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This poll is dead. Please let it rot in peace.

I'm getting a big surge in requests to pharyngulate this poll, Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency?. Stop, please. That poll is already blown to smithereens; just look at the numbers. Almost 11 million votes. The results are hacked, oversubscribed, and the product of massive flooding. When you see something like that, there's no point in asking me to swamp the poll, because it's done gone and sunk already, and is plummeting to depths that will make the Marianas Trench sigh with envy. I like my polls fresh and tangy, ripe with stupidity. This one ain't, although…

How the Giraffe Got Its Neck?

The Icons of Evolution finally tested! Who won? Lamarck or Darwin? Under the fold: Winning By A Neck: Giraffes Avoid Competing With Shorter Browsers: The giraffe's elongated neck has long been used in textbooks as an illustration of evolution by natural selection, but this common example has received very little experimental attention. In the January issue of the American Naturalist, researchers at the Mammal Research Institute in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria tested whether foraging competition with shorter herbivores could explain why giraffes…

Worth reading: Ebola, family planning and "the conversation that matters most"

A few of the recent pieces I've liked: Nancy Shute at NPR's Shots blog: Nurses Want to Know How Safe is Safe Enough with Ebola Maryn McKenna at Superbug: What Would Keep Ebola from Spreading in the US? Investing in Simple Research Years Ago. (Check out the last paragraph for links to other great recent pieces on the disease.) Atul Gawande at Slate: No Risky Chances: The conversation that matters most Catherine Rampell in the Washington Post: Is sex only for rich people? Laurie Abraham in Elle: Abortion: Not easy, not sorry Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic: To Raise, Love, and Lose a Black…

A Haiku for Science

Our future foretell Galaxies of stellar poems From space science spring Inspired by Jason Wright's Thesis, Lucianne Walkowicz called out Astronomers on facebook to describe their current research as Haiku To the Occasion All Astronomers Sprung Forth Poetic Research There is a collection of some of the contributions at Rhymes Like Science Where my feeble efforts fall Amongst stellar prose Dynamics of Cats Cold winter sky glow crushed stars dance in my dreams where will life go now? Clearly this can be expanded on: we need iambic pentameter, limericks, and poetry of the sagas - proper…

fb Astronomers

Just a quick heads-up for those who don't know yet: there is closed group "Astronomers" on facebook. It is by invitation only, ie some existing member must add any new member. You must have an fb account to be added. The group has about 4,000 members, most all professional astronomers from around the world. There is some interesting discussion going on in that group and some useful info being passed around. The closed group feature seems to work well for some combination of intensity of topic focus and size - not too small, not too big. 'fraid I wouldn't tell how to monetize the feature…

JWST - this is how you do it

curious rumour about JWST and the Senate: supposedly major testing of JWST integration is being moved to Johnson Space Center and Marshall is also pickingup some significant system integration action don't know enough history to know if this is an actual change in plans, nor can I confirm it at this stage interesting bit of politicking if true, now we have to see if it does the trick PS: haven't seen full Senate appropriations bill - think they only released the summary, but, $500M is cut from NASA and the Senate Launch System is funded - so what was cut? Also NSF and NIST are cut to get…

CBS 60 Minutes on Worker Safety

Set your wristwatch alarms or your VCR for this Sunday (June 7) at 7:00 pm (EST) to watch CBS's 60 Minutes and a hard-hitting story on OSHA and its failure to protect workers and communities from combustible dust explosions.  CBS's correspondent Scott Pelley  interviews Carolyn Merritt (former Member of the US Chemical Safety Board), Tammy Miser (whose brother Shawn was killed in an aluminum dust explosion), Edwin Foulke (OSHA Asst. Secretary), and at least one EXPERIENCED but UNDISCLOSED speaker.   Many thanks to the CBS crew who pursued and persisted with this story: David…

Humane Watch puts lawyers in cages

In a brilliant parody of the HSUS shelter ads, humane watch has put sad looking lawyers in cages to emphasize that donations to HSUS do not fund shelters. HSUS is like PETA but with deodorant and suits. Hah! I love it. HSUS is PETA. It's upsetting that this fake charity has co-opted the reputation of our local humane societies, used ads depicting suffering animals in cages, then taken in millions of dollars from well meaning people to lobby for animal rights causes. Every time I see their ads I get furious. Less than 1% of their take goes to shelters. HSUS is not a humane society at…

