Is he a moron, or just a bigot?
I don’t see why we have to choose.
Category Archives: Popular Culture
Climate And Libel
Some thoughts on Michael Mann, the lawsuits, and the sad state of climate science, from Judith Curry.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Terrible: By awarding Mann as super-communicator, the AAAS is telling us that engaging in hyper-partisan gutter politics, targeted against Republicans and colleagues you disagree with, using unethical tactics is great.https://t.co/zA2HJF0tB3
— Bjorn Lomborg (@BjornLomborg) February 15, 2018
Taking Offense
The less sense a rule makes, the angrier people get when you break it.
For Libertarian Valentines
Eight romantic classic films.
I have to confess to having seen none of them (and only heard of three: Key Largo, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Strictly Ballroom).
Giant Rockets
Thoughts from Elon earlier in the week.
How Elon Musk wants to change space travel pic.twitter.com/KTDbbZmEuz
— The Verge (@verge) February 10, 2018
Groundhog Day
The movie, at once funny and profound, has become a classic at a quarter of a century.
The Challenger Anniversary
It’s been thirty-two years now.
What I wrote about the Challenger loss in 2002: https://t.co/824SNJrUb2
And 2008: https://t.co/kl1Vv3D8Pihttps://t.co/TyeTJz6EVj
It was my birthday.
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) January 28, 2018
Comments open for peoples’ memories.
The Latest ASAP Report
I haven’t gotten around to reading it, but Bob Zimmerman has, and he’s not impressed.
The Fight Against Dietary Misinformation
In a recent study of 43 Latino and African American children with metabolic syndrome, for example, keeping total and calories from carbohydrate identical, a reduction from a mean of 28 per cent of calories from added sugar to 10 per cent, significantly reduced triglycerides, LDL-Cholesterol, blood pressure and fasting insulin within just ten days.
It’s been this very reliance on eminence trumping independent evidence that often stops policymakers, doctors and journalists asking the right questions while simultaneously misinforming the public.
As Albert Einstein once said, “A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth.”
The public must also realise that the overwhelming majority of dietitians have no qualification or understanding of the basics of medicine and although most doctors equally have little or no training in nutrition, it’s not rocket science to advise people to avoid eating processed food, more than 70 per cent of which now includes added sugar.
As with the tobacco industry, there’s a lot of money at stake.
The Dead Letter Of Education
David Solway, with a depressing tale of why he quit teaching:
…when I briefly tried to introduce my students to a portion of the paronomastic, multi-lingual Wake for the sheer fun of language at its most exuberant, I was rewarded with blank incomprehension. It is, admittedly, a formidable text, but I felt that with some tutorial guidance students might be intrigued by the multiplex resources of the language, its potential to “maximize modularity,” to use an aeronautical phrase. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I did appreciate the following cartoon from a graphically talented student for its cheeky insouciance. Still, it was a sign that students are far more comfortable performing in a visual milieu than in a textual environment, as this student, like the majority of his congeners, experienced significant hardship organizing his thoughts and perceptions both in his verbal presentations and written projects.
I’m still a little rankled by the fact that, with all of the writing I’ve done on the topic, the only journalism award I’ve won from the kids is for animations of space-policy discussion.
Oh, and here’s an example of what a mess things are at my own alma mater in Ann Arbor. And they wonder why I don’t donate to the alumni fund.