gregladen | May 28, 2009... during its design ... the ship became known as "Godzilla-maru", so unusual and top-heavy were its projected lines.
"We started planning the Chikyu about 15 years ago, and there were some people who thought we were too ambitious," he recalled.
"But now we can see that the ship is doing what it is designed to do and is opening up new possibilities."
...
The idea was simple. Scientists wanted to drill down into the Earth's crust - and even through the crust - to get samples from the key zones 6 or 7km down where earthquakes and lots of other interesting geological processes begin; but that…
gregladen | May 27, 2009A person once told me that I was exactly the same thing as Adolph Hitler. That was a crazy person who also thought that I had special x-ray vision enabling me to see deep into the earth. But no one has ever. ever called me Osama Greg Laden....
.... until now.
gregladen | May 27, 2009Why would you want to install Ubuntu as a "server" rather than as a desktop? The simple answer is: If you need to ask, you don't want to do it. But, there is a more nuanced answer as well: By installing a server, you get to a) have loads of fun installing a server; b) learn things about the system you never thought were even there to learn; c) have your own server, so serve stuff in your very own home, so when The Internet goes down you can continue to pretend like there's an internet. Just a much, much smaller and less interesting one.
And, if you happen to have anything to serve up in…
gregladen | May 27, 2009Regarding home schooling mom Vanessa Mills, of Wake County, NC, USA:
...Mills ... grew alienated from her husband and parents after joining a religious group that some former members call a cult, the judge in the case said Tuesday...
...Judge Ned Mangum ruled March 6 that it would be in the best interests of Venessa Mills' three children to go to public school this fall.
That ruling, in an ongoing divorce case between Venessa and husband Thomas Mills, sparked national attention from conservatives who maintain that Mangum overstepped his bounds.
"Based on all of the evidence, the court finds…
gregladen | May 27, 2009Eugenie Scott, head of the National Center for Science Education, has been awarded the Stephen Jay Gould Prize. From the press release:
OAKLAND, CA March 27
The Society for the Study of Evolution has honored NCSE's executive director with its first Stephen Jay Gould Prize. Named in memory of paleontologist and popular science writer Stephen Jay Gould, this award recognizes outstanding work in communicating the insights, applications, and importance of evolutionary biology to the general public.
"Dr. Scott has devoted her life to advancing public understanding of evolution. As the…
gregladen | May 27, 2009Two years ago, I attended my best friend's wedding. I made the cake. When I got married a year earlier, she was my best man. Last Sunday, a bunch of people were going on and on about my cakes (I make about one every two years but they are very famous and frightfully expensive) and this reminded me of her and the amazing times we've had and toilets in Japan.
Let me explain.
Read the rest at Quiche Moraine Dot Com
gregladen | May 27, 2009This just in:
Dear Greg,
We are excited about our new public service campaign and it should be fully implemented within a month. Here's the scoop:
This Thursday, May 28th, we will be at a local high school to
tape 3 presentations that will cover the following topics:
- Fossil Evidence
- The Truth about Genetics and Evolution
- How Does Evolution Supposedly Work?
Because most students respond better to interactive forms of learning, we have decided to offer free downloads of these videos as well as the supporting documentation for each of them.
Depending on future funding, we will be…
gregladen | May 26, 2009But it would be a cool name for one. No, it's a Sci Fi book just out. I've met the author, and I assure you he's the kind of guy who would write good book. As they say. Check it out.
gregladen | May 26, 2009France's Church of Scientology today went on trial on charges of organised fraud in a case that could lead to the nationwide dissolution of the controversial organisation.
The Church's "celebrity centre" spiritual association and its Scientology Freedom Space bookshop in Paris stand accused of targeting vulnerable people for commercial gain.
Six leading members, including the celebrity centre's director, Alain Rosenberg, also face charges of illegally distributing pharmaceuticals.
source
gregladen | May 26, 2009It is funny how people play with history. If we talk about an important "first" that is viewed in a positive light ... the origin of beer for instance ... the slightest evidence will be used by the people of a given region to claim primacy. Also, since Africa almost always gets the shaft in this regard, all else being equal, an early African occurrence of something good will be assumed as not definitive, but vague evidence of the non-African first occurrence will be taken more seriously. Seriously.
Now, we have an important finding with the opposite effect: Whence did Leprosy first come…
gregladen | May 26, 2009Have you been reading Digital Rabbit? Please add this site that addresses safe drinking water and basic sanitation to your list of links to check or your RSS feed.
And, have a look at the Q-Drum, which is profiled at DR.
gregladen | May 26, 2009... with respect to commenting on this blog. Let me know if you have any problems.
... And I'm back in Minnesota after a brief trip. Details at 11.
gregladen | May 24, 2009For the time being, I will be blogging here, on my own blog, and of course, as Quiche Moraine. Please drop over. Not that there is a lot going on now, but it looks like it is going to be a while before this strange commenting problem is fixed.
gregladen | May 24, 2009One of the things that struck me in travels through Scotland and the Canadian Maritimes was the monument in every town. Most of them were tiny, just a handful of names from each war-not because few died, but because the town was that small. The memorial at Edinburgh Castle, on the other hand, is of a scale and a simplistic majesty that imposes awe, a trick more church designers would like to have up their sleeves, I imagine.
Whatever the size, most memorials are central and public and impossible to overlook. That isn't something we do well here.
Read the rest here at Quiche Moraine
gregladen | May 24, 2009Junk DNA is like bigfoot. If a zoologist says something like "Hmmm... it would be cool to find bigfoot" all the other zoologists jump on him or her, drag the poor sap into the alleyway, toss on a blanket, and beat the scientist with rubber hoses until the movement stops. Same with junk DNA. If you mention that junk DNA may have a use or a role or something .... INTO THE ALLY WITH YOU!!!
The difference is, there is no bigfoot, but there may be some interesting stuff happening in the so called junk DNA.
Part of the problem is in what we call "junk." If it does something, it isn't junk. So,…
gregladen | May 24, 2009You have noticed, no doubt, that the latest and most common banner ads on Scienceblogs are for Americanchemistry.com, a blogospheric entity representing a handful of Chemistry special interest organizations. ("Without chemicals, life itself would be impossible." and all that.) Which is fine, who cares? But what I want to draw your attention to is the ubiquitous use of the imagery of first responders in those ads. The message is obvious: Without chemicals, first responding itself would be impossible" which equals "Without the American Chemistry Industry, Osama bin Laden will eat your next…
gregladen | May 24, 2009Something is wrong with my site. Comments appear to be totally screwed up. This situation started on Friday, and I informed Scienceblogs Central of this. Since then I've been off the internet, wandering through the wilderness in the Great American Southwest. The tech people are aware of this, but I have not heard any details of when it may be fixed.
My posts are still coming out as scheduled, apparently, but comments go into the Twilight Zone. Sorry about that.
I have a few suggestions: Comment over here, on my old blog:
gregladen.com
or
Just don't comment for a while
and
Seriously…
gregladen | May 23, 2009One item is just published in the Journal of Climate. Simply put, the use of some very sophisticated and probably quite trustworthy models suggests that extratropical cyclones (so this means winter storms and such, mainly) will have a good deal more precipitation in them.
In the model ...
... There is a small reduction in the number of cyclones but no significant changes in the extremes of wind and vorticity in both hemispheres. ... The largest changes are in the total precipitation, where a significant increase is seen. Cumulative precipitation along the tracks of the cyclones increases by…