OK, Science Can Stop Now: There's Nothing More to Accomplish

Now that we have achieved glow-in-the-dark monkeys.

HT: Drug Monkey

New Leap Forward in Tech: Artifical Gravity!

Honestly, the state of science reporting in this country is deplorable. This bit of drivel today from David Perlman of the SF Chronicle:

Working two at a time, spacewalkers Michael J. Massimino, Michael T. Good, John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel labored tirelessly through five ventures into the large and weightless cargo bay of Atlantis. Their colleagues, comfortable in the artificial gravity of the shuttle's main cabin, guided, encouraged and applauded them as they worked.

Mr Perlman, artificial gravity only works in Star Trek. I suppose it might be possible to spin the shuttle end-on-end to simulate a small gravitational force in either end of the craft, but that would cause chaos for the astronauts trying to work in the cargo bay. Exercise a little gray matter when you write, dude.

Tweenbots: fun with robots in New York

A friend forwarded me a link to a fun and interesting study of human behavior. A woman in New York releases a small robot that is only capable of rolling forward. It has a message on it asking passers-by to help direct it to a distant goal. It is entirely dependent on the help of strangers to accomplish it's task. What do you think might have happened?

Tweenbots

Don McLeroy Doesn't Like What the Words Mean

Over at Dispatches, Ed links to an unbelievable mountain of stupid opinion piece in The Austin American-Statesman by the chairman of the Texas Board of Education, Don McLeroy. McLeroy has been smarting lately over wide-ranging condemnation of his efforts to modify the state science standards for Texas public schools in such a manner that creationists can sneak their doctrine into science classes without constitutional challenge.

I popped over to read it. It's mostly standard creo fair blowing all of the typical dog-whistles:

The controversy exists because evolutionists, led by academia's far-left, along with the secular elite opinion-makers, have decreed that questioning of evolution is not allowed, that it is only an attempt to inject religion or creationism into the classroom.

Yawn. Heard it before.

This line, however, caught my eye:

The first step is to define science in a way that is satisfactory to both sides.

Umm. OK... might I point out, hopefully without undue emphasis,

BULLSHIT!

A wise man once said "You don't have to respect both sides of an argument when one side is a load of crap." Creationists are not owed some sort of concession to their vapid theology insofar as how science is defined. Science is what is, and tough titties if that doesn't fit into your mythos. Scientists investigate and describe the natural world on its own terms, without the pesky interference of miracles and fairies and folklore. And what they do does not intrinsically have anything to do with your religion: any incompatability between the two is not the result of "left-wing secular" anything. It has to do with the fact that your belief system does not accurately describe reality.

Your religion has nothing to bring to the science table, so you have no say in how it's defined or conducted. Sorry, you lose.

The Sixth Sense: a trifle scary, but also awesome

Pattie Maes of MIT showcases a developing technology which could vastly alter the way we interact with the world around us. It has some privacy implications that raise the neck hairs a bit, but the technological capability involved is breathtaking.

Support Wisconsin Citizens for Science

At last, we have one of our own: WI Citizens for Science. Sign up and lend a hand.

Thanks again, Ed Brayton.

Happy Cephalopod Appreciation day!

October 10th is International Cephalopod Appreciation day. Hug your favorite squid!

Some links of interest:

The digital Cuttlefish
SquidSquid
CephBase

Sarah Palin on Climate Change

In the final installment of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Curic. I had to snigger a bit at the climate change portion of the conversation:

Couric: I want to start with climate change, if I could. What's your position on global warming? Do you believe it's man-made or not?

Palin: Well, we're the only arctic state, of course, Alaska (ed: it's awfully nice that she's made us aware of this). So we feel the impacts more than any other state up there, with the changes in the climates. And certainly it is apparent. We have erosion issues and we have melting sea ice, of course. So what I've done up there is form a sub-cabinet to focus solely on climate change. Understanding that it is real.

Couric: Is it manmade in your opinion?

Palin: You know ... there are man's activities that can be contributed to ... the issues that we're dealing with now with these impacts. I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate. Because the world's weather patterns ... are cyclical. And over history we have seen changes there. But kind of doesn't matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is it's real, we need to do something about it. And like ... Tony Blair had said ... when he was in leadership position, he said, "Let's all consider the fact that it is real." So instead of pointing fingers ... at different sides of the argument as to who is to blame, and if nature just to blame, let's do something about it. Let's clean up our world. Let's reduce emissions. And let's go with reality.

