Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
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 and communications consultant 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
May 30, 2008
Category: climate
This may strike some as a bit much, but why the heck not? An opera based on "An Inconvenient Truth." The only problem is, how will the librettist keep the science of climate change current with an expected opening (at...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:35 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 29, 2008
Category: climate
Will warmer temperatures lead to more clouds, which could act as a negative feedback and put the brakes on further warming? Probably not, but we don't know.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:28 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 27, 2008
Category: climate
Until we have something like the petaflop climate computer, any economics model is going to come with hopelessly wide margins of error.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:48 AM • 25 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 26, 2008
Category: climate
This isn't the first time Alaska's politicians have demonstrated their contempt for science.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:41 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 21, 2008
Category: evolution
One in eight. Is that low enough? Not according to the authors of a new paper in PLoS Biology who conducted the "first nationally representative survey of teachers concerning the teaching of evolution." They did come up with some optimistic...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 6:41 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 19, 2008
Category: climate
...read the backgrounder produced by Real Climate's Rasmus Benestad. It's another example of the kind of reseach journalists need to do before writing about climate change research....
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:21 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 16, 2008
Category: climate
Is putting real money on something as consequential as a computer model of climate trends consistent with the professional detachment that's supposed to accompany honest research?
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:46 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 15, 2008
Category: climate
This is all angels-on-pinhead philosophy. The real question is, would are the real consequences of an ESA listing?
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:27 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 14, 2008
Category: climate
Word is the U.S. Interior Department, after much delay, is going to list the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) "as a threatened species because of declining Arctic sea ice," according to major news service alert. Marvelous. Now all we have to...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:41 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
May 13, 2008
Category: religiosity
There are basically two kinds of news consumers. Those who will find David Brooks' latest creation from his corner of the New York Times stable of columnists absolutely irresistible and those who will cross the street to Fox News before...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:50 PM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Orac 02.13.2012
Orac 01.26.2012
PZ Myers 02.02.2012
Jason Rosenhouse 02.12.2012
ERV 11.26.2011
