This post was originally posted on School of Doubt on 1 May 2013. I can’t even begin to wrap my brain around the attacks on science and science education that have been dog-piling on since the sequester began. It is as if everyone has just lost it all at once. What’s going on? Phil Plait does a nice job of detailing the latest attacks on science in Congress as well as the proposed R... »
As probably the only person on the planet that thinks government budgets are interesting, watching the last couple months of budget negotiations in the US Federal government have been really fascinating, extremely frustrating, and super terrifying. Even worse, every time I go on facebook or twitter I see a multitude of myths and misunderstandings regarding the Sequester negotiations being passed a... »
If so, Michael Shermer hasn’t made a very good case for it. Today, via io9, I stumbled across an article by Shermer in Scientific American called “The Liberals’ War on Science,” in which he argues that liberals are no better (or not much better) than conservatives when it comes to science denial. This may be my bleeding heart liberal bias speaking, but it’s not terrib... »
The best pithy response about Marxism comes from E. O. Wilson, the entomologist, who responded to a question about that system with “great idea, wrong species”. I would say that Libertarianism, certainly in its current American manifestation, also falls into that category. Wilson’s point is that to a more eusocial animal, say ants, Marxism would be workable and would make great s... »
Today is the last day to register to vote here in Texas, so I’m heading off to the post office… because we’re also backwards here and don’t believe in internet. And instead of hating myself for putting this off until the last minute, I hate Texas for making me put it off. But anyway… there’s an election here in the US. And it’s important because this year ... »
When the world is going to shit, sometimes it helps to remember what is awesome around you. For me that involves a lot of science. Doing science, learning about science, talking about science, even arguing about science. So I went full bore and decided that was all I wanted to do, and it’s been a fun and crazy ride so far. But the traditional path to science isn’t the only way to exper... »
On September 5th, 1666, the Great Fire of London finally stopped. It had raged on for four days, destroying thousands of homes and 87 parish churches. The record states that only 6 people were killed but it was likely more than that because some people were probably completely cremated and the deaths of non-rich people generally weren’t recorded. You can read more about that here. The Duggar... »
More woo for your pet in the EasyDefense Flea Tag. “It does not use traditional energy forms like electrical, chemical, thermal, magnetic, or radioactive.” It uses your imagination! Thanks to Amanda for bringing this crap to our attention. Australia’s Girl Guides remove “God, Queen, and country” from their pledge. From Robert. Romney campaign Venn Diagram fail. From W... »
