30, 2009The question of pacifiers (and for that matter bottles) arises when there is a new baby. In the case of Huxley, he will be breast milk fed if possible, but that involves bottle feeding at some point. Also, since our society does not practice cross nursing all Western babies go through a risk period when they begin to starve while the mother's milk is not yet in. Sometimes that is a couple of days, sometimes longer.
In any event, the question comes up, do you let a baby anywhere near a nipple that is not attached to a human breast, and a related question is do you use a pacifier if the…
gregladen | November 30, 2009Josh Rosenau has an excellent post on the recent theft and release of (selected uncontextualized?) emails of climate scientists. See: Stolen emails, climate change, and the practice of science.
I have been in the room when scientists got personal and forgot to be objective. I've been in the room when scientists made up data, or at least, tried to. I've also been in the room when people's personal agendas, such as they are, were pitted against other people's personal agendas and moderators and observers jumped in and science progressed. Or, in some cases, failed to progress because it…
gregladen | November 29, 2009Here is the video you all have been looking for of the guy eating the hold up note from his bank robbery. This video also commemorates an interesting anniversary.
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gregladen | November 29, 2009So, I stop paying attention for a couple of days and Rachel Maddow is now an older white-haired straight white guy???
Whatever, this is an interesting report.
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I like the idea that the Republicans are terrified of their grassroots. I certainly am.
gregladen | November 29, 2009It is not clear how many gunmen were involved, but four police officers were killed in a coffee-shop ambush in Tacoma Washington.
The reason I bring it up at all is because it is an interesting case that wen unraveled may shed more light on the legal and social sides of the question of how to address unfettered access to and use of firearms technology in the US.
Details here.
The news currently says that it was one or two gunman, four of four cops in the coffee shop were shot, no one else hurt, and no details were given on the kind off firearms used. If you know more, please feel free to…
gregladen | November 29, 2009I agree with almost nothing substantive that he says but many people find the discussion interesting: