gregladen | November 16, 2007Do you remember the Christmas Tsunami? I remember well that it was a good example of the public's demand for knowing the death toll and the press's demand to feed that need interacting with a crappy network of information flow, to the extent that the early death tolls counts were utterly absurd and the rate of climb of this estimate was astounding.
Will this be the case with Sidr?
A couple of hours ago the death toll was 200. Within the last half hour, there were counts of 450 and 500. Just now the numbers have topped 1000, to reach, in fact, 1,100 killed (thousands missing, displaced).
I…
gregladen | November 16, 2007Birds evolved during the Mesozoic, during the various "Ages" of the dinosaurs, as a subset of those dinosaurs. Many researchers believe that these early birds were different from their then very close dinosaur cousins because of their flight adaptations, and some have linked this idea to flight-based or tree- based foraging.
Today, most birds fly (counting by species) and their flight is linked to their primary dietary adaptation. Some birds actually feed on the wing, while others fly to food sites and once there do not locomote very much. Other birds forage on the ground habitually. The…
gregladen | November 15, 2007A little news, a couple of tips.
First, this news:
Ubuntu is extremely popular on the desktop, but it's made comparatively little progress on servers. That's about to change. Dell is expected to announce in the first quarter of 2008 that it has certified Ubuntu Linux for its server lines.
In an interview with Rick Becker, Dell Product Group's vice president of solutions, Becker said that Dell is currently in the process of certifying Ubuntu for all its server lines. "But we are still several months away from announcing a certification. I'd say it'll be announced in Q1 next year."
[source]…
gregladen | November 15, 2007
I like to report advanced technology that runs open source systems, like LInux.
From Manufactum of Germany, we have a two pound PC, running Linux, of course, just over seven inches maximum dimension. It runs at 500 MHz, can handle a gig of RAM (default 512 MB) and an 80 gig hard drive. It is pre-loaded with Debian with KDE as your desktop. That part is totally configurable, of course.
Imagine replacing all the computers in your lab with something the size of a Tom Clancy novel. That would leave piles of room for, say, a bigger fridge in which you can store samples. And beer.
gregladen | November 15, 2007All of the following stories have one thing in common: They relate to the Nature-Nurture issue.
Environment plays key role in children's readiness for school from PhysOrg.com
Early school success seems to depend largely on children entering school ready to learn, and many policy initiatives have highlighted the importance of preparing children for school entry. A new study finds that children's environment plays a major role in their readiness for school, suggesting that intervention could help boost readiness in at-risk youngsters.
[...]
Family conditions may affect when girls…
gregladen | November 15, 2007"Too bad for you..." says President George Bush.
US President George W. Bush on Tuesday (Nov 13) vetoed a spending bill that aimed to boost federal funding for the National Institutes of Health. The bill, which was passed by Congress last week, sought to increase NIH funding by about $1 billion from a 2007 budget of about $29 billion to a 2008 budget of about $30 billion.
In a statement released by the White House after Bush vetoed the bill, the president decried the Democrat-led Congress for engaging in what he called a "spending spree," and said that the legislative majority was "acting…
gregladen | November 15, 2007Look at this. See, mangrove swamps don't slow you down. Sidr has been over "land" for hours and it is still a Cat-3 storm. And heading for much more populated areas.
gregladen | November 15, 2007Disturbing news regarding the San Fran Bay oil spill from the New York Times:
The captain and crewmen of a Chinese ship responsible for an oil spill after hitting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge have refused to speak to federal investigators, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday. But the local pilot who was guiding the ship told investigators that its radar had malfunctioned shortly before the accident.
...
The Coast Guard said Wednesday that the captain and crewmen were not tested for drugs within the required 32 hours after the accident. The pilot was…
gregladen | November 15, 2007I wish I had time right now to explore this, but you don't need me when you have A Blog Around the Clock covering it so fully. Go read about the cool new (old) dinosaur.
gregladen | November 15, 2007The Eye of Sidr has crossed the coast as expected.
BBC World News web site has yet to mention the event. I guess the Brits are really pissed off about the whole post-colonial thing.
CNN has this:
Tropical Cyclone Sidr swept in from the Bay of Bengal packing winds of 149 mph (240 kilometers per hour), buffeting southwestern coastal areas within a 155-mile radius of its eye with heavy rain and storm surges predicted to reach 20 feet high.
Sidr's eye crossed the Khulna-Barisal coast near the Sundarbans mangrove forests around 9:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. ET), the Bangladesh Meteorological…
gregladen | November 15, 2007Repost from gregladen.com
One day, about six thousand years ago (or more like 15 thousand ... the timing of this is disputed) a volcano in the vicinity of Mwea, Uganda blasted a huge volume of stuff into the air, covering the surrounding landscape and choking off most of the life forms living in a nearby lake. (A very nearby lake ... the current configuration of the lake suggests that the volcano may have actually been beneath the lake at the time of the eruption).
