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gregladen | April 14, 2009And other odd moments.
Experience the opportunity of a life time. Or at least of an afternoon. Vote for the Best Global Warming Short Video!!!!
The thing that looks lie a big white rat in this one is a polar bear:
VOTE HERE
razib | April 14, 2009Chaplain's E-mail Sparks Controversy:
In a private e-mail to a student last week, Abdul-Basser wrote that there was "great wisdom (hikma) associated with the established and preserved position (capital punishment [for apostates]) and so, even if it makes some uncomfortable in the face of the hegemonic modern human rights discourse, one should not dismiss it out of hand."
...
"I believe he doesn't belong as the official chaplain," said one Islamic student, who asked that he not be named to avoid conflicts with Muslim religious authorities. "If the Christian ministers said that people who…
gregladen | April 14, 2009If we step outside of our chauvinistic inclination to look at evolution as a process with humans as the teleological result of its process, the unfolding story of life's continual divergence makes even more sense. As Klink illustrates, we are but a small twig on a minor branch of the Tree of Life and not necessarily its crown.
Continued here...
mspringer | April 14, 2009I almost titled this entry "Rocket Porn" but I wasn't sure if the management would appreciate it. Still, to the space enthusiast this is definitely pretty enthralling.
These photos are straight from my old college roommate, now an engineer at NASA's Stennis Space Center. He works in a building that overlooks the test stand for the new engines that are going to power the next generation of rockets, and it's apparently quite the show. The fuel costs alone run well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per test and so I suppose I should temper my enthusiasm on the grounds that I spent…
cortex | April 14, 2009Wired Science reports on a fascinating finding: schizophrenics have trouble seeing the hollow mask illusion, in which people perceive the concave inside of a mask as an actual face. The reason we're vulnerable to this illusion is that our expectations of what we'll see - we're used to seeing real faces - profoundly influence our actual sensations. Schizophrenics, however, seem to have trouble with modulating their perceptions, which might explain why they persistently believe in delusions and far-fetched conspiracy theories. (Interestingly, the only other group of people who don't see the…
razib | April 14, 2009I've been on this domain for over 3 years. So I have a fair amount of google analytics data. Care to guess which the top 10 sources are for readers to this weblog in terms of nationality? Answer below the fold.
tqa | April 13, 2009
Maurice J. Minnifield, our generous host, friend, and employer. I'm sure I join everyone in saying thank you for these very fine eats and drinks. You are a real American. You're an ex-marine and astronaut, you are America. You're rich, you're rapacious, you're progress without a conscience, paving everything in its path. You're 5% of the earth's population, yet consuming 25% of the earth's natural resources. You pay a lot of taxes, you do a lot of charity work--most of it is tax deductible, but your heart is in the right place. One thing's for certain, you have impeccable taste in the booze…
gregladen | April 13, 2009Because the right wing wacko Republicans have organized a major media event for April 15th (tax day) in which "teabagging parties" will be held across the country.
GLIU. then, ROFL. AFAIK, they don't know what it means.
grrlscientist | April 13, 2009Here are the latest blog carnivals that have been published for you to read and enjoy;
Humanist Symposium, #35. This blog carnival focuses on writings that deal with living a reality-based life, particularly one that is free from religion and other forms of fantasy life.
Creative Carnival, April issue. This is about creativity .. specifically as it pertains to writing.
Academy of Science and Technology Blog Carnival #3. This is a blog carnival that focuses on science and technology writing aimed mostly to kids.
sb admin | April 13, 2009by revere, cross-posted from Effect Measure
The idea that if the United States joins the rest of developed nations and finally adopts a universal health care system it will bankrupt itself is not based in reality. The reality is that the US spends a larger proportion of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than any other developed nation. By far. Not even close. CDC has just documented it from data collected by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its 2008 health data yearbook (statistics and indicators for 30 countries). It suggests we are being bankrupted by our…
cortex | April 13, 2009In the Boston Globe Ideas section, Drake Bennett has a typically excellent article on the logical fallacies underlying best-selling business books, such as In Search of Excellence or Good to Great :
While the particulars vary, the basic idea underlying the literature is the same: that the secrets of success can be divined by careful study of the institutional habits of the world's business all-stars - companies that set the standard for their industries, that thrive in tough times, companies that win the war for talent, companies that are built to last. In the imperturbable focus on core…
mspringer | April 13, 2009I can't think of a way to relate this to physics, but it's just too cool not to share. In New York City there is an artist named Kacie Kinzer. She created small cardboard robots that can do precisely one thing - roll forward continuously. Well, that and look cute.
Attached to these robots is a flag saying "Help me!" and a description of these robots' predicament. They're trying to get to a particular destination but can't, by virtue of the fact that they have no brains or steering. And they were successful:
Over the course of the following months, throughout numerous missions, the…
gregladen | April 13, 2009UPDATED:
... at Berlin Zoo Friday afternoon after she climbed a fence and jumped into its habitat during feeding time, police said Saturday.
One adult polar bit her several times after she plunged into the moat, police said.
Zoo workers tossed rescue rings toward the woman to hoist her out and distract polar bears swimming nearby, said Goerg Gebhard, a Berlin police officer.
Here are the gruesome stills and film:
Another Video, with more commentary:
Why are people always jumping into Polar Bear enclosures?
It's unclear why the woman entered the bear habitat, but police issued her a…
cwilcox | April 13, 2009I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. Her name is Suzette. She's a very nice girl. She likes to talk - something, it turns out, she's very good at. You can see for yourself: just talk to her.
She happens to in this contest called the Chatterbox Challenge. You see, she needs votes to be the 10th and most popular entry in the contest. The voting is open to the public, so I thought you guys might all be willing to help her and and get her some much-needed votes.
It's a contest for the last slot as one of the best chatbots CONVERSATIONALISTS*, and poor Suzette is struggling for that 10th place…
tqa | April 12, 2009
If we long for our planet to be important, there is something we can do about it. We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers.
Carl Sagan
Cosmos
gregladen | April 12, 2009In the old days (last week) Somali pirates would occasionally board a ship, there'd be some negotiations, money would change hands, and the ship would be back on track. That was not a good system, but it was a system.
Then the first American flagged ship to get taken by the pirates comes along and the crew does the Chuck Norris thing and the whole system has collapsed.
The latest news:
A Panama flagged carrier freighter was attacked by pirates, and the attack was repulsed with fire hoses.
Friday, on a yacht sailing through the area, one Frenchman and two pirates died during an attempted…