Announcements
oracknows | August 9, 2008...that I and a bunch of other ScienceBloggers will be at the following location from 2-4 PM today:
Details:
2pm-4pm on Saturday, August 9
Social
795 8th Ave (close to 49th St.)
New York, NY 10019
A couple of warnings:
Point one:
I'm a lot more boring and unassuming in person than I am on the blog. Really. Just ask my family and friends. As PZ would say, I don't breath fire or eviscerate alt-med mavens. If you're expecting the same level of scintillating (or not-so-scintillating) wit seen here, you're likely to be disappointed. Fortunately, my fellow ScienceBloggers will more than take up the…
oracknows | August 8, 2008It's that time again. The longer I'm at this, the faster time seems to fly, but it's already here again. Yes, the next meeting of the Skeptics' Circle is scheduled to land at City of Skeptics in less than a week, on Thursday, August 14. If you're a skeptical blogger, get cracking and submit your work. Help make this carnival yet another must-read event, as so many of our past Circles have been.
And, of course, if you want to host (and I urge you to host because not only is hosting doing your part for skepticism but it's a lot of fun too), peruse the schedule and archives, as well as the…
illconsidered | August 7, 2008Fed up of trying to decide who to believe in the endless blog wars over climate science? Well, don't despair and don't rely on third parties you may know little about, instead educate yourself!
That link is to a very handy page over at Things Break that lists some great resources for learning the science behind the political debate of anthropogenic climate change.
Books, open courses, audio-visuals, great internet resources, its all there, check it out.
oracknows | August 5, 2008Remember how I mentioned that the venue for the ScienceBlogs Readers Meetup was going to be changed? Well, the new venue has been announced:
The new spot will be at a bar on the west side called Social. Seed has reserved a room in the back, and it's three floors in case we need even more room. Seed will buy the first round of pitchers (alcs and non-alcs).
Details:
2pm-4pm on Saturday, August 9
Social
795 8th Ave (close to 49th St.)
New York, NY 10019
Be there, Aloha.
thusspakezuska | August 4, 2008Please note, if you were planning to attend the ScienceBlogger meetup in New York City this coming Saturday, the location has changed. Here are the details about the new location:
The new spot will be at a bar on the west side called Social. Seed has reserved a room in the back, and it's three floors in case we need even more room. Seed will buy the first round of pitchers (alcs and non-alcs).
Details:
2pm-4pm on Saturday, August 9
Social
795 8th Ave (close to 49th St.)
New York, NY 10019
oracknows | August 4, 2008Remember how I mentioned last Friday that the ScienceBlogs Reader Meetup is scheduled for 2 to 4 PM on Saturday, August 9 at the Arthur Ross Terrace at the American Museum of Natural History?
There's apparently been a change in plans. Don't worry; it's not canceled, but apparently the venue is going to change. There were some major concerns about the number of people who said they were to show up and early weather reports for Saturday afternoon that do not look favorable (thunderstorms predicted). Because of these factors, our benevolent Seed Overlords have decided that a new location must…
thusspakezuska | August 4, 2008During my time as a blogger, I have discovered that I am lousy at one of a blogger's sacred chores: maintaining the blogroll. The ideal of what my blogroll would be is perhaps best exemplified by Janet's at Adventures in Ethics and Science, or Peggy's at Women in Science. The sad reality, of course, was a mish-mash collection of links that were never updated and certainly didn't constitute anything like a comprehensive look at the vibrant women in science blogging community. I suck at blogrolling.
Recognizing my failure, I have decided, at least for now, to just point readers to other…
thusspakezuska | August 3, 2008I believe there was at least one of my readers who expressed an interest in attending this Saturday's ScienceBlogger meetup in New York City - Falyne? Still planning to attend? Maybe there are more of you and you just didn't speak up? I know there are many people who are primarily readers of other blogs who are planning to attend. Anyway, here are the details on the meetup:
We'll be meeting at 2:00 pm on Saturday, August 9, at the Arthur Ross Terrace at the American Museum of Natural History in Central Park. Once there, please head to the cafe tables and chairs set by the trees on the…
oracknows | August 2, 2008It's Saturday, and what better way to spend it than in front of the computer? Who cares if it's sunny and in the low 80s, temperature-wise? Why would you care about that when there's so much great blogging about science, specifically cancer research, at the latest installment of the 12th Edition of the Cancer Research Blog Carnival over at nosugrefneb.
illconsidered | August 1, 2008Announcing Matt Springer, a physics graduate student at Texas A&M and his blog Built on Facts ().
Welcome to the Blorg!
oracknows | August 1, 2008I mentioned last week that I was going to be in New York the weekend of August 9, the better to commune with my fellow Borg at the Cube (no, not that cube, although I may have to make a stop there too) in Manhattan known as Seed Media Group. As part of the festivities, our benevolent overlords at ScienceBlogs wanted to host a reader/blogger meetup.
