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sb admin | November 27, 2006There is this woman in Colorado who's being sued for displaying a peace symbol on her home—it's very weird.
A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.
Well, it is a peace symbol, you know, so it is rather abstractly against the Iraq war. There was also this long-dead Jewish rabbi that some people call the "Prince of Peace", and I understand he's having a holiday sometime soon…I wonder if the homeowner's association will be…
grrlscientist | November 27, 2006Wow, you guys, there is an interview with me posted on Seed Magazine's main blog that you have to check out! Additionally, there is a surprise with that interview -- something that nearly none of you readers are aware of.
grrlscientist | November 27, 2006
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Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.
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How to make your own money shirt.
tags: paper money, weird facts
tqa | November 27, 2006I woke up early today, went downstairs, turned on the news, and very quickly discovered that I'd made it all of 5 minutes into my morning before making a bad decision. The lead-off story on MSNBC's top of the hour coverage: NBC News' decision to start calling what's happening in Iraq a "civil war." This was followed by several minutes of self-absorbed commentary by Tucker Carlson. As I write, I'm being treated to another dose of coverage on this same "top story," this time complete with a "debate" between talking heads from the two sides of the political spectrum, each armed with a brand-new…
grrlscientist | November 27, 2006This cute word was used in The Republican War on Science, by my friend and fellow SciBling, Chris Mooney. This book was recently released in the more affordable trade paperback. If you haven't read this book yet, now is the time (I've read it once already in hard-cover, but never reviewed it, so I am going to rectify that oversight in the near future by reviewing this updated paperback).
Peccadillo (pek-uh-DIL-oh) [Origin: 1585-95; < Spanish pecadillo, dim. of pecado sin < Latin peccÄtum transgression, n. use of neutral of ptp. of peccÄre to err, offend]
noun
a very minor or…
nisbetmc | November 27, 2006
Last weekend, I was at the annual meetings of the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research, where I met up with longtime collaborators Dietram Scheufele and Dominique Brossard. Along with Sharon Dunwoody, the three faculty members at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have launched the Science and Media Research Group (SMRG).
The interdisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students are currently working on projects related to stem cell research, nanotechnology, agricultural biotechnology, and global health issues, to name just a few topics.
Pictured from left to right are Phd…
tqa | November 26, 2006This is why we need to get more people to spend more time thinking about science:
"If an issue is not on the tips of their constituents' tongues, they'll say, 'Well, we'll deal with that tomorrow,'"
- Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth.
sb admin | November 26, 2006by revere
[This is another cross-post from Effect Measure but it fits here because it lays out some of the history of the progressive public health blogosphere and welcomes The Pump Handle as its newest -- and we hope brightest -- member!]
This weekend is Effect Measure's Second Blogiversary and it coincides with two other events: the new Flu Wiki Forum and the incipient debut of a new progressive public health blog, The Pump Handle, to which The Reveres will be occasional contributors (some original posts, some cross posts). We are semi-thrilled to still be around after two years. Semi-…
lborkowski | November 26, 2006by revere
[Since my colleague and new blog sibling Dave Ozonoff posted here some advice on NIH grant writing in response to a post of mine over at Effect Measure, I thought I'd cross-post a follow-up I did on NIH funding a few days later. BTW, Dave, I'll have to give you some lessons in snarkiness. Your post was way too benign!]
In the late 1990s congress decided to invest in our future by doubling the NIH budget. If you are a scientist today trying to get an NIH grant, however, you are in tough shape. Success rates are falling like a stone, with less than 20% of grant applications now being…
tqa | November 26, 2006Bill Dembski seems to have decided that the sour grapes strategy is a winner - or at least less of a loser than anything else he's come up with lately. He's following up Denyse O'Leary's spectacularly bad series of peer review posts with a link to an article by Ross McKitrick on the evils of position statements by scientific societies.
McKitrick is a noted global warming "skeptic," and he's bitching about the quality of the grapes because the American Meteorological Society has released a draft position statement on climate change. Dembski is concerned about position statements because just…
grrlscientist | November 26, 2006Even though I know what this word means and I know something of its etymology (I knew its origin was Greek, for example), I chose to share it with you anyway because I like how it looks on the page and how it sounds when spoken. Besides, this word is not used often enough -- perhaps you can help change this, amigos bonitos? After looking this word up in the dictionary, I have a much clearer understanding for its special etymology so I hope you also enjoy it!
