Uncategorized
carlyo | November 13, 2012Granville Woods -- born in Columbus, OH in 1856 and who taught himself electrical and mechanical engineering while working in railroad machine shops and steel mills -- is perhaps best known for inventing a device called the " Multiplex Railway Telegraph." This variation of the "induction telegraph" allowed for messages to be sent from moving trains and railway stations -- enabling greater railroad safety by allowing dispatchers to know the location of each train. Twice Granville defeated a lawsuit by Thomas Edison that challenged this patent. Later, Granville even turned down Edison's…
gregladen | November 13, 2012Two items:
1) The recent episode of Skeptically Speaking on space is now a podcast. Details here.
In almost any discussion of space exploration and observation, one question always arises. Why should we spend the money, when there are problems here on Earth? This week, we’re going to tackle this question, with a panel of people who know just how important the science of space actually is. Penny4NASA‘s John Zeller and Noisy Astronomer Nicole Gugliucci return to the show, along with Scientific American Associate Editor John Matson, and Cynthia Phillips, Senior Research Scientist at the SETI…
gregladen | November 13, 2012If you had a friend or relative who didn't vote at all, and for that reason someone you didn't like got elected, then, naturally, you would run them over. Like this:
Upset over the result of last week's presidential election, an Arizona woman ran over her husband with her car, believing him to be directly responsible for Obama's reelection because he didn't vote.
According to police in Gilbert, 28-year-old Holly Solomon of Mesa and her husband Daniel argued loudly in a local parking lot before Holly got in her Jeep SUV and began chasing Daniel around. She eventually managed to pin him…
gregladen | November 13, 2012Three only vaguely connected items that I thought you might want to know about:
From Amanda Marcotte: Skepticon Demonstrates That Pro-Fun Means Anti-Harassment
From Jessica at The Friendly Atheist: Uganda Passes ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill
From Think by Numbers: Government Spends More on Corporate Welfare Subsidies than Social Welfare Programs
carlyo | November 12, 2012The USA Science & Engineering Festival Facebook page has grown at an incredible rate! Today we have reached over 30,000 Likes on our page! Facebook has been instrumental in helping us to achieve our mission to invigorate the interest of STEM.
Festival Executive Director Marc Schulman states, “We recognize the importance of social media to our supporters and continuing efforts in spreading the word promoting STEM education. Facebook offers us a unique, collaborative platform for us to experiment with all types of entertaining and educational content. To reach over 30,000 Likes is a…
carlyo | November 12, 2012PLEASE SHARE IF YOU ARE INSPIRED
Irène Joliot-Curie -- Chemist and physicist
Shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband Frédéric Joliot for discovering that radioactivity could be artificially produced.
You've heard of the achievements of Nobel Prize-winning scientists Marie and Pierre Curie. Now discover their brilliant scientist-daughter Irène Joliot-Curie who would also later earn the Nobel Prize based on groundbreaking research in radioactivity! Born in 1897 in Paris, Irène, always a intellectually sharp and curious child, began working as her mother’s assistant in the Radium…
gregladen | November 12, 2012... from you, as a friend or relative? Or, more exactly, what kinds of often well meaning things do you say or do for someone with chronic illness that are actually hurting and not helping?
I have a good friend who, like many other friends actually, has a chronic illness that is sometimes painful, sometimes scary, sometimes annoying, and at any given time, I think, is one or more of those things, and she has written a blog post listing over a dozen things that people often do or say that she wishes they wouldn't. Most of these are really simple things, often unintentional, but not without…
gregladen | November 12, 2012There's been a lot of talk lately about what the Republican party and its members were up to this election year. Racial slurs and lynching chairs, being mean to recent immigrants, and voter suppression directed at minorities could hot have helped to get the non-white vote in line for last Tuesday's elections. A ramped up attack on women in general and their health care in particular could not have helped to get the none-male vote in line for last Tuesday's election. And, importantly, white males in large numbers are annoyed at attacks on women and minority, so the Republican approach could…
gregladen | November 11, 2012Paul Broun is THIS GUY. As of this writing there are some 80,000 signatures on a petition to have him removed from the US House of Representatives Science Committee, where clearly does not belong. Click here to read and sign it!
gregladen | November 11, 2012This week, we’re looking at the science of sexual orientation, where debates over nature vs. nurture have influenced law, policy and equal rights. We’re joined by neuroscientist and writer Simon LeVay, to talk about his research on the topic, and his book Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation.
