Author’s Note: in the Dec. 18 game against the Patriots, the Broncos lost spectacularly. Chance giveth, and chance taketh away. I still stick to my punchline: based on the data, the Broncos are statistically behind their own curve… The first I heard of Tim Tebow, starting quarterback of the Denver […]
science
60 posts
The Republican Presidential Candidate debates (and all the media that encircles them) are a great place to look for examples of poorly applied thinking. Specifically, it’s a buffet of examples of pseudo-scientific argument. In this post, we’ll use one example that stemmed from the most recent CNN/Tea Party Express debate […]
In a recent post, I noted that Republican candidate Jon Huntsman is one of only a few in the field of candidates who seems to have a clear grasp of basic knowledge about the world. Well, this week his campaign has come out swinging and reaffirmed his own excellent grasp […]
Let me just give a big shout out to our Texas-sized Governor, who just set back public impressions of the Texas science curriculum about 75 years. Oh, and also thanks to our highest-ranking public official for saying that Texas public schools are in violation of several supreme court rulings that […]
Science is sometimes very helpful when trying to sort informed political candidates from uninformed ones; uninformed or misinformed candidates are likely to make bad decisions when it comes to crafting policy. America deserves the most qualified policy makers. Today, Gov. Rick Perry got some press for his statement on Climate […]
I was so busy this summer I forgot to shamelessly mention here that I was interviewed for a WFAA (DFW ABC affiliate) story on the importance of Helium to the nation, and the dangers of a shortage of Helium due to a lack of a national helium policy. Helium is […]
Just heard a great story on Car Talk. On the segment, “Stump the Chumps,” they revisited a caller who asked them the best way to get rid of a fly nest/hatch in his car [1]. The Car Talk guys had recommended a bug bomb. Well, after looking at all the […]
Ask and ye shall receive. As I got in the shower this morning, NPR ran an interview with NOAA meteorologist Martin Hoerling [1] [2]. The conversation was about the implications of “Snowpocalypse” vs. the current heat wave. He spoke exactly to the issue of mistaking weather for climate, and how […]
Snowpocalypse. We all remember the fun that popular media outlets like Fox News had with that one. The U.S. experienced a few weeks of anomalously cold temperatures and suddenly pundits and flapping heads were declaring the end of global warming. Yeah, that was fun. Good times. Where are the flapping […]
About a year ago, I made the following prediction [1] about European temperatures in the wake of the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland [2]: So I make a prediction, as a very amateur climate science armchair guy. I predict that Europe will experience unusually cold temperatures in the next year. […]
I hear a lot of interesting things when I play the “fly-on-the-wall scientist.” Most statements uttered casually between friends can be tested scientifically; at the very least, research has already been done and one only needs to dig a little to find out whether the statement is true. There are […]
This weekend, Jodi and I traveled to Wisconsin to celebrate the 3rd birthday of our twin nephews. Over a delicious bowl of guacamole, I engaged in a conversation with a couple who were friends with my sister-in-law (the mother of the twins). We quickly came to the recent Republican plan […]