Category Archives: Science and Edumacation

Science and Edumacation

Back in the USSR

PJ O’Rourke has a great story about how he became the writer he is. Paraphrasing, he was touring the USSR in the Brezhnev years. And despite the obvious dysfunction of the Soviet system, the Leftists on his tour group kept insisting that everything was wonderful. While they were in a water lock, some Leftist started going on about what great engineers the Soviets were, culminating in the exclamation, “Where do they get all the water from?”

The idea that the Soviet Union was our technological equal was a myth so pervasive even conservatives believed it. Today, cracked has the goods on the shit show that was the Soviet space program. Honesty, it’s a miracle they didn’t blow a city up.

For the record, Robert Heinlein also thought the Soviets left a man in space to die. While in the USSR, several people told him that a recent capsule launch had included a cosmonaut. That story was later changed. I keep wondering if the truth is somewhere in the Kremlin.

'Culture', Healthcare, Politics, Science and Edumacation

Weekend Linkorama

Non-political links:

  • Honestly? This racy ad on HPV doesn’t bother me. As my blogging on porn has shown, my offense threshold is very high.
  • Orac destroys Mann Coulter’s sloppy research on radiation.
  • Now this is interesting. Maybe we don’t have to drug up our livestock and risk epidemics.

    • Political Links:

  • This just in: Nancy Pelosi is also a lying fool. Maybe she just felt bad that the Republicans were making such idiots of themselves and joined the fool parade in solidarity.
  • Signs that Newt Gingrich’s Presidential campaign is doomed: over at the very Right Wing site Hot Air, only half of the users are buying his bullshit in re: flip-flopping on LIbya. When the half the Right Wing already thinks your full of shit and the election is still 19 months away, you’re doomed.
  • Justice in America: banks get off, home-owners go to jail. What’s most disturbing is how they found this guy – the IRS is targeting people for acting too rich.
  • I’m beginning to think that the GOP really has lost their fucking minds on the abortion issue. The law being proposed (outlawing abortion after 20 weeks) sounds restrictive, but is of a piece with the view of large majorities of Americans (assuming you think these things should be decided by majority rule). But the rhetoric accompanying it is insane.
  • You know, at this point, the fact that AARP was bribed to the tune of a billion dollars to support PPACA doesn’t surprise me.
  • Was Bill Clinton more conservative than George Bush? Hells yes.
  • Oh, that liberal media. Right.
  • The latest idiocy from PPACA. Healthcare is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
    • 'Culture', Humor, Law and Order, Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Tuesday Linkorama

    Non-Political links:

  • This may be the most depressing thing I’ve read today — we were apparently 1.4 inches away from preventing the BP disaster.
  • I always knew Rachel Ray was a monster.

    • Political links:

  • Two from Glenn Greenwald today on how our President has, as I feared, decided that the November elections were not a call for reigning in government, but for expanding its reach. He’s now limiting Miranda rights for terror suspects arrested in this country and appointing the chief psychiatrist who designed the torture regime to a position of power.
  • For once, I’m going to disagree with Veronique De Rugy, who claims that nuclear power can’t compete with fossil fuels. This is true, technically. But fossil fuels have a massive cost — pollution, death and global warming — that is not being charged to its consumers.
  • Tax the rich? We already do.
  • This just in. Donald Trump is an idiot. So is Newt. Or, at least, they pretend to be because they think so little of us.
    • 'Culture', Humor, Politics, Science and Edumacation, War on Terror

    Friday Linkorama

    Non-political Links:

  • Yet another epic fail from NYT.
  • This is why one of the great moments in my life was the day I had my own laundry room.
  • The happiest man in America, apparently.

    • Political Links:

  • It’s not a good idea to have very few IPOs on Wall Street. It means more of our economy is being controlled by fewer people. Blame Sarbanes-Oxley.
  • Hugo Chavez, probably joking, says capitalism killed life on Mars. It would be funny except that communism, like the kind he supports, killed tens of millions right here on planet Earth.
  • The best thing about Barack Obama’s turn against civil liberties, embrace of War on Terror excesses and starting of an unapproved war in Libya is that it has exposed many of Bush’s critics for the partisan shills that they were (while also highlighting those who had genuine principles). The worst thing about it is that it has caused Bush’s minions to gloat about how right they were, even as every day that passes proves how wrong they were. Obama had a chance to change the course of history; his decisions have instead sealed in place the dumb decisions that Bush made. In my book, that’s almost worse.
  • Coal. vs. Nukes. A comparison.
    • Humor, Politics, Science and Edumacation, Sports

    Monday Linkorama

  • I missed you, baseball.
  • My love of Looney Tunes makes me giggle.
  • More from JoePo on the Bonds trial.