And on the podcast, astrophysicist Ethan Siegel returns to the show, to tell us about a new project using the information aggregation service TrapIt to improve learning in the classroom.
We record live with Simon LeVay on Sunday, November 11 at 6 pm MT. The podcast will…
carlyo | November 11, 2012(Science Question of the Day: Motivating and preparing the next generation of innovators in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a national mission for Shirley. Read and share her story, and then ask yourself: Am I doing all I can to prepare?)
For more than a decade, the name Shirley Ann Jackson has been synonymous with excellence in scientific achievement. Time magazine in 2005 described her as "perhaps the ultimate role model for women in science.” No doubt, she is deserving of such accolades. A noted theoretical physicist, Shirley is president of Rensselaer…
gregladen | November 11, 2012I want to talk about the book Across Atlantic Ice: The Origin of America's Clovis Culture. It was written by Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley, both highly respected archaeologists. The point they make in the book is very simple: An important archaeological culture known as the "Clovis" is actually a European culture that traveled east to west from Europe to North America, arriving first along the New England coast and then fairly quickly spreading across the US to the Rockies, and subsequently kinda petering out though there are bits and pieces of Clovis looking stuff farther west.
From…
gregladen | November 11, 2012An anti-same sex marriage amendment was on the ballot this year in Minnesota. It was defeated, but there is still an anit same sex marriage law on the books which obviously has to be removed somehow. The new legislative leaders in Saint Paul, following a total change in ruling party, has said they won't be addressing same sex marriage in the immediate future, and I've heard estimates of one or even two years before it is taken up.
There were a handful of overlapping reasons why there was an anti same sex marriage amendment, as well as a voter suppression amendment (an amendment that would…
gregladen | November 10, 2012First, just in case you didn't know, Grover Norquist is a right wing lobbyist who developed the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" that most Republicans are required to sign in order to run for office. He apparently hosted a "victory party" on election eve, but the party was crashed, and pawned, by a left wing activist street performer with a camera. The following ensued:
carlyo | November 9, 2012One of the most influential structural engineers of the 20th Century
You may readily recognize some his most famous works as a structural design engineer: the John Hancock Center building in Chicago; Chicago's Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower); the Hajj Terminal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. In his short lifetime, Fazlur Khan, perhaps more than any other individual, combined his love for structural engineering, architecture and art to usher in a revolution in skyscraper construction during the second half of the twentieth century, making it possible…
gregladen | November 9, 2012I want to see Green Economy jobs and Alternate Energy Strategy technology and infrastructure growth. Can I haz Smart Grid please?
carlyo | November 8, 2012She’s sometimes referred to as China's Sally Ride. Liu, a fighter pilot, became China's first female astronaut to travel in space in 2012, helping China accomplish its first-ever manned space docking.
Two years after she was recruited for China's rigorous astronaut training program, 33-year-old Liu Yang, a fighter pilot in the Chinese Air Force, was selected to serve as a crew member aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft, representing China's fourth manned launch. Her selection as the country's first female astronaut quickly became one of the hottest topics on China's Twitter-like microblogging…
gregladen | November 8, 2012You know who she is, right? An openly gay candidate for congress in Arizona's 9th district. Apparently there is a recount going on there, and it looks pretty good for Kyrsten.
But, recounts are tricky and unless both sides have equal and quality legal presence, the side with more lawyers can win even if the votes should have gone the other way. Therefore, it is necessary for you to send five dollars to Kyrsten's legal fund right now NAO!!! There is no time to lose. She needs this by the end of the day today or tomorrow.
CLICK HERE
Send $25 if you can. Actually, she needs $50,000 but I…
gregladen | November 8, 2012This is brilliant.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Note the affirmation by Rachel of the whole High Water Mark thing.