Second death in E. coli O157 outbreak

Toddler's death blamed on E. coli, officials say Heartbreaking. As federal agents launched a criminal investigation into two produce companies involved in the contaminated spinach outbreak, Idaho health officials confirmed the death of a 2-year-old boy Sept. 20 was caused by tainted spinach. Kyle Allgood was the second confirmed death in the E. coli outbreak, which also killed a Wisconsin woman. The boy, who would have turned 3 in December, died in Salt Lake City after developing a type of kidney failure caused by E. coli. Health officials had to wait for the results of genetic testing on the…

For the Iowa folks

Though I won't be around this weekend to attend, y'all might be interested in checking this out: The Iowa Academy of Science will present "Iowa Skies" at the Saylorville Visitors Center this Saturday evening, August 5th, at 7:00 p.m. The program is free and open to the public. The program by Craig Johnson, IAS Executive Director, will feature cloud photos taken in Iowa. From delicate cirrus to the dark and robust cumulonimbus, clouds have a story to tell. Hear about lightning, tornadoes, blizzards and more in a program that has been enjoyed by children and adults alike. A question and…

Back!

7 days, over 2000 miles, and 32+ hours on the road (half of it with 2 kids and a dog). I need a vacation from my vacation. Thanks to most of you for your patience; I see I've already been accused of "censorship" for not being around to approve some comments that got stuck in the junk filter, but everything has now been published and I'm working my way through the rest of the comments (and catching up on emails, reading, lab work, etc.) Have a few posts in the works for today and tomorrow but they'll likely be without any heavy science; I'll get back into that again next week.

Wendy's: CSPI's Calorie Menu Misuses Wendy's Trademark

In the bogus legal claims department, one finds this blub from Consumerist. What's the deal here? A pretty aggressive consumer group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, created model menu for Wendy's that demonstrates how the "restaurant" can display calorie information. It's pretty clear, and very useful. Of course, Wendy's hates this stuff. And their lawyers at Akin Gump are arguing that the sample menu is a misuse of Wendy's trademark. Sorry Wendy's and Akin Gump, generally speaking, trademark is a type of consumer protection intended to help consumers distinguish…

I can't believe he's still alive

I'm now convinced Castro will outlive us all. He's apparently going to give his first interview since he got sick and was hospitalized. I was hoping that a conspiracy theory would evolve that Castro was really dead, and they were just hiding the evidence of his death from the press. It was going to be the basis of a film script I want to option - Weekend at Castro's - which centers around the hi-jinks of a pair of ne'er do well party members assigned to keep evidence of Castro's death a secret during an important state visit. Hilarity ensues. Doesn't that sound like a good movie? Oh well…

I thought that, if anyone, it would be me

I'm feeling a bit jealous. A teacher was suspended for assigning a reading from one of those subversive, radical bloggers, and it wasn't me! It was Jonah Lehrer! The article was about the prevalence of homosexuality among animals. Apparently the thought that homosexuality might occur naturally, rather than being a purely human sin, does not sit well with certain people. I thought the most objectionable part of the article was Roughgarden's blithe panadaptationism ("Given the pervasive presence of homosexuality throughout the animal kingdom, same-sex partnering must be an adaptive trait that's…

Larks, Owls and Hummingbirds

I regularly get Google News alerts for articles that contain the word "circadian" in them. Most of them are not too exciting, but when a really good one comes along, I like to point it out to you. Today, you should go and read Larks, Owls and Hummingbirds, a guest post by Leon Kreitzman over on Olivia Judson's blog. Highly recommended - about human circadian rhythms, chronotypes (i.e., owls and larks), etc., both from a scientific and a societal point of view. ------------------ Related:Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sleep (But Were Too Afraid To Ask) Books: Snooze...Or Lose! - 10…

Don't forget....

....that lying is not the only campaign strategy. So is cheating: In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color. In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives - overwhelming Black voters. In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor. In swing states Ohio and Nevada,…

Sigma Xi Pizza Lunch - Lemurs

Message from Sigma Xi: You may know that Duke University is home to the Duke Lemur Center (http://lemur.duke.edu/), the world's largest sanctuary for rare and endangered prosimian primates. But do you know its research? For a glimpse, attend Sigma Xi's first 2007-2008 pizza lunch at noon, Wednesday, Sept 24. Center director Anne Yoder will speak on the "Historical bio-geography of Madagascar: Using genes to study the evolution of an island" as well as field your questions. Pizza lunch is free. RSVPs required to cclabby AT amsci DOT org. Directions to Sigma XI: http://www.sigmaxi.org/about/…

Thanks for the memories

When Republican delegates check-in to their hotel rooms in St. Paul this week, they will receive a "thank you" message on their televisions. An ad called "Thanks For The Memories," produced by Campaign for America's Future, will broadcast unforgettable moments from the last eight years that conservatives wish the country would forget. With Hurricane Gustav on the nation's mind, the ad reminds viewers of the bungled response to Hurricane Katrina. It also highlights skyrocketing gas prices, soaring home foreclosures, the infamous "mission accomplished" banner and tells conservatives, "You've…

PLoS Medicine's 5th anniversary competition

On Speaking of Medicine: PLoS Medicine turns 5 years old on October 19th, 2009. To highlight the crucial importance of open access in medical publishing we're holding a competition to find the best medical paper published under an open-access license anywhere (not just in PLoS) since our launch. Vote for your choice from the 6 competing papers, detailed below -- nominated and then shortlisted by our editorial board. Winners will be announced during Open-Access week (19-23rd October 2009). If you're interested in how we came up with this shortlist of top-quality open-access medicine papers,…

John Holbo makes a discovery

And it's gorgeous. Holbo has found a set of scans from a 1972 biology textbook (and an associated blog) that will blow your mind, baby. Here are some eukaryotic cells. I think this is a very trippy metaphor for the synapse. I like it. It's got style. I'm going to have to cruise some used bookstores to see if I can find a copy of Biology Today. If nothing else, I can imagine using some of those illustrations for talks…I'm also going to have to get a polyester suit with very wide lapels and a paisley print shirt, let my hair grow out, and shave the beard, but keep the mustache. Oh, I remember…

NPR interview with Nancy Olson

I was just on my way to Raleigh this morning, among other errands also heading to Quail Ridge Books to pick up a book there, when I heard Nancy Olson's interview on NPR's The State Of Things. Very nice interview with the owner of my favourite bookstore! I drove slowly in order to hear the whole thing: When Nancy Olson opened a small bookstore back in 1984, she wanted it to be more than just a place to find bestsellers. Today, Quail Ridge Books and Music is a community anchor, an incubator for Raleigh's creative class and a dream come true. Nancy joins host Frank Stasio to share stories from…

When fading celebrities complain about the celebrity of fresh celebrities

McCain: The original political celebrity: It's a striking line of attack for McCain, who's accepted without complaint the "celebrity" epithet from journalists for four decades. "John's been a celebrity ever since he was shot down," former McCain strategist John Weaver told The Atlantic earlier this week, "whatever that means." Who does he think he is to portray Obama as a celebrity in a negative way? Oh, the hypocrisy! But he is on his way out (not just due to age, but also due to his despicable behavior over the past several years), and he is peeved that he is not on the top any more. Sorry…

More you can see, more you click

That is, in a nutshell, the conclusion of this study. If you have free access to a lot of literature, you are much more likely to click on links and download PDFs (which hopefully means you will read the papers, learn from them, improve your science, and cite them when writing your own manuscripts). If you know that most of the time you will see a "pay $60" page instead, you don't bother clicking anyway. Also, this mainly applies to the new papers - the older papers are rarely looked at - so there is no real need to keep archives TA for any lengthy periods of time. Peter Suber comments.

Robert T. Pennock is coming to North Carolina

Today, Wednesday, June 11 at 6 to 8 pm, SCONC, the Science Communicators of North Carolina, meets NESCent, the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center: Science communicators are invited to meet some NESCent researchers at the frontiers of evolutionary biology and hear from guest speaker Rob Pennock of Michigan State (who has appointments in evolutionary biology, computer science and ... philosophy?! Whoa.) talking about how evolution can be demonstrated in fast-forward by "digital organisms," a stroke he hopes will put creationism in retreat. Munchies and bevvies, of course. RSVP Kristin…

