Seed Media Group

The Island of Doubt

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.

Search this blog

Profile

me-fergus.jpg 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.

Recent Posts

   xml.gifrss.gif


Recent Comments

award1-blog.gif
for 9 July 2007

Archives

Other Doubtful Blogs

Inspiration

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


Author's site: cyamid.net


Add to Technorati Favorites! Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the unknowable. But there it sits nevertheless, calmly licking its chops.
--- H. L. Mencken

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.

More blogs about island of doubt.

June 27, 2007

Argument from authority: the voice of the "scientist"

Category: Sci-culture

You know how some people can't just leave that half-pint of ice cream sitting in the fridge? You know you shouldn't, but you can't resist. I'm that way with climate change stories. So when a friend called to alert me...

Read on »

June 26, 2007

Evolution, Einstein, E.T. and Star Trek: together again

Category: evolution

Picard and the gang race to re-assemble bits of a message encoded in the genomes of disparate species throughout the galaxy...

Read on »

June 25, 2007

Gore takes "swipe" at dithering climatologists.. or does he?

Category: climate

But one could just as easily read that last excerpted sentence as a lament for a lack of consensus itself.

Read on »

June 23, 2007

The incredible calculating canine!

Category: pseudo-science

"Her husband decided to ask their 4-year-old dog another question, the square root of 25. Micah tapped his paw five times."

Read on »

June 21, 2007

Coal supplies running low?

Category: climate

"in some areas, only 5 percent of the coal was recoverable with today's technology and at current prices"

Read on »

June 20, 2007

Girly names and sexy names

Category: misc

"While most linguists think there is no inherent relationship between the sound of a word and its meaning, there is some evidence to the contrary..."

Read on »

June 19, 2007

"Planet Earth today: imminent peril"

Category: climate

"We infer that it would be not only dangerous, but also foolhardy to follow a BAU path for future GHG emissions."

Read on »

The wisdom of ancient Islam

Category: religiosity

Scienceblog posts tend to revolve around current events, almost to the point where history is irrelevant, and the Island of Doubt is no different. I try to put things in historical perspective, but concede that I tend too often overlook...

Read on »

June 18, 2007

The autism conspiracy

Category: medicine

I take a keener interest in the autism-vaccine conspiracy nonsense, now that I'm taking my very young son to the doctors every few months for his shots. It bothers me no end that not every parent does the same, and...

Read on »

White paint saves the planet?

Category: climate

Business Week recently published an odd little essay by Greg Blonder, someone I've not come across before. He posits that painting your roof white will do more to offset anthropogenic climate change than installing photovoltaic panels. Seriously. The science appears...

Read on »

June 15, 2007

Circumcision: chopping that loving feeling

Category: biology

A study just published in the British Journal of Urology finds that what boys lose in the process turns out to be the most sensitive part of the penis.

Read on »

The only viable solution to climate change

Category: climate

"In the end, we are going to have the same per capita emissions quota no matter where we live."

Read on »

June 14, 2007

Southern Baptists deny anthropogenic climate change

Category: climate

Which part of the Bible discusses cap-and-trade schemes, emissions caps and carbon sequestration subsidies?

Read on »

How low can Detroit go?

Category: technology

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers has released a radio ad designed to play on soccer mom's fears about road safety, dishonestly arguing that Congressional attempts to increase fuel mileage will make safe cars too expensive to afford. This despite the...

Read on »

Cowards at University College London

Category: pseudo-science

"One of the most eminent scientists in the UK" has been taking on the merchants of woo...

Read on »

June 13, 2007

Obama sees the light ... a bit

Category: politics

A National Mining Association mouthpiece responded this his employers are disappointed Obama has joined a "jihad" against the coal industry.

Read on »

The Loch Ness monster is back ... not

Category: pseudo-science

When CNN announces it has "what Loch Ness Monster watchers say is among the finest footage ever taken" it's hard not to bite. Never mind that what used to be the most famous photographic evidence turned out to be fake....

Read on »

June 11, 2007

Republican education: contradiction in terms?

Category: Sci-culture

Among Republicans, higher education is linked to greater skepticism about global warming

Read on »

June 10, 2007

Rwanda understands the irrationality of the death penalty: The U.S. not so much

Category: politics

As Tara writes at Aetiology, it's interesting that the Rwandan government, which might be excused for letting for a little blood lust taint its criminal justice system, what with the slaughter of 800,000 people on their minds, has voted instead...

Read on »

June 8, 2007

Is "scary" a technical term?

Category: climate

Science magazine today has a long and comprehensive article on scientists who are "Pushing the Scary Side of Global Warming." As it won't be freely available for months, I will post some of the juicy bits, while doing my best...

Read on »

Luddites, the pope and photovoltaics

Category: climate

Something has to charge the batteries, so why not a technology that at least frees one from relying the evil and unreliable "English" electricity grid?

Read on »

June 7, 2007

Brit Hume: Ghoul of global warming

Category: climate

It should have taken all of 20 seconds, or less... to perform a quick Internet search for the terms "oregon" and "petition."

Read on »

June 6, 2007

Unclear on the concept of climate change? Maybe a graph would help

Category: climate

The emissions growth rate since 2000 was greater than for the most fossil-fuel intensive of the IPCC emissions scenarios developed in the late 1990s.

Read on »

June 5, 2007

Data? We don't need no stinking data!

Category: climate

President George W. Bush is getting plenty of attention for finally acknowledging that climate change is a problem, which is at least an improvement over the approach taken by the man overseeing the bulk of climatology being conducted for his...

Read on »

June 4, 2007

Letting go of JFK

Category: philosophy

Few historical events are cloaked in as much confusion and controversy as the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. There's dueling government reports -- one concluded it was the work of a lone gunman, the other fingered an undefined conspiracy. Otherwise...

Read on »

June 1, 2007

Most underused word in the dictionary: Kakistocracy

Category: politics

Last night in Washington DC was held the 80th annual Scripps Spelling Bee. I love watching 8th-graders spell words they (and I) have never heard before. Two items of interest arose. First, the runner-up, for the second year in a...

Read on »

More reaction to Griffin's laid-back approach to climate change

Category: climate

"I almost fell off my chair. It's remarkably uninformed."

Read on »

Search All Blogs

Blogs in the Network

Top Five: Most Active

Top Science Stories

powered by SEED - seedmagazine.com