We’re currently in the early stages of the annual DonorsChoose fundraiser, helping to raise money for educational projects. This is especially important in the current economic climate– even before things went south, many schools and classrooms were strapped for cash, but now it’s even worse. But I can understand if that’s not a noble enough… Continue reading DonorsChoose: Now That’s a Noble Cause
Category: Politics
Joshua Rosenau Deserves a Medal
I’ve grown thoroughly disgusted with most of the science-vs-religion stuff in blogdom, mostly because my views on the matter are kind of moderate, and don’t fit well with the rather extreme positions taken by most of the bloggers and commenters who focus on this issue. This dooms me to either being ignored, or called names… Continue reading Joshua Rosenau Deserves a Medal
Don’t Be Such a Scientist by Randy Olson
This book is, in some ways, a complement to Unscientific America. Subtitled “Talking Substance in an Age of Style,” this is a book talking about what scientists need to do to improve the communication of science to the general public. This is not likely to make as big a splash in blogdom as Unscientific America,… Continue reading Don’t Be Such a Scientist by Randy Olson
Using Analogies on the Internet Is Like Doing a Really Futile Thing
Josh Rosenau is thinking from California about the role of analogy and metaphor in arguments. This follows from a series of posts arguing with Jerry Coyne et al. about the usual science vs. religion stuff. The analogy thing comes in because in the first post, he made reference to Slacktivist’s excellent post about vampires and… Continue reading Using Analogies on the Internet Is Like Doing a Really Futile Thing
Notes Toward a Unified Theory of Political Blogging
Theorem: The worthiness of a blog post on a political or social topic is inversely proportional to the number of times derisive nicknames are used to refer to the author’s opponents.
September 12, 2009
I almost forgot about yesterday’s anniversary– I didn’t think of it at all until the fulsome tribute before Thursday night’s football game. I actually waffled for a bit about whether to put up the annual moment-of-silence post. It’s been eight years, everybody’s concerns have shifted to other things, and September 11, 2001 doesn’t loom quite… Continue reading September 12, 2009
September 11, 2009
Thursday Sense of Obligation Blogging
A couple of things that I’m not excited to blog about, but sort of feel like I ought to say something about: 1) The Washington Monthly article about StraighterLine, an online program that lets you take college courses for $99/mo. The article is all breathless excitement about the revolutionary transformative power of technology, but it… Continue reading Thursday Sense of Obligation Blogging
Beauty’s Just Another Word I’m Never Certain How to Spell
Like every other blogger with a political opinion, I read Paul Krugman’s essay on economics last week, and tagged it for Saturday’s Links Dump. And while I appreciate Eric Weinstein calling me out as part of the “high end blogosphere,” I’m not sure I have much to say about it that is useful. But, since… Continue reading Beauty’s Just Another Word I’m Never Certain How to Spell
The Great Bloggingheads Mess
I sort of feel like I ought to have something to say about the recent controversy over creationists on bloggingheads.tv, which has caused Sean Carroll and Carl Zimmer to renounce the whole site. If you’re too lazy to click through those links, the basic problem is that bloggingheads has twice invited creationists– sorry, cdesign proponentists–… Continue reading The Great Bloggingheads Mess