How YOU can help with malaria research

Social networking meets social conscience: As reported today in the science journal Nature, MalariaEngage.org aims to help in the stuggle against malaria. Rather than throwing buckets of money at big name Western research institutes, the new website aims to give smaller locally-based African projects a bigger profile. Relying on grass-roots support from people who are concerned about poverty and disease, the website hopes to fund in-country research that would otherwise be overlooked by the big funders such as the Gates Foundation or NIH. The site provides profiles of projects that…

An Intelligent Storkist Designs a Straw Man

Explanation Actually, the picture (author is Antun Zuljevic, a birder extraordinnaire) is from the village of Svilojevo in northern Serbia (Vojvodina, near the town of Apatin on the Danube) where the Locust Trees have been cut, and nobody is building large haystacks any more, so the storks are forced to build nests in crazy places. This pair of White Storks was not successful in nesting on this factory chimney last year, but they had better luck this time around. Yup, storks prefer nesting on chimneys only in fairy tales. In reality, that is the site of last resort. Source: Google group…

I Am A Lyar - Dennis & Dennis

Another one from 1985... Zbog nekih lutaka koje sam voljela nocas te dozivam da me zabavljas donesi oblake, nemirne korake cesljaj me satima i pricaj prstima Zbog toplih jastuka gdje sam te sakrila nocas zaboravljam da sam izgubila donesi haljine, staklene lancice obuci miriÅ¡e i mazi me Ref. Bas je dobro nocas sve je toplo a ja sam lazljiva budi dobar, nocas budi hrabar jer ja sam lazljiva Zbog nekih lutaka koje sam voljela nocas te dozivam da me zabavljas donesi oblake, nemirne korake cesljaj me satima i pricaj prstima Zbog toplih jastuka gdje sam te sakrila nocas zaboravljam da sam…

The funniest "Rove resigns" post

That must be this one: Rove quitting to spend more time with his iPhone: Rove is considered one of the nation's foremost experts on e-mail deletion, although he - like the rest of us -- is relatively new to making things disappear from the iPhone. Rove has long been an innovator in leveraging the phone for "competitive advantage" in the often rough-and-tumble world of national politics. Paul adds: The funniest "Rove resigns" entry may be the most factual. I do hope he figures out how to do mass email deletions on the iPhone and that he shares that info with the rest of us.

The Open University Annual Lecture

The Open University is having an open lecture on 17 March, and you're all invited! The topic sounds historically, philosophically, and scientifically interesting: Richard Dawkins suggests that there are four "bridges to evolutionary understanding" and illustrates this with four claimants to the discovery of natural selection: Edward Blyth, Patrick Matthew, Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin. The fifth bridge of evolutionary understanding is identified as modern genetics - which he terms digital Darwinism. It's all going to be streamed live on the web, if you are awake at 7:30 pm Natural…

PRISM is a Lemon

Peter Suber reports that the Charleston Advisor gave its 2007 Lemon Award to PRISM. I first learned about this from an e-mail: "The Charleston Advisor (TCA) announced its seventh annual Reader's Choice Awards for products and services in academic libraries, although "winning" one of these awards isn't always a good thing. For example, the 2007 Lemon Award went to the Association of American Publishers for PRISM (The Partnership for Research Integrity in Science and Medicine), the controversial web initiative created to oppose efforts to make publicly-funded research free on the web. "These…

Around the intertubes....

Pre-accountability Getting Jaked Space Kimchi (but can they fix sarma on the Space Station?) Flare Research - Well damn... When Life Needs Porpoise Live from Seattle: Fatal intracerebral mass bleeding edition So my lovely oldest is 16 and a half... A Few Important Posts (about animal rights) Ocelot - Salvador Dali's pet Three levels of spiders A sustainable culture begins with a healthy, sustainable attitude Sharks and Condit More Komodo Dragon Babies! 3/19/2003 - 3/19/2008 Weaver, Roseman and Stringer back at it with Neandertals, Natural Selection and a time of divergence Cultural…

Another hit-job on blogs

David Neiwert: But I also noticed this line: "Unlike traditional, mainstream media, blogs often adopt a specific point of view. Critics complain they can contain unchecked facts, are poorly edited and use unreliable sources." And this distinguishes them from the mainstream press exactly ... how? Athenae: What critics? We do not know. The reporter doesn't tell us. Apparently it's one of those things, like "the sky is blue" and "Democrats are weak on national security" that is so obvious we don't need to cite a source of any kind to just blurt it out there and attribute it to "critics." And…

