gregladen | August 19, 2008
I think he looks a little fat in this video, what do you think?
Speaking at the most recent EG conference, author, philosopher, prankster and journalist A.J. Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically -- following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible.
A.J. Jacobs' writings stand at the intersection of philosophy, Gonzo journalism and performance art. Stubbornly curious and slyly perceptive, he takes immersive learning to its irrational and profoundly amusing extreme -- extracting wisdom and meaning after long stints as a self-styled guinea pig. For his widely…
gregladen | August 19, 2008
Carnival of the Green
Carnival of the Mobilists #137
Carnival of Genealogy, 54th Edition
In honor of this blog's Olympic Boycott: a buddhist carnival - 9th edition, part 1
All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume Thirteen
The Military History Carnival
New and Exciting in PLoS Biology
Encephalon 52: Q&A
gregladen | August 18, 2008ambia's leader Levy Mwanawasa, 59, has died in a Paris hospital after suffering a stroke in June.
Vice-President Rupiah Banda, who is expected to take over as acting leader, made the announcement on state TV.
President Mwanawasa suffered a stroke at an African Union summit in Egypt and was then flown to France, where he had remained in hospital.
He came to prominence recently for being one of the African leaders most critical of the violence in Zimbabwe.
Mr Mwanawasa's health was an issue during his presidency.
In April 2006, he suffered a minor stroke four months before general elections.…
gregladen | August 18, 2008And, therefore, health care decisions should take this into account. According to 57 percent of Americans.
An eye-opening survey reveals widespread belief that divine intervention can revive dying patients. And, researchers said, doctors "need to be prepared to deal with families who are waiting for a miracle."
More than half of randomly surveyed adults -- 57 percent -- said God's intervention could save a family member even if physicians declared treatment would be futile. And nearly three-quarters said patients have a right to demand that treatment continue.
CNN
Majority Rules: God can…
gregladen | August 18, 2008This is an important one. Pharyngula is big, but it is not as big as CNN, so it is quite possible that it won't make a dent. All 12 of us must join in to have our opinions heard on this question:
Do you believe God's intervention could save a family member even if doctors say treatment would be futile?
Hurry, while it lasts, as the CNN Homepage.
gregladen | August 18, 2008
The future for a large primate in a tiny patch of African forest looks bleak. Just three years after it was discovered, Tanzania's kipunji monkey is threatened with extinction ... researchers conducted more than 2,800 hours of fieldwork in the Southern Highlands and Udzungwa Mountains in Tanzania, where the kipunji was discovered. The team tallied just 1,117 individuals, and found that the monkey's range is restricted to 6.82 square miles of forest in two isolated regions.
The authors also discovered that illegal logging and land conversion has severely degraded much of the monkey's…
gregladen | August 18, 2008Physicist Freeman Dyson suggests that we start looking for life on the moons of Jupiter and out past Neptune, in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud. He talks about what such life would be like -- and how we might find it.
With Freeman Dyson's astonishing forecasts for the future, it's hard to tell where science ends and science fiction begins. But far from being a wild-eyed visionary, Dyson is a clear and sober ...
gregladen | August 18, 2008
A landlocked polar bear, too close for comfort, forced a crew of five Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) scientists to evacuate a remote camp in northern Alaska. The scientists were studying the impacts of climate change on Arctic shorelines.
Typically at this time of year, polar bears spend their days hunting seals on sea ice, but recent warming has caused the ice to recede miles from shore. In fact, the bears have been trapped on land in Arctic Alaska all spring and summer, unable to swim out to sea ice. Their condition is unknown.
"It is ironic that our efforts to understand how…
gregladen | August 18, 2008
Democratic Senatorial candidate Kay Hagan has cut the lead of her incumbent Republican opponent, Elizabeth Dole, from 12 to 5 points, according to the latest Survey USA poll.
If you are in North Carolina it is time to get working on this, if you are not already. Need more Democratic senators.
gregladen | August 18, 2008
The Shy Albatross
A study of trawl fishing in South Africa suggests that around 18,000 seabirds may be killed annually in this fishery, highlighting trawl fisheries as a major threat to seabirds, especially several species of albatross already facing a risk of extinction.
