Pompeii: Swords-and-Sandals Flop
As a film setting, the town of Pompeii in the first century CE is a lot like the deck of the Titanic in 1912: no amount of special effects or…
science
Lunney unleashed
Citing media “intolerance and bigotry”, anti-science Canadian MP James Lunney has quit the government caucus to sit as an independent. Among Lunney’s claim to the crown as Canada’s least scientifically…
Got DNA evidence of Bigfoot? Don’t peer review, write a book!
Science Editor Jonathan Leake skewered Bryan Sykes in The Sunday Times today over bigfoot claims. Sykes is publishing a new book in which he’ll present the DNA evidence he claims…
Canadian Ambivalence Towards Religion
A new Angus Reid poll underscores the changing, ambivalent nature of Canadian attitudes towards religion, but there are many things about the poll that concern me and make me question…
Edmonton Journal grants space to debunked anti-WiFi conspiracies
Some parents in Alberta are trying to get schools to ban wi-fi on baseless fears and scare-mongering. The kicker: these same parents are fine with wifi in their house. It’s…
Lucy and the 10% Brain Myth
We watched the film Lucy on iTunes last night and, while reasonably entertaining, its plot is founded on a persistent bit of pseudoscience: that people only use 10% of their…
It’s Official: Homeopathy is Bunk
“Homeopathy not effective for treating any condition, Australian report finds,” reads a headline in The Guardian this week. Well, that’s hardly news. But it repeats saying anyway. It’s a story…
Oh, This Is Rich. Stephen Harper Wants Us to Listen to Scientists.
“get the facts from the …scientific community, and if you’re not a …scientist yourself, listen to the people who are. It’s that simple.” You heard it right, straight from the…
Inoculating Against Science-Denialism
This op-ed appeared in The Ottawa Citizen on February 10, 2015. There’s an illness sweeping its way across North America, one which has long-troubled the scientific community and baffled even…
Arctic Apples highlight absurdity of GM regulations
Okanagan Specialty Fruits is a small biotech company from central BC. For the past twenty years they have been trying to get their main product to market, jumping regulatory hoop…
Oceans Rising Faster In Last 100 Years
If Greenland ice sheet slipped off tomorrow, sea would quickly FALL in Newfoundland and Scotland, but rise disastrously at South Africa! — John Klein (@JohnKleinRegina) February 11, 2015 Here’s a…
National Post Guilty of Defaming Climate Change Scientist
It shows the misguided focus of the national Postmedia “tabloid” when they let a star like Mike De Souza go, and hang onto a convicted libeler like Terence Corcoran. Maybe…
A Devilishly Smart Pope
A DEVILISHLY SMART POPEOne of the books I'm reading now is John D. Barrow's 'The Book of Nothing'. The subject is a look at the concept of 'nothing', the void,…
A Devilishly Smart Pope
A DEVILISHLY SMART POPE One of the books I'm reading now is John D. Barrow's 'The Book of Nothing'. The subject is a look at the concept of 'nothing', the…
A Devilishly Smart Pope
A DEVILISHLY SMART POPE One of the books I’m reading now is John D. Barrow’s ‘The Book of Nothing’. The subject is a look at the concept of ‘nothing’, the…
Passive House in Alaska Heated By Sun
More Canadian homes need to be built like this to survive coming fossil fuel shortages. It certainly saves a lot of money for the homeowner. Passive House in Alaska using…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Scott Sinclair studies the effect of NAFTA on government policies, and finds that it’s been used primarily (and all too frequently) to…
The Book List Game
In a recent story titled “Neil deGrasse Tyson Selects the Eight Books Every Intelligent Person on the Planet Should Read,” the eminent astrophysicist listed his top eight book titles –…
SaskPower Says Bigger Is Better, Even Losses? #PowerToGrow
As a followup to the Star Phoenix’s article on the hugely expensive, and (public) money losing CCS plant at Estevan, comes word of further cost overruns. The overruns, in the…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Aditya Chakrabortty contrasts the myth of the free market against the reality that massive amounts of public money and other privileges are shoveled…