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Bart Ehrman: God's Problem. Athests Talk #0072, Sunday May 31, 2009

Bart Ehrman is a scholar of The Bible and has published popular works at a rapid clip on the subjects of theodicy and the literary history of the books some refer to as "Scripture." He was an evangelical who believed that The Episcopalian Church in which he was raised was too tame on the teachings of Jesus' Word of Salvation. Dedicating himself to the study of the original Greek versions of the Gospels and New Testaments in order to better understand the word of God, he made the discovery that (Whoops!) the Bible couldn't be an inerrant instruaction manual. There were too many…

...As Long As They Spell Your Name Right

As previously noted, the UK edition of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is selling very well via the Guardian's online bookshop, among other UK venues. It's doing well enough that I might need to start referring to the original text as the American edition of How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog... There's a nice ironic twist to the Guardian aspect of it, though, in the form of a review by that paper that I hadn't previously noticed until this book business summary brought it to my attention. It's a blisteringly bad review, basically dumping hate all over the talking-dog conceit. Which,…

The Inevitable Hiatus

So, I'm looking at the couple-dozen tabs I have open in Chrome for stuff that I think would be worth blogging about, and the slides for this afternoon's lecture that need revising, and the student poster that needs to be completed before tomorrow, and the committee stuff that I ought to be doing, and the laundry that needs dealing with, and it occurs to me that there's one thing I haven't had time for, which is the book I'm writing. Thus, effective immediately, I'm putting social media on quasi-hiatus. There may still be some links dump posts here, as I will occasionally be reading stuff…

The big list of history of science blogs

Following last week's discussion of blogging within the history of science community, I've stumbled on a few more resources. In no particular order, here's everything I have so far. Group or Organizational Blogs History of Science in America HSS Graduate and Early Career Caucus Society for the History of Technology News (SHOTnews) HSTM at Minnesota (University of Minnesota graduate students) Logan Lounge (University of Pennsylvania graduate students) In Retrospect (University of Utrecht graduate students) Individual Blogs by Historians of Science John M. Lynch - yours truly, faculty at…

Let This Quantum Computing Bastardization Pass?

In an article on stopping a large spectrum of light with metamaterials in The Telegraph (research which is very cool, but isn't available online, yet, as far as I can tell), I find some lines that would make the Optimizer go bonkers: By contrast, the switches in a quantum computer can be both "on" and "off" at the same time. A "qubit" could do two calculations at once, two qubits would do four and so on. Thus, it was theoretically possible to use quantum computers to explore vast numbers of potential solutions to a problem simultaneously. Ouch, my brain hurts. Okay, so I'm fine with, if a bit…

My Blogging Year

Bora and Janet have done it, so why not. Basic idea is to reproduce the first sentence of the first post over the past year. I've noted before that a significant number of lawyers not only to deny evolution but also appear to think that their training as a lawyer enables them to adjudicate scientific "controversies" (real or percieved). Some quick blasts as it's mid-week, I'm busy, and probably wont do much blogging until the weekend. Still busy here. I seem to have annoyed someone by the moniker of 'dlamming', apparently a graduate student who is interested in yeast. This more or less…

The Rise and Fall of Bird Flu in News Coverage and the Impact on Public Perceptions

Bird flu is suddenly back in the news as officials in Indonesia report new cases this week. In a spring 2006 Skeptical Inquirer Online column, after evaluating trends in reporting and opinion polling, I offered this outlook on the nature of news coverage and its impact on public perceptions: Though experts are often quick to criticize the media, so far, there is little evidence that news coverage of Avian flu has promoted undue alarm among the American public. Public attention to the topic remains relatively low, while few Americans express worry that they or their family might contract the…

The Toronto Charter for Physical Activity: A Global Call for Action

Most weekends on Obesity Panacea we post our favourite obesity and fitness related news, stories and videos. This week I am only linking to one thing, because it is incredibly important and I'd really like everyone to check it out.  The final version of Toronto Charter for Physical Activity is now online.  I discussed the Charter in detail a few weeks ago, and it has also been discussed by Speaking of Medicine. Essentially, the Charter aims to convince world leaders of the important role that physical activity plays in physical, mental, social, environmental, and economic well-being, and…

ScienceBlogs Pie Making Contest!

