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Links 12/3/10

I wonder if Julian Assange has any information related to Pepsigate. While you ponder that, here are some links for you. Science: Data visualization is cool One scientist's hobby: recreating the ice age Meet the pangolin, the mammal that thinks it's a reptile Other: When Downtown Crossing had Christmas Magic (Amazing pictures) Fairness and the cost of life for the poor in Britain Ireland is Bankrupt...a letter from an Irish citizen Taxing the Rich: It's All Relative Parliamentary Parties in a Presidential System

The Morning After the Tsunami on Hawaii

tags: Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, tsunami, nature, environment, image of the day Image: Ron Barranco, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii [larger view] One of my friends lived on Hawaii in 2008, where his uncle still resides. His uncle emailed two images to my friend the morning after the tsunami, which were snapped from his lanai. My friend shared these images with his friends, and he also gave me permission to share them here with all of you. Image: Ron Barranco, Wailea, Maui, Hawaii [larger view]

Godless gang of Maine!

We had a fine evening here at Bates College in Maine, and here's our group photo of the elites who gathered for calamari, Maine food, and beer afterwards. Note satanic red glowing eyes. (Click for larger image) You may notice that some of us are wearing an interesting orange necklace. That's a cephalopod from Noadi. Not only are they pretty, but I can guarantee that they ward off vampires. Oh, and you can get an account of the talk here. It was all about blasphemy.

Carnivalia

Here are the latest blog carnivals that have been published for you to read and enjoy; Humanist Symposium, #35. This blog carnival focuses on writings that deal with living a reality-based life, particularly one that is free from religion and other forms of fantasy life. Creative Carnival, April issue. This is about creativity .. specifically as it pertains to writing. Academy of Science and Technology Blog Carnival #3. This is a blog carnival that focuses on science and technology writing aimed mostly to kids.

Mystery Bird: Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio

tags: Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Eastern Screech-Owl, Otus asio, photographed at the Unitarian/Universalist Fellowship building in Manhattan Kansas, Photographed from the inside with the woods outside to the south. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: photographed by Thomas Manney, this image appears here at the suggestion of Dave Rintoul. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. Review all mystery birds to date.

Polar Bear Versus Walrus Colony

tags: Polar Bear Versus Walrus Colony, nature, global warming, climate change, BBC, Planet Earth, documentary, streaming video This video documents an awesome fight for survival as a grown male polar bear takes on a walrus colony at the edge of the Arctic circle. This was a truly epic battle, phenomenally captured in high quality, from the BBC natural history masterpiece, Planet Earth. What surprised you most about this footage? I was surprised that the walruses did not work together to defeat/get rid of the polar bear.

Project Kaisei 2009: Intro From the Kaisei

tags: Project Kaisei, Oceanography, North Pacific Gyre, North Pacific Garbage Patch, plastic, pollution, environment, streaming video Project Kaisei's 2009 Expedition. Footage from the Kaisei, one of two research vessels Project Kaisei sent to the North Pacific Gyre in August, 2009 to study the extent of the marine debris problem in the gyre, the impact it may be having on marine life and the food chain, and to find ways to catch and recover some of the debris for a larger clean-up effort.

TEDTalks: Joachim de Posada Says, Don't Eat the Marshmallow Yet

tags: TEDTalks, marshmallow experiment, future success, Joachim de Posada, streaming video This video is a short talk where Joachim de Posada shares a landmark experiment on delayed gratification -- and how it can predict future success. With priceless video of kids trying their hardest not to eat the marshmallow [7:14] TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.

TEDTalks Prize Winner: Sylvia Earle Tells Us How to Protect the Oceans

tags: Sylvia Earle, oceans, TEDTalks, conservation, streaming video Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares astonishing images of the ocean -- and shocking stats about its rapid decline -- as she makes her TED Prize wish: that we will join her in protecting the vital blue heart of the planet. [18:16] TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.

TEDTalks: Malcolm Gladwell: What we can Learn from Spaghetti Sauce

tags: TEDTalks, Diet Pepsi, Aspartame, artificial sweeteners, diversity, choice, happiness, psychology, Malcolm Gladwell, streaming video Tipping Point [Amazon: $8.54] author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness [18:16] TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.

