Monthly Archives: September 2010
Those were the days … when a physicist could murder a counterfeiter in the name of the King
William Chaloner reminds me of a handful of people I’ve known. He possessed a sense of entitlement balanced by a remarkable capacity for greed and tempered with an acute sociopathy. He clearly had a keen intellect and extraordinary manual skill. When Isaac Newton murdered Chaloner (to put it the way Chaloner would put it) he did the world a favor. I’m not saying that certain people I’ve known should be hanged, gutted, and sliced like a chicken into five or six parts, but one can see why the idea would have been attractive back in the late 17th century when that was the usual practice for dealing with treasonous individuals in London.
Continue reading Those were the days … when a physicist could murder a counterfeiter in the name of the King
A Portrait of The Brain by Adam Zeman
Zeman is a Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology at the Peninsula Medical School. A Portrait of The Brain describes the brain with reference to a sort of hierarchical scale (mainly of size) ranging from the atom to the soul, and running through such constructs as the organelle, the cell, the brain region, and the individual.
Each of these levels is a stopping point for a discussion of the biological meaning of structures at this scale generally, brain function in particular, and one or more disorders of the brain best understood at this level. These discussions are further elaborated with informative historical references.
Continue reading A Portrait of The Brain by Adam Zeman
Creationism and The Law at NCSE
Reminder: The National Center for Science Education has a new web page, as part of their ever-improving and getting really quite wonderful web site, on Creationism and The Law. Here.
Home Chemistry: A New Guide for Hobbyists and Home Schoolers
Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture (DIY Science)
Chemistry Set Combine the sciences of Chemistry and Microscopy in one big laboratory set! Microscope has a magnification of 60 power, plus unique Polaroid device that shows the brilliant colors of specimens under the lens. Set includes “Fun With Gilbert Chemistry”, “Gilbert Microscope”, “Glass Blowing” manuals and dissecting stand. From the Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop
Continue reading Home Chemistry: A New Guide for Hobbyists and Home Schoolers
How to respond in the classroom to questions about religion
… In public schools. According to one Federal Judge in the US, not much.
A Mission Viejo high school history teacher violated the First Amendment by disparaging Christians during a classroom lecture, a federal judge ruled.
Continue reading How to respond in the classroom to questions about religion
Tarryl Clark is not Michele Bachmann
I just thought I’d put this up on Jaf’s recommendation as an example of a non-dirty campaign ad. Substance free, perhaps, but at least it’s not smear. Read Jaf’s update on the Minnesota Campaigns and their ads.
As Jaf points out, Bruce Kennedy was such a nice guy, and Minnesotans are so nice, that Kennedy, when running for office, had to make his own attack ads against himself. Like this one:
And this one:
The political chemistry of oil
In the Gulf oil spill’s aftermath, Lisa Margonelli says drilling moratoriums and executive ousters make for good theater, but distract from the issue at its heart: our unrestrained oil consumption. She shares her bold plan to wean America off of oil — by confronting consumers with its real cost.
Sunday Morning Bible Lesson
Hat Tip Mike
Divorced, Beheaded and Died
And now for our weekly history lesson …
Bonus lesson: Hieroglyphics …
Continue reading Divorced, Beheaded and Died
This is the way of the sushi-ya
Hat Tip: Miss Cellania
Learning from Sherman the shark
Cartoonist Jim Toomey created the comic strip Sherman’s Lagoon, a wry look at underwater life starring Sherman the talking shark. As he sketches some of his favorite sea creatures live onstage, Toomey shares his love of the ocean and the stories it can tell.
Health and well being
The Vaccine-Autism Link has been ruled non-existent by a federal court. Details.
Homeopathy still doesn’t work. Even a little. Very little.
Corexit in Florida water supply?
A health related blog post, Pushing towards acknowledging sex differences in physiology and treatment efficacy by the blogger known as Michelle, has been awarded the PLoS ONE Blog Pick of the Month for August 2010. Here are the details and links to the post and the original OpenAccess article, Differences in Efficacy and Safety of Pharmaceutical Treatments between Men and Women: An Umbrella Review by Gerald Gartlehner, Andrea Chapman, Michaela Strobelberger and Kylie Thaler.
Wanted
A key binding that selects all and places it instantly on the clipboard, and works in all software. This is such a common sequence of commands it should be made into one command. It could be called “mop” or “nom.”
See the whole “WANTED” list here.
The Natural Stuff
Ferrel monk parakeets in Brooklyn (They’ve been living there long enough to get into some bird identification guides) are being poached by …. parakeet poachers! Here is the story.
Check this out:
Exelon, a nuclear giant that recently backed away from building new nuclear plants, is moving into wind.
The inside story on giant sharks at Tetrapod Zoology.