Thunderf00t under attack again

We'll have to see how long this video remains available. Thunderf00t, the well-known godless anti-creationist creator of fine youtube videos, is routinely targeted by Christian/creationist scriptbots to downgrade his videos and even get them banned, and he's had enough — this clip takes the youtube management to task for kowtowing to the ignorant god-crowd. It was, of course, deleted by the youtube management, but not before it got copied to many other places. It's actually rather sad to see. There have been a lot of shenanigans like this recently, and I've gone from regarding youtube as…

Do You Want Karl Rove on TV or ...

This quote comes to me from a pal who saw it on TV (there are days when I wish I had a TV, and today is one of those days, because this quote is priceless) ... Diane Sawyer: "Why not let Karl Rove go up there and show he has nothing to hide? Testify, under oath, and with a transcript? Let everyone see it?" Tony Snow: "This is what I love, this Karl Rove obsession. Let's back off. First, the question is: Do you want Karl Rove on TV, or do you want the truth?" Diane Sawyer: "Why can't you have both?" . tags: Karl Rove, Alberto Gonzales, US Attorney General, politics

Ashy Clubtail

Ashy clubtail dragonfly, Gomphus lividus, Lance Rosier Unit in the Big Thicket around 50 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico in Eastern Texas, 20 March 2004. Image: Biosparite. I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited. . tags: dragonfly, ashy clubtail…

Western Pygmy Blue

Western Pygmy Blue, Brephidium exile The smallest butterfly in the western United states, measing no more than 3/8". Laguna Atascosa NWR, Texas, 24 October 2004. Image: Biosparite. I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited. . tags: butterfly, western…

Chrysalis

Chrysalis of Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, Nelson Farms Preserve, Katy Prairie Conservancy, Texas. NABA Butterfly Count, 10 September 2006. This is a case of mimicry where the chrysalis resembles bird poop. Image: Biosparite. I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd…

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

How do you say goodbye to a group of people whom you've lived with during the past 115 days? How do you say goodbye to a group of people who have suffered from their personal demons alongside you for such a long period of time? How do you say goodbye to people -- the patients, staff and doctors -- who were really there for you and whom you wish to keep in your life as friends and allies, but cannot? I guess I am going to find the answer to these questions today. . And then what happened? How the heck did this nuthouse story get started in the first place? . tags: psychiatric hospital,…

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus, Lance Rosier Unit in the Big Thicket around 50 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico in Eastern Texas, 20 March 2004. Image: Biosparite. I am receiving so many gorgeous pictures from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in them. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd like it to be credited. . tags: butterfly, eastern tiger…

Passiflora lutea

Passiflora lutea. This is a companion photo to an upcoming Gulf Fritillary picture. This photo is of Passiflora lutea, one of the native host species for the Gulf fritillary. Notice the prettily lobed foliage. Image: Biosparite. I am receiving so many gorgeous images from you, dear readers, that I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the images and the creatures and places in those images. If you have a high-resolution digitized nature image (I prefer JPG format) that you'd like to share with your fellow readers, feel free to email it to me, along with information about the image and how you'd…

Birdday!

Magnolia Warbler, Dendroica magnolia (Wilson) (Detail) By Tony Henneberg. This birdday card was sent to me last year by my friend, Tony, who is a very talented artist (click on the image to be magically transported to his beautiful webpage). This card is a detail from a larger painting of his. Tony is currently wandering through the jungles of Suriname, where he will be for approximately six weeks, "looking at birds, big trees and giant otters" as he told me before he left. He promises to share any interesting photographs of birds with me upon his return in February, which of course means…

Camera Envy

tags: SciBlings, photography After assisting Mo as he purchased a huge camera in NYC during the get-together with my fellow SciBlings (I suffered intense camera envy because my own camera was lost when I moved from Seattle to NYC), I also acted as Mo's photographic model. I know; it is obvious that, in the modeling department at least, you get what you pay for! (But please do remember that I also walked through a downpour to the party where that pic was taken -- I clean up very nicely, or I'd like to believe that I do.) Needless to say (I hope), my knees were closer to the camera than the…

Do We REALLY Want a Vindictive Asshole in the White House?

