Fecundity vs. lesbianism; what’s more atypical? | Gene Expression

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Sex Lives of Supreme Court Justices:

Now that the sex lives of Supreme Court justices have become grist for commentators, we are finally free to discuss a question formerly only whispered about in the shadows: Why does Justice Antonin Scalia, by common consent the leading intellectual force on the Court, have nine children? Is this normal? Or should I say “normal,” as some people choose to define it? Can he represent the views of ordinary Americans when he practices such a minority lifestyle? After all, having nine children is far more unusual in this country than, say, being a lesbian.

The GSS can answer this question. Sort of. It turns out that the highest number of children it asks about are “8 or more.” Limiting the sample to 1998-2008 so it has some contemporary relevance, ~1% of respondents in the GSS has 8 or more children. But that’s not quite fair, since many respondents are young adults, or just starting their families. Limiting the sample to those who are 60 years or older you have ~3.5%. Limiting to 70 and above it goes up to ~4.5%. Scalia is 74 years old, so I think it might be appropriate to judge him by his generation, though the relative gerontocracy of the Supreme Court, and American politics in general, might warrant examination. In 2008 in the GSS asked about sexual orientation, and ~2% of women stated they were lesbian, gay or homosexual. So whether Scalia is more abnormal than a lesbian measured against the general population depends on the reference population you use. For his generation, probably not, but for this generation, perhaps.

The Declassified History of NSA Computers [Retromodo]

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Straight from the Department of Defense History comes a recently declassified gem: Samuel S. Snyder's History of NSA General-Purpose Electronic Digital Computers. It's a wonderful late-night read with plenty of old-school computing trivia. [GovernmentAttic (PDF) via Schneier via Boing Boing] More »




United States - NSA General-Purpose Electronic Digital Computers - Samuel S Snyder - Collecting - Recreation

The New American Car of 1970

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"This is the American Motors Gremlin. It's the kind of car this country has needed for a long, long time. It is designed to give the American motorist a car that is easy to busy, easy to handle, easy to take care of, and, at the same time, fun to drive. The Gremlin is the smallest production c

The Smart Shopper’s Guide to Buying a Wireless Router

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Wireless routers, eh? Tricky things. They promise so much, and yet seem to be one of the most complicated and annoying parts of using a computer, when really connecting to the internet should be so simple.

Lets say you’ve just been down to PC World or BestBuy and bought yourself a new laptop - it’s wireless, great! Now you can get rid of all those ugly wires draped around your home and connect wirelessly to the internet - welcome to the future! But you need a wireless router.

wireless routerPlease don’t just wander into your local store and take the “expert” advice of the 17-year old sales assistant. A little research in advance will pay you dividends, and at the very least will save you from being one of the bewildered souls in the store staring at a wall of boxes wondering what on earth a Gigabit cable router with MIMO access is. Read on for the three key things you need to know.

Firstly - check if you can get a free router. Many Internet Service Providers (ISP) will now provide a free wireless router for their customers, so it’s worth a quick phone call to your ISP to see if you can get one. It may not be the greatest router ever, but it’s free, and free beats any price.

Router Types

Assuming you don’t qualify for a free router, you’ll need to buy one. The first thing to know is that routers breakdown into 2 main categories. Different manufacturers call them different things, and there is some blurring of the lines. However, essentially the two categories depend upon how you get your Internet access. If you get it from a cable provider who also sends you TV down a fibre-optic cable (Virgin in the UK) then you need what’s known as cable or broadband router. This type of router does not have a modem built in.

The other type of router is for phone-line connections and this is known by many names, including ADSL, DSL, modem router, and BT router. So if you get your Internet via a phone-line then you need one of these routers.

Wireless Standards

Secondly, there are a number of different wireless standards. Unless you need the very cheapest router available, do not buy a wireless G or 54Mbps router. These are old technologies and will slow down what should otherwise be a faster Internet connection. In my opinion, it is a real crime that major stores are still selling these types of router.

What you should be looking for is Wireless N, also known as 802.11n. This is the new standard and is not only much quicker than the old wireless B and G standards, but it is also a stronger signal meaning it reaches further and provides a more stable connection. Unfortunately there are a few variations with Wireless N around when the router was released, Just know that if it says “Draft 2” or “Full N” on the box, then these are better than “draft n” or “Draft 1”. All wireless N routers are backwards compatible so even if you have an older laptop or computer connecting, you should still go for this standard.

MiMO stands for Multi-In-Multi-Out. It doesn’t really mean anything other than the router has multiple antennae, which most routers have had for some time. Do not let this distract you.

The manufacturer of the router won’t normally make a lot of difference, but you’re probably better off sticking with one of the bigger names like Belkin, Cisco, D-Link, Linksys and Netgear.

Where to Buy

Lastly, where to shop. A lot of unusual places sell wireless routers. John Lewis and Argos are just two names you might not have considered. The best deals are often to be found on-line and you’ll find that even the big names, e.g. PC World, offer a substantial discount at their online store over the physical stores. So do shop around.

