retrospectacle | November 16, 2006
The forests of Siberia are full of insomniac bears, scaring the locals, as the weather has been staying too warm for them to go into hibernation. Usually Siberian bears sleep six months, beginning in October or November, but the Kemerovo region where they live has currently gotten no snow.
Hunters, out in the woods stalking birds and hares now that the hunting season is open, need protection from restless bears the most, she added.
"We have observers who ensure there are no attacks on hunters."
Bears den in dry places usually covered by snow, and wet weather makes finding a suitable "bedroom…
retrospectacle | November 14, 2006Today seems to be the day of weird religious-blogging.
A toy company called one2believe in Los Angeles offered to donate 4,000 bible-quotin' Jesus dolls to Toys for Tots, but was told "thanks, but no thanks." The reason was that children from all faiths (and lack thereof) participate in the program, and the gifts are given randomly without knowing the child's background.
Michael La Roe, director of business development for both companies, said the charity's decision left him "surprised and disappointed."
"The idea was for them to be three-dimensional teaching tools for kids," La Roe said. "I…
retrospectacle | November 14, 2006The Flying Spaghetti Monster would not be pleased to learn that the world's first (and I desperately hope, only) Creationist museum will soon open in a bustling part of backwood Kentucky. This $25 million Disney-fied, anamatronic monstrosity is dedicated to presenting the biblical creation story as factually accurate.
The Creation Museum - motto: "Prepare to Believe!" - will be the first institution in the world whose contents [editor's note: and ideas].... are entirely fake.
This museum is the brainchild (and I use the word 'brain' loosely) of one Patrick Marsh, an ex-employee of Universal…
retrospectacle | November 13, 2006Every spring, the University of Michigan Neuroscience program has a symposium with invited speakers, usually eminent people in the field who have been influential in some regard. This year one of the speakers we've settled on is linguist/philosopher/famous guy Steven Pinker, and I've been charged with inviting him. Or, more likely begging him to come. We invited him to the speak two years ago and he declined due to other scheduling conflicts, so we REALLY want him to come this year.
So, I'm wondering, how to pose the question so he'll come? I'm sure he has lots of gigs that pay more and are…
retrospectacle | November 13, 2006Some news from my old stomping grounds at Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota, Florida. Back in undergrad I worked there with the manatees Hugh and Buffet to test their visual acuity (its bad), now the marine observatory is attempting to test the hearing of manatees. This is essential, as the most likely cause of death for a manatee is an "meeting" with the propeller of a speed boat. Can they hear the approach of a boat? And, if so, how loud or far away can they hear it?
When a buzzer sounds, the speed bump-shaped mammal slowly flips his 1,300 pounds and aims a whiskered snout toward one of eight…
retrospectacle | November 13, 2006The Queen of England recently visited the frigate HMS Lancaster, however one usual crew member was not on board---the resident pet, an African Grey named Sunny. It was feared that Sunny's foul mouth--who swears like a sailor, literally-- might offend Her Highness, so the parrot was put into "retirement."
The mascot's salty utterings included "a**e", "feck" and phrases such as "Zulus, thousands of 'em," and "You ain't seen nothing, right?"
She is now living with Tony Sawyer and his wife in Penarth, South Wales.
Tony said: "She goes through quite a repertoire but we are trying to tone the…
retrospectacle | November 10, 2006I suppose he was 87, and had been looking 87 for the past 20 years. But still. He did one-armed push-ups on stage. At the Oscars.
retrospectacle | November 10, 2006I was perusing the blogs that were included in the latest edition of the International Carnival of Pozitivities when I cam across the heart-breaking blog of an AIDS worker in Botswana called Where in the World is Connor MacEachern. From his blog:
AIDS has infiltrated every facet of Botswana's society, so much so that one of my colleagues at BONASO [the aid organization] fell victim to it in August. Some might say that if someone at BONASO, who has all the information, can still become infected, how can we expect to help? The answer, in this case, is in the question. Information can only go so…
retrospectacle | November 10, 2006
The natural world has been a-buzz lately with new things---new island, now a new parrot? Apparently an Australian bird enthusiast, John Young, has made the claim of discovering a new type of parrot, which he has named the blue-browed fig-parrot. The Queensland Environmental Minister Lindy Nelson-Carr (what a title!) has endorsed the claim as authentic despite no governmental experts having seen the bird or its nesting hole. Young has produced only a photograph of the parrot, and has refused to reveal the bird's location. This has produced some amount of speculation that the "discovery" is a…
retrospectacle | November 10, 2006A newborn voclanic island has been identified in the South Pacific near Tonga, according to the reports of two vessels that have passed nearby.