    • Political Links:

  • Resilient Japan. The stats on Bangladeshi cyclones are amazing.
  • The latest travesty from the eminent domain files.
  • Now Obama is turning the IRS loose on medical marijuana. Great. Just great.
  • Just a reminder that TARP lost money and lots of it, no matter what spin doctors say. The biggest losses to our bailouts were, of course, for political entities like the automakers and Fannie/Freddie.
  • At some point, the Supreme Court is going to have to rule that free speech applies to the internet as well.
  • Shit like this is why Newt will never be President.
  • This kind of stuff can drive you nuts. Yes, the government should sell off some of the land it owns. But it will bring in $1 billion. That’s not how we’re going to balance the budget. And since it isn’t, why prioritize it?
    • Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Everyone Panic!

    Cross-posted from the other site

    I’ve avoided saying anything else about Japan’s nuclear situation since, every time I do, things seem to get worse. But I have to break my silence today due to the pure hysteria of the reporting.

    Japan’s nuclear and industrial safety agency on Friday raised the level for the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant from a 4 to 5 — putting it on par with the 1979 incident at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island.

    According to the International Nuclear Events Scale, a level 5 equates to the likelihood of a release of radioactive material, several deaths from radiation and severe damage to a reactor core.

    Chernobyl, for example, rated a 7 on the scale, while Japan’s other nuclear crisis — a 1999 accident at Tokaimura in which workers died after being exposed to radiation — was a 4.

    In Pennsylvania, a partial meltdown of a reactor core was deemed the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.

    OMG!!!1! It’s as bad a three-mile island! An incident that resulted in … no deaths from radiation. In fact, it’s probable that the hysterical reaction to TMI caused more health effects through stress and fear than did the meltdown.

    We’re my see a similar relation — more deaths from fear than radiation — emerge with Fukushima. Media hype, for example, has prompted a run on iodine tablets in California. Potassium iodide is not a medication you should take unless you have to, since it can have adverse health effects, especially for pregnant women. People can and have died from allergic reactions to it.

    It’s even worse in Europe, where hysterical anti-nuclear forces in Switzerland, Austria and Germany are gearing up to make sure those countries replace their nuclear plants with fuel guzzling, filth spewing fossil fuel plants. Germany is switching off their reactors temporarily, an action which makes me think that Angela Merkel, a quantum chemist, needs to go back to university and have her head examined.

    In the meantime, as Gregg Eastebrook reminds us, the media are almost hyping a potential disaster over the actual catastrophe — a massive earthquake and tsunami that’s left 10,000 dead and half a million homeless. That’s what we should be expending our sorrow and concern over. Here is just one story, about 30 children waiting for parents to show up — parents who may never show up because their bodies are somewhere in millions of tons of rubble. Last night, I saw a man whose entire family — wife, kids, grandkids — was washed away. He was trying and failing to contain his overwhelming grief. How do a few stray isotopes compare to that kind of unthinkable tragedy multiplied on such an epic scope? They don’t.

    Meanwhile, back in reality, the nuclear situation may be improving, with power restored to at least four of the six units and water being sprayed on unit three’s spent fuel pool, the most dangerous threat the Japanese are facing due its use of plutonium. It’s going to be a long slog and there’s still a potential for disaster. But less hysteria and more reporting would be wise from this point on. The fact that this disaster has been moved up on an arbitrary scale (“I give Fukushima a 5 but I can’t mutate to it.”) is something that is of importance to historians and nuclear regulators.

