gregladen | June 18, 2009Through the filter of time ... a repost that may still be interesting to you from two years ago.
The NYT is running a piece discussing the domestication of the cat.
I love watching wild cats. It is fairly easy to see them in the Kalahari, where the population of cats is almost certainly untouched by genetics of any domesticated form. Despite the kitty-osity shown in the photograph provided with the NYT article, the actual wild cats show themselves to be very different than the domesticated ones. They don't look the same, they don't act the same, they don't have the same overall…
gregladen | June 18, 2009Sean really needs to start using a script, but I'm showing this to you because it does include a couple of nice tips.
gregladen | June 18, 2009I just got this massive continental plate sized press release from JPL. Below the fold.
- - - - - the fold - - - -
NASA Gives California's San Andreas, Other Faults a 3-D Close-up
When a swarm of hundreds of small to moderate earthquakes erupted beneath California's Salton Sea in March, sending spasms rumbling across the desert floor, it set off more than just seismometers. It also raised the eyebrows of quite a few concerned scientists. The reason: lurking underground, just a few kilometers to the northeast, lays a sleeping giant: the 160 kilometer (100 mile) long southern segment…
gregladen | June 18, 2009One in four South African men ... said they had raped someone ... three out of four who admitted rape attacked for the first time while in their teens.
... practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.
...
The research was conducted in both rural and urban areas and included all racial groups.
... the study found that 73% of respondents said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.
Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once.
One in 20 men surveyed said they had raped a woman or…
gregladen | June 18, 2009People like to help pregnant women.
On buses it is routine to give up one's seat for a pregnant woman. In Boston, drivers try less hard to run over pregnant women in crosswalks. And so on. But sometimes good intentions can lead to bad advice.
First, I'd like to point out that there is reasonably good evidence that obesity has negative health effects, and obesity in relationship to pregnancy is probably worse. So women who are planning on getting pregnant should probably trim down a bit if they need to. Also, exercise is good for many many reasons, so women who are planning on getting…
gregladen | June 18, 2009The Minnesota Supreme Court spokesperson Lissa "No-that-is-not-a-typo" Finne has told Greg Sargent's Blog that the other blogs suggesting that the court would issue a decision today are incorrect. Finne indicates that sometimes the court tells the involved parties on Monday about a decision on Thursday, other times they come out with notification only minutes before the decision is announced.
So, this means ... who knows. Don't be holdin' yer breath is all.
gregladen | June 18, 2009PETA has become the laughing stock of the Planet Earth when it called for a change in US government policy regarding the swatting of flies by the POTUS.
From the PETA web site:
Well, I guess it can't be said that President Obama wouldn't hurt a fly. The commander in chief was recently pestered by a fly during an interview. He swatted at the insect and killed the little guy instantly.
Believe it or not, we've actually been contacted by multiple media outlets wanting to know PETA's official response to the executive insect execution.
In a nutshell, our position is this: He isn't the Buddha, he'…
gregladen | June 18, 2009The Four Stone Hearth Anthropology Blog Carnival is up at Wanna Be an Anthropologist. Please visit the carnival, click on all the links, digg up and stumble all the entries, etc.
gregladen | June 18, 2009According to various sources which can not be named but that are being reported by the Capitol Report, the Minnesota Supreme Court is likely to make a decision today, Thursday, June 18th. If the decision is anything other than to support (uphold) the decision of the three judge panel which previously ruled in Franken's favor, several legal experts in the state and across the country are going to drop dead on the spot of shock and chagrin.
It is not know if Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty is going to be ordered by the court to produce an election certificate, but it is generally thought…
gregladen | June 17, 2009So, Amanda had some 400 photographs that needed to be viewed, selected from (maybe a several dozen selected), then each chosen photo converted to jpeg format, resized to 100o pixels wide and saved.
She began the process on her Windoze laptop. The first photograph took about a minute or two. Realizing that the conversion of the photo had to happen before she could decide whether to use that image or not, I quickly calculated that she had about an hour of work in front of her.
The photos happen to be on a flash card. So, I intervened.
"Let me have those photos for a minute."
"What are you…
gregladen | June 17, 2009Linux in Exile has refined the empirical test of which operating system boots more often. Details and discussion here.
Of course, it also matters that Windows requires constant rebooting for the purpose of routine maintanance, while Linux does not, so the total 'boot wait' time (TBWT) for the two systems is so different that they really can't be compared at all.
Meanwhile, ...the new Linux Kernel (2.6.10) has faster boot time and will run faster than the previous Kernel.
Thanks to the already implemented fastboot patches, the new Kernel 2.6.30 has the ability to recognize hard disks…
gregladen | June 17, 2009I had no idea that there were Public Broadcasting Stations that aired church services and such things. I suppose this is because I don't live in Alabama or someplace.
Anyway, PBS has done (mostly) the right thing by baning this practice.
The Public Broadcasting Service agreed yesterday to ban its member stations from airing new religious TV programs, but permitted the handful of stations that already carry "sectarian" shows to continue doing so.
The vote by PBS's board was a compromise from a proposed ban on all religious programming. Such a ban would have forced a few stations around the…
gregladen | June 17, 2009Michele Bachmann has publically vowed to refuse to answer any of the questions aside from the number of people in her household for the upcoming census. This could land her a 5K fine.
Bachmann is avoiding the census because Acorn may be involved in recruiting people for the process. It is well known that anything Acorn touches becomes socialistic and Democratic.
The details are at Think Progress.
gregladen | June 17, 2009Minnesota Post reports from the Minnesota Independent a Twitter Report from Matt HIll indicating that Al Franken and Norm Coleman were on the same flight to Washington DC yesterday.
The outgoing Senator, Coleman was in First Class. Franken was in Coach.
Just thought you'd like to know....
gregladen | June 17, 2009The following press release has just come across my virtual desk:
Letter from Conservative Leaders Implores Senators to Filibuster Hate Crimes Bill
MEDIA ADVISORY, June 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- This week, a letter is being hand-delivered to every member of the United States Senate imploring conservatives to join Senator Jim DeMint's filibuster of the pending Hate Crimes bill, which would criminalize preaching the Gospel and put preachers in the crosshairs.
The letter explains that, in its current form, the Hate Crimes legislation would: "Silence the moral voice of the Church" -- "Punish…
gregladen | June 17, 2009Last week, federal agents swooped in on 23 of the 24 people indicted on charges of stealing archaeological artifacts from public land and Indian reservations in the Southwest. But after a 60-year-old physician committed suicide over the weekend, Utah senators are saying the raid was overkill.
The arrests were made following a two-year operation codenamed "Cerberus Action," after the multi-headed dog in Greek mythology that guards the underworld. The case involves 256 Native American artifacts including woven baskets, pots, sandals, and an ax, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation values…
gregladen | June 16, 2009Help out Chad with his latest data collection effort:
Of course, I can't very well ask people to leave comments about how messed-up the comments are, so I've been forced to resort to something higher-tech...
A POLL!!