gregladen | June 3, 2008In Saint Paul, at the same stadium where the Republicans will hold their convention later this sumer.
I won't be live blogging this because it won't be as suspensful as Clinton's speech. He is expected to acknowledge his position as presumptive nominee.
gregladen | June 3, 2008Clinton thanks South Dakota who "had the last word" in this primary season (oops, that would be Montana, but whatever).
She honored Barak Obama and his supporters for "all they have accomplished."
Clinton noted the great increase in previously uninvolved voters and the unprecedented raising of money, as well as the importance of her campaign in relation to women's rights and political standing. (Especially noting the women in her campaign who were born before women were allowed to vote in the US.
She noted that people across the country and the territories all had a chance to vote for the…
gregladen | June 3, 2008For the first time in history, a black man is one of the main candidates for election to the office of the President of the United States, having achieved the number of delegates required to be offered the nomination of the Democratic Party. This is based on recent declaration by several super delegates for Obama and the estimated outcome of the South Dakota polls, which closed moments ago.
gregladen | June 3, 2008Most importantly, Clinton seems to be stressing the importance of the party (the Democratic Party) winning in November.
Hillary Rodham Clinton told colleagues Tuesday she would be consider joining Barack Obama as his running mate, and advisers said she was withholding a formal departure from the race partly to use her remaining leverage to press for a spot on the ticket.
On a conference call with other New York lawmakers, Clinton, a New York senator, said she was willing to become Obama's vice presidential nominee if it would help Democrats win the White House, according to a participant…
gregladen | June 3, 2008Ted Kennedy is out of brain surgery with good results, according to a recent news report.
(Durham, NC) Sen. Edward M. Kennedy underwent what his doctors called successful surgery Monday to treat his cancerous brain tumor, and told his wife shortly after that he felt "like a million bucks," a family spokeswoman said.
... which is kinda too bad, as he is actually worth tens of millions if not more ...
The surgery at Duke University Medical Center took about 3 1/2 hours. He is expected to undergo chemotherapy and radiation in coming weeks, and will remain at the North Carolina facility for…
gregladen | June 3, 2008AP has called the race. They have used 11 delegates expected today to be awarded to Obama from primaries, which is a little premature in my view (I mean, why not wait until after the election like we are supposed to). It also includes, and this is very interesting. 16 super delegates that have told AP they are going to throw their lot in with Obama but who have not yet done so. The existence of a bunch of such super delegates was heavily hinted at by various media mucky mucks over the last couple of days.
The following is from the AP report. My Snark added where appropriate (according…
gregladen | June 3, 2008A video image released by the computer game's creator showing an injured man may not appear to be graphic, but you may change your mind once you know who it is. It's the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
The new game, not yet released, is giving a voice to the atheist community, that's according to the game's creator, a University of Virginia graduate student. He wouldn't release his name, for fear of his safety.
"Atheists have never really had anything to speak for them like this. It's the general atheist premise that the world might be a better place without some of those religions," explained…
gregladen | June 3, 2008You may have noticed that in my previous post I tried to equivocate and I gave the story right from AP as a big quote. This is because I could not reconcile what I was reading internally. It did not make sense, and I suspected that the press was just trying to bring the campaign to a close. This is based not just on what I posted, but what I watched for 10 minutes on MSBNC.
Turns out my caution was appropriate:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is "absolutely not" planning to concede the campaign to Barack Obama on Tuesday night, Clinton campaign…
gregladen | June 3, 2008... according to AP, and this will happen later today. This, however, will not be a formal ending of Clinton's primary race, nor will it be a suspension. Therefore, it is not clear what the meaning of it is. This is what the press is saying:
Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.
The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City. She will pledge to…
gregladen | June 3, 2008Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science) is a new book by Robert Thompson. The premise is simple. The coolest thing in the world is a home chemistry set like this one from Gilbert, which combined both chemistry and microscopy:
Chemistry Set Combine the sciences of Chemistry and Microscopy in one big laboratory set! Microscope has a magnification of 60 power, plus unique Polaroid device that shows the brilliant colors of specimens under the lens. Set includes "Fun With Gilbert Chemistry", "Gilbert Microscope", "Glass Blowing" manuals and dissecting…
gregladen | June 2, 2008Look at the following image.
Look in particular at squares A and B. A appears to be dark grey, B appears to be white or whitish. But in fact, they are the same exact color.
Don' t believe it? Me neither! Or at least, I didn't until I went ahead and deleted most everything that is not A or B from this picture. When you do that, you get this:
Remarkable!
This is from the Scientific American web site, where there are a number of illusions in a new piece on the subject of Neuroscience of Illusion. Here.
gregladen | June 2, 2008My student who claims to be at Philosophy Camp just sent me this video of what goes on there. I'm not sure if I believe it:
gregladen | June 2, 2008Thank you Joshua Zelinsky for pointing out my error regarding the Florida Democratic Party. Yes, SuperKufr, you may not like the sound of the word "Punish" but as a Democrat (Active, Matt) I do.
Throw the slob into the gravel pit. Then let the Floridians vote. Oh, and Hillary Campaign Guy? Kiss my ass. If Clinton wins, will you have a job in the White House?
(Sorry, I'm a little pissed. I took someone's word for this.)
gregladen | June 2, 2008 Surveyor 1 Lunar Lander On June 2, 1966, a robot alien sent from the United States landed on The Moon. This was the first US "soft landing" on Moon (the Soviets had a previous soft landing, known as Luna 9, four months earlier).
Surveyor transmitted 11,237 photographs to earth.
gregladen | June 1, 2008A video that purportedly shows a living, breathing space alien will be shown to the news media Friday in Denver.
"It shows an extraterrestrial's head popping up outside of a window at night, looking in the window, that's visible through an infrared camera," he said. The alien is about 4 feet tall and can be seen blinking, Peckman said earlier this month.
An instructor at the Colorado Film School in Denver scrutinized the video "very carefully" and determined it was authentic, Peckman said.
source
I'm confused, but I think we are going to get to see the Alien this coming Friday. Unless, of…
gregladen | June 1, 2008Or should I say "Hysterical Woman OR South LA Looters"
I spotted a video on Ed Brayton's site (Hillary Supporter Comes Unhinged showing a woman at the recent Rules Committee meeting being very hysterical about the outcome of that meeting. The money quote from her tirade is
.throwing the election away...for what -- an inadequate black male who would not have been running had it not been a white woman that was running for president.
(Video is below)
Now, does anyone want to tell me what is wrong in this picture?
No? OK, then, let me start.
An hysterical woman is a woman who's ovaries have…
gregladen | June 1, 2008Dinosaur tracks are reported for the first time on the Arabian Peninsula. These new tracks are located in Yemen. This find is interesting and important for several reasons.
You can place all the dinosaur remains from Arabia on one table, which is what they used to say about human fossil before several tens of thousands of human ancestor bits and pieces were eventually accumulated. But this does not mean that we don't know much about Arabian Dinosaurs. Back in the days of dinosaurs, the big triangular-shaped piece of land known as Arabia was firmly attached to, and indeed, totally part of,…