The Latest Developments in STEMtech

Innovation & Tech Today is a proud media partner of the USA Science & Engineering Festival. Committed to celebrating innovation and investing in our future, the USA Science & Engineering Festival perfectly complements the mission of I&T Today. In addition to covering the Festival in Washington D.C. in 2016, I&T Today is increasing STEM coverage in their new extended education section. Click here to read "The Latest Developments in STEMtech" featuring speakers from the USA Science & Engineering Festival's upcoming X-STEM Symposium! Read full blog here.

BHTV Science Saturday: Jim Jarmusch, sex chips, and the end of the civilization

Johnson and Horgan are back on this week's Science Saturday diavlog on Bloggingheads.tv: From BHTV: In this week's episode of Science Saturday, John Horgan and George Johnson explain how the latest Jarmusch film, "The Limits of Control," conveys a message of significance for struggling science journalists everywhere. They also discuss how neural implants might improve your sex life, whether it's time to declare defeat in the war on cancer, and whether human civilization is going to be crushed by food shortages.

The Buzz: Famous Case Study Subject Dies

The subject of one of the most famous case studies in cognitive psychology died Tuesday of heart failure. Referenced by the initials "H.M.," Henry Molaison was known for losing his episodic memory as the result of an operation during which neurosurgeons removed parts of his medial and temporal lobes in attempt to curb his epilepsy. "H.M. is the basis for nearly everything we now know today about the neural basis of memory," said ScienceBlogger Shelley Batts from Of Two Minds.

The Buzz: Viral Video: Weird Squid

Video footage of a rare "elbowed" squid taken remotely from a Shell Oil Company drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico went viral this weekend. The squid is of the genus Magnapinna, has tentacles over 20 feet long, and is one of only a handful of its kind to have ever been observed by humans. It has been described as The footage may have been available for a year or longer, but only recently gained massive viewership when it was featured by National Geographic Nov 24.

The Buzz: The FDA and Personal Genomics

The FDA may soon join forces with personal genomics companies like 23andMe and CIMR in order to draw associations between genotypes and adverse drug reactions. ScienceBlogger Revere from Genetic Future posted that before such a collaborationis considered, genomics companies must recruit more—and more diverse—participants and improve methodology to gather "extremely accurate and detailed" clinical data about them and their drug regimens. "Any genome-wide association study is only as good as the clinical data it's based around," he wrote.

Texans keep going against the stereotype

Look, Texas is supposed to be all about the Gablers and Don McLeroy and the dwarf from Pampa and George W. Bush, and then the darned atheist Texans have to show up and ruin the image. The Texas Freethought Convention is happening on Sunday, 26 October in Austin — check out the infomercial. I wish I could go — it's a state that hasn't worked its way onto my itinerary yet, and I keep hearing about the good people working hard against rampant idiocy down there.

Video: Exploding Wind Turbine

As Christian Reinboth reports on ScienceBlogs.de, at his energy blog Frischer Wind ("Brisk Wind"), unusually high winds in Denmark on Monday tore the rotor from a turbine on a wind-power farm in Hornslet. The turbine failed spectacularly, exploding mid-spin and scattering parts across the landscape below. Click the image below to view two short videos of the disintegrating turbine at Reinboth's blog: The Danish government and the turbine's manufacturer have each launched investigations seeking to clarify the cause of the accident.

RIP: Odetta (1930 - 2008)

Another one gone. First Miriam Makeba. Now Odetta. It's almost as if they waited for the election and then said, "It's OK, now." Odetta was 77 and her voice still powerful. It remains even more powerful in memory. This one has hit me hard. Two contrasting clips. The first, a studio recording from 1957 of Midnight Special, the Leadbelly song she helped make famous. Vintage, classic Odetta. The second a lovely, bittersweet trio with Janis Ian and Phoebe Snow. Thanks to the posters on YouTube:

Forum: Preventing Future Bhopals

It was 25 years ago yesterday that thousands dies in the Bhopal disaster. Yesterday, Rhitu Chatterjee did the story about it (listen or read the transcript) on PRI The World. Also yesterday, Rhittu and Elsa Youngsteadt interviewed Henrik Selin of Boston University about the topic (download the MP3 of the podcast here) and you can ask questions and join the discussion in the forums. Dr. Selin will be checking in and responding from now until next Thursday, December 10th.

This is not a time for prayer

The scene above is from a Pentecostal church in Detroit, where workers are rightfully concerned about their economic future. The religious approach, however, seems to be to put a couple of big ol' dinosaur SUVs (at least they're hybrids in this case) on stage, streak people's foreheads with oil, and pray for a big bailout. I hope they don't get a dime. Not that I'm unsympathetic to the plight of the workers, but this irrational approach is how they got in trouble the first time.

