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Subscribing to Culture Dish Feed, plus Culture Dish on NPR Today

Update: Culture Dish's feed is now live! (Thanks Sb folks!) To subscribe to this blog, just click this link for RSS feed or subscribe to get Culture Dish via email by clicking here. Also: I'll be on NPR's Day-to-Day today talking about Creature Comforts. The show airs at 1pm eastern time. You can listen to it live online here, or anytime after 3pm ET on NPR's site. Stay tuned for more updates.

Keith Schon on Skeptically Speaking tonight

Keith Schon of Cataphora discusses how computers can track behavior, and find out all your dirty little secrets. What are the limits on what your company is allowed to find out about you, and how are they doing it? How do we figure out, after the fact, whether "Yeah, go do that" means "Yes, grab me some lunch" or "Yes, perpetrate that multi-million dollar fraud scheme." And what do your online behavior patterns say about you? details

Of course this is the result I'd get

My score on The Cowboy-Ninja-Pirate-Knight Test: a Pirate /> style="font-size:12pt">(You scored 3 Honor, 4 Justice, 4 Adventure, and 13 Individuality!) /> Arr matey. You may believe in honor, and justice, and you certainly have a sense of adventure. But mostly, you play by your own rules. Your code is your own and you are flexible in most situations. Dress flamboyant and look into a parrot. I think you'll do fine. Link: The Cowboy-Ninja-Pirate-Knight Test (OkCupid Free Online Dating) (via Cowboy Tikistitch)

The Latest Online Debate over Framing

The Scientist is currently sponsoring an online discussion about framing and new directions in science communication. The web feature is in advance of an article I am contributing to the magazine, co-authored with Dietram Scheufele, a colleague at the University of Wisconsin. So far, more than 40 comments have been posted. There is also a reader survey at the site. Regarding The Scientist discussion, Mary Miller has more to add in a post at her blog The Accidental Scientist.

"LOLCreashun" Contest

John Scalzi visited the infamous AiG Creation Museum, took a slew of pictures, and now he's running a caption contest. You can find the full set of photos online and all the details of the contest can be found here (the deadline is this coming Sunday), but don't forget to check out the initial report on the trip to the House of Ham. [Hat-tip to Molly who pointed me to this (and created her own humorous image)]

Mongol

I noticed that Mongol: The Rise of Genghis Khan was watchable online on Netflix the other day, so I checked it out. I liked it. As any movie there were liberties taken with aspects of Genghis Khan's biography, but I felt like most of them were true to the general outlines of what really happened. The main downside was the whole warlord-with-a-heart-of-gold element to his personality. I'm definitely looking forward to The Great Khan, the rumored sequel.

Possible fates dispassionately reviewed

Now that the LHC is online, The Editors have catalogued three ways it will destroy the world, using the Airwolf scale of awesomeness crossed by a goofiness scale. It looks like being sucked into a black hole is one of the more pedestrian scenarios. I am relieved that they didn't consider the possibility that TeV collisions might be the last trump that summons the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Some things may be even too goofy for the Poor Man Institute.

Something Told the Wild Geese: Feeling Winter in Summer

Something told the wild geese It was time to go, Though the fields lay golden Something whispered, "snow." Leaves were green and stirring, Berries, luster-glossed, But beneath warm feathers Something cautioned, "frost." All the sagging orchards Steamed with amber spice, But each wild breast stiffened At remembered ice. Something told the wild geese It was time to fly, Summer sun was on their wings, Winter in their cry. - Rachel Field I'm trying to get back to normal - even though things aren't quite normal here. In the last three weeks my blogging home has melted down twice and my physical…

EU Panel Spanks Some Specious Claims

The Wall Street Journal's Matthew Dalton reports: European scientific authorities Thursday rejected dozens of health claims made by food companies, in a sign of how tricky it will be for them to get some of their most popular claims past a European Union drive to bring scientific rigor to the health foods. A panel of the European Food Safety Authority issued nearly a hundred opinions on health claims, about two-thirds of which were negative. The rejections included claims on special bacteria that are supposed to aid digestion and boost the immune system, beta carotene additives for sunscreen…

The usefulness of commenting on scientific papers

Here is a great example by Cameron Neylon: It's a little embarrassing... ...but being straightforward is always the best approach. Since we published our paper in PLoS ONE a few months back I haven't been as happy as I was about the activity of our Sortase. What this means is that we are now using a higher concentration of the enzyme to do our ligation reactions. They seem to be working well and with high yields, but we need to put in more enzyme. If you don't understand that don't worry - just imagine you posted a carefully thought out recipe and then discovered you couldn't get that same…