    The enviros do have one point — it is time to reconsider nuclear power. It’s time to consider that a 40-year old archaic design has — so far — weathered one of the worst natural disasters that could be thrown at it. It’s time to consider replacing similar reactors with more modern designs, such as pebble bed or thorium reactors. And time to remember the real story that’s jumping out at me from the Fukushima situation — the Big Damn Heroes who are doing their best to keep this situation under control. I have no idea what kind of civilian medals the Japanese government gives out . But anyone risking having his gonads fried to help prevent a disaster deserves every one they can find.

    Exit link: Jesse Walker on how resilient Japan is. Contra western reports, there has been some crime and looting. But the vast vast majority of the Japanese are helping each other out — which is what civilized people do in almost every crisis. I have recently become extremely annoyed at the Hollywood cliche of people screaming and running whenever there is a danger. In dangerous situations, people tend to either act calmly or freeze up. If you can bear it, watch some footage of 9/11 and count the number of people following the Hollywood cliche. You may not even need to take your shoes off to keep track.

    The world does not work like it does in a Comac McCarthy book, no matter how much the media wishes it did.

    Update: Gregg Eastebrook again. He points out that the biggest problem in Fukushima are the cooling pools for the spent nuclear fuel, a problem we also have in this country. Of course, we wouldn’t have as much of a problem if Obama had not, for purely political reasons, cancelled the Yucca Mountain facility, a repulsive decision I’ve previously taken him to task for.

    Party of science, my radioactive ass.

    Culture War, Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Epistemic Closure Watch

    1 Comment

    Two examples — one from the Right, one from the Left — are indicative of one of the biggest problems in politics today — the refusal to withdraw bogus arguments from the debate.

    First, the Right. Hot Air approvingly posted video of two senators ganging up on Barbara Boxer on the subject of “global cooling”, getting her to admit this was a theory in the 1970’s.

    This is a perfect example of what I’ve come to call the Global Cooling Acid Test. In the 1970’s, global warming theory was maturing. For a brief period, however, the existing data indicating a potential cooling trend. Some scientists thought this might be due to aerosols in the air. The alternative theory grabbed some headlines because of a potential Ice Age. But it was never consensus science. Global warming theory was much more widely accepted.

    This point is so clear and so well-documented that there is no reason to keep bringing it up. And frankly, even if global cooling had been consensus science, we’ve had 40 more years of data — including all of the satellite data — to support global warming theory. Using global cooling to debunk global warming — even if global cooling had been consensus, which it wasn’t — is like using the failure of the ether theory to debunk relativity. Or the nebular theory to debunk Galactic evolution. Old theories are replaced by better ones when better data come about.

    There are legitimate criticisms of AGW theory — the quality of the temperature data, the dendrochronology data and the ability of models to predict the future. And, indeed, these are the criticisms real skeptics focus on. But global cooling is not a legitimate criticism.

    (Nor, it seems is Climategate, which even James Inhofe’s requested investigation has concluded does not debunk climate change, although it does show arrogance, presumption and sloppy work on the part of key climate scientists — enough, in my opinion, to warrant hesitation on economy-changing carbon schemes.)

    I find the use of Time and Newsweek covers to “prove” that global cooling was consensus to be particularly hilarious. These magazines have a long history of panic-mongering cover stories that turn out to be complete garbage (or maybe I missed the great Pokemon massacres of the last decade).

    The global cooling thing does brush against something more germane — the 1970’s and 80’s panic about overpopulation, which was (a) consensus science; (b) the source of numerous and sometimes horrific proposals for changing human society; (c) as early as 1980, obviously wrong. In fact, it’s a big reason why I remain skeptical of long-term climate projections.

    But it’s a little harder to draw the connection between people extrapolating population growth and a scientific theory now supported by the preponderance of evidence. Moreover, it’s not on the list of talking points and global cooling is.

    In the AGW debate, the mention of global cooling is a sign that someone isn’t paying attention — that they have a list of talking points they like to run through and no amount of debunking is going to pull things off that list.

    The Left is not immune to this, however. Charles Johnson, reasonably bashing Republicans for including poison control centers in their list of budget cuts (although it behooves me to point out that PCC’s were not federally funded until 2000), has his list of items in the Republican Party’s “War on Women”. Here’s the list

    Trying to defund Planned Parenthood

    Trying to redefine rape to deny abortion funding

    Trying to pass laws that would require investigations of all miscarriages

    Trying to pass laws that would legalize killing abortion providers

    Trying to define ‘human life’ to begin with a fetal heartbeat

    Calling two fetuses as ‘witnesses’ to anti-abortion hearings

    Trying to pass laws to outlaw federal funds for contraceptives

    Trying to pass laws that would allow hospital ERs to let women die rather than provide abortions.

