An irregular exploration of the struggle between the power of rational discourse and the scientific method on one hand, and the forces of superstition and dogma on the other.
James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
The Demon-Haunted World:
Science as a Candle
in the Dark,
by Carl Sagan
(A
review)
The Doubter's Companion:
by John Ralston Saul (Excerpts)
Skeptic Magazine: www.skeptic.com
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal: www.csicop.org
A poem by Yehuda Amichai:
The
Place
Where We Are Right
The Meaning of the
Island of Doubt
By doubting we come to inquiry; and through inquiry we perceive truth.
--- Peter Abelard
Undisguised clarity is easily mistaken for arrogance.
-- Richard Dawkins
As for evolution, it happened. Deal with it.
-- Michael Shermer.
May 31, 2007
Category: climate
"Have we already passed a 'tipping point' such that it is now impossible to avoid 'dangerous' climate change? In our estimation, we must be close to such a point...."
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:58 PM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 29, 2007
Category: climate
The coal industry's PR machine is in overdrive. Today's New York Times gives the dirtiest energy sector every invented a lot of space to make its case that coal power can save the world from climate change, free us from...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 12:23 PM • 21 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 27, 2007
Category: evolution
If hell was real, a place of honor would be reserved for Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who blocked a plan to honor Rachel Carson last week. We named our cat after Carson, so you can guess how angry this...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:09 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 26, 2007
Category: cetacea
The plight of just two humpback whales that got themselves lost up the Sacramento River has got the nation transfixed. This sort of thing happens every few years. Back in 1988, it was three gray whales trapped in the ice...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:31 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 24, 2007
Category: religiosity
Maybe we could invent a drinking game -- one swig for each violation of the laws of physics.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 4:16 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 22, 2007
Category: religiosity
Actually, the report in question came on just shy of 11 p.m. Although my local Fox television network affiliate had been promoting its 10 o'clock news report, in which a scientist uses physics to prove the Christian god exists, for...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:19 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 17, 2007
Category: climate
The honeymoon is over.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 6:41 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
New Scientist has assembled a marvelous list of 26 of the most-cited objections to the scientific consensus on climate change. Temperatures rise before carbon dioxide; polar bear population is increasing; there is no consensus; it's all there. This handy-dandy resource...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 5:01 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 16, 2007
Category: punditry
Falwell's political legacy is important in the same way Bo Derek's hair in "10" was important.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:57 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 15, 2007
Category: climate
"If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame-retardant."
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 12:14 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 11, 2007
Category: biology
The new Encyclopedia of Life may be the best new thing since sliced bread, but not necessarily just because a catalog of every living species is a pre-requisite to understanding our planet. By making it clear just how little we...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 5:59 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 10, 2007
Category: misc
... and Al Gore gets blamed for 9/11. I kid you not
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:53 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 8, 2007
There's a big problem in the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Not that it's surprising an economics report would be self-contradictory -- it's not for nothing that they call economics the dismal science. But it's a...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 4:34 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 5, 2007
Category: pseudo-science
I am so embarrassed to be a Canadian. A member of Canada's Parliament has given voice to an effort to add Bigfoot to the country's Species at Risk Act. Read it and weep:...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 5:10 PM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: evolution
"Why conservatives should toady to these storm troopers is beyond me."
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:13 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 4, 2007
Category: religiosity
"... he doesn't shout it from the rooftops, but ..."
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:01 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
I didn't watch the Republican debate last night, so I can't be sure that climate change got short shift, but seeing as I couldn't find more than a hint of the subject in this morning's coverage on the net --...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:28 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 3, 2007
Category: climate
Some commenters seem puzzled by my conclusion that a couple of recent studies of melting north polar ice could mean an ice-free Arctic within 13 years. I will agree that it does seem rather extreme, but the data support such...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 6:44 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 2, 2007
Category: politics
It's been a bad week for the US Interior Department, and it's only Tuesday. First a deputy assistant secretary resigned after her habit of passing endangered species information to private groups was exposed for all to see. Then more than...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:33 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 1, 2007
Category: climate
We're talking about one of those mythical tipping points, here folks.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:48 PM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