I am so not nerdy

I am reading with amusement all of my SciBlings' examples of extreme nerdiness (just look around the ScienceBlogs today!). Apart from wearing turtlenecks (at the time when they were not fashinable) and having some science-related decorations at home, I am really not that nerdy: On the other hand, I answered almost all of these questions with "Yes" so I may be special kind of nerd - the science nerd! Do I really need to post pictures of myself wearing science-related t-shirts (like 50 of them)?

Did Joe Camel's nose get longer?

Nicotine Up Sharply In Many Cigarettes: The amount of nicotine in most cigarettes rose an average of almost 10 percent from 1998 to 2004, with brands most popular with young people and minorities registering the biggest increases and highest nicotine content, according to a new study. Nicotine is highly addictive, and while no one has studied the effect of the increases on smokers, the higher levels theoretically could make new smokers more easily addicted and make it harder for established smokers to quit.

The Most Fantastic Blogospheric News of the Day (or longer) - Part Deux!

How many such pieces of news can one survive in one day! Now that Amanda has been welcomed by concern-troll-mysoginists who followed her from her blog to the Edwards campaign blog (where, frankly, nobody lets them stir the pot) there is another great piece of news! Melissa McEwan, aka Shakespeare's Sister was also hired by the Edwards internet team. Go say Hello to her as well. Edwards certainly has great taste and good sense how to win over the netroots!

Edwards to announce from New Orleans

Rumors are that he will make the official announcement around Christmas. Brilliant! His main issue is poverty and he'll anounce from the city that became the symbol of poverty in America (not that it does not exist everywhere - but it is a symbol) and remind everyone about the post-Katrina plight of the poor, the GOP inability and unwillingness to do anything right about the disaster, and the Republican racist rhetoric about the "welfare queens" and "God smiting New Orleans because of homosexuality".

Afghanistan: there is a road to peace

It's Christmas week and we are struggling not to let our despair and anger overcome us. For a while, anyway, the mood will be up beat. Not to make you forget but to make you remember that there's work to be done, the work of making this a better world for our families, friends and neighbors, for people we don't know but who aren't fundamentally different from us and for our children and grandchildren and their children and grandchildren and on and on. Pete Seeger:

“Mr Homosexual” would be an awesome name

At least, it beats "Mr Gay", which sounds so frivolous. It seems the American Family Association, which you can tell from the name is yet another institution that has mistaken "patriarchy" for "family"*, was a little overzealous in their use of search and replace, and renamed an athlete named Tyson Gay briefly. *Try it! Just mentally substitute "patriarchy" for "family" in the title of every right-wing organization that uses the term in their name, and it will suddenly make so much more sense.

What's happening down in New Zealand?

Watch and find out next week, as the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa prepares to move the Colossal Squid live, on webcam. It's going from its formalin soak to a new display tank. Along the way they'll sew up a rip in the mantle, remove some eggs and check how it has preserved. The live webcast starts at 9am NZ time on Wednesday 6 August, USA time Tuesday, 5 August, 2pm PDT, 5pm EDT and UK time Tuesday, 5 August, 10pm.

#YesAllWomen - Yes in Astronomy Also

Not entirely coincidentally the general topic of misogyny, microaggression and harassment was featured on the Women in Astronomy blog recently: Fed Up With Sexual Harassment: Defining the Problem Fed Up With Sexual Harassment: Survival of the Clueless Fed Up With Sexual Harassment: The Serial Harasser's Playbook Fed Up With Sexual Harassment: Power to Speak Up Fed Up with Sexual Harassment Harassment from Student Here are some other useful reads: Do Women Have an Advantage in Faculty Searches? Truth Against Humanity - Starstryder

linkedy links VII

another selection of random snippets from the intertoobz We are Number One! - and 8! Wait, didn't I blog this one already? Ah well, truth can never be told too often... Forget PowerPoint: It turns out the secret to improving productivity at your job might be puppieskittens! Win friends and influence people to boost research productivity One Reason Horrible People Gain Power - Atrios comments Chad has opened the Sb Nobel Prize betting pool Announcement of Opportunity: get the UK Infrared Telescope...cheap Save the GBT!

Frontiers in cell biology

Alex Palazzo is talking about open questions in cell biology — in this case, control of organelle shape. Any of us who have poked around in cells know that it is not an amorphous blob of goo, but has characteristic, recognizable elements that we can see from cell to cell. What confers these stereotypic intracellular morphologies on organelles, and what are the functional consequences, if any? (There are no jebons in there, so you don't get to use those in your answer.)

