Episode 74 of the Mindcast is now up!

Download it here.

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Success! Due to my repeated playings of Captain Kirk screaming “Khaaan!” last night, Ariela just added Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan to our Netflix Queue.

Also, via BadAstronomy, it seems that the 11th Trek movie is coming along nicely, with this teaser trailer. Let’s hope they can break the curse of the odd-numbered Trek!

Here are some questions asked and answered about the trailer. All I can say is that they’d better figure out how to restore what has made Star Trek so classic, and update it for our more modern age, without stripping it of its present-day and future relevance! (Got all that?)

‘Course you know this means that I’ll have another soundtrack to buy. Can’t wait!

This week, for Monday Madness, the dumbest, most inane thing I came across in the last week was uttered right here on this blog. By me. “In two days’ time…” Get ready for a short and sweet Monday Madness. Read More…

I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. (Originally via Good Math Bad Math)

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I just had my voice recorded today for one of the video projects I’m working on with my adviser, and it went off without a hitch. Apparently I’m the first [client] to have used the new sound studio closet in the Teacher Education building. In a few weeks, we should have a complete video, to show all the curious people out there how to pollinate corn. No, really. Read More…

Last Monday, Ariela and I went to see Michael Pollan present his new book, In Defense of Food, in Milwaukee. I brought along my handy-dandy iRiver MP3 recorder, and for your enjoyment, here’s his talk. Funny and interesting, passionate and accusatory, that’s Michael Pollan.

Milwaukee Talk

I’ve only taken a look at a few snippets of In Defense of Food, Ariela’s reading it right now. I’ll read it when I’m finished reviewing Hugh Ross’s book here. There’s no rush, because it won’t be until March that I’ll be interviewing him on the Mindcast. Yep, I renewed our previous interview agreement, so you can look to a fun-filled interview right here in a couple months. Read More…

(via Pharyngula)

That’s right, I can embed videos now. Excellent.

This video totally reminds me of a book I’m getting ready to write a lengthy review about on this blog. Stay tuned for a review of Creation as Science by Hugh Ross. It’s not going to be pretty. For now, just enjoy the fruits of scientific labors set to classical music.

It is interesting to contemplate a frozen bank, clothed with ice of many kinds, with birds not singing on the bushes, with various insects nowhere to be seen, and with worms crawling under the earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have… aw hell, it’s fricken freezing and there’s nothing but ice, snow, and cold air on the banks of Madison, Wisconsin. What am I to do to keep warm? Thankfully, a whole host of science bloggers sent me their best posts from the last few weeks - let’s see if we can warm up together in this cold northern weather to the 97th edition of the Tangled Bank. Read More…

Tonight, I’m compiling the next issue of the Tangled Bank - if you want your awesome science post (or someone else’s) included, then submit it to me by email at karl AT inoculatedmind DOT com. Otherwise, get prepared for some great science blog posts tomorrow!

I need them in by 9:00 pm CST.

After much procrastination, I have finally upgraded my blog to wordpress 2.3.2! If you logged on to the site in the last couple hours, you might have noticed the whole thing flipping between going haywire one minute and looking like normal the next. It turns out, that people who upgrade from previous versions of wordpress are supposed to keep their old wp-config.php file intact, and not enter information into a new one. The difference is two lines of code, that duplicate settings that are specified elsewhere in my website’s database. After half an hour of frantic searching on the wordpress support forums, I found someone suggesting that upgrading users just use the old wp-config.php file. Tried it, and Voila!

Later in the day, I’ll be restoring my plugins and testing my new functionality. Almost done perfecting the blog layout and look, just in time for the next Tangled Bank! I just discovered another missing div tag in one of my archive pages. Sheesh, whoever originally designed this theme had a good eye, but a horrid coding hand. (Note: I only know what I know through fiddling, and the fact that I can find this stuff really goes to show that it was put together badly.)

Wordpress really is a great blogging platform, if you’re having problems with any other blog software, seriously, make the switch. The possibilities are endless, it works great, and best of all, it’s free!