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grrlscientist | June 28, 2009
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days. To send your submissions to Scientia Pro Publica, either use this automated submission form or use the cute little widget on the right (sometimes that widget doesn't upload when the mother site is sick). Be sure to include the URL or "…
gregladen | June 28, 2009Prisoners, nuns, do the wave for Jacko:
I concur with BGF's opinion on this.
Except I've got to add: When the nuns came out I kind of freaked. Also, as I've mentioned before, I totally missed the "we ae the world we are the Coke Commercial" event because I was in the jungle with the ... starving and dying children that year. Everybody was humming this song when I got back but no one could remember why.
razib | June 27, 2009
Why should government welfare mean less religion?:
This was a question that Anthony Gill and Erik Lundsgaarde tackled by in 2004. They analysed the data from a range of countries, and found that the greater proportion of GDP that was spent on government welfare, the more non-religious people there were and the lower church attendance was. This held true even after statistically adjusting for other factors, like per-capita GDP, urbanization, government regulation of religion, and religious pluralism.
The standard explanation for this relation is that religion & government provide…
grrlscientist | June 27, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 375 - 305 - 159 - 136 - 135 out of 158 candidates registered.
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay. Voting ends 30 September and there is one vote allowed per valid email address (registration required).
gregladen | June 27, 2009The best of last June
... is certainly still in the future. But we have seen a step in that direction in a new paper, coming out this week in Science. This research applies intensive and extensive genomic analysis to the avian phylogenetic tree. The results are interesting.
This paper is summarized in a number of locations, most notably here on Living the Scientific Life. Here, I will summarize it only very briefly. However, there are two observations I would like to make about this paper and its apparent meaning. One has to do with the nature of science, and the other has to do with…
gregladen | June 27, 2009Let us not let the death of Ed McMahon and some other stars overshadow the anniversary of the death of one of the greats. In memoriam, let's talk bullshit:
gregladen | June 27, 2009The long running Minnesota Atheist Talk Radio air's its very last show tomorrow morning at 9:00 Central Time. Details of how to listen to the show, which will also be a podcast, are here.
This week's show will feature yours truly, and I'll be interviewed by Stephanie Zvan. The subject will be Missionaries in Africa. This interview should be considered an extension of this series of blog posts on the same topic.
My understanding is that the people who have produced this radio show up until now are planning to produce a podcast in the future. I will let you know as soon as I hear anything…
mspringer | June 27, 2009There's a lot not to like about the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill that passed the House this last week. You'd expect the right not to like it, but this bill has many people of all political opinions unhappy.
From the left: The bill is a huge 1300ish page monstrosity developed behind closed doors. What we do know about what's in the bill is not promising. Greenpeace opposes it and lists several reasons. The "cap" is weak, flexible, and full of loopholes. The "trade" part is shot full of offsets and concessions to the dirtiest power generation coal plants. Even if everything goes as…
pharyngula | June 27, 2009Man, I get some strange email. This one is just weird…maybe one of you can help this person out.
This was sent to me by Jodi Haynes.
Jason is an IT manager for a local tech support call centre. I now work at a vineyard, but the call centre was where we met. I was a noob techie and he approached me with one of the cheesiest lines in the book. It was the old 'Do I know you from somewhere?', and it worked.
We started dating and have been nearly inseparable since, though it wasn't always smooth sailing. You see I was not nearly as rational and level headed then as I am now. At almost every turn…
gregladen | June 26, 2009There are two ways to go to Antarctica. One is like my friend Elle, who is at this very moment in an underground bunker at the south pole with a broken limb and inadequate medial attention, where she is working on a NASA scientific expedition where they thing somehow it is a good idea to spend the WINTER there.
The other is to wait until summer then go when the weather is nice.
Well, Grrrl Scientists, from Living the Scientific Life, is currently in the running for Plan B, the summer trip to Antarctica. Go here and find out how you can help her get there! Seriously, go!
gregladen | June 26, 2009The coroner's preliminary report has come out, and it is vague.
Rather than reporting, for instance, a simple heart attack/stroke, the coroner indicates that there is no obvious cause (some physical, visible thing) of such a thing, and that actual 'cause of death' will be specified only after toxicology screens and other tests.
The word on the street (well, actually, on my TV) is that the multi-week delay the coroner indicates will mainly be caused by being really really careful so they don't screw this up.
In other words, SOP plus.
Various sources are also indicating that Jackson has…
gregladen | June 26, 2009I have my own theory, but for now have a look at this discussion at Quiche Moraine.
gregladen | June 26, 2009Biologist Robert Full studies the amazing gecko, with its supersticky feet and tenacious climbing skill. But high-speed footage reveals that the gecko's tail harbors perhaps the most surprising talents of all.
sb admin | June 26, 2009The House is voting today on the American Clean Energy and Security Act (aka the Waxman-Markey bill); at 5:30pm, members of Congress are still taking the floor to speak for or against it. Head over to Grist's site to check out climatebill@twitter feed, or watch it on C-SPAN.
The political compromises that Henry Waxman and Ed Markey made to attract sufficient votes have significantly watered down the legislation, but its mandated reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions -- a 17% reduction from 2005 levels by 2020, and 83% by 2050 -- is at least a step in the right direction.
If the bill passes…