My Picks From ScienceDaily

Dinosaur Bones Reveal Ancient Bug Bites: Paleontologists have long been perplexed by dinosaur fossils with missing pieces - sets of teeth without a jaw bone, bones that are pitted and grooved, even bones that are half gone. Now a Brigham Young University study identifies a culprit: ancient insects that munched on dinosaur bones. Saving Frogs Before It's Too Late: With nearly one-third of amphibian species threatened with extinction worldwide, fueled in part by the widespread emergence of the deadly chytrid fungus, effective conservation efforts could not be more urgent. In a new article,…

Links for 2010-07-22

More Online Astronomy Resources for Writers "A few years ago I compiled a list of online astronomy resources for writers following that year's Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers. Every year there are new links we pass around and discuss, so I wanted to do an addendum, if you will, adding more links to the ones I've previously posted (and which I feel are still excellent resources)." (tags: books writing blogs science astronomy internet) Books vs. reviewers, in pictures « The Book Publicity Blog "One of a book publicist's jobs is to get reviews for books. Which is tricky these…

Survey on the impact of blogs about science on the world outside the blogosphere.

It has seemed to me for some time now that the landscape of news and information sources has changed since the end of the last century. Anecdotally, I seem to know an awful lot of people who rely primarily on online sources (both online versions of traditional newspapers and magazines and blogs with journalistic leanings that provide solidly researched articles and deep analysis) for their news. But I also seem to know some people who automatically equate information on the internet with the nutty website of a paranoid guy in the cellar. And it's really hard to assume that the people I…

Scientific information must be free! Now where to put it...

Do you read the 'supplementary information' in science articles? If you're familiar with the way journal articles work, they publish a traditional and formally formatted article in the print version of the journal, but now they often also have a supplementary information section stored in an online database that contains material that would be impractical or impossible to cram into print: raw data, spreadsheets, multimedia such as movie files. This is important stuff, especially if you want to dig deeper or re-analyze or otherwise rework the information. Another important function is, I think…

Birds in the News 112 -- New Year Edition

tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter Gull with Reflection. California Gull, Larus californicus, with reflection -- Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island Causeway, April 2005. Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [really large view] People Hurting Birds The bald eagle injured when it flew into a utility line in Plumsted last week has died. Don Bonica of Toms River Avian Care in New Jersey had taken the bird in with hopes of rehabilitating it, but the attempt was unsuccessful, he said. "When I went out to take care of it this morning, it was dead," Bonica said. The bird…

Maternal Sentimentality and "The Box"

Not that it matters much with this dreadful film, but if you're worried about spoilers, don't read this post till you've seen the movie. You've been warned. Proceed past the jump at your own risk. Movie trailer can be found here. Norma and Arthur have been given a box! With a button! Push the button and get a million bucks! Only, well, someone has to die. Dang. Norma's a nice girl, but she pushes the button anyway. And then watches it rise again in all its slow motion phallic majesty. So, it turns out, the fancy little button boxes are being doled out only to married couples…

Wikipedia: Grant Shapps

[Update: June 6th: Chase-Me has definitely been a very naughty boy indeed. The only question is whether he'll hang on to his sysop bit.] By popular request. And I've not seen anyone else wiki-literate discussing this, so I will (update: Wikipedia sockpuppetry is a problem, but baseless accusations are no better by a former checkuser is worth a read; it mostly supports what I've said here). the Graun says Grant Shapps accused of editing Wikipedia pages of Tory rivals. Online encyclopedia administrators block user account believed to be run by Tory party co-chairman or ‘someone else ... under…

In which I am called an astroturfer and generously offered a chance at unconditional surrender by antivaccine cranks

Ever since the Disneyland measles outbreak hit high gear last month and permeated the national consciousness, the antivaccine movement has, justifiably, been on the defensive. We've been treated to the spectacle of a truly despicable cardiologist spewing antivaccine nonsense with an added dollop of contempt for parents of children with cancer who are worried about the degradation of herd immunity by non-vaccinating parents driving vaccine rates down, leading to pockets of low vaccine uptake. We've had antivaccinationists likening vaccine mandates to human trafficking and rape. Then, of…