    Some of these are true — the GOP has tried to cut PP’s funding and one legislature wants to outlaw abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected (and did indeed call two fetuses as “witnesses”). They have tried to cut family planning and birth control plans for poor people. And their proposal would have taken the conscience provision that allows federally funded hospitals to refuse to provide abortions and extended it to refusing to provide them in emergency situations. I’m opposed to most of this, to varying degrees. Almost all of it is unlikely to become law; but it does represent bones being thrown to an increasingly influential and deranged radical religious wing of the Party.

    But others are wild exaggerations. For example, the GOP did not try to “redefine rape” — they tried to change what the federal government would fund abortions for. Rape, the crime, is defined by state law. Rape, what the government will pay for an abortion for, is defined by the feds. I thought was really stupid and offensive, but it was not “redefining rape”. And it’s ridiculous and inflammatory to keep referring to it as such. “Tried to cut abortion funding for rape victims” is perfectly accurate and conveys what they tried to do. We can do without the bullshit.

    The miscarriage law is indeed real and is indeed stupid. On the other hand, it is not exactly a GOP party platform plank. It’s being proposed by one stupid Georgia state senator who has tried and failed to get abortion outlawed at every session. Branding it as part of a GOP “war on women” is the flip side of Republicans insisting that AGW theory is a plot to destroy capitalism. Yes, there are some people using AGW to advance statist ideas. And yes there is at least one Republican who wants to outlaw miscarriage. But every party has their ignorant dipshits; do we need to let them define the debate?

    Finally, we get to what provoked this post — the charge that Republicans want to legalize the killing of abortion doctors. This is the sort of claim that is a litmus test for partisan derangement. People who hear it and immediately say, “Oh my God, we’ve got to stop this!” have failed. Success is earned by saying, “really?!” and then finding out, as one blogger did, that this is simply not true. (And even it were, the likelihood that it would pass the legislature and be accepted by the Courts is zero.)

    But I guarantee you that it will continue to show up in “War on Women” posts just as global cooling continues to show up on “Global Warming is false” posts. Because the people who write these posts do not care about the debate — they care about bashing “the enemy”.

    The difference between rational debate and demagoguery is that the rational debaters — and there are many — will admit when an argument they have used is bogus. I know these arguments intimately with global warming because I used to make many of them myself. But the demagogue really doesn’t give a shit. He has his list of talking points and he will stick to them. No matter what.

    Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Mathematical Malpractice: Wisconsin Edition

    Even Paul Krugmann has fallen for the canard that Wisconsin students, thanks to their unionized teachers, outperform everyone. Iowahawk above demonstrates that this is a result of mathematical malpractice — mostly failing to account for differences in testing regime and minority enrollment. Even the author of the studies Krugman references admits that the wrong point is being extracted from them, according to Factcheck.org.

    At what point does continually presenting the wrong facts cross the line into deliberate deception?

    Law and Order, Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Weekend Linkorama

    Non-Poliical links:

  • This story, which make ominous noises about the dangers of eye surgery and cites a former FDA official, it noticeably lacking in fact. Frankly, Waxler sounds like a crank, claiming half of LASIK users suffer side effects while presenting no evidence to support this assertion. Maybe he’s right; but skepticism is warranted.
  • This talk on biomimcry, is fascinating, although I suspect that an ashes-to-ashes calculation will show it to be less amazing than advertised. But it does sustain my faith in human ingenuity and our ability to deal with the problems we are faced with. Nature is incredibly clever. And we are part of nature.

