Politics
catdynamics | January 2, 2010European Commission has produced a gorgeous map of global accessibility to cities.
gem: Global Map of Accessibility
Click to embiggen
Here is map with legend (click to embiggen)
emjohnson | January 2, 2010Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada appeared on CNN Dec. 31 and was grilled tenaciously by Rick Sanchez. For those that haven't been following the issue, Senator Ensign started having an affair with the wife of one of his top aides, Douglas Hampton. When they were found out Ensign's family gave Hampton a "gift" of $96,000 and Ensign arranged for lobbying jobs to help Hampton financially. In the process the Senator almost certainly violated the law against former aides working as lobbyists within one year of their government employment.
According to The New York Times:
Senate ethics…
grrlscientist | January 1, 2010tags: Never a Year Like '09, JibJab, politics, America, cultural observation, 2009 in review, comedy, streaming video
Octomom. Balloon Boy. Tiger Woods. If there's one thing for sure in this world, it's that as long as people are acting reckless, insane and just plain stupid (i.e. like people), there will always be plenty of material available for JibJab's annual "Year in Review" videos!
What was your favorite event of 2009 that wasn't mentioned in this video? Mine was the amazing career of Rachel Alexandra.
j7uy5 | January 1, 2010...for canceling the showing of a creationist film, Darwin's
Dilemma: The Mystery of the Cambrian Fossil Record. The
background is on Greg Laden's Blog,
href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/10/los_angeles_venue_cancels_inte.php">Los
Angeles Venue Cancels Intelligent Design Film:
You'll recall that it was recently reported that the
California Science Center, which is loosely affiliated with the
Smithsonian Institution, had planned a screening of "Darwin's Dilemma:
The Mystery of the Cambrian Fossil Record" which is apparently a
creationist documentary.
Well, now, the venue has…
grrlscientist | January 1, 2010tags: Right Wing Calls For More Profiling Of Muslims, terrorism, politics, public policy, religion, crackpots, streaming video
After you watch this video, you too, will fear for the future of America. It's simply amazing what passes for logic among the right-wing religious crackpots. In fact, the evidence suggests that religion -- any religion -- causes brain damage. Don't believe me? Watch this video!
"Nobody still hasn't [sic] refuted the fact that 100% of Islamic terrorists are Muslim."
drorzel | December 30, 2009Over at Faraday's Cage, Cherish is thinking about gender color codes:
I know I may be in the minority here, but let's look at it this way: if someone might consider getting a microscope or telescope for a girl because it's pink rather than a traditional "girl toy" (read: BARBIE) in the absence of a pink microscope or telescope, hasn't something good been done?
How much of the "pinkification" is as a result of adult notions of what a girl versus boy can do? And if a microscope is colored pink (or a baseball mitt or whatever else) means that the adults around that girl will be willing to…
clock | December 29, 2009In a recent post, my SciBling Jason Rosenhouse with whom I usually agree on these matters, voices a strong disagreement with this quote (from Thomas Dixon's book Science and Religion: A Very Short Introduction, published by Oxford University Press in 2008):
Historians have shown that the Galileo affair, remembered by some as a clash between science and religion, was primarily about the enduring political question of who was authorized to produce and disseminate knowledge.
Jason counters that Galileo affair, as well as the more modern Creationist wars, are primarily and perhaps entirely…
pharyngula | December 29, 2009These religious conservatives are certifiably nuts.
Rep. Henry Brown of South Carolina and 74 Republican co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives actually wants Congress to pass a resolution condemning people for saying "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas."
Seriously? Yeah, seriously. Brown thinks we're "diminishing the value of Christmas" by not making it mandatory for everyone to praise it. What next? Shall we declare every Christmas season (beginning the day after Halloween, of course) a required event, with all citizens lining up at the local mall every day to stand in…
oracknows | December 29, 2009Remember how I said that I was trying to take it easy this week? I still am, but there's something bugging me enough to draw me out of my grant-induced cocoon for a little while in order to pontificate on it in the not-so-Respectfully Insolent way that I am so often wont to do. True, it's something that's been annoying me for a time now, but it's becoming acute as the end of the year approaches. The reason is simple. The anti-vaccine crank blog Age of Autism is starting to announce its 2009 awards. Regular readers may remember when AoA announced its 2008 awards. Truly, that was a hoot,…
pharyngula | December 27, 2009But then, you elected this profoundly stupid man to be your governor, so it's all your own fault. I was reading an interview with Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana that was just embarrassingly bad.
