Sunday mornings are for riding, and I like to joke that the saddle’s my church. Moreso, it turns out, than I realized. In the Jan. 28 New Scientist, evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar has an essay about the physiological dimensions of religion. She discusses the physical side, from singing and dancing to the intensity of serious …
Trying to delete a comment spam, I accidentally deleted the following, which was a favorite post, and which I therefore reprise now by reposting: Dec. 12, 2004 Wife Lissa, who is something of a goofball, installed a large post in the front yard – a 4×4 set in concrete – with a bowling ball as …
I’ve always liked relics. I don’t remember whose house we were at Dec. 11, 1976, but it was our ritual to gather to watch Saturday Night Live. I do remember the episode: the killer Christmas trees and the horrifyingly hilarious holiday carole: “Let’s Kill Gary Gilmore for Christmas.” And Santi-Wrap. It must stand as one …
In keeping with Kevin Vranes’ dictum that “it’s up to the bloggers to highlight the papers that didn’t make Science, Nature, JAMA or NEJM” because those half-wits in the mainstream media won’t, here’s an interesting paper on climate variability and food in Africa. Leif Christian Stige of the University of Oslo and colleagues used crop …
Some stuff I wrote elsewhere on how dry it is (sub. req.): If we don’t get any rain in the next week— a good bet— the past four months will go into the record books as the driest winter in Albuquerque history. With 0.14 inches since Nov. 1, Albuquerque is on the verge of shattering …
OK, if you smarty-pants scientists wanna do something useful with your time, here’s what I need to know. What effect will global warming have on my allergies?
Some snark from me on my Journal blog about Benny Peiser’s reaction to the new WMO handy hurricane science guide. Some actual non-snarky thoughtful discussion between Benny and myself in the comments on Roger Pielke Jr.’s post on this.
reading 1: Andrew Dessler’s Prometheus post on scientific uncertainty and the making of policy sparked a good discussion. And a copy of his new book, The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change, with Edward Parson, arrived over the weekend. Good so far. reading 2: Back when I first started thinking about drought in the …
I finally slunk into the 21st century this week, purchasing a portable pod device with which to play audio files. The tipping point came when a friend explained that you can get podcasts of Le Show. Nora wisely points out that “podcast” is really just a fancy marketing word for “mp3 file you can download …
It was a Saturday family lunch at the Pie Shack that sealed the deal. Family restaurant decisions are a bit of a tangle at our house, with everyone having preferences and problems getting them all to overlap. An alternative to the usual choices? Let Andrea decide for us. Last month’s ode to the Pie Shack …