A Sea Change in Maple Grove: see you there!

The climate change documentary A Sea Change will be shown at the Maple Grove Library, in the Western Twin Cities, by the Northwest Minneapolis Climate Action group, this Wednesday at 7:00 PM. See you there! Here is a trailer:

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/31/a-sea-change-in-maple-grove-see-you-there/

Trump Tweet Eight Year Old Script Browser Plugin from the Daily Show

Just a pointer to this fantastic, big league idea to convert Trump’s tweets into eight year old script.

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/31/trump-tweet-eight-year-old-script-browser-plugin-from-the-daily-show/

Beren and Luthien, sitting in an Ent. (New Tolkien LOTR Book)

The brand new just published (June 1) book Beren and Lúthien presents the story of the human (or should I say “Man”?) Beren Erchamion, or “The One-Handed” (AKA Beren Camlost, for “the Empty Handed”) and the Elf-maiden Lúthien Tinúviel. If you read The Lord of the Rings you may recall Aragorn telling their story to…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/31/beren-and-luthien-sitting-in-an-ent-new-tolkien-lotr-book/

Donald Trump Signs Up for On Line Dating

A statement has just been released by the White House, regarding President Donald Trump: President Trump has a magnetic personality and exudes positive energy, which is infectious to those around him. He has an unparalleled ability to communicate with people, whether he is speaking to a room of three or an arena of 30,000. He…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/30/donald-trump-signs-up-for-on-line-dating/

Not many US Senators write this kind of book!

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate By Al Franken. This book claims to be this: From Senator Al Franken – #1 bestselling author and beloved SNL alum – comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that. This is a…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/30/not-many-us-senators-write-this-kind-of-book/

The Best Children’s Books #2

Installment # 1 is here Without delay, here are four five star choices and four four star choices: The Emperor’s New Clothes, the classic story by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated for the modern retro child by Virginia Lee Burton. You know the story, so I won’t give you a summary, and the whole point is…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/30/the-best-childrens-books-2/

Seven Stories Of Science Gone Wrong

What, with all the attacks on science and scientist these days, we may not want to be focusing on those times when science goes off the rails and makes a huge mess of things. But, science at its best and scientists at their best, will never shy away from such things. Dr. Paul Offit just…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/26/seven-stories-of-science-gone-wrong/

The Best Children’s Books #1

It is hard to find a good book for kids between the ages of 5 and 9. These are kids who can read, but at varying (and rapidly changing) levels, and who are too fancy for the little kid books (thick, big pictures, few words, boring). Amanda and Huxley spend a lot of time figuring…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/25/the-best-childrens-books-1/

Freedom of Speech, Resolute Forestry, Stand.Earth, Greenpeace: New Developments

A little while back I posted this: Taking The Axe To The Environmental Movement: Resolute v. Greenpeace. Some of you complained because you don’t like Greenpeace. But that is hardly the point. Greenpeace has a history of working towards important goals and sometimes even attaining them, and there are a lot of whales that want…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/24/freedom-of-speech-resolute-forestry-stand-earth-greenpeace-new-developments/

Notable Women in the Physical Sciences

Did you ever hear the expression, “You’re a real card!” Well, if you are a notable woman in the physical sciences, you just might be a card! My sister has a project, and Amanda and my niece Koren and some others are involved, that puts notable women in the physical sciences on cards, with a…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/24/notable-women-in-the-physical-sciences/

TrumpCare: 23 Million Uninsured

The Congressional Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has released their scoring of the Republitrump Health Insurance reform bill, passed recently by the House but not yet taken up by the Senate. The OMB says the bill will leave 23 million more Americans uninsured by 2026, compared to sticking with Obamacare.