Image by Pauladamsmith. So it appears that ScienceBlogs are once again celebrating Pi Day (March 14) by throwing a pie making contest called the Pi Day Pie Off.  ScienceBloggers can take part, but fortunately for us, so can their readers (this is where you come in).  I know that a lot of our friends and readers are foodies (I'm looking at you Summer Tomato), so I wanted to let everyone know about it while there is still time to enter.  It can be any kind of pie (dessert, meat, pizza, or otherwise), so be creative.  Details on contest entry are below the fold.  To enter, just send us an…

Skloot Launches FAQ Blog Series Answering Reader Questions About The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

As some of you may have noticed, things have been a weeeeeeee bit quiet here at Culture Dish.  This is what happens when a person embarks on a totally insane book tour.  I've been on the road for two months straight since the publication of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, giving talks, signing books, meeting readers, and doing lots and lots and lots of interviews for TV and radio (talking to folks like Stephen Colbert, Jim Axelrod of CBS Sunday Morning, Terry Gross, and many others).  This has been a wonderful experience, which I will be posting about soon (complete with videos and…

Blogging isn't the path to riches, I guess

I'm getting a lot of sad stories about bloggers struggling financially, and I just thought I'd mention a few of them. There's the perennially struggling Gary Farber, of course. He's a blogger emeritus, having been around for several years longer than I have. Check out his left sidebar for options to help him out. Gary has mentioned that the fierce and acerbic Roy Edroso of Alicublog is having a rough go of it, too. Now I learn that Lance Mannion is deep in a hole and scrabbling to escape. He's writing a book on raising a child with Asperger's — somebody ought to snap it up, he's a wonderful…

Gods for everyone!

Thank you for the concern about my spiritual well-being, Craig Clarke! Usually I just get promises to pray for me and bible quotes and suggestions to bring a big bottle of aloe vera with me when I go to hell, but Craig gave me choices. He sent me a link to the Godchecker, an online searchable database of deities. It currently contains 2,850 gods in its listings (which are not complete—there is no Echidne, for instance), all of which have been worshipped by people at some time in history. Craig sent me a few recommendations, and I searched for a few of my own. There is one squid god, Kanaloa.…

Scientists of America, Unite!

My piece in the latest issue of Seed--not yet online, but will be soon I hope--is about the scientist activism group that just announced its existence, Scientists and Engineers for America. As I argue in Seed, this could be the organization that finally brings the national scientific community out of its political torpor by targeting races and trying to actually unseat politicians who egregiously misuse and abuse science. So far, though, the particular races that Scientists and Engineers for America will invest in don't seem to have been picked: The group is looking at the Senate race in…

Nifty Online Housing Info Apps (Detroit In Trouble)

If you live in the Detroit area, likely this info will just serve to depress you more than you likely already are. Why might that be? Well the housing market in the big D had been notoriously crappy lately with the downturn of the auto industry and subsequent factory closings. Seems like everyone is leaving Michigan these days. But according to the USA Today "infogram" (whatever that means), San Francisco has also taken a big hit lately. Perhaps the recent surge in anti-chorale violence plays a role? Anyway, a few fun and useful ways to waste time or find a roof over your head: HousingMaps…

A Call for More Animal Sounds in Music

I think animal sounds are sorely underutilized in music. I have thought that ever since first hearing the lovely introductory sounds in Lemon Jelly's A Tune for Jack (2001): I wondered: why don't more bands do this? The sounds of animals are good for the soul and, as animals become less and less a part of our daily lives due to urbanization and population declines, it is deeply pleasing to get a supplement of their sounds... In their song Furr (2008), Blitzen Trapper emulates the call of a loon with a small toy water pipe: Luckily, there is an even better source than a water pipe. The…

TIME Magazine's Person of the Year 2010: Mark Zuckerberg

Photo: Flickr Scott Beale / Laughing Squid This morning, TIME magazine announced their choice for Person of the Year: Founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg. I am one amongst more than 500 million users worldwide that have used the power of online social networking to not only connect with others but to use this technology as a tool for research and teaching and learning. I am just beginning to see its potential. On a personal level, I have been able to connect with old friends using Facebook; reaching out using the now quaint technology email never seemed to work. I invite you to share…

Leaving a Class for a discussion

I saw this some time ago, probably in The Teaching Professor online magazine thingy. The basic idea is to leave your class alone when they are having a discussion. I have done this a couple of times. Yesterday was the first time this semester. Here is the deal. In this class (Physics for Elementary Education Majors), they collect evidence and build models. For that day, the experiments were giving students evidence about what happens to a fan cart when the strength of the fan changes and what happens when the mass of the cart changes. When it came time to discuss the ideas, I made sure…