Jenny McCarthy strikes again

Just in time for the introduction of Autism's False Prophets by Dr. Paul Offit (the current choice for Scienceblogs' book club), Jenny McCarthy comes out with yet another interview decrying vaccines, blaming autism on the greed of pharmaceutical companies, and how her son was "healed" from autism by his diet, vitamins, and "detoxing". Embedded video from CNN Video I'll have a review of Dr. Offit's book up later this week. In the meantime, you can read what he says about it over at the Scienceblogs' Book Club page.

What would it take to wipe out human rabies?

A few months back, I blogged about World Rabies Day, noting that this virus is still a huge public health threat in many areas of the world. A few weeks ago, biologist Olivia Judson wrote a post on a potential "coffin for rabies" on her New York Times blog, describing more about the reality of the disease and what we could do to practically wipe out this virus in humans. I have a bit more on it over at Correlations. Image from http://www.powhatananimalhospital.com/disease/rabid%20dog.jpg

Do we care about Expelled anymore?

Apparently, a New York judge has upheld the injunction against the movie, so there will be no new showings, and DVD rights are in limbo. The movie is dead anyway, so it doesn't seem to be a significant decision. It's not as if theater distributors are lined up clamoring for more copies of this stinker. Although, to be honest, I would like the rights cleared up, because the only way I'm ever going to see it is if I can rent the DVD from my local store.

My dinosaur colouring book # 2

Another one. Identify the creatures (all from the Barremian Wessex Formation of the Isle of Wight, England) - possibly more difficult this time! Remember that some of the animals are in 'historic guise', so are portrayed very much inaccurately. And no cheating, as labelled versions of this picture have been published before (in the Japanese Dino Press magazine). And sorry the image is so small: without publishing numerous close-ups, this is the only way I can get the whole image on the screen.

Double your investment!

The Secular Student Alliance is growing faster than their income, but that could change. They just got a generous offer from a donor to provide matching funds, up to $50,000, so you can guess what they're up to now: funding drive! They're looking for more people willing to cough up a few bucks, because every donation between now and December will be doubled. Help them out, if you can. This is the best time to get a good return on your investment.

Douglas Adams: Parrots, the Universe and Everything

tags: Parrots the Universe and Everything, biogeography, lemurs, twig technology, conservation, endangered species, evolution, komodo dragons, kakapo, baiji, comedy, Douglas Adams, streaming video Douglas Adams was the best-selling British author and satirist who created The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [DVD]. In this talk at UCSB recorded shortly before his tragic and untimely death, Adams shares hilarious accounts of some of the apparently absurd lifestyles of the world's creatures, and gleans from them extraordinary perceptions about the future of humanity.

The Science of Popular Music or The Four Chord Song

tags: The Four Chord Song, Axis of Awesome, Jordan Raskopoulos, Lee Naimo, Benny Davis, funny, comedy, silly, humor, fucking hilarious, streaming video This amusing video investigates the science behind popular music: Australian comedy group 'Axis Of Awesome' performs a sketch from the 2009 Melbourne International Comedy Festival where they play parts of popular songs to demonstrate their claim that popular music contains only four cords that are rearranged. Somewhat. Footage courtesy of Network Ten Australia. More information about Axis of Awesome.

Last call for submissions for 'Praxis' and 'The Giants' Shoulders'

Since The Lay Scientist had technical problems with the blog, there was no Praxis last month. Martin will thus post it this month (on or close to the 15th). He still has all the entries from last time around, but please also send some fresh submissions as well. Next edition of The Giant's Shoulders will be hosted by Stochastic Scribbles on April 16th. So, if you have History Of Science posts (or are just about to write one), please submit.

On NPR's Science Friday today

There was a fantastic example of an anti-vaccination caller on this show earlier today - Parents Protest Increase In Required Vaccinations. Please listen to the podcast, especially to the last caller. Prodded over and over again, she displayed more and more loony conspiracy theories and in the end flatly stated that no kind or amount of evidence would change her mind. Do you think she was handled well? What take-home message would an uninformed listener take from the exchange? Pro or con?

