Chatter
tfk | February 3, 2007I haven't been pimping books lately, but it's time.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) by J. K. Rowling
First, the last Harry Potter book is scheduled for 7/7/07, and if you buy it through this link a portion of the sale goes to the important project of keeping TfK afloat.
Second, the new book by our dear friend Chris Mooney is available for pre-order. Again, buying it through this link lets you give money to two Sciencebloggers:
Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming by Chris Mooney
Finally, I'm making my way through Robert Cato's series on Lyndon…
tfk | February 2, 2007Via Afarensis.
You know the Bible 90%!
Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic! Ultimate Bible QuizCreate MySpace Quizzes
tfk | January 29, 2007Every few weeks, we gather the finest of Kansan and Kansas related bloggery. This week, a series of recipes.
Modern science: Drop an apple on Isaac Newton, wait until he realizes that the laws of nature apply to the whole universe. Use those laws to fly missions around the Moon, as described by Paul Decelles, and to produce cover art for one of rock's greatest albums.
Brussels Cockaigne: Wash and cut in half a dozen of honorary Kansan Bill Farrell's brussels sprouts. In a skillet, brown a couple cloves of garlic in a couple tablespoons of butter and an equal amount of olive oil. Remove…
tfk | January 28, 2007What Kind of Reader Are You?Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Non-Reader
Fad Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You?Create Your Own Quiz
It's like they're inside my brain.
Thanks to GrrrrrrrrrlScientist for the tip.
tfk | January 27, 2007Via Dr. Myers:
I am:Ursula K. LeGuin
Perhaps the most admired writing talent in the science fiction field.
Which science fiction writer are you?
I'm was a big fan of the Earthsea series, so I'm pretty happy with this outcome. I've drifted away from SF since, and haven't read any of LeGuin's work aimed more at adults. What does the blogosphere recommend?
omnibrain | January 22, 2007Normally I'm all for ripping PETA a new one, but there are all sorts of problems with this ad, which (among others) has appeared in Time Square and in the NYT.
It seems that the Center for Consumer Freedom, who is sponsoring the ads and bills itself as a grass roots organization, is actually a front for big tobacco and the fast food companies.
From Wikipedia:
The group defines its mission as fighting against "a growing cabal of food cops, health care enforcers, militant activists, meddling bureaucrats, and violent radicals who think they know what's best for you, [who] are pushing against our…
omnibrain | January 22, 2007
It's kinda an intense picture don't you think? I found this on a relatively generic article about Steven Pinker from the Toronto Star.
tfk | January 21, 2007The BEAST lists all 50 "Most Loathsome People in America. There are some obvious choices, but these are some unexpected or particularly well-phrased entries:
47. Michael Musto
Charges: A friendly bacteria in America’s bloated entertainment entrails, giving vicarious life to that big brown celebrity baby we all waste countless hours coddling. Melon the size of an Olmec statue, yet not clever enough to elicit more than groans with his overwrought, nervous delivery of painfully unfunny puns. Motivated by transparent jealousy. Adds nothing in the way of meaningful criticism or analysis. Only…
tfk | January 16, 2007Dr. Myers doesn't like that Darren Naish doesn't like Darwin's beard. Why? Because "men can grow beards in their 20s, and having a beard doesn't necessarily mean you're a wizened old fuddy-duddy."
Maybe someone needs to tell grandpa over there that men can grow beards in their teens, and having a beard doesn't mean you're a wizened old fuddy-duddy.
Photograph taken at Zabriskie point when I was circa 16 years old.
tfk | January 16, 2007Bora of A Blog Around the Clock is the hardest working man in science blogging. He put together a Science Blogging Conference that I'll be sorry to miss, he posts a bajillion times a day, has an encyclopedic knowledge of the blogosphere, and organized and produced the first annual Science Blogging Anthology. The Open Laboratory was undoubtedly a labor of love, pulling together 50 of the best blog posts from 2006.
It includes one post by yours truly, but you already know how I write. You should buy it to learn about the rest of what's out there, and to support one of the blogosphere's…
tfk | January 15, 2007It's the time of year yet again when you nominate your favorite lefty blogs for the Koufax awards.
