Official Comment Count: 1,032,067

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.

misc:

Win a trip to NYC, just for having an opinion

If you have never posted a comment on ScienceBlogs before, now would be the time. Every commenter who supplies an email these days gets entered to win one of the those all-expenses-paid things to New York City. The trip includes...

Driven to distraction: How often do you check email?

Is every 10 minutes too often?

Come celebrate the mega-comment metablog

If you've ever wanted to know what ScienceBloggers are like in the real world, and you're going to be in the general vicinity of Asheboro, North Carolina (that's halfway between the mountains and the ocean), drop by the NC Zoo...

Want to be a Scienceblogs Super Reader?

If you'd like to join a sort of Scienceblogs elite reader club, you've got two days to send me an email. Each blog here can nominate two readers for access to one massive club account on del.icio.us. You'll be asked...

Who can save science?

How can we help change this absurd culture of celebrity worship, and replace it with one that values the contributions of science?

Vote for best Science Blog: Bad Astronomy

Vote now, before the polls close today at 10 pm ET, in the Best Science Blog competition. It's neck and neck between Bad Astronomy, which is a pretty cool read, and Climate Audit, which is a place where people who...

There is no such thing as a "woman president"

You wouldn't seriously consider using the phrase "man president," now, would you?

The Inevitability of Stupidity case study 567: Jim Watson

Sooner or later even the best of us will come to speak approvingly on something that has no scientific merit.

Better than truthiness

Read the Science Creative Quarterly's list of 15 statements that are as close to being true as we can get without invoking dogma. You won't learn much, but I might win an iPod, allowing my wife and me easy access...

Best headline for drunk astronauts

The Guardian wins the prize for best headline for its coverage of the tipsy astronauts: "Drunk astronauts go from Right Stuff to the hard stuff." While we're on the subject, though, how about this, even less amusing, story: "Three die...

Mandrake, Have you ever seen a Commie drink a glass of water?

Last week, the city council of Brevard, N.C, a community just over a couple of hills from here that's known for its vibrant musical culture, voted to remove the fluoride they've been adding to the public water supply for last...

iPods: Not just metaphorical lightning rods anymore

I love music as much as the next guy, just not when I'm actually out in the real world, which offers much more interesting -- and often critical -- sounds. But I had no idea just how dangerous iPods and...

Girly names and sexy names

"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..."

Enjoy your weekend

... and Al Gore gets blamed for 9/11. I kid you not

A new Dark Age descends upon us (revisited)

I don't really care if those power lines, which are at the moment tangled in a tree lying across the street a few hundred meters from our house, can deliver a megawatt of power for a nanosecond. What I need is one or two kilowatts for several hours at a stretch.

The problem with family trees

My least favorite story-that's-occupying-too-much-media-attention this week is the Al Sharpton-Strom Thurmond family-ties affair. As a former newspaper editor, I know all too well why the story of the uncovering of the connection between a prominent African-American civil-rights leader and famous...

Mea culpa on la barranca magnifica

Following up on a couple of posts back in which I trumpeted Gary Trudeau's inclusion in Doonesbury strip an apocryphal story about Grand Canyon park rangers and the age of the geological wonder they are entrusted with explaining to the...

Blogs in the Network

Advertisement

Top Five: Most Active

  1. This poll cannot stand 10.10.2008 · PZ Myers
  2. Everything you need to know about ID 10.11.2008 · PZ Myers
  3. McCain vs. Gore 10.11.2008 · Jason Rosenhouse
  4. "Christian Nation" Debate 10.11.2008 · Ed Brayton
  5. Review of SMM Exhibit on Race and Racism 10.07.2008 · Greg Laden

Search All Blogs