Opening Our Oceans With Data.Gov

Today, we are pleased to announce the release of ocean.data.gov, the newest community on Data.gov. This effort is the result of two important initiatives of the Obama Administration: the development and implementation of the National Policy for the Stewardship of the Ocean, our Coasts, and the Great Lakes and the creation of Data.gov to make Federal data more accessible to the American people.

Since President Obama signed the Executive Order establishing a National Ocean Policy, the Administration has been working steadily to implement this policy. One cornerstone of the policy is the Framework for Effective Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning, a science-based, regional planning process conducted jointly with states and tribes that guarantees the public and stakeholders a voice in decisions affecting the ocean. Making the science that is available to the Federal Government accessible to all ocean users is a key to the success of this initiative. That’s why the National Ocean Council has teamed with the Data.gov initiative to create an open and accessible website that houses and references a wealth of information and tools available to support ocean planning efforts.

Source and more information here.

Our latest Fukushima Update is out: Japan Nuclear Disaster Update # 41: Good News – it’s bad. Bad news – it’s worse than we think

My friend Motley makes several interesting points about religious and semi-religious communities in Kentucky: 1) Racism is recognized as bad but certain racist tropes hang on; 2) There is still a huge difference between attitudes over race vs. attitudes over sexuality and gender orientation; and 3)
what people say from the pulpit, on line, and in person are not always the same (except when they are).

Read: Interracial Marriage is Evil

Oh, and that’s a new blog. Go say hey.

You probably know by now that I named my blog, “The X Blog” after “The X Club.” Want to know more about The X Club? Click here!

Not new, but making the rounds anew: Continue reading Fox News Shorts In Knot over Atheists in Military →

Just go to a google search bar and type in a function.

For instance, cos(pi*x/5)

You’ll get a graph that has some interactive features.

Separate multiple functions with commas.

Details here.

I have no doubt that this is true. Continue reading “Women driving spurs premarital sex” →

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has won the right to petition the UK Supreme Court in his fight against extradition to Sweden.

He lost a High Court battle last month to be extradited over alleged sex offences, which he denies.

Judges refused Mr Assange permission to appeal directly to the Supreme Court – but said his case raised “a question of general public importance”.

He can now directly ask the Supreme Court to look at his case.

The rest of the story, from the BBC

I walked into her tent, went immediately to her bed and turned over her pillow. And there, as plain as day, was a stack of hundred dollars bills, a US passport, and a first class plane ticket to New York. Continue reading Always look in the refrigerator →

This video has been going around. If you are not emotionally reasonably well shored up at the moment, don’t even think about watching it.
Continue reading This transition can kill you →

I started writing this post on this blog but when I was done I realized it was anthropology so I put it here. If you are feeling a bit unsure of yourself emotionally don’t go there, let other people look and we’ll get back to you.

The idea is that if you hear or see the same phrase or symbol again and again you grow habituated to it. For instance, right now, think about where you work or go to school (or some other non-residential interior where you spend considerable time) and tell me where the Exit signs and fire extinguishers are. You might well know, or you might have grown so used to them that they are in the background.

The City of New York has placed a number of signs warning pedestrians, bikers, and drivers, of the usual hazards, but using an unusual technique: New symbols linked to haiku.

Traffic warning street signs written as haiku are appearing on poles around the five boroughs, posted by the New York City Department of Transportation. The poems and accompanying artwork were created by artist John Morse. There are 12 designs in all, 10 in English and two in Spanish.

“Poetry has a lot of power,” Morse tells NPR’s Scott Simon. “If you say to people: ‘Walk.’ ‘Don’t walk.’ Or, ‘Look both ways.’ If you can tweak it just a bit — and poetry does that — the device gives these simple words power.”

I’ll give you a link.
A link that you can follow.
Just click on this word.