Lazy linking - gotta catch up

Here are a few links which has caught my attention the last few days (all links open in new windows).

Annals of the Malaria War: Legions of Health Workers Launch an Attack - an interesting blogpost on the fight against malaria going on in Africa.

These Nuclear Physicists Think David Suzuki Is Exaggerating about Fukushima - I don't generally link to Vice, which I think is generally a horrible magazine, but this article is actually pretty interesting. They interview other nuclear physicists about the claims made by David Suzuki about Fukushima. Good skeptical journalism.

Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability problem solvers
I can't remember if I've linked this one before, since it is a pretty old article, but it is well worth reading - it explains why diversity is a good thing. I will probably write a blogpost about this at some stage.

The Bloody Benders, America's First Serial Killers - not science related, just history related.

Rachel Maddow Nails How Utterly Nutty Wis GOP Has Become (Now With Even More Voter Suppression). I think it is safe to say that certain parts of the GOP is not exactly trying to ensure that they represent the interest of all the citizens, or even the majority.

In the Ivory Tower, Men Only. "For men, having children is a career advantage. For women, it’s a career killer."

Why insurance is the wrong model for health care. It cannot be repeated often enough.

Reducing the World's Most Powerful Woman to a Dress. As I wrote on facebook when posting this link:

1. It is extremely US-centric. A candidate for heading the Federal Reserve is hardly the most powerful woman in a world where Angela Merkel is the chancellor of Germany.
2. That being said, the greater point of the article still stand - why are there different standards for men and women?

Occupy Wall Street activists buy $15m of Americans' personal debt

Lazy linking - catching up edition

A few things I've come across recently, which I thought might be of interest for others.

Paul Krugman explains how the legacy of Milton Friedman is getting eroded in today's GOP: Milton Friedman, Unperson

If you're on facebook, you've probably come across posts which claims that court rulings have shown that there is a link between autism and MMR vaccinations. As anyone with a minimum of science literacy knows, that's not the right venue for such things to be decided. Even so, Emily Willingham explains at greather length, why the claim is nonsense in Court Rulings Don't Confirm Autism-Vaccine Link

A chart telling the difference between extroverts and introverts, but with input from an extrovert.

I've always been a bit in awe over Randall Munroe's work ethics when it comes to his fantastic online comic xkcd, and my awe certainly didn't become lesser when I read this Wired article about his epic 3,099 panel comic.

Researcher David Kriesel has found problems with numbers being substituted when scanning on certain Xerox scanners. Xerox has looked into it, and have confirmed that there seems to be a problem - they are working on a software patch.

I expect that everybody, and their dog, have already seen this, but anyway: An Open Letter to David Cameron and the IOC

Via Jill - The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia (trigger warning: rape)

And finally: the most important map of Europe you'll see today!

Lazy linking - catching up edition

Wow. It has been a while since I've last blogged. My excuse is that work is pretty crazy for me right now - as usually is the case when I'm not blogging.

To make up for it, here is a few links that I've come across the last few weeks

First of all, I bring you a letter from Simon Singh, Ben Goldacre and Peter Wilmshurst calling for support for libel reform. All of the letter writers have been targets of lawsuits under English libel laws. Singh and Goldacre have both won theirs, at some personal cost, while Wilmshurst's case is ongoing.

Also from the UK: NHS 'should pull homeopathic hospital cash'

The British Medical Association (BMA) has told a BBC Scotland investigation that NHS Scotland should pull the plug on Glasgow's Homeopathic Hospital.

It's great to see the medical associations around the world starting to come out against wasting money on placebohomeopathy (there is also a facebook group and petition trying to het the NHS to stop funding quackery - details here)

The New Yorker takes on Rhonda Byrne in Power lines

From something much closer to my field of work: Vast Majority Of Software Patents In Lawsuits Lose. I might write more on this at a later stage, but let's just say that I am not surprised.

The Union of Concerned Scientists have a great website on Global warming

Related to this, is the Resource Institute's Summary of Developed Country ‘Fast-Start’ Climate Finance Pledges where one can keep track on how well the developed countries are doing on keeping their pledges from Copenhagen.

Lazy linking - science and skepticism edition

A few science and skepticism links that I thought I'd share.

* J. David Jentsch ask people in the LA area to Stand up for science on April 8. Jentsch is one of the scientists who has been targeted by animal rights terrorists because of his animal research.

* A new study shows that Spanking sparks aggression, does little to reduce behavior problems in children. One of the techniques studied (spanking) is illegal in Denmark, but the others are certainly still used.

* An interesting take on the use of statistics in science: Odds Are, It's Wrong. Personally, I don't find the article entirely convincing. Yes, it's true that there are possibilities of false positives and negatives, but it seem to me that enough studies should clean up these problems. I find the complains about meta-studies puzzling, and while I can see the author's point in a perfect world, we have to work with the material at hand. Still, it's a good article, and I think scientists conducting studies would do well to keep its points in mind.

* I can't remember where I found this link (almost certainly at a feminist blog), but I thought that it was well worth sharing. It's an article in Stanford Magazine about Stanford professor Clelia Mosher who probably was the first to do research into female sexuality: The Sex Scholar.

* Occasionally I come across people who seem to think that the cause of ice ages are unknown, which puzzles me, since I thought it was well-established that they were caused by shifts in the Earth's axis. Apparently this wasn't quite as well-established as I thought, or at least not for as long as I thought - I came across a ScienceDaily article from August 2009 which explains that this was now the established explanation: Long Debate Ended Over Cause, Demise Of Ice Ages? Research Into Earth's Wobble

* David Colquhoun tells us that the University of Buckingham does the right thing. The Faculty of Integrated Medicine has been fired. One less place educating people in woo.

