gregladen | October 20, 2009Continuing on with our theme of anti-Obama wackaloonery, including the inherent racism involved in that, there is not additional evidence that there are indeed more death threats against our President than usual.
From the Boston Globe:
The unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, a rise in racist hate groups, and a new wave of antigovernment fervor threaten to overwhelm the US Secret Service, according to government officials and reports, raising new questions about the 144-year-old agency's overall mission.
This is leading some to consider the possibility that the…
gregladen | October 20, 2009How the Perception of an Intact Body Can Go Awry
Twin Cities Skeptics and Minneapolis Skeptics present: "Phantom limbs, alien hand syndrome, the rubber hand illusion...How the Perception of an Intact Body Can Go Awry..."
Details here.
gregladen | October 20, 2009A sexually explicit illustrated Book of Genesis by controversial artist Robert Crumb, which features Bible characters having intercourse, has been condemned by religious groups.
Aside from the explicit sex scenes, The Book of Genesis by Robert Crumb also includes general nudity and some gratuitous violence.
Crumb is famous for his "Fritz the Cat" cartoons.
Religious leaders have stated that since the bible is part of people's religion, it has to be treated differently than other themes and that Crumb is wrong to make this version of Genesis. Mike Judge, of the Christian Institute:
"It is…
gregladen | October 20, 2009To answer that question briefly, it is really really old if you mean "how old are the oldest rocks that are exposed by the Grand Canyon," and it is probably just a few million years old (5 or 6 by some estimates) if you mean "how long did the canyon itself take to form."
An African peneplain elevated by doming along the Eastern Rift Valley. The original surface, once flat but now raised as "mountains" in the distance, is shown by the dotted line.
A repost
But Creationists, of course, have a different story, especially young earth creationists. I'm not going to recount it here. If you want to…
gregladen | October 20, 2009
I took this photograph not using a telephoto lens, and not using angry bees for protection. But there was a 5 meter high electrified concrete and steel fence.
But for how long? Consider this report on PhysOrg:
Elephants’ fear of angry bees could help to protect them from PhysOrg.com
At a time when encroaching human development in former wildlife areas has compressed African elephants into ever smaller home ranges and increased levels of human-elephant conflict, a study in the October 9th issue of Current Biology suggests that strategically placed beehives might offer a low-tech elephant…
gregladen | October 20, 2009I've heard it does. I just put Lizzie's disk drive in my freezer. What is going to happen next?
gregladen | October 20, 2009Read this essay by Mike, and watch the following video. There will be a quiz.
gregladen | October 20, 200932 previously unknown exoplanets have been discovered with a high-precision instrument hooked up to a Chilean telescope...
The existence of the so-called exoplanets -- planets outside our solar system -- was announced at the European Southern Observatory/Center for Astrophysics, University of Porto conference in Porto, Portugal, according to a statement issued by the observatory.
The announcement was made by a consortium of international researchers, headed by the Geneva Observatory, who built the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, or HARPS. The device can detect slight wobbles…
gregladen | October 20, 2009I do make the absolute best pumpkin pie, which I am reminded of because of this recipe for Spicy Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie. There is a very large extended family with whom we have had Thanksgiving for the last few years and they have come to rely on my pies. But since Offspring is expected to be borned within a few days of Thanksgiving this year, they should make a backup plan.
gregladen | October 19, 2009I never really drank seltzer, or as we would say in NY, seltzah. The one morning I found myself waking up in a house full of sleeping people and we had all been partying heavily the night before, and I had some kind of extra-special hangover, the kind you only get if you've been ....
... well, never mind, I'm not sure about the statue of limitations.
Anyway, I wandered down to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, pulled out a quart bottle of Canada Dry Seltzah water, opened it, and downed it in about three draughts. For the next several years, setlzah was my drink, and I never looked…
gregladen | October 19, 2009Hispanic children diagnosed with brain tumors get high-quality treatment at hospitals that specialize in neurosurgery far less often than other children with the same condition, potentially compromising their immediate prognosis and long-term survival, according to research from Johns Hopkins published in October's Pediatrics.
More than a decade after the Institute of Medicine's landmark report Crossing the Quality Chasm, the Hopkins investigators say their findings detect persistent gaps in access to specialized care among certain patients, raising questions about how far across the chasm we…
gregladen | October 19, 2009Listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world's toughest bacterium," Deinococcus radiodurans can withstand extreme temperatures and drought conditions, lack of nutrients and a thousand times more radiation than a human being.
A new study by Cornell researchers reveals that nitric oxide -- a gas molecule used in many metabolic processes in animals and a pollutant in the atmosphere that leads to smog -- plays a key role in D. radiodurans' recovery when exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UV).
The study, appearing online Oct. 19 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,…
gregladen | October 19, 2009In case you are interested, the conversation with Desiree Schell, Omar Mouallem, and me talking about "Getting Noticed" on Skeptically Speaking is in podcast form. Here.
gregladen | October 19, 2009He makes the argument that what he does is legal. It probably is. But he is still a dickwad.
Watch CBS News Videos Online
Being mixed race = being drunk or being on drugs. Oh, and Bobby Jindal proves himself a moron once again.
gregladen | October 19, 2009NCSE Executive Director Eugenie Scott has joined the Board of Advisors for Scientific American.
Dr. Eugenie C. Scott has joined Scientific American's revamped and expanded Board of Advisers. In her new role, Dr. Scott will have a hand in shaping the course of the magazine, offering advice and feedback on upcoming editorial plans, manuscripts, article proposals, and more.
In her letter to Dr. Scott, acting editor in chief Mariette DiChristina noted, "We at Scientific American admire your work, and would greatly value having the benefit of your opinions."
Other members of this select…