“At least once a week, if not once a day, we might each ponder what cosmic truths lie undiscovered before us, perhaps awaiting the arrival of a clever thinker, an ingenious experiment, or an innovative space mission to reveal them. We might further ponder how those discoveries may one day transform life on Earth.”
~Neil Tyson
Monthly Archives: September 2009
The meme of honourable death
The Anglo Boer War (in what is now South Africa from October 11th, 1899 to May 31st, 1902) was a turning point in European style military history. Previously, infantry would operate in large blocks that would move forward, turn and open or close ranks, and winning an infantry engagement would involve getting your columns around the side or back of the enemy’s columns, or simply overrunning them head on. This worked in part because although everybody had a firearm of some kind, the firearms held few bullets, took time to reload, and were inaccurate, and since they tended to be inaccurate, the soldiers were generally not trained to shoot as well as they might. So, a rifle was really a spear (with a bayonet attached, of course) that also made a lot of noise and fired a few relatively useless bullets. Previously, the cavalry was effective because it consisted of swordmen up on big and/or fast horses who could move quickly across the landscape and would wade into the enemy’s infantry slicing up the foot soldiers. The cavalry could not be stopped easily by the infantry because the infantry would shoot a relatively small number of relatively bogus bullets at the cavalry, knock a few guys off a few horses, then get ripped to shreds with the swords. The fact that the cavalry often consisted of members of the elite classes and the infantry consisted mainly of working class men made it all the more … Victorian.
Continue reading The meme of honourable death
The Rundown on Mount Rainier
Mount Rainier (14,410 ft) has lately attracted a small amount of attention because of what is considered by some an increase in seismic activity there, so I thought it might be nice to get a baseline description of this volcano for those of you interested in such things. For scientifically accurate information and interesting discussion on the mountain, keep an eye on Eruptions Blog.
Why are women (slightly more) religious?
Are women more likely to be stupid/gullible? That seems to be the assumption that the ungenerous of us might make when considering the 7% gap between men and women when it comes to religious affiliation….
… that was discussed recently in an ARIS poll. Earlier, I had pointed to Stephanie Zvan’s comments on this, and now I see that Pandagon is all over it too. I just hope the ladies at Pandagon don’t just buy the bill of goods or fall for the old snake oil routine or anything.
Appyhay Anniversaryway Yptographycray
This is the sixtieth anniversary of cryptography, according to one way of counting it that I’m sure lots of people don’t agree with. (I mean, seriously, I’ve SEEN the Da Vinci code, man.)
Anyway, here is a nice slide show, starting out with the Engigma, working its way through the movie “Sneaker” and eventually to “quantum cryptography”
The slide show is here.
There might be an HIV vaccine.
… this is not close to perfect, but an experimental mix of two previously tested but ineffective vaccines appears to have at least a 31 percent prevention rate based on one recent trial. The story is written up here.
Does getting a regular flu shot increase your risk of getting novel H1H1 swine?
Nobody knows. But, someone does suspect this is the case. (If it is true, and we don’t know, it pertains to LAST YEARs flu shot, and may or may not pertain to this year’s flu shot.)
However, it would seem that the proprietary publication process is keeping the information in private for now. David Dobbs has the story.
? … :;””‘!!!!
Yes, it is “National ‘Punctuation'” Day … in America! All day you should use “extra” [whenever possible] punctuation! It will help to #@%@^# swear now and then…!!!
The national “Punctuation ‘Day'” page is …. -> HERE!?!?
Creation (the movie) Now Has US Distributor
The new film about Darwin, Creation, will be distributed in the United States after all, according to a story in the Hollywood Reporter (September 24, 2009). The film is expected to be released by Newmarket Films in December 2009. Earlier the producer of the film, Jeremy Thomas, lamented to the Telegraph (September 11, 2009), “It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it’s because of what the film is about. … It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America.” A few days later, however, NBC Bay Area (September 15, 2009) reported that a distribution deal was imminent.
Al Franken Reads Riot Act to DOJ Official
Well, not the Riot Act, but the Fourth Amendment.
Continue reading Al Franken Reads Riot Act to DOJ Official
Conservatives are eating Republicans (the context for the all porn is gay story).
Nom nom nom.
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The Art of Not Looking Like a Fool (A fish story)
When I am in the mood to fish, and I’m at the lake, I pay special attention to the water.
Continue reading The Art of Not Looking Like a Fool (A fish story)
Maddow on Health Care Progress
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Mass Gov Names Senate Replacement for Kennedy
Democrat Paul Kirk has been named by Governor Deval Patrick as an interim replacement to fill Ted Kennedy’s senate seat. Kirk will serve until the end of the present term and will not run for re-election.
Jennifer Lopez Vaccinated her Baby
Most of the time that you hear a Sbling mention the ads on scienceblogs.com we’re whinging about one thing or another. Russian brides here, woo and snake oil there. You know the routine. So, I thought I’d note that we currently seem to be running an ad staring Jennifer Lopez encouraging you to vaccinate your baby for pertussis. Which has been recently talked about here.
So next time you see an obnoxious offensive ad on scienceblogs, complain to us about it as loudly as ever. This pertussis ad does not get us any advanced brownie points. But at least, you’ll know that sometimes marketing, advertising dollars, the Seed/Scienceblogs.com vision and our ultimate quest for world domination come together.