gregladen | September 25, 2009The Anglo Boer War (in what is now South Africa from October 11th, 1899 to May 31st, 1902) was a turning point in European style military history. Previously, infantry would operate in large blocks that would move forward, turn and open or close ranks, and winning an infantry engagement would involve getting your columns around the side or back of the enemy's columns, or simply overrunning them head on. This worked in part because although everybody had a firearm of some kind, the firearms held few bullets, took time to reload, and were inaccurate, and since they tended to be inaccurate,…
gregladen | September 25, 2009Mount Rainier (14,410 ft) has lately attracted a small amount of attention because of what is considered by some an increase in seismic activity there, so I thought it might be nice to get a baseline description of this volcano for those of you interested in such things. For scientifically accurate information and interesting discussion on the mountain, keep an eye on Eruptions Blog.
Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano. This means that it is made up of strata of lava, tuff/tephra, ash, and so on that has been pushed out into a conical pattern. The lava from stratovolcanoes is usually…
gregladen | September 24, 2009Are women more likely to be stupid/gullible? That seems to be the assumption that the ungenerous of us might make when considering the 7% gap between men and women when it comes to religious affiliation....
... that was discussed recently in an ARIS poll. Earlier, I had pointed to Stephanie Zvan's comments on this, and now I see that Pandagon is all over it too. I just hope the ladies at Pandagon don't just buy the bill of goods or fall for the old snake oil routine or anything.
gregladen | September 24, 2009This is the sixtieth anniversary of cryptography, according to one way of counting it that I'm sure lots of people don't agree with. (I mean, seriously, I've SEEN the Da Vinci code, man.)
Anyway, here is a nice slide show, starting out with the Engigma, working its way through the movie "Sneaker" and eventually to "quantum cryptography"
The slide show is here.
gregladen | September 24, 2009... this is not close to perfect, but an experimental mix of two previously tested but ineffective vaccines appears to have at least a 31 percent prevention rate based on one recent trial. The story is written up here.
gregladen | September 24, 2009Nobody knows. But, someone does suspect this is the case. (If it is true, and we don't know, it pertains to LAST YEARs flu shot, and may or may not pertain to this year's flu shot.)
However, it would seem that the proprietary publication process is keeping the information in private for now. David Dobbs has the story.
gregladen | September 24, 2009Yes, it is "National 'Punctuation'" Day ... in America! All day you should use "extra" [whenever possible] punctuation! It will help to #@%@^# swear now and then...!!!
The national "Punctuation 'Day'" page is .... -> HERE!?!?
gregladen | September 24, 2009
The new film about Darwin, Creation, will be distributed in the United States after all, according to a story in the Hollywood Reporter (September 24, 2009). The film is expected to be released by Newmarket Films in December 2009. Earlier the producer of the film, Jeremy Thomas, lamented to the Telegraph (September 11, 2009), "It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. ... It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America." A few days later, however, NBC Bay Area (September 15, 2009) reported that a…
gregladen | September 24, 2009Well, not the Riot Act, but the Fourth Amendment.
Just in case he wasn't familiar with it, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) decided to read the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution to David Kris, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's National Security Division, who was testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee today to urge reauthorization of expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act.
source
The issue is over whether or not the 4th Amendment requirement that a warrant be issued only if it describes the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized obviates the…
gregladen | September 24, 2009Nom nom nom.
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gregladen | September 24, 2009When I am in the mood to fish, and I'm at the lake, I pay special attention to the water.
I notice things moving or splashing. I notice the behavior of the terns, the herons, the bald eagles, the loons, and the mergansers. Those fish eating birds are watching the fish and have a better view than I do, and more incentive as well. But mostly I watch the surface of the water.
And here is what I've learned: Most of the time you can't see below the surface, out any distance from the shore. You can't tell what is going on at the surface because waves, or ripples caused by a light breeze,…
gregladen | September 24, 2009
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gregladen | September 24, 2009Democrat Paul Kirk has been named by Governor Deval Patrick as an interim replacement to fill Ted Kennedy's senate seat. Kirk will serve until the end of the present term and will not run for re-election.
gregladen | September 24, 2009Most of the time that you hear a Sbling mention the ads on scienceblogs.com we're whinging about one thing or another. Russian brides here, woo and snake oil there. You know the routine. So, I thought I'd note that we currently seem to be running an ad staring Jennifer Lopez encouraging you to vaccinate your baby for pertussis. Which has been recently talked about here.
So next time you see an obnoxious offensive ad on scienceblogs, complain to us about it as loudly as ever. This pertussis ad does not get us any advanced brownie points. But at least, you'll know that sometimes marketing,…
gregladen | September 24, 2009The balloon and camera were launched at 7:44 AM, the balloon burst at 10:51 AM at 107,145 ft. and the camera landed via parachute at 11:40 AM, 89 miles from the launch site after a 3 hr. & 56 min. flight. The camera recorded a total of 4 hrs. & 22 min. of Hi-Def Video before it stopped recording 53 secs after landing, when its 32GB of memory was full. The only thing better would have been if the camera had recorded for several minutes more to captured the sound of us approaching and video of us opening its container.
If you get motion sickness or are annoyed at unedited video, either…
gregladen | September 24, 2009This post could be like the end of the movie Casa Blanca, with two versions, because I know two Stephanies with birthdays today.
One is my oldest friend in Minnesota, long time partner in various adventures in life, best 'man' at my wedding, and is seen here sending laser beams out into space:
Happy birthday Stephanie, and please check your email for a much fuller comment on circumcision!
The other is my partner in crime, I mean blogging (and a couple of other things), and much more recent BFF, Stephanie Zvan of Quiche Moraine and Almost Diamonds:
Happy Birthday Stephanie Zvan!
Go…
gregladen | September 23, 2009No one in this country should ever have no options for where to beg for heath care.
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gregladen | September 23, 2009Is at Lab Rat. It's a very good one, please visit, click on all the links, digg/stuble/\/. and so on.
(Notice how I escaped the slash in slash dot.)
gregladen | September 23, 2009Because you are corrupt!!!! ... it turns out.
(Watch the whole thing ... Rachel gets really cute near the middle with a nice hat trick.)
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Here is the link to Ross's statement.