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gregladen | November 3, 2008I knew she was scrappy ... but I had no idea she was so talented in this area! Seriously, this is the best campaign review evah! And it is reasonably short ...
gregladen | November 3, 2008... they "got good and drunk" and ... the conversation in the room was "nauseating." They made sexist and racist comments all afternoon long. African Americans were referred to as "darkies." There was a long conversation in which they expounded upon the reasons poor people were poor. The conclusion was that "they are lazy and don't work" according to this source. The worst part was when they were passing around a laptop they were using to view hardcore pornographic movies. They showed the movies to the women employees and tried to encourage them to watch with them. They were commenting "like…
mspringer | November 3, 2008As you might have heard, the presidential election is tomorrow. As I've said, I believe I'm alone on ScienceBlogs as supporting anyone but Obama. But this is Built on Facts, not Built on Wishful Thinking, and so let's have our official quadrennial Election Prediction Contest!
Here's the plan. We're predicting three quantities of interest.
1. Electoral Vote
2. Senate Seats
3. Popular Vote (in percent)
We're not going to bother with the house, since raw numbers aren't as important. A house with 59% Democrats is only marginally different than one with 61% Democrats. In the senate on the…
gregladen | November 3, 2008The Replace Michele Bachmann Web Carnival ... the final installment evah! ... is up at Tangled Up in Blue Guy. As Mike says: "Please, don't make us do this again in two years!!!"
It is a great web carnival. Go here and enjoy!
gregladen | November 2, 2008The Boneyard Web Carnival Needs Your Submissions!
Send them HERE!!!!
Please do this by Monday at 8:00 PM.
Thank you very much, that is all.
grrlscientist | November 2, 2008Here's some carnivalia for you to enjoy;
A Gardening Carnival, 29 October 2008 issue. This is filled with gardening goodness.
gregladen | November 1, 2008Minnesota Atheists' "Atheists Talk" radio show.
Sunday, November 2, 2008, 9-10 a.m. Central Time
The Science Standards for the state of Minnesota for grades K-12 are coming up for review by the Minnesota State Legislature. The current Science Standards support evolution and exclude creationism, and we want to keep it that way. (Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has expressed support for "intelligent design.") Local scientists Scott Lanyon, Randy Moore, and Sehoya Cotner join us for a discussion about "The State of Science Education in Minnesota."
We welcome questions during the program at (…
gregladen | November 1, 2008What is the electoral map going to look like on Wednesday morning? Who knows?!?!? But I have a guess, and my current estimate is Obama 364 vs. McCain 174.
This conclusion is based on the following reasoning:
We begin with a baseline electoral map that everyone will agree with. On this map, definite Obama states are in Blue, definite McCain states are in Red. (Original, huh?) If any of this ends up being wrong, we're looking at a man bites dog situation, news-wise.
Now, you need 270 electoral votes to win, and this gives neither candidate a win.
I'm going to give McCain all the…
mspringer | November 1, 2008I wasn't sure I was doing anything for Halloween this year, so I didn't have any costume plans. But then today it turned that in fact I was going to a party, and so I needed a costume with only a few hours notice. The costume stores were completely picked-over. What to do? I put on a suit, strapped a katana to the belt, and bought a pirate eyepatch. Bam, corporate raider. And pretty awesome looking too. Cost about a dollar for the eyepatch; I already had the sword.
Some physics? Sure, why not.
Here's Wired on doing some acoustical science to figure out an impossible Beatles chord on "…
cortex | November 1, 2008This sounds like a fantastic event, a genuine dialogue between artists and scientists:
The taste of a ripe tomato, the hook of a catchy song, the scent of a lover's hair. What is it, exactly, that drives us to seek these things again and again?
Neuroscientists who study perception are starting to discover the inner workings of the sensory mind. Starting on Monday at the New York Academy of Sciences, researchers and artists will team up to explore this new research in a series of talks called Science of the Five Senses. Their conversations will raise a question for the amateur hedonist: If we…
cwilcox | November 1, 2008Wow. Check this out: Zooillogix : Cheetah Loose on Delta Flight
That's just awesome. Imagine being the person who found the one running loose - yikes.
grrlscientist | October 31, 2008Here's the latest carnivalia that has been published in the blogosphere for you to read and enjoy;
Carnival of the Vanities, the Samhain edition.
Tangled Bank, issue #117. This is the "Carnival of the Vanities" for science and medical blog writers.
I and the Bird, issue #87. This blog carnival is all about wild birds and bird watching.
The Friday Ark #215. This blog carnival links to gorgeous images of animals, some of which are accompanied by a story, most of whicjh are not.
The Just Write blog carnival, 31 October edition. This blog carnival focuses on writing and the writing life.…
mstebbins | October 31, 2008In the latest issue of Science, an article on grass-roots efforts by scientists in the last weeks before the election brought up a startling point, that there have been a lot of letters to the Editor and OpEds published in newspapers either endorsing Obama or pointing out the errors of the McCain campaign rhetoric on science. What is absolutely amazing, is that there has not been a single letter or OpEd by a scientist endorsing McCain. Not ONE? Here is a partial list of OpEds and letters that have appeared. This is by no means a comprehensive list. In fact, these are almost all in…
mspringer | October 31, 2008
See these guys? They're racewalking. It's like running in that you do it as fast as possible, but you're not allowed to have both feet off the ground at any time. One foot has to be planted on the track at all times. The guy to the far right is slightly cheating - both his feet are off the ground.
But take a closer look at the foreground guy in the red, white, and blue. He illustrates the proper form very well. Think a little abstractly and imagine how the leg moves. The foot is planted and so the leg forms the radius of a circle. The hip therefore traces out part of that circular…