tqa | February 20, 2009
In his opening remarks for the latest entry in our ongoing debate about public financing for science, Timothy Sandefur suggests that after this post, we move on to concluding remarks. That strikes me as a reasonably good idea (and not just because he's generously offered me the last word). We may not have yet reached a point where we're talking past each other, but we're definitely getting dangerously close to that point.
After reading through Tim's latest post, I'm going to respond to his points out of order. I'm going to start out by looking at the more concrete examples that we've been…
tqa | February 19, 2009
This is one of those "good news/bad news" kind of stories. The good news is that a bird that many scientists thought was extinct was discovered alive in the Philippines recently. The bad news is that it was discovered in a poultry market, and has apparently since been sold and eaten.
Sadly, I'm not joking.
HT: Jonathan Turley
tqa | February 19, 2009
In a recent and very widely distributed AP article, Seth Borenstein manages to do a pretty good job of misunderstanding what's going on with Comet Lulin. In a relatively short column, he manages to generate confusion about the location of the comet, mangle the name of a fairly well-known star, and totally flunk with his explanation of the comet's tail. It's not the worst science writing I've ever seen, but it definitely falls well into "massive fail" territory.
I'm going to take a minute or two and correct the most glaring of his errors, but then I'd like to get into something more…
tqa | February 18, 2009
Conservapedia has an entry for "Martyrs to the faith". (Their capitalization, not mine.) They define martyrs to the faith as, "the Protestants who were executed by Roman Catholics during the Reformation of the 16th century." They then go on to provide a very interesting list of examples, that includes:
John Brown. executed in the late 17th Century for refusing to acknowledge the British Crown's authority over the Scottish church.
Richard Cameron. A Scott who died in battle in the late 17th Century.
Donald Cargill. Yet another of the Scottish Presbyterians who died in the 17th Century while…
tqa | February 18, 2009
At their best, editorial cartoons are a wonderful way to examine politics in a slightly different light. An editorial cartoon that appeared in today's New York Post shows us just what editorial cartoons can be at their worst. Just in case the NY Post decides to try and dump this one down the memory hole, here's a copy of the cartoon:
Words simply fail. If you want to express your opinion of this particular piece of art, you can contact the New York post at (212) 930-8500, or email the Page Six editor, Richard Johnson, rjohnson@nypost.com.
Technorati Tags: politics, flaming small-minded…
tqa | February 18, 2009
"Children are our hope for the future."THERE IS NO HOPE FOR THE FUTURE, said Death."What does it contain, then?"ME."Besides you, I mean!"Death gave him a puzzled look. I'M SORRY?
Terry Pratchett"Sourcery"
Bad Astronomy Blogger Phil Plait has written one of the most fantastically, outrageously, manically, humorously depressing books I've ever read, and I'm almost certain I mean that as a compliment. Death From The Skies provides a veritable smorgasbord of potentially deadly astronomical delights, each more exotic than the last. It's like having every Discovery Channel "The Sky Is Falling"…
tqa | February 17, 2009
Earlier today, someone left the following comment:
Le réchauffement climatique fait partie d'un cycle planétaire qui touche toutes les planètes de notre système et n'a rien avoir avec la pollution.La glace occupe un volume supérieur a son volume en eau, donc: si la glace fond le niveau baisse.Des millions d'humains vivent sous les tropiques et ont des températures supérieures aux pays industrialisés et s'en accomodent trés bien. Le réchauffement de nos régions sera bénéfique pour tous et permettra une expansion de l'agriculture.Le "réchauffement climatique" est un produit de…
tqa | February 17, 2009
The latest edition of The Giants' Shoulders (the monthly history of science carnival) was posted over at Greg Laden's blog a couple of days ago. If you haven't seen it yet, you should go take a look.
tqa | February 17, 2009
A few days ago, Timothy Sandefur posted his second entry in our ongoing debate on the benefits and pitfalls of government funding for the sciences. I've been a bit busy, and I'm just finding time to respond now - I apologize for the delay. While I was doing other things over the weekend, he also posted a response to an article by Steven Quake that I blogged about earlier. This is my response to his rebuttal to my earlier post. I may or may not find the time to reply to his examination of the Quake article later on.
The Internets:
In my first post in the debate, I pointed out that this…
tqa | February 13, 2009
No. But that's apparently not enough to keep some people from making the claim.
