It's the end of the world as we know it
Category: climate
By 2008 what we were uncertain about wasn't whether the climate was changing for the worse, but just how bad things were.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:35 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Now on ScienceBlogs: Casual Fridays: What makes a good writer, and what motivates them?
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. Mostly regarding climate change, though.
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.
"There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things
which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand.
Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving, and
tiny blasts of tinny trumpets, we have met the enemy, and not only may
he be ours, he may be us."
--Walt Kelly
April 30, 2008
Category: climate
By 2008 what we were uncertain about wasn't whether the climate was changing for the worse, but just how bad things were.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:35 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 26, 2008
Category: evolution
"A no more shameless, stupid and loathsome piece of propaganda has ever skulked its way into the theater."
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 12:38 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 24, 2008
Category: humor
Star Trek's Data would call such behavior a product of a malfunctioning ethical subroutine.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:28 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 23, 2008
Category: climate
Just how much of the stuff is left may be irrelevant.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:31 AM • 23 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: medicine
For presidential contenders to even hint that there might be cause for not vaccinating is irresponsible in the extreme.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:25 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 22, 2008
Category: medicine
Just in case you needed a reminder of what's wrong with America:...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:06 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 20, 2008
Category: science culture
This three-part series on radical skepticism and the rise of conspiratorial thinking about science, by Daniel Engber, in Slate, is required reading for anyone interested in the role of skepticism in science and society. It's called "The Paranoid Style in...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:57 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 19, 2008
Category: Sci-culture
Much has been written, here and elsewhere in the blogosphere, about the media's willingness to give a couple of kids their 15 minutes for challenging scientific orthodoxy, despite the fact that in both cases, the young Galileo-wannabe figures were dead...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:38 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 18, 2008
Category: climate
It is hard to think of a better example of doublespeak. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal editorial on George W's climate change speech and came to the exact opposite conclusion of what really happened. I know the WSJ editorial page has...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:19 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 17, 2008
Category: climate
I don't see as how anyone can rationally argue against a plan that calls for both immediate implementation of existing technology and radically increased spending on research and development of new technology.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:19 AM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks