Will Cain is also a jerk, I’m guessing (never heard of him before).
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Politics and Death
I’ve had nothing to offer on the blog today because I was off doing political activism: Stuffing envelopes and discussing important policy positions and stuff. Then, Amanda and I went to a play, which was terrible. Well, actually, the play was great, but it was about a terrible topic in which almost everybody dies. Nice of the 9th and 10th graders to put it on for us!
I wrote that up and you might enjoy the discussion: Hiding in the Open: A Holocaust Survivor’s Story
Where are we, anyway, exactly? NASA is working on that
Before our Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation devices can tell us where we are, the satellites that make up the GPS need to know exactly where they are. For that, they rely on a network of sites that serve as “you are here” signs planted throughout the world. The catch is, the sites don’t sit still because they’re on a planet that isn’t at rest, yet modern measurements require more and more accuracy in pinpointing where “here” is.
To meet this need, NASA is helping to lead an international effort to upgrade the four systems that supply this crucial location information. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., in partnership with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., where the next generation of laser ranging and radio interferometry systems is being developed and built, is bringing all four systems together in a state-of-the-art ground station.
Neil MacGregor: 2600 years of history in one object
A clay cylinder covered in Akkadian cuneiform script, damaged and broken, the Cyrus Cylinder is a powerful symbol of religious tolerance and multi-culturalism. In this enthralling talk Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, traces 2600 years of Middle Eastern history through this single object.
Continue reading Neil MacGregor: 2600 years of history in one object
Time to take the science quiz
From the Christian Science Monitor:
You may have an opinion on climate change, evolution education, stem-cell research, and science funding. But do you have the facts to back up your opinion? This quiz will test your basic scientific literacy.
Lucianne Walkowicz: Look up for a change
TED Fellow Lucianne Walkowicz asks: How often do you see the true beauty of the night sky? At TEDxPhoenix, she shows how light pollution is ruining the extraordinary — and often ignored — experience of seeing directly into space.
Heartland Institute Under Congressional Investigation
The Heartland Institute, a smallish Libertarian “Think” Tank recently made famous by the leak of a rather embarrassing set of incriminating documents, is now slated for investigation by the Congress of the United States.
The chair and ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, Raul Grijavla, has initiated an investigation of Indur Goklany, an administrator at the Science and Technology Policy of the US Department of the Interior. It appears that Goklany was being paid by Heartland which raises a significant potential for conflict of interest.
The story broke at Think Progress.
Heartland under investigation
Who felt the earthquake?
Craft Beer is Good
Featuring my brother-in-law, Damion:
The Heartland Science Denial Documents and the Future of the Planet
The best available evidence now suggests that the most damning of the “Heartland Documents” — the strategy memo which explicitly states that Heartland’s strategy is to interfere with good science education in order to advance their political agenda — is legitimate. The legitimacy of the document was being questioned because it was physically and stylistically different from the other documents with which it was released. We now know that the strategy memo was sent to climate scientist Peter Gleick and that Peter then took steps to acquire corraborating documents from Heartland (see “The Origin of the Heartland Documents.”) The “one of these things is not like the others” defense is now obviated.
Continue reading The Heartland Science Denial Documents and the Future of the Planet
The Heartland Maneno
Those of you who are interested in the latest development in the Heartland Climate Change Denialist Scandal may want to see my latest post: The Heartland Science Denial Documents and the Future of the Planet
A flurry of Catastrophic Animations
While I recover from several days of intense activities that have made it hard to blog much, and as I prepare some good stuff for you, we can amuse ourselves with the following animations from the usual source of not-so-amusing events:
I just got an email from the Heartland Institute about the "HeartlandGate" documents
I just got this email. I have no way of telling if it is authentic:
Continue reading I just got an email from the Heartland Institute about the "HeartlandGate" documents
Keep the Creation Museum off the Kiddie List
Kentucky’s Creation Museum is in contention for listing as one of the “top ten” places to bring your child under 15 years of age on this travel and tourism site.
Feel free to go and vote your preference! Also, I
I think you can’t vote something down, but you can vote something up. You know what to do.
The flying spaghetti monster museum does appear to be a choice. If it does not really exist, however, I don’t recommend voting for it, as that would be stupid. Maybe pick a nice natural history museum.