My comment for Barbara Boxer

Left at her online comment form: I fly regularly, both for work and to visit my family in New Jersey. I have probably taken at least one round trip flight every year of my life, and lately I fly several times a year. I am not a threat to aviation. Why does the TSA treat me and every other traveler as if we were criminal suspects, then? The new x-ray scanners are profoundly invasive, and potentially threaten travelers' health. They would also be easy for terrorists to evade. The alternative to this dangerous and invasive x-ray is an invasive search that I would consider sexual harassment…

Google dark cloud

Why Gmail Failed Today: Gmail, which recently passed AOL to become the third largest Web mail service in the U.S., is obviously having some growing pains. A few hours of downtime is not the end of the world, although it might seem like it at the time. It just better not make this a new habit. The main issue is that Google obviously has to go down less often. But it's never going to be perfect, that's reserved for God. So the question is how often can it go down without people getting angry? It isn't as if not-cloud applications don't fail, we all know of many instances when computers won't…

Vulture Capitalists and Rudi Giuliani

If you thought Bernie Kerik was bad, wait until you hear about Republican presidential hopeful Rudi Giuliani's new best friend: Paul Singer, a long time Republican campaign contributor who has pledged to raise $15 million for Giuliani. The phrase "vulture capitalist" might sound trite, but when you hear how Singer made (and still makes) his fortune, you'll agree there's no other way to describe it. Singer was the inventor of what are known as "vulture funds." A vulture fund buys discounted international loans from developing countries and then sues the country and forces it to repay the…

Should DC Tax Soda?

Earlier this month, the DC City Council passed the Healthy Schools Act, which will raise nutritional standards for school meals, increase the amount of physical and health education students receive, create school gardens, and do all kinds of other commendable things. The difficult part is that it'll cost $6.5 million annually, and we're in the middle of a budget crunch. Councilmember Mary Cheh has proposed a funding mechanism that has the potential to not only raise money but to fight obesity at the same time: a one-cent-per-ounce excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. (The beverages are…

Expanding Insurance Coverage: Two Key Questions

Itâs Cover the Uninsured Week, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is working to âhighlight the fact that too many Americans are living without health insurance and demand solutions from our nationâs leaders.â Concern about uninsurance is growing as more people lose jobs that provided them with health insurance. But most of the factors behind our countryâs high uninsurance rates preceded the current economic downturn. According to Cover the Uninsured, average costs paid by an employee for an individual health insurance premium have risen nearly eight times faster than average U.S. incomes…

Illinois's Subsidy to Coal's Bob Murray, Wilbur Ross and Exxon

The demand for coal is going through the roof.  Do giant U.S. energy companies really need a handout? Apparently, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opporunity thinks so. Yesterday, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich announced the awarding of millions of dollars in economic development aid to some of the biggest coal mining companies in the country.  Illinois is subsidizing the coal mining activities of Murray Energy (owner of the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah), Peabody Energy (self-proclaimed "world's largest private-sector coal company"),  Wilbur Ross' International Coal…

A global warming conspiracy theorist has won 4 states, should we be worried?

The states in Green have gone for Rick Santorum, who besides having a a Google problem also believes in one of the wackiest conspiracy theories there is - the climate change hoax. That is, the belief that there is a shady group of Illuminati that have power over thousands of climate scientists from all over the world, and in their greed for sweet sweet grant money scientists uniformly falsify all their data to serve this power-hungry cabal. Is that an exaggeration? Nope, that's what people who believe in the "hoax" ascribe to (see skeptical science's thorough debunking of Evans here).…

Is this for real? Racist attacks on Obama from all sides

I hate having to repost this but there's a reason. If you watch the GOP rally's lately, they are becoming filled with hate, with near-violence, with hyperbole calling Obama as terrorist. McCain isn't my candidate, but that's it---I may not agree with him, but I know he's no terrorist; I know he's not evil. But the GOP is now explicitly calling up it's more violent, racist base in its desperate attempt to claw its way back to the top. A lot of folks around here like primates. In fact, all of the bloggers around here are primates. So a number of us are pretty riled up about a recent story…

World Water Week: What's in Your Tap?