The crew of the Maiken, a yacht that left the northern Tongan islands group of Vava'u in August, reported on their Web log on August 12 that they saw streaks of light, porous pumice stone floating in the water -- then "sailed into a vast, many-miles-wide belt of densely packed pumice."
They posted photos of huge "pumice rafts" that they encountered after passing Tonga's Late island while sailing toward Fiji.
"We were so fascinated and busy taking…
retrospectacle | November 10, 2006The 5th International Carnival of Positivities, a carnival about HIV and AIDS founded by Ron Hudson, is up over at A Blog Around the Clock. Quite a few ScienceBloggers, myself included, contributed. Check it out!
retrospectacle | November 8, 2006Missouri voters have narrowly approved a measure sanctioning embryonic stem cell research in the state. The amendment to the state constitution received 51% of yesterday's vote after supporters waged a $30 million advertising campaign that included celebrities such as Michael J. Fox. Elsewhere, three governors who had backed stem cell research in their states won re-election, while one of the biggest congressional opponents of their use--U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)--was trounced.
"I'm very proud of Missouri," says Steve Teitelbaum, a Washington University bone pathologist who has…
retrospectacle | November 8, 2006At the Society for Neuroscience meeting last month, there was a special symposium regarding the current NIH funding situation that was supposed to be given by the current director of the NIH, Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni. Due to his plane being delayed, he was a no-show, although the talk was instead given by a few of the directors of NIH divisions. The gist of the talk was this: despite the NIH's budget being doubled a few years back, demand for grants has risen much faster and hence the paylines have decline dramatically. And we should all shut up and stop complaining, and ride out the low-funding…
retrospectacle | November 7, 2006Check out this really interesting study over at Cognitive Daily, which explores the differences in acoustic and visual processing times. The authors of the study used a very elegant, simple protocol to demonstrate how accurate people are at reporting synchrony and "dis-synchrony."
One side note was that raw auditory processing times are faster than visual processing times. This may have to do with the levels and depth of processing that visual stimuli undergoes, and the amount of information (color, depth, size, position, movement, distance, etc) that must be integrated into a coherent "…
retrospectacle | November 7, 2006According to a suit brought by two cops in New Mexico, they were served hamburgers that had been laced with marijuana.
The lawsuit says Mark Landavazo and Henry Gabaldon, officers for the Isleta Pueblo tribal police, were in uniform and riding in a marked patrol car when they bought meals at the drive-through lane October 8 of a Burger King restaurant in Los Lunas, New Mexico.
The officers ate about half of their burgers before discovering marijuana on the meat, the lawsuit said. They used a field test kit to confirm the substance was pot, then went to a hospital for medical evaluations.
"It…
retrospectacle | November 7, 2006I'm sure you've heard about "Borat." Like Snakes on a Plane, its been the object of a huge amount of hype and word-of-mouth style promotion. I went to go see the movie Sunday night, and I gotta say, I thought it was hilarious. Although, several people walked out of the theater about 15 minutes into the movie. And I heard a few others say "That wasn't funny at all" while leaving. Honestly, if you don't have a sense of humor (and a flexible one at that) don't see it. But, if you're a fan of pushing-the-envelope type humor a la South Park, Drawn Together, etc, chances are you'll laugh hard and…
retrospectacle | November 6, 2006Don't forget to vote tomorrow! There are a few ballot initiatives here in Michigan, and here's a bit of info on the proposals so you can be well-informed before the polling starts.
PROPOSAL 06-1
A PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO REQUIRE THAT MONEY HELD IN CONSERVATION AND RECREATION FUNDS CAN ONLY BE USED FOR THEIR INTENDED PURPOSES
The proposed constitutional amendment would:
-Create a Conservation and Recreation Legacy Fund within the Constitution and establish existing conservation and recreation accounts as components of the fund.
- Use current funding sources such as state park…
retrospectacle | November 6, 2006Great news! I won $1000 in the Blogging Scholarship!
Although Stephen Yellin of DailyKos took first place (and $5000), me and Paul Stamatiou both won $1000, and the rest of the bloggers won $100. What a great surprise, as I had completely written off winning anything. Thank you all for voting, no matter who you voted for (but especially if you voted for me!). :D
In other news, I contacted Dr. Irene Pepperberg about the interview she agreed to do (oh so long ago!) for Grey Matters and she said send over some questions. So, if you readers have any questions to contribute, I'd love to hear them…
retrospectacle | November 5, 2006Looks like a lost cause, but I always was a sucker for a lost cause.
Voting for the Student Blogging Scholarship ends tonight at midnight, eastern time.
So, its your last chance to vote for me to get $5000 to help pay for my PhD.
And thanks to all that have already voted!