http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg Various ramblings about science, technology and society Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:23:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Wordpress users, beware! Upgrading to the latest version (2.6) may break your admin login. It happened to me. In the past, I have had no problems updating WP. You upload the files, update the database when prompted, and bingo! you're up and running. Not this time. I did everything by the ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/07/21/wordpress-26-upgrade-advice-dont-do-it/ Four Superbowls ago, singer Janet Jackson had a "wardrobe malfunction" that exposed one breast for a microsecond on national TV. The FCC, responding to an Internet-fed viral protest, levied a huge fine -- the largest ever -- on CBS to punish it for degrading the morals of American society. An appellate ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/07/21/blind-justice-smacks-fcc-down/ On the recommendations of other science bloggers, I ordered the book, The Devil in Dover: An Insider's Story of Dogma v. Darwin in Small-Town America, by Lauri Lebo. It arrived Tuesday, and wantonly setting aside more pressing tasks, I put some jazz on and starting reading the book. Since I already ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/07/10/righteousness-defined/ The snippet lasted only a few seconds, and I'll bet most viewers didn't even notice the mistake. It was during a CNN Special Investigation Report on food safety. The camera supposedly was trained on the Sun as it rises above the horizon. Diagonally. Toward the top left of the screen. In ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/07/05/cnn-got-it-wrong-or-why-everyone-should-take-astro-101/ OK, so I'm a little behind the times, but I just watched "Meet the Robinsons" on TV last night. Those of you more up-to-date with movies probably remember the motto of Cornelius Robinson, "Keep Moving Forward," drawn from a quote from Walt Disney. And so I got to wonder, what if ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/07/05/keep-moving-forward/ Well, to be honest, I wasn't expecting lots of money. Working as a non-union extra earns you about $7 a hour. I did get time-and-a-half for the overtime, but still the pay didn't even cover gas and lodging in Nashville. I am not upset. In fact, working as an extra in ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/07/02/payment-for-standing-all-day-in-the-hot-sun-80-woo-hoo/ Welcome to The Tangled Bank 108 and to the little-known but still fascinating Wheat-dogg's World. I hope that after you peruse the fine entries in this edition of The Tangled Bank you'll stroll around and check out things here in my neck of the Worldwide Woods. Today we have science bloggers ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/06/25/the-tangled-bank-108/ John Freshwater will burn crosses on students' arms no more (see picture released by school officials to the AP, at right), at least in Mount Vernon, Ohio. He has been sacked. On Friday, the Mount Vernon school board reviewed a 15-page investigative report on Freshwater's actions in the classroom, and voted ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/06/21/mid-ohio-science-teacher-to-lose-job-finally/ The Tangled Bank is a collection of the best science-blog posts as judged by the science bloggers themselves. Basically, you write something that you think is good, we publish it. Having been included in previous editions of the Tangled Bank, I volunteered to host it at some point in the future. ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/06/21/the-tangled-bank-comes-to-wheat-doggs-world-june-25/ The saga of John Freshwater, part XII ... While Freshwater's superiors at the Mount Vernon schools dither, the family of one of his students have resorted to the all-American method of getting to the root of things -- they're suing him and the school district. The suit claims that Freshwater violated the ... http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2008/06/19/injured-student-sues-controversial-mid-ohio-teacher/