10.30
This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus.
– Christopher Hitchens
From Mr. Hitchens’ article, on slate, “Sarah Palin’s War on Science - The GOP ticket’s appalling contempt for knowledge and learning”
10.20
The naturalistic and the moralistic: “Two Logical Fallacies we Must Avoid”. Wherin one thinks either that one ought because there is or that there is because one ought. Good comments as well.
9.18
The National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO has discovered that plants, during times of stress, produce their own form of aspirin. The researchers suggest that the phenomenon could be used by farmers as a type of early warning system for crop failure.
8.23
Bad science, public/private collusion and sublimation of the public good for that of the private. No, it’s not big oil, the federal government and the price at the pump but the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, auto insurance companies, local governments, red light cameras, ticket revenue and public safety.
8.5
WIRED has a gallery of photos of the interior of the new California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. The Academy’s new building opens September 27th.
As excited as I am that this amazing structure will finally be open to the public, I wonder how long after the opening it is going to be until one can expect not to be buried under the inevitable throngs of people it is going to attract.
7.17
What is the connection between The Beatles and CT scans? Glad you asked. a la Kottke.
7.16
The University of Nottingham’s Periodic Table of Videos rocks. Check out the mad scientist fro on Mr. Poliakoff. yay Kottke!
6.6
It’s not a question that deserves an answer
–– Richard Dawkins
In the Salon article entitled “The Flying Spaghetti Monster”, Richard Dawkins (he, of Expelled-gate fame) responds to the semi-hypothetical statement, posited by the article’s author, Steve Paulson, that “it seems to [the author] the big ‘why’ questions are, why are we here? And what is our purpose in life?”
Man, Dawkins is hardcore.
4.30
the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed.
–– Ben Stein
Ben Stein, spinning history on the Trinity Broadcasting Network
Ben Stein, in addition to being known as the history teacher on “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, is the man behind Expelled. (via Fire & Knowledge)
10.17
In The New York Times’ election guide to the 2008 presidential candidates’ stances on the issue of global warming, the differences between the Democrats’ stances contain merely subtle shades of grey but their practical solutions are quite varied. The Republicans? All over the map.
One Republican candidate seems to want to blame illegal immigration. Another seems to think that there is a solar system wide warming going on. So folksy, that Fred Thompson.
8.15
7.30
Dispelling Pregnancy Myths: Eating for 1.5 @ The New York Times. (Via Megnut)