Porn Is Probably Not the Best Way to Restore Science to Its Rightful Place

At the behest of Our Benevolent Seed Overlords, I recently discussed elitism and how to restore science to its rightful place. I think, though, porn is probably not the best way to do so (italics mine): ...the [NSF] employees in question weren't just logging onto their Facebook accounts or buying birthday gifts on Amazon.com. The report says they were watching, downloading and e-mailing porn, sometimes for significant portions of their workdays, and over periods of months or even years. In one particularly egregious case, the report says one NSF "senior official" was discovered to have spent…

Ethics in the Science Classroom

From NWABR: Would you like to integrate ethics into your science classroom, but aren't sure which topics to address or teaching methods to use? Do you feel that ethics is important to include in science education, but feel uncomfortable with your own lack of background knowledge? Have you observed how students' motivation to learn content increases when science is discussed within its social and ethical context? Come to the Ethics in the Science Classroom workshop and learn more! Who is this for? Secondary Science Teachers Program dates: July 16-20, 2007 (participants may arrive July 15…

My Picks From ScienceDaily

What Did Dinosaurs Hear?: What did dinosaurs hear? Probably a lot of low frequency sounds, like the heavy footsteps of another dinosaur, if University of Maryland professor Robert Dooling and his colleagues are right. What they likely couldn't hear were the high pitched sounds that birds make. Scientists Join Fight To Save Tasmanian Devil From Deadly Cancer: CSIRO scientists have joined the battle to save Australia's iconic Tasmanian devils from the deadly cancer currently devastating devil populations. Stray Penguins Probably Reached Northern Waters By Fishing Boat: Guy Demmert got quite a…

EGU

Its EGU time again. Monday was a bit of a blur (technically I got to my hotel on monday, about half past midnight. Travelling Air Austria is a lot more pleasant than RyanAir, though). Tuesday was better, partly because I gave up on the stupid "personal programme" stuff the site lets you build on-line and simply got one of the huge book-blocks of sessions. Morning: global dimming/brightening. More stuff pretty well confirming the old: that GD masked increasing GHG forcing up till 1980 ish; and we've seen "brightening" since then (e.g. Wild). nb the conf search engine is here. Ray Bradley…

Other People Need Your Help

Several items in the general category of charitable activity: Kate is running the Con or Bust auction again this year, with proceeds going to support people of color interested in attending SFF cons, principally Wiscon. Bidding is open through Saturday at 11:59pm ET, and items up for bid include many things that may be of interest to readers of this blog, including a certain book, plus a bunch of other stuff I will put below the fold. I got email from the Nobel Prize committee the other day. Well, OK, the webmaster for Nobelprize.org. They have an "Ask a Nobel laureate" feature going on…

You give pharma...a bad name - alleged intimidation of Avandia critic

Readers who are busting their butts doing basic and drug development research in pharmaceutical companies don't need this kind of alleged behavior from upper management - from Jeanne Whalen at the Wall Street Journal (online yesterday and in today's print edition) following up on a story first reported in the Journal on 24 May 2007: Over a period of several years, drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC was so concerned about a prominent physician's negative views of its diabetes drug that it engaged in a concerted effort to intimidate him and stifle his opinion, a report by the U.S. Senate Finance…

Sunday Function

Pick a two-digit number. Anything from 0 to 99 inclusive will work, because the single digit numbers can be considered to have a leading zero. Add the digits together. Subtract that from the original number. So if you started with 12, you add the digits to get 3, and subtract that from 12 to get 9 as your final answer. Ok well that's a bit mundane and boring, though it sounds like the setup to a magic trick. And so it is. We'll worry about the trick in a minute. First we'd like to write that algorithm as a function. First we'll have to figure out a way to extract the digits from the…

MSU has serious competition ... NOT!

Dembski pimps an interview with his new bestest buddy, the electrical and computer engineer, Robert Marks "director of the Baylor Evolutionary Informatics Lab" (which is comprised of Dembski, Marks and two students). The Isaac Newton of Information Theory says: I hope you catch from the interview the ambitiousness of the lab and how it promises to put people like Christoph Adami and Rob Pennock out of business (compare www.evolutionaryinformatics.org with devolab.cse.msu.edu). Let’s do that shall we? Let’s compare the two labs. Number of journal papers by the Baylor Evolutionary Informatics…

Fishing for Architeuthis, the giant squid

Lots of people have been emailing me with the news about this filmed sequence showing a giant squid snagged on a deep line. Did you know that the paper is freely available online (pdf)? It's very cool. The researchers were jigging for squid with a 1km long line, snagged one by a tentacle, and then watched for the next four hours as it struggled to get free. The squid's initial attack was captured on camera (figure 3a) and shows the two long tentacles characteristic of giant squid wrapped in a ball around the bait. The giant squid became snagged on the squid jig by the club of one of these…

The Grand Canyon is how old?

