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All about the wp-config.php file in WordPress.
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Tweet via phone. No more typing while driving! [via @dogyears]
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This is the website for Mooney and Kirshenbaum’s book.
Chris Mooney and scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum team up in a sequel to the Mooney's The Republican War on Science "to explain how religious ideologues, science-phobic politicians, a profit driven media, and hyperspecialized scientists have all helped create this dangerous state of affairs. They propose a broad array of initiatives to reverse the current trend, and bring about a greater integration of science into our national discourse—before it's too late."
It’s probably worth checking out of the library…
06/30/2009
links for 2009-06-30
Whew!
Audrey is in Germany for four weeks dissertating and I have sympathy for her having solo parent duties whilst I was in Tejas for a coupla weeks. Great Ghu, I do not know how single-parents (they are frequently typically single-moms!) do it.
Seven and a half years old is hard to keep up with, much less guide! (Herd? Keep from hurting themselves or you?) Blah, blah, youth is wasted on the young, etc.
We are going to go watch them feed the sharks at the Museum tomorrow as well as doing some piano practice and math drills. BTW, speaking of math and music, today’s NOVA looks interesting!
Some part of those sharks eating pianos or something should keep a therapist in new vacation homes and Jaguars some 30 years hence I’m guessing… (HHOS) Don’t worry, I’m a parent, it’s my job to implant those hereditary neuroses .
It is already way to GD hot here. Officially (as in, they admit to the figure) today it was 108°F (that’s 42°C to the rest of the world) with the promise that ’summer will be here soon!’ Bah. This is not Groundhog Day, this is Groundhog Climate! Or something. That really didn’t have the ‘punch’ I had hoped for… Oh well, it’s hot. Again. Or is that, ’still?’
“I know it couldn’t have been this hot last year because I would have moved away.”
Bzzt, thanks for playing, Mister Man. California has earthquakes, the Plains has tornadoes and *snow.* The Gulf coast has hurricanes, the rest of the country has *Winter*, and the Southwest melts your lead fishing weights in your tackle box into one big, ugly mass. You pays your money and takes your climatic medicine. March in the southern Mojave will be tempered by the harsh reality of July in the Mojave. Same goes for the Sonoran, except they have that humidity stuff when the Monsoons come. 6 of one… The snow-birds cheat by running away.
To complain is to cast your vote for survival. Yeah, that’s the ticket…
06/29/2009
links for 2009-06-29
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"I don't want my president to be a TV star. Because TV stars are too worried about being popular, and too concerned with getting renewed. (…)
I'm glad Obama is president, but the "audacity of hope" part is over. Right now, I'm hoping for a little more audacity. – Bill Maher"
listen to the last 10 minutes of the podcast for episode 157 for some of the best observations on some of our (the left's) current disappointments in the administration. -
Nowhere near enough.
"When it comes to domestic policy, there are two Barack Obamas.
On one side there’s Barack the Policy Wonk, whose command of the issues — and ability to explain those issues in plain English — is a joy to behold.
But on the other side there’s Barack the Post-Partisan, who searches for common ground where none exists, and whose negotiations with himself lead to policies that are far too weak." -
"We should, in particular, have several Congressional committees, plus a Cabinet-level department, representing Americans who play World of Warcraft, who outnumber American farmers." This whole this is via Krugman's 'Conscience of a Liberal' blog. http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/equal-representation-in-congress/
06/28/2009
“The other, of course, involves orcs.”
Every time I see this I laugh. Perhaps most because I was, after all, 14 once.
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
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Upgrades All Around
I upgraded this blog last week, but now the rest we host here are up to WordPress 2.8.
Geologists in Germany
Audrey is off to Munich, Germany to do the rest of her dissertation research at the University there. She will be gone for most of July so Ian and I are on our own! Not to worry, however, Grandma and Grandpa will be here for part of the time.
links for 2009-06-28
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I can never remember them…
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via Kevin Kelly's 'Cool Tools'
06/27/2009
links for 2009-06-27
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"Nevada has one of the worst vaccination rates in the nation. The reasons are multifactorial. Though there is a significant fraction of children who remain unvaccinated because of the distrust of vaccine safety spread by the current anti-vaccination movement, lack of health insurance, a large transitory population, and poverty (Las Vegas unemployment is now over 10%) also play a large role in its dismal vaccination rate. (…)
What more can be done? We can limit the collateral damage of Jenny McCarthy's destructive bile. We can help protect the innocent. We can lower the barriers to vaccination so that the only people unvaccinated are either those who cannot be vaccinated due to age or health, or those who for whatever misguided reason choose not to vaccinate. Herd immunity needs to be reinforced or in some cases re-established, and it must be done one child at a time."
06/25/2009
links for 2009-06-25
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A U.S. Supreme Court ruling was a dream come true for Caroline Sanchez-Rangen Monday.
"I've been praying for this," said Sanchez-Rangen, the mother of two autistic sons. "This is going to have a huge impact on the disabled."
Because of the court's ruling, families with special needs children could be reimbursed for a private school education if their public schools failed to provide an "appropriate education."
Sanchez-Rangen said she will be "one of the parents" pursuing a private school education for her children.
The Clark County School District educates nearly 32,000 children with special needs, or who have an "individualized education plan." They represent about 10 percent of the district's overall enrollment of 311,155. [10% of our district is on an IEP?!?! And we don't have a problem?]
06/19/2009
links for 2009-06-19
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"The reason why those cold spells now come less frequently is still unknown." [via that twitter thing]
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"In praise of scientific heresy" Controversial research suggests Humans related to orangutans, not chimps or gorillas.
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Former skip tracer advises people on how to disappear. [via Rafe at rc3.org]
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"Infographic comparing US bailout spending to historical US expenditures" [via ed bilodeau]
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After 120,000 years of slumbering in a Greenland glacier beneath almost two miles of ice, an ultra-small bacteria has been resurrected by the patient efforts of scientists. After incubating the bacteria for almost a year in water that was just above freezing temperature, colonies of the tiny purple-brown bacteria began to grow in a petri dish. Researchers say the bacteria’s resilience provides clues to how life can survive in hostile environments like the Arctic–and maybe even other planets.
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Follow sea-level trends around the world from your desktop with NASA’s "Sea Level Viewer."