February 12 is international Darwin Day, the day when we collectively celebrate science and reason. And, of course, we recognize Charles Darwin’s birthday: February 12, 1809 (the same birthdate as Abraham Lincoln, by the way). If Collingwood made such declarations, I would propose we recognize the day in our municipality.
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Christy's Houseful of Chaos » politics: aspartame, science and society
Oh, what questions arise from opening a science textbook! I didn’t realize a biology textbook would lead me again to wondering about the challenges of being open to new information and the doubt that comes with living in a world where we recognize too much research is done with corporate
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Debunking the Adam Bridge
A story popped up on the internet in late 2013, recycled in early 2014, claiming “NASA Images Find 1.7 Million Year Old Man-Made Bridge.” Claptrap. It’s not a bridge. It’s simply a natural tombolo: “a deposition landform in which an island is attached to the mainland by a
Continue readingSpeak up for science
Our federal government’s lamentable attitude to science, or at least any science that doesn’t benefit business, is one of its key features. Nonetheless, Industry Canada is giving us a chance to comment on science and technology policy by inviting responses tn a “Consultation Paper.” This is your chance to offer
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Reading Thucydides at last
Somewhere on one of my bookshelves, is an old Penguin paperback copy of History of The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. It’s a bit worn, pages lightly yellowed, glue a little brittle. It’s been sitting on the shelf, stacked with many other paperbacks, piled two deep, floor to ceiling, for the past
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Greens: Conservatives Ordered Illegal Destruction of Canadian Records
Elizabeth May on Harper government's library closures: Book burning doesn't remind me of this century #CDNpoli— Mike De Souza (@mikedesouza) January 27, 2014 A worrying subset of the Canadian population seems content settling for a Conservative Party that willingly destroys Canadian heritage and property. How can Canadians peacefully stop the
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Full Moon is Better In Winter.
I’m pretty much done with Winter by this time of the year, but I have to agree with MinutePhysics that despite the rest of the seasonal maladies, the full moon is pretty spectacular. 🙂 Filed under: Science Tagged: Astronomy, Full Moon in Winter, Minute Physics, Science
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Part 1 #OilConVoid – Neil Young Hints At Unspeakable Canadian Civil War
I’m starting a short series of 3 blog posts today deliberately with the top climate change story in Canada. There are huge stories also in the RoboCon election fraud scandal, and the PMO-Senate scandals, but it’s climate change that will have the longest lasting impact in Canada and the world.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – John Cassidy makes the case to call the U.S.’ war on poverty a success – pointing out that there has been a meaningful reduction in poverty over the past 50 years connected almost entirely to government programs. But lest that be taken as
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Sunspot AR1944 Blasting Earth #skstorm
I hope our electrical grids are prepared, as there is a risk of overloading from an event like this. -The Sun Wednesday afternoon, from Regina. Canon S5IS on tripod with welding filter held in place to sufficiently darken the Sun for the camera’s sensor. 48X digital magnification. This ongoing radiation
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: AGW – My Cold Weather invalidates your Science.
I’m amused. The denizens of Bullshite Mountain just *will not* give in to reason. We are messing with the earth’s climate and the best the right wingnutz can do is blame the government for attempting to infringe on their right to destroy biosphere. I’m thinking that when New York
Continue reading350 or bust: The War On Knowledge: Is the Harper Government Canada’s Taliban?
* Silence of the Labs: The Fifth Estate More links: How The Harper Government Committed A Knowledge Massacre
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: I Want My Own Personal Chat Bot
Browsing the time sink known as Reddit today I came across a very cool comic showing someone building a chat-bot to debate a theist. I googled the title of the comic and found the original as well a very awesome comic called Bag of Toast. I highly recommend checking it
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Diane Coyle offers a preview of Thomas Piketty’s upcoming book on inequality – featuring a prediction that absent some significant public policy intervention, we may see a return to 19th-century levels of concentration of wealth. – Meanwhile, Murray Dobbin calls for 2014 to
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: 3 Easy Scales – The Science of Temperature
Never say that we don’t promote edumacation around here at DWR. It’s always important to know when you’re about to expire due to environmental conditions. Filed under: Science Tagged: Happy Science Facts!, Science, Temperature
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Salt and bread making
Salt is one of the four essential ingredients in making bread, along with flour, yeast and water. Nothing more is needed, although often a lot more is added. Salt is listed in all the recipes. Only one bread I’ve ever read about is salt-free (a Tuscan specialty mentioned in William Alexander’s
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: PMO: Anger Betrayal Deception; Oil
Our lying Prime Minister felt betrayed and angry, and … deceived? The scheme only became public after a CTV news report on the evening of May 14. The next morning, said Harper, he met with Wright, the successful Toronto financier he had brought to Ottawa in 2010 to be his
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: American belief in evolution is growing: poll
A new Harris poll released this month shows that Americans apparently are losing their belief in miracles and gaining it in science. The recent poll showed that American belief in evolution had risen to 47% from its previous poll level of 42%, in 2005. True, it’s not an overwhelming increase, and
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: He Didn’t See It Coming
Picking the exact date for the end of the world, without scientific evidence to back you up, makes you a fool. Harold Camping was a fool, and unscrupulous and foolish media gave him a spotlight he didn’t deserve. With the exposure, he cheated a lot of foolish people. It is
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Putting the “X” back in Xmas
Xtians began using “Xmas” 500 years ago, since in Greek, X is the “Ch” in Christ Around the holidays, some people (not to name names or anything) urge modern society to put the “Christ” back in Christmas. There’s much to criticize about the hollow vacuousness of consumer culture, after all.
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