Jun 28 2006
This is going to be a hard month, and it hasn’t even started yet. I’m talking about July. I’ve been working pretty seriously on my research, getting it ready for the summer. Along with my 500 colleagues on BaBar, you could probably wring the toil out into a bucket and use it to power the [...]
Jun 26 2006
Rituals are important to life. They can be secular or religious in origin, but having a regular event to which you can look forward is important. I’ve tried removing ritual from my life, and I always feel unglued as a result. Jodi and I decided a few months ago that Sunday night was sacred, and [...]
Jun 25 2006
When media outlets fail to employ reporters with either a grounding in science (no pun intended, as you’ll see), or the wherewithal to contact several sources in writing a story, I furrow my brow and wag my finger. While browsing my Sunday morning blogs, I found a “lovely little story on Fox News’ website regurgitating [...]
Jun 24 2006
The horror of last year’s hurricane season, and its effects on Louisiana and Mississippi, were too many to count. While much of the nation has apparently lost interest in the plight of the South, as a scientist I am very much aware and concerned about this new hurricane season. Already, there has been one named [...]
Jun 24 2006
Last year, I expressed my personal concern about action by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led by Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX), to personally investigate the careers of three climate scientists [TAOMPH83]. I did so not just in this blog, but also in a series of faxes to my elected officials in the Congress[TAOMPH146]. I [...]
Jun 19 2006
I remember learning about AIDS and HIV in grade school. I remember being confused about why there was so much stigma attached to the disease. I have always been, and continue to be, horrified by those who vilify the victims, deny the cause, or refuse to talk about it. It sickens the mind of a [...]
Jun 18 2006
Jodi and I hit the bike trail this afternoon. We drove down to Palo Alto, took Bayshore Drive East right off of Embarcadero, and parked by a wooden bridge and the bayshore bike trails. One of the attractions of this ride was that we knew it would take us very close to NASA Ames Research [...]
Jun 18 2006
A good friend of mine, Luke, pointed me to an “article posted on Fox News’ website”:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,199898,00.html a few days ago. With a lot of verbal drama, the article discusses the issue of the landscape for federal college financial aid and the conclusions of the 2005 National Academies study, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm”:http://www.nap.edu/books/0309100399/html. In the [...]
Jun 17 2006
“Talk of the Nation: Science Friday”:http://www.sciencefriday.com is an excellent weekly national radio program that brings experts and callers together to discuss current science issues. This week, Ira Flatow discussed the politicization of science – the perceived increase in policy influencing science, rather than science influencing policy – with guests Chris Mooney (“The Republican War on [...]
Jun 11 2006
This weekend has been stressful. The worst part of it is that it was the *least* stressful part of the past week, and the coming weeks are forecast to be quite a bit worse (partly nutty with a chance of insanity). I can summarize why in one word: ICHEP. Well, it’s not really a word… [...]
Chirp, a microblog Going Up Alleys The Perils of the Ice Queen
