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gregladen | August 25, 2010Don't be a random, arbitrary dick. Be meaningful and relevant in your dickosity:
If your dickishness is going to help you communicate the values of skepticism, it has to relate, directly and immediately, to the circumstances that warrant anger.
Read the rest here
And then, if you want to know everything else about this topic, click here. Don't worry, nothing bad will happen. Just. Click. It. Trust me.
gregladen | August 24, 2010What does skepticism look like from a Native American perspective?
...change is never an easy obstacle to overcome. People fear the unknown and find comfort in daily routines, habits, and ritual tradition. Society itself has become too comfortable with some of the ways we think and perceive issues in America. People tend to not understand what is outside of that "comfort zone" that they have created for themselves simply because they are afraid of a change....
Visit Native Skeptic on Blogspot.
gregladen | August 24, 2010Yet another study on why women shop, from an evolutionary perspective:
In an unconscious attempt to outdo female rivals, ovulating women buy sexier clothing, according to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research.
"Not unlike the chimps featured on the Discovery Channel, women become more competitive with other females during the handful of days each month when they are ovulating. The desire for women at peak fertility to unconsciously choose products that enhance appearance is driven by a desire to outdo attractive rival women," write authors Kristina M. Durante, Vladas Griskevicius (…
gregladen | August 24, 2010Terra Sigillata has settled at Central Science. Click here to visit the new blog and find out the details.
gregladen | August 24, 2010My brother, who lives in Kentucky, very recently had similar corrective heart surgery as PZ's. He sent me this video to pass on to PZ of what appears to be the latest trend in Kentucky health food, as well as the main novel food item that will be sold at the Kentucky State Fair which starts up in a day or two.
Mmmm mmmm good. I hope they have this for the Minnesota State Fair as well, but of course, it will have to be mounted on a stick.
Mmmm mmmm good.
Hey, who's going to the fair this year? Starts in two days!
lborkowski | August 24, 2010The Iowa-based company Wright County Egg is recalling 380 million eggs, which were sold to distributors and wholesalers in 22 states and Mexico, due to concerns about salmonella contamination. The eggs have been sold under several different brand names, so if you've got eggs in your fridge you can check FDA's page for info. Salmonella-infected eggs traceable to this producer may have caused as many as 1,200 cases of intestinal illness in at least 10 states over the past several weeks. A second producer, Hillandale Farms, has also issued a recall 170 million eggs that have been shipped to 14…
gregladen | August 24, 2010Timely:
Investigations into research misconduct cost US institutions more than US$110 million per year, estimates a study published this week. But experts contacted by Nature question whether calculating the cost of investigation is the right way to measure the impact of research misconduct.
read the rest at Nature
gregladen | August 24, 2010The word on the street is that PZ Myers has been surgically updated and will return home soon, probably tomorrow. My understanding is that he received a stent, which is routine, but as long as they had him on the table they also upgraded his laser eye blaster tubes and retractable squid arm assemblies. So look out.
gregladen | August 24, 2010For the past three years, Marilyn Bess has operated MS Philly Organic, a small, low-traffic blog that features occasional posts about green living, out of her Manayunk home. Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says she's made about $50. To Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, it's a potential moneymaker, and the city wants its cut.
In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.
"The real kick in the pants is that I don't even have a full-time job, so for the…
gregladen | August 24, 2010You know of DuWayne Brayton as the over the top highly opinionated commenter who is always giving everyone a hard time on this blog, or when not here, on his own blog. (Which, by the way, has recently undergone a style change, and I like it.)
Well, you may not know that DuWayne writes fiction now and then. Have a look at this piece, "Leaving."
I'm afraid the people who really need to read this are not going to. So pass it around, please. It's quite good .
gregladen | August 24, 2010I am sad to report that it is indeed confirmed by official sources that primatologist Marc Hauser engaged in several instances of what is being termed misconduct while carrying out experiments in his lab.
Dean Michael Smith issued the following letter to members of the Harvard community today:
Dear faculty colleagues,
No dean wants to see a member of the faculty found responsible for scientific misconduct, for such misconduct strikes at the core of our academic values. Thus, it is with great sadness that I confirm that Professor Marc Hauser was found solely responsible, after a…
gregladen | August 23, 2010If you haven't seen it, please check out this bit of dark comedy from PZ, who reveals that he will be undergoing unspecified probing and surgery. Medical science will be having its way with him over the next few days.
Go wish him well!
gregladen | August 23, 2010And now it is time for a new edition of Name that Organism. Each of the following photos was taken at Itasca State Park, except one. Extra points for naming which photo was not taken in the park.
Write your ID's in the comments section.
A)
B)
C)
(click to enlarge)
D)
(click to enlarge)
E)
F)
G)
dolittle | August 23, 2010I was on a one-day deep sea fishing trip off the coast of Southern California and the topic of diving mammals came up as we were watching sea lions swim around our boat. They must have been attracted to the same school of fish we were trying to catch. I must admit they were more successful at catching fish that day than we were! Their ability to dive and fish in deep waters, which would require an oxygen tank for a human to attempt, was nothing short of impressive. Curious to learn more, I searched for information on The APS website and came up with an interview between Andreas Fahlman and…
pharyngula | August 23, 2010
My day began well enough. I'd gotten up early, got some writing done, and was headed into the office to do some prep work for classes, which start this week. My phone rang just as I had my key in the office door — which was cutting it close. My office is an AT&T dead zone, and a few more seconds and I would have been in blissful obliviousness for the rest of the day. It was my doctor's assistant. I will paraphrase her words slightly.
"We just got the results of your tests from last week. Your heart is a shriveled black lump starved of charity, decency, charm, and kindness," she said, "…
cwilcox | August 23, 2010Sorry I've been so MIA. The ship pulled back into Pearl Harbor on Friday, and currently I'm trying to get back to the swing of things on land, catch up on everything I missed for the past month, and find a place to live, so I'm kinda busy.
In the meantime, enjoy the adorableness (c/o Zooborns)
This little baby cottontail lost its mother, but luckily someone turned the little one in to a rehabilitation center, where the cute thing is being nursed back to health.
gregladen | August 22, 2010September 2nd, in Atlanta, honoring Jeff Medkeff and run by the Atlanta Skeptics. Details here.