At this point, it's safe to say the National Park Service is stonewalling. There is a book called The Grand Canyon: A Different View, written from a young earth creationist perspective, which the NPS has approved for sale in its bookstores. It is a truly appalling piece of crap; I wrote about in in July of 2004, and you can read excerpts from it online. One might argue that the appearance of the book is simply due to a lack of discrimination by the Park Service, which just shovels the gimcracks and gewgaws into their stores to make money, but apparently they try to exercise some due…

Student guest post: Chirp, Chirp, Sneeze!

Student guest post by Julia Wiederholt I don’t think there is a single person that can claim to have never had the joyous experience (sarcasm intended) of suffering from the influenza.  We all recognize the common symptoms that accompany this infectious little virus taking up residence in our bodies: the chills accompanying a fever, the total body ache, the nausea, and overall feeling of malaise.  Typically this virus comes and goes within a week without serious side effects.  When novel strains of the influenza pop up however, there can be more serious complications as your body lacks a…

An Open Mouse

A few months ago I got in my car and drove north until I reached a remarkable building filled with several million mice. At Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, scientists are studying mice to understand many mysteries of genetics and medicine. But I was particularly curious about a project that they've only recently launched: an attempt to understand how many genes working together give rise to complex traits. When those complex traits go awry, the result may be a common disease such as heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. The article I wrote about what I learned, "Mendel's Mouse,"…

Science Online Died. Why?

Science Online was an amazing annual unconference that started a few years back and grew and became part of the reshaping of public communication about science. This year, the people running the conference started out with the plan to move the conference to a new venue, Atlanta, and last week abruptly announced that the conference would not happen and the ScienceOnline organization would be shut down. Those who paid the registration fee would be refunded. A few science writers and bloggers are writing about how great ScienceOnline was and how much it will be missed, and some are providing a…

Evolution & altruism

Olivia Judson's piece The Selfless Gene in The Atlantic is a pretty good survey of the various theories of the evolution of altruism. If you read Narrow Roads of Gene Land or Natural Selection and Social Theory, nothing new, but if you aren't familiar with the lay of the land it's worth checking out. But you can't find it free online, so you'll have to get a subscription to The Atlantic or run out to the book store and sneak a peak.

Honeybee genome completed!

The honeybee genome project has been finished and a bunch of papers are coming out tomorrow. As soon as they become available online I will comment, at least on the one paper that shows that the molecular machinery of the bee circadian clock is much more similar to the mammalian clock than the fruitfly clock - something that makes me very excited. In the meantime, you can read more about the bees and their genome on The Loom, The Scientist, Scientific American and EurekAlert.

Off to Montreal

I'm going to be less active for a few days. Going to Montreal (for the first time) for the 17th Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy. I'll be moderating a panel on the new landscape of online advertising, featuring Microsoft's Kim Howell, the Center for Digital Democracy's Jeff Chester, and Mike Zaneis of the Interactive Advertising Bureau. There may be some denialism afoot, in which case I'll project a card or two on the screen. Anyone have any restaurant suggestions?

"Vacation"

...or, really, another swing to Ohio to drop off the kids. Their school-based daycare ended today, so I'm currently somewhere in a little place on Lake Huron to camp for two days, then I'll be in Ohio for a few hours to drop them off with relatives, and then back to Iowa on Monday. I have a few posts scheduled, and as always, any comments caught in the spam filter will have to wait until I'm back online after the weekend--apologies in advance.

Notices of the AMS special issue on Kurt Godel

Harald Hanche-Olsen, in the comments on my earlier post about the Principia Mathematica, has pointed out that this months issue of the Notices of the American Mathematical Society is a special issue in honor of the 100th anniversary of Kurt Gödels birth. The entire issue is available for free online I haven't read much of the journal yet; but Martin Davis's article The Incompleteness Theorem is a really great overview of the theorem abnd the proof, how it works, and what it means.

Oprah may not have puked at the mention of atheism! It's a breakthrough!

Greg Laden reports that Oprah actually had positive things to say about the quality of life in Denmark, and may even have been non-condemning in a brief comment about their godlessness. I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that Greg spends his afternoons watching Oprah. But after that, I'm mildly and pleasantly surprised. I doubt that much was said about it (parts of the program are online, but no, I simply can't bear to watch it), but at least it's one tiny step toward mainstreaming atheism.