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/24/trumpcare-23-million-uninsured/

Taking down New Orleans’ monuments: Not what you think

In The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction, Charles Lane describes the events — several years of events including the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, though only briefly — that led up to the Colfax Massacre. What happened was incredibly complex and only a…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/23/taking-down-new-orleans-monuments-not-what-you-think/

Rebecca Otto: by far the strongest and most progressive candidate for Minnesota Governor in 2018

Here’s why: All the available data strongly indicates that Otto will beat all the other contenders across state in the upcoming Governor’s race. Democrats have two major problems to face in 2018 and beyond. First, how do we win elections? Second, how do we remain true to our progressive and liberal roots? For Democrats, 2018…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/23/rebecca-otto-by-far-the-strongest-and-most-progressive-candidate-for-minnesota-governor-in-2018/

James Bond Incarnations In Order

Roger Moore just died, and you will hear that he was the third, or second, or fourth, “James Bond.” He wasn’t. Here is the list of James Bond actors: Barry Nelson, who played in “Casino Royale” in 1954. This was an episode in the “Climax!” TV anthology series, like they used to do a lot.…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/23/james-bond-incarnations-in-order/

Donald Trump on Security

This collage herein is precious. I was thinking of constructing something like this myself, but there it was already mad for The 11th Hour:

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/16/donald-trump-on-security/

Heartland Institute BS Book

I had the immense pleasure and great honor of joining Molly, Nick, and Tim on the Geeks Without God podcast to talk about the recent mailing of a book and some other material about climate change to science teachers, by the Heartland Institute. This mailing was an effort to sow seeds of doubt about climate…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/16/heartland-institute-bs-book/

ALERT: Two very good deals on two very good books

Every single regular reader of this blog has read or intends to read Stephen Jay Gould’s The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History. I just noticed that the Kindle version of it is available for $1.99, and I assume this is temporary. I already had the book on dead-tree matter, but I picked this…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/16/alert-two-very-good-deals-on-two-very-good-books/

How To Avoid Future WannaCry Style Ransomware Attacks

This is very simple, and it has more to do with the philosophy and marketing of operating systems than the technology of the operating systems themselves, though the technology does matter a great deal as well. First, lets have a look at how this ransomware attack was allowed to happen to begin with. The vast…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/15/how-to-avoid-future-wannacry-style-ransomware-attacks/

Science Gone Awry, Science Haters Mailing Mailers

I’m currently reading Paul Offit’s Pandora’s Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong, in preparation for an interview with him that I’ll be recording later this week. I’ll let you know about the interview, but at this time I can say that I’m very much enjoying the book. The publisher’s description: What happens when ideas…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/13/science-gone-awry-science-haters-mailing-mailers/

Aaron Sorkin ate some bad sushi and we are all living in his hallucinogenic nightmare.

Its like this. Only with Trump instead of Josh, and it is real life. Yet, less like real life. Trump, remembering something about watergate, tweets: James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2017 and the Washington…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/12/aaron-sorkin-ate-some-bad-sushi-and-we-are-all-living-in-his-hallucinogenic-nightmare/

Python Programming To Automate Common Tasks

Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners by super Python expert Al Sweigart is a pretty thick intermedia to somewhat advanced level programming book. It covers how Python works, so someone familiar with programming languages can get up to speed. Then, the book tackles a number of key important tasks one…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/11/python-programming-to-automate-common-tasks/

The Real Fake Reason Trump Fired Comey: Lock her up

As you know, President Trump sacked FBI Director James Comey yesterday. The firing involved a letter written by Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, complaining about Comey, to Jeff Sessons. (The three relevant letters by Rosenstein, Sessons, and Trump are here.) Jeff Sessons had recused himself of matters related to the Russia-Trump Scandal, so it was…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/10/the-real-fake-reason-trump-fired-comey-lock-her-up/

A climate insurgency manual

Against Doom: A Climate Insurgency Manual by Jeremy Brecher is a new and helpful book a the growing and essential literature. Late in 2015, nearly two hundred countries signed the Paris Agreement acknowledging their individual and collective duty to protect the earth’s climate—and willfully refused to perform that duty. In response to this institutional failure…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/10/a-climate-insurgency-manual/

The Comey Firing Letters

Imma just put these here, and you can tell me what you think they mean.

