Catching Conservapedia in a lie again

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Michael

From their lying front page:

Another new paper was just published in Journal of Climate. Added proof Al Gore & Company are simply lying hucksters, out for a buck. Written by eminent climatologists, called Greenland Ice Sheet Surface Air Temperature Variability: 1840–2007 which discusses data from Greenland since 1840. No unprecedented recent warming is found. For example, they find that the 1919-1932 warming was 1.33 times greater than the 1994-2007 “warming”. [19] The new report mirrors one from the United States Senate back in 2007. [20]

Just like the last time, they make the mistake of linking to the abstract they reference.

Thus, it is expected that the ice sheet melt rates and mass deficit will continue to grow in the early twenty-first century as Greenland’s climate catches up with the Northern Hemisphere warming trend and the Arctic climate warms according to global climate model predictions.

These people are kooks.

Filed under: News, Science | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Only a matter of time

Posted on July 22, 2009 by Michael

Teachers in Florida can now officially use the word “evolution”.

For the first time, teachers can say it, they are now being taught how to handle this controversial subject.

The word evolution appears in student’s textbooks.

But when teachers get to that chapter, they say it’s always been a juggling act — how to teach evolution, without actually using the word.

Florida science teaching standards didn’t allow the word “evolution” to be used.

Instead teachers had to say the phrase, “biological change over time.”

But that’s about to change.

It’s almost like the standards are, dare I say it…evolving. Hardy-har.

It’s sad that Florida is often so backward. They vote for the Bush’s, they ban same-sex marriage out of weird culturally-based belief systems that have no bearing on reality, they refuse to acknowledge a simple word…it’s ludicrous. It’s only a matter of time until this state progresses to something respectable. Not that it’s an anomaly. Plenty of other U.S. states have no clue how to behave like civilized beings. But regardless, time washes away bigotry – facts tend to get in the way. It’s just all happening very slowly. Really, though, New England and especially Europe can’t stay socially ahead of the majority of the U.S. forever.

“One of the things we can now discuss is human evolution. Which has been a very taboo topic in the past. Now as science teachers, we’re excited,” explained teacher Kristy Chiodo.

Chiodo got it mostly right. The only problem is that, unfortunately, it isn’t only in the past that people have had problems with human evolution. From high-quality biologists like Ken Miller to good organizations like the National Zoo, human evolution is treated as a subject which needs to be approached very, very carefully. Sometimes (such as with Miller), superfluous exceptions and qualifications are randomly inserted. People certainly still have big issues with human evolution. But ultimately, we’re just one line of “Great Apes”. God may exist, but probably doesn’t. And if he does, then there’s no indication of such. Get over it and let’s get on with the science; stop letting your god interfere with quality educations.

And finally…

Subjects that are not science, like creationism, will not be taught in schools.

Nice jab.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Absurd

Posted on July 11, 2009 by Michael

Here’s a video of FOX Noise trying to embarrass a proponent of recycled toilet paper.

Fair and balanced? Really? This moron reporter was attempting to mock her interviewee throughout the entire segment. This is completely typical of the level of quality that FOX Noise has to offer.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , , | 8 Comments »

Oh, Jesus

Posted on July 9, 2009 by Michael

There’s a story floating around the interwebbings that says “Study shows evolution guided by ‘invisible hand'” or some variation of that. Most of the actual articles take this idea too far.

A study in the University’s School of Psychology sought to explain how turn-taking has evolved across a range of species. The conclusion is that there is an “invisible hand” that guides our actions in this respect.

That isn’t really the conclusion. The researchers did use the phrase “invisible hand”, but they didn’t come to a scientific understanding that, “OO! Magic!” is what’s going on here. Here’s some actual meat.

The researchers state: “Turn-taking is initiated only after a species has evolved at least two genetically different types that behave differently in initial, uncoordinated interactions with others. Then as soon as a pair coordinates by chance, they instinctively begin to play ‘tit for tat’. This locks them into mutually beneficial coordinated turn-taking indefinitely. Without genetic diversity, turn-taking cannot evolve in this simple way.”