Open Humanities Press

Peter Suber relays the announcement (and add some more) of the Open Humanities Press, a collection of seven Open Access journals (a humanities PLoS of sorts) in critical and cultural theory. Humanities bloggers have been way ahead of science bloggers in regards to posting their own work (including ideas, hypotheses and rough drafts) online, yet official humanities publishing has lagged behind natural sciences and medicine when it comes to adopting Open Access, so this is a very positive move on their part.

Do You Worry Too Much?

tags: worry, online quiz Your Worry Factor is 67% The amount you worry is definitely borderline unhealthy. Even when things are going well, you find yourself fixating on the negatives. Try to remember the times you've been able to let your worries go. If you can do that again, you'll be much happier! Do You Worry Too Much? Have you ever been able to "let your worries go"? I haven't, but then again, I have very good reasons to worry all the time!

What Kind of Chocolate Are You?

tags: chocolate, online quiz You are Dark Chocolate You live your life with intensity, always going full force. You push yourself (and others) to the limit... you want more than you can handle. An extreme person, you challenge and inspire the world! What Kind of Chocolate Are You? Hey, that's my favorite kind of chocolate, how did they guess? (By the way, if you are interested to read a little more about chocolate and alcoholism, I recently wrote a story that you might enjoy).

Do You Belong In NYC or LA?

tags: online quiz, NYC, LA You Belong in New York You're a girl on the go, and LA's laid back lifestyle isn't really your thing. You prefer a city that never sleeps, and people as ambitious as you are. Cultured and street smart, you can truly appreciate everything New York has to offer. Are You an LA Girl or a NY Girl? I think I was stretching the boundaries since I think my answers made me really close to "half and half". How about you?

How Many People Died The Day You Were Born?

Here's another one of those silly online quizzes for you to play with before you get down to work; 122,466 People Created by OnePlusYou Several of the people who died on my birthday throughout history include; 2007 - Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, Saudi brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden 2007 - Molly Ivins, American political columnist and author 1974 - Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born film studio executive 1956 - A. A. Milne, English author 1944 - Jean Giraudoux, French writer 1933 - John Galsworthy, English writer, Nobel laureate

Soccer (Futebol) Chick

Dontcha love photoshop? (more below the fold) I didn't get to see the last match in the World Cup. Needless to say, I was disappointed. But a friend emailed this really cute picture, which I had to share with all of you (of course). I also wanted to include a link to an online game where you could make Zidane headbash Italian players to earn a score, but it appears that site has been temporarily shut down due to excessive web traffic. Bummer. . tags: World Cup, futebol, soccer

Fuk-D: radiation monitoring

The Japanese Atomic Energy Authority has online environmental radiation monitors. The list of stations is here. View Larger Map The monitoring station at O-arai is the one between Fukushima and Tokyo. Ambient radiation levels there are 30-40 nGy per hour. Current levels are around 300 nGy/h - ten times normal. Acute radiation effects are seen around a dosage of a Gy, so long way to go - currently getting close to μGy/h. Things get serious around milliGy/h. 7 day graph is here Watch that curve.

Who Dies in the last Harry Potter Book? (Poll Results)

tags: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, books,online poll results I asked you all a few days ago who you thought would die in the last Harry Potter book, and I have posted the results below the fold, as promised. Due to a mix-up at Amazon, I did not receive my copy of the Harry potter book, so I can only report spoilers (which may or may not be true) instead of writing a review of the book itself. But I can post the poll results;

What Chinese Year Should You Have Been Born Under?

tags: chinese new year, online quiz I am a DOG? And I am most compatible with a tiger or horse? You Should Have Been Born Under: You are totally loyal, faithful, and honest. However, you don't trust others to be as ethical as you are! Straight forward and direct, you really aren't one for small talk. You are a great listener - and an agreeable companion when you're in a good mood! You are most compatible with a Tiger or Horse. What Year Should You Have Been Born Under?

Anthro Blog Carnival

The ninety-first Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Sexy Archaeology. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! And keep those hands where I can see them, OK? Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to Sam at Sorting Out Science. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is on 9 June. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The eighty-seventh Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Anthropology in Practice. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to Ciarán at Ad hominin. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is on 28 April. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro. And check out the latest Skeptics' Circle!

Anthro Blog Carnival

The eighty-third Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at the Primate Diaries. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to the keeper of A Primate of Modern Aspect. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is in less than a month, on 27 January. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The eighty-second Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Anthropology in Practice. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to Eric at the Primate Diaries. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is in less than a month, on 13 January. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.