gregladen | September 26, 2008If confirmed, a recent finding may be one of the more interesting outcomes of cosmological research in quite some time. Possibly interesting enough to keep everyone busy while they are retooling the Large Hadron Collider.
First a bit of background. Assume the big bang happened. When we look out at galaxies near and far we find that they are all moving apart in exactly the way we would expect them to be moving if the entire universe was expanding. The nature of this expansion is a bit spooky, and there is more than one way to describe it (not necessarily alternative ways). But the bottom…
gregladen | September 26, 2008The file drawer effect works like this: Numerous studies are done and the results are random. But because they are random, a small number have, randomly, strong effects that are interesting and that in isolation support some interesting hypothesis. All the results that fail to confirm the interesting (or fund able) expectation are filed away .... in the file drawer. Only the results that seem to show what the researchers want to show are made public.
In areas where research is cheap and often done as part of undergraduate and graduate training, (like certain areas of psychology and…
gregladen | September 26, 2008And YOU are invited. Click here to find out where your nearest Barack Obama Kicks Ass in the Debate Party is and crash it! Seriously!
Oh, and here's Michelle:
And this.... seriously ... do this. After the debate, click Here to send a message by sending Obama ten bucks or so.
And even if Obama wasn't your first choice ... like if you wanted Hillary Clinton or PZ Myers or somebody to be the nominee, send Barack ten bucks anyway. That is the cheapest you'll ever pay to slap that bitch John McCain straight across the face.
gregladen | September 26, 2008There are several areas of controversy emerging in the discussion of Minnesota Science standards, but almost none of this controversy has to do with Evolution and Creationism. Amanda and I attended a public meeting on the issue last night, and I felt at the end that a kind of victory had been achieved.
But this is complicated.
I'd like to give you an overview of what this process is about, describe what appears to be new in these standards, outline the apparent areas of controversy (very briefly) and finally make specific suggestions for changes in the standards that have to do with…
gregladen | September 26, 2008
Last night, gunfire was exchanged between Pakistani and American troops (and Afghani troops as well). This may not have been a particularly big deal, but minor incidents like this can turn into decades of strife and warfare when people like George Bush, Sarah Palin, and that selfish addled moron the Republicans have nominated to run for President, John McCan't, are in charge.
I am deeply annoyed at the selfish and cowardly stunt McCain pulled earlier this week. As the Herbert Hoover of the presidential candidates, the only thing McCain can do to have even the slightest chance of winning…
gregladen | September 25, 2008This is fake, right?
Hell bent, Charlie. Don't you get it? Hell. Bent.
Let's analyze this a little more closely.....
gregladen | September 25, 2008Details here, and please see this.
At least post your concerns/ideas on line (using the link above).
gregladen | September 25, 2008
When she licked her finger, I threw up a little in my mouth.
And then there's this (not for the kiddies):
That monkey is an ape.
gregladen | September 25, 2008... according to a recent study funded by ... oh, never mind. Funded by Microsoft. OK, skip that, but there is some other interesting tech news.
Here's a piece on how Linux is better than Windows. I don't know where I find these things. Have a look:
Microsoft encourages us to think of Linux... as an also-ran operating systems for nerds. The last thing Microsoft wants us to think about is that there are some spaces where Microsoft is a distant number two and Linux is on top. ... One such is HPC (High Performance Computing).
At HPC's very highest end, supercomputers, Linux rules. The…
gregladen | September 25, 2008This is the CERN press release regarding the status of the Large Hadron Collider. The bottom line: There was a release of helium leak inot sector 3-4 (which I'm pretty sure is next to sector 7g). They thik they know what caused the leak but they are not sure.
In order to investigate, they have to warm up these parts from near absolute zero to room temperature, inspect, repair, fiddle, but with/of what and in what manner is unknown, then cool it all back down again. The warming up and cooling down each take weeks.
If the repair and inspection takes only a few days or a couple of weeks,…
gregladen | September 25, 2008The fact that this is an astrobiology rap is a good thing. Like the recently memed-out Large Hadron Collider Rap, the Astrobiology Rap places important and difficult to understand science on the pop cultural smorgasbord, and that is good.
But this isn't the Large Hadron Rap. It is simply, IMHO, not as good.
Which reminds me of a story, see below. Anyway, here is the rap for your review, I'd love your opinion:
[hatip: amee]
The music is dull, the rapper is mediocre, the words are totally cliff note. Or maybe I'm just having a bad morning, having just eaten the last cookie.
The story:…
gregladen | September 24, 2008Save all important documents and bookmark essential web pages, because this might crash your computer. But don't worry, a reboot will fix it.
Go here, click "here" and then stay there for the whole thing. You will need about two minutes.
Have duct tape (or as we call it in Minnesota, Duck Tape) handy.
gregladen | September 24, 2008I have received this message from the InterTubes:
I am contacting you on behalf of the Blog Monkey Initiative. The Blog Monkey Initiative is an attempt to get to get a monkey species named after the blogosphere and at the same time help renowned biologist and ... [so called] "Hero of the Planet" Marc van Roosmalen by raising money so he can get back to his important work.
You can find out more details here:
Proudly Presenting the Blog Monkey
and
Interview with Marc van Roosmalen
I'm not going to advocate for or against this project for the simple reason that I feel like I know something…
gregladen | September 24, 2008Is John McCain a Coward?
John McCain has apparently suspended his presidential campaign, in an effort to either a) bring more focus to the impending collapse of the world's economy which he helped cause problem or b) get out of Friday's debate which could not possibly come at a worst time for him.
See: "McCain seeks to delay Friday's debate"
UPDATE:
Note the following comment from the cited report:
The move put Obama in a bind. Rejecting the idea would allow McCain alone to appear above politics, but agreeing to suspend campaigning and the debate could make Obama look like he's…
gregladen | September 24, 2008A Poll regarding Palin
and
Comments on said poll by PBS
Hat tips to Ginny and Cortunix
gregladen | September 24, 2008... say the athesists of Louisville, Kentucky.
Since she was a teen, she had harbored growing doubts about the conservative Christian faith, "but I was so programmed against the word atheist," she said.
When she eventually decided she was one, a "feeling of almost euphoria" descended upon her, said Childers, now 28.
"I no longer had to justify why a good and loving God would allow (bad) things to happen," ...
Here is a nice article on the Freethinkers and Atheists of Louisville.
Oh, and while I've got your attention, please have a look at this post if you have not already. I don't want it…
gregladen | September 23, 2008Forget about hacked email accounts. Apparently, a phone call between Palin and Clinton was recently recorded and released on the internet. Here it is: