gregladen | March 15, 2008Following a number of reader requests (thanks for the feedback!) I've compiled a list of the most read posts from this blog, excluding those that were heavily visited but that were timely and thus not likely relevant now. The list is divided into rough categories, and I've placed it here, on my About page.
I'll update this now and then. If there is anything else you want to see on there, let me know.
Also, my blogroll has finally reached the "Z's" ... so in a few days I'll be updating that and running out a new set. If you'd like to be added to my blog roll, let me know. If you are not…
gregladen | March 14, 2008Play On Linux is a script written in bash that helps you to manage Wine on your Linux box.
After using Wine we realised that it sometimes needs complex commands. PlayOnLinux helps you to soften the processn making your life even easier in the Linux world.
More, some people who care about the games they own won't come to Linux simply because they want to be able to play them again. Our script will help them to move on Linux.
The Play On Linux Site is Here
gregladen | March 14, 2008What do Linux and Santa have in common? What is the name of Murdock's Linux Distribution? Give me a three letter word for a Unix Mail Client. How about a 5 letter word for a Linux Distro for Martini Lovers?
If you know ANY of these, you can start filling out this Linux Crossword Puzzle.
The problem, of course, with crossword puzzles is that not everything in Crossword Puzzle Land jives with actual reality. There are subtleties we experience in real life that are glossed in Crossword Puzzle Land to make the clues work. Then there are things like animals you will never see (like the "ern…
gregladen | March 14, 2008"Can we create new life out of our digital universe?" asks Craig Venter. And his answer is, yes, and pretty soon. He walks the TED2008 audience through his latest research into "fourth-generation fuels" -- biologically created fuels with CO2 as their feedstock. His talk covers the details of creating brand-new chromosomes using digital technology, the reasons why we would want to do this, and the bioethics of synthetic life. A fascinating Q&A with TED's Chris Anderson follows (two words: suicide genes).
gregladen | March 14, 2008Governor Spitzer, only recently deposed for committing the crime of being a Democrat on the Republican Hit List, has already launched a new career as a Telescope:
Spitzer Finds Organics and Water Where New Planets May Grow from PhysOrg.com
Researchers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered large amounts of simple organic gases and water vapor in a possible planet-forming region around an infant star, along with evidence that these molecules were created there. They've also found water in the same zone around two other young stars.
[...]
gregladen | March 14, 2008I've seen one or another version of this before, and I'm never quite sure what the point is. But it is interesting in parts:
Is this meant to be sobering, or scary?
gregladen | March 14, 2008You've all seen the PCR song:
I also recommend a look at this post on the Punk Professor's Blog
gregladen | March 14, 2008A lesbian couple will become the first same-sex couple in Greece to marry when they exchange vows in a civil ceremony next week in an Athens suburb.
The LGBT rights group OLKE said Thursday it had found a loophole in a 26 year old update of the Greek civil marriage law that refers only to participating "persons," without specifying gender.
OLKE said that by not naming gender the law, albeit inadvertently, allows same-sex marriage.
The organization did not name the lesbians who will test the law, but said that the left-of-center mayor of the Athens suburb of Kessariani has agreed to perform…
gregladen | March 13, 2008
Vanguard I celebrates 50 years in space from PhysOrg.com
The Vanguard I satellite celebrates its 50th birthday this year. Its launch on March 17, 1958 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, culminated the efforts of America's first official space satellite program begun in September 1955. The first solar-powered satellite, Vanguard I has the distinction of being the oldest artificial satellite orbiting the earth. Its predecessors, Sputniks I and II and Explorer I, have since fallen out of orbit.
[...]
gregladen | March 13, 2008
Firefox 3 is in testing, with the latest build, beta 4, released Monday. Mozilla is aiming for a final release of its flagship product before the end of the first quarter of 2008. Let's take a look at the changes coming down the pike.
You can grab a copy of the latest Firefox 3 beta from mozilla.com. Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X Universal Binaries are provided in more than 40 languages. The Linux version is a bzip2-compressed tar archive. You can unpack into any location on your system.