That first section in the second response is a doozy. Pure water-treading. She'd better have it more on the ball than that tomorrow night.

That said, I have to admit that I'm somewhat heartened that she at least acknowledges that climate change is occurring. But exactly how is it that she thinks we can mitigate it if we didn't cause it in the first place?

This Just in from Planet Weird: Did LHC Sabotage Itself?

A comment over at Dispatches from the Culture Wars led me to a blog post discussing how the Large Hadron Collider might essentially shut itself down... from the future. Very strange. And fun. But confusing.

Large Hadron Collider to be Down 5-6 months

Well, that didn't take long: the folks at CERN already broke their new toy. Per Daily Tech, the repairs on the transformer that blew have revealed that the coolant for one of the superconducting magnets has leaked into the tunnel, and the process of warming the magnet back up, making the repairs, and cooling everything back down would take some two month. As the LHC shuts down every November to avoid the expense of winter-season electricity, there will be no further testing of the collider until next spring. So much for all of that QA testing they did in August.

That's why we can't have nice things!

Fun With Casey Luskin and the Discovery Institute

Oh, am I ever envious. But I have to admire what intelekshual over on Enemy Combatant Trailmix Appreciation Club and a friend of hers did recently: got buzzed up and crashed the Discovery Institute. They were treated to a tour by none other than the Disco's furious attack gerbil, Casey Luskin. What a hoot! She posted the experience in four parts:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Denouement

If Luskin wasn't such a slimy little liar, I'd be tempted to feel sorry for him. But he is a slimy little liar, so I don't. I just wish I had thought of it (Not that it would have done much good, since I'm about 1200 miles from Disco Tech).

Turtles All the Way Down: Why Mt Vernon, Ohio Will Learn No Lesson from the John Freshwater Mess

In perusing the interwebs today, I came across a couple of articles which rather succinctly illustrate the forehead-smacking futility of trying to deal with hard-core theists on the subject of religion in education. Both are from the Zanesville Times Recorder Opinion page. The first, by managing editor Len Lacara, explains the situation as both sides see it: from the point of view of Freshwater's supporters, and his detractors. He provides links to web sites defending the teacher's actions (or attempting to), and then explains that the defenders are wrong.

Enter concerned citizen Jeff Fraunfelter a few days later. I won't bother with a fisking of Fraunfelter's letter, as a casual perusal of it's content should be sufficient for any reader to see that it neither addresses the content of the original editorial, nor does it offer support for any cogent argument: it is merely a string of tired creationist tropes, from the label 'liberal' in the first sentence, to the 'why don't you go pick on Islam' gripe to the 'only a theory' saw. Not impressive.

But this illustrates the core problem: one side of this argument is just not interested in learning anything. He has been handed a set of talking points by the religious leaders he trusts and is simply asserting them as unassailable truth. Anyone who might provide information contradicting his claims is dismissed as 'liberal', 'secular-humanist', 'anti-Christian', or 'a member of the elite'.

One of the unfortunate results of the internet age is that religious conservatives, particularly creationists, have created a virtual reality of their own, a misinformation network in which they make bald assertions, and then refer to each others' assertions as 'evidence' in later writings/arguments. The phenomenon started with talk radio, which allowed them to ignore the newspapers and television, and spoon-fed them filtered Truth™. Now that we have the Web, they've got the WorldNutDaily, One News Now, Answers in Genesis, Conservapedia, and so on.

Which, of course, only drives home the argument that we need quality science education so we can drag these poor kids out of the morass of ignorance their parents live in. To do otherwise is not only to turn our backs on them, but to seriously hobble our future and that of our own children. And I don't give a rat's ass if that makes me an anti-Christian liberal commie pinko fascist Nazi atheist Satan-worshiping member of the homosexual agenda, or whatever.

Arkansas Sen Mark Prior: " Maybe Snakes Can Talk"

A clip from Bill Maher's upcoming movie "Religulous". The look on Maher's face at the end is priceless:



As the saying goes, sometimes the jokes write themselves.

The Casey Luskin Excellence in Bullshit Award

Looks like the Discovery Institutes's ferocious attack poodle, Casey Luskin, has had an award named after him (HT: Pharyngula). We evil science advocates aren't allowed to know who received it though. Samuel Chen over at Doubting Darwin writes:

The recipient of the 2008 Casey Luskin Graduate Award will remain anonymous for the protection of the recipient. The many students, professors, and scientists who have been denied degrees or tenure and removed from positions and jobs for no other reason than acceptance of—or even sympathy to—intelligent design theory is very telling of the importance of keeping these bright young minds out of the crosshairs of those opposed to open-minded investigation and critical thought.

