Or should I say “ice.”
The Phoenix Mars Lander seems to be dead in the dust, with its solar panels having suffered severe winter ice damage as shown by photos from the Odyssey Orbiter:
Monthly Archives: May 2010
Vanessa Woods and Greg Laden w/ Desiree Schell: Friday
My honored colleague Vanessa Woods, author of Bonobo Handshake: A Memoir of Love and Adventure in the Congo
Also, yours truly will be on (not live but recorded assuming certain technical difficulties will be worked out) doing something new and unexpected.
You won’t want to miss either. Details here. I’ll remind you again.
Rachel Maddow Puts Rand Paul in Bag, Slowly Rolls Over Him
Go pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back, relax and watch this PolitiPorn. Take notes. Discuss.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
BBC News – US warns it may ‘push BP aside’ on Gulf oil clean-up
Oil firm BP may be “pushed out of the way” if it fails to perform in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster clean-up, a top US official has warned.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the British company had missed “deadline after deadline” in its efforts to seal a blown-out oil well.
Aquaman To the Rescue!
But seriously …
“Nonsense On Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk.”
Skeptically Speaking’s Massimo Pigliucci interview is now on line here. He talks about his book: Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk
Kelly McCullough, Author, at Har Mar on Tuesday
Kelly McCullough, author of the Raverin series (starting with WebMage 
The Har Mar visit will coincide with the release of McCullough’s latest book.
Day: May 25th (Tuesday)
Time: 7:00 PM
See you there! (I’m going to try very hard to make it)
Later in the year, Kelly will be visiting WisCon in Madison, Uncle Hugo’s in Minneapolis, and CONvergence (where I will also be making an appearance or two). Check Kelly’s site for details.
If you really believe in yourself, you can do anything.
As long as “anything” includes being a total dumb-ass:
Continue reading If you really believe in yourself, you can do anything.
Primitive Cultures are Simple, while Civilization is Complex: Part 1
A “falsehood” is a belief held by a number of people that is in some way incorrect. That incorrectness may be blatant, it may be subtle, it may be conditional, it may be simple, it may be complex. But, the unraveling of the belief, even if much of that belief is in fact true, can be a learning experience in which future thinking about the issue is transformed. If the examination of the falsehood is accomplished in a thoughtful manner and without too much sophistry, this can be a rewarding experience. (If not, it can be rather awaste oftime.)
Continue reading Primitive Cultures are Simple, while Civilization is Complex: Part 1
Catching Up on the News
Harakat Al-Shabab is a militant Islamic youth movement engaged in the Somali war. Yesterdaythey mortared the presidential palace in Omgadishu, setting off a fight killing 14 people.
A landslide caused by heavy rains and a flooding river on the slope of Nyiragongo killed over 50 people in the DR Congo.
A gay couple in Malawi has been sentenced to 14 years (max) at hard labo for “gross indecency and unnatural acts.”
The judge said he wanted to protect the public from “people like you”.
Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, have been in jail since they were arrested in December after holding an engagement ceremony.
The case has sparked international condemnation and a debate about homosexuality in the country.
The British government, Malawi’s largest donor, expressed its “dismay” …
Read the story here, be dismayed like the British Government.
The Freetown Hotel made iconic by Graham Greene (eg in: Journey Without Maps (Penguin Classics)
The World Cup stadium has opened! Sales are said to be down, but I think that won’t last long.
Ethiopian voting underway:
Polls have closed in Ethiopia’s first election since a 2005 contest which was marred by protests that led to the deaths of 200 people.
I learned all my interesting math from Martin Gardner …
… (and one other guy). And Gardner died on Saturday.
He was born in October 1914. So that made him …
Continue reading I learned all my interesting math from Martin Gardner …
Mother and Daughter White Rhino
The mother (on the right) was raised in captivity, released, got pregnant, and is now raising her daughter on the Waterberg, South Africa.
Ouch
Probably a member of Euphorbia milii, aka, “Crown of Thorns” or “Christ Plant.”
Should Skeptics Repress Freedom of Speech in Canada!?!?
OK, before you answer, I’m going to tell you what I think. No. But that is not what is going on here (my snarky title is designed to get the attention of the usual suspects who will decry what is going on at Sandwalk Blog as repression). What is going on is a community of science-oriented people asking the Royal Ontario Museum to be more responsible and thoughtful in their programming.
We at the Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism (CASS) at the Centre for Inquiry (Canada) and its supporters were dismayed to learn that the Royal Ontario Museum will be sponsoring a talk by Deepak Chopra at the University of Toronto in connection with the Director’s Signature Series: The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army.
Just go read the Letter that Larry Moran has posted. It is a good letter and you should add your signature to it. The letter is here.