gregladen | June 21, 2009
... where she's the scientist attending the crazy Sci Fi conference where everyone is dressed as Star Wars characters. That's because I'll be doing something at Skepchickcon Convergence Skeptics Track 2009
All the cool bloggers and some cool non-bloggers will be there, including Pamela Gay, PZ Myers, Rebecca Watson, Masala Skeptic, Bug Girl, Elyse, Carr2d2, and Moi.
There will be excellent skeptical programming and a few parties as well.
The details are here.
gregladen | June 21, 2009Through the filter of time ... a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago.
I'm reminded of this work of literature owing to a recent discussion on another post. I like to point this text out whenever I get a chance, and since I've got a blog, this is an excellent chance!
The text is here.
I first became aware of, and read, King Leopold's Soliloquy while in the ex-Belgian Congo, where the point of the story takes place. I lived in an area that was at one time a plantation area, but the plantations were long gone. The "road" through this area was passable only with a…
gregladen | June 21, 2009The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is seeking class action status for a 2006 federal lawsuit that accuses drug manufacturer Eli Lilly of discrimination against African-American employees. The plaintiffs include nine current and former employees who allege that the drug manufacturer engaged in pay and promotion discrimination on the basis of race. An amended complaint filed last week with the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana includes allegations of discrimination from 106 additional current and former employees, reported Business Week.…
gregladen | June 21, 2009Through the filter of time ... a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago.
Scene: Berkeley, California, April 1986. A bar. Five conference attendees, myself included, grabbing a hamburger and a beer in a fern-bar on or near Telegraph.
All eyes are on the TV's mounted over the bar, where we watch footage of an air strike against Libya. This is the retribution by Ronald Reagan against Insane African Leader Muammar al-Kadafi. The White House was issuing statements about al-Kadafi's involvement in bombings in Europe, the OPEC oil ministry kidnapping, linkage to the…
gregladen | June 20, 2009Through the filter of time ... a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago.
I had a dream last night that I was in the kitchen cooking Calamari, when several medium sized octopi crawled out of the pot and led me to the basement, beckoning me to come near the computer. They formed a stack, one on top of the other, and the top octopus took the mouse in one tentacle and opened a web browser. Then it typed in a URL and up came a post by PZ Myers extolling me to blog about an entry on the Chalcedon Foundation web site. I awoke in a cold sweat and tried to forget about the…
gregladen | June 20, 2009"The ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem. The human trafficking phenomenon affects virtually every country, including the United States. In acknowledging America's own struggle with modern-day slavery and slavery-related practices, we offer partnership. We call on every government to join us in working to build consensus and leverage resources to eliminate all forms of human trafficking."
--Secretary Clinton, June 16, 2009
Highlights:
There were over 5000 prosecuted cases of trafficking globally…
gregladen | June 20, 2009Through the filter of time ... a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago.
The only place I've ever seen Great White Sharks in the wild (I'm not a SCUBA diver!) is in South Africa, where you can see them from cliffs, swimming back and forth looking for penguins (and seals?). I've heard there were some recent attacks near Cape Town (False Bay) by great whites, but I think they generally don't eat too many people there. That is probably because most South Africans either stay out of the water entirely or go all the way ... in SCUBA gear, or otherwise just keep a…
gregladen | June 20, 2009Through the filter of time ... a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago.
Admit it. Once you discovered Alta Vista's Babel software you did this: You entered a phrase to translate from your native language to some other language, then translated it back again to see what would happen. Or, you translated it through several different languages.
Whether you've done that or not, via Rosetta Rants, we have this site, which will translate your phrase through one of two pathways. One is via French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The other includes Japanese…
gregladen | June 20, 2009Through the filter of time ... a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago.
... are probably normal. I remember an HBES conference in which we were subjected to a very boring talk. It was not boring at first. The speaker, a well known evolutionary psychologist, started out by asking for a show of hands as to how many people had homicidal fantasies now and then. In the room of about 300, a dozen hands went up. Then the talk started.
