Uncategorized
cmonforton | May 16, 2017Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship is using his first few days out of federal prison to make outlandish assertions about the Upper Big Branch disaster. In an open letter to President Trump dated May 15, Blankenship appeals to the President:
“We share relentless and false attacks on our reputation by the liberal media.”
The letter is posted on Blankenship’s website in which he calls himself “American Competitionist.” He urges President Trump to:
“put aside the media’s false claims about me and help me expose the truth of what happened at the Upper Big Branch (UBB) coal mine in West…
gregladen | May 16, 2017Every single regular reader of this blog has read or intends to read Stephen Jay Gould's The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History. I just noticed that the Kindle version of it is available for $1.99, and I assume this is temporary. I already had the book on dead-tree matter, but I picked this up because ebooks are searchable! You will want one two.
Every single regular reader of this blog SHOULD want to read, or should have already read, Mary Doria Russell's excellent binary set including The Sparrow: A Novel and Children of God. (The Sparrow is first, COG second.)
Right now…
gregladen | May 2, 2017A claim is being made, in a recent issue of Nature Magazine, that humans were active in the vicinity of San Diego well over 100,000 years before archaeologists think humans were even in the New World. Most commentary on this claim dismisses it out of hand, but out of hand rejections are no better than foundationless assertions. Let's take a closer look at the Cerutti Mastodon Site. But first, some important context.
The Near Consensus on North American Prehistory
The Clovis Culture is a Native American phenomenon that occurred between about 12 and 10 thousand years ago (most likely between…
gregladen | April 29, 2017A major Canadian logger appears to be using a pair of law suits to end the existence of Greenpeace and to stop or curtail pro-environmental activities by other organizations operating in North America, or perhaps, generally.
This activity is being carried out by Resolute Forest Products. This is a rapidly developing story. Aside from the usual sources of information, I had a long conversation with a representative of Greenpeace. I also refer you to this blog post.
Resolute Forest Products is one of North America’s largest converters of forest into pulp, ultimately to be used to make paper.…
gregladen | April 24, 2017Lennox Yearwood Jr was on his way to speak at the March for Science in DC, when something bad happened. He tells us:
...at the March For Science in Washington DC on Earth Day, I was assaulted, roughed up, and detained by police in the shadow of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. It was not part of an action or planned civil disobedience. It was sadly a much more regular event - an interaction between police and a person of color gone very wrong.
He continues:
I was walking in the rain and carrying an umbrella down Constitution Ave. from the National Archives…
gregladen | April 22, 2017Just a little video and some pictures from today's March for Science, Minnesota.
This one from the march route on the way to the capitol. Skip ahead to about 1:12 go get the best chant:
Another video, this one from The Hedge:
You don't see this sign at many protests:
Mammals were welcome at the march:
And, now, Here is my extraordinarily well timed Facebook Live post
gregladen | April 21, 2017We just had an execution by lethal injection. Everything went fine. If, by "fine," we mean a guy died as a bunch of people watched emotionlessly.
The execution was carried out so late in the process that only a few minutes passed between the pronouncement of death and and the expiration of the court order to kill.
What if the execution had taken twice as long? With the order expired, would it be stopped during the final minutes? Would someone dial 911, get EMTs in there, try to save the guy's life?
I'm against the death penalty. I think it is time we recognized that this is the 21st…
gregladen | April 18, 2017In which I interview Geoffrey Rojas, an organizer for Minnesota March for Science:
Books mentioned in the interview:
The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It by Shawn Otto.
The Meetup Information for the Atheists Bus is here. The bus is currently full!
The Minnesota March for Science facebook page is here.
I think the wether is going to be perfect marching weather.
On a related topic: Evidence for Democracy - Katie Gibbs on Science Resisting
gregladen | April 10, 2017For example, consider the following truthful and accurate report. You won't see mainstream media doing this. Mainstream media would give a false "balanced" view, where the Republican attack on democracy is given the same positive spin as the Democratic attempt to save it. Why is this?
gregladen | April 9, 2017Hi there, folks. This post should have been a tweet in response to Roger Pielke Jr (@RogerPielkeJr), professor of political science at the University of Colorado Boulder, the guy who got fired by Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight for, as I understand it, his anti-science positions on climate change. This is a response for a tweet by Junior designed to offend, nay, attack, both Professor Michael Mann and moi. But Roger blocks me (and everybody else) on twitter, so this has to be a blog post.
Roger is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I suppose I can't blame him for getting every single…
gregladen | April 8, 2017I was just thinking about Roger Pielke Jr. and Judith Curry, and the interesting situation they have found themselves in.
The hole they dug and climbed into. The corner they've painted themselves into. The metaphor that mightily mired them.