This lovely word was used in The Republican War on Science, by my friend and fellow SciBling, Chris Mooney. This book was recently…
grrlscientist | November 25, 2006How many people do you know who have found a misspelled word in the New York Times -- that wasn't in a letter to the editor?? Well, now you can add me to that illustrious list!
I found this word -- misspelled as "hautily"! -- in A Free-for-All on Science and Religion, by George Johnson in the New York Times Science section. I think the misspelling alone makes this word memorable!
Haughty (haw-tee) [Origin: 1520-30; obs. haught (sp. var. of late middle English haute via Old French from Latin altus high, with h- < Gmc; cf. OHG hok high) + -y1;]
adjective
disdainfully proud; snobbish;…
grrlscientist | November 24, 2006I see words as providing people with a deeper and richer meaning to their emotional and professional lives, especially because much of our lives rely on words. So not every word that I use in this little feature is completely unfamiliar to you, or at least I hope it isn't, because teaching you obscure words is not my primary intention, although I do sometimes do this to give you some fun.
Instead, my goal is to demonstrate the beauty, versatility and subtlety of the English language and to acquaint you with the many wonderful languages that have contributed to English. And of course, I hope…
purepedantry | November 24, 2006Mind Hacks has an interesting bit on the personal side of BF Skinner, the primary proponent of a psychological school called behaviorism.
The NYTimes has an interesting article on synaesthesia, a syndrome where you percieve some sensations such as taste through other modalities. They also have an article on increasingly inappropriate dress among medical students, which I can tell you from personal experience is often true.
tqa | November 23, 2006Another round of unholy wars seems to have broken out over the last few days. This particular round (again) focuses on the relationship between atheists and theistic evolutionists. The involved parties have broken into two groups, and I think both are being at least somewhat silly. On one side, we have PZ Myers, Larry Moran, and others. This group believes (among other things) that theistic evolutionists attack and weaken science, although not quite as badly as the out-and-out creationists. On the other, we find Ed Brayton, Pat Hayes, and a few others. This group thinks that theistic…
tqa | November 23, 2006Nothing too profound today - just something taken from a comic strip that's taped to the lab door.
"That's the problem with nature. Something's always stinging you or oozing mucus on you. Let's go watch TV."
Bob Watterson
Calvin and Hobbes
grrlscientist | November 23, 2006I guess that some of you are wondering what the holidays are like in a nuthouse. Perhaps you think they are depressing because we are separated from our families? Or maybe you think we sleep all day?
So far, my Thanksgiving is great. I am writing on the computer, with freshly polished fingernails, listening to Barry Manilow on my iPod (a gift from Orac) and eating chocolate-covered coffee beans, thanks to a devoted reader, who shall remain nameless, but nonetheless, very appreciated.
Because I don't have a family, I feel that my fellow lunatics and the staff are my family, and I have been…
tqa | November 23, 2006This Thanksgiving, there's a lot that I am thankful for. There's also a fair amount that I'm not all that thankful for. I'm thankful that as of the email I got from her last night, my wife is still in good health. I'm not all that thankful that she is in good health on a base in Iraq. I'm also not very thankful that there are a lot of other families this year who have not been as lucky as we have in this regard.
For far too many people, supporting the troops begins and ends with the $1.93 spent on the magnetic ribbon. For many of those whose support extends a bit further, the support ends,…
mikethemadbiologist | November 23, 2006While I'm away, I'm using the ScienceBlogs Blogerator 9000 to repost something from the old site. The NY Timesinterviewed me about an Australian Salmonella outbreak. From the archives:
A few days ago, an article in the NY Times about multi-drug resistant Salmonella in fish tanks was published. I was mentioned. I'll have more to say about the subject shortly. (My moment in the sun is in italics).
Nemo Beware: Fish Tank Can Be a Haven for Salmonella
By DEBORAH FRANKLIN
Tropical fish seem the tidiest of pets: they never lick your face, leap from the cat box to the kitchen…
purepedantry | November 23, 2006Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
I won't be blogging today, but A Blog Around the Clock and Effect Measure have interesting posts on tryptophan and why turkey makes you sleepy. Enjoy.