Our civilization is coming to an end, sooner than later. It won’t end with a war, or a disease, or a flood, but rather with an abandonment of reason and hope. The Harper Conservatives will be reviled in the history books (if there are history books). Why? Greed. There’s no
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Trashy's World: Much to the chagrin…
… of the faith-based and evidence-challenged right! Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario
Continue readingExponential Book: A simple criterion
Agreement seems lacking, among researchers, on the question of which citations to a scientific article are “legitimate”, i.e., worthy of being included among the total number of hits received by that particular article (typically for the purpose of evaluating one’s h-index). Should one include a cite to an article, if
Continue readingTerahertz: Putting conspiracy theories to the vote
Inspired by the success of the No HST campaign that saw British Columbians of all stripes push back against a government bent on implementing policies against the popular will of the people an with no mandate, some fear mongers are hoping to repeat that success in the hopes of banning
Continue reading350 or bust: COP 17 in Durban – Day 1
Today is the first day of the U.N. climate talks in Durban South Africa. As I wrote earlier, many people’s expectations (including mine) for a meaningful and binding international climate treaty coming out of these 10 days is low. It seems, sadly, that unbridled capitalism will triumph over humanity’s need
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Do Developing Nation Journalists Cover Climate Science Better (or at Least Better Than U.S. and U.K. Papers)?
ronaldo-brazil-world-cup-top-scorer.jpg As the European debt crisis scrapes along, there has been talk about the possible need for developing nations, like China and Brazil, to ultimately help bail out some spendthrift “developed” nations. A new study suggests that maybe they should also help bail out some of our media. The study comes from
Continue readingFacing Autism in New Brunswick: Autism, Arctic Ice Melt: It’s Gotta Be Genetic … er … Natural Variation, Natural Fluctuation
Polar Bears photographed by Canadian Environmentalists “Arctic sea ice is disappearing on a pace and magnitude unlike anything the Earth has experienced in the past 1,450 years, according to a Canadian-led study published Wednesday in the leading science journal Nature. The amount of sea ice in the Arctic has been
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Pizza May Contain Veggies, Boards Contain Nuts
Once upon a time, Saskboy made a pizza. It was not according to the design of the requester, instead it had nutritious onions on it. Saskboy got the cold shoulder when he delivered it. This short story was brought to you by the makers of pizza. It’s a vegetable on
Continue reading350 or bust: Canada’s Environment Minister Doesn’t Know What Ozone Is, But Approves Cuts To Ozone Monitoring
Unfortunately, this is the fellow in charge of preserving Canada’s water, air, and climate for future generations. The video below shows Environment Minister Peter Kent can’t respond to Justin Trudeau’s straightforward question about what ozone is, and the difference between ozone at high and low levels of the atmosphere. This
Continue readingExponential Book: Google Scholar Citations
Thanks to Bee of BackReaction, I have become aware of a new feature of Google Scholar, called Google Scholar Citations. It is essentially a free alternative to Web of Science (WoS), allowing researchers to create a public profile, with a list all of their publications, including their citations. (This is
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Monsanto And Why You’ll Care
I was surprised when talking with some fellow Occupiers the other day that they were unaware of what Monsanto corporation makes, and why it’s a threat to human and plant life. I explained it this way: WARNING: The following is suitable for small children and mature audiences. Some people may
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Fox News Viewers are the Most Misinformed: A Seventh Study Arrives to Prove It (and to Vindicate Jon Stewart!)
cavuto-20070117-global-2.jpg Two of my most popular posts here at DeSmogBlog were a pair of items documenting 1) just how many surveys have found Fox News viewers to be more misinformed about factual reality and 2) taking PolitiFact to task for giving Jon Stewart a “false” rating when he pointed this out.
Continue readingExponential Book: The boss is out to lunch
The two basic criteria to establish whether someone is your boss are: – Can they fire you ? – Can they give you a raise ? Unless the answer to both questions is yes, then they are not your boss. (can’t recall who said that to me… my dad, maybe
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Anthony Watts and Defensive Reasoning: Three Episodes
anthony-watts.jpg Over the last year, I’ve had numerous blogospheric encounters with the conservative climate “skeptic” Anthony Watts, the author of WattsUpWithThat. In the process, I’ve been particularly struck by how Watts handles inconvenient evidence. Twice now, I’ve seen Watts make a mistake, and then seem to rationalize it, rather than simply correct
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: You Conform more than you know – Theramin Trees Tackles Conformity
Think of yourself as strong willed? An outlier? I bet you’re not The psychology of group interactions is fascinating, and Theramin Trees explores historical and more recent research on the topic.
Filed under: Science Tagged: Conformity…
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Five Years Left
The most clear warnings are getting more clear. Either we stop emitting so much green house gas, or we permanently change our climate. Are we screwed? With the people we have in power now, I’d have to say, “Almost certainly.” There is no great understanding of the threat, as there might be if it were […]
The Skwib: The Future Is Frenzied
Professor Albedo-9000 Frink (the Third) was justifiably proud of his invention. It had taken him nearly 300 years of his genetically enhanced life to construct the Frink Dojigger 12. (Experimental models 1-11 proved un-viable.) Using only the finest Moussorgsky rodent filaments and all the heavy element Poutinium available in the Liquid Fermentation Galaxy, he had […]
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Conservatives Attack and Misunderstand A Book They Haven’t Read…A Book About Flawed Conservative Reasoning
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This would be sad, if it weren’t also so telling.
On Monday I announced my new book The Republican Brain, which will be due out next spring. And I provided a brie…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Rush Limbaugh: Meat Eater, Science Denier
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Recently, Rush Limbaugh went on another of his anti-science rants. This one was particularly fascinating, though, because of the things he actually got right—even as he &n…
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Don’t Believe in Science (or Many Other Inconvenient Truths)
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Over the last year here at DeSmogBlog, my writings have converged around a set of common themes. On the one hand, I’ve shown just how factually incorrect today’s political …
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