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
October 30, 2009
Category: climate
Rarely does a blogging day pass that I don't stumble upon some post or comment or email that champions the value of skepticism of anthropogenic global warming and the need for scientists to answer their critics. So it's refreshing to...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:43 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 29, 2009
Category: climate
Dramatic changes are necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change. There's no getting around that. Pretending, as the Globe and Mail does, that any plan that accepts that reality is "unacceptable" is denial, pure and simple.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:44 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 27, 2009
Category: climate
Could Levitt and Dubner have really just chosen their words carelessly? Did they really think that including the phrase "global cooling" in the subtitle and leading off the chapter by repeating the most common denier argument would lead readers to believe they don't have a problem with the consensus view of anthropogenic climate change?
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:24 AM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 26, 2009
Category: climate
No one, or at least, no one worth blogging about, is demanding we bring emissions down to 350 ppm directly from current levels
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:48 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 23, 2009
Category: climate
Figuring out how to get people to disregard their own sensory data in favor of graphs in a PowerPoint presentation, newsmagazine (or a blog post) is proving tricky.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:29 AM • 70 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Sci-culture
No other ideology or religion even comes close to the scientific method's reliance on skepticism to advance understanding.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:29 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 22, 2009
Category: climate
Anyone associated with the production, distribution or support of Limbaugh's program, including the advertisers, must ask themselves some serious questions about their ethical standards.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:20 AM • 21 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 20, 2009
Category: climate
This is the sort of thing that happens when one forgets that being a contrarian is just a means to end, not an end in of itself.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:22 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 16, 2009
Category: climate
Every now and then a commenter at this or any number of other climate-oriented blogs spews out the phrase "the height of arrogance" and uses it in a way that defies logic. For example, one "Bruce" recently wrote "It is...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:41 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
October 15, 2009
Category: climate
It's Blog Action Day. What I find remarkable is the relatively low profile that my particular pet project -- climate change -- enjoys at ScienceBlogs
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:43 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
