Because, Because…Soshalism, That’s Why!

Not much blogging to come (will anyone be able to tell the difference?–ed.) this week, as I’m writing this from Doha, Qatar, where the biennial World Conference of Science Journalists is about to begin. But as my body adjusts to the eight hour time difference, I chanced across this piece in The New York Times, [...]

Apropos of Not Much…

…Last night I ran across perhaps the most awesomest example of an utterly unexpected juxtaposition.  Truly, in the list of improbable duets, this beats all, IMHO And while it is tempting to try some snarkilicious gloss on the title and treatment of the material below, sometimes cigars are just…strange (and delightful)…as here: <div align=”center”></div> I [...]

Mitch Daniels Murder Watch — an update.

Last month I wrote about the consequences of Governor Mitch Daniels decision to push for defunding Planned Parenthood in Indiana. In it, I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation of cancer deaths that would result from the loss of just one of the services Planned Parenthood provides to Hoosier women, the administration of 500 Pap tests per [...]

In the Integer-Based Community

I’ll give that unnamed Bush staffer credit.*  It is possible to create an alternate reality — if only for a time — given the willing complicity of all those watching (and transmitting) the useful fantasies of the powerful.  Just look at the success the Koch brothers’ subsidiary political arm, aka the GOP et al. have [...]

Hot Stuff

Over in Australia, where the plague of special interest enmeshed AGW “truthers” has been just as bad, if not worse than the miserable corps we have here,* an impressive cross section of the Oz scientific community is actually making some noise. At a new website (still in beta) called The Conversation, set up to be [...]

Still Not Ready For Prime Time

Mistermix already today brought up Mitt Romney’s gift for odd, awkward delusional gaffes.  It’s a kind of community-access-cable talent for saying something that’s not merely weird or wrong, but that actually makes the listener wonder if the speaker isn’t really dropping in from Planet Ten, if  you know what I mean.* Now we’ve got this, [...]

God Bless The Child (Or Not…Depending)

First the good news: Growing numbers of gay couples across the country are adopting, according to census data, despite an uneven legal landscape that can leave their children without the rights and protections extended to children of heterosexual parents… Same-sex couples are explicitly prohibited from adopting in only two states — Utah and Mississippi — [...]

Let Your Geek Flag Fly

On deadline, and don’t want to leave this place totally unwarmed, so… …Via my polytalented colleague Nick Montfort, I learned of this absurdly cool — really mesmerizing — video made by digital artist jörg piringer: <div align=”center”></div> I now have a new item for my bucket list:  getting my own character accepted to Unicode. By [...]

When the Hard Rain Comes…

…Gimme Shelter: (h/t DeLong). This is another one of those “songs around the world” featured in the Playing for Change documentary.  I got my first taste of this project with this little gem. But I’m with DeLong on this one:  I never thought this was a song to cover, given how thoroughly Mick and Keef [...]

Only (Dis)Connect

News today of the essence of your modern GOP:  the Wisconsin legislature’s joint finance committee just passed a measure that would: (A) force the University of Wisconsin to give back $39 million in federal funds to support the spread of high speed internet across the state… (B) would essentially kill the nonprofit internet provider network [...]