July 31, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
Bill Maher, anti-vaxxer and Germ Theory denier, got an award named for Richard Dawkins from an atheist group. The award specifies, among other things, that the recipient should be an atheist and should "advocate[] increased scientific knowledge." Orac notes that Maher is not an atheist and that his anti-vaccine work and his arguments against the germ theory advocate against scientific knowledge, calling that work "anti-science." Jason Rosenhouse disagrees, and Orac replies (with Jason defending himself in the comments). I happen to think Orac has the better of the argument. But that's not what I find interesting. I think the way...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:22 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 28, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
The BBC's Joe Boyle ponders Nigeria's 'Taliban' enigma: They have launched co-ordinated attacks across northern Nigeria, threatening to overthrow the government and impose strict Islamic law - but who exactly are the Nigerian Taliban? Since the group emerged in 2004 they have become known as "Taliban", although they appear to have no links to the Taliban in Afghanistan.… The group's other name, Boko Haram, means "Western education is a sin" and is another title used by local people to refer to the group. … their mission appears clear enough: to overthrow the Nigerian state, impose an extreme interpretation of Islamic...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:30 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
The Bush administration classified various spy photos of glaciers. It isn't clear why. Those glaciers are no imminent danger to us, and are unlikely to learn anything useful about the sources and methods we use to monitor them even with the photos. That we take pictures of glaciers is hardly shocking news to our enemies. Then again, the photos show dramatically different extent of sea ice and mountain glaciers, even from one year to the next. Responding to a request for declassification from the National Academy of Sciences, the Obama administration released the photos. Already various observers are using...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:51 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 26, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
I'm 31 years old. To celebrate my dotage, Sarah Palin will stop screwing up Alaska. And in recent days I have gone to both the Mutter Museum and X-tr33m Mammals. This is quite a way to celebrate a birthday: diseased corpses and awesome extinct mammals. Litopterns! Notoungulates! Soap mummies! Wax models of eye diseases! Awesome!...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 10:46 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 25, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
Have you registered to attend Netroots Nation yet? It's going to be pretty awesome. There will be dozens of panels, touching on political process and political practice, science, civil liberties, climate change, healthcare, and future of just about any topic you care about. And it won't be out of touch pundits taking on these topics. Valerie Jarrett, President Obama's right hand, will be there. You'll see the first public faceoff between Arlen Specter (R D-PA) and Joe Sestak (D-PA). And you'll see my panel, Friday August 14 from 2:00-3:15. We'll be talking about science policy and science denial, and you'll...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 8:19 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 24, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
Shorter David Klinghoffer: Wah!Slightly longer Klinghoffer: Why are people whose views I misrepresent and for whom I have invented a derogatory name so unpleasant to me? Damned deadbeats. Also, academia is the only field of endeavor where people are jerks. The world of business is filled with ambrosia and brotherly love.Bonus flashback Klinghoffer: Sure I said "Hitler understood something about Judaism that even many Jews today don’t grasp," added that "Hitler’s insight into Judaism [is] … a profound theme in rabbinic literature," and praised Hitler's "fascination with and knowledge of Judaism." But I never said "Hitler was right about the...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:03 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 22, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
Off to drink bourbon and schmooze Kentucky legislators....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 2:00 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 21, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
Legislative conferences have better swag in the exhibits hall than do science conferences. To whit: free beer in the hall itself. Also free condoms, free chocolate (including both M&Ms and chocolate Pill dispensers), toys from Toy Manufacturers of America, and no fewer than five versions of the US Constitution. Also, the John Birch Society still exists, and is handing out both constitutions and DVDs inveighing against the national constitutional convention that unnamed forces are apparently agitating for. In Philadelphia. The American Association for Nude Recreation is handing out pins. For attaching to clothing. That they don't want to wear. Other...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:44 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Chatter
When I was little, I called every TV anchor "Cronkite." He literally defined "journalist" for me. He will be missed....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 4:41 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Shorter Longer Bill Dembski: It's wrong to appeal to a judge's authority on federal law, but not to twist Thomas Jefferson's words to pretend we can know what he'd think of modern science.Dembski is responding to Steven Pinker's reply to Disco. DJ Stephen Meyer's op-ed claiming Thomas Jefferson would totally have totally disagreed with Charles Darwin (who was 15 when Jefferson died). Pinker wonders why the Boston Globe keeps giving creationists op-ed space, even after Judge Jones ruled ID unconstitutional in science class. Dembski: Is this vapid appeal to authority all the Darwinians have left?I kid you not....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 4:07 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at 