By Liz Borkowski Aman at Technology, Health & Development reminds us that itâs World Water Week, and provides a great collection of water-related links for the occasion. Several of the articles are about a backlash against bottled water â apparently, a critical mass of people has just discovered that a) tap water is often as clean, if not cleaner, than bottled water and b) that buying bottled water is wasteful. Now that weâre all quenching our thirst with tap water again, this might be a good time to look at a few concerns that have been arising about municipal water supplies. Angry…

GOPcare passes House, threatens healthcare of millions

Last week, 217 Republican members of the House of Representatives passed a bill that, if it becomes law, will leave millions of people without health insurance. We don’t have a good grasp of how many millions will be harmed, because they were in too much of a hurry to wait for an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office — or, in some cases, to read the bill they were voting on. My guess is that most of those members know it’s a terrible bill that will harm many of their constituents, and they’re hoping the Senate will fix the mess they’ve made. Like the original American…

A Phabulous Phablet from Lenovo

Lenovo makes two Phablets that are similar, the 4G and the 4G plus. The latter is not bigger (in fact, it is a little smaller) but rather, has higher specs all around, making it a fairly expensive device. But the Lenovo PHAB 4G Phablet (regular) is practically free and is actually rather Phabulous. OK, well, not fee, but about 170 bucks or so, except now closer to $130 from Gearbest. (As far as I know this is the only place to get it. Gearbest has a very large selection of Lenovo phones and phablets, as well as a high diversity of generally very affordable tablets.) So, I tried out the…

Why do you think they call it "dope"?

I had mentioned earlier the discovery of Morris the Jewish hardware store owner and Mr. Bryne the Jewish department store owner. There are two ways in which Jewish people seemed to play a disproportionate role in the retail world when I was growing up. In fact, there was an overarching ethnicity to much of the business community; Diners tended to have been owned by Greeks, sit down restaurants tended to be Italian; and clothing and textile stores Jewish. In those days, much of the clothing worn by my mother and sisters was made by my mother on her sewing machine using patterns she'd buy at…

Coulter fan flaunts foolishness

Scarcely do I mention Ann Coulter and my challenge to her fans, than one such fan shows up in the comments. You will not be surprised that this person didn't even try to meet the challenge, which is to cite some specific paragraph in Coulter's drecky book, Godless, that they considered to be making a solid scientific point. Here's all he could cough up. For all of you that buy into the evolution answer for where we come from, I have the following question; How is it that science cannot demonstrate or replicate species change yet we have so many species. Please dont mention finches either.…

Silence is the Enemy: Focusing on reducing sexual violence

For the past few years, I have been horrified by Nicholas Kristof's posts about violence against children in various crisis zones around the globe - and I have been captivated by his stories of choosing to engage as a human being with such distress and pain rather than a so-called "impartial" or "objective" journalist. In particular, I think of his reporting in 2004 from Cambodia about children forced into sex slavery and his decision to try to buy two girls to free them from traffickers, and his decision with his family to open a school east of Phnom Penh to educate girls to help prevent…

Doug Fieger of The Knack dies at 57 of metastatic lung cancer

I was an angry 14- or 15-year-old in late 1978 or early 1979 - can't recall which year, but definitely angry - walking home on a Sunday night after a dishwasher shift at Grandma's Saucy Apron, a now-defunct Italian restaurant in my hometown where I was working to make money for a Spanish National Honor Society trip to Spain over the upcoming Spring Break. I turned on 99X (New York City's WXLO-FM) at 9 pm for a new radio show I enjoyed from KXOA in Sacramento, CA, called The Great American Radio Show with Mike Harrison. It was the near-end of the disco era and this album-oriented rock (AOR)…

Villa Sophia Cab 2008: The Beginnings

This weekend the grapes for my second "real" batch of wine were delivered to Mountain Homebrew and Wine Supply. Last years vintage, Villa Sophia "La Gruccia" was a success in that it didn't turn to vinegar and that over time it is definitely mellowing out, but I wouldn't say it was a fantastic wine. This year I'm a bit more hopeful and have some ideas for how to modify my process to produce a better wine. Saturday, October 25: Picked up grapes from Mountain Homebrew. I order 150 pounds of Cabernet Sauvignon, a full 50 pounds more than last year which should give me a yield of around 70 to…

Memory chips from Neuron Cultures

Memory for computers is getting pretty large, but it is still based on basically the same system that it was several years ago. They have just gotten better a fabricating them. It is an interesting question to ask whether we could store memories in alternative substrates such as biological ones. The idea is an intriguing one, particularly when we are talking about neurons, because while the capacity of biological networks isn't infinite, it is pretty damn large. Just think of the system for long-term memories in your brain. The fact that you can remember your first grade teachers name…

No, Obama really did not say that...

