Random Thoughts

False equivalence was the big deal two weeks ago, with political advocates Googling for evidence that there might be a Republican with a science Ph.D. (and then ostracizing any found, in the name of tolerance and diversity) and generally out to debunk the notion that the left might have its own kooks. But, of course, crackpottery is not limited to one side of the political discourse, nor is false equivalence.   When is the last time the left stood up to its own mockery of science, like beliefs that there is some magical 'balance of nature' and the partisan fetish with how superior native…

Watch Graham Hill; I'll wait. According to Hill, our shopping obsession has led to more credit card debt, CO2 emissions and stress. I'm pretty sure that most of us will agree that CO2 emissions is weirdly placed. It may be true, but it's probably not going to be a sufficient motivator to do what he wants, and since the emissions have already been put out there for the stuff I have, throwing my stuff away in land fills isn't going to help save the planet. Hill's solution to making us less stressed is to get rid of stuff, all that stuff, and only keep what really matters, to live in smaller…

On Halloween, your Planter's peanut butter is going to skyrocket in price; as much as 40%.  I predict riots that will make this Wall Street 1% stuff pale in comparison because all of them eat peanut butter (and Ramen) and a whole lot more of us as well. Maybe not. We once thought Americans would not tolerate $4 gas either, cheap gasoline was such an American right that some claimed George Bush went into Iraq for cheaper oil (yet when the price of oil rose, they claimed he went into Iraq to make oil more expensive for his buddies - life is good when you just make stuff up) but people are…

I sit in the mornings and watch the other four about me, bustling around. I get ready last. With four of us using one bathroom (and the second bathroom being used by the boy and Aphrodite, the foot-biting cat), I wait and watch. It takes time for my body to get ready to move, so I don't mind sitting and watching and directing the movement when folks get off track. We've come a long way; the girls, fixed in the rituals of the morning, actually move pretty smoothly. Bobby, on the other hand, still requires constantly redirecting to keep on track. He disappears and someone has to go get him. No…

In academia, the many, many advancements of women are not enough and so they are increasingly forced to massage statistics to make it look like they are oppressed, underpaid, blocked out of the hard sciences, etc. In reality, women have it pretty good. Maybe even great. Men, as a special interest group, basically stink at being a special interest group because they were historically always the interest group, no 'special' needed. Not any more. They (well, we, I suppose) need to learn.   We're already unable to enter the social sciences and education and too many fields to count because…

The news cycle spins quickly, and spinning it does, the news that is. Neutrinos forgotten faster than light speed. What neutrinos? Foxy Knoxy got away without spilling the beans – well done. Stupid Italians - imprisoning innocent virgins. Gosh, those Muslims probably would have killed her. Back in the US, saved at last; nothing like this ever happens in the holy land. More good news: A Qiongqing flower stand has Jasmines. Surely, the Arab Spring will go off soon in the country that already got rid of its religious, Western backed oppressors more than half a century ago. Big Apple 9/11…

A few weeks back I flew to Los Angeles to have some meetings about technology and media outside the Science 2.0 world - well, sort of.  A surprising number of people outside science know of Science 2.0 and read the site and are fans.   Prior to that, I wanted to grab a coffee with one of the co-founders of AOK - Acts of Kindness - Lynn Liss, to talk about their stuff.  It's a nifty concept and technology. If you do a nice thing for someone else, or observe a nice thing being done, or even miss a chance to do something nice, you tell the world and you get some points based on…

As a society we tend to fuss about creativity and its role in society.  While there is little doubt that creativity and innovation are immensely important in many endeavors, it is still an open question as to how important (or relevant) it is for the overwhelming majority of individuals. Certainly most people want to be perceived as creative, and if you listen to them, you'll undoubtedly hear all manner of stories about how their creativity is being stifled by everyone ranging from the government to the educational system to their mother or their spouse.  Obviously no one…

Whether we wish it so or not, whether we comprehend how it can do so, the world spins on. Time doesn't stop. Things don't grind to a halt, and everything keeps moving, sometimes without even pausing to notice. I'm new to hospice; I only began volunteering this summer, but I both visit with a patient and the family and I make bereavement phone calls and attend the bereavement luncheons each month. Through this volunteering, I'm learning how many people I know have dealt with hospice, and I get insight into what a difference it can make for families and patients. I am also humbled at the…

Imagine if a journalist sent their story to former Republican Vice-President Dick Cheney to 'check the facts' - what would the outcry sound like from other journalists and the public? Yet it turns out a surprising number of writers in science will send parts of their articles to the  researchers whose work they are covering under the guise of fact checking, and that seems to be okay with many others.  Is science journalism that hard? Is that a good policy? Ananyo Bhattacharya, chief online editor of Nature, gets it right when he notes in The Guardian that kind of behavior doesn't…