Search Content

Displaying results 4801 - 4850 of 87947

Evolution, with teeth

My last Seed column is online, which reminds me (as if I weren't uncomfortably aware already) that I have to finish up the next one today, which actually isn't the next one, which is already done and submitted, but the one after that. These long leading deadlines force one to live a few months in the future… You know, if you subscribed to the print magazine, you'd be halfway to my future already instead of living in my distant past.

A temporary palliative

So you're pining away for ERV, hoping either that her site will be restored or that she'll bring her new site up quickly. Don't sit there weeping and wailing, she'll be back online soon enough. Cheer up and laugh! Here are a few links to help you out. Science and reality television. A lunar scientist explains everything. Conservapædia discusses "professor values" (this one is not intentionally humorous, but it still gets the job done.) You feel better already.

EuroTrip '08 - Trieste, part III

The entire thing is happening in a large building on a pier (Molo IV). I was impressed by the crowds on the first day. I also got vouchers for four nice restaurants in town for meals. Last night I went to a nice pizza place and had spaghetti with tomato&eggplant sauce and veal in wine sauce - delicious: real Italian food! Tonight, I will also be interviewed for the radio - there will be a podcast online so I will link to it later. Pictures under the fold:

A day of Dawkins

He just got here, and already Richard Dawkins is stirring things up in Minnesota. He was interviewed on MPR this morning — unfortunately, I had to miss it as I was scrambling to get ready for class — and it sounds like the interviewer was offended. The station live-blogged the interview, and it looks like some of the listeners were offended, too, while others are invigorated. Get online quick and you might be able to hear the tag-end of the interview.

Sesame Street Personality Quiz

tags: sesame street, online quiz You Are Cookie Monster Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth. You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around. You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking How you life your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!" The Sesame Street Personality Quiz Hey, how did they know that my favorite snack is a .. COOKIE!!

Are You A Feminist?

tags: feminist, online quiz You Are 93% Feminist You are a total feminist. This doesn't mean you're a man hater (in fact, you may be a man). You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It's a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action. Are You a Feminist? I guess this result is not surprising, eh? I also assume that you are going to fit into the "feminist" category as well, since you are reading this blog.

Do You Communicate Like a Man or a Woman?

tags: communication style, online quiz You Communicate Like a Man When you communicate, you like to get to the point. You're not afraid to say what's on your mind - and leave it at that. Talking about your emotions drains you. You rather keep them to yourself. You prefer solving problems to wallowing in your sorrows. Do You Communicate Like a Man or a Woman? Ho hum. I've often been told that I am too direct. What about you?

Dialogues with Darwin

Perhaps you don't know this, but Philadephia has a very large collection of Darwin literature — it only makes sense, since in the early years of our country that city was the center of science and philosophy in the US. The American Philosophical Society Museum is having a major exhibit of those artifacts, so you should get down to Fifth Street and amble through. If you can't make it (regretfully, I'm stuck in Morris for a while), they have an online tour.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The ninety-third Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at The Prancing Papio. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to Krys at Anthropology in Practice. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is already on 23 June. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The ninety-second Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Sorting Out Science. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to Raymond at The Prancing Papio. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is already on 9 June. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The eighty-fourth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at the A Primate of Modern Aspect. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to Julien at A Very Remote Period Indeed. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is on 10 March. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The seventy-seventh Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at A Place Odyssey. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. 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 two weeks, on 21 October. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.

SOPA Dead (for now) But PIPA is Not

According to the examiner: In a surprise move today, Representative Eric Cantor(R-VA) announced that he will stop all action on SOPA, effectively killing the bill. This move was most likely due to several things. One of those things is that SOPA and PIPA met huge online protest against the bills. Another reason would be that the White House threatened to veto the bill if it had passed. . PIPA, the Senate Version is still in play, however.

See you at the Stone Arch Bridge on June 25th!

Or, on some other bridge or other flat spot next to a major body of water... Global Water Dances -- June 25, 2011 @ Yahoo! Video Global Water Dances is a world event planned for June 25, 2011. On this day, a 24 hour series of dances around the globe will be danced, centered around water issues. Beginning in the Western Pacific Rim, and encircling the globe, the series of dances will also be broadcast online. Check out the web site.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The twenty-seventh Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Sorting Out Science. Archaeology and anthropology, enough to turn you into a creature of the night, mad for love, with the fulfillment of your darkest desires your only goal in life. The next open hosting slot is on 5 December. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me. No need to be an anthro pro -- come as you are. Come now!

Welcome Bergh's Students

Here's a link page that I used during a talk about internet culture to advertising students at Bergh's on 28 September. This blog entry will move down the page as I write new ones, but I'll leave the link page on-line. Bookmark it in your browser! If you, Dear Reader, weren't at the talk and still want to hear my comments on the links, I'd be very happy to give more talks on the subject at the venue of your choice.

Anthro Blog Carnival with Heavy Brow Ridges Grunt Growl

The twenty-fourth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Paddy K's Swedish Extravaganza. It's a particularly populous and witty edition. Check it out! Archaeology and anthropology to scratch your pubic lice and soothe your fear of the cave bear. The next open hosting slot is on 24 October 7 November. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me. You don't have to be an anthropologist, but bipedalism is encouraged.

