gregladen | August 27, 2009Zuska is writing quite a bit about the Health Care industry, from both a personal and analiticopolitical perspective. You should check out her last few posts on this topic. These are must read posts.
gregladen | August 27, 2009This petition is being fairly widely circulated. If you are blogger, please pass it on. If you are a normal person, please sign it.
THE PETITION
gregladen | August 27, 2009According to the constitutions of the United States and the State of Kentucky, church and state must remain separate. But then the Kentucky Legislature passed a homeland security related bill that stated that the security of the Commonwealth (State) depends on Almighty God.
That wording was thrown out yesterday by a Kentucky Judge. This was the outcome of a lawsuit by ten residence of Kentucky and the American Atheists. The stte Attorney General has not decided if he will appeal.
Oh, do it, do it, do it!!! Appeal this one!!! Might as well get this cut and dry decision as high up as it can…
gregladen | August 26, 2009Hardware hackers have done all sorts of interesting things to cool down their PC's so they can be wildly over clocked. Roughly speaking, two otherwise identical processor chips rated at different speed are not necessarily designed differently. They are just capable of running at different speeds and not screwing up. The causes of screwing up are sometimes related to heat. So, a chip designed to run at a given range of speeds, then rated for, say, the middle of that range, can be run at the upper end of the range .... or beyond .... if it is kept very cold.
(I've oversimplified.)
So, you…
gregladen | August 26, 2009Fellow Blogger Pat on Fairer Science has a tribute.
And, for some reason, so does MIT, the school.
gregladen | August 26, 2009An analysis by Eric Ostermeier says ...
In only one instance since the DFL merger has a political party both taken back control of the Governor's mansion and lost a U.S. House seat....
... so it depends. It does make sense that a strong race for governor is going to have coat tails.
Ostermeier's analysis is here.
gregladen | August 26, 2009A new study finds obese people have 8 percent less brain tissue than normal-weight individuals. Their brains look 16 years older than the brains of lean individuals, researchers said today.
Those classified as overweight have 4 percent less brain tissue and their brains appear to have aged prematurely by 8 years
I don't know what to think about this yet. It would be nice to know more about the proximate mechanisms. I'm guessing this is a cardio-vascular thing.
source
hat tip: Natalie.
gregladen | August 26, 2009
Golden Eagle
I hope I won't disappoint you ... this is not about John Ashcroft. It is about golden eagles (actually, maybe its about one golden eagle in particular).
A repost from wayback.
The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) has been in decline for a very long time, so you may not know it formerly bred in a much wider range of habitats, across the entire U.S. Today it is known as a mountain eagle because this is where it is generally found, at least in North America. Any experienced birder will tell you that in places like Minnesota nine out of ten, or maybe 99 out of 100 golden…
gregladen | August 26, 2009
It has been said that everyone who grew up or lived in Kennedy country has at least one Kennedy story. This is true, of course, though mine are not especially impressive. But since this is a wake, you have to hear them anyway. Grab yourself a beer and a plate of steamed clams while I regale you....
When I was growing up, the presumption in my household was firm that Ted Kennedy would run for president at some point, and win, and be a great president, starting with the day his brother Robert was killed (if not before). As a result, I have a memory of Ted Kennedy as part of the…
gregladen | August 26, 2009...within weeks, the English-language Wikipedia will begin imposing a layer of editorial review on articles about living people.
The new feature, called "flagged revisions," will require that an experienced volunteer editor for Wikipedia sign off on any change made by the public before it can go live. Until the change is approved -- or in Wikispeak, flagged -- it will sit invisibly on Wikipedia's servers, and visitors will be directed to the earlier version.
Sounds like a good idea to me. Actually, it is rather astonishing that it does not already work this way.
This is from the NYT.
gregladen | August 26, 2009If you are a teacher or a parent you may find some of these books especially useful to: a) prepare yourself; b) give to your child's teacher or a colleague; or c) give to a school administrator. Seriously.
Each link is to a review of the book to help you decide if you are interested.
The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism
Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design
Evolution vs. Creationism by Eugenie Scott, Second Edition
Don't forget to have a look at this post as well.
gregladen | August 26, 2009The following may serve well in a home study environment, or for the parent to keep up with what the school kid is doing or for the overachieving youngster to get ahead of the teacher!
Natural history for the kiddies:
Birds: Nature's Magnificent Flying Machine
Two dinosaur books
Math and science for middle schoolers on up:
Fins into Limbs (Evolution, Development)
The Young Birder's Guide: A Bird Book for the Middle Schooler
Idiot's guide to Pre-Algebra
Black Bodies and Quantum Cats (physics)
Unmasking Europa
Head First Physics
Home Chemistry (by a regular commenter on this blog!)
gregladen | August 26, 2009The Democratic Party represents true diversity and has elements in it that are as conservative as any Republican on some issues, as well as libertarians and even quasi-anarchists who are willing to bite the bullet and "show up" to have some kind of influence. The Republican Party, in contrast, strictly polices itself and drives anyone with differing opinions into the swamp. A "differing opinion" is one not endorsed by Rush Limbaugh.
Read more at qm.
gregladen | August 26, 2009Let me remind you of what we mean by "falsehood." A falsehood is not merely a statement that is factually untrue or logically flawed. Rather, it is a statement that when uttered in certain company rings true; It is a statement that sounds right to people; It is a statement that may be made frequently in reference to some body of knowledge, in this case, evolution or a related topic. But, the meaning that statement comes with is flawed. The statement is wrong in a way that requires explanation, and the explanation opens up the opportunity for new learning on the topic. So, the statement "…
gregladen | August 25, 2009Parasitic infections and other diseases usually associated with the developing world are cropping up with alarming frequency among U.S. poor, especially in states along the U.S.-Mexico border, the rural South and in Appalachia, according to researchers.
Government and private researchers are just beginning to assess the toll of the infections, which are a significant cause of heart disease, seizures and congenital birth defects among black and Hispanic populations.
details
gregladen | August 25, 2009The nation's largest business group is asking U.S. EPA to hold a public debate on climate change science -- or face litigation -- as the agency prepares to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
...
"They don't have the science to support the endangerment finding," Bill Kovacs, the chamber's vice president for environment, regulatory and government affairs, said in an interview. "We can't just take their word for it."
gregladen | August 25, 2009There many ways of dividing up and categorizing Natural Selection. For example, there are the trichotomies of Natural Selection, Sexual Selection and Artificial Selection, and Modes of Selection (Stabilizing, Directional, and Disruptive) trichotomy.
We sense that these are good because they are "threes" and "three" is a magic number. Here, I'm focusing on the Mode Trichotomy, and asking that we consider that there are not three, but four modes of Natural Selection. This will cause tremors throughout the Evolutionary Theory community because Four is not a magic number, but so be it.
In…