Time to take out the trash
The European Space Agency devoted some computer time to this representation of all the space junk orbiting the earth....Posted on April 16, 2008 9:23 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
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.
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Profile
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
- Water, water everywhere...
- Sam Harris on Sarah Palin
- Obama talks science
- Come celebrate the mega-comment metablog
- Sarah Palin?
- Sen. Dole vs. the atheists
- Free Us. Now.
- Again with the corals
- How to admit you're wrong
- You can't say that on the radio
Recent Comments
- Diyet on You can't say that on the radio
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- Sophie on Water, water everywhere...
- turkey istanbul on Only Turkey is worse
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- RichB on Sam Harris on Sarah Palin
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- tincture on Sam Harris on Sarah Palin
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for 9 July 2007
Archives
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Other Doubtful Blogs
- Panda's Thumb
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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
--- 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.
technology:
Cell phone idiocy
I also know most people, especially younger types, like to believe they are perfectly capable of multi-tasking. These people include some of my best friends and members of my family. I love them, but that's doesn't mean they're right.Posted on March 12, 2008 12:06 PM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The ecology of HDTV
Watching Battlestar Galactica is way cooler on a wide-screen, regardless of the resolution.Posted on January 7, 2008 9:42 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Sober second thoughts on solar cells
Just about everyone pushing civilization to kick its fossil-fuel habit includes photovoltaics in the list of renewable technologies that will be required to fill the power supply gap. And just about every week one can read about a new breakthrough...Posted on October 16, 2007 8:45 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Nuclear power: the bottom line
"To avert catastrophic global warming, why pick the slowest, most expensive, most limited, most inflexible and riskiest option?"Posted on October 11, 2007 7:45 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
I want this:
A hybrid pedal-electric bike....Posted on September 26, 2007 2:25 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Ch-ch-ch-changes: William Gibson is wrong
Among the axioms of the day is that we live in a time of change, and those changes are taking place at breakneck speed and accelerating. So rapid are the changes that science fiction writer William Gibson has given up...Posted on September 7, 2007 8:47 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Goats and security gates: the sacrifices we make to feel safe
The goats were sacrificed in front of the troublesome aircraft Sunday at Nepal's only international airport in Kathmandu in accordance with Hindu traditions,Posted on September 6, 2007 6:49 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
How low can Detroit go?
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...Posted on June 14, 2007 10:33 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Space: final frontier or fool's errand?
Tomorrow's lunar eclipse has got the moon on my brain, and I'm not the only one. Washinton Post columnist Charles Krauthammer gets it wrong so often that I rarely bother to even glace at his output, but today he touches...Posted on March 2, 2007 12:11 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Texas and a techology fetish
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is having a bad week. The state House Public Health Committee just voted to rescind the governor's executive order requiring all pre-teen girls to be vaccinated against HPV and a county judge ruled against another executive...Posted on February 22, 2007 6:53 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The cost of fusion and freedom
The good news is the world's technological powerhouses have finally agreed to get off their collective butts and start building ITER, the big fusion power experiment. The bad news is they're only planning on spending $12.8 billion on it. That's...Posted on November 22, 2006 7:34 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