Tit-for-tat is a model of behavior that results in a form of altruism. It’s pretty much what it sounds like: you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. A lot of organisms have it, and it’s especially strong among kin or even likely kin. The basis is that closely related organisms tend to have highly similar genes. While helping out (in one form or another) one’s brother may seem detrimental, it actually isn’t. That brother has 50% of the genes, on average, that the helper has. He’s really helping a lot of his own genes. On top of that, the brother is likely to help back at some point in the future (afterall, genes for altruism, if in one brother, are likely to be in the other brother).

What happened in the aforementioned study is that tit-for-tat is already assumed in the model. That is, it has already evolved within groups. What needs to be explained is specific turn-taking. And that’s exactly what the researchers did. They showed that it takes a random throw of the dice to find the right gene combination, so to speak. Once that point is reached, the non-randomness of natural selection can subject those genes to adaptations.

Professor Colman added: “In our simulations, the individuals were computer programs that were not only dumb and robotic but also purely selfish. Nevertheless, they ended up taking turns in perfect coordination. We published indirect evidence for this in 2004; we have now shown it directly and found a simple explanation for it. Our findings confirm that cooperation does not always require benevolence or deliberate planning. This form of cooperation, at least, is guided by an ‘invisible hand’, as happens so often in Darwin’s theory of natural selection.”

Let’s be fair to Professor Colman. There’s no way of telling from this if he too is trying to sneak a vague concept of a god into all this. I doubt he is. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter because he’s a scientist and his languages suggests religious connotations. That is why the media especially latched onto this story. It isn’t like turn-taking grabs the attention of the average layman.

Filed under: Evolution, News | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Obama continues to fix the errors of Bush

Posted on July 6, 2009 by Michael

Scientists will be allowed to make the guidelines surrounding use of embryonic stem cells.

The government issued final rules Monday expanding taxpayer-funded research using embryonic stem cells, easing scientists’ fears that some of the oldest batches might not qualify and promising a master list of all that do.

President Barack Obama lifted previous restrictions on the field in March, but left it to the National Institutes of Health to decide just what stem cell research was ethically appropriate: Only science that uses cells culled from leftover fertility clinic embryos — ones that otherwise would be thrown away — the agency made clear in draft guidelines.

This is precisely how it should be. It is those well versed in science who should be making the relevant decisions within science. Politicians rarely ever know much of anything about how science needs to work. This is doubly true for Republicans. So it comes as no surprise that it has taken the election of Democrats to at least get a few things right.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Michael Jackson

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Michael

I don’t care that Michael Jackson is dead. I just know this will add to my blog stats. All aboard the exploitation train, right?

That is all.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Cowardice and lies

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Michael

I recently wrote a letter to the editor of my local newspaper, the Kennebec Journal. Here it is.

My very first job was at Hannaford on Willow Street. Starting pay for a high school student was relatively good, key word “relatively”. My friends made minimum wage whereas Hannaford started me a quarter above. That’s not fantastic, but again, I had good pay relative to my peers.

It has recently come to my attention through acquaintances working at that dingy, grimy, ugly little place more commonly known as Ghettoford, that they have a coworker – an employee of 12 years – who has just reached the $9 mark. Nine. Really? I mean, REALLY?

I quit that job for the very fact that said employee was making under $8 in 2005. Inflation is apparently a concept foreign to Hannaford.

The manager at the time, John Gibson – now demoted to assistant manager for Skowhegan – touted the company line and refused to admit that less than $8 was a livable wage for an adult.

When pressed to actually be human, he reverted to the company line that Hannaford pays ‘well’ relative to other human-hating stores. The man had no good answer. Bad wages are bad wages, even if the next guy is worse.

Gibson knew $8 was an insult then, and I’m sure he knows $9 is an insult now. Worst yet, he is representative of the culture that Hannaford promotes. The people in charge of forcing poverty upon the employees at this wretched business are filthy trash who don’t give a damn about anything but their vacuous bottom line.