Published in the journal Animal Conservation, the study was based on scientists monitoring catches on 14 different vessels, operating in the Benguela Current, off South Africa; one of the main hotspots for seabirds in the Southern Hemisphere. The vessels were trawling for hake, and the majority of bird deaths were a result…
gregladen | August 18, 2008On this day in 1964...
South Africa has been barred from taking part in the 18th Olympic Games in Tokyo over its refusal to condemn apartheid.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the decision in Lausanne, Switzerland, after South Africa failed to meet an ultimatum to comply with its demands by 16 August.
The IOC originally withdrew South Africa's invitation to Japan during the winter games in Innsbruck, Austria.
It said the decision could be overturned only if South Africa renounced racial discrimination in sport and opposed the ban in its own country on competition between…
gregladen | August 18, 2008Wait, there's a dam in the Grand Canyon? Why don't we just leave these rivers alone!!!!
US rescue crews have airlifted some 170 people to safety from a remote village in the Grand Canyon after a dam burst following days of heavy rain.
Grand Canyon National Park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge said water from the Redlands Dam had caused flooding in a side canyon containing Supai village.
The area, accessible only by foot, on horseback or by air, is home to 400 members of the Havasupai tribe.
Most people have been accounted for but searches will resume later on Monday.
Well, at least the dam is…
gregladen | August 17, 2008Continuing with our series on Boycotting the Olympics ... Have you seen the male gymnasts? Some will be disappointed that they wear boxer shorts, but that is not what I wanted to talk about. Watching them (do very badly, by the way) I recalled that the argument has been made that this is probably the oldest Olympic sport. This assertion has been made because the earliest art in the region, predating the Greeks, includes dramatic depictions of the ancient art of Bull Jumping.
Here's a picture from an ancient text with the title, roughly translated, "Bull Jumping for Dummies" ...
This…
gregladen | August 17, 2008
This is intereting, but I hate the word "The Enterprise." Unless, of course, you are talking about The Enterprise.
The OpenSource Census is here.
gregladen | August 17, 2008I find it interesting (not that I'm watching the Olympics or anything) that a) the Olympics can have totally different rules for a game than other forms of the sport and b) that the rules change from time to time. This is interesting because whenever I propose changes in sports rules, say to my in laws who are all sports fanatics, they scoff at me. Like the other day, I said "why not give the pitchers only three balls instead of four?" ... thinking this may make the game more interesting. Or, "Why not let the fielders tackle the runner if necessary ... but then give the base runner blockers…
gregladen | August 17, 2008The beagle board, which costs only about 150 bucks, is a full blown Linux-capable computer that is so simplified and low powered that it does not need a fan. Its main method of communication (other than video output) is via USB (no ethernet). But that can work.
For a write-up about this cutie, go here. To just get it over with and buy one, go here.
gregladen | August 17, 2008The Olympics in Beijing (pronounce) are of course being boycotted by this blog. Not only because they are in China, and China is annoying, but also because they are the Olympics, and the Olympics are Annoying. In particular, tie IOC (International Olympic Committee) is annoying.
The IOC is owned by the networks that are making piles of money on the Olympics, and the networks are using the IOC as a front to make sure nothing gets out of Beijing and on to places such as YouTube. So the world's amateur sports are owned by NBC, not the world. Of course, this is not working very well.
In the…
gregladen | August 17, 2008Why do we crave love so much, even to the point that we would die for it? To learn more about our very real, very physical need for romantic love, Helen Fisher and her research team took MRIs of people in love -- and people who had just been dumped.
Anthropologist Helen Fisher studies gender differences and the evolution of human emotions. She's best known as an expert on romantic love, and her beautifully penned books -- including Anatomy of.. ...
gregladen | August 16, 2008Watching (collecting data for the boycott) men's Olympic water polo, it occurred to me that the little tiny bathing suits the men wear were absurd. Why not just skip the bathing suit and get on with it? As I was thinking this, the commentators on the TV were learnin' me something new closely related to these thoughts ... regarding Terry Schroeder's body. Schroeder is the team coach, and I'll tell you about his body below the fold.
For some reason this all made me think of the National Anthem. You see, today, part of the Olympic scene is the often forced voyeurism of nationalistic pride re…