I made a “page” on this blog, HERE, pointing to posts that teachers might find interesting or useful. So far most of the items linked to relate to Creationism and that sort of thing, but I’ll soon be adding subject area content posts as well.
If you are a teacher, have fun. If you know a teacher, please pass it on.
A colleague sent this to me, I’m passing it on to you. Looks important and interesting:
Wildfire, increasing with climate change, deposits increasing amounts of light-absorbing black carbon [soot] on the cryosphere [snow and ice], multiplying the existing heat-driven ice-reflectivity feedback [a.k.a. albedo feedback].
The relative importance of increasing wildfire [and changing industrial soot pollution] to cryospheric heating remains poorly known. Snow/ice cores down to the 2012 summer soot layer on Greenland input to new field and lab spectral and microscope technology in concert with satellite remote sensing, automatic weather station data, and numerical modeling, could be used to gauge fire’s role in amplified Arctic climate change and Greenland ice sheet mass loss.
On the heels of an [open access] publication predicting 100% surface melting on Greenland months before actuality, we’re now attempting to launch the first of its kind crowd-funding of an Arctic expedition to Greenland to measure the radiative impact of wildfire and industrial soot from the 2012 (and possibly 2013) fire seasons.
Because we can’t precisely measure fire’s increasing role in cryospheric change unless we reach our funding goal, please consider supporting http://darksnowproject.org/ with a US tax deductible donation via Earth Insight charitable foundation, and distributing this message in a call for support to those you expect would support Dark Snow Project.
…
The Dark Snow Project is by design an open-science enterprise, soliciting constructive participation from all relevant scientists and communicators. Will you join us? Each step of our work will be communicated using primarily video and social media, but also public speaking, education engagement, and conventional scientific publications aimed at the highest impact journals.
While we are not the first to consider or evaluate the role of black carbon in cryosphere-climate interactions*, we are poised to push the science envelope and amplify its urgent message in powerful new ways relying mainly on video and social media, not conventional science publications nor governmental agency funding.
With happy Holiday wishes, on behalf of the Dark Snow Project collective,
Jason E. Box, PhD
Byrd Polar Research Center / Geologic Survey of Denmark and Greenland
… Twice. The story is here. Basically, the sign was first spay painted, the burned. Run of the mill anti-atheist vandalism. But, if you are not already tapped out from the Happy Holiday Season of Buying Stuff, you might want to go to this web page and make a small donation to WASH, who originally paid for the sign. It would be funny if they made a couple thousand bucks as a result of a hate crime.
“Dr. who?” you might ask. And that would be funny.
I am not an expert on the old Dr Who’s by any means, but it has come to my attention that a lot of people are unaware of the recent addition of Dr. Who shows on Netflix, even though I did post something about this on my facebook page. Try to keep up, people.
Here is the specially designed Netflix page which provides many of the important details.
And here is a cool blog post I found that covers the larger issue of access to all/many of the Dr. Who episodes.
So there you go.
As you know, as part of a fund raiser for the Secular Student Alliance, I wrote a novella called Sungodogo, which I’ve since made available on Amazon for the Kindle (and in other formats … I’ll have a print version in January some time). The book is about a handful of people who travel across the Congo in search of an elusive primate. What they find instead is quite unexpected. Yes, there are elusive primates but not at all what was expected. The story then becomes the origin story for the modern Skeptics and Secular Movements, and explains the rise of anti-feminist haters like those of the famous “Slymepit.”
One of the members of that movement, Michale Cortese, who uses the the line pseudonym “Mykeru,” has started to write negative reviews of the book in order to damage me and my reputation and to damage the book’s value as well. Here is the twitter tweet in which he brags about this:
In this tweet, he is asking his friends to write one star reviews of my book.
There is a great irony here. The book is about the origin of the very fight that Mykeru is engaged in here. It explains the origin of modern sketpics organizations, the problem of sexual harassment at conferences (and the purpose of that sexual harassment) and ultimately explains why there was so much pushback against Rebecca Watson when she said, correctly, “guys, just don’t do that” in reference to some rather thoughtless behavior on the part of some guy she ran into at a conference.
The book is, of course, tongue in cheek. It is project meant to be fun, to draw attention to the wonderful students of the Secular Student Alliance, and at the same time, tell an adventurous and rather realistic (up to the part where it gets all weird and impossible) and entertaining story.
And now, the book, and the secular movement, and feminism, and me, and everything else, are being attacked by Michael Cortese and the slyme pit.
So, I need your help with something. I don’t need you to buy the book. I’ll give you the book (an electronic copy of it) … all you have to do is ask. But if you do buy the book, 100% of the proceeds will go to the Secular Student Alliance. What I do need you do to is the following two things, please: 1) Go write a good review of the book to offset Mykeru’s, or at least, down vote the bad reviews he or others at the slymepit have obviously written; and 2) do something supportive for the secular student alliance. Join, donate, support, something. Preferably, donate. (Obvoiusly I don’t want anyone to write a review who has not read the book, needless to say.)
Let’s not let the slymepit have their way.
And seriously, if you want a copy of the book send me a note and the format you prefer to have it in. I’m making a revised version now, it will be done in about three weeks, I’ll send you that one.
Thank you in advance.
UPDATE: I just noticed, because of a link to my blog, that Myeru’s latest hate video (hating me, Ophelia Benson, others, I’m told, though I havn’t seen it) is feature in this blog post on the site A Voice for Men (isn’t that one of those sites listed as a hate site by the SPLC?) which seems to link the MRA movement, for which I’m sure Mykeru is some sort of saint, with JP Rushton’s racist doctrine. I did not know that Rushton’s pseudoscientific racism was held in such high esteem by the Men’s Rights Activism movement, but the link between Mykeru and the Slymepitters and the MRA movement has long been clear. Recent (mild) attacks on me for my activism against climate science denialists by members of the MRA/slymepitter group sort of tie it all together. They are just a bunch of bad people.
I’ve been lucky. Becoming a secularist and atheist and, to some extent, activist in those areas (though I quickly add my activisms is mostly in other areas) was not to hard. Hey, this very morning Minnesota Atheists had a show on what you do for Christmas and other holidays as a non-believer, and asked for contributions. Even though I was asked directly a few times by the producers, I ended up providing nothing because I’ve got nothing; What do we do for Christmas? Try to eat the cookies very slowly, unwrap the presents very quickly. It is just not that interesting.
Sure, I get harassed now and then, and back in the Roe v. Wade street wars I got knocked on the ground, hit in the head, or had my clothing ripped a few times by 80 year old Italian Catholic ladies who were in a rage (we were trained to stand still and take it). And, most of the harassment I get these days other than the occasional creationist’s is actually from fellow Atheists, who hate me because I respect and refuse to rape women, and I recognize that much of the violence done to women is by testosterone poisoned men. Those guys (the Testosterone Poisoned Men of the Blogosphere, or TPMoB) compose hateful tweets, emails, and other missives about or to me and other secular feminists on an ongoing, continuous basis.
But really, I’ve never had something happen to me like what happened to Sarah. Sarah’s story is fascinating, instructive, important, and above all, inspiring. All those things are as true of her as a person as they are of this one story, I dare say. This is the story of a young woman, recently deconverted (is that the word?) from a some kinda Christian sect to atheism, and her attempts to form a Secular Student group. She just posted it, I just read it, and holy crap… so to speak … just go read it. CLICKHERENAO!!!!!!!!!
Sarah: I am very fortunate to have you as a friend and ally. Thanks for doing what you do.
I remember it as clearly as if it was yesterday, even though it happened years ago, even before you were born. I screamed silently, pinned on my back by the massive weight of a cotton blanket, legs frozen, the dark lights flickering as the human-like form approached, its arms raised in front like The Mummy or Frankenstein’s Monster, hands ready to grab, closing in. A strange net-like pattern covered the featureless humanoid shape, moving around on its surface like Saint Elmo’s fire dancing on Jacob’s Ladder, undulating, letting off light, disintegrating and reforming and making a crackling noise as it did so.
rum pum … rum pum … rum pum …
The ever-repeating chant that was once barely audible, then louder, then deafening, is now pounding terribly in my ears and once again, I scream, but it is once again a silent scream and the cotton cloth that covers me once again grows heavy and pins me down.
rum pum … rum pum … rum pum … RUM PUM
Finally, the creature’s hands come down around my neck and take hold, it’s head, faceless, now pressed against mine and I think it may be growling, but since it has finally grabbed me, and only now, because those are the rules in this particular nightmare, my scream of terror can break loose so it does breaks loose and I cry out …
And I sit up with a start, drenched in the sweat of night terror, panting heavily, and I can hear adults heading for my room in response to my horrific screams and uncontrolled sobbing.