* Over at Alice in Galaxyland there is a great report about a recent event at Skeptics in the Pub in Wincester: Skeptics in the Pub: Unnatural Predators by Jourdemayne at Winchester. Certainly makes me wish I had been there (though I am happy to have been spared the journey described).

* And finally, a shout-out to a fairly new blog. When I was in Perth in January, I met up with the Perth Skeptics on the last day I was there (which is when they participated in the 10²³ mass suicide by homeopathy event). While I was there, I talked a bit about skepticism in Denmark (not much of it around) and blogging. One of the participants was thinking about starting his own blog, and after my talk he took the plunge - so I present to you Friend of Reason. There is some good stuff there.

Lazy linking

I used to do a lot of lazy linking posts, which are posts linking to things I find interesting. The main reason for the decline in these posts, is that I now link to such things from my Twitter account. Still, I'll try to make these posts from time to time, if nothing else then to give some linklove to other people.

First of, a fairly old blogpost about old atomic models in the past: The gallery of failed atomic models, 1903-1913

From the mainstream media, BBC reports on the findings of an rather interesting meteorite: Attic stored meteorite 'four billion years old'

Ed Brayton reports that the Innocence Project Frees 250th Innocent Person

And then there is the news that quack Kevin Trudeau has been hold in content of the court, because he asked his followers to write the judge, resulting in an email deluge.

On the anthropogenic global warming front, Climate Progress reports that Penn State inquiry finds no evidence for allegations against Michael Mann.

Via Sheril Kirshenbaum, I became aware of the Under the Microscope website, dedicated to women in science.

Over at Majikthise, Lindsay Beyerstein takes on the claims that the fathers of modern obstetrics murder more women than Jack the Ripper. Personally I find Lindsay's speculations more convincing than the new claims.

Over at Alternet, Greta Christina writes about Why We Don't Need Religion to Give Life Mystery (also at her own blog)

Lazy linking and carnivals

A few links which I thought might interest people.

National Geographic has an interesting article on Angkor

The 113th Skeptics' Circle is up at the The Unincredible Hallq.

Scientia Pro Publica 6 is up at Mauka to Makai.

PZ Myers have been busy writing about science lately, and have posted three great science posts this week. Big love among the ostracodsBig love among the ostracods, Limusaurus inextricabilis, and Digit numbering and limb development.

Over at Orcinus, Sara has written a great post Mythbusting Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism

The Feminist eZine -
1001 Feminist Links and Other Interesting Topics

The Good (but endangered) Samaritans

Lazy linking

Another round of things on the internet which I found interesting to share

Malcolm Gladwell “Black Like Them.” (via Alas, A Blog)

ERV tells us a disturbing piece of news: HIV-1 CTL Vaccine: OH SHI-

Chris Clarke has made a new environmental group/community blog: The Clade

NY Times has an interesting article on Homo Floresiensis; A Tiny Hominid With No Place on the Family Tree

Lazy linking

A few articles and blogposts that I thought could be of interest.

Holder: U.S. a 'nation of cowards' on race discussions (CNN)

NAACP at 100 now seeks equal rights for all (SFGate)

Unfinished business (The Economist)

Charles Darwin’s ideas have spread widely, but his revolution is not yet complete

Advancing Science through Conversations: Bridging the Gap between Blogs and the Academy by Shelley A. Batts, Nicholas J. Anthis, and Tara C. Smith (PLoS Biology) - I might have linked this one before, but it's worth a read.

In South Africa, a Justice Delayed Is No Longer Denied (NY Times) - about a HIV positive judge who spoke out against the HIV/AIDS policies of the former South African president, putting his career on hold.

Podcasts from the University of Oxford

Wikipedia:WikiProject Rational Skepticism

Aaaawwww... Koala cools off

Warren Worthington III: Female by Proxy

Lazy linking

A few noteworthy stories

The Nobel Peace Prize goes to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari. Wikipedia has a pretty good article on Ahtisaari

Connecticut Ruling Overturns Ban on Same-Sex Marriage. Good news on the civil rights front.

Shark "Virgin Birth" Confirmed. A female blacktip shark in Virginia fertilized her own egg without mating with a male shark, new DNA evidence shows.

Lazy linking

I'm cleaning out my bookmarks, and thought I'd share some of them with you together with new stuff that I've found.

The Biology of B-Movie Monsters - a classic, which I'm sure most people already have seen. Still, on the off-chance that some of you haven't, I thought I'd share it.

Prometheus takes on the fraudsters that prey on desperate parents.
How they do the voodoo that they do so well - Part 1 and How they do the voodoo that they do so well - Part 2

Ben Goldacre takes on bad science reporting in the British newspapers: Don’t let the facts spoil a good story

Today's Sinfest has a bite to it The Rich Will Go On

If you live in the US, and is pro-choice, then you should help oppose the new HHS proposal. There is only a few days left, so you need to do it fast. Cara has more over at Feministe

I haven't explored this much yet, but still thought I'd share it. Pseudopod,, self-described as "the world’s premier horror fiction podcast".

A couple of months old, but coffee is timeless: Sorting Out Coffee’s Contradictions (NY Times)

David Neiwert asks Is Sarah Palin a closet John Bircher?

The Periodic Table of Videos by the University of Nottingham

Sam Harris When Atheists Attack - A noted provocateur rips Sarah Palin—and defends elitism. (Newsweek)

Speaking of links, does anyone know what happened to the blog "Ask A Lesbian" - did it move, and I missed it, being busy?