Certainly not Tim Pawlenty, because he (thinks he) is going to be President of the United States. So, it has to be one of these people.
Daily Archives: October 13, 2009
Shawn Otto at Nobel Conference
PZ Myers Sells Evolution to God
And he gets squid in the deal!!!
Is that an iPod they’re looking at just under 3 minutes.
I think I want to eat a banana now.
This Plane is Going to Cuba!
In 1968, and the few years before and after, American commercial aircraft were hijacked to Cuba on a regular basis. It became part of our day to day culture…
The latest essay us up at Collective Imagination.
Athletes are more likely to be gay
A repost
This is obviously true, and i’ve been saying this for a long time. And I’m not talking about the butt-slaps and sharing chewing tobacco and stuff.
To a certain extent, digit ratios seem to be a reasonable indicator of the kinds of hormonal environment in which a person develops in utero. It turns out that the indicator of homosexuality is the same as the indicator of athleticism, only turned up even more. In other words, a certain kind of hormonal environment in which a male fetuses develops can result in a higher likelihood of that person growing up to be an athlete. But if that hormonal “conditioning” is turned up a bit more, you get a higher likelihood of that person being gay. How strong is this effect? Well, it’s statistically significant but not large. Is it genetic? That is not at all clear. How does this work with women? That’s not clear either.
Anyway, from this we can speculate that there should be a higher percentage of gay-osity among athletes than among other men. And now there is some new information that supports this model.
A study of former high-school American Football players has found that more than a third said they had had sexual relations with other men.
In his study of homosexuality among sportsmen in the US, sociologist Dr Eric Anderson found that 19 in a sample of 47 had taken part in acts intended to sexually arouse other men, ranging from kissing to mutual masturbation and oral sex.
There is, as always a twist:
The 47 men, aged 18-23, were all American Football players who previously played at the high school (secondary school) level but had failed to be picked for their university’s team and were now cheerleaders instead.
Like George Bush, right?
Borderline Freedom
1975, winter, somewhere in the American Southwest. I am driving across a state border and there is a sign that reads “do not transport citrus fruit across state lines.” There on the side of the road is a check point with uniformed federal agents, a place to pull off, some garbage cans. I look at the oranges sitting on the floor over on the passenger side and figure … “better pull off and dump this contraband.” But then something surprising happened.
Chis Matthews: Hitchens and Green on Obama’s Nobel
If you don’t like Hardball, you won’t like this. But Matthews is right.
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H1N1 2009 Novel Swine Flu Thingie = Fewer Hospital Beds?
So the other day, grandma was taken to the hospital with various medical issues, and treated in the ER. After she was stabilized, she was sent to the ICU, but was unable to get a bed at first because the “ICU was full of H1N1 patients.” I’m was not sure what that means because the term “H1N1” does not distinguish between the two flu events we are currently having, but I later asked and found out that the person who said that meant “Swine Flu.”*
Continue reading H1N1 2009 Novel Swine Flu Thingie = Fewer Hospital Beds?
Why I want to read Chesley Sullenberger’s book
Chesley Sullenberger is the pilot who successfully crash-landed his plane in the Hudson River after both engines were lost to goose strikes. His book, Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters, is out today.
A while ago he was asked at which point he started praying as the plain went down. He said …
Continue reading Why I want to read Chesley Sullenberger’s book
DuWayne Brayton: We should all eschew the rejection of the other as your subaltern, even if only by accident.
So, I said some things that got my friend DuWayne Brayton mad, and this caused him to write two blog posts (here and here), and now with a little time to spare I’m giving this the attention it deserves.
Continue reading DuWayne Brayton: We should all eschew the rejection of the other as your subaltern, even if only by accident.
Woman Arrested for Poking on Facebook
I don’t think I’ve poked anybody on Facebook. I was afraid. And I’m so glad I didn’t do it!
Continue reading Woman Arrested for Poking on Facebook
Happy Birthday OpenOffice.org!
October 13th was the eigth birthday of the Office Suite OpenOffice.Org. This is an OpenSource office suite that will look familiar to anyone using Microsoft Office, WordPefect Office, etc. It has a word processor (Writer) that does pretty much everything Microsoft Word does, but with a more logical layout for menus and some other cool features; a spreadsheet (Calc) that is comparable to Excel and other spreadsheets; a database system (Base) which is an SQL system that can integrate seamlessly with MySQL an other high end databases; a chart making utility; a Presentation application (Impress) like PowerPoint, a vector drawing program (Draw), and so on.
It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Baby Alex Can’t Have Health Insurance
He’s too big.
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I did not let Amanda see this story. I just turned the TV off and said “Oh, I think the fuse blew, honey.”