I watched the debate between Bill Nye “The Science Guy” and Ken Ham, director of Answers in Genesis, the outfit that runs the creation museum in Kentucky. When I heard that Nye had agreed to the debate, I thought it was a bad idea, for all the usual reasons, and in particular that it would… Continue reading The Ken Ham vs. Bill Nye Debate
Paul Taylor, who helps Eric Hovind run the family misinformation mill in the absence of his father Kent, accuses people who think Noah’s Ark was just a story of not having done our homework: Question 1: How did they all fit on the boat and who put them in there? Don’t forget that there were… Continue reading Paul Taylor’s Fickle Exactness
Over at Creation Today, Paul Hovind (son of Kent “Dr. Dino” Hovind) and Eric Taylor have a video entitled What Is Your Ultimate Source of Authority?. The blurb says, Paul and Eric welcome guest Jay Seegert of the Creation Education Center to discuss the importance of world-views, historical science versus observational science, and the importance… Continue reading Who Needs an Ultimate Source of Authority?
I recently participated in a coversation—or maybe I’m conflating two or more conversations, but no matter—in which my interlocutor said that she prefers alt-med natural remedies because mainstream drugs all have a long list of scary potential side effects. But when I asked whether alt-med drugs actually lower cholesterol or help prevent heart attacks or… Continue reading I’d Rather Have a Long List of Scary Warnings than Nothing at All
We’re all familiar with lens flare, those circles of light that appear in a photo or video when the camera points too close to the sun. When the scene is too bright, light bounces off of camera parts that it shouldn’t, and reflections of the inner workings of the lens show up in the picture.… Continue reading Lens Flare in the Eye of the Beholder
BillDo has a post in which he plays down the Catholic priesthood’s image problem: Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on the findings of the 2011 Annual Report on priestly sexual abuse that was released by the bishops’ conference; the survey was done by a Georgetown institute: The headlines should read, “Abuse Problem Near Zero… Continue reading Catholic Church 99 44/100% Pure
(Alternate title: “Numbers Mean Things”.) The increasingly-irrelevant Uncommon Descent blag had a post today, commenting on an article in Science News. Right now, UD’s post is entitled “Timing of human use of fire pushed back by 300,000 years”, but when it showed up in my RSS reader, it was “Timing of human use of fire… Continue reading What’s Three Orders of Magnitude Among Friends?
table.figure { background-color: #f0f0f0; } table.figure caption { caption-side: bottom; font-size: 90%; padding: 1em; background-color: #f0f0f0; } For quite some time now, I’ve had a question: We can see evolution in the present. And we can see natural selection in the present. And we can see lots of evolution in the fossil record. But can… Continue reading Natural Selection in the Fossil Record
One of the stories in the news today is about a study showing that no, US presidents don’t have their lifespans shortened by the rigors of office. The AP writes: Using life expectancy data for men the same age as presidents on their inauguration days, the study found that 23 of 34 presidents who died… Continue reading How Not to Report Science
The Aug. 29, 2011 episode of 60-Second Science talks about a finding that drawing helps scientists develop their ideas. I can’t say I’m terribly surprised at this. Drawing seems to me to be more concrete than speech (or raw thought). Just as a simple example, I can say “two circles”, or I can draw two… Continue reading Learning to Learn