I would appreciate being in the running for the "Best Local and State Blog" category, and the new "Best Consonant Level Blog" looks like it'll be a good category for me also.
All you have to do is go to Wampum, and leave a comment with this text:
Best Consonant-level Blog: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/tfk">Thoughts from Kansas</a>
Best Local or State Blog: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/tfk">Thoughts from Kansas</a>
You can, of course, put other blogs in there (…
tfk | January 12, 2007List the countries and states you've visited. Also, let me know if these maps show up for you.
This application is created by interactive maps.You can also have your visited countries map on your site.If you see this message, you need to upgrade your flash player.
Make your visited countries map
Interactive flash maps
This application is created by interactive maps.You can also have your visited states map on your site.If you see this message, you need to upgrade your flash player.
Make your visited states map
Interactive flash maps
There is some dispute within the Rosenau clan…
tfk | January 12, 2007Forthekids forwards a meme. I think I did this once upon a time, but it stays interesting.
Grab the nearest book.
Check. The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity by James Lovelock, J. E. Lovelock
Go to page 123.
Check.
Write down the 6th through 8th sentences:
Today it seems their intuitions, the unconscious summing up of the evidence coming into their sense about the world, give a gloomy message. In a similar way, perhaps, the stridency of the sceptics of global heating hides and reveals their fear that they may be wrong.
Fear of the Devil and of hell fire, so…
tfk | January 9, 2007The best of Kansas blogging returns this week to Thoughts from Kansas.
We didn't get a lot of submissions this week, so I've picked some on my own.
From Blog Meridian, we get a close reading of Hopper's Conference at Night. I've been a big fan of Hopper since I designed a set for Inge's Bus Stop to look like it was painted by Hopper. John captures the mystery of Hopper's figures; while you can tell a story about them, they will never tell you if you are right.
At In This Moment, Nancy points out that Congress has the power to stop Bush's troop escalation:
New Kansas Rep. Nancy Boyda and a…
tfk | January 8, 2007The Washington Monthly asks:
Nobody seems to mind when, say, soldiers or longshoremen cuss. It's usually described as "salty" or "colorful." So why can't bloggers be described as salty and colorful too?
Which reminds me of the sorely missed Suck.com, and its occasional series of filler graphs like this:
And so I issue a challenge to people with copious spare time and graphical skillz. Produce a chart of (science)bloggers on axes of salty versus colorful.
One presumes that Wonkette, for instance, would max out on salty and colorful. Pharyngula is salty, but not as colorful. Deep Sea News…
tfk | January 6, 2007We already knew that joking in line at an airport was a bad idea. Now we know that the line at the county clerk's office is a bad place to joke also:
A wedding was postponed after a woman said "no" as a joke when asked if she took her fiancé as her husband.
Despite protests from a now blushing bride, Tina Albrecht, 27, the officiating registrar in Steyr, Austria, cancelled the wedding for 10 weeks in line with local law.
Thanks to Improbable Research for the tip.
omnibrain | January 5, 2007As I'm sure many of you know, Colorado has been completely wrecked with snow - stranding thousands and thousands of cattle out in the fields leaving them to starve or wander off. One radio station, in an effort to help, called the most famous group for 'helping' animals in danger - PETA. Instead of PETA offering their assistance they came off as just a bunch of pricks instead. See below for some more details - or read the original article here.
As many as 340,000 cows and steers have been left stranded by southeastern Colorado's most recent snowstorm, and National Guard units are helping…
tfk | January 4, 2007Via preshrunk we learn that miele fresca has an octopus t-shirt.
I don't have anything particularly cool to say about this except that it appears to be a very cool octopus, and anyone who celebrated Cephalopodmas should consider shelling out the exorbitant price that the manufacturer is charging for it.
They have equally exorbitantly priced, but equally lovely, shirts based on the appearance of lumber, and a lovely wind turbine themed shirt.
tfk | January 1, 2007Please welcome Evolving in Kansas to the fold. The blog is still young, but Mousie Cat has a lot to say, and will make a nice addition to the internets.