Off to Dallas, Cornell

During the doldrums of August, Sheril and I were both around and posting repeatedly every day--which probably had something to do with our traffic record.

Alas, it's fall now, students are back on campuses, and we're on the road again more than ever, which really interrupts posting frequency. We'll be doing our best, but as I hope you'll understand, it will be difficult at times.

In particular, I'm speaking tomorrow in Dallas, and then on Thursday at Cornell. Then the week after that is the big framing smackdown/cataclysm in Minneapolis.

You've heard plenty about the latter already, but here are the details on the former two events. First, Dallas:

National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) Annual Convention

Panel Discussion: "Government Responses to Catastrophe Risk and Global Warming: Implications for Property/Casualty Insurers"

Tuesday, September 18, 2007, 10:15-11:30 A.M. CDT

Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center

Room: San Antonio 4-6

As for Cornell, doesn't this sound like a fascinating event? Details:

September 20

Public Forum on Science and Politics

The War on Science: What Have We Learned?

4-6 p.m., 700 Clark Hall

A lecture by Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science, followed by faculty panel and audience discussion. Panel members include:Kurt Gottfried, Physics; Ron Herring, Government; Steve Hilgartner, Science & Technology Studies; Ted Lowi, Government; Jon Shields, University of Colorado; and Janice Thies, Crop and Soil Sciences.

Chris Mooney's book has documented increasingly intrusive partisan effects on the practice of science, and serious consequences thereof. The broader questions include relationships between science and state, government and scientists, and real effects of distorted knowledge or ignorance. Beyond partisan science, how inevitable is the intertwining of science and politics given the embedded nature of science in society?

This forum is featured in the Provost Seminar Series and is co-sponsored by the Ben and Rhoda Belnick Fund for Government Studies at Cornell.

Sounds to me like a pretty good talk to be doing on my 30th bday....