There's a story that's making the rounds on some right wing blogs that John Holdren said, at his confirmation hearing, that he thinks that 1 billion people will die as a result of global warming by 2020. So far, that claim has been made at The National Review Online by Chris Horner:
Just got this e-mail from someone up on the Hill, regarding John "Clearly NOT the 'Science' Guy" Holdren's confirmation hearing as (of all things) chief science advisor to the president). I do think it's fair to say we told you so…
tqa | February 12, 2009
As you might recall, early yesterday I noticed that Google had decided to put up a Darwin logo, and predicted that some folks were going to raise hell as a result. That was, of course, one of the safest predictions this side of "it's going to rain in the Amazon Basin sometime this year", but I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the remarks posted on various blogs anyway.
Some of the lunacy can be found below the fold.
The 10:10 Muse writes:
Google may not realize it was the efforts of Abraham Lincoln and each and every American to come since that has ensured their success. It is…
tqa | February 12, 2009
Tonight, we've got a special Conservapedia Quiz for you. This will test your ability to correctly identify the wingnut wackaloon nonsense given a range of choices. The quiz consists of one question, the answer to which may be found at the Conservapedia entry for Natural Selection.
According to Conservapedia, which of the following best describes "Natural Selection"?(a) Natural selection will automatically take place in any system which follows a certain set of rules.(b) Natural selection is a tautology because it follows from its definition.(c) Natural selection has no observable…
tqa | February 12, 2009
I am amusing myself with several little experiments; I have now got a little weed garden & am marking each seedling as it appears, to see at what time of life they suffer most.--Charles DarwinLetter to Joseph Hooker21 March 1857
A few years ago, I was talking with one of my professors. We'd recently been at a seminar where a National Academy of Sciences member had presented some research. The research in question drew a number of good conclusions about the role of seawater chemistry on the history of life using an experimental setup that featured plastic cups arranged on cafeteria…
tqa | February 12, 2009
If you've ever wondered what kind of knowledge base is required to become involved at high levels in science and technology policy, you might want to watch a Senate confirmation hearing sometime. Earlier today, Drs. John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco sat down in front of the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Dr. Holdren is President Obama's nominee to head the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) - a job that's better known as the Presidential Science Advisor. Dr. Lubchenco has been selected as the Administrator of the National Ocean and…
tqa | February 12, 2009Seed's got a video up on their website that outlines the entire history of life on earth. Go watch it. It's really cool, and it'll just take a minute.
tqa | February 12, 2009
Updated - The archived video is now available on the committee website, so I've been able to go back and fill in the details I missed due to earlier technical problems.
Due to technical problems, this liveblog of the Confirmation hearings for Jane Lubchenco and John Holdren begins in progress. Dr. Lubchenco is giving her opening statement.
.......
Opening Statements:Dr. Holdren:Honor and privilege to appear as Office of Science and Technology Policy nominee. Office has two areas of responsibility. One is input into policy, education and training, and fostering innovation. Other is…
tqa | February 12, 2009
There's a lot happening today.
200 x 2: Today marks the 200th birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. I know a lot more about biology than about history, so I'll be concentrating on Darwin. But I certainly don't want to dis Lincoln.
There will be a large number of posts on various science blogs marking the Darwin anniversary. Blog For Darwin is collecting the links for posts about Darwin written through the end of the weekend.
I'll have a post up later in the day highlighting six square feet of ground at Down House.
Google will undoubtedly be the target of a great deal…
tqa | February 11, 2009Conservapedia has a category for pages about abstinence. This category currently contains a single entry, for "teen pregnancy".
tqa | February 11, 2009
As you may have heard, Representative Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich) is in a bit of hot water right now. The Congressman, who is the ranking minority member of the House Intelligence Committee, posted a number of updates to his Twitter page while in Baghdad recently.
The Congressman's motivation? Apparently, his constituents' need to know outweighs mundane concerns like operational security:
The spokesman, Dave Yonkman, added: "He believes in giving people in West Michigan as much access as possible, and posting on Twitter allows him to provide real-time insight into the sights and sounds of his…
tqa | February 11, 2009...in our ongoing debate about government funding for scientific research is now available at his blog Freespace. I'm a bit tied up with other things today and tomorrow, so it may be Friday before I get a chance to post a response. In the meantime, since his blog doesn't allow for comments, feel free to continue the discussion here.