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gregladen | November 14, 2011This is obviously a fake. Can't be real:
It is not really a fake NASA video. It comes from here.
gregladen | November 13, 2011Below is a letter from the Amerian Academy of Pediatrics to the President of Delta Airlines. Apparently, Delta Airlines has decided to continue to show the video in question.
Dear Mr. Anderson,
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) objects to the paid advertisement/public service message from the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) being shown throughout the month of November on Delta's in-flight programming. The ad urges viewers to become informed about influenza and how to stay well during the flu season without resorting to the influenza vaccine.
While hand washing and covering…
gregladen | November 11, 2011This refers to a subspecies of "Black Rhino" also known as the "browsing rhino."
The Western Black Rhino of Africa was declared officially extinct Thursday by a leading conservation group.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature said that two other subspecies of rhinoceros were close to meeting the same fate.
The Northern White Rhino of central Africa is now "possibly extinct" in the wild and the Javan Rhino "probably extinct" in Vietnam, after poachers killed the last animal there in 2010.
A small but declining population survives on the Indonesian island of Java.
msnbc
Black…
hrynyshyn | November 11, 2011Barry Bickmore's 40-minute explanation of why he stopped denying climate science is worth the time. As a a geochemistry professor, it should come as no surprise that he eventually came around, only that it took as long. But better late than never. He teaches at Brigham Young University in Utah, is an active Mormon, and an active Republican. So there you go.
gregladen | November 11, 2011Check it out:
This is more coyote activity than usual for these parts. They are fairly common generally. The solution? Bring in wolves!
gregladen | November 10, 2011Skeptically Speaking:
This week, we're looking at what happens when a bedrock scientific theory goes up for debate in the contentious realm of politics. We'll speak to Dr. Eugenie Scott, Executive Director, and Steven Newton, Programs and Policy Director, at the National Center for Science Education, about evolution as a political issue. And on the podcast, anthropologist and blogger Greg Laden analyzes the fallout from the so-called "climategate" emails.
We record live with Eugenie Scott and Steven Newton on Sunday, November 13 at 6 pm MT. The podcast will be available to download at 9 pm MT…
hrynyshyn | November 10, 2011David Roberts is, as usual, bang on in his latest Grist column, lamenting the pointlessness of the debate between those who insist we need more research and development before tackling climate change, and those who say we shouldn't wait. (Roberts is among the best commenters around when it comes to the social and political context of climate change.)
For the amount of attention it gets, you'd think that settling this debate is the crucial first step in developing a policy plan or a political strategy. You'd think the "enough technology" question must be answered before anyone can move forward…
catdynamics | November 10, 2011Imagine, hypothetically, that a junior co-worker comes to you, distraught, to tell you they witnessed a horrendously evil act by a senior colleague.
After you overcome the cognitive dissonance,
because it is hard to believe that your friend of several decades could do such thing,
what do you do?
This is a "nice guy", you have known him since he was the hotshot young colleague, you are friend with his wife, know his kids; he is charming, affable, rich, powerful, generous.
He is prominent at The Club, he founded a multi-million dollar charity; half the lawyers in town are on the Board, they…
gregladen | November 9, 2011That you get to listen to the XFactor contestants and then Vote For LeRoy Bell! On in five minutes central time and in the East.
sb admin | November 9, 2011Today I'll be writing a series of blogposts from the Falling Walls conference in Berlin. Each speaker is invited to discuss the ideas, inventions, and discoveries they believe will break down walls in their field.
Robert E. Horn: How Visual Language Supports Decision Making About Wicked Problems and Social Messes
Let's face it, having "messes" listed as a research specialism on your business card is pretty neat. But Stanford's Robert Horn is exactly that, a man who studies messes, or more accurately "inter-related sets of problems", particularly because business and government strategies…
hrynyshyn | November 9, 2011... you must first invent the universe. -- Carl Sagan, born this day in 1934 and the primary inspiration for this blog.
jrosenhouse | November 8, 2011Writing in 1866, John Venn (of Venn diagram fame) wrote:
To many persons the mention of Probability suggests little else than the notion of a set of rules, very ingenious and profound rules no doubt, with which mathematicians amuse themselves by setting and solving puzzles.
A classic example is the Tuesday Birthday Problem (TBP), which a reader has asked me to comment on. Let's dive right in by stating the problem:
You meet a man on the street and he says, “I have two children and one is a son born on a Tuesday.” What is the probability that the other child is also a son?
Seems innocent…
gregladen | November 8, 2011It's hard to round up a bunch of cowboys!
(I assume everybody in Idaho is a cowboy, right??!!??)
Anyway, great job, guys!
gregladen | November 8, 2011Some people have been complaining about LeRoy and I want to make clear why they are wrong to do so. This is not a subtle or nuanced situation at all. People with the complaint to which I refer are embarrassing themselves. So this missive is just as much in support of LeRoy as it is to help those unfortunate individuals who are not quite up to speed in the logic department.
Let me 'splain. During the XFactor singing contest show last week, there was this big-ass extravaganza song, where all the singers came out at the same time and sang a big song and there were big lights on the big stage…