Four Stone Hearth Call for Submissions

The 43rd instalment of the Four Stone Hearth anthro & archaeo blogging carnival will come on-line at Paddy K's Swedish Extravaganza on Wednesday 18 June. Send links to good recent anthroblogging to him! It needn't be your own stuff: submit all the goodies you've read lately. The next open hosting slot is on 16 July. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The forty-second Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Neuroanthropology. Archaeology and anthropology, and all related to the song "If You Should Try To Kiss Her" by Dressy Bessy. The next open hosting slot is on 16 July. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me. No need to be an anthro pro. But you must have "If You Should Try To Kiss Her" playing in your head, like me.

links for 2008-01-14

Just Science 2008 » Just Science 2008 People blogging about nothing but science, Feb. 4-8. (tags: blogs science) Fantasy and Science Fiction: Fiction A Nebula-nominated story, available online. Yet another thing I'll read in my copious free time. (tags: space stories books) Prisoner's lawsuit says it was too easy to escape - Los Angeles Times ""Defendants . . . did next to nothing to ensure that the jail was secure and the plaintiff could not escape," says Gomez's lawsuit" (tags: stupid news)

Sorry for the light posting...

...we had to move across town this weekend. The new house is not yet configured for internet, so it may be a few days until I'm back on track. In the meantime, here are some links to keep you entertained: Asian Myrmecology, a new ant journal! The first volume is open-access. An ecological menage a trois between Ants, Plants, and... Elephants? Friday Ark #173 at The Modulator The Ants of Fiji can be found online at antweb.org.

The problem that is the Road Runner: and why Microcredit doesn't seem to help.

We had a humour piece go up at Terry today that was just too cool. Since, the Terry website isn't as visible as the Science Creative Quarterly, i thought I would highlight it here. It's called: Microcredit Isn't Right for Everyone (by Mike Richardson-Bryan) Oh yeah, Terry has a contest, open to the general public as well, and happy to take in well written blog posts - just a thought for those hungry for bookish gift cards that can be used online.

At The Scientist, a Discussion about 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.

OT: Can't win for losing

So my faithful little laptop has now died. It's 4 years old and hasn't really been treated all that gently. (my father-in-law just poured his drink in it a couple of weeks ago). I'm faced with the choice of buying new or repairing. It was purchased through the University of Maryland's student program with 4 year on site repair, but .... sigh. I had a post in preparation about free online books, so I'll try to reconstruct that soonest.

Amazing new philosophy resource

David Chalmers and his student David Bourget at the Australian National University have developed a new resource: PhilPapers. This is a hot list to online versions of (so far) over 188,000 items in current philosophy. I checked my own papers and they were all there (something Thompson International seems unable to achieve). So on the Wilkins Narcissism Scale it rates very highly indeed. Check it out. It will make a big difference to students and teachers, let alone researchers.

Albert and Carroll on bloggingheads.tv

Philosopher David Albert and physicist Sean Carroll* will be doing a Bloggingheads.tv spot like the one Paul Myeahs and I did recently. I'll add the direct URL when it comes online. Update: The spot is here. In particular note the segment on how Albert got suckered by the What the Bleep Do We Know? filmmakers (shades of Expelled. Is this s trend in science denial documentary making in the US?). * Not the biology Sean Carroll, the physicist Sean Carroll.

Talks from Kansas

As I mentioned earlier, I spent the beginning of this week in Hays, Kansas, where I had a number of successful events at Fort Hays State University. And now, they're available to be seen online. First, I did what the folks at FHSU call a "Times talk"--in essence, I gave an entirely improvisational faculty presentation that was grouped around three New York Times stories about global warming, politics, and science. The three stories (two by Andy Revkin) are here, here, and here (links in chronological order, as that was how I tackled the material). My riffing upon these articles, followed by…

Emotional Rescue

My new Seed column, with the same title as this post, is now online. It's about how to convey the "perfect moral storm" that is the global warming problem to an American public that remains deeply confused and even ambivalent about the issue....as epitomized by NASA administrator Michael Griffith's recent bonehead statement to the effect that global warming isn't a problem. Is he trying to massively over-correct for James Hansen or something? Prometheus has more.

In-Mind: An online social psychology magazine

The Inquisitive Mind (In-Mind) is an online quarterly social psychology magazine written by staff and students at the Free University in Amsterdam. The site has articles that cover all areas of social psychology, written in such a way as to make the field easily accessible to the general public. There are also links to psychology resources and stories in the news, and a discussion forum.   Free registration is required for full access to the contents of the site.

QIP Talks

It looks like the talks for QIP 2010 are now online.. Sweet, my television for the next few weeks. Well okay the Olympics may sneak in there (and jez NBC really stinks it up: I've never seen a network make men's downhill so boring...if you're going to short the west coast by not showing the events live don't you have a responsibility to at least do a good job? Please, please, Olympic committee let ESPN get the next contract.)

Cell Division - art for a good cause

Cell Division IV Michele Banks DC area artist Michele Banks has donated one of her cell division watercolors to raise funds for art outreach. Check out the online auction - the painting is matted and framed and currently going for only $52. Michele is not a biologist, but she's been on a sci-art kick for a while, inspired by the fortuitous resemblance of watercolor patterns to cellular structures. To see more of her work, visit her etsy shop, artologica.

The Living Bird

Cornell Lab or Ornithology has always had a lot of good stuff on the web. Now, they have a new site called Living Bird. Go check it out. It's basically an online journal with a lot of cool articles, including some science, birding advice, etc. ... and outstanding bird pictures. Hat tip: Biological Ramblings. And, speaking of Birds in the News, have a look at this particularly interesting Birds in the News post over at Living the Scientific Life. Here.

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…