Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Monday, September 28, 2015

It’s sleazy, it’s totally illegal, and yet it could become the future of retirement - The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/09/28/this-sleazy-and-totally-illegal-savings-scheme-may-be-the-future-of-retirement/?tid=sm_tw


---Steve

Ben Carson's Scientific Ignorance - The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/ben-carsons-scientific-ignorance?intcid=mod-latest


---Steve

The Implications of Defining When a Woman Is Pregnant

https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/08/2/gr080207.html
Between one-third and one-half of all fertilized eggs never fully implant. A pregnancy is considered to be established only after implantation is complete.

---Steve

VW scandal highlights irony of EPA opposition to vehicle software tinkering | Ars Technica

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/09/vw-scandal-highlights-irony-of-epa-opposition-to-vehicle-software-tinkering/


---Steve

Stonewall Movie: 22 Hilarious Excerpts From Scathing Reviews

http://www.autostraddle.com/22-epic-comparisons-from-scathing-reviews-of-stonewall-308868/

Somehow, director Roland Emmerich has made a movie even less historically accurate than 10,000 BC, the one depicting Egyptian-style pyramids being constructed with the help of woolly mammoths.

---Steve

The Modern Temperature Trend

https://www.aip.org/history/climate/20ctrend.htm


---Steve

Nothing False About Temperature Data

http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/nothing-false-about-temperature-data/


---Steve

Smaller, Faster, Cheaper, Over: The Future of Computer Chips - The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/technology/smaller-faster-cheaper-over-the-future-of-computer-chips.html


---Steve

The Real Roots of ’70s Drug Laws - The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/opinion/the-real-roots-of-70s-drug-laws.html?_r=2


---Steve

U.S. foreign-born population nears high

Check out this article from USA TODAY:

U.S. foreign-born population nears high

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/09/28/us-foreign-born-population-nears-high/72814674/


---Steve

Saturday, September 26, 2015

Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2011

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6311a1.htm


---Steve

CDC - Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System - Maternal and Infant Health - Reproductive Health

http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/pmss.html

Since the Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System was implemented, the number of reported pregnancy-related deaths in the United States steadily increased from 7.2 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1987 to a high of 17.8 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2009 and 2011.

---Steve

Abortion safer than giving birth: study | Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-abortion-idUSTRE80M2BS20120123

Researchers found that women were about 14 times more likely to die during or after giving birth to a live baby than to die from complications of an abortion.

---Steve

Preemie Outcomes by gestational age

http://preemiehelp.com/about-preemies/preemie-facts-a-figures/preemie-outcomes/outcomes-by-gestational-age


---Steve

Tweet by Tom Morello on Twitter

Tom Morello (@tmorello)
Wow. Pope Francis visits Washington and John Boehner steps down. It's like an exorcism.

Download the Twitter app


---Steve

Wandering Gaia | Dispatches from the Anthropocene

http://wanderinggaia.com/


---Steve

Big lie fiorina

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/09/carly_fiorina_lied_about_planned_parenthood_video_gop_debate_fact_checking.html


---Steve

Thursday, September 24, 2015

London Zoo: What’s up with giraffe necks?

http://azdailysun.com/lifestyles/pets/london-zoo-what-s-up-with-giraffe-necks/article_df82a0e6-24d0-51a1-ba08-0595c2d7be59.html

The giraffe neck is comparable to the peacock's tail in that it promotes more mating success while also exposing the males to dangers and physical challenges.

---Steve

Hacking the Random Walk Hypothesis

http://www.turingfinance.com/hacking-the-random-walk-hypothesis/


---Steve

12 Rules for Professional JavaScript in 2015 — Medium

https://medium.com/@housecor/12-rules-for-professional-javascript-in-2015-f158e7d3f0fc


---Steve

The Atlantic: How Rand Paul Misunderstands the Fourteenth Amendment


How Rand Paul Misunderstands the Fourteenth Amendment
The Atlantic

The Kentucky senator points to its author's intent to justify his opposition to birthright citizenship—but the clause in question has no clear author. Read the full story


Shared from Apple News



---Steve

In speech to Congress, Pope Francis urges action on immigration, climate

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/09/24/pope-congress-speech-historic-climate-change-republicans-democrats/72706718/

"We must be especially attentive to every type of fundamentalism, whether religious or of any other kind. A delicate balance is required to combat violence perpetrated in the name of a religion, an ideology or an economic system, while also safeguarding religious freedom, intellectual freedom and individual freedoms. But there is another temptation which we must especially guard against: the simplistic reductionism which sees only good or evil; or, if you will, the righteous and sinners."