Over a very short period of time, we can presume that the land animals that would have been wiped out by this eruption…
gregladen | November 15, 2007Storm Tracking on the Weather Underground
Check the most current post on Chris Mooney's site.
Jeff Master's Blog at Weather Underground (Comprehensive information posted at least daily)
A blog from Bangladesh
Other Science Blogers and Commentaries:
A Blog Around the Clock
Pharyngula
News: Bangladesh News (the site is currently down...)
News: Daily Star
News: BBC
News: Al Jazeera
News: CNN
gregladen | November 15, 2007The deadliest cyclone ever is said to have been the 1970 Bhola cyclone in Bangladesh. Perhaps a half million people died in that storm. That would be more than the number who died in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The Bhola Cyclone was a category 3 storm. Cyclone Sidr, now bearing down on the Bangladesh coast, is probably a Category 5 storm, possibly a strong Category 5. The population of Bangladesh has approximately doubled since 1970. This could potentially add up to a potentially very serious disaster. However, the latest word from Chris Mooney is that the storm is doing most of its…
gregladen | November 15, 2007The situation, as predicted by, it seems, very few people, has worsened in the Indian Ocean. Cyclone Sidr is heading straight north, expected to strike land east of Calcutta, on the coast of Bangledesh, in several hours from now. This is a low-lying area that will undoubtedly be flooded very badly.
This may be the worst case scenario for hurricanes on this planet.
The storm is moving slowly, thus picking up considerable energy over very warm water. I think the water it has yet to cross is even warmer. Gusts are now way over category 5 strength. Form the joint hurricane prediction…
gregladen | November 15, 2007This is the first in a series of reposts from gregladen.com on global warming.
The IPCC report is out, "An Inconvenient Truth" has been honored by the academy, a sea change is happening in the way that climate change news is being reported, and you can bet the Right Wing and the Ree-pubs are as we speak working up new Talking Points and Spins to deflate the urgency of the issue. It is an axiom that in reporting science, there are two (not one, not three or four, just two) sides to every issue, and one side is the plank nailed to the Democratic Party Platform, and the other side is the…
gregladen | November 14, 2007I know you know this, but does everybody? It is a new approach to getting your banking details. Please pass it around.
Would you like to work online from Home/Temporarily and get paid weekly?We are glad to offer you for a job position at our company. We need someone to work for the company as a Representative/Book keeper in your country. This is in view of our not having an office presently in your country.
My name is Kachy Williams working as a Sales Consultant Manager for a fabric company in United Kingdom called Dhillon Fabrics. I found this medium an opportunity to contact you and…
gregladen | November 14, 2007Hopefully not, but the prospects of a major disaster in the Indian Ocean Basin are looming, and it is strangely underreported. Not a mention on CNN, for instance.
Chris Mooney is telling us that it is Time to Panic. He and I may not entirely agree on every detail of framing, but there is no way to argue with the man on this one.
A Category 4 hurricane/cyclone is about to plow into what might be the most vulnerable place on the earth, the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean Basin, I think it is going to hit Calcutta or environs late tomorrow.
Information is available here on Chris's…
gregladen | November 14, 2007Environmental scientist David Keith talks about a cheap, effective, shocking solution to climate change: What if we injected a huge cloud of ash into the atmosphere, to deflect sunlight and heat? As an emergency measure to slow a melting ice cap, it could work. Keith discusses why it's a good idea, why it's a terrible one -- and who, despite the cost, might be tempted to use it.
gregladen | November 14, 2007Nineteen former pilots and government officials ... told reporters their questions can no longer be dismissed ..."We want the US government to stop perpetuating the myth that all UFOs can be explained away in down-to-earth, conventional terms," said Fife Symington, former governor of Arizona... "Instead our country needs to reopen its official investigation that it shut down in 1969," Symington told a news conference. [source]
I saw an UFO (pronounced "ooofo") once too. It was a sight I can never forget. Let me tell you about it.
I was in an airplane, a 737 to be exact, departing from…
gregladen | November 13, 2007Judgment Day, the PBS special on the Dover Trial, just finished airing. I have a few somewhat coherent (compared to my live blogging, see upstream) comments.
[see also LiveBlogging on Pharyngula. PZ's excellent insider remarks and lots of great comments]
Mostly, I think it was great, I'm glad they did it, they did a good job, yadayadayada.
I want to make a few constructive criticisms but these comments should not be taken as an indication that I did not like the show or would not recommend it. I liked it and I recommend it.
The show recounts the trial, so much of the show is the trial (…