So there we were in the Haunted Guest Quarters of the Old Infirmary, and I had already heard the ghost once. In the morning, my colleague and BFF Lynne who was staying with us for a couple of days noted that she had heard the mysterious footsteps as well….
Continue reading A True Ghost Story Part B: The Ghost In the Hall
Category Archives: Uncategorized
A true ghost story. Part The First: A City of Death and Misery
Everything I’m about to tell you in this story is true.1 This is a long story, so it may span more than one blog post. You might not want to read this story while you are alone or while sitting in the dark.2
Continue reading A true ghost story. Part The First: A City of Death and Misery
Action Alert: Tell Congress To Support Federal Funding For The National Science Foundation
I received the following email and urge readers to call your Senators and encourage them to support the National Science Foundation! Here’s why. Having worked in a Senate office, I can assure you that every call matters. The details:
Call your Senators by 5:00 ET today to urge them to support the House Appropriations Committee funding level of $6,859,867,000 (same funding level as for FY 2011) for the National Science Foundation (NSF) in fiscal year (FY) 2012.
Dr Who Who’s Who
… the cast and crew special for the end of David Tennant’s tenure as the Doctor.
Tell Congress To Support Federal Funding For The National Science Foundation
I received the following email and urge readers to call your Senators and encourage them to support the National Science Foundation! Here’s why. Having worked in a Senate office, I can assure you that every call matters. The details:
Call your Senators by 5:00 ET today to urge them to support the House Appropriations Committee funding level of $6,859,867,000 (same funding level as for FY 2011) for the National Science Foundation (NSF) in fiscal year (FY) 2012.
Productivity Future Vision (2011)
What they say we get:
What we actually get:
1) 35% of every viewable surface of everything is an ad. Including the sky and the moon.
2) The technology pauses for several seconds every now and then because, well, it never works like on the ad.
3) A new EULA pops up several times a day asking you to approve a 43 page document and re-enter your passwords.
4) Passwords have become a minimum of 64 items long with a least 7 numbers, 7 symbols, and 7 difficult to remember hand and foot gestures.
5) The entire interface changes half way through and the rest of the video is people contacting each other to complain about the interface having just changed.
H/T: Joe
I get email
Uffda: Continue reading I get email
Ten places you are not allowed to visit
Fukushima update
The latest fukushima update by Ana and me is here.
Guy-Philippe Goldstein: How cyberattacks threaten real-world peace
More and more, nations are waging attacks with cyber weapons — silent strikes on another country’s computer systems that leave behind no trace. (Think of the Stuxnet worm.) At TEDxParis, Guy-Philippe Goldstein shows how cyberattacks can leap between the digital and physical worlds to prompt armed conflict — and how we might avert this global security hazard.
Continue reading Guy-Philippe Goldstein: How cyberattacks threaten real-world peace
Todd Kuiken: A prosthetic arm that “feels”
Physiatrist and engineer Todd Kuiken is building a prosthetic arm that connects with the human nervous system — improving motion, control and even feeling. Onstage, patient Amanda Kitts helps demonstrate this next-gen robotic arm.
Continue reading Todd Kuiken: A prosthetic arm that “feels”
Snarky Fox News Vs. Civil Right Loving State Senator
Don Prothero did NOT find creationist field trips in the Twin Cities
… But he could have. Our local Young Earth Creationist group does run a dinosaur excavation in South Dakota and they do local field trips. But, Don does talk about this experience in a different city:
the 2010 meeting last year in Denver took the cake: there was a whole field trip run by YECs who did not identify their agenda, and pretended that they were doing conventional geology–until you read between the lines.
A Rape in Progress
Early in 2009, my friend and colleague Sheril Kirshenbaum asked several bloggers to consider writing about rape during the month of June, as a coordinated effort to increase awareness and understanding of rape generally, and depending on the blogger, specific aspects of sexual assault and violence. (Sheril’s initial post back in 2009 is here) I welcomed that opportunity and took the approach of discussing two things I actually know something about: Rape in war torn Congo, where I worked for several years (prior to the war) and the behavioral biology of male violence and rape, which is a rather touchy SFAQL subject. There are other aspects of this issue that interest me as well, including the role of anthropological relativism. The definition of rape and how definitional arguments are exploited is also of interest to me. Another topic of interest that I had not thought about much before bloging about rape is the abuse and rape of men by women (or men, for that matter). It turns out it occurs much more often than many people assume. However, since men are by and large big babies who cry a lot when wounded only slightly, the fact that some men are abused combined with the fact that nobody seems to care enough has resulted in the rise of a Mens Rights Activism movement which is a great example of the Large Lobster Effect but in a bad way.
I want to revive and revise that discussion of rape that started over two years ago, and pursuant to that I’m re-posting (and rewriting) my posts from June 2009. And we’ll start by revisiting this simple question: What would you do if you were the person writing the following passage.
Continue reading A Rape in Progress
The Large Lobster Effect
Have you ever had a large lobster? I mean, a really large one, like five pounds or more? They are hard to get these days. Most of the good Maine Lobsters (and all lobsters are Maine Lobsters unless otherwise specified) come from Maine in the US, and Maine has a rule that you can’t harvest large lobsters. But back in the old days, when I was buying lobsters off the boat or occasionally eating them on the boat, you could still get them. And you can still get large lobsters from New Hampshire and Massachusetts but a) they are not as good and b) they are too expensive to even consider for those of us in the 99%.
Continue reading The Large Lobster Effect