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gregladen | August 22, 2013I was surprised to find a link to this in my inbox this morning. Here's a picture:
It appears to be unironic.
gregladen | August 21, 2013Neil Tappen is probably most well known for having worked out the species and distribution of species in Central and western East Africa in the 1950s, as everyone who has worked in the area since then, from Jane Goodall to Richard Wrangham, has used his work as a tool in their own study of apes and monkeys of the region. He also worked on bone growth and development and taphonomy. Many others know him for his teaching and training of students, of which there were many. If you are reading this blog, you probably know or at least know of Genie Scott, for example. Neil was her undergraduate…
jrosenhouse | August 21, 2013I think it's been obvious for a while now that my enthusiasm for blogging comes and goes. Lately, it's been in a “goes” phase for longer than usual. But, I do have one piece of personal news that I feel compelled to share with all of you. Have you guessed what it is? (The title might have given things away.)
Meet Spider:
He's awfully cute, don't you think? I guess you can call him a rescue, in the sense that I rescued him from a colleague who suddenly has a two-year old and infant twins. Apparently Spider was very unhappy with all the noise and chaos, and my colleague felt it was…
gregladen | August 19, 2013I thought I was being a nice guy by not blocking John Kwok the moment he tried to friend me on Facebook. But that was a mistake.
At first, there was only the occasional strange note from him via Facebook "email." But then, several hours ago, the dam broke and the Kwok just poured in. The following "conversation" is probably not work safe, and do make sure you are not drinking coffee while you read it. If you dare. And have a lot of free time.
He stopped as soon as I mentioned my friend in the CIA. Figures.
One final word on this subject, courtesy of my friend PZ Myers:
For those who…
gregladen | August 19, 2013Science communicator and policy expert Sheril Kirshenbaum has joined Scientific American's "Plugged In" blog. Sheril is Director of The Energy Poll at The University of Texas at Austin. Go visit her introductory blog post and find out what she's up to (and also, links to the various books she wrote).
tsmith | August 18, 2013The first person to enter the lab in the morning, has to complete a check of all equipment that makes the lab operational. There is a checklist and you go through all floors of the facility and document the status of every piece of equipment and levels on every pressure gauge. Then you do a visual inspection by walking around the lab in what's called the buffer corridor.
While in the buffer corridor you can look through windows into the lab to make sure all status lights are green etc. Once you've documented that everything on the list is as it should be, then you sign it and enter it into a…
gregladen | August 17, 2013If you are a meat eater, you probably appreciate the texture and flavor of a nice piece of loin, or a properly cooked pork chop, or a chicken breast that is moist and flavorful. But what is it about hot dogs that you appreciate? The pasty enigmatic texture? The idea that the casing either is, or imitates, the intestines of a pig? The possibility that the 'meat' inside the thing includes a high proportion of anus tissue, other bits of skin that were unsuitable for use as leather (i.e., nostrils), nerve tissue, and other non-muscle parts of animals, often of unspecified species?
Let me put…
gregladen | August 16, 2013I recently discovered that there is a widespread belief that there is a huge, gaping, plot hole in Harry Potter Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowlings. Or so people say. Greta Christina pointed it out on a Facebook post of Sarah Moglia's, and when I googled it, I discovered widespread dismay about the pointlessness of the entire book.
The claim is made that there is no reason for any of the things that happen in this book to have happened. The ultimate result of most of the book's plot is to get Harry Potter transported to the clutches of the Dark Lord in order to contribute, as an ingredient, in…
gregladen | August 11, 2013I do not have an unquestioned respect for Edwared Snowden or those other guys who swore an oath of secrecy in service of their government and then stole piles of secrets and gave them away. I'm also not especially impressed with the uncritical crush so many people have on them for doing what they did. We've discussed this before in relation to State Department cables. While so many others seemed to assume that all State Department cables were evil secrets that must see the light of day, I was thinking of a number of probable State Department cables that I have reason to believe might exist…
egrossman | August 8, 2013“If you don’t understand why something is harmful, the best you can do is stay away from it,” Paul Anastas said to me a few years ago, explaining the basis of the United States' risk-based chemicals management policies. “We currently deal with chemical security through guns, guards and gates rather than by redesigning materials,” continued Anastas, who directs Yale University’s Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering and served as Assistant Administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development from 2009 to 2012. “Protection measures…
pronald | August 7, 2013Can GMO corn cause allergies? Don’t believe Elle’s scary story. - Slate Magazine.