DAMN YOU BING CROSBY!!! Continue reading The Nightmare That Was Christmas (Death Never Dies)
The just uploaded podcast of Skeptically Speaking is a must-hear:
Whether you’re dropping a last-minute hint to a relative, or buying science books for the people you love, Skeptically Speaking has you covered. We’ve enlisted two dozen scientists, science writers and bloggers, including some of our favorite past guests. They’ll bring you their favorites from 2012, and some classics to help fill out anyone’s science library. Happy holidays!
(Mine is at about 19 minutes.)
From UCB:
Below the fold is a description from Wikipedia of the Red Lake School Shooting. Consider the details in relation to issues of gun ownership, safety, school security, and whatever other issues it brings to mind.
Warning, this is graphic and horrid.
The web site pertaining to the following video is HERE. Click through to participate.
Ooops, I may have put on the wrong video. Sorry about that NRA.
Scene: Berkeley, California, April 1986. A bar. Five conference attendees, myself included, grabbing a hamburger and a beer in a fern-bar on or near Telegraph.
All eyes are on the TVs mounted over the bar, where we watch footage of an air strike against Libya. This is the retribution by Ronald Reagan against Insane African Leader Muammar al-Gaddafi. The White House was issuing statements about al-Gaddafi’s involvement in bombings in Europe, the OPEC oil ministry kidnapping, linkage to the infamous Jackal, and so on. Nikki, a friend and colleague, said something, and I remember asking her to repeat it. Nikki is a low-talkier. You’ve got to lean in really close. So I leaned in and heard her say, “Lybia is the only country in Africa where the people get to share in the national wealth. They love Gaddafi. Others should take a lesson from him.”
Continue reading Pan Am 103 from Frankfurt
American Atheists and two co-plaintiffs today filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Kentucky a lawsuit demanding that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stop giving preferential treatment to churches and religious organizations via the process of receiving non-profit tax-exempt status under the Internal Revue Code (IRC) procedures and definitions.
“American Atheists receives tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3),” said American Atheists President David Silverman, “but because the organization is not classified as religious it costs American Atheists, along with all other secular non-profits, significantly more money each year to keep that status. In this lawsuit, American Atheists and the other plaintiffs are demanding that all tax-exempt organizations, including those characterized as religious by the IRS, have the same requirements to achieve tax-exempt status.”
For example, in order to qualify for nonprofit tax-exempt status, any religious or secular organization must demonstrate it exists to benefit the public. After that basic element is established, religious non- profits are almost always declared automatically tax-exempt under the current IRC rules and definitions. However, secular non-profits face a lengthy application and a fee, which can be as high as $850.
1) The number of people who care more about gun control than about the 2nd amendment has been greater for some time now, and it has shifted even further. This is according to a new poll by Pew Research Center: After Newtown, Modest Change in Opinion about Gun Control
Most Say Assault Weapons Make Nation More Dangerous
2) NASA has a new design for their next generation space suit, and it looks familiar. Have a look. NASA’s is the one on the left:
3) Facebook is going to start charging one dollar per message for certain messages. They say it is for your own good.
In a statement posted online, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based social site cited research showing that “imposing a financial cost on the sender may be the most effective way to discourage unwanted messages and facilitate delivery of messages that are relevant and useful.”
Facebook already lets members send messages to those outside their network of contacts, but those messages are routed to an often-overlooked “Other” folder. This new feature would let users send messages directly to a user’s main “Inbox”—for a small fee.
Each message sent will initially cost $1, though Facebook plans to continue tinkering with prices.
That article is from a source that is regarded at least in the science community, as highly unreliable so if you need to know more about it you may want to check out other sources.
4) Matt Ridley, the author of a handful of pretty good but uninspired science books, also famous for being in charge of a bank or something that he ran into the ground due to utter incompetence, tuns out to be a Climate Science denier. Here’s an article about that.
5) Hey, I have an idea, let’s make sure, instead of limiting the number of guns out there, that there are numerous highly well armed and trained professionals around to stop shooters safely in their tracks without anyone getting injured. Like this.