Uncategorized
tlambert | May 16, 2010By popular request. Comments from El Gordo and folks arguing with him are cluttering up more useful discussions. All comments by El Gordo and responses to comments by El Gordo should go in this thread. I can't move comments in MT, so I'll just delete comments that appear in the wrong thread.
grrlscientist | May 15, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
The next edition of Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) will publish Monday and as usual, it is seeking submissions and hosts! Can you help by sending URLs for your own or others' well-written science, medicine, and nature blog essays to me or by volunteering to host this carnival on your blog?
Scientia Pro Publica is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment, nature and medical writing that has been published in the…
pharyngula | May 15, 2010Like last time, I expect this news will set off another fusillade of dissenting opinions, but too bad. Extremists have vandalized Lars Vilks home, trying to set it on fire (original article in Swedish here).
In an undoubtably futile attempt to forestall what I expect will be common objections to this story here, I know that there are political ramifications to the cartoons of Mohammed. I know that many of them were motivated by racism and xenophobia. In this instance, though, I don't care. Vilks drew a sketch. His enemies set his house on fire.
I would encourage Muslims to respond in kind,…
gregladen | May 15, 2010Submit your entries to Berry Go Round, the Plant Carnival here.
Submit your entries to Diversity in Science here. The topic will be "Shattering Stereotypes in STEM."
Go and visit I and the Bird number 125, here!
Go and visit Scientia Pro Publica 29 here.
gregladen | May 15, 2010If you want to read Apple and Adobe's opinions directly: Steve Jobs posted his thoughts on Flash, and Adobe shared their thoughts as well.
I find it very interesting to note what both sides claim is the core issue: Openness.
JH at LIE addresses the question.
grrlscientist | May 15, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
The next edition of Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) will publish Monday and as usual, it is seeking submissions and hosts! Can you help by sending URLs for your own or others' well-written science, medicine, and nature blog essays to me or by volunteering to host this carnival on your blog?
Scientia Pro Publica is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment, nature and medical writing that has been published in the…
gregladen | May 15, 2010Occasionally you hear about hippies. But people who call themselves hippies today, or that others call hippies, are not like the original hippies at all. Generally, modern hippies are more brown (and I'm talking clothing choice) and less stoned than the original hippies. The original hippies were making many different political statements, social statements, and fashion statements. Of those various statements, many have been incorporated into modern mainstream thinking. Other ideas were taken out into the yard, shot mercilessly in the head, and buried in a deep, unmarked hole dug in the…
gregladen | May 14, 2010Matini chewed hungrily on the cooked forearm of the monkey as I watched, thinking, "WTF, is he really not going to share?" The others watched him with looks of incredulity that told me they were thinking the same thing. Finally, Latala said to Matini, thumb pointing sideways to me, "You know, he knows the rules."
"Huh?" Matini replied, looking up vaguely with his eyes while chewing the arm.
"You killed that monkey with an arrow he had given you. Therefore, that arm is his, according to our traditional way of dividing up the portions of animals we have hunted. But you are not sharing."…
stoat | May 14, 2010In 2001 I had the chance to visit the Stubai for a couple of days at the start and in the middle of a conference in Innsbruck. It was wonderful, and I didn't kill myself. I've finally uploaded the pix; see flickr if you're interested.
The mountains are great for either solo'ing, or an easy introduction. And the huts are splendid too. And not all the people look as silly as that, though a beret is remarkably practical.
Miriam and Miranda forced me to shave the beard off, eventually.
jwilbanks | May 14, 2010I've kept this blog quiet lately - for a wide range of reasons - but a few questions that have come in have prompted me to start up a new series of posts.
The main reason for the lack of posts around here is that I've been very busy, and for the most part, I've used this blog for a lot of lengthy posts on weighty topics. At least, weighty to me. If you want a more informal channel, you can follow me on twitter, as I prefer tweeting links and midstream thoughts to rapid-fire short blog entries. The joy of a blog like this for me is the chance to explore subjects in greater depth. But it also…
grrlscientist | May 14, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
The next edition of Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) will publish Monday and as usual, it is seeking submissions and hosts! Can you help by sending URLs for your own or others' well-written science, medicine, and nature blog essays to me or by volunteering to host this carnival on your blog?
Scientia Pro Publica is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, environment, nature and medical writing that has been published in the…
cortex | May 13, 2010Reposted from last year:
Michael Posner and Brenda Patoine make a neuroscientific case for arts education. They argue that teaching kids to make art has lasting cognitive benefits:
If there were a surefire way to improve your brain, would you try it? Judging by the abundance of products, programs and pills that claim to offer "cognitive enhancement," many people are lining up for just such quick brain fixes. Recent research offers a possibility with much better, science-based support: that focused training in any of the arts--such as music, dance or theater--strengthens the brain's attention…
pharyngula | May 13, 2010Some of you know one of our regular commenters here…and she has some good news to share.
Hail the happy Happy Beltane season!
Naughty Marvin
&
Patricia, OM
Are pleased to announce
their engagement.
A Lughnasadh Wedding is planned
at Trout Lake Abbey, Trout Lake, Washington.
I even know where that is! Very pretty country thereabouts. Congratulations to all!
mspringer | May 13, 2010CNN has a headline up: Fate or Fluke: Air crash sole survivors. ON the homepage itself the banner reads "Fate or Physics?"
(CNN) -- Some will see it as divine intervention, others a simple quirk of fate, fortune or physics, but one boy's cheating of death in an air crash in Libya this week adds another name to a small roll call of aviation disaster sole survivors.
The boy, identified as Ruben van Assouw, suffered multiple fractures in his lower limbs when the Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A330-200 crashed Tuesday at Tripoli International Airport killing 92 passengers and a crew of 11.
...…
jgoldman | May 12, 2010I found a terrific blog called Fake Science.
Here's a little bit of timely information for you, straight from the Fake Science vaults.
gregladen | May 12, 2010Because 480 is a big number!
Feel free to go HERE and comment on this video.