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Reuters: U.S. court rules against Obama's stem cell policy

Reuters: U.S. court rules against Obama's stem cell policy

Aug 24 2010 | comment(s)

A U.S. district court issued a preliminary injunction on Monday stopping federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, in a slap to the Obama administration's new guidelines on the sensitive issue.

There's a growing conflict between liberalism and progress in the country and the courts go either way, almost at random.   An appeals court can overturn state constitutional amendments so they can certainly shut down a controversial government policy - but it isn't that controversial, it isn't even much different from the Bush policy ... 
Minneapolis will pay $165,000 to zombies

Minneapolis will pay $165,000 to zombies

Aug 23 2010 | comment(s)

The Minneapolis city attorney's office has decided to pay seven zombies and their attorney $165,000, which settles a federal lawsuit the seven filed after they were arrested and jailed for two days for dressing up like zombies in downtown Minneapolis on July 22, 2006, to protest "mindless" consumerism.
Information Technology Schools: 30 Old PC Ads That Will Blow Your Processor

Information Technology Schools: 30 Old PC Ads That Will Blow Your Processor

Aug 23 2010 | comment(s)

Many people today either are too young to have ever seen some early pc’s or have forgotten what they looked like and how much they cost. Today we complain about the cost of a laptop running 2Ghz with 4GB ram for a cost of $ 400.00, however it wasn’t that long ago that laptops and pc’s were priced quite a bit higher. Here are 30 Old PC ads that will make you laugh and possibly appreciate what you have today.

Comprehensive links to ancient and historical maps

Comprehensive links to ancient and historical maps

Aug 23 2010 | comment(s)

Randall Stephens of The Historical Society writes 



"As the semester revs up, quite a few history profs are looking on-line for primary source docs, web-based activities, digital images, and on-line map collections. I use a healthy does of maps and map progressions in the various courses I teach. "
Comprehensive links to ancient and historical maps

Comprehensive links to ancient and historical maps

Aug 23 2010 | comment(s)

Randall Stephens of The Historical Society writes 



"As the semester revs up, quite a few history profs are looking on-line for primary source docs, web-based activities, digital images, and on-line map collections. I use a healthy does of maps and map progressions in the various courses I teach. "
Philadelphia requiring bloggers to pay $300 for a business license

Philadelphia requiring bloggers to pay $300 for a business license

Aug 23 2010 | comment(s)

I know the bulk of the contributors, and maybe even the readers, are progressives, but big government progress has never accomplished much good over the long term - and going after bloggers making $50 a year and requiring them to pay $300 for their 'business' is the kind of thing a bigger government will get us.   Let's hope this doesn't become a bigger problem.
TechDirt: Reports Of The Web's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated Through Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics

TechDirt: Reports Of The Web's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated Through Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics

Aug 22 2010 | comment(s)

Lots of folks seem to be talking about the latest linkbait Wired story claiming that the web is dead, based on this graphic (built off of Cisco data):


TechDirt has the real scoop
L.A.R.P. Live

L.A.R.P. Live "Avatar" Role Playing

Aug 21 2010 | comment(s)

Really, does anything more need to be said?   Patrick, where were you when this was filmed??

Salon: The most extraordinary movie fan art

Salon: The most extraordinary movie fan art

Aug 21 2010 | comment(s)

At Salon, Matt Zoller Seitz writes on fan movie art
While a lot of fan art is just a time-killing diversion, some of it is valuable because it situates P.R. material within a larger conversation about what, exactly, constitutes good design.
Including when the fake art is so interesting people assume it is real, like for this "Deadpool" 2011 movie ...


A skeleton marionette - I don't know why it makes me laugh

A skeleton marionette - I don't know why it makes me laugh

Aug 21 2010 | comment(s)

This guy is really talented.   

As Anita Ashbaugh wrote, "As I was watching this I was thinking "how cool" because it's a skeleton. If the marionette had been a clown, for instance, I'd have wanted to claw out my eyes in an attempt to unsee the horror":

Scienceblogging.org - new science blogs aggregator

Scienceblogging.org - new science blogs aggregator

Aug 21 2010 | comment(s)

A group of former Scienceblogs.com folks have created Scientificblogging.org - an aggregator for science blogs.
Science Accelerator - for places PubMed might not reach

Science Accelerator - for places PubMed might not reach

Aug 21 2010 | comment(s)

Science Accelerator is a gateway to science, including R&D results, project descriptions, accomplishments, and more, via resources from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), U.S. Department of Energy. Science Accelerator was developed and is made available from OSTI as a free public service. Get the Science Accelerator widget at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget?
Ephus, ScanImage & Neuroptikon: 3 new freely available neuroscience tools developed at Janelia Farm

Ephus, ScanImage & Neuroptikon: 3 new freely available neuroscience tools developed at Janelia Farm

Aug 21 2010 | comment(s)

From Brain Windows: 

Ephus is a modular Matlab-based electrophysiology program that can control and record many channels of tools and data simultaneously.  

ScanImage is another Matlab-related software program that is used for optical imaging and stimulation of neurons in vitro and in vivo.  

Neuroptikon is a sophisticated network visualization tool. It can build Van Essen-like diagrams of any circuit you like ...
Star Wars Uncut Is Unleashed

Star Wars Uncut Is Unleashed

Aug 20 2010 | comment(s)

Star Wars Uncut, the fan-made remake of Star Wars done by hundreds of nerds in 15-second increments is finished, and it is ... well, what you might expect.
Radioactive boars on the rise in Germany

Radioactive boars on the rise in Germany

Aug 19 2010 | comment(s)

Almost a quarter century after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in Ukraine, its fallout is still a hot topic in some German regions, where thousands of boars shot by hunters still turn up with excessive levels of radioactivity. In fact, the numbers are higher than ever before.
Scitable - Social Network Changes Face of Life Science Learning

Scitable - Social Network Changes Face of Life Science Learning

Aug 19 2010 | comment(s)

Scitable is part of of Nature Publishing Group, which is the publisher of Nature, Scientific American and about 70 other magazines.   Vikram Savkar, Scitable's SVP of publishing, says 
"Scitable is an online learning space for science and what that means is that it has a library of very high quality content that we have created." He continued, "It's not crowd-sourced Wiki(pedia) content. It's content that editorially we've commissioned and reviewed and vetted in all the life sciences."
Google CEO's creepy vision of the future of search

Google CEO's creepy vision of the future of search

Aug 18 2010 | comment(s)

Think Google is a search company?  Not according to shareholders and that means to the CEO; Google is instead a web advertising company.   If you have ever tried to make any money using Google Adsense you know they are making money on advertising because you certainly are not but someone is paying.
10 Water Laws Of The West

10 Water Laws Of The West

Aug 18 2010 | comment(s)

If you haven't seen the movie "Chinatown" or know anything about how water in places with not enough water actually gets there, this article will help, courtesy of Hugh Holub, a water attorney in Arizona.
Take Flight for Kids

Take Flight for Kids

Aug 17 2010 | comment(s)

Join 10,000 attendees and 300 exhibitors on Sept 25, 2010 for (click logo below for signup) ...


The third annual massive community festival at San Jose Reid Hillview Airport, brings together accessible activities, STEM science/tech/engineering/math, exotic animals, exotic cars, robots, great food, live entertainment, tons of community services, fire trucks, police cars, radio controlled helicopters, you name it, they’re doing it! The whole point is to get under-served kids exposed to STEM in a fun and entertaining hands-on way.