Mar 08 2010
Today, while driving to Milwaukee for a return flight to Dallas, Jodi and I heard on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” about a bill in the California State Assembly aimed at creating a “No Cuss Week” in March [1]. The idea was inspired by the creation of a “No Cussing Club” in a California school [...]
Feb 23 2010
NPR ran a timely story tonight about how people with different value systems will interpret the same information differently [1]. Social scientists are applying these observations to understand reactions to vaccination and climate change data.
The story offered explanations but few ideas. For instance, there was this cautionary tale:
So, should climate scientists hire, say, Newt Gingrich [...]
Feb 22 2010
Updated on 2/25/2010: some of the language needed editing for clarity.
Updated on 2/23/2010: added discussion of the current state of the medieval warming period, and whether it was actually a global phenomenon.
George Will’s opinion piece in today’s Washington Post serves as a textbook example of the current argument against acting on climate science. If [...]
Feb 22 2010
Of late, I’ve written some things in my blog that, upon reflection, make me a science jerk. For instance, in my recent discussion of media coverage of the climate science mistakes uncovered in the last four months, I pretty much made it sound like anybody who doubts climate science is an idiot and should suck [...]
Feb 22 2010
Athletics at SMU can raised quite heated responses from members of the SMU academic community. This response is rooted in many things, but primarily a perception that student athletes are expected, or themselves expect, to achieve less in the academic realm than their non-athlete peers. Setting aside the reality for a moment, which is always [...]
Feb 22 2010
While attending my nephews’ birthday party this weekend, I was told a horrific anecdote by one of my family members. Their employer recently bought a larger retail space not far from their original building. The employer relocated to the larger building and merged departments and personnel. In the process, they’ve changed health care plans, forcing [...]
Feb 15 2010
What do autism and climate change have in common? They are two sides of the same coin. On one side, you have autism, vaccines, and a single study from 1998 that was long touted as evidence of a link between the two. On the other side, you have climate-change deniers arguing that climate science is [...]
Feb 06 2010
The President’s budget proposal appeared this week, and funding for scientific research was largely protected from the budget freeze on discretionary spending [1][2]. There are losses, but primarily where it’s especially hard to justify the expenditure (e.g. returning people to the Moon). It’s remarkable when words meet actions, but the work has only now begun. [...]
Jan 31 2010
In his state of the union address, President Obama said that
“Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years. (Applause.) Spending related to our national security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will not be affected. But all other discretionary government programs will. Like any cash-strapped family, we [...]
Jan 18 2010
On this day remembering the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , I performed my annual ritual of listening to his “I Have a Dream” speech. This year, I tried for focus my attention on one of the early themes of the speech: the bad check. King wrote and said,
“In a sense [...]
Chirp, a microblog Going Up Alleys The Perils of the Ice Queen
