gregladen | July 3, 2008Christina Comer is suing the Texas Education agency. Here is a copy of the law suit. From the Dallas News:
AUSTIN - A former state science curriculum director filed suit against the Texas Education Agency and Education Commissioner Robert Scott on Wednesday, alleging she was illegally fired for forwarding an e-mail about a lecture that was critical of the teaching of intelligent design in science classes.
Also Online
Christina Comer, who lost her job at the TEA last year, said in a suit filed in federal court in Austin that she was terminated for contravening an unconstitutional policy…
gregladen | July 2, 2008Heavyweight science journalist Sir Delcan Butler has published an update, of sorts, on the status of the Public Library of Science (PLoS), published today in the journal Nature.* In it, he presents a study carried out by Nature on the financial status of PLoS, and describes the ups and downs of Open Access publishing.
PLoS uses the business model that has emerged among Open Access journals, whereby it charges authors for their works to be published, but does not charge individuals, libraries, or other institutions for access (thus the term "Open Access"). This has been a welcome way of…
gregladen | July 2, 2008Adam Grosser talks about a project to build a refrigerator that works without electricity -- to bring the vital tool to villages and clinics worldwide. Tweaking some old technology, he's come up with a system that works.
gregladen | July 2, 2008In a surprising result, most Young Earth Creationists would prefer that Creationism not be taught along side Evolution.
Source
gregladen | July 2, 2008...Until recently, "waterboarding" was something that Americans did to other Americans. It was inflicted, and endured, by those members of the Special Forces who underwent the advanced form of training known as sere (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape). In these harsh exercises, brave men and women were introduced to the sorts of barbarism that they might expect to meet at the hands of a lawless foe who disregarded the Geneva Conventions. But it was something that Americans were being trained to resist, not to inflict....
With this, Christopher Hitchens begins an article in Vanity Fair on…
gregladen | July 2, 2008... In the privacy of your own home or office, via the Intertubes!
Here is how the Lindau meetings describes itself:
The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings provide a globally recognised forum for the exchange of knowledge between Nobel Laureates and young researchers. The original idea of the meetings goes back to the two Lindau physicians Dr. Franz Karl Hein und Professor Dr. Gustav Parade and Count Lennart Bernadotte af Wisborg, a member of the Swedish royal family who quickly became the spiritus rector behind the Meetings. It was he who envisioned the Meetings as a "window to the world" for…
gregladen | July 2, 2008On this day in 1964....
The Civil Rights Bill - one of the most important piece of legislation in American history - has become law.
US President Lyndon B Johnson signed the bill creating equal rights in voting, education, public accommodations, union membership and in federally assisted programmes - regardless of race, colour, religion or national origin.
The bill has caused much controversy since it was introduced last year by President John F Kennedy.
gregladen | July 1, 2008.... died on this day in 1971.
They were Soviet cosmonauts. A breech in the capsule they were riding in occurred as it was separated from another part of the rocket during the initial phases of re-entry. The capsule depressurized and they were killed. Apparently, no one knew this had happened initially. The capsule landed as expected, and the three were found dead by the recovery crew.
More info here.
gregladen | July 1, 2008Steven Levitt shares data that shows car seats are no more effective than seatbelts in protecting kids from dying in cars. However, during the Q&A, he makes one crucial caveat.
gregladen | July 1, 2008First, let me please remind you to send me any submission you may have for the Four Stone Hearth Anthropology Blog Carnival!
Berry Go Rounder 6th edition is at Seeds Aside.
Medical Grand Rounds, Vol 4, No. 41 is at the Covert Rationing Blog
gregladen | July 1, 2008A trip overseas, especially with today's fuel prices and other changes in the airline industry, is different now than it was even a few years ago. This is especially true in regards to the topic of this post: How to deal with the problem of vicarious travelers and their need for trinkets, as well as your desire to bring trinkets to everyone you know when you go on a trip.
At the very outset I want to tell you this: There is precious little in the way of legal trinkets that a traveler can find anywhere in the world they may go that can not be obtained at the local trinket shop in your own…
gregladen | July 1, 2008Among the top five hundred super computing sites, the vast majority are running Linux. For the desktop environment, there are many opportunities for Linux. For audio, have a look at 42 of the Best Free Linux Audio Software. More broadly, consider these Seven Reasons to Move to Linux. The world of Linux distros is dynamic and stable. The most recent Surprise Desktop Linux Move: Xandros Buys Linspire. It should be no surprise that Linux experiences 'prolific' growth, says Linux Foundation's Zemlin.
Meanwhile, Microsoft tactics push India toward Linux.
gregladen | July 1, 2008Natural Selection was proposed jointly by Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin on this day 150 years ago.
Darwin discovered the principle of Natural Selection, and worked it out, over several decades prior. Meanwhile A.R. Wallace also came up with Natural Selection as the mechanism for what he was seeing in the wild. Some time in June it became known to Darwin that this guy Wallace as about to roll into town and present his theory. By July 1st, a deal was worked out.
They famously decided to present Wallace's essay (without first asking his permission!), along with two unpublished…
gregladen | June 30, 2008I am not entirely sure that the FDA has actually identified a tomato with Salmonella on it. The tomato hypothesis was based on recall data, which is notoriously iffy. Not totally useless, but iffy.
The FDA, gutted by years of uncaring neglect by evil Republicans, today finds itself incapable of addressing the food safety issue, it would seem. Over 800 cases of food poisoning since April 10th is apparently considered a bit high. And there seems to be no reasonable explanation or anything close to an explanation as tomatoes become increasingly innocent looking.
"The source of…
gregladen | June 30, 2008A study just out in PLoS Medicine suggests that an increasing trend of delaying childbirth is associated wiht a rising rate of the use of cesarean delivery. The explanation appears to be impared uterine function.
From the editor's summary:
Though it was not studied here, the researchers hypothesize that impaired uterine contractility may be a consequence of prolonged stimulation of the uterus by estrogen and progesterone, resulting from a prolonged interval between menarche and first birth. Further research is needed to understand the determinants and management of dysfunctional labor in…
gregladen | June 30, 2008I find it hard to believe that the government has ignored the need for solar energy to the extent that it seems surprised that anyone wants to build new solar plants. From the New York Times:
Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.
The Bureau of Land Management says an extensive environmental study is needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six…
gregladen | June 30, 2008Do you drink bottled water or tap water? Water from a cooler (which is a big giant bottle) or from a filter built into a refrigerator or sink? Or do you Britta?
(Yes, let me be the first to verb that noun .... )
Increasingly we see resistance to bottled water. The Britta ads (one hour in a meeting, forever in a landfill) ... even if they are inaccurate, as most bottles are probably recycled ... may have an effect. I have seen, heard of, and even experienced the admonishment of anti-bottle activists (though I quickly add: I almost never drink bottled water. But I do occasionally. But…