Summary

Wireless routers are a tricky beast, but once you know the type of router you want and the wireless standard, you are in much better shape. There are a number of other factors you might want to take into consideration, and if you are looking to spend more than the minimum on a router or have had problems with routers in the past, then I would highly recommend using one of the wireless router wizards (like the one on my site) to find the perfect router for you.

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This guest post is written by Mark Richardson, one of the founders of a website dedicated to helping you find the best router. Mark can be contacted on mark at bestrouter dot co dot uk.

Are you interested in guest blogging with Romow directory? Submit your guest blog post, and we will be happy to review it for publication.

Greed and Our Addiction to BP’s Oil

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This oil leak is a disaster that has already killed 11 people.  Today it was reported that the Gulf’s loop currents are going to carry it around Florida.  Gooey, red oil has come ashore, past the booms that were used to try to stop it.  New BP video, as reported by NBC, reveals that most likely,  double the amount of 70,000 gallons of oil per day are pouring into the ocean. Most of us have no concept of what damage this oil will do.  Criminal charges are probably next.  So let’s determine blame.  Should BP pay for this mess, or Halliburton, or Transocean?

It would be convenient to have several large corporations to choose from when pointing the finger of blame for this disaster, but we need to look at who is at the root of all this.  That would be us.

The American people should be on trial. We should pay damages and we should pay for this at the gas pump.  We are the ones with the oil addiction.  We have an automobile culture that we are not willing to give up or even alter.  That mind-set is now destroying the Gulf coast.  We have supported the need for dangerous drilling with our 1) unwavering support for offshore drilling and our 2) insatiable “need” and use of gas and oil.   Have any of us stopped driving our cars, or stopped doing anything that uses gas and oil,  since this oil leak happened?  Have the drug addicts stopped using the drug, or are we just upset that our habit is causing such damage and pollution? So far, Americans seem really upset with ourselves but want to blame someone else.  Sure, BP is legally responsible, but who is ethically responsible?  No one forces us to use the massive amounts of gas and oil that we use.  Americans  buy millions of dollars worth of gasoline and oil a year and we are obsessed with the price of it, not the use of it.  By now, most Americans feel that it’s our birthright to use as much gasoline and oil as we want to. Who has ever tried to stop us?

Our whole economy is based on fossil fuels and the obtaining of them, whether through drilling, digging, exploding tops off mountains,  or waging wars.  Oil, gas and coal keep capitalism and never-ending growth humming along, and Americans accept that as the way things ought to be.

The price of fossil fuels we use also includes the climate damage, ocean damage, and climate change burning these fuels causes.   Climate change in the sky or oil-soaked coastlines down on earth;   it’s all bad.   It’s very bad.  It’s going to end up destroying our civilization, but that’s too hard to think about, so most people don’t.  Like most addicts, we are in deep denial.

We are oil addicts by choice, though, and as addicts we should pay for our expensive, dirty, damaging habit.  But we don’t, we blame the big fossil fuel corporations,  because they [...]

Bolden Vs Armstrong and Cernan: Clash of the Titans Round 2

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House Science and Technology Committee Hearing: Review of the Proposed NASA Human Spaceflight Plan

"26 May 2010: Witnesses: Charles Bolden, Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan, Tom Young"

Keith's note: It is becoming increasingly apparent that every hearing on the topic of President Obama's space policy - especially when Charlie Bolden is in the hot seat - is designed to be an ambush announced in advance. The witness panel is usually stacked numerically with opponents. In this case this hearing is a blatant attempt to pick up the food fight where it left off last week on the other side of the Hill. Since it is fair game to repeatedly have Apollo astronauts testify who are publicly against the plan, why not have a few Apollo vets testify who are publicly for it - like Buzz Aldrin and Rusty Schweickart?

And by the way, with all due respect for the accomplishments of all of these who have or will testify, but when is Congress going to call upon people to testify who will actually spend their future career living and working in the space program that is being discussed? Why is it that we only seem to hear from 60-,70-, 80-year olds talking about someone else's future?

Time Machine Needed To Respond To This Solicitation

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Reader note: I have a habit of scouring through NASA procurement notices looking for interesting things - as well as comedic relief. love this one: "NASA SUDENT AMBASSADORS VIRTUAL COMMUNITY" issued on 11 May 2010 with an "original response date" of 14 May 2010. But the text says "Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing, by FAX or E-Mail, to the identified point of contact not later than 11:00 a.m. (EST.) on April 12, 2010."

I guess the only way you can meet this date is if you have a time machine handy.

The solicitation then goes on to say "Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government." Yet all the solicitation provides is a single little paragraph describing the project. It is rather unlikely that anyone would understand how to perform this task without detailed information much less use this sole paragraph as the basis for justifying their qualifications.

It certainy smells like NASA got caught in the process of using paperwork to justify a procurement decision that they already made and that they have zero interest in actually soliciting or considering input. Oops.

Oil In Radiator

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I have a 1988 Mazda 2200 - I got oil in the water radiator - No water in the oil - It has a 5 speed manual transmission - Some in the overflow bottle also. It has some blue smoke and it smokes a little when first started but quits quickly - after it warms up Can anyone tell me what it is or