Meta Stuff
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Skepchick HQ is in a blackout
Just a heads up to let everyone know that the other day one of the most important members of the Skepchick team fell ill — Iggy, the Powerbook, who went to sleep and just refused to wake up. I’m unsure of Iggy’s future, but at the moment I do know that I’m very upset, concerned, and unable to access the…
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Adventures in Computer Modeling
As a geology graduate student, I find the role that computers play in my research varies greatly. In the field, I don’t use computers at all. If I brought along my laptop, there would be less room for samples in my backpack. At most, I use a handheld or tablet PC GPS to record sampling locations. In the lab, computers…
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A very special audio blog posting. Vote for me!
I’ve been distracted by a very demanding new job for the past few weeks, but in the back of my head I’ve constantly been thinking about this cool Public Radio Talent Quest contest that a friend alerted me to. It’s like American Idol (sort of), only instead of discovering new singers the idea is to discover new public radio hosts.…
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I miss Stephen Jay Gould
The other day, my husband and I watched an old Charlie Rose interview with Stephen Jay Gould, which prompted me to pull out a few of his books. The one that grabbed my attention most this time is Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life. For those who don’t know, Gould proposed that science and religion…
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Dry Ice in the Rain…
Every Friday (okay, every other Friday when I’m busy) I teach a science lesson at a local elementary school. Mostly, I try to keep my lessons fairly fun– a little science followed by some explosions, a laser, bubbles, and now and then some green goo. Today, I taught the kids a little about phase changes and sublimation. I brought in…
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Where are all the unbelievers?
According to a 2003 Harris International survery, there are about 63 million atheists and agnostics in the United States. That’s about 20% of the population. This is somewhat higher than many other polls, but I think it’s more accurate. (For more on various polls, see this article from the Secular Coalition for America.) I live in a reddish-purple town in…
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The New York Times says I’m going to die.
If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, a whole lot of knowledge can be killer. This is the lesson I have learned since becoming deeply embedded in the War on Pseudoscience, and the lesson I remember each time I see a myth, con, or legend bolstered by way of the Internet. To paraphrase the great scholar Homer (Simpson), you…
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The New York Times says I'm going to die.
If a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, a whole lot of knowledge can be killer. This is the lesson I have learned since becoming deeply embedded in the War on Pseudoscience, and the lesson I remember each time I see a myth, con, or legend bolstered by way of the Internet. To paraphrase the great scholar Homer (Simpson), you…
Read More »