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/09/the-comey-firing-letters/

Amazon Takes Echo To The Next Level

The merging of Alexa and your Internet experience appears to be happening as we speak. You know about the “Echo” by Amazon, similar to Google Home (which apparently you can buy at Target, which presumably does not have a similar device). This is the machine that listens for you to say its name then does…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/09/amazon-takes-echo-to-the-next-level/

Odd Ancient South African Human “Ancestor” Is Young

You’ve heard of Homo naledi, the strange “human ancestor” (really, a cousin) found a while back in South Africa. There were many skeletal remains in a cave, in the kind of shape you’d expect if they had crawled into the cave and died there, not much disturbed. They look enough like other members of our…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/09/odd-ancient-south-african-human-ancestor-is-young/

An interesting new scifi-fantasy book: Evil Speaks

Evil Speaks: Warriors and Watchers Saga by S. Woffington is a new scifi/fantasy novel with an interesting twist. If there is a Bechdel Test for ableism, it would pass. This is an interesting story written for youthful readers (see publisher’s summary below) that is well written and mostly devoid of the usual plot holes we…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/09/evil-speaks-book-review/

Things to do after installing Ubuntu 17.04

We begin with the usual list of things you pretty much always do after installing every Linux OS. Why these things are not automatically done for you on installation is a bit mysterious, but down deep there are generally reasons (legal reasons) for some of these things. In fact, pretty much everything here, with some…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/08/things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-17-04/

Ubuntu 17.04 and the future

A Zapus is a kind of jumping mouse. A Zesty Zapus is the new Ubuntu Linux operating system, 17.04. It has just been released and has some important features. But Zesty Zapus is not as interesting at the Artful Aardvark, which I’ll discuss briefly below. Support of 32 bit hardware is waning across the Linux…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/08/ubuntu-17-04-and-the-future/

The Birds Of India: New Guide

A Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh is one of those next gen guides that uses photos but photos that are either enhanced or contextualized to serve the same role as drawings served in the old days, when drawings were better and photos were merely fun.…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/08/the-birds-of-india-new-guide/

John F Kennedy’s Birthday Book

JFK: A Vision for America. As our political system slides off the seat and into the crapper, I am finding this book to be a worthy and informative distraction. From the publisher: Published in commemoration of the centennial of President John F. Kennedy’s birth, here is the definitive compendium of JFK’s most important and brilliant…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/08/john-f-kennedys-birthday-book/

A Guided Tour of the Solar System From Someone Who’s Been There

I’ve been enjoying Worlds Fantastic, Worlds Familiar: A Guided Tour of the Solar System by Bonnie Buratti. Burratti is a planetary astronomer at NASA’s JPL, and is the head of the Comets, Asteroids and Satellites Group. She was a key player in the Voyager program, and in the research done with the Cassini-Huygens, and New…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/04/a-guided-tour-of-the-solar-system-from-someone-whos-been-there/

US History Cheat Notes: Andrew Jackson (not the same person as Abe Lincoln)

Andrew Jackson was born in March, 1767. Jackson was about 9 years old when the Revolutionary War started. The Revolutionary War and the Civil War were two different wars. There was another war in between called the War of 1812. It was approximately in 1812. Andrew Jackson was a lawyer, a judge, and a congressional…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/03/us-history-cheat-notes-andrew-jackson-not-the-same-person-as-abe-lincoln/

About that 130,000 Human Occupation in California

A claim is being made, in a recent issue of Nature Magazine, that humans were active in the vicinity of San Diego well over 100,000 years before archaeologists think humans were even in the New World. Most commentary on this claim dismisses it out of hand, but out of hand rejections are no better than…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/02/about-that-130000-human-occupation-in-california/

New Neil deGrasse Tyson Book Out Now

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by NdGT is now available. What is the nature of space and time? How do we fit within the universe? How does the universe fit within us? There’s no better guide through these mind-expanding questions than acclaimed astrophysicist and best-selling author Neil deGrasse Tyson. But today, few of us…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/02/new-neil-degrasse-tyson-book-out-now/

Honestly, New York Times?

Honestly, it is hard to have an honest conversation about science with science obstructors or deniers. That is how you know you are conversing with a denier. You try to have the conversation, and it gets derailed by cherry picking, misdirection, faux misunderstanding, or lies. I don’t care how far a person is from understanding…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/05/01/honestly-new-york-times/