---Steve

Which Alan Turing Movie Really Captures The Father Of Computer Science?

http://io9.com/which-alan-turing-movie-really-captures-the-father-of-c-1671009693


---Steve

Study highlights which fruits and vegetables can aid weight loss - Medical News Today


  • 34.9% of Americans are classed as obese
  • Obesity runs at 39.5% among 40-59 year-olds, but 30.3% among those aged 20-29
  • An obese person costs the public health services on average $1,429 per person per year compared with a non-obese person.
---Steve

Cactus permit

https://agriculture.az.gov/sites/default/files/remove.pdf




---Steve

Coconino National Forest - Abineau/Bear Jaw Trails, #127 / #26

http://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/coconino/recreation/recarea/?recid=55058&actid=104


---Steve

Looney-tune Carson

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2015/09/24/ben_carson_anti_science.html


---Steve

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

mike's blog

https://mikedillon.wordpress.com/


---Steve

8 rights of pregnant women at work July 28 - CNNMoney

Other examples of reasonable accommodations may include letting a worker sit on a stool rather than stand during her shift, changing her work schedule if she has severe morning sickness, or allowing her to keep a water bottle at her work station.

Check out this story on CNNMoney:

http://money.cnn.com/2014/07/25/news/economy/rights-pregnant-workers/


Sent from my iPhone

The Soft Bigotry of Ben Carson - The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/24/opinion/charles-blow-the-soft-bigotry-of-ben-carson.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur
whisper-soft
purveyor of hyperbolic hucksterism

---Steve

10 common myths about evolution | The Logic of Science

http://thelogicofscience.com/2015/08/31/10-common-myths-about-evolution/


---Steve

GRAPHIC: Diver Attacked By Shark Takes Gruesome Selfie

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/braxton-rocha-shark-attack-selfie_56008922e4b0fde8b0cf821f


---Steve

What is mathematics about? – James Franklin – Aeon

http://aeon.co/magazine/science/what-is-left-for-mathematics-to-be-about/


---Steve

Carly Fiorina's Ex-Husband: "She's The Ultimate Clown."

http://ringoffireradio.com/2015/09/carly-fiorinas-ex-husband-shes-the-ultimate-clown/

In the clown car that is the Republican Party, she's the ultimate clown.

---Steve

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Massage Therapy: Does it Work?

https://www.painscience.com/articles/does-massage-work.php#sec_allen


---Steve

Pope Francis’ fact-free flamboyance - The Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/pope-franciss-fact-free-flamboyance/2015/09/18/7d711750-5d6a-11e5-8e9e-dce8a2a2a679_story.html


---Steve

PLOS ONE: The Case of Moulay Ismael - Fact or Fancy?

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0085292

In general, results indicate that the Emperor could have reached his notorious reproductive success with fewer copulations than assumed so far - thus the historic reports could be facts and not fancy. With our simulation we could also provide evidence that the harem size is of lesser importance for the achievement of the reported reproductive success than thought so far. A breeding pool of 65 to 110 women leads to the maximum reproductive outcome. This highlights the importance of incorporating cost-benefit calculations – increasing the size of the breeding pool beyond that point increases the costs without additional benefits to outweigh them. Having a harem of 500 concubines might have been due to other considerations than maximization of individual reproductive outcome. For example, it could have been a means to remove the additional women from the reach of other men, thus depriving them of reproductive potential.

---Steve

The Fight for Unplanned Parenthood - The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/19/opinion/gail-collins-the-fight-for-unplanned-parenthood.html?_r=0

If an elected official wants to try to drive Planned Parenthood out of business, there are two honest options: Announce that first you're going to invest a ton of new taxpayer money in creating real substitutes, or shrug your shoulders and tell the world that you're fine with cutting off health services to some of your neediest constituents.

