Month: September 2007
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What’s killing the bees? IAPV apparently
Another update on Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the surprisingly devastating attack on the honeybee that occurred last year that was responsible for huge losses of bee colonies and a great deal of concern about crops pollinated by this insect. Originally we mocked the idea that CCD was caused by global warming and alarmist calls from…
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WSJ: Oppose CAFE! Ignore Reality! Why, Because I Know Econ 101!
In today’s Journal, Robert Crandall and Hal Singer argue that America shouldn’t drink the corporate average fuel economy standard (CAFE) Kool-Aid. Why? Well why do you think? Because the market is perfect and thus there is no problem! Bring on the Econ 101! …if there was [sic] fuel-saving technology out there that cost $1,000 but…
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Mythbusting – it’s harder than you think
The Washington Post reports on research that correcting mythical beliefs is more difficult than you’d think. The interesting finding seems to be that if you repeat the myth in the course of correcting it, people are more likely to forget the correct information and remember the myth! When University of Michigan social psychologist Norbert Schwarz…
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Will Global Warming Increase Heart Disease?
I was surprised to see this article in the International Herald Tribune suggest that global warming might cause increased incidence of cardiovascular death. In particular one statement struck me as being somewhat absurd. On the sidelines of the European Society of Cardiology’s annual meeting in Vienna this week, some experts said that the issue deserved…
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Create a Blog Ad…for PETA!
Opportunity knocks for all of you creative people out there! PETA is holding a blog advertisement contest! This could be fun. Perhaps we could have our own countercompetition in the comments? PETA is offering a $500 gift card to the winner. For our contest, I’d totally be willing to take you out for some hot…
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Is the surge working? (or why I need more metrics)
Here’s an excellent opportunity to use the hive mind to look for classic techniques of deception for political benefit on the question of the “surge”. Reading the news stories about the progress in Iraq, I can’t help but notice a certain partisan nature to interpretation of events. You have the conservative Washington Times saying The…
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How to write a terrible science story
Genomicron has an excellent description for how to write a terrible popular science story. I agree 100%. And when he hit #10, I had to cheer. 10. Don’t provide any links to the original paper. If possible, avoid providing any easy way for readers (in particular, scientists) to access the original peer-reviewed article on which…
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Making Booze II!
Also this weekend we also made beer. So it’s time for another alcoholic photo-essay, this time on beer homebrewing and a brief history of beer in America. It all starts with a beautiful mixture of malted barley. Here’s about 20 lbs of barley, in Rick’s recipe there is a mixture of light and dark grains,…
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Making Booze!
This was a good weekend spent making lots of different kinds of booze. A long hot summer led to some really nice chardonnay grapes at the parents’ farm. It wasn’t a large yield, but the sugar, or brix were really high, hopefully yielding a nice end product. If you want to see how we make…
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UD gets pwned
For a scene of pure hilarity and joy, get ye over to Uncommon Descent as they try spin the rejection of a “Evolutionary Informatics Lab” by Baylor University. Yesterday, the Baylor University administration shut down Prof. Robert Marks’s Evolutionary Informatics Lab because the lab’s research was perceived as linked to intelligent design (ID). Hah. Perceived…