Monthly Archives: March 2008

Spitzer Will Quit Just Now

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is going to resign any moment now.

Mr Spitzer, 48, made a public apology on Monday for what he called his unacceptable behaviour, but did not give details.He was allegedly identified by federal agents arranging to meet a prostitute in a Washington hotel.Mr Spitzer made his name as a fearless opponent of organised crime, including prostitution.

[source]

Polar Bears and Global Warming

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The pending federal decision about whether to protect the polar bear as a threatened species is as much about climate science as it is about climate change.

The US Fish and Wildlife service is contemplating the listing of the obviusly endangered polar bear as a threatened species. Well, duh…The problem for them (the US Federal Government, which has been converted over the last 7 years into a right wing think tank) is that the main threat to the polar bear is global warming, and there are still plenty of individuals in charge of the US that want to deny global warming. Continue reading Polar Bears and Global Warming

Facebook Founder Zuckerberg Heckled at Conference

This was at the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin Texas. And it wasn’t really him being heckled, exactly.Business Week journalist Sarah Lacy was interviewing Zuckerberg on the stage, and apparently chose topics to ask him about that were of little interest to the audience. In other words, the show they were putting on was something of a disaster.Eventually, Lacy backed off and allowed the audience to ask the questions instead, and things went much better after that.

“The audience is asking Zuckerburg better questions than Lacy did,” said former Microsoft blogger, Robert Scoble, via his Twitter feed.

I would like to know more about what happened. Was this really a case of a badly done interview, or was it representative of a cultural change in how people interact. Was the audience a concentration of people participating in a new, somewhat altered culture where facebooking and twittering represent a new kind of spontaneity and critique? Is this a Post MTV phenomenon? Generation LOL?If you are actually interested in questions that may have been asked about Facebook, you can read the story here.

Attack of the Space Robots Imminent

From Wired:

Astronauts bound for orbit this week will [be], assembling a “monstrous” two-armed space station robot that will rise like Frankenstein from its transport bed.Putting together Dextre, the robot, will be one of the main jobs for the seven Endeavour astronauts, who are scheduled to blast off in the wee hours of Tuesday, less than three weeks after the last shuttle flight.

Continue reading Attack of the Space Robots Imminent

Minnesotans! Unite Behind the Bell Museum!!!

Check it out:

Dear Friend of the Bell Museum:Thanks to your efforts, the Bell Museum’s building project is included in both House and Senate versions of the Minnesota State Legislature’s 2008 bonding recommendations.Now is the time to contact Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty to express your support for the project. You can reach Governor Pawlenty by phone at (651) 296-3391 or (800) 657-3717; or by email at tim.pawlenty@state.mn.us.As it did with our Senators and Representatives, your message to the Governor will make a difference.

Finally, iTunes might be sort of worth it

I have purchased a few songs from iTunes, but I don’t like doing it. I have the sense that you are not really buying the song in the same way you do when you buy a CD. But I do use the iTunes software (for now) on my Windows box to keep track of the CDs I own. Eventually, I’ll change how I do that (I find iTunes to be a bit annoying).Anyway, there is some important and interesting news about iTunes that you may want to know. Continue reading Finally, iTunes might be sort of worth it

Has Google Changed Ever So Slightly?

You know that old Bradbury story, and the Simpson’s redo of it, where someone goes back in time, steps on a butterfly, and when they return, everything is slightly different? Has this happened?I look at Google’s Press Center, and I find no mention of this, but things have changed ever so slightly. For instance, in Google Analytics, over the last couple of days, the current day no longer shows up on the graph even if you specify it in the date selection drop down box. Even stranger, the layout of the Advanced Search Page is different. This morning, I was trying to parse out the URL code for a search, and I think the coding there may have changed as well.Am I crazy? Has anyone else noticed this?

Race and Racism Redux

I had a plan, to get on board with Sciencwoman, who is putting out a series of posts on Racial Diversity, Race and Racism, with a post on this topic. However, Friday was a tough day, Saturday was a no-blogger (because of something else I was doing that I’ll tell you about later), I don’t remember a thing about Sunday, I had a late meeting Monday, and I’m teaching tonight. So I have not had time to spend the effort this post needed. (Aren’t you glad I don’t usually write blog posts telling you what I had for breakfast and why I blogged more or less on a given day?)But I still want to get on board and help make this a topic of broader interest right now, so I’ve assembled a bunch of related links. Continue reading Race and Racism Redux

Dancing Boys

I’ve been pressured to supply a photograph of Dancing Boys to gender balance the Dancing Girls provided earlier. I can do this. But you have to understand, that Dancing Boys and Dancing Girls are not the same thing. Dancing Boys in Drag are like Dancing Girls, but otherwise, Dancing Boys are usually a bunch of frat symps at a kegger. At least that’s what you get when you put “Dancing Boys” into the Google Box.So if you want Boys in Drag, you may be out of luck this time around. But I did find a viable alternative to frat symps at the kegger. Feast your eyes: Continue reading Dancing Boys