To me, the core of the Christian faith is humility, which starts with recognizing that you're as fallen as anyone else. And we're all constantly trying to get better, but... so I'm sure I come up short on way too many occasions.
Our country was founded -this is just an historic fact; some people today may resist this notion but it is absolutely true- it was founded by people of faith. It was…
oracknows | December 27, 2009Seen in a parking lot while shopping about three weeks ago:
I sense a disconnect between the two messages contained on the back of a very large SUV...
pharyngula | December 26, 2009Obama has been a disappointment (but still better than the alternative!), but one candidate continues to make me happy: Al Franken. He recently tacked a praiseworthy amendment to a defense bill: there will be no defense contracts to companies that "restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." I'm rather appalled that such rules exist in some companies, and it's about time that someone shut that kind of criminal behavior down.
The weird thing, though, is that 30 male Republicans lined up to oppose that bit of legislation. What's the…
oracknows | December 26, 2009While I'm recovering fro Christmas this weekend and away a good chunk of tomorrow, here's a question to ponder as 2009 draws to its inevitable close. Val Jones has listed what she views to be the top five threats to science-based medicine that dominated 2009 and look likely to continue to threaten science in medicine during 2010. So, to complement my previous question regarding the worst pseudoscience of the decade, I'd point to Val's post on the top five threats to science-based medicine of 2009 and ask: What were the worst threats to science-based medicine, not just of 2009, but of the…
pharyngula | December 25, 2009The agenda on this video made me so happy. I want a president like this!
pharyngula | December 23, 2009Jim Lippard has put up an excellent post identifying the major institutions behind climate change denial. They are almost uniformly conservative and populated with old and unqualified cranks, although Jim is too genteel to put it that way. It's useful information if you need a scorecard to keep track of the players.
It's also amusing. Lippard makes this passing mention of a certain notorious crank in a discussion of the denialists with the best academic credentials:
The top-cited scientist, Lubos Motl, has 150 citations for his fourth-most-cited paper, but he's a theoretical physicist with no…
clock | December 22, 2009If a publisher offered me a contract to write a book under a title that would be something like "Unscientific America", how would I go about it?
I would definitely be SUCH a scientist! But, being such a scientist does not mean indulging in Sesquipedalian Obscurantism. Being such a scientist means being dilligent, thorough and systematic in one's reasearch. And then being excited about presenting the findings, while being honest about the degree of confidence one can have in each piece of information.
I was not offered a book contract, and I do not have the resources and nine or twelve months…
pharyngula | December 22, 2009Tom Coburn, the odious Republican from Oklahoma, is one of the America-hating pseudopatriots opposing even the lame and neutered health care bill sludgily working its way through the senate, and he recently sent out a call to his teabaggin'* electorate and fellow travelers to pray that "somebody can't make the vote", so the Democrats wouldn't be able to break any filibuster. They responded by prayin' their little hearts out, and one group even proudly admitted to praying for the death of Democrats.
And it worked! No, nobody died, but someone didn't make it to the vote.
One catch: the no-show…
pharyngula | December 22, 2009It's a little known disturbing fact that the Mormons have a set of prophecies that foretell that the Mormons will take over the leadership of the US. A candidate for the governor of Idaho has brought this out into the open — he's having meetings to talk about saving America by having the Mormon leadership intervene.
I've had a few conversations with crazy Mormons who actually take this nonsense very, very seriously. They don't seem to understand that having the country taken over by a freakish cult with dreams of theocracy would be a way to destroy the constitution.
grrlscientist | December 21, 2009tags: Santa Claus, Santa the Fascist Years, comedy, humor, funny, satire, holidays, Christmas, politics, streaming video
We all think of Santa as "Jolly ole St. Nick." But who knew that he has a dark hidden past that's very un-jolly? This short film uncovers and explores Santa's flirtation with politics and ...