I have no link to offer because, well, it never got published. I received an email from Opinions Page Editor Naomi Schalit. Here it is.

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your recent letter to the editor. Your letter contains some
allegations which we are unable to verify. We will not be able to publish
your letter as it would be unfair to print just one side of the issue.

Please feel free to write us on other topics.

I am honestly torn. I’m sitting here wondering if I should begin my response on FTSOS “HAHAHAHAHA” or with simple dismay.

This response is an act of cowardice. Furthermore, it is a lie. I’ve been losing confidence in this paper for quite some time now. This only solidifies my dismissal of the majority of this publication as worthwhile.

Letters to the Editor are not held to nearly the same standard as the journalists who fill all the other pages. It is not unfair to offer one side of an issue. Come on. That’s the whole point of an editorial page! What’s the alternative? Should individuals only submit their opinions if they are also submitting the opinions of others? Perhaps the Kennebec Journal would like readers to collaborate and only submit joint letters.

This woman is outright lying to me, though. She isn’t refusing to publish my letter because she couldn’t verify my ‘one-sided point of view’. She publishes thousands of unverified claims every year. The issue here is that I gave a specific name – John Gibson. He was a shitty manager. He’s probably a shitty assistant manager now. The fact that I’m willing to say this is what’s causing the ruckus. It’s a lie to tell me that she can’t verify claims.

Furthermore, it’s an act of cowardice for the KJ to not publish this letter. It is my thought that they believe they may be liable for my words. I doubt that’s true, but if it is, what could possibly happen? John Gibson is a complete corporate hack. He isn’t going to agree with me that low wages are deplorable. That’d jeopardize his career. His only route would be to admit that he believes low wages are fair at Hannaford. That’d ruin his whole libel case since it’s precisely what I’m saying. And even if all that falls through, it’s just a case of he-said, he-said. Libel is very hard to prove. It can’t be done in this situation.

The Kennebec Journal needs to be taken to task. This blog post will reach a few, but not enough. I am going to launch a monthly publication in my local area late summer/early fall. Costs will be relatively low and there are good businesses for liberal advertising around here. At the very least I expect to get my voice out there (along with some like-minded friends). The subject matter will be much like FTSOS, so this isn’t simply a response to this denial to publish my letter. However, the KJ may very well start making the news rather than just reporting it.

Filed under: News, Politics and Social | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Now the Republicans are really reaching

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Michael

A Guantanamo inmate has been transferred to U.S. soil for trial.

The first terrorism suspect to be brought from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States for trial appeared Tuesday in federal court in New York, where he pleaded not guilty to 286 murder and conspiracy charges in the bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

Okay, this all seems to be on the right track. The man is being given a trial because, despite probably being a terrorist, he is still a human being. He has rights that are not unique to Americans. But wait! That has nothing to do with why he’s here.

But conservative lawmakers opposed to closing Guantanamo lashed out at moving Ghailani into the U.S. justice system. “This is the first step in the Democrats’ plan to import terrorists into America,” House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement.

Wow. Boehner apparently thinks the Obama administration is setting up terrorist training camps. I know there’s spin in politics, but this is just absurd. Beside that, aren’t U.S. prisons already terrorist training camps? We send non-violent and minorly violent offenders to prison where they learn how to be better – and more violent – criminals. And isn’t it the Republican stupidity of “HE IZ SOFTORZ ON CRIME!!1!” that got us in this mess?

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

New Hampshire plays catch up

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Michael

New Hampshire has caught up with most of New England by passing a bill to allow same-sex marriage.

New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage after the Senate and House passed key language on religious rights and Gov. John Lynch — who personally opposes gay marriage — signed the legislation Wednesday afternoon.

I’ve had discussions with people who claim Lynch is acting out of political pressure. I don’t see evidence for that. It’s certainly a possibility, but the man is hugely popular and won by landslides in his last two elections. At the very least, it seems just as likely that he was caving to political pressure when he initially said he was against same-sex marriage. In fact, why not more? He had more to gain then than he stands to lose now.

