August 20, 2007
As any scienceblog reader now knows, we all met up in NYC this weekend. I met many of my sciblings for the first time, including Orac, Tara, PZ, Chris Mooney and the lovely Sheril, Grrl, Zuska (we hatched an evil plot muahaha), Mo, Kemibe, Bora, Janet, Shelley, Rob Knop, RPM, Jake and…
August 17, 2007
One of the problems with denialists is that they simply can't accept that science doesn't conform to their ideology. For instance, it's not enough to just be morally opposed to abortion, the anti-choice organizations have to misrepresent risks of the procedure, including promoting the false link…
August 16, 2007
The Telegraph reports on surnames which may indicate a pirate heritage.
With all that pillaging and looting, it could be one of the bloodiest reunions in history when descendants of six of Britain's famous pirates are invited to a get-together.
People with the surnames Morgan, Rackham, Bonny,…
August 16, 2007
I can't resist, Adams thinks he has a real winner with this study's null results on vitamin C & E. As we've shown, Newstarget's claims of the medical benefits shown in this study reflect, a poor understanding of p values, and a willingness to ignore data showing increased risks from beta-…
August 16, 2007
Oddly enough, I agree with (most) of one of them.
The attack on Newsweek's article "The Truth About Deniers continues with a piece from Robert Samuelson in the WaPo. Samuelson, true to form, sees a hard problem and resorts to saying, "It's hard, we can't do anything about it!" His boring fatalism…
August 16, 2007
The Giant Robot Edition of the Skeptics' circle is up at the Bronze Blog.
He has chosen a theme "cooler than ninjas, pirates, and pirate ninjas: Giant robots." And he's collected a great pool of fighters to defend against all kinds of woo.
Good job Bronze Dog! Check it out.
August 16, 2007
Sociologists are. Or so says Inside Higher Ed.
Sociologists -- especially those who study sexuality -- have for years done research that was considered controversial or troublesome by politicians or deans. Many scholars are proud of following their research ideas where they lead -- whatever…
August 15, 2007
It's up on Google video - and embedded here. Enjoy!
H/T Factition and Bad Science.
August 15, 2007
Remember how I said you shouldn't source Wikipedia? Well here's another reason. Fox News likes to edit it.
Ha!
August 15, 2007
No. But the WSJ would like you to believe so.
One libertarian talking point I hear a lot (Cato of course loves this story), and is repeatedly pushed by the WSJ, is that the market and consumers should decide the safety and efficacy of drugs - not dirty gov'mint bureaucrats who want nothing but…
August 15, 2007
I couldn't make it a week without talking again about Newstarget, home of Altie-med uber-crank Mike Adams. This time, they caught my eye with a surprising read of this large study of the antioxidant vitamins C and E. Jack Challem, writing for Newstarget, tells us the good, but hidden, news from…
August 13, 2007
Via Pandagon we see that at least one administration official knew ahead of time the types of troubles we would encounter trying to occupy Iraq.
August 13, 2007
Karl Rove quits.
I wonder what this means? This administration has so little transparency one always feels like interpreting their actions is like trying to read tea leaves. Does this mean they realize Karl Rove's advice isn't pulling Bush out of his terrible approval ratings? Is Rove trying to…
August 13, 2007
The Washington Post had a fascinating article over the weekend entitled The Sacrifices of Albania's 'Sworn Virgins'. It turns out that in the rural and mountainous regions of Albania, there developed a custom several hundred years ago by which women could assume all the rights of men, but in…
August 13, 2007
Responding to an idiotic challenge from Vox Day Scott Hatfield has chosen to debate Vox at some point after August 15th.
I don't know what to think. On the one hand, debating a crank like Vox day is unlikely to do anyone any good. It's not like a guy who doesn't think that science is valid (all…
August 13, 2007
The Wall Street Journal comments on some select results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) testing which this year included some questions on economics.
Pop quiz. Which has been most important in reducing poverty over time: a) taxes, b) economic growth, c) international…
August 10, 2007
The critical word being "think". Cato's Daniel Mitchell writes The More You Tax, the Less You Get . His stunning proof? Cigarette taxes. Wow.
An article in USA Today notes that big tax hikes on tobacco have dramatically reduced consumption of cigarettes. This is hardly surprising. Indeed,…
August 10, 2007
Today's post is one of the best ever. Woodwinds are the instruments of Satan.
August 10, 2007
Do I have to roll up a newspaper?
Big Tom warned me in today's cranks post of the ABC news' headline Global Warming Tipping Point in '09?" in regards to this paper from the Hadley Centre on new more sophisticated modeling techniques. Could they be more boneheaded?
Fortunately, nowhere in the…
August 10, 2007
Today is a big day for cranks in two separate areas, but the interesting thing is the similarity of the responses.
First we have Casey Luskin of the "top think tank" the Discovery Institute (wow, they must be right up there with Cato and CEI!) blathering about paleontologists don't know anything…
August 10, 2007
As if I needed more evidence for the phenomenon of crank magnetism, Mike Adams has a post on the Nutrition behind the Secret.
Apparently, the secret to the Secret is Mike Adams nutritional advice.
Few people really know one of the most important secrets to making "The Secret" work: Establishing the…
August 10, 2007
What is it about "family" organizations and bigotry? That's some definition of family they've got there. The latest comes courtesy of the American Family News Network, and features the lovely hate of Congressman Bill Sali.
"We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a…
August 9, 2007
Some readers have been emailing me about the Utah mine disaster saying the mine owners are using some seriously fishy arguments. I am in no way shape or form a geologist, but after reading the coverage of the Utah mine collapse I can't help thinking the CEO saying it was an earthquake - not a mine…
August 9, 2007
Deadline is next tuesday, and it's at the Bronze Blog. Send your entries.
August 8, 2007
Responding to a commentor on a thread about animal rights, I again encountered this funny view of nature that some people have. Two sentences in particular just struck me as being out of touch with reality.
The alternative may be to try to live in harmony with nature.
...
Trying to dominate…
August 8, 2007
No.
However, there is never a shortage of crankery from Mike Adams who asserts Microwave ovens destroy the nutritional value of your food. There may be too much idiocy here to address but let's get started.
The rise of widespread nutritional deficiencies in the western world correlates almost…
August 6, 2007
Ah Egnor. The chief purveyor of foot-in-mouth disease at Evolution News and Views takes on Dunford's recent post on the intellectual dishonesty of the intelligent design creationist movement and shows exactly why Dunford has a point.
Intelligent design is a cheesy attempt to smear a patina of…
August 6, 2007
Alert readers have brought to my attention two articles of interest to the study of denialism. First a big fat article in Newsweek entitled The Truth About Denial is a good overview of the anti-scientific crusade of conservative crank tanks to dispute global warming. It has a nice timeline of the…
August 6, 2007
How will the homophobes greet this latest article in Nature describing a pheromone "switch" in mice that when inactivated - even in adult mice - appears to change their sexual orientation?
Briefly let's go over what the researchers found.
Mice that lacked a gene named Trpc, responsible for encoding…
August 5, 2007
Fighting the "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance seemed like such a folly a year or so ago, but then Texas reminds us of just how pushy the religious can be.
Texas students will have four more words to remember when they head back to class this month and begin reciting the state's pledge of…
