December 12, 2007
One of our more cunning spies, who shall be known only as "RD.", made his move yesterday to slip under the Christian Radar screen, in a stunningly brave, very public move:
[RD], who has expressed hopes of converting religious believers to atheism through his international bestseller [deleted], made…
December 12, 2007
Dec 12
E.G. Robinson born, 1893
Dec 12
First wireless message sent across Atlantic by Marconi, 1901
Dec 12
Independence Day in Kenya
Dec 12
Debian GNU/Linux 1.2 alias ``rex'' released, 1996
Dec 12
N'oubliez pas les Chantal !
Dec 12
Nachrüstungsbeschluà des NATO-Ministerates, 1979
Dec…
December 12, 2007
Again, a Reagan line, nothing more. What a bunch of shit.
December 12, 2007
This time, it comes from the side effect of the Mars Rover getting the Martian equivalent of a flat tire...
NASA's Spirit Mars rover has been dealing with [a] right front tire [that] went bad nearly two years ago. It didn't go flat, but it's quit turning forcing NASA to move the rover around in…
December 12, 2007
Scientists studying ancient fish bones in Scandinavia have discovered that warm-water species like anchovies and black sea bream that once thrived in Danish waters during a prehistoric warm period are now returning. Some cold-water species, such as cod, were also abundant during this period, having…
December 12, 2007
He's trying so hard to be Ronald Regan that it makes me throw up a little bit inside my mouth. You have to just see it to believe it.
December 12, 2007
This time, it comes from the side effect of the Mars Rover getting the Martian equivalent of a flat tire...
NASA's Spirit Mars rover has been dealing with [a] right front tire [that] went bad nearly two years ago. It didn't go flat, but it's quit turning forcing NASA to move the rover around in…
December 12, 2007
There is quite a bit of activity in the blogosphere about this initiative. Have a look...
Coturnix at A Blog Around the Clock has worked his encyclopedic magic to make a magic encyclopedia of related posts, here.
Denialism Blog is not in denial about the importance of this initiative, as can be…
December 12, 2007
A new hypothesis for how life got started has been proposed, by Helen Hansma, of UC Santa Barbara.
Mica.
Here's the essential problem. Cells work because they have membranes surrounding them. These membranes protect the cells from nasty outside things, keep the stuff that is supposed to be…
December 12, 2007
Starting with Los Alamos, repeated atomic explosions altered the isotopic composition of the Earth's atmosphere in a way that is easily seen in historic proxyindicator records such as ice cores, lake cores, tree rings, and so on.
Recently raised cores from the Himalayan ice fields, when analyzed…
December 12, 2007
Some of the base pairs in a given genome are strung together into templates that code for proteins or RNA molecules. These are the classic "genes." Other base pairs probably have little or no function. Among the DNA that is not in classic gene-templates, however, there is a lot of important…
December 12, 2007
From Austin Cline.
What are the Christmas Wars?:
In his infamous tract "The International Jew," Henry Ford wrote "The whole record of the Jewish opposition to Christmas, Easter and other Christian festivals, and their opposition to certain patriotic songs, shows the venom and directness of [their…
December 12, 2007
want us to believe that their "theory" is part of science, but of course, it is really a form of creationism, and has no place in Texas schools. This position is shared by more than 100 professors in Texas, who have weighted in on this debate:
"Intelligent design is a religious idea that deserves…
December 12, 2007
The Florida Citizens for Science asks:
Since the holiday season is upon us, why not spread an educational message along with your Christmas cheer?
A Call to Action
December 12, 2007
This could be the proof of god:
The assertion made by the "Does God Exist" people is that a pattern must be designed, and that patterns don't occur in nature. But it is possible that there is another way to look at this.
Like, the Fibonacci sequence is the natural outcome of common aspects of…
December 12, 2007
This from the National Center for Science Education:
As Florida continues to consider the draft of a new set of state science standards, there are reports about mounting creationist lobbying against the inclusion of evolution and for the inclusion of creationism. Writing in the Miami Herald (…
December 12, 2007
This just in:
Days after its publication, a largely positive review of The Golden Compass that appeared in Catholic newspapers across the country was retracted this week by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The bishops, who could not be reached for comment, offered no explanation…
December 12, 2007
Fossils representing on of one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs known, the African Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis, were identified by Steve Brusatte, a student working at the University of Bristol. The fossils were originally located in Niger.
Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis, a new species…
December 12, 2007
This is an amazing story, and unfortunately, it is probably being repeated again and again across the country. It begins with a parent who does not want his daugther exposed to science, which is pretty common, but leads to a startling revelation about the local school board. Startling, but I'm…
December 11, 2007
MIT researchers have successfully treated mice with sickle-cell anemia in a process that begins by directly reprogramming the mice's own cells to an embryonic-stem-cell-like state, without the use of eggs.
This is the first proof-of-principle of therapeutic application in mice of directly…
December 11, 2007
Proposed legislation that would mandate the use of the Open Document Format (ODF) across the entire Dutch government has infuriated Microsoft. A group promoting open standards sees no threat, however, and has invited Microsoft to join its ranks.
On Wednesday the Dutch parliament will discuss a plan…
December 11, 2007
This is a good one for your 8th grade biology class...
... or maybe not...
December 11, 2007
Try this: Starting at home, drive, run, ski, or walk about fifty thousand feet. That would be about ten miles, or 15 kilometers. It won't take you long (especially if you drive) and chances are, when you get there, it will be a place at least vaguely familiar to you. At the very least, it will…
December 11, 2007
How people respond to the U.S. government's attempts to censor some war-related images comes down to whether or not they are supporters of President Bush, a new study suggests.
Researchers at Ohio State University surveyed 600 people and asked them if they were interested in viewing photos or…
December 11, 2007
You'll remember that some time ago (ten, eleven minutes?) I reposted (from gregladen.com) an interesting story about a study of how the mind works. I did that because I knew that the researchers involved in this study have a new survey up on their web site, and that you might want to know about it…
December 11, 2007
[Repost from gregladen.com]New findings reported by Harvard researchers in the journal Science suggest that the mind is typically viewed as having multiple dimensions that relate to specific important characteristics of individuals. This study has implications for how individuals develop ethical or…
