November 30, 2009
Category: Culture Wars
A week or so ago, someone broke into a server at the University of East Anglia and made off with a range of emails and other data from the university's Climate Research Unit. This excited lots of climate change deniers, as they've long claimed that CRU had secret evidence that global warming wasn't happening, or something. Much web commentary followed, in which a supposedly "random sample" of these emails were widely distributed and dissected publicly. My first thought on reading about this was not about climate change or the ensuing storm of BS about it. I thought of the scientists'...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:43 AM • 43 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 28, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
Not to delve into the accommodationism wars again, but this claim is just silly. Ophelia Benson comments on Michael Shermer commenting on Jerry Coyne commenting on Michael Shermer, and objects to Shermer's claim that "the right way to respond to theists and/or theism… is simple: there is no one 'right way'. There are multiple ways, all of which work, depending on the context": He expands on the point, but without bothering to say what he means by 'works.' It's a rather silly way to put it, frankly, because one doesn't always expect one's responses to 'work' - one sometimes simply...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 10:54 PM • 39 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 23, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
Just back from Egypt, and still not ready for craziness. So please no one steal a lot of emails from climate scientists and try to dishonestly present a few snippets from them as evidence of a global conspiracy, OK? Also, could everyone stop blogging for a day or two, just until I catch up? Thanks....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 4:27 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 16, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
Alexandria, actually, but still. I'm here at the British Council's conference on Darwin's Living Legacy. It's really a remarkable event, bringing together brilliant biologists from around the world to talk about how the research program begun by Darwin continues today, as well as historians and philosophers giving us a nuanced view of Darwin himself and the reception of his ideas around the world, not to mention sociologists and education experts exploring contemporary reactions to Darwin's ideas (including my own talk comparing Islamic creationist rhetoric with that of American creationists). As always, the informal interactions after the projectors are turned off...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 12:11 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 11, 2009
Category: Policy and Politics
We truly are ruled by the worst in society. Proposition 13, the supermajority requirement for tax increases, and the state's inane proposition system more generally, are destroying California. But what can you do about it?: Backers of an overhaul of California's government, who hope to leverage disgust with Sacramento into support for changing how the state raises taxes and spends money, have a difficult path ahead, according to a new poll of California voters. Major segments of the electorate see the state's problems as the product of unrestrained lawmakers driven by special interests to waste taxpayer money, and reject arguments...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:48 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Sorry for minimal blogging lately, which will continue for the next week or so, most likely. Last Friday I headed off to Kansas, where I helped celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of Kansas Citizens for Science. It was a great time, and a great thing to celebrate. Marvelous to see the gang again and to think about the next decades of KCFS's future. From there, I was off to Minneapolis, where I participated – along with NCSE's Peter Hess – in a symposium at the University of St. Thomas Law School on "ID and the Constitution." Other panelists...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 6:19 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 5, 2009
Francisco Ayala is dead, long live Francisco Ayala....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 3:28 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 3, 2009
Category: Creationism
Todd Wood is a creationist. He is a professor at Bryan College, named for William Jennings Bryan, who prosecuted John Scopes in 1925. He is, in particular, a professor of baraminology, the creationist notion that his particular Christian God created the "kinds" in the first week, and that by careful measurement, he can identify those "kinds." He thinks the earth is less than 10,000 years old. He thinks evolution is wrong, but he also freely acknowledges that it is the very best scientific knowledge available, and has been on a minor crusade to move other creationists away from the absurdities...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 9:50 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Biology
Afarensis and John Hawks bid farewell to a giant....
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 7:55 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Policy and Politics
Martin Cothran – fellow traveler with the Disco. 'Tute, shill for James Dobson's crew, and generally unpleasant person – thinks the dissent of 162 members of American Physical Society disproves a scientific consensus. Alas for Cothran, the APS has 47,189 members, so the dissent of 162 hardly undermines a claim of consensus. Bonus shorter Martin Cothran – A sad story: Guilt by association is wrong. It might lead you to criticize someone for endorsing the racist, eugenic arguments of racist eugenicists, or to criticize an event promoting sexual health and safety for being sponsored by a group which sells novelty...
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Posted by Josh Rosenau at 4:05 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at 