One of my occasional readers just forwarded me the following email. A quick google search reveals that the same story has been making the rounds of the wingnuttier segments of the intertubes over few months. (By the way, nutbars, the word you're looking for is "gaff", not "gaft". UNBELIEVABLE PRESIDENT??? THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE MOST OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENT EVER MADE BY A PUBLIC OFFICIAL, LET ALONE BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. THIS GUY IS OUR "COMMANDER IN CHIEF". HE IS A DISGRACE! HERE IS HIS RESPONSE WHEN HE BACKED OFF FROM HIS DECISION TO LET THE MILITARY PAY FOR THEIR WAR…

Terror Attack on Australia Shock Horror

The Power Line blog informs us that the Kerry campaign has mounted a "terrorist attack on Australia": "We all know that Kerry's sister is over in Australia telling the Aussies to vote for their [leftist] candidate if they want to be safer from terrorist attacks; that they need to pull their troops out of Iraq, and not help the U.S. (because that's why they will be, and have been attacked). So, how is this NOT a soft terrorist attack on Australia from the Kerry campaign? She goes over there, and with words instead of bombs, terrorizes the…

Energy Efficiency

I think one of the most important tests of behavioral economics will arrive in the next few years, as we attempt to persuade consumers to improve energy efficiency in the home. Just imagine if, instead of installing granite on every kitchen countertop, we'd instead spent that money on better window seals and insulation. Of course, if people were rational agents, we wouldn't need cleverly constructed "choice environments," since the vast majority of efficiency improvements pay for themselves with reduced energy bills within a few years. (According to Energy Star, buying more efficient…

Storm World Receives Starred Reviews From Both Publishers Weekly and Kirkus

My new book, Storm World, will not be out for another two months yet; it hits in early July. However, the early reviews are coming in from outlets serving the literary and publishing industry such as Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. And I'm now tremendously pleased to be able to report that both of these publications have singled out the book, giving it starred reviews. The reviews themselves are reproduced in full below the fold; the Publisher's Weekly version is also available online without a password (search for my name or the title). From Publishers Weekly: (Starred Review) Storm…

Saving face on the ice

Liz and Celeste are on vacation, so we're re-posting some content from our old site. By Celeste Monforton, originally posted 11/4/09 I admit it: I have a soft spot for hockey players. It probably stems from my Michigan upbringing, including my family's winter-time ritual of making an outdoor hockey rink, and the annual trek from Detroit to Nantias Sport Shop on Wyandotte Street in Windsor, Ontario to buy new hockey skates and gear for my male siblings. Brothers Roger and Dave wore (Bobby Orr's) Boston Bruin jerseys while brother Tony favored Chicago Blackhawks' (Keith Magnuson's) colors…

With Great Traffic Comes Great Responsibility

At the suggestion of our resident ethicist, we've decided to try to use the power of ScienceBlogs to do some good. Thus, we present the first-ever ScienceBlogs Charity Fundraiser. Here's the deal: An organization called Donors Choose solicits proposals from school teachers who want equipment that their districts can't provide. They then accept donations toward the purchase of those items, and give the money to the districts and teachers who need it. The proposals range from requests for money to buy computers and other tech gadgets (LCD projectors are a popular request) to books for use in…

“We Live In Little Houses Made of Beans”

We were discussing insects. What about eating insects? When it comes up that I've lived in the Central African Rain Forest, certain questions often come up, and one of them is: "Did you eat bugs?" Every one has seen those National Geographic specials where some natives somewhere are eating insects, and of course, Westerners who think they generally don't eat insects are fascinated with the idea. However, Westerners eat a lot more insects than they think. You should really consider any processed food you eat that started out as a plant crop to be part insect. If what you are eating is…

Giant Comics Round-Up

I stopped by the library the other day, just to see if they had anything new, and I happened across the graphic novel section, which actually had a fairly decent selection of collected comics. As I've said before, I balk at paying $20 for soemthing that will take me an hour to read, particularly if I don't know whetehr I'll like it. You can't beat free, though, so I checked a bunch of stuff out of the library to see what it's like. I'll collect them together here so as not to swamp the blog with separate comic posts. 100 Bullets I originally picked up just the first volume of this, and then…