Read the rest here.
gregladen | March 13, 2008There is an intersesting study being reported (at the annual Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness meetings in D.C.) on elementary school achievement gap dynamics. The study indicates that the usual "racial/ethnic" gaps are seen in early years, but that a lot of gap-closing happens by fifth grade.
"We found significant achievement gaps within racial and ethnic groups," said Pamela Davis-Kean, a developmental psychologist at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) who conducted the study with U-M post-doctoral fellow Justin Jager.
"We also found a significant proportion of…
gregladen | March 13, 2008
Ten Short-tailed Albatross Phoebastria albatrus chicks have been moved by helicopter, from their current stronghold on Torishima Island to the site of a former colony 350 km to the South-east.
The potential for future volcanic events on Torishima is among the most serious threats to this Vulnerable species. Currently, 80-85% of the world population breeds on a highly erodible slope on the outwash plain from the caldera of an active volcano. Monsoons send torrents of ash-laden water down this slope across the colony site. A volcanic eruption could also send lava, ash or poisonous gases…
gregladen | March 13, 2008
A bird that was known only from two records from the 1920s has been discovered in the Pacific after a gap of 79 years. Sightings of the Critically Endangered Beck's Petrel Pseudobulweria becki - published by the British Ornithologists' Club - have finally proven the species is still in existence, and delighted conservationists.
A voyage into the Bismarck Archipelago, north-east of Papua New Guinea, successfully managed to photograph more than 30 of these elusive seabirds. This included sightings of fledged juveniles - suggesting recent breeding. A freshly dead young bird salvaged at sea also…
gregladen | March 13, 2008Blowflies. They are nearly impossible to swat dead, because they are so good at getting out of the way, and they are very very fast. For this reason, the blowfly, while an annoying creature, is an excelent model for research into rapid sensory information processing.
A team of scientists from Indiana University, Princeton University and the Los Alamos National Laboratory recently gained new insight into how blowflies process visual information. The findings, published in an article in the Public Library of Science Journals, show that the precise, sub-millisecond timing of "spikes" from…
gregladen | March 13, 2008A woman was stopped at Munich airport after baggage control handlers found the skeleton of her brother sealed in a plastic bag in her luggage, police said Wednesday.
The 62-year-old woman and her 63-year-old friend, who both live in Italy, were hauled in by airport police Tuesday after a scan of the bag showed a human skull and other bones. The women were traveling to Italy from Brazil.
It turned out, however, that the woman was simply trying to fulfill the last wish of her brother _ who died 11 years ago in Sao Paulo, Brazil _ to be buried in Italy.
Read the gory details here.
gregladen | March 13, 2008Public Access Public MeetingThe NIH is hosting an Open meeting on public access (Bethesda, March 20, 2008). The purpose of the meeting is to air public comments on the new NIH OA policy. The agency is soliciting public comments in advance of the meeting, and about 50 commenters will be given five minutes each to present their comments to the meeting (total: four hours).
Comment. This meeting is one NIH response to publisher complaints that the new policy is based on insufficient public consultation. (See my latest response to that complaint.) Publishers are sure to send in their…
gregladen | March 13, 2008Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.
gregladen | March 13, 2008Wikileaks has this:
208 scanned pages relating to the Church of Scientology's former "Office of Special Affairs" employee and subsequent apostate Frank Oliver. The documents are dated between 1986 and 1992 (inclusive), when, according to the file, Frank Oliver was declared a "suppressive person" and ex-communicated. Fank Oliver should be able to verify the material and has appeared in the media before on subjects relating to the church. Starting on page 107, the document shows that at the time of writing the Church of Scientology was actively engaged in black propaganda (especially concerning…
gregladen | March 13, 2008You've probably heard that this is the year of the frog. But with all the hype about the election, the war, the economy, robots, and so on, it is easy to forget. The Wildlife Conservation Society has a nice frog slide show on this site, and a list of things you can do to save "the frog" and the ironically named "amphibian ark" (a joint effort of three major conservation organizations) has more.
(I say ironic because it is a biblical reference, and creationists don't believe in extinction ... I assume, or how could there be any species left since they don't believe in specialization ...…