Rriiiiight. Holding people to ethical standards and demanding that they actually do some sort of scientific work is opposing "open minded investigation and critical thought".

The Casey Luskin Graduate Award was established in 2005 and in 2007 its name was changed from the “IDURC Graduate Award” to the “Casey Luskin Graduate Award.” The award is named for Mr. Casey Luskin, a graduate of the University of California at San Diego, who was the first student truly to step out of his comfort zone as an undergrad and take a stand for intelligent design—a stand that would be seen across the nation.

Seen, and laughed at heartily. Not only is just about everything Luskin writes wrong, it is often howlingly wrong: the guy is enormously talented at missing the point of an argument, at misinterpreting scientific data, and at sticking his fingers in his ears and screaming "LaLaLa, I can't here you" when anyone points out his, erm... "mistakes".

I don't think I'd want them announcing that I'd received this award, either. How embarrassing to be associated with the DI's most rediculous hack.

Obligatory "Expelled" Post

Well, little Ben Stein's gripping Intelligent Design documentary, "Expelled: No Honesty Present Intelligence Allowed" has been released, and by all indications, it's even poorer than expected. It's being thoroughly panned by critics, and not making much in ticket sales, either. Not many people out there seem to have bought the regurgitated creationist arguments and faux martyr stories that form its foundation.

For those unaware, this is a documentary-style movie (I refuse to call it a documentary, as a documentary is an exercise in journalism) which purports to show a) a pattern of persecution by eeevil utionist educators, universities, and institutions against anyone who dares mention the words "intelligent design"; b) a connection between Darwinian Evolutionary Theory and Nazi-ism and/or Soviet Communism, and c) weaknesses in evolutionary theory.

Apparently, it gets everything right except for items a-c. For an in-depth response to it's claims, see the National Center for Science Education's web site, Expelled: Exposed.

This is not really a surprise to anyone who has followed the dishonest shenanigans of those who made this movie. They interviewed scientists under false pretenses, quote-mined the hell out of their responses, and even tried to prevent the people who they interviewed from seeing the movie (with somewhat hilarious results). They apparently plagiarized graphics and used at least two artists' music without permission. This is not a group of, erm, rocket scientists.

HT: PZ Myers, ERV, Richard Dawkins, Greg Laden, the NCSE, and everybody else who has helped make sure that this travesty does not go unchallenged.

The Battle Over Florida Public School Science Standards

The vote on the new Florida science standards for public schools comes down today, and the religious wing-nuts have been busy flapping their arms in protest of the fact that the new standards use the word "evolution" (WARNING: that link leads to painful stupidity).

While it looks like the standards will pass, the language is likely to be changed to insert the words "scientific theory of" in from of every occurance of the word "evolution". So if the standard is proposed:

Evolution is the fundamental concept underlying the biological sciences.

The new version would be:

The scientific theory of evolution is the fundamental concept underlying the biological sciences.

Some ET proponents have complained that this compromise, in specifying the word "theory", will allow creationists to use the tired old "theory, not a fact" argument to perpetuate their fraud about the reality of evolution being debatable. I would argue that they would continue to do so anyway. It's not like they've abandoned the SLOT or moon-dust arguments, and those were blown to kingdom come a long time ago.

No, I'd say let the compromise go through if necessary, and concentrate on teaching the students the difference between the scientific and vernacular definitions of the word "theory". This kills two birds with one stone: evolution is presented as factual (as it should be), and any other theory that fundies might want to try to smear (e.g., Big Bang), is buttressed as well.

Update: it appears the revised standards have been approved, albeit narrowly. Welcome to the 20th century, Florida! only one more century to go, and you'll be caught up with South Carolina!

Now if we could just drag Wisconsin out of the Teddy Roosevelt era...

Kermit the Freindly Demon Froggy

Scientists have announced the discovery of history's largest known frog, Beelzebufo ampinga, which lived some 70 million years ago and reached 16" in length and weighed in at as much as 10 lbs. The discoverers opine that it may have been large enough to prey on hatchling dinosaurs. That's one bad-assed toad.

Cool Science Shit

Woods Hole and Webb Research have a heat-driven submersible which has been exploring the ocean around the Virgin Islands since December. I find this fascinating. There's so much down there that we don't know about, and technology like this could really help to expand our understanding of the oceans.