Science Cafe - Supernovae: The Violent Deaths of Stars

From: SCONC Tuesday, Jan. 20 6:30 p.m. Science Cafe, Raleigh - "Supernovae: The Violent Deaths of Stars" Stephen Reynolds, professor of physics at NC State University, discusses the violent deaths of mega-stars ... in space, that is. We are quite literally made of star stuff as a result. Reynolds and his colleagues recently made international headlines when they discovered the youngest-known remnant of a supernova in the Milky Way by tracking cosmic rays. Tir Na Nog, 218 South Blount St, Raleigh, 833-7795.

Uh-oh. Spanked.

VenomFangX is one of those semi-legendary creationists, one so inane that it's hard to believe. He had a website where he kept all of his ridiculous youtube videos, but it's about to disappear. If you go there now, this is what you'll see: Oh, wow, that's going to leave a psychological scar. As long as we're talking smack about creationists, don't forget to click on this link and help me win an iPod Touch from Eric Hovind. Click it lots.

BlogTogether 2008 Backyard Barbecue

Update: Register, login and edit the wiki if you intend to show up tonight. ----------------------- Anton just sent a message to the Triangle blogging community: The annual BlogTogether Backyard Barbecue is this Saturday, August 23 from 5pm on, at my home in Durham. I'll provide a cold keg of Carolina Brewery suds, a hot grill and tasty pulled pork barbecue, and a deck perfect for conversing into the night. More details at http://blogtogether.org/index.php/wiki. In NC next weekend? Join us!

How can you tell a creationist is lying?

Phillip E. Johnson says, "his intent never was to use public school education as the forum for his ideas [Intelligent Design creationism]." Wesley Elsberry has a flock of quotes direct from Johnson that refute that. If it were someone other than Johnson, I'd say he was just lying…but he's old, he's had a serious stroke, so it's entirely possible he's merely senile or brain-damaged. No matter what, though, it means you can't trust Phillip E. Johnson to speak the truth.

Just a few pictures from last night

Jennifer Ouellette has the whole story, but here are a few more pictures (under the fold). We met at Betelnut restaurant last night - Jennifer, Kristin Abkemaier (formerly of the 'Radioactive Banana' blog), Jeff and Curtis of the Jeff's Bench Science 2.0 site, and my old friends from Chapel Hill, now San Francisco transplants, Justin Watt and Josh Steiger: Josh, Jennifer and Justin (l-r) Me and Jennifer (l-r) Kristin and me Kristin, Justin and Curtis (l-r) Josh and me Me and Curtis

ClockQuotes

Until the 20th century, few people needed money. Apart from salt and iron, everything could be paid for in kind. Economic activity was more a means of making the time pass than of making money, which might explain why one of the few winter industries in the Alps was clock-making. Tinkering with tiny mechanisms made time pass less slowly, and the clocks themselves proved that it was indeed passing. - Graham Robb [N.Y.Times, November 25, 2007] Hat-tip: Selva

ClockQuotes

Was there a weight attached to the wheel of time, hanging from the month of May? Time went so slowly the rest of the year, as though it shoved a weight before it. In April, the wheel was in balance and didn't want to go further. It tipped back to winter or could give a hint of summer. But when May came, the weight began to pull and it was difficult to hang on. And before you knew it, it was summer. - Kari Boge

Simpsons joins the fray

News from The Panda's Thumb: tonight, The Simpsons is all about the creationist pseudo-controversy, and Lisa gets arrested as an evilutionist. Let's all tune in! I was unimpressed. There were a few good barbs thrown at the creationists, but in the end the matter is settled by something trivial (Homer looks like an ape; yet again, the lazy Simpsons trope of the stupid Homer resolves the story), and of course they caved and pandered to the false dignity of the dominant tribal superstition. Eh.

The Encyclopedia of Life

Everybody is talking about Encyclopedia of Life these days. It is alll still very Beta - we'll wait and see how it turns out in the end. Many are enthusiastic, some are skeptical. But, what happened to the Tree of Life? Remember it from 1995 and after? I found it useful during the last decade for teaching and finding info. Why build a whole new thing when the old one could be updated and modernized instead - it is already chockful of information.

Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development

Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development (which I mentioned a few days ago here) was a great success. You can see all the articles associated with it here. PLoS has collected all the poverty-related articles from its Journals on this nifty collections page. A PLoS Medicine article - Food Insufficiency Is Associated with High-Risk Sexual Behavior among Women in Botswana and Swaziland - was one of the few that were highlighted at the event at NIH. Gavin has the details. Nick Anthis gives his angle.

Your Gills are Showing

A mushroom that was showing a bit of its gills. Image: David Harmon. 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: mushroom, fungi,nature