It wasn't really boring, it was just uninteresting and, in the opinion of many, not very good science. It was, in short, annoying…
gregladen | June 20, 2009Check it out:
ATLANTA - A suburban Atlanta principal who resigned during an investigation into cheating on students' standardized tests was arrested Friday and accused of altering public documents.
The school's assistant principal also turned herself in to local police Thursday night in a case that the head of a state teacher's group described as rare. School officials allege that the two changed answers on fifth-grade standardized tests to improve scores and help their school meet federal achievement standards
This sort of behavior (only alleged so far in this case, but whatever ...) can not…
gregladen | June 20, 2009The first time I ever caught a bowfin (Amia calva)I was shocked and amazed at this fish. It was green .... really green like beyond fresh water fish green .... with a fancy spot on the upper part of the back of its dorsal fin. And it had one impressive dorsal fin. It was whopping big and took a while to land.
When I caught that fish, I had a plastic worm lure with which I was trying to catch the mocking bass. The mocking bass is a specific individual large mouth bass or, as Julia called them back in those days, "big mouth bass." The mocking bass hangs on a sandy spot that looked like a…
gregladen | June 20, 2009First, let's suppose that Jehovah God is real. Good News for the religious, right? Then, let's twist it a bit and see what happens should Jehovah die. This would cause a major problem for at least the Abrahamic religions. After all, how could we hope for eternal life if the Provider Himself is subject to mortality? The guarantee of eternal life in His Presence would at that time become null and void. Steps must be taken and a coverup must be carried out. Hiding bodies is difficult enough, but when the body of Jehovah falls from Heaven and turns out to be two miles long, complications…
gregladen | June 19, 2009... than previously reported. The word from his assistant, interviewed earlier today with the report coming out in the last ten minutes or so, indicate that Cronkite is going to be fine. Really old and stuff, but fine.
"he is aging. He's suffering the challenges of age, but he's not gravely ill. Only God knows when life will end and for Walter, it's not imminent." said Marlene Adler, Cronkite's assistant.
gregladen | June 19, 2009Through the filter of time ... a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago.
This is brilliant. A bunch of Orca, incorrectly known as Killer Whales because, well, they would never kill anything, right? Anyway, a bunch of Orca either trying to eat a baby seal or playing with a baby seal. Or is the baby seal playing with them?
Thanks to Richard Conner.
gregladen | June 19, 2009You really must give up seafood from the ocean. Or at least, there is an argument that says this, and you can read it here.
Wolverines. I once saw a wolverine in a state that was known to not have wolverines anymore. That was a long time ago and I think they are recognized as having returned to those forests. Now, we have wolverines in Colorado for the first time since 1919. I am shocked and amazed that wolverines had been extirpated from Colorado.
All ivory is bad. Antique, modern, you name it. If you buy ivory, you are poaching an African Elephant. I assume you knew this already,…
gregladen | June 19, 2009Through the filter of time ... a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago.
In an essentially Christian society, we expect governmental or other social organizations to disrespect non-Christian belief systems. An example of this is the widespread positioning of official holidays on Christian holidays, but never unless by coincidence on, say, Jewish or Muslim holidays. The birth of Christ day is usually a day off. Spring break is often positioned along side Easter Sunday. and so on. A non-Christian religious person could get annoyed.
It is also the case that an…
gregladen | June 19, 2009Sadly, we hear the news that Walter Cronkite is gravely ill. Well, not so sadly really, since he appears to have had a great life and in living that life, managed to get quite old. So good for him.
I have one Cronkite story (below the fold) and only one, and I'll tell it to you below. I also just want to mention that my generation grew up with Cronkite as the guy who told us the news, truthfully, and in a straight forward manner. Cronkite told my family (and I only barely remember this) that Jack Kennedy was dead, and (this I remember) Jack's brother, and MLK. He told us about what was…