---Steve

When Liars Debate, The Truth Always Loses

http://www.nationalmemo.com/when-liars-debate-the-truth-always-loses/


---Steve

Iq

http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2015/09/19/iq_and_success_can_a_test_score_determine_later_outcomes_in_life.html


---Steve

The Real Lesson of the Stanford Prison Experiment - The New Yorker

http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-real-lesson-of-the-stanford-prison-experiment


---Steve

Second Republican Debate Filled With Lies

http://reverbpress.com/politics/second-republican-debate-filled-with-lies/


---Steve

50 Years After the Moynihan Report, Examining the Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration - The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/the-black-family-in-the-age-of-mass-incarceration/403246/


---Steve

Ig noble 2015

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2015/09/18/ig_nobel_prize_2015_winners_present_improbable_research_at_harvard.html


---Steve

Friday, September 18, 2015

Science Based Cuisine


Most commonly, evolution is discussed in terms of speciation, where a common ancestor's progeny adapt to different environments across generations, and start diverging in traits - thus, the same Prunus will give rise to the cherry and the apricot. But in some cases, evolutionary pressure can take different organisms to evolve similar, or, in this case, identical traits. Coffee and tea, for example, do not have the identical enzymes, but they have evolved to produce the same effect on the raw material xanthosine, in an identical chain of events that produces chemically identical caffeine. Which probably first evolved as chemical protection against insects.
---Steve

Do bigger governments lead to happier people? - The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2013/12/23/do-bigger-governments-lead-to-happier-people/


---Steve

Favorites

http://sam_k_brown.tripod.com/QoL-APSR.pdf





---Steve

Houdini. Skeptic. (Book Review) | Doubtful

https://idoubtit.wordpress.com/2015/09/18/houdini-skeptic-book-review/

In the conclusion he is startled by the "utter inability of the average human being to describe accurately anything he or she has witnessed." With this tendency, a medium can easily accomplish wonders. These same mediums, he said, deliberately avoid honest investigation. What was not answered in this book was how Houdini managed to get into the audiences he did to make these observations.

---Steve

Ben Carson Doesn't Get It: All Our Vaccines Prevent Death - Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2015/09/17/two-doctors-running-for-president-dont-understand-medicines-most-important-advance/


---Steve

Do you want a meaningful or a happy life? – Roy F Baumeister – Aeon


T
his begins to suggest a theory for why it is we care so much about meaning. Perhaps the idea is to make happiness last. Happiness seems present-focused and fleeting, whereas meaning extends into the future and the past and looks fairly stable. For this reason, people might think that pursuing a meaningful life helps them to stay happy in the long run

---Steve

2015’s Most and Least Happy States in America | WalletHub®

http://wallethub.com/edu/most-least-happy-states-in-america/6959/


---Steve

Zion National Park Releases Names of Keyhole Canyon Fatalities - Zion National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

http://www.nps.gov/zion/learn/news/keyholeflashfloodsept17.htm


---Steve

Monday, September 14, 2015

The Elmore Leonard Story by Joan Acocella | The New York Review of Books


I'm sorry, Jack, but I can't shoot you." 
"You just did, for Christ's sake." 
"You know what I mean." She said, "I want you to know…I never for a minute felt you were too old for me." She said, "I'm afraid, though, thirty years from now I'll feel different about it. I'm sorry, Jack, I really am."

---Steve

John McAfee: McAfee antivirus is one of the worst products on the planet

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/john-mcafee-mcafee-antivirus-one-worst-products-planet-1516462


---Steve

In New York, a Win and a Loss on Health - The New York Times


The city Health Department has linked metzitzah b'peh to more than a dozen infant herpes cases, and two deaths, since 2000. The Bloomberg administration tried to discourage the practice by requiring mohels to have parents sign a consent form acknowledging the risks. But mohels, citing religious freedom, refused to use the form.



---Steve

USA Homicide Vs Suicide

http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa-homicide-vs-suicide


---Steve

Sunday, September 13, 2015

What the Case Against Stephen Harper Is Really About - The Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2015/09/parker-donham-response/405067/
Those are his views, he's certainly entitled to them, and I expect he'll cast his vote on October 19 accordingly. That's democracy, and fair enough.

