Politics
illconsidered | July 23, 2010"I don't think that anyone disagrees with the fact that we actually are in a cold period that started about nine years ago."
Um...okay. I guess that's true if your definition of "anyone" excludes every single scientific agency that concerns itself with climate indicators and those of us who actually look at them. A good dose of boring old real reality from the Union of Concerned Scientists follows:
In response to a question during an ABC News / Washington Post interview today about recent heat waves and record temperatures, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said, "I don't think that anyone…
drorzel | July 23, 2010Earlier this week, there was some interesting discussion of science communication in the UK branch of the science blogosphere. I found it via Alun Salt's "Moving beyond the 'One-dinosaur-fits-all' model of science communication" which is too good a phrase not to quote, and he spun off two posts from Alice Bell, at the Guardian blog and her own blog, and the proximate cause of all this is a dopey remark by a UK government official that has come in for some justifiable mockery.
Bell and Salt both focus on the narrowness of the "dinosaurs and space" approach-- a reasonably representative quote…
pharyngula | July 22, 2010So there I was on strike, and this appalling news story flew by and I had to choke on my tongue. I'm late, but I have to say something.
The story, as you probably all know, is that Shirley Sherrod gave a talk on her work assisting poor farmers hang on to their land, in which she confessed to being less enthusiastic about helping poor white farmers early on. Andrew Breitbart, professional pseudojournalist and teabaggin' hack, ran just that excerpt of her talk and made it sound as if she and her audience at the NAACP were flaming racist hatemongers who were chuckling over making Whitey pay.
He…
catdynamics | July 22, 2010but they don't know it yet
feeling a bit bolshie today:
freedom is just another word
for nothing left to sell!
how dare they buy our products
and still they don't respect us!
mood music for the afternoon
oracknows | July 20, 2010There's one thing I like to emphasize to people who complain that this blog exists only to "bash 'alternative' medicine," and that's that it doesn't. This blog exists, besides to champion science and critical thinking (and, of course, to feed my ravenous ego), in order to champion medicine based on science against all manner of dubious practices. Part of that purpose involves understanding and accepting that science-based medicine is not perfect. It is not some sort of panacea. Rather, it has many shortcomings and all too often does not live up to its promise. Our argument is merely that,…
pharyngula | July 19, 2010Everyone should read the Washington Post's recent effort in investigative reporting, Top Secret America. It's distressing. Since George W. Bush, we've had this reckless, ridiculous, uncoordinated expansion of intelligence agencies, all sucking up tremendous sums of money, all with little oversight, and all producing floods of data…and it's all a waste because the emphasis is on sucking in lots of data, and little is done about comprehending it all.
The terrorists really have been effective. They've turned us into bloated clowns stumbling over our own feet and doing ourselves far more damage…
pharyngula | July 19, 2010Maybe somebody from Kansas can say whether this crazy woman has a chance. Joan Farr Heffington is running for governor, and she has a few priorities.
Require that a Biblical and Constitutional reason exist for the passage of any new laws
Allow teaching of Christianity vs. evolution in schools
I guess there won't be any laws regulating GMO crops in Kansas, or prohibiting stem cell research, or funding the creation of any wind farms. Anything more recent than the 18th century is going to have to be neglected, along with anything not mentioned in the Constitution.
At least she's upfront…
grrlscientist | July 18, 2010tags: Mormonism, religion, cults, mind control, Magic Mormon Underwear, moron, offbeat, humor, funny, comedy, silly, beliefs, insanity, education, streaming video
I've lived among mormons for more years than I care to think about, and yes, the magic underwear was one of those mysteries that us kids speculated on when the adults weren't around. As if they were flies upon the walls of my childhood, the Thinking Atheist has made this video that discusses the the Mormon church's most famous "secret."
drorzel | July 17, 2010There are lots of reasons why Josh Rosenau is one of the few writers blogging about science-and-religion issues that I still read. This morning's post on what you ought to do to determine effective approaches is an outstanding example:
Rather than looking at national polls, which are crude instruments and can miss shifts within small subpopulations, I'd think that it would be more useful to do lab work, and to look at the broader literature on communications. Daniel Loxton did a nice roundup of a few useful studies in this realm, and Mike McRae looked at a wider sampling in the context of…
pharyngula | July 17, 2010Let's see more charts and graphs to suck the joy out of your life! Here are 15 Appalling Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America — the rich-poor divide is growing. One graph summarizes it all: If you aren't in the top 1% of America's earners, you're pretty much screwed.