Lynch, a Democrat, had promised a veto if the law didn’t clearly spell out that churches and religious groups would not be forced to officiate at gay marriages or provide other services. Legislators made the changes.

…

The revised bill added a sentence specifying that all religious organizations, associations or societies have exclusive control over their religious doctrines, policies, teachings and beliefs on marriage.

I believe this is correct. Morally, it isn’t, of course. It’s bankrupt in that sense. However, in a legal sense – and this is a legal issue – religions are protected by the First Amendment in this regard. Time may very well conclude that they are not, but it would appear that they are afforded these protections right now. Of course, the KKK is afforded First Amendment protections.

It also clarified that church-related organizations that serve charitable or educational purposes are exempt from having to provide insurance and other benefits to same-sex spouses of employees.

This, however, is not constitutional. This moves from the realm of protecting religious beliefs to harming people. If a religious organization hires a married homosexual, it is not germane to their beliefs to deny insurance. We’re talking about secular legal and tax issues, not religion at this point. New Hampshire went to far here. They are allowing religion to trump individual rights.

On the up side, discrimination has been significantly lessened in New England over the past few months.

Filed under: News | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »

All it takes to refute something…

Posted on June 3, 2009 by Michael

…is for some journalist to say you did. According to the headline on that article, James Perloff refuted evolution at some half-baked meeting.

Perloff tried to draw parallels throughout history, attempting to connect individuals such as Andrew Carnegie, Karl Marx, Josef Stalin and Adolph Hitler with the teachings and rationales of Charles Darwin. He also told of his own life’s inner conflict, saying he was briefly turned into an atheist at a young age due to Darwin’s theory.

Perloff went on to say, “Survival of the fittest does not explain arrival of the fittest,” and that, “[the theory of] evolution is just speculation on the past and should not been seen as scientific fact.”

There you go. EVILution has been defeated. Good job, Perloff. Honestly. It should be clear to everyone. If someone can make bogus, tinsel thin connections between ideas and people Real America loathes, then the idea must be false. Just pretend that logical fallacies don’t exist and the argument is air-tight.

The event was held in front of a small gathering and was kicked off with a prayer along with the Pledge of Allegiance led by Harold Shurtleff of West Roxbury, regional field director for the John Birch Society.

I remember as a very young kid playing Street Fighter. When the levels got too hard or my older brother beat me a bunch of times in a row, I’d start up a game just by myself. I would have a Player 2 set up, but no one was controlling it. I’d just wail all my 32 bits on that character. It made me feel good. Does anyone get the feeling that conservatives have the same frustration? I mean, the exact same frustration – one born out of immaturity and a lack of rationale. These people are kicking and screaming their prayers and flag-based prayers all over the place because it makes them feel good. Of course, I was a child when I did it. What excuse do these people have? There are more examples.

Take Sean Hannity. He’s a huge idiot. (I heard him say in the middle of a broadcast, and I paraphrase, “…that isn’t an arrogant statement. America saved the world from Totalitarianism. It did this multiple times. The world has us to thank. That isn’t an arrogant statement.”) He refuses to refer to Obama as “President Obama” in virtually every instance. He insists on calling him “The Annointed One”, or “The One” for short. You can feel his anger and immature frustration. People very rarely identify whining correctly (they tend to conflate it with active disagreement). This is not one of those cases. Sean Hannity and the new breed of ultra-radical conservatives are big, fat whiners.

Conservapedia is another great example of a bunch of crybabies. Their page on evolution (which is just a page on creationism) has a section titled “Creation Scientists Tend to Win the Creation-Evolution Debates“. I kid you not. This is their version of 32-bit wailing. They absolutely cannot win. Rather than to accept reality, they set up these conversations in their own heads where they win every time. Sean Hannity does it. John McCain did it. Dubya definitely did it. This is the path of conservatives in America. Yell and whine and if that doesn’t work, beat the crap out of Blanka.

Filed under: Creationism, News | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »