You will notice that it lacks definiteness; that it lacks purpose; that it lacks coherence; that it lacks a subject to talk about; that it is loose and wabbly; that it wanders around; that it loses itself early and does not find itself any more. --Mark Twain
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the National Center for Science Education. He is formerly a doctoral candidate at the University of Kansas, in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. When not battling creationists or modeling species ranges, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences.
The opinions expressed here are his own, do not reflect the official position of the NCSE. Indeed, older posts may no longer reflect his own official position.
Long ago (1656), Blaise Pascal wrote an apologetic note that editors have been quoting at prolix writers ever since: The present letter is a very long one, simply because I had no leisure to make it shorter.Brevity is a key to effective writing, if nothing else because it's hard to hold a reader's attention, but also for stylistic reasons. Short sentences lend emphasis. Alas, it's slow and painful. Three hundred years after Pascal, Strunk and White's Elements of Style again emphasized the insistence on removing needless words wherever possible, one of several Strunk and White choices questioned by other style...
Having a cold isn't as much fun as you'd think. Back to regular blogging shortly. If you haven't registered for SkeptiCal '11 yet, there's still time before Sunday....
Janet Stemwedel has an open letter, and as someone who got the same ham-fisted promotions, and didn't write about it for roughly the same reason (also I don't care about silly putty), I can endorse her letter wholeheartedly....
Thanks to BoingBoing for this example of the importance of skepticism: A gang of thieves in Istanbul, Turkey have reportedly been dressing like doctors and distributing sedatives door to door, telling residents the medicine was related to a test for high blood pressure. Once the victims dosed, the thieves would rob them. As part of the police investigation, officers attempted the same trick but used placebos. Apparently 86 out of 100 people who answered the door took the pill right away. Police then attempted to explain why that was a bad idea. From Reuters: Turkish police in other provinces have...
Via Laughing Squid, we learn that students at the UK's Strode College were tasked with building outfits from cardboard packaging, and one created this whimsical number. If they'd just incorporate the technology from these prosthetic tentacles, this would be the greatest thing ever....
If you aren't following me on twitter, you really should. Like a lot of bloggers, I've taken to using twitter as a repository for minor commentary and individual links that aren't quite deserving of their own blog post, but that still amuse me. So if you aren't reading the twitter feed, you aren't getting the full TfK experience. So keep track of me at @JoshRosenau....
Dear Archie McPhee, Please send me 20 finger tentacles (fingers AND toes). This is all I want for Christmas, except maybe tentacle prostheses. And if you know Morehouse Farm, please ask them to send along these adorable Hedgehog Mittens. Because hedgehogs are as adorable as cephalopods are awesome. Thanks, Josh...
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at 
