jlynch | July 3, 2006The Lynch Euro 2006 tour is over. Past few weeks were spent in Paris, Dublin and (briefly) London while studiously avoiding e-mail and blogging. Highlights included watching the World Cup in French cafes and Irish pubs with people who actually care about the beautiful game (there is no language barrier when it comes to football). It was my daughter's first trip to France & England, so that was fun.
As many of the blog sibs have noted, the Sb/Donors Choose has ended with a total of $34,001.68 being donated. Props to everyone involved. I especially want to take those who donated throught…
jlynch | June 17, 2006I'm going to be out of regular electonic contact until the beginning of next month, so there will be a blogging hiatus. It would be really sweet if we meet our challenge goals by the time I return. I can dream, can't I?
Update: Two of our four projects are now 100% funded. Thank you so much.
jlynch | June 16, 2006So, yeah, Argentina whupped Serbia & Montenegro, 6-0. For your viewing pleasure here is Esteban Cambiasso's goal, the second of the six.
We're up to 28% of our goal and are third of the SBers for money collected. So let's keep it up!
jlynch | June 16, 2006Good news from the mothership. SEED magazine has come out and stated that it will match the total donations from our DonorsChoose drive up to $10,000. Yes, folks, your $10 donation is now worth $20. So don't delay.
I know this is a little like one of those public radio/tv pledge drives that annoy you every few months. But look on the bright side ... I'm not going to give you a Yanni CD for your donation, just the warm satisfied feeling that you've helped.
Thanks to those who have given already!
jlynch | June 15, 2006The mothership asks:
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?
Ann Coulter would answer that, in the case of PZ at least, being an atheistic anti-american liberal evilutionist, his drinking of the blood of Christian babies embues him with satanic powers of endurance (and a well known squid fetish).
As for myself, the answer is simple .... coffee. Lots of coffee.
Quick challenge update - three wonderful contributers gave a total of $235 today.
Don't be shy,…
jlynch | June 15, 2006Observation: ESPN soccer commentators are idiots who need to stop bringing everything back to the US/Italy game.
Observation: Trinidad & Tobago were unlucky.
Prediction: Neither England nor Sweden will advance past the Round of 16.
Prediction: Italy 2 USA 0
jlynch | June 15, 2006Educators will tell you that a good foundation at the K-2 level leads to success later on. My daughter has just finished first grade and over the past year alone has made significant strides in her reading, writing and math ability, all due to the dedication of her teachers. While we live in a relatively well-off school district, it is noticeable that, even here, teachers often need help in purchasing materials. In particular, teaching kids science requires supplies, and these cost money. And that's where you, my reader, comes in. A bunch of us at ScienceBlogs have set up Bloggers Challenges…
jlynch | June 14, 2006John beat me to it, but I'll go ahead anyways. Congrats to Reed Cartwright, active at Georgia Citizens for Integrity in Science and the Panda's Thumb, for passing his dissertation at the University of Georgia and thus now becoming Dr Cartwright. Good job, Reed. Now get back to whatever you were doing before grad school hit.
P.S. I'm quite proud of the title of this blog :)
jlynch | June 14, 2006It appears Coulter's knowledge of evolution (and the certainty with which she spouts) is on a par with her knowledge of the Vietnam War.
jlynch | June 14, 2006Apparently more than Dembski helped Coulter with her attack on evolution:
"I couldn't have written about evolution without the generous tutoring of Michael Behe, Devid Berlinski, and William Dembski"
Dembski, Behe & Berlinski. It's not looking good for the three amigos.
jlynch | June 14, 2006
This may not look like much, but it's rare, very rare. The World Wildlife Fund yesterday announced that a motion-triggered camera captured the first every photo of a wild Sumatran rhino in Borneo. There are believed to perhaps be only 13 Dicerorhinus sumatrensis harrissoni on the island. The main reasons for the drop in rhino numbers are illegal hunting and the fact that the remaining rhinos are so isolated they may rarely or never meet to breed. In addition, there is evidence that a high proportion of the female rhinos on Borneo have reproductive problems. Many of the remaining rhinos are…
jlynch | June 14, 2006Newton was, as we all know, a Christian. Creationists apologists for "good science" being rooted in Christianity avoid his heretical anti-trinitarianism, but that is an issue for another day. Today, from F.U.B.A.R. and via Daily Kos, I give you ID versions of Newton's Laws of Motion:
Newton's Law of Inertia: Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it by something, or someone, since only an intelligent agent of some kind (not necessarily God, but not necessarily not God) could recognize that this object was in…
jlynch | June 14, 2006Here is Kaká's splendid goal against Croatia. Viewers used to the ESPN school of broadcasting may like to note (1) the commentary that actually tells you who has the ball, and (2) the lack of crap on-screen.
jlynch | June 14, 2006Charles Haughey has died at the age of 80. For most readers, that will mean nothing. For those who grew up in Ireland, this death will either bring sadness or a quiet sense of satisfaction. I am in the latter group. Haughey was the epitome of the 'cute hoor', an Irish idiom for an individual who does whatever they want to get whatever they want. Think DeLay or any of the reptiles in Congress, and you're not too far wrong. To me, Haughey epitomized everything that was wrong with Ireland in the 70s and 80s. Over at Crooked Timber, fellow ex-pat (and Arizona resident) Kieran Healy has a…
jlynch | June 13, 2006The first photos and video have been taken of a live Laotian rock rat (Laonastes aenigmamus), described in a scientific journal for the first time last year. It may be the only living species in its family, which scientists previously believed went extinct 11 million years ago. See here for a press release and here for video.
jlynch | June 13, 2006Just finished watching the Brazil/Croatia game. Certainly the first half was the best half of football in the competition so far - topped with a nice goal by Kaka. Second half wasn't as good - though still better than the France/Switzerland game - the Brazilians looked a little tired. Fair dues to the Croatians for not giving up, though.
Some thoughts. I've given up watching ESPN. I can't stand the inane commentary, lack of half-time analysis, pop-ups onscreen, and continued talk of the USA/Italy game. Univision is the way to go - even the crowd noise seems louder.
I basically watch soccer…
jlynch | June 12, 2006Darwin had his bulldog. Apparently Dembski now has his daschund. Ann Coulter is apparently now the kinder gentler machine gun hand of the Wedge.
Ann is taking Phillip Johnson's message as developed in DARWIN ON TRIAL and REASON IN THE BALANCE and bringing it home to the masses. Critics will dismiss it for its hyperbole, lack of nuance, and in-your-face attitude. But she has the gist just right, which is that materialism (she calls it liberalism) dominates our culture despite being held by only a minority of the populace and has become an agenda among our elites (academy, scientists, media)…
jlynch | June 10, 2006The Ask A ScienceBlogger question for this week inspired me to revisit this post I made on April 22 2005.
Today in 1827 the Irish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton presented his Theory of systems of rays a work that brought together mechanics, optics and mathematics and helped in establishing the wave theory of light. In addition, this year marks the bicentenary of Hamilton’s birth.
Hamilton sticks in my mind for two reasons. Firstly, nearly twenty years ago as a sophomore zoology major, I took a course in quantum mechanics and loved it. So much so, that the…