The Problems of Science Media Are Not Unique

On Twitter and blogs, we’re having another round of complaints about sensationalism and hype in science stories– Matthew Francis and Gabrielle Rabinowitz are the latest to cross my social media feeds. I’ve also seen some stories recently (that I’m too lazy to dig up) complaining about the latest Higgs Boson stuff, and I’m sure if… Continue reading The Problems of Science Media Are Not Unique

Asking Questions and the “Finkbeiner Test”

There was a lot of re-sharing yesterday of an article about the “Finkbeiner Test” to be applied to profiles of women scientists. This is analogous to the “Bechdel Test” in pop culture, which asks “Do two women talk to each other about something other than a man?”, only because we’re scientists, it’s more complicated, hitting… Continue reading Asking Questions and the “Finkbeiner Test”

Deficit Models, Bureaucratic Empathy, and Work-Life Juggling

Every now and then, I run across a couple of items that tie together a whole bunch of different issues that weigh heavily on my mind. That happened yesterday courtesy of Timothy Burke, whose blog post about an NPR story is so good that there aren’t enough +1 buttons on the entire Internet for it.… Continue reading Deficit Models, Bureaucratic Empathy, and Work-Life Juggling

Faitheist by Chris Stedman

I started following Chris Stedman on Twitter thanks to a recommendation from Josh Rosenau citing him as someone who promotes atheism without being contemptous of religious people. He was, indeed, a source of religion-and-politics material that I found congenial, and when I noticed he was flogging a forthcoming book, I picked up a copy, which… Continue reading Faitheist by Chris Stedman

On the Time for Talking

As I’m sure you wish you hadn’t heard, there was another school shooting in Connecticut on Friday, one that was hellishly awful even by the standards of such things. The Internet, of course, instantly exploded with the depressingly predictable standard response. And it’s hard to put into words just how depressing it is that there’s… Continue reading On the Time for Talking

On the Checking of Boxes, and the Need to Chill Out

In the comments to yesterday’s post about college admissions, Joseph Yoon quoted my statement that “I’m somewhat sympathetic to claims that Asians have a difficult position in higher education,” and shot back with: I wonder if you will feel more strongly about this in 10 years when your kids are near college. Will you advise… Continue reading On the Checking of Boxes, and the Need to Chill Out

The Visual Presentation of Misleading Information, Anti-Asian Bias Edition

A badly done graph showing enrollment trends at Ivy League schools plus Caltech.

In which the skewing of a data plot in Ron Unz’s epic investigation of college admissions makes me more skeptical of his overall claim, thanks to the misleading tricks employed. ———— Steve Hsu has a new post on a favorite topic of his, bias against Asians in higher ed admissions. This is based on a… Continue reading The Visual Presentation of Misleading Information, Anti-Asian Bias Edition

Financiers Still Aren’t Rocket Scientists

Over at Slate, John Dickerson has a piece expressing amazement that “numbers guy” Mitt Romney was so badly misinformed about the election. While I’ll admit to a certain amount of schadenfreude about the general bafflement of the Romney campaign and the Republicans generally, this particular slant (which Dickerson isn’t the only one to take, just… Continue reading Financiers Still Aren’t Rocket Scientists