I just learned that Sarah "What would Todd do?" Palin, the darling of mindless right-wing robots in this country, is nothing more than a vindictive asshole who freely abuses her position of power, and apparently believes she should be able to get away with it. Seriously, do we REALLY want someone who behaves in such an arrogant, despicable and unethical (un-Christlike!) way representing our country to the world in the White House? The Republican vice-presidential candidate is under investigation over allegations that she improperly fired her public safety commissioner in July after he…

ScienceBlogs Survey

I know that a couple of you have completed Seed Media's ScienceBlogs Reader Survey, but they need to hear from more of you. The linked survey takes only twenty minutes of your life to complete, and everyone (except me, boo!) who completes the survey will be added to a drawing for prizes: an iPhone 3G, a MacBook Air and a 40GB Apple TV. Personally, I think that my readers need to share their prizes with me. I sure would like an iPhone or a MacBook Air! Or heck, I'd even go for an Apple TV, even though I've never owned a TV and am not sure I want to change my life to fit around a TV. ..

How is that Harry Potter Poster Poll Going?

tags: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, movie posters, poster teasers Well, not many people have responded to my Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie poster poll, so I am asking you once again, whichy poster do you like best? I've linked to each of the posters from the poll itself so you can look at them all and decide which you want to vote for, too. The poll is reposted below the fold for your convenience. Which Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince poster is your favorite? Poster 1 Poster 2 Poster 3 Poster 4 Poster 5 Poster 6 Poster 7…

Tell Me What To Do, Bill!

This cartoon, by blogger Stephanie McMillan, sums up the situation in South Dakota quite nicely regarding the general stupidity of women and their inability to make their own choices. Oh, did women also help to vote Bill Napoli into office? Well, I rest my case! Incidentally, the phone numbers in the cartoon are real, taken from the South Dakota Senate web site. You should try them out tonight as you plan your dinner menu for your family. After all, isn't that why Bill is a public servant; to provide his constant and enlightened guidance to ensure that we all do the right thing, always?…

Desecration for sale

Now you can all do it: an archbishop of the Open Episcopal Church is selling consecrated crackers by mail, payable with paypal. The guy sounds like a bit of a kook; he's doing this because he believes people will sincerely appreciate receiving a scrap of Jesus' holy meat in the mail, and will use them to carry out informal masses whenever they feel like it. Unfortunately for the desired effect of desecration, he has been excommunicated from the Anglican church, and the Catholics say his consecrations aren't real, so the only people who might be offended by any cracker abuse are these fringey…

A more challenging poll

People were complaining that that last pointless poll was too easy to knock over. Here's a tougher one. What's your reaction to Barack Obama's proclamation designating this month as 'LGBT Pride Month'? It is a well-deserved celebration - 1.81% No big surprise from this administration - 21.56% Sin gets a whole month - National Day of Prayer barely gets a presidential nod - 56.07% What next? Adultery Adoration Week? - 20.56% You'll need some bigger numbers to overcome this one — it's got 19,000 votes already. Although, I must confess, I rather like the choice that's winning so far. Yay sin!…

Avatar in the Amazon (video)

If there were ever a place that came close to the magical world of Pandora in James Cameron's new film Avatar, it would probably be the Amazon. There may not be butterflies that look like flying squid, but in the Amazon can you eat giant worms and lemon flavored ants for dinner in a forest that is home to both the jaguar and the pink dolphin. Reporter Melaina Spitzer joined a group of indigenous leaders from the Amazon in Ecuador's capital Quito, to see Avatar on the big screen in 3D. I heard the story on PRI's The World this afternoon. Glad to see there is also a video. Interesting....

ScienceOnline2010 - introducing the participants

A couple of last-minute cancellations allowed us to bring in a few more people from the (enormous!) waitlist. Here are the lucky, under-the-wire, last-day registrants: Chris Mooney is a science journalist and writer. He blogs on The Intersection and tweets. Anne Frances Johnson is a Freelance Science Writer, a graduate of the The Medical and Science Journalism Program at UNC. Kevin Smith is the Scholarly Communications Officer at Perkins Library at Duke University and he blogs on Scholarly Communications @ Duke. Jennifer Brock is a science teacher at Martin Middle School in Raleigh. Susan…