---Steve

Are Western Values Losing Their Sway? - The New York Times


But couple the tightening of Chinese authoritarianism with Russia's turn toward revanchism and dictatorship, and then add the rise of radical Islam, and the grand victory of Western liberalism can seem hollow, its values under threat even within its own societies.

---Steve

The Next Genocide - The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/opinion/sunday/the-next-genocide.html?action=click&contentCollection=Health&module=MostPopularFB&version=Full®ion=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

The quest for German domination was premised on the denial of science.

---Steve

Ask IRS to stop favoring churches over other non-profits - Freedom From Religion Foundation

http://ffrf.org/news/action/item/23948-ask-irs-to-stop-favoring-churches-over-other-non-profits


---Steve

Nothing has changed in 25 years to ease my concerns about Islam - Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11859029/Nothing-has-changed-in-25-years-toease-my-concerns-about-Islam.html


---Steve

Encrypted Emails Are on the Rise: More Than One Third of Tutanota Emails Are End-to-End Encrypted

https://tutanota.com/blog/posts/encryption-percentage


---Steve

Global Study Shows That The Leading Factors For Early Death Are High Blood Pressure And Poor Diets - The Latest News

http://www.thelatestnews.com/global-study-shows-that-leading-risk-factors-for-death-high-blood-pressure-poor-diet/


---Steve

Article: 25 Books Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Other Top CEOs Recommend


25 Books Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Other Top CEOs Recommend
http://www.inc.com/john-rampton/25-books-top-ceos-recommend-you-read.html

Related topics: Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Atlas Shrugged

Shared from Flipboard Picks on Flipboard, your personal magazine.
Get it for free to keep up with the news you care about.




---Steve

There Is No Theory of Everything - The New York Times

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/there-is-no-theory-of-everything/?_r=1


---Steve

Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Dog Waste Bags and Dog Waste Disposal Systems by Zero Waste USA | Biodegradable Pet Waste Bags

http://www.zerowasteusa.com/


---Steve

Teaching Evolution through Human Examples | The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program



---Steve

Physics - Focus: How Anesthesia Switches Off Consciousness

http://physics.aps.org/articles/v8/85


---Steve

The Year Humans Got Serious About Climate Change -- NYMag


For human to wean ourselves off carbon-emitting fossil fuel, we will have to use some combination of edict and invention — there is no other plausible way around it. The task before the world is best envisioned not as a singular event but as two distinct but interrelated revolutions, one in political willpower and the other in technological innovation. It has taken a long time for each to materialize, in part because the absence of one has compounded the difficulty of the other. It is extremely hard to force a shift to clean energy when dirty energy is much cheaper, and it is extremely hard to achieve economies of scale in new energy technologies when the political system has not yet nudged you to do so.

---Steve

Monday, September 07, 2015

Voluntary euthanasia: beware of the godly!




Beware of the godly

Religious leaders such as Archbishop Welby have no particular authority - intellectual, moral, or otherwise - in respect of issues that relate to decisions at the beginning and end of life. Religious leaders are experts on the doctrines of their respective organisations, but that sort of expertise should cut no ice with the rest of us.

Bill O’Reilly’s nonsense “nihilism”: Now the Fox News host is even lying about God - Salon.com


far as the United States goes, it is high religiosity itself that correlates with bad crime rates, deadbeat tax payers, poverty, rampant teen pregnancy, low education, a dearth of life opportunities, early death, and so on. Faith is, in short, part and parcel of a congeries of nasty ills every society should strive to extirpate.

---Steve

The correlation of high religiosity in America with everything bad « Why Evolution Is True

https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2015/09/07/the-correlation-of-high-religiosity-in-america-with-everything-bad/

The solution is easy: vote out the conservatives and loosen the grip of faith on America.

---Steve

Stream these 8 great films you might’ve missed this year | Entertain This!

http://entertainthis.usatoday.com/2014/12/30/stream-these-8-great-films-youve-mightve-missed-this-year/


---Steve

Saturday, September 05, 2015

Article: Giant rock threatens to crash near Arizona dam as rappellers battle gravity


Giant rock threatens to crash near Arizona dam as rappellers battle gravity
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/05/giant-rock-could-crash-arizona-dam

Sent via Flipboard, your personal magazine.
Get it for free to keep up with the news you care about.




---Steve

Wednesday, September 02, 2015