I'm talking about the situation they've created for themselves over the last few years as they've sunk into various states of denial of the reality or importance of global warming and its effects. Don't confuse the two of them, they are very different. If anything, Roger is a true believer warmist who has a particular ax to grind that blinds him to…
jdupuis | April 1, 2017You know, I'm the best librarian. Just the best. My collection is huge. The very very best collection. Such a great collection. I love collecting. I'm very good at bibliographic instruction. Nobody does bibliographic instruction like me. Students love it. I can talk for hours. I have long, beautiful book stacks. Look at those book stacks, are they small book stacks? I guarantee you there's no problem. I guarantee you.
And since I'm the best librarian, my pal The Donald, the President of the United States, has hired me to be the Chief Executive Officer for the National Parks Service Library…
cmonforton | March 30, 2017The U.S. Senate passed a resolution last night urging Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy to warn the public about the risk of asbestos exposure. The deadly mineral continues to be imported to the U.S.
S. Res. 98 designates the first week of April as “National Asbestos Awareness Week.” The Senators note that the U.S. continues to use tons of asbestos every year despite its well-known danger. The resolution acknowledges:
Thousands of workers in the U.S. face significant asbestos exposure
Thousands of people in the U.S. die from asbestos-related diseases every year
The U.S. Geological Survey…
gregladen | March 29, 2017Scientists are now being subjected to unbridled McCarthyism.
Eventually the transcript will be available, but for now you'll have to just trust me on this. Congressman Clay Higgins, Republican on Lamar Smith's alt-Science committee, demanded today to know if climate scientist Michael Mann (author of The Madhouse Effect: How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet, Destroying Our Politics, and Driving Us Crazy, The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines, and By Michael E. Mann - Dire Predictions, Second Edition: Understanding Climate Change">this book…
gregladen | March 28, 2017Arduino Playground: Geeky Projects for the Experienced Maker is not for the faint of heart. Unless the faint of heart person plans to build a pacemaker with an arduino!
Most books about making electronic projects, including and especially Raspberry Pi or Arduino projects, have a bit up front about tools and technology. You'll need a screwdriver, maybe a magnifying glass, some extra wire, that sort of thing. Arduino Playground: Geeky Projects for the Experienced Maker does that too, but it is a bit more extreme. Maybe you need a tap and die set, oh, and here are some neat tips on designing and…
jdupuis | March 27, 2017For your reading and collection development pleasure...
It's been a while since I've done one of these posts, kind of seeing what's on my mind a little in the science-y and tech-y book world and kind of a way to help me remember what I want to pick up. It's also been a while since I've actually reviewed a book, but I do think I'll be getting to some of the backlog fairly soon in some mass group posts.
In any case, some books I'd like to read, ones that I've not acquired yet but probably will soon.
The Politics of Fear: Médecins sans Frontières and the West African Ebola Epidemic. Edited by…
kkrisberg | March 25, 2017Yesterday, House Republicans failed to find enough votes to pass their Affordable Care Act replacement. It was a very good day for the millions of Americans projected to lose their coverage under the GOP plan. But let’s be clear: Obamacare is not safe.
In a last-ditch effort to round up more votes, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., proposed an amendment that would have, beginning in 2018, allowed states to determine the kinds of essential health benefits required in insurance plans purchased with tax credits. Under Obama’s health care law, insurance plans sold via the federal health care…
jdupuis | March 24, 2017The world is going to hell in a hand basket. But at least we can laugh as we're sucked relentlessly into the Hellmouth.
Maybe if we all collectively understood science and evidence better, the path to Hell wouldn't be quite so straight and narrow. So maybe that's what's making me think of these particular funny bits today. And by funny I mean so funny in hurts.
First up, we have retired basketball superstar Shaquille O'Neal, who apparently really and truly believes the world is flat. He has a doctorate in Education, by the way, which I just can't even.
Shaquille O'Neal agrees with Kyrie…
gregladen | March 23, 2017Everyone knows that you never say the name "Voldemort" because it gives him power.
Like this:
And perhaps for this reason, many non-deplorables wish to avoid using the name of Trump.
I can understand their position, and I respect their point of view.
Having said that, they are totally wrong, of course. Trump isn't just some guy's name. It is the name of a corporation, and it is a brand representing that corporation. If you really don't like Trump, say his name again and again, in association with your very criticism of him. Sully his brand. Link him to his own decisions and behavior. Don…
gregladen | March 19, 2017Some of you may know David Weinlick, especially if you are active in politics in the Twin Cities, or associated with the University of Minnesota. He is well known around these parts for his political activism and important role in the DFL (that’s how Minnesotans spell “Democratic Party”). He was the Party Affairs Director for the Minnesota DFL until 2014, and until recently the Vice Chair of the Fourth Congressional District for the Minnesota DFL.
If that does not ring a bell, this might: David Weinlick essentially invented a new kind of TV (now known as reality TV) when he asked his friends…