gregladen | August 7, 2013Update: Never mind, Never mind! Scientific American Blogs has taken down Dr. Stollznow's post. So, I guess everything is OK now! False Alarm, everyone go home. Nothing to see here.
Say you are a woman in the Skeptics or Secular movement, professional, possibly working for one of the big organizations. If you are sexually harassed (or worse), the way you get your voice heard is, apparently, to blog your heart out, or use an anonymous tumbler.
That is wrong. Organizations such as JREF and CFI should have been places that were safe, and that would facilitate and amplify your voice as…
gregladen | July 23, 2013From The Australian
THE Gandalf of science, archeologist Mike Morwood, who helped find a new species of tiny humans dubbed the Hobbit, died yesterday after a year-long battle with cancer.
Professor Morwood's legacy will be linked to the Indonesian island of Flores, where in 2003 he was part of a team that discovered Homo floresiensis, which rewrote the history books and changed our understanding of human evolution....
gregladen | July 22, 2013When the Royal Baby is born, any time now, it will be a girl, according to about 67% of some 50 psychics recently surveyed. If the psychics were guessing randomly, we would assume that about half of them would say "girl" and the other half would say "boy" but with a full 2/3rds saying one thing, we have to assume they are on to something. And, the lead psychic apparently said that one of the girl's names will be Diana. At least one of her names. So possibly two of her names. She might be Diana Diana Diana Windsor. Apparently, this is a possibili...
...wait, what? The baby has already…
gregladen | July 20, 2013This was one of the many great panels at FtBConscience, this panel hosted by Miri of Brute Reason and organized by Biodork.
A panel of reproductive rights activists come together to discuss access to abortion in current events , clinic escorting and some common religious and non-religious arguments against abortion. Our panel consists of clinic escorts - including one panelist who volunteered before FACE laws went into effect (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances), health care professionals, an author and several bloggers who write about reproductive rights. Our panelists hail from…
gregladen | July 18, 2013The latest Skeptically Speaking is "War on Science"
This week we’re looking at threats to science and critical thinking, and how you can sort fact from fiction. York University science librarian John Dupuis joins us to discuss what he calls the Canadian government’s War on Science. And Chris MacDonald director of the Jim Pattison Ethical Leadership Program at Ryerson University, joins us to talk about his textbook The Power of Critical Thinking, which can help you navigate the hyperbole and misinformation that happens when the media looks at science news.
Listen here.
And, I just finished…
gregladen | July 18, 2013I'll be joining a panel of amazing people, organized by my friend Brianne Bilyeu, to talk about reproductive rights, on Saturday. I expect my contribution to be relatively minimal and I'll be listening with great interest to ...
A panel of reproductive rights activists come together to discuss access to abortion in current events , clinic escorting and some common religious and non-religious arguments against abortion. Our panel consists of clinic escorts - including one panelist who volunteered before FACE laws went into effect (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances), health care…
jrosenhouse | July 16, 2013I went through an Orson Scott Card phase while I was in graduate school. I started with his most famous novel, Ender's Game, which I enjoyed immensely. I then proceeded, over the next year or so, to read all of the novels he had written to that point.
At that time I didn't know anything about Card as a person, but there were clues in his novels. Though I enjoyed most of his novels, there were a few lemons in the batch as well. Most egregiously, there was an awful piece of dreck called Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus. The title should have been a giveaway.
Then there was…