Science & Culture
sb admin | September 29, 2007There are days when I want to stand on the rooftops and scream like Zuska.
I'm no longer in academia, but as those who are longtime readers of my blog know, I became painfully aware of how sexist the culture of Physics is and how amazingly unequal the playing field is for women— not just, or not even primarily, because of differential standards, but because of the atmosphere that is created by that culture. I also became painfully aware how amazingly in denial a lot of men (and even a few women) are about the pervasive and sinister effects of that atmosphere.
One would often see borderline…
sb admin | September 28, 2007If you listened to Science Friday on NPR's Talk of the Nation today, you may have heard Ira Flatow mention a question from "Prospero Linden"— that was me. I was there, live, along with a 30 or 40 other people in the studio audience:
For the last several weeks, Science Friday has been simulcasting over NPR and in Second Life, using Nashville's WPLN audio stream for the purpose. (I had nothing to do with that!) Meanwhile, Ira Flatley, the 2nd life avatar of Ira Flatow (and his extensive staff), together with hosts, listen to and repeat on air the occasional question that comes from the…
sb admin | September 27, 2007Every so often you will come across somebody who has a "killer" list
of "problems" with the Big Bang. While there remain unknowns and
questions about the Big Bang— just as there do with biological
evolution— the basic picture of the Big Bang is rock
solid— just like evolution.
Nearly two months ago, I received a query from somebody who found my
name through theClergy
Letter Project "expert database" regarding one of the websites that
lists these objects. I've been through quite a number of life changes
in the last 6-8 weeks, and my blogging rate has suffered as a result.…
sb admin | September 3, 2007Read this book.
First and formost for a book review: Storm World is a good
read. You will not find yourself bogged down or forcing yourself to
push through a book that's "good for you." You will keep reading
because you will want to know more.
As for the book itself: Mooney clearly has a point of view in the
book, and does not hide it. However, that point of view is considered
based on the evidence, and he also admits that it is not exactly the
same as the point of view he expected to have when starting research for
the book. This is not a polemic, it is not a "the sky is falling, we're…
sb admin | July 2, 2007Chad notes, in response to PZ's rather absurd assertion that biology is the only Dumped Upon science, and that physics is so well treated in movies and TV, that "Most of the SF movies I see are lucky if they can get Newton's Laws right, let alone any of the finer points of astrophysics."
Indeed, this was the topic of one of the two talks I gave at Hypericon a couple of weeks ago.
Let me try to explain one aspect of this: specifically, the motion of space fighters.
Don't get me wrong. Star Wars is a great movie, one of my all-time favorites. It's even still a pretty good movie if Han doesn't…
sb admin | June 21, 2007In a recent post, I expressed frustration with the observation that those who sometimes question the tactics and language of some fighting for gender-equality then get lumped in with "everybody else who is clueless and oppressive," even if we care deeply about the issue. One of my complaints was irritation with the word "privilege," which generated a lot of hostility and confusion which, unfortunately, ended up obscuring my core point.
I would like to thank Annie (commenter in the previous thread, who continued the conversation with me in e-mail) for her calm and reasoned and non-attacking e…
sb admin | June 13, 2007Anybody who's been reading my blog for a while knows that I'm aware of, very concerned about, and even active in the plight of women and minorities in science. See, for example:
"Be nice to Shelly! She's cute and she likes birds!"
The Myth of the Meritocracy
A tale of egregious scientific male misbehavior
Intrinsic ability and women in science
Unconscious bias... even when we're conscious of it
Women in Physics : why do people do nothing? (This post was taken down at the request of my chair. You can find excerpts of the original post here and here. If you're clever, you might even be able…
sb admin | June 11, 2007I had a long letter to the editor published in the Tennessean, as part of a segment on the question "should you take your kids to the Creation Museum?" I receive a fair amount of e-mail. This has motivated me to put up, so that I can reference it from now on, my own rejection of a couple of creationist canards. Doubtless you can find huge numbers of rejections of this elsewhere, since these are canards that creationists bring up all the time.
"Evolution is a theory, not a fact."
Strictly speaking, that statement is true. However, this statement is always raised by those who would then…
sb admin | April 28, 2007Uh, no.
Look, we're all human, and we all have eyes and brains and things, and as such one may as well admit that if you look at the pictures that Shelly has of herself on her blog, there's a bird. Also, it's a flattering image of the blogger. I suppose, while we're at it, we might as well take a look at the banner, and as long as the image of scissors near a brain doesn't make us squirm too much with discomfort, we can be amused by the humor. "You've come a long way, baby!"
But there's still some distance to cover, clearly.
While Shelly's pictures would seem to indicate that she may have…
sb admin | March 1, 2007It's coming-out-of-the-closet time. I was a Republican once. Now, saying you're a Republican around scienceblogs.com is a little bit like saying that you're gay in the middle of a Southern Baptist church service. You're just asking for trouble. Then again, I know at least one out gay Southern Baptist who seems comfortable with the apparent contradiction, so I suppose I should just sit back and accept the flaming and belittling that is bound to come.
It's very tough to be a Republican now, given that the party has so visibly allied itself with bad science and antiscience. The fact that…
sb admin | February 26, 2007I don't know if it was intended for me, but somebody printed out and stacked with my airline reservations a scan of a letter by Smith & Smith (from Arlington, Virginia), from the 2006 issue of Physics Today (letters to the editor). The scan also included a number of penned comments written by a highly cynical and annoyed person commenting on the letter.
The letter is objecting to an earlier article about the "pipeline problem" in physics, where at higher and higher levels, women represent a smaller and smaller fraction of physicists. The conclusion of their letter reads:
Once society…