There's a lot of class warfare going on right now, only it mostly consists of the victims lying back and voting for the officials who will then help the plutocrats mug them some more.
illconsidered | July 16, 2010Just a quick plug aimed at any readers in the Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Monte Sereno, Los Gatos or South Almaden areas of California: http://www.brianforwater.org/
pharyngula | July 16, 2010Larry Arnhart wrote a strange article in which he tried to claim Darwin and evolution for libertarianism, or as they prefer to call it nowadays, "Classical liberalism". I was invited to give a reply, along with a few other people, but I can give the gist of my reaction here: no one gets to claim a biological justification for their political philosophy. Evolution does not endorse libertarianism, socialism, communism, or capitalism, and even if it did nudge one way or the other, that does not mean that we shouldn't oppose the brutal short-term expediency of natural processes.
grrlscientist | July 16, 2010tags: The surprising truth about what motivates us, tasks, simple tasks, complex tasks, commissions, innovation, mastery, economics, financial rewards, purpose motive, blog writing, making the world a better place, RSA, streaming video
This video is really interesting for two reasons: first, it's a hand-drawn animation that evolves in front of your eyes, and second, I think it explains why scientists like to write blogs for the public about science -- for free! Adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, this fascinating video illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home…
grrlscientist | July 15, 2010tags: BP Executives Deeply Affected by OilSpill Parody, oilspill, petroleum, Gulf of Mexico, television, Ray Suarez, NewsHour, Bob Dudley, parody, streaming video
As part of an hour-long live online interview with the NewsHour's Ray Suarez, BP executive Bob Dudley responds to questions from the public, including a video parodying the BP response effort.
I do feel sympathetic towards the BP peons -- you know, those people whom the executives depend upon but who are constantly trying not to be screwed out of pay raises, or their health insurance or retirement benefits as the result of the…
drorzel | July 15, 2010If you're in Broome County or environs, the biggest political event of the year is today: John Orzel is officially launching his campaign for the New York State Senate. This will apparently involve a number of events around the 52nd state senate district, ending with a rally and cookout in Scenic Whitney Point:
"What does it take," you're thinking, "to obtain the highly exclusive-- rarely granted and even more rarely sought-- Uncertain Principles endorsement?"
Well, for one thing, he's my uncle. I'm not saying you have to be a blood relative to get my political endorsement, but it helps.…
grrlscientist | July 15, 2010tags: When Ideas Have Sex, imagination, innovation, group intelligence, exchange of ideas, cumulative ideas, evolution, sexual reproduction, technological specialization, free trade, Matt Ridley, TEDTalks, TED Talks, streaming video
At TEDGlobal 2010, author Matt Ridley shows how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas. It's not important how clever individuals are, he says; what really matters is how smart the collective brain is.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference…
grrlscientist | July 14, 2010tags: The Oil Spill's Unseen Culprits, Victims, health, environment, ecology, pollution, oilspill, BP, acidification, Gulf of Mexico, dispersants, Carl Safina, TEDTalks, TED Talks, streaming video
The Gulf oil spill dwarfs comprehension, but we know this much: it's bad. Carl Safina scrapes out the facts in this blood-boiling cross-examination, arguing that the consequences will stretch far beyond the Gulf -- and many so-called solutions are making the situation worse.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading…
oracknows | July 12, 2010Although The Amazing Meeting is now over, my vacation is not, at least not yet. My wife and I decided to take an extra couple of days off before winging our way home tomorrow. Originally I had planned on posting "reruns" for a couple of days, but something popped up that I felt obligated to comment on. I knew this was coming, thanks to the inimitable Australian skeptic and promoter of science-based medicine Dr. Rachie, with whom I shared the podium both for the Science-Based Medicine Workshop and on a panel on Saturday at TAM. She told me that something would be coming on Monday (Australian…
emjohnson | July 11, 2010Three years ago I didn't even know what science blogging was. Frustrated as a freelance writer, I typed "science blog" into my search engine and was thrilled when this network showed up first on the list. Here was a community of researchers and writers whose love of learning and the sharing of knowledge was communicated on a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis. After spending much of the day reading through posts by GrrlScientist, PZ, Bora, Carl, Chris and Sheril as well as John and Afarensis I was hooked. I made a decision right then and there that I would write for ScienceBlogs. I…