It turns out that the date, time, and location have now finally been set, and here they are, courtesy of NYC Skeptics:
Join New York City Skeptics and ScienceBlogs for a special get-together Saturday August 9 with over a dozen science bloggers,…
oracknows | July 31, 2008It's that time again, the time that comes around once a fortnight for skeptical bloggers and blog readers to gather together to celebrate that best that skeptics have had to offer since the last time they gathered. It's time for the 92nd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. This time, it's hosted by Martin over at The Lay Scientist and it tells the tale of Team Skeptic at the Ideology Olympics, starting with a press conference:
Team Skeptic Manager Martin gave a rousing press conference today as his team moved into their training centre in advance of the Ideology Olympics, but concerns remain…
illconsidered | July 31, 2008Via an unsolicited email, I have learned of a video contest I thought I would share with Science Blogs readers. The contest "gives Americans an opportunity to inspire our next president to take bold climate action." I will quote the press release below, you can participate by producing a video or just by watching and sharing your favorites. The 10 most watched will win.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact
Leah Borkin
Fenton Communications
212 584 5000
Lborkin@fenton.com
Climate Matters Video Contest Launched
Brighter Planet and 1Sky Joined By Maggie Gyllenhaal and Others to Bring Americans'…
thusspakezuska | July 29, 2008You all may be aware of the moronically stupid column by John Tierney that ran in the NY Times recently, an opinion piece disguised as reporting. I haven't had a chance yet to give my own response to this piece of tripe, or to show you how it is but one more piece in Christina Hoff Sommers's American Enterprise Institute-funded propaganda campaign against women in science.
The Association for Women in Science wrote a letter in response to Tierney's trash. Naturally, the NY Times refused to run it. However, you can read it here. In addition,
[AWIS] constructed an in-depth op-ed, also…
illconsidered | July 29, 2008Over the course of the last few years it has become quite clear to me that the attacks on the science of global warming in general are as often reiterated as they are clearly fallacious.
Initially created in 2006 for my own use as a handy way to reference and reuse the relevant material to rebut the sceptic talking points, How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic has grown into a well received and well used web resource for those willing to argue with and debate the purveyors of scientific fallacies and falsehoods who would deny the reality of anthropogenic climate change.
I am pleased to announce…
oracknows | July 28, 2008
I demand the sum of.....three MILLION visits! Muhahahahahaha!
Yes, I know I did that bit before--twice, even!---but I liked it so much that I wanted to do it again, at least until my readers run screaming away, annoyed that Orac, of all people, would recycle the same old joke over and over.
The horror, the horror.
Sometime overnight, this blog hit another milestone. Sometime early in the morning, Respectful Insolence⢠recorded its 3,000,000th visitor. Unfortunately, "sometime this morning" occurred while I was happily sawing logs, making me unable to record the 3,000,000th visit for…
oracknows | July 26, 2008I'm a bit late with this plug, but hopefully our host this week won't be too mad at me. It's that time again, time for those interested in the application of critical thinking to dubious claims to gather, as we do every two weeks, to celebrate the best the skeptical blogosphere has to offer (and "celebrate" the worst that the credulous blogosphere has to offer). It's soon going to be time for the 92nd Meeting of the Skeptics Circle. This time around, it will be hosted at The Lay Scientist on Thursday, July 31. Martin's call for submissions is here. Guidelines for what the Circle is looking…
oracknows | July 22, 2008It's summertime, and the living is easy...well, not quite. It's been a hectic and depressing summer so far. However, I am going to be able to allow myself one weekend away from the drudgery of grant writing. You see, our Seed overlords are repeating the infamous blogger meetup that happened last year in August. Because they lack imagination (and because it's the time when the largest number of us can make it), they plan on doing it in August again this year. It also turns out that they want to put together some sort of "meet the bloggers" event--in someplace air-conditioned, of course, but to…
thusspakezuska | July 22, 2008Planning to be in/around/near New York City on August 9, 2008? There's a reader-Scienceblogger meet-up event in the works, being planned even as you read this, probably for around 3 pm. We'd like to know whether you think you'll be in the area and likely to attend. If so, please leave a comment here. Seed promises a fun afternoon event in an air-conditioned joint, with snacks and swag. I'll be there. So will a bunch of other fab bloggers. Whaddya say????
oracknows | July 17, 2008It's that time again, time for yet another foray in to the best skeptical writing the blogosphere has served up over the last two weeks, this time hosted by Sam Wise over at Sorting Out Science, who has collected it all for you in one convenient location known as the 91st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. You can't go wrong checking it out.
Next up is The Lay Scientist, who's set to host the 92nd Meeting on July 31. In fact, he's already issued a call for entries. So start gearing up to send him your best work less than a fortnight hence. In the meantime, if you're interested in hosting a…