Lost Tomb of Jesus

Last week, I promised I'd watch this documentary about the "lost tomb of Jesus" because it was being advertised here on Pharyngula. Promise fulfilled, but the ghastly program was two hours long—two hours of nothing but fluff. I've put a bit of a summary of the whole show below the fold, but I'm afraid there's nothing very persuasive about any of it, and it was stretched out to a hopelessly tedious length. 8:00-8:30 We learn that there were some ossuaries pulled out of a tomb in 1980. The names scrawled on them: Jesus bar Joseph, Jose, Mary, Matthew. They really didn't have to drag that out…

On Why I Should Have Slept Through Planet Earth

Sunday night, cocktail in hand, I prepared myself for an anticipated 3 hours of glorious nature footage. The flash website, the advertisement at the top of this very webpage, and Peter Etnoyer managed to bolster my fervor for Planet Earth. Less than a year ago, at the Deep-Sea Biology Symposium, BBC representatives revealed a few of the excerpts from the series-a shark engulfing a sea lion, ispods swarming a food fall, and birds of paradise in stunning displays of mating ritual. Three hours later, I added this to my ongoing list of anticlimactic experiences. At least the cocktail(s) were…

Big Pharma Screws the (Fat) Pooch

Let's see, the Biz shot its right foot with the Vioxx debacle, then its left foot with Zyprexa (and others, but that's a recent one), so now it must look for another site for further damage of its tattered n' shattered image. Hmmm, how about lobbing off a couple of fingers? The FDA's approval of Slentrol, Pfizer's new chemical entity (NCE) for treatment of obese dogs ought to do the trick. Zing! There go the fingers. As a minion of the dark overlords, I have to say that the announcement made me cringe for a number of reasons, the primary one being that this further solidifies the…

Dr. Oz's "green coffee bean extract" scammer guest must repay $9 million

If there's one aspect of 2014 that I enjoyed, it's that it was a very bad year for our old friend, America's quack, a.k.a. Dr. Mehmet Oz. It seemed that, finally, some of the chickens were coming home to roost and Dr. Oz was starting to suffer a bit for his promotion of quackery and pseudoscience on his daytime medical talkshow. The most delicious height of schadenfreude (for skeptics, at least) came mid-year, when Dr. Oz was asked to testify in front of Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill's Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection,…

Praxis

A run-down of good recent stuff, highly recommended for your weekend reading and bookmarking: PLoS One: Interview with Peter Binfield: ...In my view PLoS ONE is the most dynamic, innovative and exciting journal in the world, and I am proud to work on it. In many ways PLoS ONE operates like any other journal however it diverges in several important respects. The founding principle of PLoS ONE was that there are certain aspects of publishing which are best conducted pre-publication and certain aspects which are best conducted post-publication. The advent of online publishing has allowed us to…

Tales of the 300 … more accounts of the Creation “Museum”

You know, it wasn't just me at the horrible little creationist theme park — there were over 300 of us! In this blog entry, I intend to collect your stories about the zerg in Kentucky. E-mail links to me and I'll add them to this list. Or, if you'd rather, just leave links in the comments here and I'll promote them up top as I find the time. I want more! Send them in to me soon. News We were the top story on the ABC News site for a while. The Examiner covers the story. Blogs Tell us your side of the story! No Guy in the Sky has some overall thoughts and thinks the Creation "Museum" is KY…

How Not to Write a Food Miles Column

Example #2,724: Ronald Bailey, "The Food Miles Mistake," in Reason Magazine. As readers of this site know, we've weighed in numerous times of the Food Miles issue. Among the great many cases of public environmental debate that require a move beyond superficial parlor talk, the agriculture-energy connection has been an area of particular interest here. (image from the BBC) In this recent article, from last November, Bailey uses flawed assumptions, undeveloped concepts, and weak historical awareness to guide a column. "Thank you for the disingenuous article," writes one reader, which I…

Very young people blogging about science - let's welcome them

A few days ago, I asked what it takes for a young person to start and, more importantly, continue for a longer term, to write a science blog. The comment thread on that post is quite enlightening, I have to say - check it out. What is more important - that post started a chain-reaction on Twitter and blogs. Arikia Millikan, herself a young blogger, wrote a post in response which also attracted a lot of interesting comments. Go and comment. Mason Posner wrote not one, but two posts in response: Science blogging in the classroom, an update and Young science bloggers need community. Go and…