    • Political Links:

  • Holy shit: Texas is showing extreme common sense on sexting.
  • The thing is that a small minority of Republicans are virulent anti-gay bigots. But that minority has the floor. One of these days, some prominent Republican is going to stand up to these assholes. And the Religious Right will collapse overnight.
  • Glenn Greenwald makes a great point here. If we are to stop our government — whether it’s restoring civil liberties or balancing the budget or whatever — it’s going to take left-right alliances to do it. Both our political parties are useless. We need to start rallying around issues, not parties.
    • Politics, Science and Edumacation, Sports

    Friday Night Linkorama

    Non-political links:

  • Really, don’t click this link and go through the photo essay. Really, don’t. It’s one of the most heart-breaking things you’ll ever read. So don’t.
  • Caught crimson-fisted!
  • It turns out that Dan Snyder is really a dick. You can’t own a sports team and not expect to be vilified — especially when you run it the way Snyder does.

    • Political Links:

  • Harry Reid is a fucking coward. If Social Security is not on the table, we might as well go ahead and have our debt crisis right now.
  • This is why I sometimes want to throw up my hands and retreat into the mountains with rations and ammo. First, Newt defends ethanol. now Obama mandates a 15% blend of the environment-tarring, car-destroying, pump-rotting, money-burning, poor-people starving biofuel. Everyone knows that corn ethanol is a fucking disaster — everyone that is, except the politicians.
  • Radley Balko captures the hypocrisy of the Left when it comes to rich shitpokes.Here is what I had to say on that.
  • I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if Reagan were still around, he’d be denounced as a RINO.
    • 'Culture', Healthcare, Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Monday Morning Linkorama

    Non-Political Links:

  • The 12 worst colleges for free speech. Colleges should be more free than the rest of the country, not less. Especially when they’re wasting so damn much money.
  • Even TSA isn’t this stupid.
  • You know, it says something about our culture when Cracked online does better reporting and news analysis than fucking CNN.
  • Via the Agitator, via Reddit: what kind of world do we live in when a wikipedia article on toilet paper orientation is so long and well-documented?

    • Political Links:

  • I must confess that I don’t understand the complaints about me too drugs. Since when is competition a bad thing?
  • I love this idea for getting the Fed out of the mortgage game.
  • Why, Newt, why?
  • Why the wealth gap is overstated.
    • 'Culture', Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Thursday Linkorama

    I was posting plenty on the Arizona shooting over at the other site and planned to post some here. But after the President’s great speech last night, I really don’t feel there’s much more to say.

    Non-political links:

  • Another home run from Lenore Skenazy. Did I mention her awesome blog is linked to your right?
  • RIP, Dick Winters.
  • This may be the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen.

    • Political Links:

  • Why does it take two years to fire a teacher for branding a student?
  • It would appear that while the ocean plastic issue is a real concern, it has been overblown a bit.
  • Enjoy prison, you rotten corrupt jerk.
  • Are the Keynsians ever right? Nein!
  • Why I Hate Politics: Exhibit 743.
    • Law and Order, Politics, Religion, Science and Edumacation

    Monday Linkorama

    Non-political links:

  • Tee-hee. I wish I could send this to some referees.
  • Stuff like this makes me despair of Pakistan.

    • Political Links:

  • This is not how justice is supposed to work.
  • The other MIchael Siegel runs down the biggest lies told by the media about second hand smoke — this from an anti-smoking academic.
  • Should reading your wife’s e-mail be a crime? I can’t agree that it should be, unless you’re actively going through a divorce. Scummy? Sure. Assholeish? No doubt. Jail time? No.
  • And that great man was a Carter appointee.
  • Your Must-Reads of the Day: why wealth inequality is overblown and over-rated. Personally, I’ve never understood the whole wealth envy thing.
    • Politics, Science and Edumacation, Sports, War on Terror

    Midweek Linkorama

  • I just ran across this quote from OSU president Gordon Gee who earlier this year derided TCU and Boise State’s chances at a title by talking about how great his team’s schedule was. This year, Ohio State played eight games at home, four on the road. They paid three teams — Eastern Michigan, Ohio and Marshall — to come to Columbus and get pounded. Say what you want about mid-major schools; they work hard to make their schedule stronger, not weaker.

    • Political Links:

  • I wonder if the people who talked about the badly flawed Scottish study which claimed massive drops in heart attacks due to smoking bans will talk about the first comprehensive study, which shows no improvement. Naaah.
  • I am not surprised that TSA is trolling blogs. They’re certainly not making the country more secure.
  • How much do bad teachers cost us? Try $100 trillion.