White supremacists in U.S. police forces

A little-noted FBI report documented the infiltration of U.S. police forces by organized racists in white supremacist organizations.

Associated Press censors itself

Apparently, right-wing pressure has caused the Associated Press to remove a picture from its library. Read Conservative values: opportunism and cowardice. Because we mustn’t offend anyone! The picture is a work of art exploring the edges of sacrilege. Sorry, people, this is the real world. You do not have a right to remain comfortably unchallenged at all times.

So in case you’re wondering what it looks like, the golden image of Immersion (Piss Christ) is here.

Piss Christ by Andres Serrano (1987)

The image is from Wikipedia, which has a discussion of the picture and its provocative title.

DNA analysis and genealogy

Genealogy is getting a boost from DNA analysis, which both sparks interest and helps people to know where to look.

The genes that build America makes some good points, some of them not obvious. One is that black Americans who are descended from slaves depend on white families keeping and allowing them access to records, since their family histories are found in wills and bills of sale.

Rocks

Rocks rock!

This image from the Grand Canyon comes to you from Schurs Astrophotography.

I like that they refer to the growing dark after sunset as the Earth’s shadow.

Reason Rally scenes with audio from Dawkins

March 23, 2012

This video shows typical scenes from the Reason Rally in Washington DC on March 24. The audio track is excerpts from Richard Dawkins’ speech to the rally.

This March was the warmest on record for much of the U.S.

Temperature anomalies for March 2012 compared to average since 1981

The map above shows anomalies compared to the average from 1981-2010, which in itself is a shifted baseline since temperatures started to warm up noticeably in 1986.

Over 16,000 high-temperature records were broken in the U.S. during March 2012, and by large margins of around 4.5° Centigrade or 9.8° Fahrenheit. The U.S. Northeast was particularly warm, which enabled tornadoes to form. The Pacific Northwest coast was cooler than usual right along the ocean. All regions except the Pacific Northwest had unusual temperatures, with either above-average temperatures or an unusual number of warm days: “NOAA confirms unprecedented warmth in March.” Maps are available at NOAA.

The map below shows state temperature records for March. The red is warmest in 118 years. The orange is warmest in 113 – 117 years, and so on.

Thunderf00t: Reason Rally and Rock Beyond Belief

Video blogger Thunderf00t has a brief clip about the Reason Rally, which he attended, and this weekend’s Rock Beyond Belief at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. The video has the best crowd shots I’ve seen yet, and a brief plug for Rock Beyond Belief, listing the speakers and performers.

 

 

Adam Savage at the Reason Rally

One of the best speeches of the day came from Myth Buster Adam Savage. Here it is.