Category: General Discussion
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What do Ayn Rand and Kevin Trudeau have in Common?
The NYT had a piece on the life and times of Ayn Rand yesterday, and I just couldn’t get over these two paragraphs. For years, Rand’s message was attacked by intellectuals whom her circle labeled “do-gooders,” who argued that individuals should also work in the service of others. Her book was dismissed as an homage…
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Bring Back the OTA – Bring Back Evidence Based Government
So I was thinking. It isn’t really enough to merely react constantly to anti-scientific behavior which seems to permeate the media, the interwebs, and policy discussions on Capitol Hill these days. It used to be, for about 20 years (from 1974 to 1995), there was an office on the Hill, named the Office of Technology…
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Making Scienceblogs More International
I thought I’d survey the readership for some ideas on how to make Denialism Blog more interesting and accessible to an international readership. One of the goals of the Scienceblogs’ mothership Seed is to expand and get the whole world interested in scientific literacy as well as our little community and I realize that my…
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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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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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TJ fans check out Brayton’s blog
Ed Brayton’s discussion of the historical validity of claims of Thomas Jefferson’s support of a “Christian Nation” is illuminating. Turns out, it’s a myth. A story passed down third-hand to a pair of people who were under 10 years old when it happened (and substantial cause to misremember), and inconsistent with Jefferson’s writings and known…
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Who Needs Denialism When You Have Censorship & Sycophants to Enforce It?
Peter Baker of the Post reports on a White House policy manual (PDF) detailing how President Bush’s advance team should prevent anyone from saying or doing anything that might not be in total agreement with our President’s policies: The manual offers advance staffers and volunteers who help set up presidential events guidelines for assembling crowds.…
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Do We Care More for Animals than People?
Reading about the anger stoked by Karl Rove’s plan to go dove hunting reminded me of a recent oped by Vicki Haddock in the Chronicle, where she explores why animals sometimes receive more sympathy than people. A few anecdotes from the story are telling, and so totally California: …football star Michael Vick pleaded not guilty…
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Foxipedia
Remember how I said you shouldn’t source Wikipedia? Well here’s another reason. Fox News likes to edit it. Ha!
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Bring on that Army of Inspectors!
Our friends from the WSJ recently endowed us with this bit of wisdom: Unsafe products are a fact of life. The U.S. has created its own share of food- and product-safety scares over the years, from E. coli-tainted spinach to faulty Bridgestone Firestone tires. Even the best inspection regime, whether government or private, will miss…